Nicky is a C-Suite Executive and Board Member. She has 24 years of experience in leading within global corporations. She has developed and built brands, grown businesses, and created and nurtured capability in systems and people

She is recognised for her depth and breadth of expertise across FMCG, Retail, Luxury, and Ecommerce. Her experience spans food, beverages, health care and personal care. She has a long track record of successful delivery in Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company, P&G and George Patterson Y&R.

Nicky holds a Masters in International Business from University of Technology Sydney. This has been supported by significant global business and management experience across Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe, US and the highly diverse markets of Asia.

She was promoted to VP Refreshment at Unilever in 2011. In this role she led a portfolio of Ice cream and Beverage brands across Asia-Pacific.

In 2016 she was appointed CEO of T2 Tea. T2 is a growing luxury retailer. Nicky is accountable for delivering the bottom line of T2 and for driving its global expansion, for omni-channel acceleration and for digital and tech enabled transformation.

Nicky is also a Board Director of the World Wildlife Fund Australia. She is a passionate advocate that businesses today must drive sustainable agendas that positively impact both people and the planet.

The best advice she has ever been given was “when you are dancing on thin ice you may as well tap dance” and that is how she lives her life in Singapore with her husband Graeme and their two kids, Keira & Lachlan.

Kristian Aquilina was appointed Executive Director of Marketing (CMO) at Holden in April 2018 and is responsible for all of General Motors’ marketing efforts across Australia and New Zealand.

Kristian joined GM Holden in 1997 to support the Corporate Affairs team and their launch of the VT Commodore. From 2001 he moved into a variety of roles across Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. Kristian’s career at GM also includes supporting international brands such as Chevrolet in Brazil and the Middle East, Pontiac in the USA and Buick in China.

Kristian performed the role of Marketing Manager for Large Cars, SUV’s & LCV’s and was Holden’s Regional Manager for Victoria & Tasmania in 2013.

In 2014, he was appointed Managing Director of Holden New Zealand, responsible for the Holden and Isuzu heavy truck brands in that market until returning to Australia last year.

Andrew is the Chief Commercial Officer of the NRL. He is responsible for the Game’s revenue streams and commercial strategy including media rights, sponsorship, events, licensing and marketing the Game.

His responsibilities include driving growth in both corporate and consumer markets and the delivery of the Game’s brand and marketing strategy. Previously, Andrew was a Director for Deloitte Consulting in Sydney, where he focused on strategy and operations consulting. Andrew has previous experience in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and long term value creation projects in South Africa, West Africa, Bermuda and Australia.

Rocky is a world-renowned futurologist. His pioneering research on the confluence of demographic change associated with Millennials and digital technology, have influenced the way we think about our social, cultural, economic and technological future. His new book, Youthquake 4.0 – A Whole Generation and The New Industrial Revolution, was launched in September 2018.

As a media commentator, his unique insights have featured on SKY Business News, The Australian Financial Review, ABC Radio National, The Economist, Forbes and Bloomberg. As an international keynote speaker, his presentations have captivated audiences across Asia-Pacific, the US and Europe. As a thought-leader, over 150 boards and leadership teams, including Fortune 100 corporations, each year seek his advice on strategy.

A distinguished author, his 14-published thought leadership research reports have become internationally recognised for their influence including the World Economic Forum’s Disruptive Innovation in Financial Services Program.

In an executive capacity, he is a member of the Optus Business Leadership team as the Director, Centre for Industry 4.0 where he leads the specialist team creating world class thought-leadership and innovation on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In a non-executive capacity, he is a director on the board of Community First Credit Union, a member of the Retail Employees Superannuation Trust Technology Advisory Panel and a member of the Australian Payments Council.

Georgina is a professional Non-executive director on the boards of Reece and Lifestyle Communities.

Most recently, she worked as CEO of Food and Wine Victoria, but has spent the majority of her career in financial services. Roles have included serving as a Group Executive on the AustralianSuper executive team leading Marketing, Policy, Media and Corporate Relations, Communications, Analytics and Product Management. Prior to that, Georgina helped re-launch the Bank of Melbourne as Head of Brand and marketing.

