Our People

Victoria Oakley

CEO

Victoria Oakley is IFPI’s Chief Executive Officer, leading the organisation’s global operations.

Prior to joining IFPI in 2024, Oakley was CEO of global strategic communications and advocacy consultancy, Portland. Oakley also spent nearly two decades in the British Diplomatic Service, with roles in London, Paris, Brussels, Washington D.C. and the Eastern Caribbean, where she was High Commissioner until 2016. She then spent three years at Portland before joining Google as the Global Public Policy Director. Oakley returned to Portland in 2022 to take up the CEO role, leading a 300-strong team of strategic communications and public affairs professionals across London, Doha, Singapore, Nairobi, Paris, Berlin and Brussels.

Rawan Al-Dabbas

Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa

Rawan Al-Dabbas is IFPI’s Regional Director for Middle East & North Africa (MENA). She leads IFPI’s work across the region to promote the value of recorded music, expand its commercial uses, and campaign for the rights of record producers.

Prior to joining IFPI, Rawan Al-Dabbas was Head of Legal and International Relations at the Emirates Publishers Association. In her role, she facilitated the association’s interaction with local, regional, and international stakeholders on a range of issues pertinent to the United Arab Emirates’ publishing industry. This included a particular focus on the area of collective management where, following seven years of negotiations with stakeholders, she established the region’s first publishing collective management association which is due to start operations in January 2022.

Lodovico Benvenuti

Director of Multilateral Relations, and Regional Director Europe

Lodovico Benvenuti is the Director of Multilateral Relations and Regional Director, Europe. He represents the interests of the global recording industry with the European Commission, Parliament and other key decision makers in the EU and at multilateral levels. Responsible for developing and implementing IFPI’s European strategy, Lodovico works closely with National Groups and IFPI’s member record companies. He, and the Brussels team he manages, engage with European policy and legislative developments, aiming to create the best possible environment for European recorded music to succeed.

Lodovico’s work also supports IFPI’s Global Legal Policy activity with multiple international organisations and platforms, including WIPO, G7, G20, OECD and UNESCO.  He has over 20 years’ experience working in EU public affairs.

Guo Biao

Regional Director, Greater China

Guo Biao is Regional Director, Greater China. He has been IFPI China Chief Representative since 2006 and Regional Director Greater China since 2021. Prior to joining IFPI, Guo Biao was Vice General Manager, Beijing Tai He Hong Ye Copyright Company of Beijing Copyright Bureau. From 1988 to 2000, Guo Biao was Deputy Director of International Division of National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC).

John Blewett

Director of Communications

John Blewett is Director of Communications at IFPI. He coordinates and oversees the delivery of IFPI’s communications strategy, promoting the interests of the international recording industry worldwide.

Prior to joining IFPI, he was an Associate Director at a London-based communications consultancy where he advised a range of diverse clients on their approach to public relations.

Dr. Elena Blobel

Director of Global Litigation

Dr. Elena Blobel is IFPI’s Director of Global Litigation. While at IFPI, she has been involved with proposed legislation in a number of countries with a particular focus on rights of sound recording producers and protection against digital piracy. Before joining IFPI in 2011, she worked for the regional government of Brandenburg in Germany in the policy department for media law and was a research assistant at the Erich Pommer Institute at Potsdam University conducting research in the area of copyright law and public and private media law for many years.

Dr. Richard Gooch

Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Richard Gooch is Chief Technology Officer at IFPI. He works on different music industry and metadata initiatives. Richard also delivers technology leadership and advice on a wide range of policy issues. He rejoined IFPI to take up the post in 2013, having previously worked for the organisation between 1999 and 2007. In the interim, Richard worked providing technology services to other major industries.

Dr. Kristina Janušauskaitė

Director of European Legal Affairs

Dr. Kristina Janušauskaitė is IFPI Director of European Legal Affairs. Kristina coordinates all EU legislative and non-legislative matters related to copyright and follows national copyright developments across Europe.

Before joining IFPI in 2012, Kristina worked as a WIPO external consultant and attorney-at-law in a Lithuanian law firm. She has also taught on the subject of IP at Vilnius University.

Abbas Lightwalla

Director of Global Legal Policy

Abbas Lightwalla is Director of Global Legal Policy for IFPI. He is responsible for coordinating IFPI’s work to secure effective legal protection in all music markets and promote the role of copyright in supporting investment in music and the licensing of digital music services. With particular expertise in the intersection between new technologies and copyright law, Abbas has a key role in informing IFPI’s voice in shaping legal policy discussions concerning copyright and artificial intelligence.

