Peter Wilkinson

Co-Founder, Wilkinson Group

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

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

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

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

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

Peter is also an expert in risk and crisis simulations. 

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

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

Rochelle Burbury

Principal, Third Avenue Group

Rochelle Burbury has more than 30 years’ experience as a journalist and editor, media trainer and PR professional. As a business journalist, Rochelle has written on media, marketing, advertising, consumer trends, retail and general business. She began her career at B&T Magazine, where she was Editor, and then joined The Sydney Morning Herald as Media & Marketing Editor, followed by The Australian as Media & Marketing Editor. After spending almost a decade at The Australian Financial Review as Media & Marketing Editor, Rochelle established PR consultancy Open Dialogue, owned by M&C Saatchi, which won the inaugural B&T PR Agency of the Year. She then co-founded independent consultancy Access PR and sold her stake in 2011. Rochelle established Third Avenue Group in 2013 which specialises in the media, advertising and ad tech sector. She is a former Board Director of the International Advertising Association, has judged Mumbrella CommsCon and Mumbrella Publish Awards, and was voted No. 1 Best of the Best – Trade PR by B&T Magazine. 

Sam Kelly

CEO, Hello

Sam is CEO and partner of award-winning integrated marketing agency, Hello. He leads a multidisciplinary team of 70 across strategy, creative, production, media, PR, events, influencer, and shared services. With over 15 years of experience, Sam is an award-winning marketer and entrepreneur known for driving commercial value across a broad range of industries. He has led high-impact strategic engagements for global brands such as Uber, Amazon, and Paramount. In addition to his executive role, he serves as a Non-Executive Director on the board of the Audited Media Association of Australian and is the Deputy-Chair of the Australian Influencer Marketing Council.  

Rob Lowe

Co-Founder & CEO, Poem

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

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

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

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

Belinda Noble

Founder, Comms Declare

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

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

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

Celia Harding

Founder, LEOPRD

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.

Nic Christensen

Curator, The Social Hook

Nic Christensen is a Corporate Affairs specialist who runs a consultancy advising some of Australia’s leading advertising, media and technology companies. He also oversees a curation focused creator economy newsletter called The Social Hook.

He is a former Head of Corporate Affairs for Australia’s largest locally owned media company Nine and also public broadcaster SBS. Prior to moving into communications he was a Media Writer for The Australian and Mumbrella.