Lynnette Edmonds

Lynnette Edmonds is the Founder of people are everything, a consultancy that helps creative and communications businesses unlock high performance through people. With more than 25 years’ experience across HR, recruitment, and leadership (including nearly a decade as Head of People at Edelman Australia) Lynnette has seen every phase of industry change first-hand. She now advises agency leaders and founders on how to attract, engage, and retain talent in the modern workplace. A certified coach, speaker and facilitator, Lynnette brings warmth, credibility, and practical insight to every stage she steps onto.

Peter Wilkinson

Peter has been specialising in crisis communications for 23 years. This follows a career in journalism that spanned three decades.

Peter co-founded Wilkinson Group with Claire Wilkinson in 2002 after anticipating the internet’s disruption on television journalism. In mid-2013 Peter and Claire sold much of the business to employees who set up Wilkinson Butler, which Peter later joined as Chair.

Before founding the Wilkinson Group, Peter developed a career as a respected newsman and investigative journalist, working on programs including earlier versions of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s 7:30 and Four Corners, and Channel Nine’s ACA and 60 Minutes.

Peter has been a member of four industry task forces, strengthening relationships between industry and government.

As a crisis & recovery expert, Peter has achieved successful outcomes including cyber-security attacks, sexual abuse/harassment, media attacks, industry and company restructures, product recalls, court cases and judicial inquiries, pollution spills, extortion/blackmail, and countering damaging industry or activist campaigns.

Peter is also an expert in risk and crisis simulations.

Peter gives corporate affairs advice to a number of long-term clients across a broad range of sectors, supported by experienced staff at Wilkinson Butler. He is an expert in complex community engagements and internally assisting boards and executives with cultural development and resilience. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

In addition, he is intimately involved in his family charity, which awards scholarships to assist rural students wanting to attend university.

Hannah Marshall

In 2023 Hannah had a mid-life crisis and abandoned comfortable law firm partnership to pursue dreams of vanlife, surfing, and possibly seaward farming. To her surprise, she couldn’t stay away from helping good businesses solve complex legal problems. She dropped the seaweed farming plan, kept the van and the surfing, and founded Good Company Law.

Good Company Law blends strategic commercial and regulatory advice for businesses with a healthy dose of activism and anarchy. Hannah helps brands produce punchy, impactful comms without greenwashing risk. She also works with environmental charities to block fossil fuel projects, helped secure NSW’s offshore drilling ban, and serves on the Comms Declare committee. Twenty years of legal experience means she can navigate the vast deserts of legal grey area with her eyes closed.

Hannah Ferguson

Hannah Ferguson is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cheek Media and a Forbes 30 under 30 honouree. She is also the co-host of news and pop culture podcast, Big Small Talk. Hannah is the bestselling author of two books, Bite Back (2023) and Taboo (2024). Hannah has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Master of Writing, Editing and Publishing from The University of Queensland. Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper's Bazaar, InStyle, the Sydney Morning Herald, and Crikey. 

Tom Robinson

Tom Robinson has nearly 20 years’ experience advising global and local organisations across Europe, Asia and Australia on brand strategy, integrated communications and commerce. 

He is focused on shaping the future of corporate and brand communications through creativity and innovation, and is a strong advocate for greater media diversity within Australia’s evolving media ecosystem. Tom has served as a juror for leading industry awards and is an active contributor to industry and academic communities, including mentoring roles at the University of Sydney Business School and the University of Technology Sydney. He has contributed to the Media Federation of Australia and is a regular speaker for the Council for Economic Development Australia as well as the ICC World Chambers Congress. 

Tom Walter

Tom Walter leads the Integrated Marketing Team at Uber ANZ, overseeing the brand's biggest campaigns across mobility and delivery. In 2024, he helped Uber Carshare take home Mumbrella’s Ad, Social and PR Campaign of the Year, by convincing F1 driver Valteri Bottas to swap his race car for a fully kitted-out Aussie ute. Prior to Uber, he spent 5 years at Under Armour Global HQ. As Global Brand Director, he led multiple award-winning campaigns featuring the likes of Tom Brady and Steph Curry. A Marketing Academy Scholar, Tom's marketing philosophy is simple: Brands grow when consumer insight meets culture and creativity. 