Georgina built her career at National Australia Bank, working initially as a Strategy Advisor before rising up to head of Strategic Marketing then Managing Partner for the NAB business.

Michele Teague was most recently General Manager Marketing for Kmart Australia and left in 2017 to join the board of ASX listed The Reject Shop. Michele has had an extensive marketing career in Australia and New Zealand with brands in a range of sectors; including Metcash, Telecom, Air New Zealand, KFC, Pizza Hut and Woolworths, as well as being the Managing Director of The Campaign Palace advertising agency in Sydney.

Michele was a judge at Cannes 2016 in the Advertising Effectiveness category. Prior to her move to Australia, Michele was a Non-Executive Director of New Zealand Rugby League.

Nick Baker is the CEO of Outdoria and Go See Australia, joining the two organisations in 2017.

It’s his second CEO position, after first joining online experience gift retailer, Red Balloon in 2015. The chief roles came after seven successful years as CMO of Tourism Australia, where he was a member of the executive leadership team reporting to the MD, with responsibility for global marketing operations including public relations, digital and research, both in B2C andB2B. He was also the executive general manager marketing and sales for Voyages Hotels and Resorts, where he supported Voyages through a major transformation period which included the acquisition of a number of companies requiring the establishment of the brand and an aggressive focus on growth.

Nick has worked across the world in operations, sales and marketing areas particularly in businesses requiring marketing realignment and digital transformation. He was named the 2013 ADMA Marketer of the Year and was honoured the AMI 2014 Marketer of the Year.

Mark Renshaw is a strategic team leader who drives growth, builds new capabilities, ways of working and culture. Mark goes to work every day with the attitude ‘we can be better’ and find ways to bring the best out of teams and individuals. He believes in the power of a company having a unifying core purpose, identifying what a company stands for, stands against and driving that into product development, distribution, marketing, brand building and most importantly, company culture.

Mark has helped some of the largest and fastest-growing companies transform and digitise their business, safeguarding them from disruption in their category. The types of challenges that he has helped companies solve include: reframing a business to deposition competition; reaching new audiences and developing new products/services; digitising marketing, media and retail models using new technologies; reducing marketing complexity and increasing effectiveness; bringing stronger strategic insights to business strategies and product development plans; and leveraging e-commerce and social media to drive incremental revenue.

Mark has worked with five of the 10 most valuable global brands and two of the fastest risers and their C-level executives.

Mark’s experience includes B2C & B2B Brands, leveraging creativity and new marketing technologies and operational models, driven influence, built communities, leveraged CRM programs, and created new products and services to earn trust and drive growth. Categories that he has driven growth in include Technology Products and Services (Amazon, HP, Adobe, IBM, Microsoft, Samsung, Symantec, SingTel, Optus), Travel and Tourism (Travelocity, Hilton, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, NSW Tourism, Singapore Tourist Board), Consumer Goods (P&G, Kellogg’s, Mars, Heineken), Automotive (GM, Nissan, Subaru) QSR (McDonald’s, KFC, Taco Bell) and Insurance (Allstate, e-surance, Prudential, Principal).

Today Mark is the chief marketing officer at SiteMinder, the global hotel industry’s leading guest acquisition platform and one of the top 20 tech pioneers to come out of Australia.

Jane is the Director of Marketing at SBS, with responsibility for SBS’s marketing division including all elements of brand management, on and off channel marketing, digital strategy, publicity and social media.

Since joining SBS in 2012, Jane has held a number of key roles across SBS’s Sales, Content and Marketing teams to define SBS’s unique proposition in market and grown audience affinity for the brand.

Jane has more than 20 years’ experience in marketing within the broadcast industry, with roles at some of Australia’s biggest media organisations including Nova Entertainment, Global Radio and Southern Cross Austereo.

