Elly is the creative heart of the business and leads Yell Creative’s creative team. Her passion for creating exceptional, beautiful and effective design is only matched by her dedication to applying her ever-increasing knowledge of fin services to improving how firms engage their audiences. Elly brings a wealth of experience, having worked in every conceivable media for both agencies and client side, allowing her to bring a unique perspective to every project. She loves her cat, Everton FC, Drum and Bass and is partial to a bit of Great British Bake-Off, when she has the time!

Nigel has over 20 years’ of financial services marketing experience in the UK and Australia. He is our Head of Strategy and Client Services, working closely with our team of Project Managers, Producers, Planners and Campaign Managers to deliver exceptional outcomes through smart strategic solutions. Nigel’s passion for financial services marketing is contagious and has spread throughout our team. His passion for West Ham Utd, British Indie music and comic books (sorry, graphic novels) has yet to have the same impact.

Simon Canning is a communications and content specialist. He is former Communications Manager Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia for Adobe Systems.In a career spanning journalism and communications, he has become one of Australia’s most respected analysts and commentators on the advertising, marketing and media industries. As Marketing and Advertising Writer with The Australian for a decade he was at the forefront of covering the world of marketing and communications during perhaps the most dynamic phase in the history of media.

A regular commentator on radio and TV, Simon launched Simon Says after leaving The Australian and advised companies on how to navigate the fast changing world of media while remaining close to journalists embracing the new opportunities being created. Simon also handled the role of Communications Manager for renowned ad agency Droga5, is the moderator for the Australian Data Marketing Association’s Altitude Series of CMO breakfasts and also helped launch The Observer Effect with Ellen Fanning and Shine on SBS. Other clients included The Australian Association of National Advertisers, Weber Shandwick, Third Avenue and Turner Broadcasting. During his career he has also worked in the UK where as a health correspondent he covered dramatic changes to the National Health Service and the US where he began as a researcher for a national entertainment magazine.

Away from the office, Simon has represented his country of birth as goalkeeper for the New Zealand National Ice Hockey team and continues to play at a recreational level – although the hunger for winning has never diminished. His other passions include motor sport, surfing, jazz and trying to keep pace with his three young sons.

Anna Bligh is the Chief Executive of the Australian Bankers’ Association, working to strengthen the culture in banking and improve customer experience.

Anna has had a long and distinguished career in politics. She was Premier of Queensland for almost five years and led the response and recovery effort to devastating floods in January 2011.

Prior to joining the ABA, Anna was the CEO of YWCA NSW, a not-for-profit organisation striving to build a safer world for women and children with services dedicated to ending domestic violence.

Anna received a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia award in the 2017 Australia Day Honours list, in recognition of her eminent service to the Parliament of Queensland, to the not-for-profit sector and the role of women in public life.

Simon Canning is a communications and content specialist. He is former Communications Manager Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia for Adobe Systems.In a career spanning journalism and communications, he has become one of Australia’s most respected analysts and commentators on the advertising, marketing and media industries. As Marketing and Advertising Writer with The Australian for a decade he was at the forefront of covering the world of marketing and communications during perhaps the most dynamic phase in the history of media.

A regular commentator on radio and TV, Simon launched Simon Says after leaving The Australian and advised companies on how to navigate the fast changing world of media while remaining close to journalists embracing the new opportunities being created. Simon also handled the role of Communications Manager for renowned ad agency Droga5, is the moderator for the Australian Data Marketing Association’s Altitude Series of CMO breakfasts and also helped launch The Observer Effect with Ellen Fanning and Shine on SBS. Other clients included The Australian Association of National Advertisers, Weber Shandwick, Third Avenue and Turner Broadcasting. During his career he has also worked in the UK where as a health correspondent he covered dramatic changes to the National Health Service and the US where he began as a researcher for a national entertainment magazine.

Away from the office, Simon has represented his country of birth as goalkeeper for the New Zealand National Ice Hockey team and continues to play at a recreational level – although the hunger for winning has never diminished. His other passions include motor sport, surfing, jazz and trying to keep pace with his three young sons.

Brent Smart is the first ever Chief Marketing Officer for IAG, Australia’s largest insurance company with leading brands including NRMA Insurance, CGU, SGIO and SGIC. Brent leads group-wide marketing efforts, responsible for brand strategy and marketing operations.

Brent has more than 20 years in the advertising business. Previously he was CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi New York working on iconic American brands like Cheerios, Tide and Walmart. He spent seven years with BBDO, running their San Francisco office, and the creatively revered Colenso BBDO in New Zealand. Brent has led a body of highly awarded creative work, recognised with over 25 Cannes Lions and over 40 Effies.