International Speaker

Michelle Hutton

As Global Chief Client and Growth Officer at Burson, Michelle Hutton is responsible for leading the agency’s client experience program and driving its growth strategy worldwide. She works with global teams to deliver best-in-class work for top clients.

With over 25 years of international experience, Michelle previously held the same role at BCW and spent 13 years at Edelman. At Edelman, she served as Vice Chair, Client Solutions, Asia-Pacific, overseeing its top client portfolio and integrated solutions, including creative, digital, and data offerings. Michelle also served as Edelman’s CEO, Australia, Asia-Pacific Brand Chair.

Previously, she spent 15 years with Hill & Knowlton across Australia and Asia and is a proud graduate of Queensland University of Technology, holding a Bachelor of Business Communications in public relations and advertising.

Vanessa Liell

Vanessa is a Chief Executive Officer, Non-Executive Director and strategic communications professional with over 25 years' experience in corporate affairs, agency leadership and entrepreneurship. As shareholder and CEO of Herd MSL, Vanessa and her partners led the growth and performance for more than a decade of one of Australia's largest and most awarded independent public relations agency groups. In 2017, Herd MSL was fully acquired by Publicis Groupe joining one of the world’s top five advertising networks. In 2022 she co-founded corporate advisory firm Orizontas that works with CEOs and Boards to solve business challenges specialising in climate, market, political and reputational risk. In 2023, she has co-founded a sister agency specialising in creative called Rethink Everything. 
 
Vanessa is the winner of B&T's Women in Media PR and Glass Ceiling Leadership Awards, a Fellow of Communication and Public Relations Australia and an inaugural Walkley Foundation Women in Media mentor. She is a member of Chief Executive Women, a member of UNSW Media Industry Advisory Board and a sessional Academic at the University of Technology Sydney's School of Communications. Industry recognition for her agency's work include multiple Cannes PR Lions for Creativity, Australian Agency of the Year awards and 30+ campaign awards. 

Stuart Terry

Stu is the Founder and Director of We Are Different – an independent, multi-award-winning earned-first creative agency that specialises in PR, influencer, social and experiential. Under Stu’s leadership, Different has grown from start-up to earned powerhouse – working with industry-leading clients including Jack Daniel’s, Spotify, Hinge, HelloFresh and Fujifilm (to name a few). The agency continues to deliver industry-leading work, taking home awards for PR Agency of the Year, Best Consumer PR Campaign, Best Social Campaign and Best Owned Campaign. Outside of work, Stu is a Board Advisor for the youth-led not-for-profit, Teach Us Consent, and a mentor for the Public Education Foundation. 

Bernice Muncaster

As the Senior Director of Marketing and Communications for DXC Technology in Asia Pacific, Bernice Muncaster is responsible for leading a team of marketing and communications professionals from across DXC’s Asia Pacific, Japan, Middle East & Africa region to advance and position DXC’s brand strategy and offerings. Bernice’s 20+ years’ experience as an industry practitioner has provided her with a deep understanding of strategic marketing, media, brand and communication strategies. Having worked across multiple marketing disciplines in country, regional and global roles, Bernice recognises the value of strong leadership and trust to achieve business and transformation goals. Before joining DXC in 2014, Bernice was with IBM for over 13 years holding several marketing and communication roles. During this time, she was also responsible for launching and running the award-winning IBM Smarter Planet marketing and advertising campaign across Asia Pacific.

Melissa Cullen

With over 25 years' experience in communications spanning consumer and B2B sectors, Mel leads Hotwire's APAC team, delivering integrated strategies that position technology clients as industry thought leaders and showcase how technology is making a difference to business and society. She has worked with leading local and global brands in technology, FMCG, finance, and sport and is known for managing complex reputational issues and landing messages through compelling content campaigns. Mel is currently contributing to Hotwire and The House of Beautiful Business's research into AI and agentic organisations, exploring how intelligent systems are reshaping agency operations and the future of communications work.

Rob Lowe

Rob Lowe is the Co-Founder and CEO of Poem; an independent Australian creative agency that earns attention for the world’s most ambitious brands.  

