Kate Ritchie, one of Australia’s most recognised personalities, is joined by Tim Blackwell and Marty Sheargold to keep listeners entertained on their drive home from 4pm to 6pm in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

With extensive radio experience, Kate is no stranger to Nova listeners. The regular fill-in alongside Sam Mac for Nova 96.9’s Fitzy & Wippa, Ritchie was also one third of the Nova Sydney Breakfast team Kate, Merrick & Rosso throughout 2008 and 2009.

With over 26 years of acting experience, Kate is most renowned for playing Sally Fletcher in the iconic drama, Home & Away. After over 4,000 episodes and 20 years she earned herself a spot in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest continuous role in an Australian series.

Throughout her extensive acting career, Kate has appeared in numerous shows including Mr & Mrs Murder, It’s A Date, Don’t Tell The Bride, Cops: LAC and Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities in addition to hosting live television events including Carols in the Domain. Kate’s work in the industry has also secured her two TV Week Logie Awards.

During their time together, Kate, Tim & Marty have won three Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAS) for Best Networked Program in 2015 and
Best on Air Team in 2016 and 2017. Outside of radio, Kate is the face of Jockey Australia, an ambassador for QV Skin Care and involved with a number of charities including The Australian Red Cross, Ovarian Cancer Australia and Camp Quality.

Ritchie and husband Stuart Webb welcomed a daughter, Mae, in August 2014.

Amanda is one of Australia’s most well-loved and quick-witted media personalities. Amanda has co-hosted the Jonesy & Amanda Breakfast Show on Sydney’s WS FM101.7, alongside her best mate Brendan “Jonesy” Jones for 13 years, making them one of Australia’s longest running Breakfast shows.

In 2017, Amanda was honoured at the industry’s ACRA Awards by being the first on-air female to be inducted into the Commercial Radio Hall of Fame. Jonesy & Amanda have also been awarded radio’s Best On-Air Team in 2012 and 2014.

Prior to WS FM, Amanda co-hosted the Andrew Denton Breakfast show at Sydney’s Triple M for 5 years.

Amanda has also enjoyed an extensive career as a journalist and TV host. She is the popular host of Network Ten’s “The Living Room”, winner of 3 Logie Awards for Best Lifestyle Program (2015-2017). Her other TV credits include Talkin’ About Your Generation, Beyond 2000, Denton, Simon Townsend’s Wonder World and Mondo Thingo on the ABC.

In 2016, Amanda was awarded the Order of Australia (OAM) medal in the Queen’s Birthday honours list, in recognition of her service to broadcast media and the community.

Fifi Box is one of the most popular radio and television personalities in Australia. As host of Fox FM’s stellar breakfast show, Fifi, Dave, Fev and Byron, the popular personality is well and truly living her dream.
Fifi is also heard across the HIT Network every Sunday (5-6pm) on Boxed in with Fifi Box!

You will also see Fifi regularly appear as a guest host on Network Ten’s prime-time show, The Project. Fifi joins panelists Carrie Bickmore, Waleed Aly & Pete Hellier to dissect, digest and reconstruct each days’ news. Fifi is also a regular on Have You Been Paying Attention?

Fifi has carved an enviable career for herself working with some of the biggest and best names in the business. Fifi previously co-hosted the national Today Radio Network National Drive show with Jules Lund, sharing her unique take on life and funny stories with the program’s listeners around the country. Fifi has been a major player in Australian radio for the last 14 years. Having started work as a radio producer Fifi has a good solid grounding in what makes entertainment work.

Fifi was already an established radio personality before she danced her way into the hearts of Australians in 2007 on Seven’s Dancing with the Stars. Her vivacious personality not only charmed the tough judges but so impressed the network executives she took over the prestigious weather presenter job on Sunrise before moving onto Entertainment Editor.

On top of her radio and TV work, Fifi has shared the trials and tribulations of her own life in a weekly opinion column for News Limited’s Sunday magazine.

Australian radio and television audiences know Fifi is genuine and generous – she shared her pregnancy with her listeners and viewers and was inundated with congratulations when beautiful Beatrix Belle was born in April 2013. The euphoric mother soon featured on the cover of a weekly magazine sans makeup with a private photo from Twitter, winning even more admiration from Australian women.

Once crowned the Queen of Melbourne radio, Dee Dee has clocked up more than 37 years in the media as a journalist, newsreader, radio host and writer.

