Jane runs the Australian and NZ operations of Standard Media Index, a global provider of real time advertising expenditure data, a business she co-founded in 2009. A former Media Editor of Australia’s national newspaper The Australian, Jane’s background is in media, having been a business journalist specialising in the sector for 15 years.

Media remains Jane’s passion, although these days she’s focused on SMI’s business development while also managing the relationships with SMI’s local data providers – the Media Agencies – and working with them to continually improve the data product.

Jane has a BA (Journalism) and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment.

Ben Sullivan has over 15 years’ experience in Automotive  research, covering Brand, advertising & marketing strategy, product development, customer experience and business consulting.  Ben is one of the most knowledgeable and talented automotive researchers in Australia with a depth of knowledge of and passion for the automotive industry that is hard to surpass.

In his current role as Group Director, Insights and Innovation Ben draws on his extensive experience in designing and overseeing Potentiate’s Automotive Insights offering, large scale Customer Experience programs and complex ad-hoc research projects. He spent 6 years working as the head of Toyota Australia’s Consumer Insights team and now provides insights and consultation around brand strategy, tactical activities, business operations and research and modelling solutions across the industry.  He has appeared at numerous conferences, workshops and training events and is always an engaging and informative presenter.

Graeme Whickman is president and chief executive officer, Ford of Australia and New Zealand at Ford Motor Company, a position he has held since 2015. In this role, he is leading the team delivering Ford’s transformation plan to that will result in a world-class marketing and sales organization serving the wants and needs of our customers in Australia.

Previously, Whickman served as the vice president, Marketing Sales & Service, Ford of Australia, playing a key role in delivering the transformation of Ford’s business in the market, including the work to revamp the dealer experience, resulting in dramatic improvements in customer satisfaction with both sales and service.

Since joining the company in 1997, Whickman has delivered landmark work in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. Prior to moving to Australia, he served as vice president of Marketing and vice president of Sales for Ford of Canada, where he pioneered the company’s global consumer experience initiatives. Before that, he was the executive director of Marketing for Asia Pacific, leading the transformation of the company’s key marketing processes in Asia Pacific.

Among other company assignments, he was the market director for Ford in New Zealand and worked on customer relationship management for Ford in the U.K.

Prior to coming to Ford, Whickman served with Coca Cola in New Zealand and Hertz Rentacar in the U.K.
Whickman grew up in England and New Zealand, and obtained a Bachelor of Business in Marketing from Auckland University of Technology (NZ) in 1998.

As Head of Mumbrella Bespoke, Alex helps brands talk to Mumbrella’s audience in a relevant and engaging way through events, written native content, podcasts, video and platforms.

In this role, he also oversee the curation of the Mumbrella Sports Marketing Summit and the Mumbrella Awards, the biggest and most robust awards program in the Australian industry.

Successful international businessman, entrepreneur, thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder, investor, philanthropist and the man behind Australia’s most controversial television commercials, Ultra Tune Executive Chairman Sean Buckley is a man of many parts.

He took over the Ultra Tune car service franchise in 1994 when it had 50 outlets and was losing money. He famously accepted only $100 a week in wages so he could invest back into the business. Now there are 290 car service centres across Australia and in 2016 Ultra Tune was named Australia’s highest rating, most trusted and value for money car service chain by independent consumer research and ratings company Canstar Blue.x

His horses are champions including 2013 Cox Plate winner Shamus Award and Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year in 2007, Miss Andretti who is the only thoroughbred in history to simultaneously hold a total of 5 track records in Australia and England.

His controversial TV advertisements over the last 3 years featuring the Ultra Tune Rubber Girls and in 2017 aided by Hollywood star Jean-Claude Van Damme have made headlines worldwide, yet despite the record number of complaints, have all been given a clean bill of health and tick of approval by the nation’s Advertising Standards Bureau ( ASB). “I’m the first to admit that the TV ads are not everyone’s cup of tea but they do garner attention and more importantly our customers are voting with their feet and their cars with both brand awareness as well as revenue increasing by a whopping 17% and 19% respectively for our 290 Ultra Tune outlets nationally. The decision by the ASB is a good one. It justifies what I have been saying all along that these ads aren’t vilifying and sexist but entertainment and fun. The complainants are a well organised group who are personally attacking Ultra Tune and myself. They have their own agenda and do not reflect the general consumer sentiment. To put it simply, the commercials catch enough attention to be talked about long after the ad has finished. It is a conversation starter – bring it up to your friends in conversation, ‘Have you seen that Ultra Tune ad?’ and watch the engagement” says Ultra Tune Executive Chairman, Sean Buckley.