With over 20 years in consumer comms, working within some of the world’s leading creative PR agencies, Rob’s consistently been at the forefront of change within the industry. He was the fifth employee at One Green Bean, founded Eleven PR Australia in 2011 and launched Poem in 2015. 

Poem is built on the deeply human principle of ‘Moving People’; moving people to care and moving people to act, in order to make brands un-ignorable.   

The agency has had a rapid rise over the last ten years, with Sony PlayStation, Tourism Australia, Google, Amazon, Sonos and Uber being amongst just some of the high-profile brands that it’s currently engaged by. 

Jen Robb

Jen is navigating the practical reality of what happens when AI shifts from tool to co-worker. As Tourism Tasmania's first CTO, she's leading one of the first enterprise AI deployments across a Tasmanian government agency, moving beyond pilot projects to organisation-wide adoption across all staff, while building the governance, capability and cultural foundations that make agentic systems work in practice, not just in theory. With over 20 years at the intersection of technology leadership and emerging innovation, Jen has consistently been at the forefront of how new technologies reshape how work gets done. Her approach is grounded in a simple discipline: understand what's possible, assess what's relevant, deliver what works. 

At Tourism Tasmania, this means reimagining how AI intersects with destination marketing; where the technology isn't just changing internal workflows, but fundamentally reshaping how travellers discover, plan and experience destinations. Jen holds a Johns Hopkins AI Business Strategy certification and brings an entrepreneurial mindset to the challenge of introducing intelligent systems where aspiration must meet organisational reality.

Amy Arbery

Amy is a communications and behavioural science specialist with more than 20 years’ experience helping organisations drive meaningful culture and behaviour change. She has worked across diverse policy sectors—including environment, energy, water, agriculture, biosecurity, defence, and social welfare—bringing a deep understanding of what motivates people and how to design strategies that genuinely shift behaviour. 

Before consulting, Amy led a behavioural insights and innovation team within the Australian Government, pioneering the use of behavioural science to shape more effective policy, regulatory processes, and internal ways of working. Her approach is grounded in curiosity, empathy, and a commitment to understanding the people at the centre of any change. 

Amy’s work spans behavioural research, large-scale experiments, regulatory communications, stakeholder engagement, and strategy design. By integrating behavioural science with practical communication expertise, she delivers innovative, evidence-based solutions that are tailored, achievable, and impactful. She holds degrees in Communications and Psychology (Honours). 

Dr Sean Gallagher

Dr Sean Gallagher is the founder of Humanova and one of Australia's leading experts on AI and the future of work. He helps organisations see AI differently - not as a technology project, but as the biggest talent strategy decision of the decade.

Sean's insights are grounded in national workforce research and practical experience at the coalface of AI disruption. His 2025 report "Breaking the Scale Barrier" surveyed over 1,000 Australian knowledge workers on AI adoption, and he continues to publish industry briefings on workforce transformation. He previously led the Centre for the New Workforce at Swinburne University for six years, where he partnered with Deloitte on the first Australian research into generative AI's impact on knowledge work.

He has worked with boards and executive teams across ASX 200 companies and high-growth mid-market firms, including QBE, ANZ, AMP, Mirvac, Westpac, and Spirit Super. His research has been cited by the Fair Work Commission, shaped federal legislation (Secure Jobs, Better Pay 2022), and informed Victorian government policy on the gig economy.

Sean is a member of AHRI's Future of Work Advisory Panel and the Australian Cobotics Centre's human-robot workforce program. He holds a PhD in chemistry, for which he was awarded the RACI Cornforth Medal for the best chemistry PhD in Australia.

Mish Fletcher

Mish is the Founder of Métier Marketing, an advisory helping teams supercharge marketing with AI to accelerate business growth while adapting to the future of work. Drawing on decades of experience across Sydney, London and New York, she brings a firsthand perspective from the vanguard of technological change.

She has led both teams and organisations through successive waves of disruption at Ogilvy, Accenture, and Interpublic Group — from the dawn of digital to the rise of automation and now the era of artificial intelligence. At each stage, Mish helped redefine offerings, reimagine go-to-market strategies, and harness new technologies to meet emerging client needs, while inspiring teams across generations to experiment, upskill, and innovate to drive actionable value.