Brent has returned home to Australia from New York City with his wife and three young boys who have American accents and can’t kick a drop punt.

Simon Canning is a communications and content specialist. He is former Communications Manager Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia for Adobe Systems.In a career spanning journalism and communications, he has become one of Australia’s most respected analysts and commentators on the advertising, marketing and media industries. As Marketing and Advertising Writer with The Australian for a decade he was at the forefront of covering the world of marketing and communications during perhaps the most dynamic phase in the history of media.

A regular commentator on radio and TV, Simon launched Simon Says after leaving The Australian and advised companies on how to navigate the fast changing world of media while remaining close to journalists embracing the new opportunities being created. Simon also handled the role of Communications Manager for renowned ad agency Droga5, is the moderator for the Australian Data Marketing Association’s Altitude Series of CMO breakfasts and also helped launch The Observer Effect with Ellen Fanning and Shine on SBS. Other clients included The Australian Association of National Advertisers, Weber Shandwick, Third Avenue and Turner Broadcasting. During his career he has also worked in the UK where as a health correspondent he covered dramatic changes to the National Health Service and the US where he began as a researcher for a national entertainment magazine.

Away from the office, Simon has represented his country of birth as goalkeeper for the New Zealand National Ice Hockey team and continues to play at a recreational level – although the hunger for winning has never diminished. His other passions include motor sport, surfing, jazz and trying to keep pace with his three young sons.

Simon worked for the Saatchi brothers for 25 years from 1983 to 2007.

He started as a graduate trainee at Saatchi & Saatchi in London, then moved to Sydney after 5 years. He became MD of Taiwan (1991), then CEO Ireland (1992-94) and returned to Australia and founded M&C Saatchi Australia in May 1995.
Over the next 12 years, M&C Saatchi became a top 3 Australian Agency, with a range of blue chip clients, over 300 staff and $50million in revenues.

Following the sale of M&C Saatchi on AIM on the UK stock exchange, Simon left in 2007, to start Growth Mantra.
Growth Mantra is a boutique strategy consultancy focussed on growth.

We uniquely combine the creativity of marketers with the disciplines of management consultants.

We forecast markets over next 5-10 years, to spot opportunities for growth, then bring the strategy to life in the market. (McDonald’s ‘Create Your Taste’ and Woolworths Metro are recent examples)

Growth Mantra has worked with a large number of blue chip companies, including: AGL, Bupa, Carnival, Coca-Cola, Diageo, McDonald’s, NAB, Optus, Tabcorp and Woolworths.

Simon is married to Monique and has three sons, Nicholas, Marcus and Oscar.

Ben is one of Australia’s most respected strategic leaders. He has worked at the cutting edge of the industry around the world as futures editor at Leo Burnett London, a Nike trends consultant, a Future Foundation global envoy and a Board member of the APG.

In his last role as head of strategy at Razorfish, Ben led the thinking on Qantas, Foxtel, Australia Post and developed the digital strategy for the New South Wales Government.

Over the years, Ben has also built a ‘pub of the future’ for Guinness, podcasted for the Wall Street Journal and given keynote speeches around the world – including on the future of content at the Edinburgh TV Festival and at the Miami Content Conference.

In recent years, Ben has also launched a successful retail start-up and has been lecturing on strategic leadership at the University of Sydney Business School.

As publisher of YourLifechoices website, eNews and eGuides, Kaye has over 17 years’ experience in creating content for, and marketing to, Australian baby boomers. YourLifeChoices is Australia’s longest established and largest digital retirement community, with 210,000 members aged between 50 and 75 and nearly four million page views monthly. With a mission to deliver timely and independent retirement information on any device at any time, YourLifeChoices website has now gone ‘offline’ with Retirement Bootcamp events in major capital cities. Frequent surveys undertaken with our baby boomer members ensure that advertising promotions and native content remain relevant and targeted, delivering strong ROI. Travel is considered the ‘reward for years of hard work’ by most retirees so cruising, guided holidays and international adventures are high priorities for these intrepid members.
Kaye has been a full writer member of the Australian Society of Travel Writers since 2002. In her role as publisher Kaye is a regular commentator on retirement, retirement income and travel as well as baby boomer attitudes and trends. This includes frequent appearances on A Current Affair, ABC Radio, Macquarie Radio Network, commentary for major digital news sites and speaking at industry conferences. Kaye is also author of two best-selling ‘how to retire’ books published by Allen and Unwin. In addition to the weekly dedicated Saturday travel enews feature, YourLifeChoices publishes sponsored eGuides including the Essential Guide to Cruising and The Great Aussie Bucket List.

www.yourlifechoices.com.au
https://www.facebook.com/yourlifechoices

@YourLifeChoices

Tim is the Publisher and Co-Founder of Junkee Media, Australia’s leading publisher for young Australians and one of Australia’s most innovative new media companies.