Jane holds a Bachelor of Communications and International Business from Queensland University of Technology.

Michele Phillips is a Partner at Johnson Executive Search and was previously a Partner at Korn Ferry.

Michele is one of the country’s pre-eminent executive search consultants in her field, and brings over two decades of experience with some of the world’s strongest brands, both in Australia and internationally. She has partnered with leading ASX-listed and foreign multinational companies, along with private equity firms to appoint Chairs, Non-Executive Directors, CEOs and members of the Executive Leadership Team. Having commenced her career in marketing, Michele is a strong advocate for the commercial acumen, innovation and leadership skills that marketers bring to transform organisations.

Michele was previously a Vice-President, Electrolux Australia and Asia-Pacific. Commencing her career at Procter & Gamble, Michele was one of the region’s leading Chief Marketing Officers, holding leadership roles in Australia and overseas, including with Kimberly Clark and Nestle, and has been a Non-Executive Director in consumer and health organisations. Michele brings first-hand experience within leading brands, which means that she understands the challenges of client organisations and brings deep insights in respect of their businesses and leadership needs.

Gillian Coutts is Australian Country Director of Potential Project, a global leadership training, organisational development and research firm. Potential Project help leaders and organisations enhance performance, innovation and resilience through mindfulness and other practices grounded in neuroscience and research.
She is co-author of One Second Ahead – Enhance Your Performance at Work with Mindfulness published by Palgrave Macmillan in November 2015, and strategic advisor and researcher on The Mind of the Leader – How to Lead Yourself, Your People and Your Organization for Extraordinary Result” published by Harvard Business Review Press in March 2018.

Gillian is a former corporate leader, and with the Potential Project team now works with forward thinking companies like Accenture, Microsoft and 500+ other global clients helping create people-centric cultures and truly human leadership.

Gillian holds a degree in Economics, and graduate diplomas in Counseling (performance psychology) and Operations Research/Statistics. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Deputy Chair of Uniting NSW.ACT, one of Australia’s largest not-for-profit community service providers. She is personally interested in researching the role of compassion and wisdom as strategic enablers for individual employees, their leaders and organisational systems as a whole.

She came to this work following the birth of her son, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and forced to confront the consequences of a life lived on autopilot. She lives in Sydney.

Poised and polished, Rebecca Smith knows more than a thing or two about what makes a marketing campaign soar. While still at uni she won a national entrepreneurial competition for her own social enterprise. She went on to work for some of the world’s biggest beauty brands and travelled the world to meet some of the best minds in her industry. This is why Rebecca brings both a local and a global view to her approach to marketing and product development.

Managing a broad skilled marketing and product development team, she’s one of those rare people who make a living predicting what other people will love in the future: She has her finger on the pulse and a head full of incredible consumer insights.

Rebecca is passionate about what she does because making an impact matters to her it’s why she loves working for a social enterprise like Thankyou, and her passion for it is never more evident than when she’s on stage.

Sue Langley is CEO and Founder of the Langley Group, and travels the globe engaging people from all walks of life. Her ability to energise teams for change, develop resilience and wellbeing in others, and to inspire leaders to be the best they can be, makes her one of the most sought-after speakers in her field.

Sue has worked with thousands of business leaders, HR professionals, managers and consultants to help them learn how to harness the brain’s potential, create positive workplace cultures and increase performance and productivity.

Sue specialises in the practical applications of neuroscience,
emotional intelligence and positive psychology, synthesising
the science and research into simple, practical tools that anyone can use. Her research – aimed squarely at the sweet spot between emotional intelligence, positive emotions and brain science – inspires people to get the best from themselves and from their peers and teams.

Her keynotes are sought-after at international conferences, including the European Conference on Positive Psychology (ECPP), International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA), Canadian Positive Psychology Association (CPPA), Wellbeing@Work and many more.
Sue works with top organisations such as Oracle, Revlon, Schneider Electric and the Australian Government, facilitating multi-year programmes to build positive workplace cultures, emotionally intelligent leaders and high-performing teams.

