Speakers

GLOBAL SPEAKER

Thomas Barta

Thomas Barta is a global authority on marketing leadership.

He’s the CEO of the Marketing Leadership Institute.

A former McKinsey Partner and CMO, he pioneered the world’s largest study on marketing leadership — 68,000+ assessments across 60+ countries.

Thomas has written the #1 marketing leadership book The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader (with Patrick Barwise) and founded the Marketing Leadership Masterclass.

As Dean of the global CMO Fellowship, he has guided 400+ leaders to the top.

His work appears in Marketing Week, Forbes, and Nikkei.

Thomas delivers keynotes and growth workshops internationally.

GLOBAL SPEAKER

Mark Pollard

Mark runs Sweathead, a strategy training, event, and publishing company. 
 
He’s trained The Wall Street Journal, Complex Media, On Running, Twitter, and Meta while growing the Sweathead Facebook Group to over 20,000 members and the Sweathead podcast to over 1.6 million total listens.  
 
Mark spent almost two decades working in advertising in agencies like Leo Burnett, Big Spaceship, and McCann before setting up Sweathead in New York City. His roles have touched user experience, social media strategy, and account planning. 
 
Outside of advertising, Mark is a writer and publisher. In fact, he published Australia’s first full color hip hop magazine with a CD and, having raised $37,000 on Kickstarter, he’s sold 8,000 copies of his first book “Strategy Is Your Words”. 
 
He’s spoken at conferences like the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and he’s hosted strategy masterclasses in tens of countries.  

GLOBAL SPEAKER

Sherilyn Shackell

Sherilyn launched The Marketing Academy, a non profit organisation, in the UK in 2010, Australia in 2014, USA in 2018 & APAC in 2023, bringing together some of the world’s best known & popular brands to provide world class learning for all levels of talent from emerging leaders to CMOs. 

She is also the Founder & Chairman of The Marketing Academy Foundation, a stand alone charity providing marketing apprenticeships for young people from challenging backgrounds. 

A highly popular and engaging keynote speaker you’ll often find her delivering leadership development programs. When she gets the chance, she writes about talent engagement & development and all things ‘leadership’ featuring in The Sunday Times, FastCo, Telegraph, AdNews, Marketing Week, AdWeek, Marketing Magazine, Management Today and CMO.com. 

She’s received recognision for her work; CIM Women in Marketing ‘Special Award for Contribution to Marketing’, was inducted into the Courvoisier Future 500, invited to join the Marketing Group of Great Britain and was identified as one of the UK’s Vision100 by Adobe and AdNews Top 50 list of most powerful influencers in Australia. 

GLOBAL SPEAKER

Ruben Schreurs

Ruben Schreurs is Ebiquity’s Group Chief Executive Officer. Ruben joined the Company in 2020 following the acquisition of Digital Decisions BV, the specialist digital media monitoring and optimisation service provider, which Ruben founded in 2017. After joining the Group Ruben was Ebiquity’s Chief Product Officer until July 2023 and Chief Strategy Officer since that date. Prior to setting up Digital Decisions, Ruben previously held positions at Infectious Media and Autheos.  

GLOBAL SPEAKER

Maura Tuohy

Maura is a seasoned Product Marketing leader and ethical technologist best known for shaping trust & safety products and marketing initiatives at Discord, Twitter, and Mozilla.  

She has built a reputation for pioneering trust & safety marketing programs that are engaging, impactful, and—most importantly—don’t suck. Notable projects include Twitter Data Dash, a side-scrolling pixel art game designed to demystify Twitter’s revamped privacy policy (RIP), as well as Discord’s Safety Tarot Cards, the Teen Charter for a Better Internet, and the Zoltar Safety Fortune-Telling Machine—all innovative approaches to digital safety education. 

Before transitioning into product marketing in tech, Maura honed her expertise in advertising agencies, spending five years in Australia, where she earned her MBA—and, in a moment of infamy, walked away with a $15,000 Banksy painting (a story best left for you to uncover). 

Passionate about digital literacy, Maura is dedicated to bridging the gap between parents and teens in the realms of gaming and social media. She believes in harnessing the power of the internet and AI as tools for human progress and is committed to helping mission-driven organizations develop exceptional products while educating users, parents, and policymakers alike. 

She holds a Master’s in Law from UC Law San Francisco and aspires to pursue a PhD in AI safety—“once things calm down.” At home she is kept on her toes by her two boisterous boys and wonderful husband.  

Lara Thom

Lara Thom is currently Global Chief Marketing Officer at Guzman y Gomez (GYG). GYG is Australia’s fastest-growing fast food company, serving made-to-order Mexican food using real, fresh produce and authentic ingredients. With speed, technology and innovation at the core of the business, GYG is reinventing fast food by showing it’s possible to serve good food, fast, without compromising on nutrition or quality. 

Lara joined GYG in 2016 after a period as General Manager of Digital and Marketing for Vittoria Food & Beverage. Lara is an entrepreneur at heart and thrives within founder-led businesses. Having launched several successful ventures, including digital agency Be.Interactive which was sold to Salmat in 2010, babywear brand “L’il Fraser Collection” and the “Junior MasterChef” range of children’s cookware and aprons.  Lara began her career as a journalist at the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph.  Lara was also named as Mi3 CMO of the Year for 2025. This award recognises senior marketing leaders who stand out for their vision, creativity, and impact.  