Bio to come…

Heading up Taboola ANZ since 2014, Joe has been working with in the digital marketing industry since 2002. Before joining Taboola he worked with MSN, LinkedIn and Yahoo. In his current role he has been working with hundreds of advertisers in Australia and NZ from brands as diverse as Sanitarium, Lite ‘n Easy to Woolmark and Les Mills. With a special passion for travel, Joe is particularly focused on the Tourism Industry and the tech changes that are opening up new engagement and conversion tools for Travel & Tourism marketers

As Head of Marketing Communications at Renault, Terri is responsible for driving the strategy across the Advertising, Sponsorship, Digital, CX and Local Area Marketing Teams. With a passion for brand strategy and driving a clear vision across all marketing programs and customer touch points, Terri’s focus is building a long term sustainable brand while still delivering short term business results.

Coming from a creative agency background along with retail and automotive corporate marketing experience, Terri enjoys the challenge of finding innovative solutions to achieving commercial objectives.

Bentley runs through David’s blood. Working his way up through the business from a fresh-eyed graduate straight out of Uni, his comprehensive experience has seen him work across almost every area of the business from Product Research, After Sales, Product Marketing to Pre-Owned.

An energetic and passionate professional, David was charged with setting up the Bentley Regional office in Singapore almost four years ago and has been responsible for driving substantial growth across South East Asia in that time.

In his current role as Regional Sales Manager Asia Pacific, David, seen 15% growth in Australia over the last 12 months, a result he is keen to consolidate as Bentley continues to increase their presence within the Australian luxury automotive market.

As Client Services Director for Neonormal, a full-service brand experience agency, Taryn’s day job is to drive and measure the transformation of everyday business encounters into rewarding brand experiences.

Taryn has spent much of the past four years working closely with clients, Renault and Bentley to develop considered brand experience strategies that champion an inside out approach that engages employees, dealer networks, partnerships, media, prospects and customers alike to deliver genuine business results.

Passionate about getting to the heart of clients’ needs, fostering better ways to collaborate, and championing how we make work ever more measureable, Taryn brings unflagging energy, warmth and enthusiasm to everything she does.

Frank has been an advertising creative for almost three decades. Over that time, he has created campaigns for many automotive brands and helped launch new entrants in the Australian market. Frank is the Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director of independent Melbourne agency – Spinach. A creative ad guy with a passion for automotive, he applies a consumer first mindset to every campaign his agency undertakes for its clients. Frank will present his observations about what he believes is not working in automotive advertising and how it can be done better.

Fiorella is responsible for leading and implementing the national sales strategy and creative teams for Bauer Media’s more than 60 multi-platform media brands, including market leading titles, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Gourmet Traveller, TV Week, Australian House and Garden and Harper’s BAZAAR.

She joined Bauer following a 20-year career at News Corp where she held a number of leadership positions including Group Director of Sales. She played an integral role in the launch of News Corp’s commuter newspaper MX before being appointed Victorian sales director for the national sales operation. She later became national sales director before being promoted to deputy group sales director where she led the integration of the print and digital sales teams and established an in house creative unit to support the creation of cross platform media solutions.

Over the past 30 years Bill Gillespie has amassed a broad and varied experience base in all areas of the automotive business in a variety of senior management roles both within the passenger car segments and more recently the truck industry with Hino Trucks.

His experience extends across General Manager roles, Director of Sales and Marketing at a national level, always with a view to building the brand or the franchise model and ultimately making the business stronger both within the short and long term.

Bill Gillespie joined Hino Motor Sales Australia in 2014 and is General Manager, Brand and Franchise Development. His role encompasses the creation and direct strategic direction for the company nationally along with the direct control of Sales, Customer Experience, Product Strategy and the longer term direction in the area of Network Development.

He has an extensive background in the Australian automotive industry with experience working in various business development, automotive distribution and automotive marketing roles plus consultation roles in Australia. In that time he has also operated at an international level in Japan, France and Korea and understands the diversity required to operate at both local, regional and international levels whilst producing strong results in that environment.
He has previously held senior positions with Peugeot, Nissan, Kia, Toyota and Daihatsu.

