meet the teams

Leadership Team

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Bo Stehmeier
CEO

Bo is CEO of Off the Fence. Bo’s professional journey started in the UK with BA degrees in media production, finance and distribution, then to Rome...

Bo is CEO of Off the Fence. Bo’s professional journey started in the UK with BA degrees in media production, finance and distribution, then to Rome for an MBA in film and on to London for a job in content sales for factual specialist TVF International and prolific UK producer Optomen. For the next 15 years his upward progress eventually led him to Red Arrow Studios International, where he served as president of Germany’s €500m multi-genre production and distribution giant. That kept him busy until 2020, when he was enticed to Amsterdam to head up Off the Fence (OTF) — returning to run a company at which he had worked as a MD of distribution in a previous incarnation. His love for all things visual, enchantment with the natural world and his intrigue with the Nordic mystical cultures has inspired him to write two books — Wake Up! Rise & Shine and Borealis — “to help adults reconnect with their true self and prevent little people from losing the innate knowledge we are all born with”.

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Karen Meehan
COO

Karen joined Off the Fence in March 2007, having worked in television since 1992 for Partridge Films/United Wildlife/Granada Wild. She has worked on a...

Karen joined Off the Fence in March 2007, having worked in television since 1992 for Partridge Films/United Wildlife/Granada Wild. She has worked on a wide range of natural history and factual programmes for a variety of broadcasters including ITV, National Geographic, PBS, Discovery, Animal Planet, BBC, Channel 4, the History Channel & MTV. Karen is based in our Bristol office and as our COO oversees all operational aspects of Off the Fence.

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Stefanie Fischer
Managing Director Distribution

Stefanie looks after the Distribution arm of OTF and joined the company in 2019. In her role she is responsible for stitching together content...

Stefanie looks after the Distribution arm of OTF and joined the company in 2019. In her role she is responsible for stitching together content investment, sales and delivery across the OTF studio business with a focus on heading the sales team, where she works closely with the team on coproduction and financing deals across the globe. She is a native German speaker, fluent in English and Dutch and has a good understanding of French and Spanish.

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Andrew Zikking
Managing Director Production

Andrew joined Off the Fence in 2010 as Series Producer for the incredibly successful Stan Lee's Superhumans.​ ​Since then he has gone on to oversee...

Andrew joined Off the Fence in 2010 as Series Producer for the incredibly successful Stan Lee's Superhumans.​ ​Since then he has gone on to oversee more than 50 hours of factual programming for OTF across the US market (History, H2, The Weather Channel) including three series of Stan Lee's Superhumans, Megafactories, Wildest Arctic, the award-winning Freaks Of Nature and has recently branched out into natural history and anthropology films. Andrew has over 15 years experience in the television industry, and has worked across a wide variety of genres for all UK broadcasters including BBC, ITV, and Sky. Andrew established his own production company in 2004, producing a number of high-rating, award-winning series, with strong global sales.

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Sales Team

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Stefanie Fischer
Managing Director Distribution

Stefanie looks after the...

Stefanie looks after the Distribution arm of OTF and joined the company in 2019. In her role she is responsible for stitching together content investment, sales and delivery across the OTF studio business with a focus on heading the sales team, where she works closely with the team on coproduction and financing deals across the globe. She is a native German speaker, fluent in English and Dutch and has a good understanding of French and Spanish.

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Oliver Taprogge
Director Digital Sales

Oliver looks after Global Digital...

Oliver looks after Global Digital Distribution & Digital Partnerships at Off the Fence and joined in September 2020. He has over 18 years experience in the entertainment industry and brings with him a well-rounded understanding of the industry having worked on the broadcast, platform and digital side of the business in both sales and acquisitions. On the acquisition side he has partnered with broadcasters, On Demand Platforms, Major and Independent film studios. On the sales side, he has worked for E! Networks, AMC International, BBC Worldwide and on the platform side for Unitymedia. He is currently also heading up the Distribution for The WaterBear Network.

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Jia Zhao
Director Co-Production & Sales Asia

Jia is responsible for sales,...

Jia is responsible for sales, co-financing & co-productions in Asia, along with the responsibility of distribution of the Waterbear Network in China. Jia studied life sciences in China, Japan, and the Netherlands, as well as visual arts at the Rietveld Art Academy, Amsterdam (The Netherlands). Alongside her work with Off the Fence, Jia is also a critically-acclaimed producer and the founder of MUYI FILM and SILK ROAD FILM SALON, where she works with European and Asian producers/directors and focuses on film productions with intercultural themes and international potential. Jia speaks fluently Chinese, Japanese, English, and Dutch.

