As MD of Built Environment and Architecture Media I work with the talented and creative teams behind Architecture Today, School of Specification, RegenerativeArchitecture.org, CMA Awards and the Construction & Built Environment Marketing Network. My track record in architecture and built environment media - and the industry more widely - spans over 30 years, continuously creating opportunities for championing and supporting our professional communities as they have grappled with the challenges and opportunities of our times. I still relish the challenge of reinventing established media brands in response to the changing needs of our audiences and the realities of a fast-changing media landscape and have overseen the successful relaunch of The Architects’ Journal, RIBA Journal and Architecture Today as multi-media content platforms as well as notable launches such as AJ 40 Under 40, UK Architecture at MIPIM and the World Architecture Festival. I became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2023.

Community Management expert with over 15 years background building digital strategy and driving engagement with diverse audiences. Former Community Manager for MoneySavingExpert.com. Clients worked with include Facebook, Sky, Greenpeace, World Bank, Springer Nature Publishing, Innogy (formerly RWE), Scope, Mind, Society for Neuroscience, Digicel, Vorwerk, Truth Initiative (Mayo clinic), Townsquared, and the NHS.

I arrived in London in 1994 as a student at the LSE where I received my MSc in Political Economy. After five years in Investment Banking with Soloman Brothers and Bear Stearns, I joined my first start-up Trayport as Head of Sales & Business Development. During this time, I returned to university and received my MA in International Peace and Security from Kings College. I have over twenty years start up experience with a range of data analytics companies including Looker (acquired by Google) and Quantum Metric. After many years of working with start-up SaaS/Enterprise software companies, I realised the tech market has experienced a sea change with customers no longer happy to license yet another software tool in the hopes of solving their business requirements. Decision makers recognise the pressing need to leverage all data available and be "data drive". In all my conversations, it was clear decision makers wanted timely and actionable intelligence delivered to them in the most cost effective manner. They do not want to run POCs on multiple software tools, train their staff and commit to 12-month software licences. I believe the Valinor Community can solve this problem by becoming an on-demand, Intelligence force multiplier for Commercial/Government and Nat Sec clients. I believe there is a huge opportunity for the many OSINT analysts in the market with deep domain expertise & tech skills to properly monetise their capabilities. My vision is to create a Community that is purpose built for Open Source Intelligence analysts - for the Community by the Community :) With the quantity and quality of OSINT available growing daily along with more and more sophisticated investigative tools, there is no limit to what can be achieved. I am excited to be on this journey with the Valinor Community and I believe it is going to be a fun ride!

I help leading education and technology organizations realize their full potential by understanding the customer, market, and competitive landscape and developing and deploying the right go-to-market strategies.

Charles Thiede