Lara has previously also held positions on the Board of Loreto Normanhurst, has served on the Local Organising Committee for the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Sydney 2022 and she is the proud Mum to 5 children between the ages of 21 and 13. Lara spends her weekends driving children to sports and answering questions like “are you completely mad?”.

Brenda Denbesten

Brenda Denbesten is an award-winning leadership and communication specialist with over 18 years’ experience across mining, manufacturing and engineering – some of Australia’s most complex, high-pressure environments. A former chemical engineer, she brings deep operational credibility to her work helping leaders communicate with clarity, confidence and influence when it matters most.

Brenda works with organisations and senior professionals to strengthen decision-making, build trust and create high-performing cultures where people speak up and lead with impact. She is the co-founder of Speakworthy, host of The Inclusive Advantage podcast, and Chair of the Intersectionality Advisory Committee for the National Association of Women in Operations (NAWO). Her work is known for being grounded, commercially relevant and immediately applicable in real-world leadership and communication challenges.

Fraser McNaughton

Fraser has spent 30 years helping organisations tell their stories and build lasting client relationships. From early days in insurance and financial markets to leading digital-first initiatives, Fraser has always been driven by curiosity and a belief that marketing and sales is about people as much as it is about numbers. Today, as Chief Marketing Officer at Grant Thornton, Fraser leads a talented team across revenue operations, marketing operations, brand, and client experience — bringing together diverse skills to create growth and impact. 

Colleagues know Fraser for a collaborative leadership style, a knack for spotting opportunities in change, and a genuine passion for digital transformation in marketing and sales. Whether guiding a team through complex challenges or exploring new ways to connect with clients, Fraser is energised by the chance to make business more human, more innovative, and more rewarding for everyone involved. Beyond his role at Grant Thornton, Fraser is a member of the ‘AI Pioneer’ group at ACAM, the Australian Centre for AI in Marketing.  

Outside of work, Fraser enjoys playing and coaching football and spending time with his family which mostly involves driving here, there, and everywhere supporting his two daughters sporting endeavours.  

Joanna Robinson

Bio coming soon…

Gonçalo Pinto da Costa

Bio coming soon…

Lucinda Barlow

Lucinda leads Uber’s International Marketing team, overseeing over 60 countries across APAC, EMEA, and LATAM. She drives cross-market synergy while strengthening Uber’s local presence—scaling go-to-market strategies, elevating global marketing capabilities, and fostering bold creativity and innovation. Prior to this, she was Head of Marketing APAC.

Under her leadership, Uber has launched award-winning campaigns, including Tonight I’ll Be Eating, Get Almost Almost Anything, and When You’ve Done Enough.

Before Uber, Lucinda led global consumer and product marketing for YouTube in California, helping grow its user base to two billion daily users. She built YouTube’s product marketing function, launched its ad-supported original content, and scaled YouTube’s Culture & Trends operation worldwide. Prior to that, she spent seven years leading Google’s marketing and communications in Australia and NZ, shaping the brand, supporting businesses online, and spearheading key partnerships.

With 25+ years of experience across tech, media, internet, and mobile across APAC, Lucinda has held leadership roles at Symbian, where she led global marketing and built the company’s first China office. She has also worked in two internet startups and began her career as a mission-critical systems engineer at BHP.

Lucinda holds first-class honors degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and an MBA from INSEAD. She now lives in Bronte Beach, Sydney, with her husband and three children.

Alex McLean

Alex McLean is BMW’s General Manager of Marketing & Product, across Australia & New Zealand. He oversees the brand’s strategic communication direction, spearheading digital and customer transformation initiatives that keep BMW at the forefront across the ANZ market.

He looks forward to sharing insights on how BMW continues to redefine automotive marketing in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Jodi Murray-Freedman

Bio coming soon…

Mat Baxter

Mat Baxter is an Australian marketing leader who spent more than twenty years running major media and creative agencies in Australia and New York, working with global brands and leading teams across multiple regions.

He is the founder of SKINGRAPHICA, a company creating a new category in luxury skincare for tattooed skin, and the co-founder of TMRW, an AI-driven health diagnostics business disrupting traditional healthcare models.

He now applies the skills and perspective gained from decades in the agency world to building and scaling his own ventures.

Mel Hopkins

Melissa Hopkins is one of Australia’s most dynamic brand and marketing leaders, known for reinventing legacy businesses, building high-performing teams and turning bold ideas into commercial results. 

With global experience across telco, media and technology, she has shaped some of the most loved brands, championing data-led creativity, customer obsession and modern marketing systems that drive real growth. 

A straight-talking, culture-first leader, Melissa is passionate about elevating the craft of marketing and pushing the industry forward. She now brings this energy into the tech start-up world, helping build the next wave of marketing innovation. 