Today, through Métier Marketing, she guides leaders and teams to adapt, learn, and thrive amid transformation — bridging generations and mindsets to build more creative, resilient, and future-ready organisations in the age of AI.

Kailash Sarma

Kailash Sarma isn’t your typical Gen Z entrepreneur. By 12, he had authored his first book; by 15, he had launched his own company, and by 22, he had built a career spanning Investment Banking, Venture Capital, and Consulting. Now, as the founder of Academy of Speakers, Kailash has helped thousands unlock their confidence, influence, and communication skills. His content on public-speaking and personal growth has reached over 25 million views, and he’s worked with global brands like Snapchat and Volvo. A passionate advocate for youth leadership and mental health, Kailash’s sessions blend high-energy storytelling with practical takeaways, ensuring audiences leave inspired and equipped to lead with authenticity. 

Tom Telford

Tom is Clarity’s Chief Digital Officer. He has been leading digital marketing teams for over 20 years. He started out in ‘dot coms’, way before the technology was able to meet the ambition of this new era. This has given Tom a unique set of expertise which underpins his position leading our Digital Marketing teams globally. With a mix of in-house and client-side roles, Tom leads Sefiani and Clarity Global’s GEO and SEO, Insight, Digital Experience, Paid and Analytics teams globally.  

Amy Stevens

Amy Stevens is the Heritage Research Manager at Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, where she was the Indigenous lead on the World Heritage nomination of the Murujuga Cultural Landscape. Amy is an archaeologist with extensive experience in social research and policy and has a research focus on the social justice outcomes of heritage practice. 

As a senior policy advisor with the Australian Human Rights Commission and as Director of Research at an Aboriginal consultancy, Amy has led parliamentary tabled reviews of policy, funding and the social justice experience of Aboriginal people. 

Amrita Sidhu

As Managing Director of Medianet, Amrita leads the business’s strategic vision, operations, and commercial performance for Australia and New Zealand's leading media intelligence, PR and communications solutions provider. With over 18 years of experience, she's a recognised leader in media, technology and digital services, having previously held senior executive roles at Tigerspike (GM Asia), VMG (Global Head of Commercial and Partnerships) and Australian Associated Press (Group Sales & Marketing Director). Amrita is a driving force behind Medianet's integration of AI and automation solutions and a proud board member of AMEC. Amrita is passionate and energetic and her leadership is defined by her authentic, collaborative approach to creating value for clients, partners, and colleagues. 

Brad Pogson

Brad is a strategic communications leader with 15 years’ experience building and protecting brand reputation. As Head of Communications at Lendi Group, he leads a growing team responsible for internal comms and engagement for a network of 1,000+ staff and 1,300 brokers across Australia and the Philippines, alongside consumer PR, corporate communications and executive branding. Prior to Lendi Group, Brad held senior agency roles for a decade, including as Managing Director of Porter Novelli in New Zealand. His work and leadership have been recognised with a Cannes Lions Grand Prix, Effie and LIA amongst others.  

Johanna Lowe

Johanna Lowe is the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at the University of Sydney. She first joined the University in 2013 to lead the newly centralised marketing function and a refresh of the brand. Jo leads a talented and creative marketing and communications team responsible for building reputation and advocacy with current and future students, parents, alumni, donors, industry and staff. Prior to joining higher education, Jo held brand and marketing roles in the not-for-profit and corporate sectors.

Lia Pacquola

Lia Pacquola brings more than two decades of experience in corporate affairs, reputation leadership and government engagement. Lia leads MYOB’s trans-Tasman public relations, corporate communications, government relations and executive communication functions, driving an approach that puts cultural insight at the centre of earned strategy. 

From reputation leadership to culture-led earned media, Lia has played a central role in evolving how MYOB shows up in the market, partnering closely with product and brand teams to ensure PR acts as a catalyst for mainstream relevance – particularly for emerging audiences, such as sole operators. 