She was part of the ground-breaking Fox FM Morning Crew in the1980’s, moved to the breakfast show on Gold FM in 2000, and and now co-hosts The Weekend Break on 3AW, and hosts Trending on 3AW on Friday nights.

She recently co-hosted The Morning Mix on the Talking Lifestyle network, and hosted the network’s Life and Times on Sunday afternoons interviewing some of Australia’s most successful people. Dee Dee makes regular appearances on Channel Nine’s Today Extra, and writes for the Herald Sun.

Dee Dee approaches every part of her job with the same enthusiasm and good humour, whether it be interviewing celebrities, hosting charity events, handling breaking news or sharing her opinions on current affairs.

She enjoys one of Australia’s longest-running radio partnerships with her friend and co-host Peter “Grubby” Stubbs. The pair currently can be heard nationally on Melbourne’s top-rating 3AW on The Weekend Break show across summer, and Dee Dee hosts a popular Friday night show Trending which looks at the latest trends in all areas of our daily lives.

As a keynote speaker Dee Dee can share stories of celebrities ranging from actors Harrison Ford, Matt Damon and Steve Carrell to musicians such as the late Chrissy Amphlett, Billy Joel, Stevie Nicks and Bette Midler, and give an insight into how she has survived so long in the competitive radio market.

Dee Dee and her husband Kieran, a solid plasterer, are renovating a Heritage-listed Victorian home in Bulleen and they have two young adult children.

She is fanatical about sport, in particular St Kilda Football Club, and was a foundation Ambassador for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League.

She is dedicated to supporting a number of charities, in particular as an Ambassador for Children First Foundation and supporting the O’Brien Institute’s research into tissue engineering.

She is also a brand Ambassador for Mercedes-Benz Brighton.

Angela Bishop is one of Australia’s most respected and popular Entertainment Reporters. Her interviews with the world’s showbiz movers and shakers often make international headlines for all the right reasons, as she manages to get something special from her sit-down chats.

Angela started with Network Ten in 1989 as a cadet reporter, having completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of NSW, majoring in Political Science. She reported for Ten Eyewitness News, Good Morning Australia, Sydney with Mike Gibson, Hinch and Alan Jones Live.

In 1994, Angela’s work in the seminal Australian film ‘BMX Bandits’ was finally put to good use when she was appointed to the role of Entertainment Reporter, creating the first arts and entertainment round in a commercial national news bulletin in Australia. She also was co-host and reporter for E! News on Network Ten. Then a phone call from the talented people at Working Dog saw her become a founding cast member of the groundbreaking show The Panel, where she brought showbiz news to the nation.

Angela has written, produced and hosted a number of top-rating specials for Network Ten, including Oprah Winfrey’s Australian Adventure, and Modern Family Down Under. Her list of interviewees is too long to list here, but it does include Audrey Hepburn, Jack Nicholson, Barbra Streisand, Dame Julie Andrews, Dame Judi Dench, Mick Jagger, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, every James Bond actor except Timothy Dalton, Stevie Nicks, each and every Kardashian, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Gwyneth Paltrow, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Jodie Foster, Robert de Niro, Pink, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Denzel Washington, Chrisses Pratt, Pine and Hemsworth, Rowan Atkinson, Carrie Fisher, Jerry Seinfeld, Alan Alda, Joan Rivers, Sting, Liza Minelli, Stevie Wonder, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Duvall, Tom Jones, Tom Cruise, The Eagles, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Robbie Williams, Robert Redford, plus the Aussie (slash Kiwi) gang of Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Naomi Watts, Guy Pearce, Geoffrey Rush, Judy Davis, Bryan Brown, Sam Neill, Keith Urban, Tina Arena and Kylie Minogue.

On radio Angela has worked as a contributor on MIX FM, hosted a long running weekend talkback show on 2GB with Jason Morrison, filled in for Jonesy and Amanda on WSFM and has been a regular fill in for George and Paul on Talking Lifestyle.

Angela can currently be seen on Ten’s innovative morning show Studio 10, Ten Eyewitness News and The Project.

Petronella Panérus started as a media industry pioneer in 1996 by founding one of the very first digital media agencies in Sweden, before shifting her career into the world of advertising. 

Her first stint as ad agency CEO was for Scholz & Friends Stockholm in 2009, helping the agency achieve a financial turnaround in 18 months. In 2012 she became the CEO of Great Works, and steered the agency toward regaining its feet as a digital innovator.

Since 2015, she’s been the CEO of Åkestam Holst, taking over the leadership position from Founder Göran Åkestam.