Amanda Behre

Amanda is an experienced executive marketing and commercial partnerships leader with almost 20 years’ experience across a diversity of categories from travel and tourism, ecommerce and digital marketplaces. She has led teams for brands such as Gumtree, Wotif, Hireup and Qantas Holidays based in USA and Australia and has managed consumer and B2B marketing, communications, CRM, marketing technology, automation and CX, managing databases of over 7 million consumers. Amanda is also an accredited career and leadership coach, growth advisor, Non Executive Director supporting brands from BIG4 Holiday Parks to Flexischools and is now Founder of Dear Thrive, a platform connecting working professionals to a network of advisory and coaching support. Amanda has been a previous speaker and panellist across events from Mumbrella to The Customer Show.

Henry Smith

Bio coming soon…

Julie Dormand

Bio coming soon

Katie Dally

Katie Dally is a visionary marketing leader with 20 years’ experience building brand from the inside out across ASX-listed companies and international award-winning creative agencies. She has a proven track record of using creativity to drive commercial results and leading large teams to produce the best work of their careers. In 2024, she launched Plus Also Studios, a creative technology company that leveraged AI and automation to accelerate brand efficiency and effectiveness for Endeavour Group. She has since founded her own advisory practice, The Growth Multiplier, and is active in the start-up space as a board advisor to Manifest. 

Katie is also a Marketing Academy Scholar and council member, where she supports alumni navigating redundancy and is helping shift the industry conversation through various Redundancy Unmasked initiatives including this one at M360. 

Asier Carazo

With over a decade of strategic leadership across media, creative and communications agencies, Asier Carazo spearheads the strategy function at one Australia’s fastest growing media agencies, Atomic 212°. A global strategist at heart, his career spans Spain, France, the USA and now Australia, bringing a rare mix of international perspective and hands-on execution. 

Asier began his career as a media and communications strategist working on complex, data-driven businesses such as Air France and the US Army. He then moved into global strategy roles including at Havas Media, where he led media strategies for major brands like Danone, LVMH and AXA across Latin America and Europe. 

Now at Atomic 212°, Asier leads a growing strategic team focused on bridging research, media and business outcomes. He has been instrumental in developing the agency’s proprietary research and insights product, Sonar, which breaks silos between research and media strategy to deliver actionable audience insight. 

Asier is passionate about embedding diversity, equity and inclusion into media planning, and has spoken publicly on how accessibility and inclusive communications must become core to strategy and not just nice add-ons. 

In his role, Asier oversees strategy across Atomic 212°’s national footprint and global-mindset client base, with the aim of ensuring media investment is smarter, faster and accountable. He believes that effective communications arise when content, context and message are seamlessly aligned and when strategic plans are as clear for the CFO as they are for a creative team. 

Cara Richardson

Cara Richardson is the founder of Cycle Positive and a leading voice in the emerging field of cyclical leadership. With 25 years of experience in branding, strategy and creative direction, she brings a sharp understanding of human behaviour, communication and performance to her work with leaders and organisations.

As the ECD and founder of Tuckshop Agency, Cara built a successful independent consultancy shaping some of Australia’s most recognisable Better-for-You brands. During this time she began exploring how cyclical intelligence could inform creative leadership and team culture. This included encouraging her team to work with their natural cycles of focus and capacity, and to take restorative days when needed. The experience revealed both the potential and the complexity of applying cycle-aware leadership in real creative environments. These early explorations evolved into Cycle Positive, a leadership performance modality that draws on menstrual cycle awareness and broader human cycles to support leaders of all genders.

Cara speaks on cyclical leadership, regenerative performance culture and the shift beyond hustle culture toward more sustainable, intelligent and human ways of working. She is currently expanding Cycle Positive’s corporate programs, research pathways and thought-leadership work across Australia and internationally.

Pat Guerrera

Patrick is a transformation-focused brand and marketing leader who moves confidently between the C-suite, the design studio and the boardroom. Across more than two decades in global brand consulting, design and advertising, he has helped reshape some of Australia’s most recognisable organisations—commercially, culturally and reputationally—while building creative businesses that operate on a global stage. 

He is best known for founding and leading Re, the design and experience business within the M&C Saatchi Group, where he grew the company from a local branding studio into a multi-market design business. Under his leadership, Re partnered with major brands across finance, telco, tech and the public sector. His long-running partnership with Optus is a signature example—helping the business evolve from a traditional telco into a modern, customer-led brand system, including the creation of Yes Agency as an in-house capability aligned to growth, innovation and experience. 

Today, as founder of Rebellion Consulting and a fractional Chief Growth & Marketing Officer, Patrick partners with CEOs and executive teams who want more than incremental gains. He designs customer-led growth systems, modern marketing operations and internal agency models that combine creativity, data and AI—especially in complex, regulated environments like financial services, fintech, telco and member-based organisations. As a member of the D&AD Global Advisory Board and a regular keynote speaker on creative leadership and the future of marketing, he continues to champion one core belief: the most powerful brands are built by creating the conditions for people to do the best work of their lives. 

Paul Nunnari

Paul Nunnari is an accomplished Australian Paralympic athlete, disability advocate, performer, and business leader. As a wheelchair athlete, he represented Australia in three consecutive Paralympic Games – Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, and Athens 2004.