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Monica van den Bergh
Senior Sales Manager

Monica looks after sales to...

Monica looks after sales to Scandinavia, Italy, Eastern Europe, Turkey, Israel, Greece and Russia & CIS. Monica is from Romanian and graduated with a Master's degree in Entrepreneurship and Management in the Creative Industries from the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands). Following her studies, Monica joined the Off the Fence sales team in early 2015.

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Emmanuel Grinda
Sales Manager

Emmanuel looks after sales to UK,...

Emmanuel looks after sales to UK, EIRE, French speaking world, MENA, Africa and Australia & New Zealand. He joined OTF in April 2022, after graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia and working in different jobs within the media industry, he started his career in TV sales at NENT Studios UK (previously Digital Rights Group), where he was responsible for finished program & format sales into Asia. As a Franco/Australian, he is a native speaker in both French and English and also has a good understanding of Spanish.

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Emilia Gil Villegas
Sales Manager

Emilia looks after sales to Iberia,...

Emilia looks after sales to Iberia, LatAm and Hispanic US and joined OTF in April 2022. After graduating in 2008 with a degree in Social Communication, Emilia began to work in the field of Journalism, Advertising and making some collaborations in the area of Institutional Communication, Photography and Gastronomy. She has lived in the Netherlands since 2014, and has undertaken various language courses, Photography, Yoga, Sommelier, among others. She is a native Spanish speaker, fluent in English and Italian, with a good understanding of Dutch.

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Klara van Doorn
Sales Executive

Klara looks after sales to Benelux...

Klara looks after sales to Benelux and the Germany speaking world as well as footage & educational sales. Klara graduated with a BA degree in Middle-Eastern Studies and Russian language from the University of Amsterdam. Before joining OTF, Klara completed an internship at a Prague based think-tank on European Values. Klara is from the Czech Republic and is fluent in Dutch and English, with a good understanding of German and Russian.

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Jane Yao
Sales Executive

Jane looks after sales in Asia and...

Jane looks after sales in Asia and inflight deals. She is originally from China and graduated with a B.A. degree from a university in the Netherlands. She did her internship in the USA and went back to Amsterdam in 2016. Before joining OTF, she worked at Fortissimo Films for the past five years, and she also produced several short and documentary films.

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Marget Klotz
Sales Coordinator

Marget assists with sales to Global...

Marget assists with sales to Global Digital Distribution & Digital Partnerships, UK, EIRE and Africa. Before joining the OTF team, she studied International and European Law at the University of Groningen and speaks five languages.

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Acquisitions & Marketing Team

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Loren Baxter
Head of Acquisitions & Co-Productions

Loren joined Off the Fence in 2015...

Loren joined Off the Fence in 2015 and sources a wide range of factual content from producers around the world. As well as working directly with broadcasters in the UK she is also responsible for the day-to-day management of Off the Fence's Acquisition and Marketing teams. Loren works closely with the producers to secure the best content for Off the Fence's international portfolio of broadcast and digital clients. Loren manages acquisitions across a range of different production milestones including those which are finished, in production or at early development, creating different international strategies for each programme. Before joining Off the Fence, Loren worked as a sales executive at Indigo Film and Television selling content across multiple genres to broadcasters around the world.

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Isobel Kinnear
Acquisitions & Co-Productions Manager

Isobel joined Off the Fence’s...

Isobel joined Off the Fence’s London office in 2021, and sources a wide range of factual content including co-productions, pre-sale and finished program. Additionally she handles UK sales alongside Loren. Isobel graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design at Nottingham Trent University before becoming a Development Researcher for factual and factual entertainment content until moving to Munich, Germany to work in Acquisitions at Red Arrow Studios International.

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Jennifer Kemp
EA to Management & Marketing Manager

Jennifer is the Executive Assistant...

Jennifer is the Executive Assistant to Management, supporting the CEO, Managing Director Sales and the Head of Acquisition, alongside managing all marketing elements for Off the Fence. Jennifer joined OTF in 2008 starting in the Amsterdam office where she the Executive Assistant. After eight years of living and working in the Netherlands she moved back to her native UK and is now based in the London Office.

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Cheryl Clarke
PR - Mushroom Media

Cheryl is one of the founding...