She remains committed to strengthening the agency’s well-known culture of equality and human decency, and has put a lot of effort in attracting talent and re-shaping the agency for an increasingly digitalized world.

Petronella is very proud of the continued success of Åkestam Holst’s clients, and the many international and local awards for creativity and effectiveness the agency has won under her leadership. But there’s a special place in her heart for The Golden Wave Award – the award given to the agency with the most equal and diverse workplace, which Åkestam Holst has won twice since its inception in 2015. 

She lives in Stockholm with her daughter Effie and two cats.

Magnus Jakobsson is one of the most awarded and praised creatives and creative directors in Sweden this decade. His work for clients like IKEA among many others have won both the heart of the entire world and all the advertising awards in it.

Magnus spent nearly 10 years at DDB Stockholm, where he helped put the agency on the Nordic and international map creatively. But roughly 2 years ago he quit his position as Creative Director and Partner at DDB to become the Executive Creative Director at Åkestam Holst. The work coming out of the agency since then speaks for itself.

Magnus helped turn Åkestam Holst into the creative A-list-player it always dreamt about becoming in only 2 years, with maximum pace and momentum during 2017, making Åkestam Holst the no 1 creative agency in the Nordic region, winning Cannes Lions 2017 ahead of the usual suspects such as Forsman & Bodenfors (MDC). And in late December 2017 Åkestam Holst was crowned International Agency of the year by US trade magazine – Adweek.

Christi is the Head of Evangelism for Search at Microsoft and is a Member of the Board of SEMPO. For over a decade Christi has led Digital Marketing teams at Microsoft, Expedia, Harry & David, Pointmarc and Point It. She is passionate about search marketing and has spent her career helping businesses solve their marketing challenges and goals through studying and analysing data to develop actionable insights and strategies. Christi has been recognised by PPC Hero and her peers as one of the top 25 Most Influential PPC Experts in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Her deep love for digital has driven her to speak at hundreds of conferences and events globally including CES, AdWeek, DMEXCO, SMX, SEOktoberfest, PubCon, HeroConf and Search Insider Summit.

Cameron commenced his career as a scientist in animal health. He later undertook a Masters of Commerce majoring in Marketing and Organisational Behaviour. Cameron then held a number of senior marketing roles in FMCG, with Schwarzkopf, Wella and Faulding Consumer Healthcare. In 2000, Cameron joined the Taronga Conservation Society Australia as the General Manager for Marketing, Communications and Education, and then moved to Life Sciences operations managing very diverse teams. In 2009, Cameron became CEO and since that time has led the transformation of the zoos into the Taronga Conservation Society as well as a number of significant capital works programs and a globally recognised wildlife conservation organisation with projects from Tasmania to the Western Congo.

Cameron is also Vice President of the Zoo and Aquarium Association of Australasia, a Board Director of the International Rhino Foundation and past Chair of the accreditation organisation Ecotourism Australia. Cameron also sits on the Advisory Boards for the Sydney Institute of Technical & Further Education and the University of NSW Faculty of Science.

Clynton graduated with a Bachelor of Business majoring in Marketing from Monash University in Melbourne in 1988.

With extensive FMCG experience with companies such as ICI Consumer Products and Sara Lee Household Products, Clynton joined Beiersdorf in 1994 as Senior Product Manager to re-launch NIVEA in Australia working within the then sales distributor, Smith & Nephew (Melbourne). With a promotion to Divisional Manager, Cosmed in 1995/6, Clynton then became responsible for NIVEA in Australia and New Zealand. This allowed Clynton to recruit his own NIVEA team and rapidly expand the range in both markets. With the acquisition of Elastoplast in 2000, Clynton relocated to Sydney as General Manager, Sales & Marketing for all brands and managed the integration of the Smith & Nephew Consumer Division with the Beiersdorf Pharmacy Division.

In October 2001, Clynton was appointed Managing Director of the new consumer business for Australia & New Zealand.

A key focus for Clynton has been leading the organization through a period of significant change and stepped evolution. This has meant making acquisitions and divestments and a clear emphasis on development of organizational leadership and culture. Key brands are NIVEA, Elastoplast and Leuko Sport.

Kate Burleigh is Country Manager, Amazon Alexa Skills, Australia/NZ, with prime responsibility for exposing new opportunities for leading brands and developers to design for Alexa and reach customers through innovative voice-first experiences. Prior to Amazon, Kate was the Marketing Director at Intel, and in 2012 was chosen as the Managing Director to lead the Australia/NZ business. Kate oversaw a number of significant transitions in the Australian market place including the rapid consumerization of IT, the transition of the industry to cloud computing, and the rise of AI and IoT as the new frontier.