Bio to come…

Cathy has been with Google since 2011, and was appointed to head up the Automotive division in August 2016. She has 15 years experience in Marketing, Media and Sales, having previously worked in Google EMEA headquarters and Mindshare. In her current role, Cathy engages with all the major automotive manufacturers as well as supporting industries. She has a particular passion for future proofing brands in the digital age.

Ted Bergeron leads Facebook’s team focused on the Automotive industry working with marketers, agencies, and dealerships to achieve measureable business outcomes across the Facebook platforms.

Well versed in the changing landscape of the Automotive industry, Ted partners closely with clients to maximize marketing effectiveness through mobile first content, media and measurement strategies.

Prior to joining Facebook in 2012, Ted worked at creative ad agencies The Monkeys in Sydney and TBWA\Chiat\Day in Los Angeles. He was part of teams that developed award-winning campaigns for clients including IKEA, Pepsi, Pedigree (Mars), and Telstra.

Having a strong passion for anything automotive, Miguel has pursued some of the most well known marques throughout his career working in the category for over 13 years agency side.

Miguel’s experience is broad and integrated. This has seen him work on brand and retail campaigns, a tonne of new vehicle launches, customer lifecycle and crm programs as well as dealer development and local area marketing for various dealer groups.

Liz Martin is the Customer Relationship & Marketing Manager for Col Crawford Lifestyle Cars a multi franchise car dealership on the Northern Beaches in Sydney.

Liz joined Col Crawford upon returning to Sydney after being in Dublin, Ireland for 18 years.

When Liz isn’t glued to her computer screen she is constantly reading and updating her knowledge of the latest marketing and social media trends and tools.

With 20+ years in the beauty industry holding senior sales, management, and marketing roles, she has spent the last 10 years building brands, driving sales and delivering industry first and industry leading social media marketing campaigns for high-end beauty products.

She now finds herself in the fast-paced automotive industry, Liz believes the marketing concepts and go to market strategies are similar.

To Liz presentation and attention to detail is paramount, from creating a social media presence to content marketing and customer engagement, having the right tools for the job is a necessity.

Rocketseed is a new software tool for Liz and she feels that this clever application offers a concept that markets their brands at a higher level, offering a new and exciting way to reach Col Crawford’s customers. The message is quick and effective. Allowing the receiver an opportunity to relate to the brand instantly and learn something new about the company or its brand offerings.

Rocketseed gets the message across quickly without interfering with the email message. Liz says “A great banner creates a great message and opens an opportunity to start a new conversation”

Scott Bradley is Director and Managing Partner at Rotor Studios, which he founded nearly 20 years ago. Having spent 30 years in the advertising and marketing industry, he has witnessed tremendous changes in both content creation and delivery techniques and systems. He has actively navigated the business through this rapidly evolving landscape to ensure Rotor Studios’ position as a top ranking visualisation company.

Alexandra Tselios is the CEO & Publisher of The Big Smoke (TBS) AU and USA.

Passionate about technology start-ups and the future of media, Alexandra is leading TBS to become an opinion leader. The digital site is home to over 350 voices from Federal Politicians, Barristers, Comedians to unknown but erudite voices and works as a creative agency for brands.
The Big Smoke also has a program called TBS Next Gen which works with and publishes kids aged 8-18 to write articles while being mentored. Alexandra has a Masters in Business, and was studying a Juris Doctor of Law when TBS took off.

She is also a Director & co-founder for a site focused on Israeli/Australian political issues, Plus61J.
Alexandra Tselios also regularly appears as a social commentator on commercial radio most days of the week Australia-wide.

Jarther Taylor is CEO at Datarati, a CRM and Marketing Automation agency.

Jarther has held both corporate and marketing agency positions with some of the world’s most successful brands such as Saatchi & Saatchi, HP, IBM and Tesltra. Jarther has also consulted in marketing transformation for major Australian brands. His experience spans marketing, sales and consulting roles across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Datarati drives business results for Datarati’s clients through strategy, deployment and management of martech and the associated campaigns. Over the last 8 years the team has worked with many automotive manufacturers and dealers to transform how to engage more deeply with their customers across multiple channels by leveraging their brand, culture and data.

Michael McLean is a career marketer with experience spanning numerous industries including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods and automotive. His marketing passions include consumer psychology, behavioural science, IOT and data analytics. Michael holds degrees in Science, Communication and Business. He is currently Head of Marketing and Customer Experience at Isuzu Australia Limited.

