Appointed July 2017 

Penny is Non-Executive Chair, Chair of the Nomination Committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee. Penny joined Next 15 as a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee. In April 2020 she was appointed as Senior Independent Director and from February 2021 became Chair of the Board. Penny was a member of the Audit and Risk Committee, but resigned from the Committee with effect from 1 February 2023.

Skills and experience
Penny is currently serving her notice period as Chief Financial Officer at Future plc, a global platform for specialist media. Prior to serving a year as Chief Strategy Officer at Future, Penny was previously Chief Financial Officer at Future from August 2015 to June 2020 during which time the group’s market capitalisation increased from £25m to £1.2b and entered the FTSE 250 as it became a digital-led business. Prior to that, Penny was Commercial Director at Auto Trader Group plc, responsible for digital monetisation. Penny brings considerable experience of digital transformation and M&A to the Board. Penny qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC before moving into corporate finance. 

Appointed June 2025 

Mickey Kalifa joined the Next 15 Board on 1 June 2025 as Group Chief Financial Officer. 

Skills and experience

Mickey is a Chartered Accountant with experience across the media, technology and gaming sectors. Mickey was CFO of Dept, a private equity backed technology and digital marketing services company, from 2022 until May 2025.  Mickey was previously CFO of M&C Saatchi Plc. between 2019 and 2022, and prior to this, held the role at Sportech Plc. During his career Mickey has served in a number of executive and finance director roles at some of the world’s largest media and technology companies, including Liberty Global, BSkyB PLC, Time Warner, Disney and Young & Rubicam. 

Appointed April 2022 

Jonathan joined Next 15 in July 2018 and became Chief Operating Officer in 2019. He was appointed as an Executive Director in April 2022.

Skills and experience
Jonathan has 35 years’ experience in digital transformation. At the BBC, he led the myBBC programme that introduced customer data at scale to drive better ways to commission, discover and consume content. Before the BBC, he founded and led an award-winning consultancy that specialised in using digital technology to improve government delivery. As part of that role, Jonathan launched a dedicated TV channel to support ongoing teacher development, and wrote the UK government’s digital strategy which led to the creation of gov.uk. Jonathan sold that business to The Engine Group where he subsequently became Chief Operating Officer. Jonathan qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC before moving into management consultancy and subsequently working in commercial television delivering some of the first interactive services.

Jonathan is heavily involved in the UK tech start-up scene, having founded a number of companies and invested in or mentored numerous others.

Appointed June 2025

Sam Wren joined the Next 15 Board on 1 June 2025 as Senior Independent Director. 

Skills and experience

Sam brings over 30 years of experience to the Board, having held a number of senior leadership positions at market-leading financial services companies, including as Group CFO/COO of Nex, now part of CME Group, and CFO/COO of ICAP Global Broking, now part of TP ICAP Group. Samantha is also a non-executive director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee of AIM listed Chapel Down Group, a non-executive director and Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee at Schroder Japan Trust plc, and a non-executive director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee at Petershill Partners.  Until October 2024, she was Audit & Risk Chair of the City of London Investment Trust where she served nine years on the board and was CEO of a private investment company investing in venture capital and private equity, particularly in financial services but also the corporate world, aiming to develop young businesses into industry leaders.

Appointed June 2022 

Paul joined Next 15 as a Non-Executive Director and is a member of the Audit and Risk, Nomination and ESG Committees. Paul is also Next 15’s Non-Executive Director responsible for workforce engagement.

Skills and experience
Paul is an expert in business development, strategy, and operations, with more than 20 years of experience in the media, entertainment, and consulting industries. He is currently President & Chief Transformation Officer at New America, a US-based think tank founded in 1999. Before this, he was Chief Operating Officer at sparks & honey, the Omnicom-owned cultural intelligence consultancy.

Appointed February 2025

Mark has over 35 years of investment banking experience, having held a number of senior leadership positions including Chairman of Corporate Broking at Barclays and Head of Corporate Broking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Mark was also a member of the Takeover Panel. Mark is a  a non-executive director at Cavendish plc, a member of the Sky News Board, and is a senior adviser to Brunswick Group.

Appointed February 2021 

Skills and experience
Having qualified as a solicitor at Eversheds, Mark worked in their Corporate Team before moving to his first in-house role at Premier Farnell plc. Mark first joined Next 15 in 2003 as General Counsel and Company Secretary. In 2009 he set up his own boutique law firm Baker Sanford LLP while continuing to provide an outsourced legal and company secretarial function to Next 15. In 2017 Mark became General Counsel and Company Secretary of Ebiquity plc, an AIM-listed media consultancy business, before re-joining Next 15 in February 2021.