Kate was proud to be awarded 2016 Alumni of The Year, by the University of Technology Business School. Additionally, she is a board member of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) and the children’s cancer charity, Camp Quality. Kate has a Bachelor of Arts from Sydney University and a Masters of Business and Marketing from the University of Technology. She lives in Sydney with her husband and two daughters.

Bio to come…

New business is a science for Julia Vargiu, Founder & Principal of New Business Methodology. She has more than 20 years’ experience in helping hundreds of agencies across three continents to win millions of dollars in new business – without pitching. Julia is the creator of New Business Mastery for Agencies, instilling much-needed commercial rigour into agencies’ efforts to ensure they are match-fit to win new business. Her OUCH! Factor formula reveals to agencies how much revenue they need to make so their pitching and business development efforts are profitable. Julia is unique in her ability to coach agency CEOs to find their distinctive value and worth important to the client-side C-suite executives on their ideal prospect list. Mastery teaches agency CEOs how to turn a cold prospect into a new paying client in three meetings – without having to pitch. These CEOs join the growing list of elite agencies who know what ‘closing on your terms’ truly means.

A sought-after, engaging speaker on new business best practice and how to keep your pipeline full, Julia has been a speaker at Mumbrella / The Source New Biz Brekkie Series 2014, SAGE 2016, the PRIA RCG National Conference 2014 & 2016 and became an Industry Hero for The Miami Ad School, Australia in 2017. She is the brains behind CMO Confidential, 2015 Mumbrella360’s “most unusual session in the conference’s history” (source: Dr Mumbo), creating one of the ‘most innovative panels’ of 2015. Recently she hosted the Agency Best Practice roundtable discussion at the 2016 M360 conference and spoke on ‘The Art of New Business’ Panel at the Secrets of Agency Excellence – 2016 SAGE – masterclass.

Julia founded New Business Methodology in 1998, three years after relocating to Sydney with a background in marketing communications and advertising in New York, where she had spent eight years specialising in new business development. Julia has worked for the USA’s first and largest agency new business consultancy Lemont Consulting Group, New York’s premier public relations services company Bacon’s Information, and the national leader in executive search for the marketing communications industries Howard Sloan Koller. She was also a guest speaker at the Graduate Schools of Journalism in Columbia and New York Universities.

In Australia, she was the first Marketing Manager for four of Sydney’s top agencies, TMP Worldwide, Ammirati Puris Lintas, Foote Cone & Belding and OMD, creating these roles after having identified the unmet need in the market. This depth of knowledge, coupled with over twenty years of data, enables her to identify, score and improve an agency’s systems and effectiveness for generating profitable new clients.

She is the Founder of The Aussie Kids Photo Festival, an Australian first competition that awarded children between the ages of 3-12 years old the national Child Photographer of the Year and Youth Photographer of the Year. Julia is a native of San Francisco’s Silicon Valley, alumni of Aiglon Collége, Switzerland, danced regularly with RuPaul in Atlanta and, prior to moving to New York, ran away with the gypsies to become an actress. She toured nationally for three years, specialising in improvisational street theatre for themed Renaissance Festivals around North America. She’s been married for 20 years to a handsome Australian chef, has been told she has a rather endearing son with whom she travels the world, and has developed a taste for fois gras, excellent coffee, and high heels.

Bio to come…

Michael Nearhos was appointed GM Brand Experience, NAB in October 2016, having worked at NAB since mid-2013 in a number of marketing leadership roles. He manages the NAB brand portfolio, including MLC, and plays a key role in driving customer thinking across the group. The role pleads, brand strategy and communications, media strategy and buying, sponsorships, agency relationships,
and enterprise-wide content and social, events and local area marketing.

Passionate about brands, corporate responsibility and reputation-building, Michael led the reinvigoration of MLC in its Let’s Save Retirement and Life Unchanging campaigns, and the launch of NAB’s biggest repositioning in six years with the More Than Money campaign in mid-2016. He has led the award winning NAB AFL Mini-Legends campaign, and manages the relationships with AFL, FFA and Live Nation.

Michael spent almost 10 years at Qantas in a number of roles, concluding with GM Strategic Marketing. He led the Qantas brand plan, worked on the float of Qantas, the formation of oneworld, product development, and on the Qantas and Frequent Flyer insights programs.