Chris Noone is the CEO of Collaborate Corporation, an ASX-listed company operating in the sharing economy which is pioneering the use of peer-to-peer marketplaces to generate revenue from under-utilised assets including motor vehicles, caravans and equipment. Chris has led innovative companies in Europe, Asia & Australia to deliver new technologies and launch disruptive new products that create value and provide real benefit to customers.

Chris led the Asia Pacific business for MicroProse, one of the legendary computer games publishers and then moved to London as Commercial Director for Hasbro Interactive where he was responsible for worldwide territories, including franchises such as Formula 1 Grand Prix, Star Trek, Monopoly and Games.com. Chris went on to launch Vodafone’s mobile games business in Europe and later became their Head of Business Development & Content. After a stint as Managing Director of the London-based, IMG & PCCW backed, Gamer.tv, Chris moved back to Australia in 2006 to ramp up ninemsn’s mobile business, taking responsibility for the monetisation of the mobile products of Microsoft, ACP Magazines & Channel Nine as well as the 5th Finger and HWW mobile businesses.

Adrian Richards has over 20 years marketing experience in both the UK and Australia and is Managing Partner and Head of Local Area Marketing at The Station Agency. Since 2012 The Station has delivered behavioural change strategies and ideas across brand, retail, shopper and local area marketing for the likes of Diageo, Coca-Cola, CUB, Heinemann Duty Free, Toyota and Lexus.

Adrian leads the Local Area Marketing team across their automotive work with Toyota and Lexus. Over the last 3 years he has worked with their national and regional sales and marketing teams to leverage data, generate insights, and develop localised marketing strategies and programs both online and offline, for their dealer network that cost effectively engage local car buyers and deliver increased ROI.

Crucially, he has an outstanding knowledge and understanding of the marketing challenges dealers are facing having interviewed over 150 dealer principals and then built local area marketing plans for each of their dealerships. He has a clear and decisive view on the role manufacturers can play in building the local area marketing capabilities of their network, giving dealers the tools and confidence to execute local area marketing brilliantly and increase their own investment in marketing.

Mark Harland has worked in marketing and brand development for 20 years and has led the growth of GM brands including Cadillac, Chevrolet and Opel. Passionate about brand development, customer experience and technology, Mark has worked throughout Europe, the US and Asia, building dynamic brands with a focus on creating better journeys for customers.

Having led global teams and agencies as Marketing & Customer Experience Director for General Motors International based in Singapore, Mark has recently relocated to Australia to take up the role of Executive Director – Marketing at GM Holden. While retaining his GMI responsibilities and global portfolio, Mark is excited to be joining the iconic Holden brand as it executes the most profound transformation in the company’s 150-year history.

A Montreal native, Mark holds an MBA from the New York Institute of Technology. With a keen eye on future-tech and mobility trends, Mark’s personal interests include competitive ice hockey, rugby, cycling, youth sports and international travel.

Paul Dovas is the Founder of Dovas Digital, an emerging technology consultancy specialising in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, including Machine Learning and Deep Learning, Cognitive Computing, Big Data, IoT, AdTech, MarTech, FinTech and PubTech.

His focus is on providing a framework for businesses to navigate the hype and complexity surrounding data and technology, ensuring his clients make better informed decisions on project and technology selection.

As the founder of Dovas Digital, an experienced C-Level executive and Board Advisor, Paul also provides valuable strategic advice to start ups and technology companies looking to enter the Australian market.

Paul’s previous working life spans a broad and diverse spectrum having started in insolvency, specialising in media and ending up at the cutting edge of computer science, data science and artificial intelligence.
Paul also has over 16 years of service in the media industry, more recently transitioning the Australian industry’s peak print body, the Audited Media Association of Australia (AMAA), into a broader media organisation, through the reformation of traditional print metrics to an expanded model which included digital media.

### Experience
– UTS Faculty of Science Industry Advisory Group – Board Member
– Consultant, Adatos (a Deep Learning company)
– Founder of Dovas Digital
– Vice Chair Oceania and EMR Board Member of I-COM
– NSW Representative for AMPLIFi Governance

I conduct interdisciplinary research at the boundary between robotics, neuroscience and computer vision and am a multi-award winning educational entrepreneur. My research models the neural mechanisms in the brain underlying tasks like navigation and perception in order to develop new robotics and computer vision-related technologies, with a particular emphasis on challenging application domains where current techniques fail such as all-weather, anytime positioning for autonomous vehicles. I currently hold the position of Professor at the Queensland University of Technology, as well as Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Microsoft Research Faculty Fellow and Chief Investigator at the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision.

