Darius Bagdžiūnas

Darius is a prominent figure in the industry. In 1998, together with his partners, he founded the digital solutions agency Gaumina, which remained the market leader in Lithuania for 15 consecutive years, delivering over 5,000 digital projects. Its client portfolio includes Microsoft, MTV, Guinness, Heineken, Diesel, Švyturys, the Government of Lithuania, and many others.

Darius has delivered over 400 talks at various innovation, advertising, and internet-related conferences and universities, including TEDx, University College London, MIPTV Cannes, First Digital Marketing Brussels, Bahrain Egovernment Forum, and the World Summit Award Abu Dhabi. He has also written a similar number of articles and given interviews to business media, television, and radio, with appearances in BBC, The Economist, Herald AM, and other outlets.

His achievements include 100+ international and local awards from advertising and digital festivals such as the Global Summit Award, Golden Hammer, Golden Joystick Award, Irish Web Awards, Kiev Advertising Festival, Login, Adrenalinas, the National Innovation Prize, and many more. Additionally, he has served as a jury member at similar events more than 20 times.

As the head of the Creative Performance course, Darius takes pride in having executed two early tech exits (Centras.ltand Hosting.lt) in 2000, even before the dot-com crash. In 2013, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from President Dalia Grybauskaitė for “nurturing a generation of innovative young Lithuanian companies.” He sold Gaumina in 2017. What he has been up to since then? He’ll tell you in person.