Tim has been working in the digital space for over a decade, specialising in digital strategy, content and the intersection between brands and consumers. Tim was named #1 on Startup Daily’s Young & Influential list and one of 25 People To Watch by MCV.

Tim also sits on the Boards of Hello Sunday Morning, the largest online movement for alcohol change in the world, and the Griffin Theatre Company, Australia’s new writing theatre.

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.

Julie Delaforce is General Manager of online community and social media management leader Quiip.

An insightful operator with close to a decade’s experience in the digital space, Julie is a specialist in social media and online community strategy, content, governance, communications, measurement, monitoring and analytics.

Julie has worked across a range of sectors including entertainment, government, health, Not-For-Profit, FMCG and financial services and has significant experience working with high-risk and regulated industries and organisations.

Julie has worked with Quiip since 2011, extending her capability to Senior Community Manager & Strategist in early 2013 before being appointed General Manager in May 2014.

She has led community management accounts for Quiip clients including beyondblue AMP Capital, NSW Health, AGL, Coca-Cola and Mindeshare.

An engaging trainer, Julie has delivered training programs to social media and community managers for organisations including NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS), NRMA, Coca-Cola Australia and 60 Minutes.

Prior to joining Quiip, Julie was Social Channels Manager at Westpac where she played a key role in Westpac’s ranking as the most engaged Australian financial services brand in 2012.

Julie’s wealth of digital and corporate communications experience includes working with major brands Nestlé, Diageo (Johnnie Walker), uBank (National Australia Bank) and Paramount Pictures. She has held roles as Head of Marketing and Communications for an online start-up; Online Community Manager with global advertising agency JWT; online community specialist roles for Network PR and BubHub; and Online Content Production at ninemsn.

Julie contributes to further understanding of the role of online community management and social media as Community Manager for the Australian Community Managers’ Facebook Group of more than 2,000 community managers, a role she has undertaken since January 2013. Julie is also a regular contributor to a range of media outlets and is a sought after speaker.

Joanne Jacobs is an award-winning digital strategist and company director, and she is the Managing Partner (with Gavin Heaton) of Disruptor’s Handbook, a firm that facilitates incubation of innovation from a marketing perspective.  She is on the Board of Code Club Australia, as well as the NSW Government Digital Advisory Panel, the Startup Catalyst advisory board, and she is an active mentor of startups.  She was formerly COO of 1000heads, a word of mouth marketing firm. In her career, Joanne has worked in London where she ran a social media production house, and she was a consultant in social networking technologies, as well as a professional speaker, business coach, trainer and strategist for digital marketing practices. Joanne also has a long history in academia, lecturing extensively in strategic use of information technology and strategic internet marketing.  She was co-editor with Axel Bruns of the book, Uses of Blogs (2006).

With more than 15 years’ experience working with blue chip brands including ANZ Bank, Suncorp, Honda, BMW, Emirates, Mars, Simplot and Lion Foods, Simon is a trusted adviser to clients looking to improve the ROI of their paid, owned and earned media with the application of marketing science principles.  Simon led the ANZ Bank account for PHD from 2012 until recently when he was promoted to the role of General Manager of PHD Melbourne.

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.

Elaine joined PayPal Australia in February 2106 as Marketing Director. In this role she is responsible for driving customer engagement across both the consumer and merchant portfolios and building the PayPal brand in Australia. She is a member of the PayPal Australia Leadership team and leads the marketing team to deliver best in class digital and social campaigns that drive business outcomes.

With over 10 years’ experience within the Fintech marketing space she is passionate about how the commerce experience will be rewired over the next two years and the role marketing plays in guiding consumers through this transformation.

Previously, Elaine spent 8 years in Westpac Group. Elaine joined the Westpac Group in 2007 as Head of Marketing for BT Super for Life, and spent nearly 3 years in BT’s Superannuation business leading marketing and sales functions. She moved to Westpac in June 2011 as GM, Brand and Advertising, subsequently leading Strategic Brand and Planning team. She was appointed to role of Head of Marketing and Brand for Westpac in March 2012 and when she left the group she held this role as well as that of Head of Mass Marketing Services, with a team of 90.

Prior to joining BTFG, Elaine spent nearly ten years working in London at Reuters, in a variety of B2B marketing and communications roles working across numerous business units, editorial and group marketing functions.