Known as “The Other Superman,” he later gained national recognition as a wheelchair aerialist on Australia’s Got Talent, performing internationally and appearing in films. His unique perspective as both a Paralympic athlete and performer has informed his advocacy for authentic disability representation in media and entertainment.

During his career in the New South Wales government, Nunnari championed accessibility initiatives, notably contributing to making the Sydney Harbour Bridge wheelchair accessible. His work on major events like the 2018 Invictus Games and Sydney New Year’s Eve celebrations earned him the Public Service Medal (PSM) in 2022 for outstanding public service in access and inclusion.

Paul is currently the CEO of Inclusively Made, transforming the film, TV and advertising industries’ approach to disability inclusion.

Erin McBean

Erin grew up on a long, dusty road bordered by a dairy farm, an abattoir and a highway with 3 sisters, an overactive imagination and a penchant for telling stories. Through a series of unforeseeable events, she found herself living in Germany, where she lived and worked for 10 years. She has worked across documentary, advertising, music and film production on everything from a documentary about the sex life of a solo mum by choice to a nature series on dinosaurs in the Arctic. She loves humour, telling a good story, surfing tiny waves and hot chips. And alongside making commercials every day, she is developing a range of both documentary and fiction projects.

Daniel Reisinger

Daniel’s a visual director who mines comedy from pathos. He’s Australian (which is his parent’s fault). His work has had 100s of millions of views, winning awards including Cannes Lions, the Grand Effie and D&AD pencils. He’s shot FILM and TV in the UK, US and Australia with OSCAR, GOLDEN GLOBE, BAFTA and EMMY winners. Including Jason Sudeikis (aka Ted Lasso) and Dame Harriet Walter (aka the Mum from Succession).

His British feature dramedy ANDMRS (Universal/ Netflix) received critical acclaim with THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER calling it, “a masterclass in comedy”, with, “a stellar ensemble”, and THE GUARDIAN, “a cathartic romcom”, that, “rides an emotional crescendo”.

His series SIDESWIPED (which he co-created, EPed and Directed) has more than 55 million views and great reviews and has jist been re released by ITV

Dan started out in news and documentaries at the ABC. His advertising work has seen him punk US congressmen and try to get an outback KFC a Michelin star. These campaigns won at all the big awards including the Grand Effie and 7 Cannes Lions while receiving over a 1,000,000,000 media impressions (that’s not a typo). His work has received press from Vanity Fair, CNBC, ABC, Variety, Wired, Deadline, Fox News, Le Monde, Deadline, Indiewire and Ain’t It Cool News – who called him; “a force to be reckoned with.”

Maddy MacRae

Maddy MacRae is an actor, content creator, and comedian who has taken social media by storm. Unfiltered, hilarious, and refreshingly relatable, Maddy dives into dating, sex, adulting, and the beautiful chaos of being a hot mess – earning the attention of over 3.5 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Known for her unique comedic voice, Maddy brings everyday struggles to life – from personifying body parts to the dramatic inner workings of the stomach (IYKYK).

Maddy’s reach goes beyond social media. She’s an in-demand host, having partnered with TikTok for major events and serving as Warner Brothers’ go-to red carpet host, where she’s interviewed stars like Jason Momoa, Margot Robbie, and Greta Gerwig.

Whether she’s delivering a hot take, a life tip, or an honest overshare, Maddy keeps it real with her audience. For a daily dose of laughter and a comedic take on life’s messier moments, follow Maddy MacRae on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Dave Jansen

Dave is an Effie & Emmy Awarded Creative Leader with over 20 years of experience across digital, entertainment, advertising and production. He is the Founding Partner of Connecting Plots Group which includes Connecting Plots, Infinity Squared, a.glo, and CP-PR. He’s part time Creative Director, part time Executive Producer, and full time Chief Energy Officer.  He has an unwavering passion for entertaining creativity that puts the audience first, and has led major campaigns for Tourism Australia, Fantastic Furniture, XXXX, McDonald’s and Lendlease. He is also the founder of Infinity Squared, an award winning production company, who won an International Emmy Award for #7 Days Later, the world’s first crowdsourced TV show.

Lee Wolahan

Lee Wolahan, one of Australia’s most experienced police negotiators will break down how to read body language and stress signals, build trust quickly with hostile or resistant counterparts, and de-escalate conflict without losing authority. Translating life-or-death techniques into commercial and leadership contexts, the session offers practical tools for navigating confrontations, deadlocks and critical conversations, when emotions are high, time is limited and control is slipping.

Britt Wickes

Bio coming soon…

Jessie Hughes

Jessie Hughes is an internationally-recognised new media artist, technologist, scholar and screenwriter, her works having exhibited most notably at Sundance, SXSW, Cannes and the Tate Modern. She’s collaborated with the likes of Meta, Oculus and Adobe, in a decade of leading imaginative emerging technologies. Jessie Hughes is the Senior Creative Technologist at generative AI leader Leonardo.Ai (Canva Company), pioneering creativity community of 55 Million users. She is an awarder early-adopter of new technologies.