With previous roles at REA Group, Haystac Public Affairs (Dentsu) and Domaine Chandon (LVMH), Lia holds a Bachelor Arts - History and Politics (University of Melbourne), a Graduate Diploma in Public Relations (RMIT) and Diploma of Investor Relations (AIRA). 

Lia is passionate about advancing the corporate affairs and communications profession and contributing to industry dialogue on how culture-led PR, strategic communication and brand alignment can shape stronger, more resilient brands.

Daniel Klug

Daniel Klug is Director of New Media at Omnicom Oceania, where he builds platform-first ideas, products and partnerships across creative, media and earned agencies.

Prior to Omnicom, Daniel helped launch TikTok’s commercial and creative product in Australia and globally, starting and scaling TikTok for Good Launchpad, the platform’s first global commercial social impact program. Before TikTok, he was Head of Social at Clemenger BBDO, helping iconic Australian brands navigate a rapidly changing digital landscape.

Hayley Saddleton

Hayley Saddleton is a brand strategist with over a decade of experience shaping how global platforms show up in market. Her work sits at the intersection of culture, creativity and commercial strategy, helping brands find clarity and momentum through strong narrative.

Hayley began her career in agency strategy at EssenceMediacom, leading brand and communications strategy across technology, retail, government and FMCG. Hayley has since held senior brand leadership roles at TikTok and Reddit.

At TikTok, she helped define the platform’s commercial story across Australia and APAC through flagship programs and scalable go-to-market frameworks. She now leads business marketing for Reddit in Australia, shaping its narrative with advertisers and agencies to drive long-term brand and revenue growth.

Sally Davies

Sally has been the driving force in building and launching the brand new Solo by MYOB app. This mobile-first app, released at the end of 2024, is geared around revolutionising business management for Australia’s 1.6 million sole operators, including freelancers, sole traders and self-employed professionals.   

Sally wants to reshape the future of digital business management, ensuring sole traders and small business owners have the same level of innovation, efficiency and support as large enterprises. By continuing to champion diversity, drive AI-powered solutions and support small businesses, she is set to make a lasting impact on both MYOB and the broader industry.  

Before her time at MYOB, Sally was a founder of multiple businesses of various sizes. 

Mandy Galmes

Mandy Galmes is Managing Partner Australia at Sefiani, part of Clarity Global, and a trusted advisor to leaders navigating complex reputation challenges. Over more than 20 years she has designed integrated earned, owned, social and paid programs that shift behaviour, shape regulation and protect brands in moments of high scrutiny. Mandy is recognised for breaking down silos between corporate affairs, marketing and digital teams to build one reputation story across every channel. A multi awardwinning agency leader and 2024 PR Leader of the Year, she brings a practical, people-first lens to her role as an agency leader in an AIdriven world. 

Belinda Noble

Belinda spent nearly 20 years in TV news as a reporter and supervising producer before moving into corporate communications, including as Head of Communications for Red Cross.

She founded Comms Declare in 2020 to promote climate action in the communications industries. Comms Declare now has hundreds of members across media and communications.

Belinda has five kids, two dogs, a Masters in Leadership, a Graduate Diploma in Management, a BA in Communications and accreditations in public consultation, emergency management and customer experience.

Yatu Widders Hunt

Yatu Widders Hunt has proud Dunghutti and Anaiwan heritage and has a background in PR and communications. She is currently a Director at First Nations social change agency, Cox Inall Ridgeway (CIR). Having worked for many years in the government sector, she is passionate about driving policy and social change, through effective communications and engagement. Yatu has worked across a range of portfolios including environment and sustainability, mental health and immigration. At CIR, Yatu leads a lot of the communications and creative projects including on health promotion, engagement initiatives and storytelling and PR support. Yatu works with a diverse set of clients including the Federal Treasury, Country Road, Foodbank, JCDecaux and First Nations arts training organisation, NAISDA. 

As a former journalist, Yatu developed a strong interest in the Indigenous fashion and arts sector and is the founder of the online Australian Indigenous Fashion community. She speaks regularly on issues of First Nations representation and leadership in the media and social justice sectors. 