Cheryl is one of the founding directors of Mushroom Media, a specialist media public relations and sustainability consultancy established in 1999. A fluent Spanish speaker, Cheryl started her career in media in the early 1990s, working for the UK magazine heavyweight Dennis Publishing. She then moved on to Emap Media, where she worked on UK TV-industry bible Broadcast and its sister international title TV World, managing clients in both the domestic and international marketplace. Over the past 15 years, Cheryl has developed a keen interest in TV and media sustainability and has steered the consultancy to advise on a range of resources that allow companies to assess and improve both their social and environmental impacts. Cheryl is currently studying for a sustainable leadership masters at the University of Cumbria and is the president of The David Lyle Foundation.

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Business Affairs Team

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Imelda Wiebers
Head of Commercial & Business Affairs

As Head of Commercial & Business...

As Head of Commercial & Business Affairs, Imelda manages the Legal & Business Affairs department which is responsible for drafting, reviewing and negotiating the distribution and sales license agreements between Off the Fence, broadcasters, and production companies worldwide. Additionally, she is responsible for streamlining all internal processes by improving and implementing best practice distribution methods, including interface between Sales, Acquisitions, Operations, Finance and Legal & Business Affairs. Imelda studied law at the VU University in Amsterdam and the University of Victoria, BC, Canada and holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Dutch law, European and International law. Besides her native Dutch, Imelda is fluent in English, and has a good understanding of Spanish plus Portuguese.

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Gabriele Sanches Pereira
Business Affairs Executive

Gabriele’s key responsibilities...

Gabriele’s key responsibilities include managing the company's monetization and Content ID-claims on YouTube. She also assists the Business Affairs team with drafting and negotiating the license agreements between Off the Fence and third-party broadcasters, producers and distributors. Gabriele studied law at FMU (Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas) University in São Paulo and holds a Bachelor's degree in law. She is a native Portuguese speaker and fluent in English, with a good understanding of Spanish.

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Finance Team

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Guus Schreij
Head of Finance

Guus is our Head of Finance and...

Guus is our Head of Finance and joined OTF in 2023. He is responsible for managing all financial aspects of OTF and aims for efficient processes, transparency and on time management information to increase OTF's value. Guus previously worked within the media and fashion industry and his educational background lays within business engineering and corporate finance.

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Stacy Otten
Financial Consultant

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Media Services Team

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Sukhan Bains
Head of Media Services

Sukhan head up the new Media...

Sukhan head up the new Media Services department and joined Off the Fence at the end of 2013. Sukhan's responsibilities also include IT management. Sukhan came to Amsterdam from a background of Business studies & Sales work in London.

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Sam Neil
Director of Ingest

As Director of Ingest, Sam looks...

As Director of Ingest, Sam looks after the servicing of broadcast materials to broadcasters worldwide. He is responsible for the ingest of all acquired titles for distribution into the OTF catalogue and ensures the highest possible technical standard. Sam is Scottish and moved to the Netherlands in 1991. Before joining Off the Fence in 2003, Sam worked for Canal+ International Acquisition, then Myriad International.

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Edward Simao
Media Manager

Edward works in operations and...

Edward works in operations and provides technical support for North America and Canada (English speaking), Benelux, Asia, Portugal, Spain, Latin America and the Middle East. Edward joined Off The Fence mid-2017 as an intern in the Operation department. Edward grew up in Portugal before moving to the U.K to complete his Bachelor's in Television and Video Production.

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Daniel Murray
Media Manager

Daniel works in operations and...

Daniel works in operations and provides technical support for the UK, Germany, France, Ireland, Eastern Europe, Africa, Israel, Australia and New Zealand, as well as global Inflight, Footage & Educational deals. Daniel moved to Amsterdam from Ireland where he completed his bachelors in Digital Media and he has always had a passion for documentaries, particularly of the natural history variety.

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Alex Powell
Media Specialist

Alex joined Media Services in May...

Alex joined Media Services in May 2021. He is responsible for ensuring content acquired by Off The Fence meets the technical standards required to sell to our customers around the globe. He brings with him post-production experience from working for high-end facilities in both London & Amsterdam. Alex is British and moved to the Netherlands in 2000. Before joining OTF Alex worked for companies that included Molinaire (London) and Liberty Global & AMC Networks International (Amsterdam).

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Jonathan Mynett
Media Specialist

Jon oversees the delivery of...

Jon oversees the delivery of broadcast files to clients using Off the Fences media management system. He joined OTF in 2020, having previously worked for a variety of broadcasters in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands.

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Kos Novikov
Project Coordinator

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Production Team

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Andrew Zikking
Managing Director Production

Andrew joined Off the Fence in 2010...