Lucio Ribeiro

Lucio Ribeiro is Chief AI & Innovation Officer at TBWA\Australia. Previously, he held senior leadership roles at Optus, Nine and Seven, with a track record of commercialising new technology and delivering measurable business impact. He has founded three tech ventures. Lucio is a Forbes Australia technology columnist, a LinkedIn Top Voice in AI, and a global keynote speaker on AI, innovation and creative strategy. He is a lecturer at RMIT, holds executive certifications in AI and innovation from MIT Sloan, and is an AICD graduate and a Marketing Academy alumnus.

Lauren Dawber

Lauren is a senior media and marketing leader with deep expertise in operational marketing excellence, agency stewardship and high‑performance team leadership. Over the past five years, she has held two executive roles: first as Managing Director at Carat Australia, where she led agency and client strategic transformation, and currently as Senior Director, Media, Operations & Performance at Optus.

At Optus, Lauren plays a pivotal role in shaping media efficiency and effectiveness through future‑ready marketing operations, including leading the agency partnership ecosystem; an approach widely recognised for its strategic discipline and forward‑looking design, alongside driving marketing led transformation to deliver efficiency, enhancing and automating the end-to-end operating process.

When she’s not working, Lauren can be found chasing after her two little hurricanes, Oscar and Belle, who keep life joyful, unpredictable, and very well‑grounded!

Yasmina Pinto

Yasmina Pinto is a senior brand leader and educator with 20 years’ experience shaping some of Australia’s most recognised brands. As Head of Brand at AGL for seven years, she has led major brand and marketing projects during AGL’s transformation, including repositioning AGL for the energy transition, launching a telecommunications brand extension, and numerous content and social media programs. Previously Head of Brand at HCF, she oversaw an award‑winning brand transformation nation-wide. Yasmina has also lectured in postgraduate Brand Management at UNSW and published a brand transformation case study globally.

Aimee Dixon

A seasoned marketing executive with a robust foundation in commercial outcomes, data, insights, and AI. Aimee brings a unique blend of analytical and strategic skills to her creative remit.

Her career, which has spanned financial and strategic roles before transitioning to marketing, has allowed her to leverage her commercial acumen to drive impactful campaigns, foster brand growth, and enhance customer’s experience.

Known for her innovative approach and ability to navigate complex market dynamics, Aimee excels in creating value-driven strategies that align with business objectives and prioritize customer needs.
Her leadership and vision continue to inspire teams and deliver exceptional results.

Bridget Cleary

Bio coming soon…

Marty Hungerford

Marty Hungerford is Chief Innovation Officer and founding partner of BRX, where he is redefining how creative agencies deliver value through technology, insight and craft.

With over 25 years of experience building and guiding digital, creative and strategic teams across top-tier multinational networks and independent agencies, Marty has helped some of Australia’s most iconic brands including Optus, Medibank, AGL, Australia Post, HostPlus and Youi generate stronger engagement, measurable outcomes and long-term customer value.

He is focused on transforming both BRX and its clients’ businesses through the practical application of AI, embedding generative tools across strategy, copy, imagery, video, music and voice. These technologies are used not only to elevate creative output, but to drive efficiency, reduce production costs and accelerate time to market.

Marty’s mission is to help build the agency model of the future, one that is agile, intelligent and integrated, designed to help brands compete and thrive in a fast-evolving digital economy.

Karin Du Chenne

Karin leads client and growth initiatives at Kantar Australia, helping organisations harness brand, digital, AI and analytics to unlock sharper insights and turn them into commercial advantage. Her experience spans fintech, FMCG, media and tourism — and her energy lies in pushing brands to think bigger and move faster.

A dynamic leader with more than 25 years’ impact across local and global markets, Karin believes AI is the most powerful accelerator of shared understanding and innovation our industry has ever seen. Her international career includes three years in Istanbul as Chief Client Officer for Kantar MEA, before returning to serve as CEO of Kantar South Africa. She is also a two‑time Insight250 global winner, recognised for innovation in data‑driven marketing.

Karin holds a BCom in Marketing and Finance and completed Sustainability in Business at Cambridge. A passionate explorer, she brings a bold, global perspective to every stage and conversation

Emma Barbato

Emma is the creator of Australia’s first AI influencer, Bruce Ryder,a cultural wildcard who not only redefined digital identity but also took out the title of Best AI Influencer of 2025 at the Australian AI Festival. The Bruce Ryder biopic went on to become a finalist in Australia’s first AI Film Festival, and together, they became the first human–AI duo to appear live on an Australian stage delivering a keynote address.

A creative strategist and narrative innovator with over 20 years of experience, Emma works across the evolving terrain where media, human behaviour, and emerging technology collide. With a foundation in consumer psychology and brand development, she now pioneers how AI is reshaping storytelling, performance, and content creation with the new medium of hyper-media.

Her work has appeared on prime-time television, in global publications including the first AI edition of the Lurzers Archives, and across award-winning campaigns. As a pioneer of Generation AI storytelling, she leads the conversation on the future of narrative, identity, and interactive story design.

Daren Poole

Daren is a globally recognized expert in advertising effectiveness who has spent over thirty years guiding the world’s leading brands to maximize their creative ROI. Now, as the Creative Excellence Leader for Ipsos in Australia, he helps clients to amplify creative impact through the use of consumer research and AI.