Shaun Davies

Shaun Davies is a Sydney-based AI specialist and the founder of The AI Training Company, dedicated to helping businesses move beyond the hype of artificial intelligence into safe, effective implementation. With 20 years of experience navigating major technological shifts, Shaun bridges the gap between "Big Tech" and the real-world needs. Shaun has seen AI from the inside out. At Microsoft, he led AI safety and quality for a content feed reaching over a billion people. In 2025, he partnered with Google to train newsrooms across Australia and the Philippines on the practical application of AI in journalism. His deep media pedigree includes senior leadership roles at the BBC and Nine, and international experience in Japan managing corporate communications for global brands like Uber, AOL, and DocuSign. Today, Shaun is the independent reviewer for the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation. He recently completed a Masters by Research at the University of Technology Sydney, focusing specifically on the intersection of journalism and AI.

Celia Harding

Celia Harding is the Founder of LEOPRD, the world’s first Language Engine Optimisation (LEO) advisory, building fame, findability and authority in the age of AI.

With two decades in the PR industry, Celia has worked with global giants including Google, Diageo and Mastercard, as well as pioneering founders, promoters and publishers at the cutting edge of news, tech, culture and entertainment. She is recognised as a leading voice on AI visibility at a time when large language models decide what gets bought, who gets backed, and which brands get buried.

A lifelong news junkie, Celia has secured thousands of media stories for clients worldwide - from The Times and BBC to Forbes, Australian Financial Review and The Daily Telegraph. She has also written for Mamamia and Kidspot, and is passionate about strengthening the relationship between journalists and PR professionals.

Natasha Brack

Natasha leads Snap’s communications across APAC overseeing corporate, policy, consumer and B2B comms. Prior to Snap, Natasha has worked in the technology industry for 15 years including at Microsoft and Activision in various country and regional roles, as well as time at Edelman leading their Technology portfolio.

John McDuling

John McDuling is the founding editor-in-chief of Capital Brief. Prior to his current role, he held various senior editorial positions at Nine Publishing (and Fairfax Media) across The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the AFR.

Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett

Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett is a leading Australian academic whose work addresses societal problems using marketing technology. She uses gamification, serious games and robots and GenAI to develop innovative strategies and policies. Rebekah holds the position as an Associate Dean Research for the Faculty of Business, Government and law at University of Canberra.  Rebekah was recognised by The Australian as the top marketing academic in 2019 and has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and books and was the 2025 top Ph.D supervisor and mentor in an Australian business school.  Her consumer behaviour textbook is the market leader in Australia. Her expertise in marketing technology is focused on its application for social good, specifically in an area of research she calls "Technology that improves lives and protects the planet." 

Camille Alarcon

Camille Alarcon was promoted to the role of Head of Corporate Affairs for Publicis Groupe ANZ in January 2023, after four successful years leading the PR and communications function for the company and its agency brands in Australia. As part of her expanded remit, Camille’s responsibilities encompass the New Zealand market, as well as driving the Groupe’s ANZ sustainability strategy and emissions reduction plan.

With over 20 years of experience in media and communications, Camille has worked in the UK and held leadership positions at industry-leading publishers and titles, including Marketing Week UK and B&T. She was also the founding Deputy Editor at Mumbrella, later leading its events division which became the key revenue driver for the business. Prior to joining Publicis Groupe, Camille was the Content Director at Fairfax Events where she was charged with developing new event concepts, including launching a food festival in Queensland, and working with major commercial partners.

Mark Blackburn

Mark is a resilient, passionate and versatile marketer who has succeeded and (critically) failed in brands as diverse as Apple, Carnival Corporation and LEGO during start-up, high-growth and turnaround situations in country, regional and global roles in Australia, Asia and the UK.

Over the last 20 years he has built/evolved teams (12-260), marketing programmes ($2.5M-$78M) and technology solutions (DMP, CDP, CRM, Automation, CMS) around brand strategies, marketing campaigns and product/event launches that have generated over $5.3B in omnichannel revenue (Retailer, Reseller, Online).

Now at CHOICE, Australia’s largest and oldest consumer advocacy brand Mark remains laser focused on supporting and driving transformational organisation-wide culture change through genuine customer centricity.