Prior to joining IFPI in 2020, Abbas worked in the intellectual property department of the international law firm, Bird & Bird, advising clients across the music, entertainment and tech industries on intellectual property infringement and licensing issues relating to the use of content by digital services.

Melissa Morgia

Director of Global Content Protection and Enforcement

Melissa Morgia is Director of Global Content Protection and Enforcement at IFPI. She coordinates the industry’s global effort to tackle infringing services of all kinds, overseeing programmes to disrupt revenue streams to illegal online services, developing tools to address established and emerging forms of piracy and working closely with law enforcement and governmental authorities.

Melissa is a qualified lawyer and was formerly part of the Litigation team at IFPI. She has over 15 years’ experience protecting intellectual property rights in the creative industries and has been involved in a number of significant cases in both private practice and in-house legal roles, including at the BBC.

Lewis Morrison

Director of Global Data and Analysis – Charts and Certifications

Lewis Morrison is Director of Global Data and Analysis – Charts and Certifications. He is responsible for the management of IFPI’s annual Global Charts, the definitive rankings of the biggest global artists, albums and tracks of the year, and leads IFPI’s efforts to expand and improve the global network of national charts and certifications programmes in collaboration with IFPI National Groups, charts compilers and music platforms. As well as celebrating the success of artists and promoting the recording industry around the world, these programmes provide an invaluable source of information for record labels in each market, helping to power IFPI’s global measurement of recorded music revenues.

Prior to joining IFPI in 2018, Lewis worked in a variety of insight, analysis and commercial roles including in PepsiCo’s Strategic Foresight team for Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, and at Nielsen. Lewis has over 10 years’ experience in market measurement, strategy and commercial development across verticals and geographies, having also spent time working in Australia, Switzerland and Romania.

Angela Ndambuki

Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa

Angela Ndambuki is IFPI’s Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa. She works across the region’s 46 markets to promote the value of recorded music, campaign for record producer rights and champion the local recording industry.

Angela has over 15 years’ experience in collective management and prior to joining IFPI, she served as CEO of PRISK (Performers’ Rights Society of Kenya) and latterly as CEO of KNCCI (Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry). She acts as Chairperson for KAMP (Kenya Association of Music Producers).

John Nolan

Chief Financial Officer

John Nolan is Chief Financial Officer at IFPI. He is responsible for IFPI’s global revenue data for the recorded music industry, global chart and management of the organisation’s operational and financial support functions. Prior to joining IFPI in 2007, John worked for IT and management consultancy company Logica (now CGI) and for Ernst & Young, one of the world’s largest accounting and professional services firms.

Lauri Rechardt

Chief Legal Officer

Lauri Rechardt is IFPI’s Chief Legal Officer. Before re-joining IFPI, Lauri worked as a partner and head of IP at Procopé & Hornborg, a leading Finnish law firm. His work included heading the IFPI Finnish National Group and licensing related work at IFPI Secretariat. Prior to moving to Procopé & Hornborg, Lauri held the position of Deputy General Counsel and Director of Licensing and Litigation at IFPI Secretariat. Before joining IFPI he was a director at the Finnish Performing Artists and Record Producers Copyright Society Gramex.

Adriana Restrepo

Regional Director, Latin America and Caribbean

Adriana Restrepo is IFPI’s Regional Director for Latin America and Caribbean. She leads IFPI’s work across this fast growing region to promote the value of recorded music, expand its commercial uses, and campaign for the rights of record producers.

Prior to joining IFPI, Adriana was President of Sony Music Andes, overseeing the company’s strategic operations in the Andean region (including Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela). Before that, she was President of Codiscos – one of Latin America’s longest established independent record labels and publishers. During that time Adriana also served on two of IFPI’s boards (Latin America & Caribbean Board and Main Board).

Simon Seow

Regional Director, Southeast Asia

Simon Seow is IFPI’s Regional Director, Southeast Asia. He leads IFPI’s work in the region to promote the value of recorded music, expand its commercial uses, and campaign for the rights of record producers.

Prior to joining IFPI in 2022, he led the intellectual property (IP) policy work of the Singapore government, including the review of Singapore’s copyright regime, which culminated in the new Copyright Act 2021. He also led the IP policy work in relation to public health, the review of the IP dispute resolution system and the review of the registered designs regime, as well as being extensively involved in international IP negotiations. Before this, Simon started his career as an IP law practitioner, before moving on to the venture capital industry and the national IP office.