Previously, as the Global Head of Creative at Kantar, Daren led the firm’s creative development solutions. His deep understanding of what makes advertising connect with consumers has been acknowledged through his roles as a sought-after speaker and a juror for both the Cannes Lions awards and the Australian Effie Awards. With extensive work experience across the UK, USA, Asia, and Australia, Daren brings a unique global perspective on the art and science of building powerful, effective brands.

Jet Swain

Jet Swain is the founder of The Affection Economy, a values-led framework helping brands and leaders grow without compromise. With more than 35 years across creative strategy, brand, and leadership, she works at the intersection of design research, culture, and customer experience.

Jet translates human behaviour into commercial clarity, helping organisations design the conditions where connection, relevance, and long-term value can emerge. Her frameworks — The Five Acts of The Affection Advantage and the 36 Values of The Affection Economy — are used to shape brand, culture, and CX strategies that move people from awareness to meaningful engagement.

Vinne Schifferstein Vidal

For over two decades, Vinne Schifferstein has built production companies balancing creative ambition with commercial reality. Trained in Marketing, Media Economics, and Law, she’s led businesses across four countries from Publicis and Omnicom to startups. At Monks, she co-founded the ANZ operation and delivered global production for BMW across 29 markets.

Her AI approach is business-focused: after seeing ChatGPT’s client impact, she completed MIT’s AI program and built production capabilities at MADE THIS Clemenger BBDO. A former marketer herself, she translates production complexity into business outcomes.

At MC&V, Vinne leads strategy, partnerships, and delivery ensuring every project is commercially sound and operationally flawless.

Marie-Celine Merret

Marie-Céline Merret identified the commercial potential of AI in production early and has spent the past two years proving it under real agency conditions.

Her career spans experiential design & creative technology at Fake Love NYC (A New York Times Company), delivering global work for Google, Samsung, Lexus and 7Up, co-founding Monks ANZ, and leading AI-native production as Head of Creative Technology & AI at MADE THIS Clemenger BBDO.

With a foundation in creative technology, digital production and experiential design, MC brings rare fluency across code and craft. At MC&V, MC leads creative direction and production, curating specialist AI artists globally to deliver emotionally resonant work that ships on time, on budget, and to brand and business objectives.

Bianca Meek

Bianca is a seasoned business leader, strategist and innovation specialist that helps companies get unstuck, fast. With 20+ years’ experience, she’s helped 100+ brands grow, guided private equity on value creation, and led innovation programs across four continents. Known for her clarity, commerciality and straight-talking style, Bianca brings energy and substance to every stage, from boardroom to conference hall.

Genevieve Reynolds

Gen is a Partner and commercial strategist who helps organisations drive growth by using brand and customer strategy as levers of enterprise value. Having worked as both a practitioner and advisor, she ensures bold ambition stands up to operational and commercial reality. Promoted to Partner within eight years, Gen exemplifies modern leadership — commercially rigorous, customer-obsessed, and a trusted people leader known for empathy, clarity and results.

Nicole Velik

Nicole Velik is a leading creativity and innovation speaker, facilitator and trainer, and the founder of creativity company The Ideas Bodega. A three-time SXSW Sydney speaker, she is also the host of Creativity Unpacked the Podcast and the event series CreativeMornings Sydney. 

Nicole’s mission is to make creativity exciting, accessible and practical for her audiences. She believes creativity is everyone’s job, no matter the role. Audiences leave her sessions with renewed confidence and a sense of creative bravery. 

For 18 years Nicole has worked with organisations across The United States, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, Africa and Asia. Her clients include The United Nations, Nike, Apple, Canva, LEGO, Spotify, Coca-Cola, TikTok and Google. 

In 2021, Nicole launched a podcast ‘Creativity Unpacked’. It debuted at number one for six weeks in the Apple Marketing charts. Nicole interviews brilliant creatives and together they unpack some big ideas. The overarching premise is that creativity is not elusive and it’s a skill we all possess.  

Nicole’s background is in advertising as a brand strategist. She spent most of her time in advertising working at Saatchi & Saatchi in Sydney and KBP in New York City. When Nicole returned to Australia in 2008, she pursued her passion for innovation and developing creative workplace cultures. She founded The Ideas Bodega in 2009 to combine her passions and skill of empowering people, brands and creativity.  

Nicole is a regular speaker on creativity and innovation and has educated, entertained and inspired audiences at global conferences such as SXSW, Vivid Ideas, Ad:Tech, Promax BDA, CreativeMornings, Creative Innovation, GEMA and Emergence Creative. 

A recognised thought leader on creativity and innovation, Nicole has been interviewed and published in the Australian Financial Review, The ABC, CMO Magazine, Media Week and the Collective Magazine. 

For 7 years Nicole has hosted CreativeMornings Sydney – A monthly, global lecture series for the creative industry. Sydney is one of 240 cities around the world to take part. 
 

Sive Buckley

Sive Buckley is the Managing Partner of Born Creators, a global collective of independent agencies spanning creative, content, media, digital, CX, and technology. With over 15 years of experience across Australia, the Middle East, and Europe. Sive has built a career leading integrated marketing solutions that bridge strategy and execution to drive business growth. 