Mariam Rehman

Mariam Rehman is Director and Head of Communications at Monale, a global brand positioning agency specialising in strategic communications across Australia, UK, and MENA markets. With expertise in culture-conscious crisis communications and reputation growth, Mariam has helped brands navigate complex narratives whilst building authentic market presence. Her work spans ASX-listed companies, global beauty brands ($100M AR), and franchise launches, delivering measurable results through strategic campaign rollouts. Mariam's insights have been featured in The Financial Review, SBS, ABC, Foundation of Young Australians, and Broadsheet. Her cross-cultural expertise across diverse markets gives her unique perspective on the responsibilities of information dissemination, particularly around cultural sensitivity and fact verification in high-stakes scenarios. 

Craig Badings

Craig Badings is a Partner at SenateSHJ with 38 years’ experience advising boards, CEOs and executive teams on reputation, trust and leadership credibility in complex, high-stakes environments.

He is the lead interviewer and author behind Future of Reputation 2030, a global research project informed by in-depth conversations with 44 senior reputation and corporate affairs leaders across 15 countries. The work explores how reputation has shifted from a communications outcome to a governance and leadership issue - and what that means for boards and the communications profession.

Craig has worked closely with boards, management teams and in-house communication and corporate affairs leaders on crisis preparedness and response, leadership positioning, reputation risk, media and stakeholder strategy. His sector experience spans financial services, professional services, education, health and medical devices, property and construction, FMCG, telecommunications, technology and government.

A consistent focus of Craig’s work is the relationship between organisational culture, leadership behaviour and reputation risk.

Craig is also the author of two books on thought leadership — #Thought Leadership Tweet and Brand Stand: seven steps for thought leadership. Following this work he developed a proprietary methodology that helps organisations define credible, thought leading points of view and how to take them to market.

Cara Norris

Cara Norris is one of the most experienced influence strategists in Australia and New Zealand. She is Head of Growth and Partnerships at Social Soup, the pioneers of influence since 2007, and has over a decade of media, strategy and client partnerships experience. She specialises in understanding how influence shapes culture, regardless of platform, as well as building creator ecosystems and influence programs that deliver genuine advocacy and business impact.

Ben Wicks

Ben leads senior-level engagement with media and government and has a deep background as a campaign specialist. He held senior positions in both the Federal Government and the New South Wales Government for almost a decade. 

In the Federal Government he was a senior media adviser to the former Prime Minister, managing substantial domestic issues across every portfolio of government, as well as international issues including the AUKUS agreement, UK free trade agreement and Australia’s participation in G7 and G20. He was also a senior adviser to the Federal Health Minister. 

In the New South Wales Government he was the Press Secretary to the former Premier, running the press office and with responsibility for communications on the behalf the Premier and Government. 

Prior to his career in government, he was a media director, government and campaign adviser to companies in the corporate sector, including Uber, Airbnb and Facebook.

Elizabeth Rudall

Elizabeth is a senior corporate affairs professional with more than 25 years of experience, initially as a journalist and then in corporate affairs, working across Hong Kong, New York and Australia.

At ANZ, Elizabeth leads a team managing CEO, Board and Strategy Communications, based in Melbourne. This includes a focus on financial reporting as well as reputation measurement and management.

Prior to joining ANZ, Elizabeth managed Corporate Communications for Credit Suisse's investment bank in New York and for Credit Suisse across Asia Pacific. Before that, she was a financial reporter for more than a decade.

In 2024, Elizabeth received the inaugural award for Achievement in Corporate Affairs from Women in Banking and Finance.

Mandi Wicks

Mandi Wicks is the Director of News and Current Affairs at SBS working with a team dedicated to delivering one of Australia’s most trusted news and current affairs services – including SBS World News, Insight, Dateline and The Feed - across TV, online, audio and third-party platforms. SBS’s role has never been more important with its stated purpose to ‘inspire all Australians to explore, respect and celebrate our diverse world and in doing so, contribute to a cohesive society’.

Mandi has more than 35 years’ experience in the media industry, working at four of Australia’s leading networks (SBS, Macquarie Media, Southern Cross Austereo and Nova Entertainment) and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.