Elaine has Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin and a Higher Diploma in Marketing Practice from the Smurfit Graduate School of Business.

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.

David is an outcome oriented professional with over 20 years of global Innovative Marketing and Product Management experience

As Managing Director, the labs consultancy at Project Worldwide, David works with global brands to define, design and build their corporate customer experience centres. Beginning with customer journey strategies, experiential design and culminating with end to end operational processes, David is able to ensure client investment in their centre is maximised.

David has lived and worked in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific and has a global reputation for innovative thinking in major companies including Project Worldwide, Telstra, Optus SingTel, British Telecom, Vodafone, Compaq, and Nortel Networks.

Prior to joining Project Worldwide, David was General Manager of the Telstra Customer Insight Centres, where he was responsible for delivering and managing multimillion dollar, state of the art, world class Insight Centres.

In 2016, David and his team were recognised with two Global industry awards for designing and delivering Telstra’s Sydney Customer Insight Centre which combines Digital Innovation and Customer Engagement Design Thinking strategies to increase brand preference for Telstra products and services.

Jo Kelly is the Chief Marketing Officer at UBank joining the team in early 2015. Leading a team of brand, marketing and communications professionals, she spearheaded the bank’s rebrand in January 2016 and has helped cement UBank’s place in the financial services market as being ‘Just the Bank you Need’.

Jo has extensive experience in marketing, communications and change management and is known for her ‘out of the box thinking’. She is equally as passionate about mentoring and empowering the leaders of tomorrow. Dedicating her time to help guide and educate the next generation of marketers by sharing not just best practice; but ‘next practice’.

Richard leads FutureBrand’s commitment to creating brands for future business growth, playing key leadership and product development roles across the Asia-Pacific region.

With a degree in Litterae Humaniores from Oxford University, he started his career in Bangkok as an account planner before switching to media planning in London. Since arriving in Australia in 2001, he has contributed to a wide range of significant branding programs, all in the name of creating a positive future and many of which have been awarded by Cannes Lions, Brand New, REBRAND and D&AD.

At FutureBrand, he has continued to champion the company’s expertise in Country Branding, for the purpose of not only travel and leisure but also trade and investment. FutureBrand publishes the Country Branding Index, and recent branding programs include Bhutan, South Pacific Tourism and Tahiti Tourism, to add to his previous experience of working with Tourism Australia.

Richard was featured by AdNews in their 40 Under 40 list of rising stars of advertising, marketing and media, and he was one of 20 visionaries invited to speak at VIVID on the future landscape of design and creativity in 2020.

Lisa Lintern joined the New Payments Platform in October 2016 as Communications Strategist. She is currently developing the communications required to launch and grow the Platform, as well supporting collaboration between the 13 initial Participants including Australia’s four major banks, the RBA and challenger brands. Central to her work is the development of a campaign to support the arrival of PayID – a key benefit of the Platform which allows customers of participating financial institutions to link their accounts to easy-to-remember information such as phone numbers and email addresses.

A formally trained journalist, Lisa has spent nearly 20 years working in a variety of communications and consultancy roles across various industries including financial services, aviation, professional services and technology.

Bio to come…

Trudie Newcomb has worked in the financial services industry for over 20 years holding various roles across the insurance and banking industry. In this time she worked in various markets in the Asia region including Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

She has spent the last 10 years at American Express in various general management, marketing and partner management roles in the Consumer Credit Card business.

Today Trudie is responsible for the general management of the American Express cobrand Alliance with David Jones, Consumer Acquisition Marketing, Card Member Cross Sell and First Year Engagement program leading those businesses to unprecedented growth rates.

She is a strong general manager and an expert in digital marketing leading her team to a number of global firsts in digital innovation.

Paul McCrory leads a group of Industry’s at Facebook Australia and New Zealand where he is responsible for transforming the way in which organistaions deliver business value from mobile. Before joining Facebook, Paul led Experian’s Digital division in Australia.

His previous experience has provided him with key skills in data, analytics and technology across a wide variety of industry’s in the UK, Europe and Australia / New Zealand.

Simon Canning is a communications and content specialist. He is former Communications Manager Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia for Adobe Systems.In a career spanning journalism and communications, he has become one of Australia’s most respected analysts and commentators on the advertising, marketing and media industries. As Marketing and Advertising Writer with The Australian for a decade he was at the forefront of covering the world of marketing and communications during perhaps the most dynamic phase in the history of media.