With a background spanning creative development, customer experience, media strategy, and digital performance marketing, Sive’s work has been recognised at major award shows including Cannes Lions, Mumbrella, AWARD Awards, and B&T. 

Throughout her established career, Sive has held senior leadership roles at CHEP, AKQA, and Essence Mediacom, working with leading brands such as Telstra, Flybuys, Commonwealth Bank, and Salesforce, leading high-profile campaigns including ‘Give a Flybuys’. 

Alongside her role at Born Creators, Sive is Head of Operations at The Aunties, the advertising industry’s leading mentoring and support network dedicated to advancing women in the industry. In this role, she helps scale programs and partnerships, supports the community’s mentor network, and drives initiatives that create practical pathways for women to grow their careers, build confidence, and access real sponsorship and opportunity. Sive is passionate about building spaces where generosity and straight-talking guidance can coexist, and where the next generation of leaders are supported to thrive. 

Sive is committed to driving greater diversity, equity, and inclusion within the industry, alongside shaping a more collaborative and future-focused approach to marketing. 

Lauren Thornborough

Lauren Thornborough is a seasoned media professional with 20 years of dedicated client service expertise, spanning key categories including FMCG, Finance, Alcohol, Luxury, Government, and Food. Currently she is employed at Mindshare as a Managing Partner across the Unilever business. 

Outside of her day-to-day role, Lauren has an extensive background in championing causes within the Australian media industry.  This led to her to establishing ‘The Village’ with Lou Wilson in 2024.  An association built to connect, support and advocate for working parents in the Australian Media Industry to have a successful and sustainable careers. To date The Village has 825 members and it services its community via a series of education events and peer to peer mentoring sessions, with much more in the pipeline for 2026. 

Jacquie Alley

Jacquie is the Chief Operating Officer & co-owner of The Media Store and Chairperson of the Independent Media Association of Australia.  

As a second-generation indie agency owner and mother of four boys, you’d think that would keep her busy enough. Yet her passion for our industry to tackle important issues has led her to volunteer extensive time within the IMAA, Experience Advocacy Taskforce and The Village.  

As the 2025 B&T Women in Media Champion of Change winner, and 2025 Global Indie Legend Bronze winner, Jacquie is clearly passionate about people and purpose, wanting to make a tangible difference in the lives of those she is entrusted to lead.  Whether that’s championing women into leadership roles, challenging the ageism biases, or supporting working parents, Jacquie is all in. 

Marilla Akkermans

Marilla Akkermans is the founder and managing director of Equality Media + Marketing, an independent agency proving that people-first business isn’t just possible, it’s powerful. 

Since launching Equality in 2018, Marilla has redefined what leadership in media looks like, balancing care and commercial success in equal measure. In 2025, under her direction, Equality has recorded 447% year-on-year profit growth, expanded its team by 65%, and achieved 85% retention, all while operating a four-day week at full pay. 

Her progressive workplace design, anchored by Equality Time and Equality Care, has made the agency a three-time AFR BOSS Best Place to Work winner. These initiatives include a four-day work week, 19 additional days of inclusive leave for circumstances often overlooked in traditional workplaces, from menopause and miscarriage to gender affirmation and caregiving. 

Marilla’s leadership extends beyond business. Through a long-standing partnership with Women’s Property Initiatives (WPI), she donates 10% of profits and provides pro bono marketing support, helping raise over $705,000 in 24 hours to fund homes for women and children experiencing homelessness. 

Her work has been recognised by Smart50, B&T, AdNews, and Mumbrella for innovation in people and culture, and she has become a leading voice for women in media, culture-first leadership, and values-based entrepreneurship. 

As a speaker, writer, and advocate, Marilla combines pragmatism with purpose, challenging outdated norms and inspiring a new model of leadership built on empathy, equity, and excellence. 

Laura Wilson

Laura Wilson is a former Chief Marketing Officer and senior business leader who has built, reset and scaled marketing functions inside some of Australia’s most complex and demanding organisations, including Deliveroo, NAB, AGL and RACV.

A sought-after advisor to CEOs and executive teams, Laura operates at the nexus of pragmatic strategy and leadership where ambition meets organisational reality. She is known for helping leaders sync their systems: aligning strategy,structure, capability and culture so marketing functions can deliver sustained commercial impact. In 2022, Laura co-founded Wingmaven, a marketing advisory that helps ambitious leaders and businesses build match-fit marketing functions designed for growth. Wingmaven works with scale-ups and enterprise organisations across Australia & New Zealand including Alinta Energy, Kiwibank, REA Group and Xero.

Jenn Ten Seldam

Jenn’s reputation as an inspirational and transformational leader has been built over an executive career of over 20+ years in APAC and Global roles. She has built, re-designed and evolved high-performing teams/divisions in fast-paced, high-growth technology businesses (SEEK, Xero) as well as mature corporate institutions (NAB, Vodafone). Over the years she has been trusted to coach countless senior marketing and business leaders through critical ‘level up’ moments, in successful pursuit of both fulfilment and achievement. This ‘lived experience’ was a unique leverage point upon which she co-founded Wingmaven in 2022 with Laura Wilson. A fast-growing marketing ‘coach-sultancy’,  Wingmaven helps ambitious businesses achieve their boldest goals by building marketing functions that are match-fit for success, from fast-growing scale-ups to corporate clients such as Alinta Energy and Kiwibank. Visit wingmaven.com for more information. 