Andrew joined Off the Fence in 2010 as Series Producer for the incredibly successful Stan Lee's Superhumans.​ ​Since then he has gone on to oversee more than 50 hours of factual programming for OTF across the US market (History, H2, The Weather Channel) including three series of Stan Lee's Superhumans, Megafactories, Wildest Arctic, the award-winning Freaks Of Nature and has recently branched out into natural history and anthropology films. Andrew has over 15 years experience in the television industry, and has worked across a wide variety of genres for all UK broadcasters including BBC, ITV, and Sky. Andrew established his own production company in 2004, producing a number of high-rating, award-winning series, with strong global sales.

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Amy Freeman
Head of Production

Amy started her career at Granada...

Amy started her career at Granada TV in Bristol and later on at the BBC's Natural History Unit, working on projects such as 'The Nile' and 'Planet Earth'. As she moved into production management, she worked for a number of independent production companies working on a variety of drama reconstruction and factual documentaries for the BBC, Discovery, History Channel, C4 and most recently ITV's obs doc 'National Treasures' with Michael Buerk for RDF. Amy joined OTF at the beginning of 2014.

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Debbie Hinnigan
Creative Director, Co-Productions, otf studios

Debbie joined Off the Fence in 2019...

Debbie joined Off the Fence in 2019 as an Executive Producer. She started her television career in BBC News and Current Affairs in London, but has since made programmes for all genres and most broadcasters. She enjoys overseeing a wide range of programmes from The BBC's One Show films to our latest Jane Goodall series - Rescued Chimpanzees of the Congo. As Creative Director of co-productions for otf studios, Debbie works closely with the distribution team to creatively lead and support international co-production opportunities from a wide range of third party production companies. Debbie works alongside the acquisitions and sales teams at key production milestones to maximise a project's editorial and financial potential internationally.

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Celine Ritchie
SVP of Development

Celine began her career at Cowboy...

Celine began her career at Cowboy Films in London, a producer of music videos, commercials and feature films before making the move to BBC Scotland where she worked for four years with the Head of Broadcast and the Commissioning Editor. In 2002 she moved to Granada Bristol, helping to develop, and produce both popular and specialist factual documentaries for US and UK terrestrial broadcasters. In October 2006 Celine joined the Off the Fence Bristol office and is SVP of Development.

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Laura Coates
Executive Producer
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Paul Dennys
Edit Producer
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Ed Maddocks
Assistant Producer
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Amy Twomey
Production Manager
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Stuart Hoole
Production Manager
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Helen Hayns
Production Manager
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Simon Cross
Online Editor
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Andrew Bray
Assistant Online Editor
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Jon Pembro
Colourist

Administration Team

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Jasmina Vaisanen
Office Manager - Amsterdam

Jasmina joined Off the Fence in...

Jasmina joined Off the Fence in 2022 as the Office Manager for the Amsterdam office. After her furniture design study, she worked in the interior design world for several years before making a switch into the catering industry. At OTF she makes sure that everything in the office is running smoothly and that the office is getting a little make-over. She also does the catering for our special lunches and helps organize events and team-building activities. Jasmina was born in Finland, grew up in Germany and has been living in the Netherlands for 16 years.

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Laura Jackson
Office Manager & Executive Assistant - Bristol

Laura joined in 2021 as Office...

Laura joined in 2021 as Office Manager and Executive Assistant across the two Bristol offices. She deals with the overall facilities management of both buildings, making travel and meeting arrangements, onboarding new team members, providing support and incentives to all employees, and strives to make Off the Fence an enjoyable and inclusive place to work.

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Vicki Lucas
HR Manager

Vicki joined the OTF team in the...

Vicki joined the OTF team in the summer of 2022 as the HR Manager based in our Bristol Office. Since starting, Vicki has introduced an internal HR system and has developed policy and procedures to help align ways of working across all OTF locations. This is with a focus on the employee life cycle and employee wellbeing, which Vicki will continue to nurture. New to Media, but with a ten year background in HR, especially corporate HR, Vicki is enjoying learning the many aspects of the industry and the company as a whole.

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Jennifer Kemp
EA to Management & Marketing Manager

Jennifer is the Executive Assistant...

Jennifer is the Executive Assistant to Management, supporting the CEO, Managing Director Sales and the Head of Acquisition, alongside managing all marketing elements for Off the Fence. Jennifer joined OTF in 2008 starting in the Amsterdam office where she the Executive Assistant. After eight years of living and working in the Netherlands she moved back to her native UK and is now based in the London Office.

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