A regular commentator on radio and TV, Simon launched Simon Says after leaving The Australian and advised companies on how to navigate the fast changing world of media while remaining close to journalists embracing the new opportunities being created. Simon also handled the role of Communications Manager for renowned ad agency Droga5, is the moderator for the Australian Data Marketing Association’s Altitude Series of CMO breakfasts and also helped launch The Observer Effect with Ellen Fanning and Shine on SBS. Other clients included The Australian Association of National Advertisers, Weber Shandwick, Third Avenue and Turner Broadcasting. During his career he has also worked in the UK where as a health correspondent he covered dramatic changes to the National Health Service and the US where he began as a researcher for a national entertainment magazine.

Away from the office, Simon has represented his country of birth as goalkeeper for the New Zealand National Ice Hockey team and continues to play at a recreational level – although the hunger for winning has never diminished. His other passions include motor sport, surfing, jazz and trying to keep pace with his three young sons.

George Lucas is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the financial product issuer and fund manager Instreet Investment Limited.  He founded the company in 2007, hardly an auspicious time for a funds management start-up. But over the past nine years, he has built Instreet to be the largest independent player in Australia’s structured product market, owner of Emerald Wrap (Australia largest RI investing platform) and Wealth Know How and JV partner delivering Acorns into the Australian market. 

Today George is the CEO and Chairman of Acorns Grow Australia Limited and oversees the day-to-day general operations.

Acorns Australia is a micro-investing product designed to make investing and saving simple for people of all ages (but especially Gen X and Y).  Acorns has enabled George the opportunity to exhibit his detailed understanding of IT and how technology is impacting on financial services in a way that has made him a recognised expert in the Australian market on this issue. 

Wealth Know How, which George co-founded in 2013, offers online educational videos that provides free access to high quality information and knowledge on the financial services and superanatuion industries and investment markets. It taps the knowedge of expereince of professional specialists to bring tiopical infioemation to viewers in an easy-to-comprehend format.

In December 2014, Instreet bought the Emerald Wrap with the aim of giving financial advisers better access to information and benefits about responsible investing (RI) that they could pass on to clients who wanted to invest in a socially responsible manner. Since making the acquisition, George has doubles assets under management, Improved customer service, enhanced the Emerald Wrap, and given more attention to the engagement process with advisers so as to improve and develop effective products, services and solutions.

George’s ability to grow and manage a diverse business is testimony to the skills, experiences and knowledge he brings to the table after more than 30 years of relevant experience of providing banking and funds management services to retail and wholesale clients.

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.

Colin Barnard started his career at Peugeot UK in a variety of roles before he became hooked on digital marketing when he became head of, what was then called, “New Media”.

Joining Google in 2006 he has worked with Automotive, Retail and Financial Services companies to help them evolve their customer and marketing strategies in response to the Digital Revolution, including the recent launch of Android Pay.

The thing keeping Colin up at night is the need for constant innovation in the face of the ever ­increasing consumer expectations, driven by technology.

Bio to come…

Adrian has been with Westpac Group for 10 years, initially starting in Westpac New Zealand, then moving to St.George Banking Group, and recently Westpac Australia.

Adrian has worked across a variety of marketing roles and currently heads up Marketing, Brand, & Planning for Westpac and St.George Group Brands.

Adrian passionately loves customers. He is known for his commercial understanding of marketing, doing things differently, and breaking a few rules (within the law of course) along the way.

Simon Canning is a communications and content specialist. He is former Communications Manager Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia for Adobe Systems.In a career spanning journalism and communications, he has become one of Australia’s most respected analysts and commentators on the advertising, marketing and media industries. As Marketing and Advertising Writer with The Australian for a decade he was at the forefront of covering the world of marketing and communications during perhaps the most dynamic phase in the history of media.

A regular commentator on radio and TV, Simon launched Simon Says after leaving The Australian and advised companies on how to navigate the fast changing world of media while remaining close to journalists embracing the new opportunities being created. Simon also handled the role of Communications Manager for renowned ad agency Droga5, is the moderator for the Australian Data Marketing Association’s Altitude Series of CMO breakfasts and also helped launch The Observer Effect with Ellen Fanning and Shine on SBS. Other clients included The Australian Association of National Advertisers, Weber Shandwick, Third Avenue and Turner Broadcasting. During his career he has also worked in the UK where as a health correspondent he covered dramatic changes to the National Health Service and the US where he began as a researcher for a national entertainment magazine.

Away from the office, Simon has represented his country of birth as goalkeeper for the New Zealand National Ice Hockey team and continues to play at a recreational level – although the hunger for winning has never diminished. His other passions include motor sport, surfing, jazz and trying to keep pace with his three young sons.