She is the creator of the world’s first Australian Government accredited 10653NAT Diploma of Positive Psychology and Wellbeing, delivered around the globe through the registered training organisation, the Langley Group Institute.

Tyron Hayes has twice been ranked in the top 20 Marketing Leaders in Australia as part of CMO50 by IDG. He also led his marketing team at Curtin to be ranked the #1 Marketing Team in Australia due to the marketing transformation that he led while Chief Marketing Officer at Curtin (2015-2019).

Ty is an established keynote speaker in Australia, and a contributor to marketing publications and podcasts.
As Chief Marketing Officer for Curtin University – a global university ranked in the top 1% in the world with campuses in Western Australia, Dubai, Mauritius, Singapore and Malaysia, Ty helped Curtin drive double-digit domestic market share growth to own 53% of the market. He took the brand from a challenger brand to market leader, and launched his team from a traditional, in-house service provider to an agile, customer-centric growth driver.

Throughout his 20-year marketing career, Ty’s worked in London and Sydney for other leading universities including London Business School and University of New South Wales. Prior to education, Ty worked agency-side for a brand-design firm, and held other roles in product management, market research and B2B marketing.

Ty’s passionate about creating a Startup culture within established marketing teams, building high performing cultures, and using agile practices and innovation methods to enable organisations to lean into disruption and win.

Ty left Curtin University in March 2019 to establish Growth Generators, a modern consultancy and training outfit which supports marketing leaders to drive growth, transformation and innovation.

Naima Wilson is ethical outdoor clothing company, Patagonia’s marketing manager for Australia and New Zealand .She’s charged with amplifying the company’s mission and values for the region.

After over 15 years in the surf, action sports and fashion industry in various roles in Australia and overseas, from sourcing to brand management , Naima joined Patagonia in 2015. She oversees today all marketing channels strategy and the running of environmental and sports campaigns, ensuring authenticity and making an impact.

A Master Degree from one of France ’s leading business schools , including a year study in Sao Paulo, Brazil, specialising in international trade and marketing strategy, have helped her forge a diverse business acumen and develop in-depth understanding of global cultures and markets.

Passionate about social justice, Naima feels very lucky to work for a business which core values align with her own beliefs.

Naima believes in the power of business to effect long-term positive change and is committed in her role at Patagonia to use marketing as tool to inspire customers to be more conscious and become more active in environmental and social issues, but also influence other companies in Australia to evaluate and improve their approach to their industry.

Stuart leads the customer function for hipages, Australia’s number one place to hire a trusted tradesperson. This role encompasses most aspects of the customer experience, including leadership of sales, service and marketing.

Prior to hipages, Stuart held a senior marketing role at Commonwealth Bank, where he was responsible for brand strategy, sponsorship, media, social media, marketing operations & market research.

Immediately prior to Commonwealth Bank, Stuart held a marketing & product leadership role with Aussie Home Loans. He has also held senior marketing roles with Optus & KFC. With around 30 years marketing experience, Stuart considers himself lucky to have worked on some of Australia’s leading brands.

Stuart is also on the Board of CanTeen, the youth cancer charity and ADMA, the Australian Data-driven Marketing Association.

Nicole Papoutsis joined premium fertility group Genea in 2010 and is currently Head of Brand & Marketing. Having previously held positions in banking, finance and retail her career in marketing spans more than 15 years.

As a member of the senior leadership team she is responsible for overall brand management of the group which consists of five brands operating in markets across the globe. In 2011 Nicole implemented the re-brand from Sydney IVF to Genea and subsequently the brand architecture which positioned the company for its’ future direction and strategy.

Currently charged with increasing awareness around fertility, empowering women and men to make life changing decisions and differentiating the Genea brand in a crowded market not only with consumers but also with referring healthcare professionals. Operating in a tightly regulated and complex healthcare environment, she is required to constantly redefine Genea’s communications approach.