Joel Vermaas

An insights-slinger with 18 years’ experience, Joel has had the fortune of working with brands at all stages of their lifecycle – from incubator/startups through to 100+ year established multi-nationals. He started his career at Millward Brown / Kanter, before moving to Blue Moon (during the transition to GfK), was Senior Associate Director and Head of Innovation at Nature, had a role as Executive Director at Lewers, before founding Vibrant Insights in 2023. 

With expertise in a range of disciplines (segmentation, choice modelling, brand health, communications, etc.), methods (telephone, online, face-to-face), and sectors (auto to finance, consumer goods to technology, digital services to mental health), Joel is well-versed in helping businesses deeply understand their customers, by whatever means. 

Joel is also proud to give back regularly: from mentoring in the industry, to committee member for The Research Society National Conference, alongside regular pro-bono and volunteer work. 

Joel is the Founder at Vibrant Insights, a boutique market research, insights and strategy agency in Australia. Vibrant Insights operates at the intersection of community and commerciality. Vibrant is proud to deliver research insights and strategy that allows clients to embark on decisions with confidence, allowing their brands to thrive; this work has lead to clear business outcomes, with many of Vibrant’s clients going on to win awards for business impact. At the same time, each project delivered builds Vibrant’s ‘peace chest’ – a commitment to community, donating 10% of profits to charity, alongside engaging in heavily discounted research for not-for-profits, and self-funding commercial research to benefit Vibrant’s clients. He is also Founder and Department Head at The Research Department. 

Matthew Sandwell

Matt is a senior insights and strategy professional with over 20 years’ experience helping clients better understand the culture, category and consumer to navigate their path to sustainable growth.​

Having worked in Australia, New Zealand, and throughout Asia, with global giants to start-ups, he has significant experience across a wide range of sectors and technical areas. ​

Matt utilise best practice methodologies to help better understand the culture, category and consumer, their needs, wants and desires, spanning early phase exploratory research to go to market activation and performance assessment. Equally, this insight is only as good as the decision it informs, applying a commercial lens to help guide clear, confident business decisions.​

Matt is currently Director at The Owl Insights and The Research Department. Prior to this, his most recent roles were as Managing Partner at Hall & Partners, Strategy Director at The Lab Insights and Strategy and Head of Research at Growth Solutions Group. ​

Matt holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) from UWA, a Marketing Mini-MBA and is a full member of the Research Society.

Phillip Smith

Over the past 25 years, Phil has been at the forefront of marketing communication services – both client and agency side – building marketing communication businesses that have become market leaders and innovators in their field. 

A passionate believer in the area of “Experience Management”, his focus is channeled into driving customer engagement by integrating strategy, creativity, technology, and media through a direct filter. 

Phil sees the opportunity for marketers to evolve CX from the current Customer Experience mindset and structure to Contextual Experience by using the relevant channels to connect with their audience in real time leveraging data fundamentals to understand behaviour and triggers to optimise value. 

Margy Vary

Margy is CMO of The Conversation, the world’s largest publisher of academic journalism. She has 25 years’ experience in advertising, marketing and consulting. She is an alumnus of the Marketing Academy, has a Mini MBA in brand management, and a full MBA specialising in business for social and environmental impact. She was previously the Marketing Director of Guardian Australia, head of marketing for Virgin Atlantic in Australia, advertising account director at Host, and a Board member at environmental co-operative The Bower. 

Josh Grace

Josh Grace is a commercial executive, board director and former CMO with a 25 year track record leading growth and transformation across global corporates, PE-backed businesses and scaleups. As Founder of Upscale Marketing Function, he partners with CEOs and founders to redesign operating and go-to-market models for accelerated, capital-efficient growth. Previously Chief Customer Officer at Colonial First State and CMO at Samsung Australia, Josh has led multi-billion dollar portfolios, unified complex operating models, and pioneered data-driven, integrated agency structures—including Samsung’s globally piloted “One Agency” model. A former Olympian, Josh brings clarity, discipline and high performance leadership to the evolving CMO–agency equation. 

Julia Vargiu

Julia Vargiu is Director, Australia at SI Global and Founder & MD of New Business Methodology. She helps agency and tech leaders scale, grow and maximise value, ensuring they are fit for scale and fit for sale. Born in Silicon Valley, sharpened in New York, now a proud Sydneysider, Julia brings 25 years’ experience advising creative, marketing and tech businesses across Australia, APAC and the US on strategic growth and exit readiness. 

A sought-after executive advisor, keynote speaker, panel moderator and awards judge, she speaks on agency growth, deal-readiness, scaling with strategy, founder psychology and the shifting buyer landscape. Julia is known for her commercial clarity, fearless thinking and founder-first approach, helping great businesses realise their full value and prepare for sale with confidence, clarity and control.