Lisa is the co-founder of Share with Oscar, Australia’s first on-demand, peer-to-peer parking app, which connects drivers looking for parking with private parking spaces that are vacant in real time. Share with Oscar is using the sharing economy to solve Australia’s parking problem, a sustainable solution to our growing urban cities.

Lisa is passionate about the sharing economy, and will share her insights into how the collaborative revolution is fundamentally changing the way products and services are produced, distributed and consumed, and the future of mobility as a result.
Prior to Share with Oscar, Lisa was a Management Consultant for 6 years, specialising in growth and innovation, and commercial strategy, advising Australia’s largest corporations.
She holds a BCom/BSci (Hons) and a Master of Psychology from the University of New South Wales.

Mark Harland has worked in marketing and brand development for 20 years and has led the growth of GM brands including Cadillac, Chevrolet and Opel. Passionate about brand development, customer experience and technology, Mark has worked throughout Europe, the US and Asia, building dynamic brands with a focus on creating better journeys for customers.

Having led global teams and agencies as Marketing & Customer Experience Director for General Motors International based in Singapore, Mark has recently relocated to Australia to take up the role of Executive Director – Marketing at GM Holden. While retaining his GMI responsibilities and global portfolio, Mark is excited to be joining the iconic Holden brand as it executes the most profound transformation in the company’s 150-year history.

A Montreal native, Mark holds an MBA from the New York Institute of Technology. With a keen eye on future-tech and mobility trends, Mark’s personal interests include competitive ice hockey, rugby, cycling, youth sports and international travel.

I conduct interdisciplinary research at the boundary between robotics, neuroscience and computer vision and am a multi-award winning educational entrepreneur. My research models the neural mechanisms in the brain underlying tasks like navigation and perception in order to develop new robotics and computer vision-related technologies, with a particular emphasis on challenging application domains where current techniques fail such as all-weather, anytime positioning for autonomous vehicles. I currently hold the position of Professor at the Queensland University of Technology, as well as Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Microsoft Research Faculty Fellow and Chief Investigator at the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision.

Beth is the author of Drive More Business: A Five Step Guide to Digital Marketing for Auto Dealers. She is a specialist marketing coach for individual dealerships and dealership groups. Beth wrote the digital marketing training programs for a major car manufacturer and for the past three years has been delivering digital marketing training workshops to its dealership network across the country.

Beth’s background is in marketing and communications and she began training and consulting in digital marketing and social media marketing over ten years ago. She created the first social media and digital marketing training programs in Australia which she has delivered to hundreds of marketers and non-marketers, for the Australian Marketing Institute.

Beth is the founder of Digital Marketing Club, an SME marketing strategy development and coaching business. She has a Masters degree in digital communication from Sydney University, and a Certificate IV in workplace training and assessment.

Paul has been lucky to be on the frontline of the world’s digital transformation as a writer, speaker and consultant helping businesses and communities adapt to a rapidly changing world.

As a freelance writer on digital disruption and technological change, Paul has been a paid contributor to The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, Diginomica, Business Spectator, the Sydney Morning Herald, Crikey, Startup Smart and Communications Day along with being a regular guest on nationally syndicated radio programs.

In his speaking engagements, he’s been Master of Ceremonies for events such as The City of Sydney’s Lets Talk Business program, Small Business September and the Association for Data driven Marketing and Advertising’s (ADMA) Global Forum.

Along with MCing events, he’s presented keynotes, workshops and sat on panels for a wide range of business and community events. He has also provided media training services through Reputation Australia.

Over the past ten years, Paul has been helping organisations with their digital strategies. Clients have ranged from small businesses to Google, Microsoft, Vodafone, Xero, MYOB and various government agencies.

In 2011, publisher John Wiley & Sons released his book “The e-Business Guide: Seven Steps to Online Success” that showed entrepreneurs and small business owners how they could implement a digital strategy in a weekend for under $100. This was his seventh book on technology and business.

Before moving into communications, Paul worked with the NSW state government’s Department of Industry & Investment in developing the Digital Sydney initiative along with the creation of the state’s Digital Economy strategy.

Prior to joining the NSW Government, he founded an IT support business that his team grew into a national organisation that helped thousands of business and home technology users get more value from their computer system. Before that, he was working in construction engineering in Australia, the UK and East Asia.