Nicholas Gray

Bio coming soon.

Rebecca Costello

Rebecca Costello is the managing director of the Guardian in Australia and New Zealand, part of the Guardian’s global network delivering trusted, independent journalism that is open to all, funded by many, and beholden to no one. She leads the organisation’s commercial strategy and operations, ensuring its long-term sustainability. 

Previously, Rebecca was CEO of Schwartz Media for 17 years, where she oversaw The Monthly and launched The Saturday Paper and the award-winning daily news podcast 7am, establishing the company as one of Australia’s most trusted and influential independent publishers. Earlier in her career, she held senior commercial roles across both established and start-up media organisations. 

A committed advocate for independent media, Rebecca focuses on building strong commercial frameworks that support a diverse and sustainable media sector. She is also passionate about gender equity, creating pathways for women and amplifying diverse voices across the industry. 

Tim Duggan

Tim Duggan is an optimist who loves thinking about big ideas. He is the Chair of the Digital Publishers Alliance, an industry body representing over 150 titles from Australia’s leading independent digital publishers.

He has co-founded several digital media ventures, most notably Junkee Media, the new media publisher which was acquired by ASX-listed oOh!media.

His first book, ‘Cult Status: How to build a business people adore’ was awarded the Best Entrepreneurship and Small Business Book at the 2021 Australian Business Book Awards, and his second book on creativity, ‘Killer Thinking: How to turn good ideas into brilliant ones’ was named one of the Best Books of 2022 by Apple Books.

Tim’s latest book, ‘Work Backwards: The revolutionary method to work smarter and live better’ explores how anyone can take advantage of a once-in-a-generations moment to rethink how and why we work.

Will Hayward

Will Hayward is the CEO of Private Media, parent company of Crikey, The Mandarin, SmartCo Media and a variety of other brands. Will is also an adjunct professor at the University of Canberra. Prior to Private Media, he served in a variety of roles at The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and BuzzFeed.

Zara Curtis

Zara Curtis is an award-winning content and marketing leader with more than 20 years experience across media, content, marketing, and television production.

As the Chief Content Officer at Mamamia, Zara is driven by a deep curiosity and a personal belief in the power of storytelling to drive connection and activate change. She is an audience-obsessed and growth-focused leader who sets the strategic direction for the company, overseeing the Content, Creative Services, and Audience teams across all platforms.

Prior to her current role, Zara held senior leadership positions including Head of Customer Experience, Brand and Social Impact at IAG; General Manager, Commercial Content and Brand Storytelling at FremantleMedia Australia; and Commercial Director at News Corporation. She was also an Executive Producer on the award-winning documentary, A Fire Inside. Renowned for her ability to create highly effective teams and drive business outcomes, Zara leads with curiosity, passion, and a culture-first approach.

Toby Hemming

Toby Hemming is a senior creative and media leader with over 20 years’ experience across advertising, communications, publishing and brand strategy. As Managing Director of LBB APAC, he’s grown the region into a global top-three market, building a high-performing team and delivering over $1m in annual revenue.

A former founder of Bold Media Group and senior exec at WPP AUNZ, News Corp and Sky UK, Toby blends commercial acumen with strong editorial instinct. He’s a regular industry judge, speaker and board director with a passion for purpose-driven storytelling, team wellbeing and mentoring the next generation of creative talent.

Kurt Gessler

Kurt Gessler is a staff product manager at Taboola, focusing on publisher data and tools, including personalization, AI and agentic experiences. Before joining Taboola, Gessler was a senior manager and editor in newsrooms for more than two decades. As the director of editorial product & strategy at Tribune Publishing, he oversaw audience growth, newsroom data, platforms and product development. Prior to that role, Gessler was head of digital for the Chicago Tribune. He also has served as adjunct faculty in the graduate programs at Northwestern University and the University of Nebraska. For his work on social media metrics and audience engagement, he was named to MediaShift's 2017 MetricShift20 list of leaders in media metrics.

Tory Maguire

In 2024 Tory Maguire was appointed Managing Director – Publishing, assuming management responsibility for Nine’s publishing assets including metro mastheads and The Australian Financial Review.

Prior to this, Tory was the Executive Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times and WAToday – a role she held from July 2021. A highly-experienced editor and journalist, she led the transformation of the newsrooms of the mastheads and saw significant growth in all areas of her remit.

Maguire previously held senior editorial roles at News Corp and The Huffington Post as well as National Editor at Nine’s metro mastheads.

Scott Purcell

Scott Purcell is the Co-Founder and Director of Man of Many, Australia’s largest men’s lifestyle publisher and the nation’s first 100% carbon-neutral, Climate Active certified digital media brand. Launching the platform from a spare bedroom in 2012, Scott has steered Man of Many to a global reach of over 6 million people monthly, 900,000+ social followers and 130,000 newsletter subscribers.

A former Senior Financial Analyst at Westpac Institutional Bank and a CFA charterholder, Scott blends financial rigour with creative vision to deliver data-led storytelling for leading global brands including Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Nike, IWC, TAG Heuer and Cartier.

Under his leadership, Man of Many has been named Media Brand of the Year at the 2025 Mumbrella Awards, won Website of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards in 2020, 2023 and 2024, and collected accolades such as Best Media Platform at the B&T Awards 2023 and Best Native Advertising at the Digital Media Awards Asia 2024. Personally, Scott was ranked #42 on the MediaWeek Power 100 in 2024 and was named Publish Leader of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards 2023.

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.