Nicole has driven many innovative campaigns such as the multi award-winning Modern Babies podcast series, Exhibition of Life and the launch of Australia’s first egg freezing clinic – Genea Horizon.

Ben Soubies has experience in working across multiple different industry sectors and different countries. Engaging with C-Level Executives and trying to understand what they need to achieve to drive true business outcomes. Ben enjoys following the development and impact of information technology in business and society. Having worked for TBWA, Gartner and Talkwalker Ben brings a lot of market research experience to the table. For years he has been advising companies across the world on how to leverage the digital age to their advantage. Today as Head of APAC at Talkwalker Ben advises partners and organisations on best practices in monitoring, measuring and analysing online conversations.

Tamara Howe has been Marketing & Corporate Affairs Director since April 2019.

Tamara joined Kellogg Australia in 2003 as a Brand Manager and then relocated to the US business in Battle Creek Michigan in 2006. In 2009, Tamara took on a role in the Global Marketing team and was later promoted to Director, Special K Franchise in 2013, leading Kellogg’s largest brand for North America at the time.
In 2014, Tamara relocated back to Australia to assume the role of leading the Innovation team before being promoted to Marketing Director, Australia in October 2015. Tamara also assumed functional responsibility for New Zealand in 2017 and in April 2019 was promoted to her current position.

Prior to joining Kellogg’s, Tamara spent several years working in marketing roles within (the then) Dairy Farmers Australia.
Tamara completed her Bachelor degree in Commerce at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Tamara is a Director of the Kellogg Australia Charitable Foundation and Australasian Advisory Board Member for the Ehrenberg Bass Institute of Marketing Science. Tamara was named #18 in the CMO Magazine Top 50 CMOs in 2018.

Nadia is a respected and award-winning industry Journalist and Editor with 17 years’ experience and is the Publisher and Editor of CMO from IDG.

Throughout her career, she has maintained a focus on technology and business, working for titles such as CIO, Computerworld, PC World, Australian Reseller News (ARN), Exhibition News, Business Asia, and now CMO. From 2010 to 2012, Nadia was Managing Editor of business publications for the UK live events industry, and created FaceTime Magazine for event marketers. She’s also responsible for launching and transforming key industry events, such as the annual ARN Industry Awards and Exhibition News Awards.

Nadia rejoined IDG Australia in 2013 to create CMO, a dedicated title for the modern marketing chief. In 2015, CMO launched the CMO50 program, now recognised as the country’s premiere list for modern marketing excellence, supported by a highly prestigious annual event.

Jordan leads marketing for Asia-Pacific and Japan at Sitecore, a technology provider focused on helping organisations transform digitally through contextual customer experiences and commerce.

Prior to joining Sitecore, Jordan led global marketing campaigns for SimpliVity, a startup and one of the world’s fastest growing IT infrastructure companies, recently sold to HPE. With time as a CMO of Objective and in Boston, leading EMC’s global marketing programs transformation, Jordan is passionate about developing the strategy, as well as building and executing marketing in a way that generates revenue for the business.

Jithesh works with businesses in various industries to improve their customer acquisition, customer experience, and support by leveraging Artificial Intelligence via the Bold360 Solution by LogMeIn.

Prior to LogMeIn, he has helped businesses streamline and automate their marketing to achieve greater ROI with Marketing Automation.

Tim Lavelle was recently named Director of the Oracle CX and OMC Solution Engineers after joining Oracle in November 2018 as a Master Principle Solution Engineer. As the Director, Tim is responsible for leading the pre-sales engineers on how they bring the CX products to market and ensuring that the customer outcome is the key driver for their engagements with clients.

Tim joined Oracle to help spread the awareness of their Marketing Cloud suite and help clients use marketing products which have a strong data-driven approach and powerful REST APIs to enable businesses to thrive in the IoT and headless environments.

Tim comes from Accenture Interactive where he was the senior Architect across the Adobe, Open-Source and web framework and before that was the lead solutions architect for Suncorp and Universal Music Australia.