Michael has worked previously with CommSec and Commonwealth Bank, Insurance Australia Group, Newscorp Australia and set up an innovation lab for Virgin Australia. He spent almost five years as Director of Strategy with global agency, Interbrand in London. This included leading the global repositioning for Barclays Bank, Holiday Inn and other banking and hotel brands.

Originally a corporate finance lawyer, Michael enjoys bringing both creative and analytical thinking to marketing, to drive effectiveness and strong commercial returns. Outside of work, Michael lives at Bondi Beach and is an active lifesaver and patrol captain of North Bondi SLSC.

Gayle has over fifteen years’ experience working with clients to deliver customer centric strategies and communications.

Since arriving in Australia four years ago she’s focused her passion and expertise for customer behaviour and insights to shape marketing and business transformation strategies across Westpac Banking Group, Telstra and Bupa. Whilst working on Bupa, Gayle led the research and development of a series of customer tools to help people navigate the complexities and regulations of the Australian Private Health Care system, alongside creating their new loyalty program, Bupa Plus.

Since joining Clemenger Gayle has lead the NAB account as well as leading the CRM development across the business.

Nicola Hepenstall leads Hall & Partners, Australia’s most awarded brand and communications research consultancy. She is also on the board of the Clemenger Group Limited.

Nicola has always been passionate about brands and the power of creativity and ideas. A keen observer of social trends and human behaviour, she specialises in making complex things really simple and using the power of storytelling to deliver a compelling narrative. She works with all levels of Government and many of Australia’s largest companies helping them navigate the complexity of the communications environment, and find ways to connect and do things that people really care about.

Leading the firm’s Melbourne office, Richard offers GRACosway’s clients insight and advice based on his extensive experience in both government and private sector roles.

Richard provides strategic advice on issues including major legislative reform, competition policy, foreign investment and regulatory approvals, and his strong background in economic policy underpins the counsel he provides clients across a broad range of industries, including financial services, health, infrastructure, automotive, professional services and energy and resources.

As panel MC, Richard will ask the hard questions and inject his energy and wisdom to ensure an insightful and entertaining session.

Matt Alison is Bupa’s Head of Global Content Strategy.

His vision is for Bupa to become the ‘global health destination’, and to help improve the health of people all over the world.

To make this vision a reality, Matt has embedded an enterprise-wide content marketing strategy and introduced a new operating model that creates scale and efficiency, as well as fuels commercial returns.

He’s just as committed to being an exceptional leader, and he takes great pride in creating a positive culture and mentoring up-and-coming marketing stars.

Matt previously conceptualised Bupa’s award winning publishing hub the Blue Room, and led the team who turned it from a dream into a reality. In addition to reshaping how Bupa engages with customers, the Blue Room has helped build brand love, as well as improve customer engagement, acquisition, and retention. Similarly, Matt was the architect of the internationally acclaimed Bupa Blog Awards.

For more than 15 years, he’s helped businesses create commercial advantage through content and social marketing, brand strategy, digital disruption, and corporate affairs.

Prior to Bupa, Matt worked for Wizard Home Loans and various PR agencies, managing clients including Shell and Country Racing Victoria.

He is also incredibly passionate about giving back to the community. He’s been a Board member of Special Olympics Victoria, and has been involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Matt has deep internal communications, issues management, CSR, government relations, media relations, corporate communications, and PR expertise. And he likes to laugh a lot, mainly at himself!

Lauren Quaintance is Co-Founder of Storyation – a content marketing agency that counts Tourism Australia, Tourism Queensland and Carnival Cruises among its clients.

A former General Manager and Editor-in-Chief of Travel for Fairfax Media, she knows her Slovakia from her Slovenia and is on a quest to visit every Australian island.

In a previous life she was an award-winning journalist who covered everything from people smuggling to September 11 for publications such as The Sunday Times in London before taking a much less life-threatening job to launch the newspaper-inserted Sunday glossy in New Zealand.

She had stints as editor of the (sydney) magazine and Good Weekend and took charge of launches, relaunches and digital strategy for Fairfax Magazines as Managing Editor. She later turned her attention to the company’s print and digital travel products including Traveller.

Quaintance has a Master’s from Columbia University in New York and spent a term at Oxford University in 1999 researching the impact of the internet on journalism (hint: it changed everything.)

When she’s not helping travel clients to create content that people will actually want to read, she writes travel stories for Qantas and Etihad’s magazines among others. She also writes about stylish adventures with her kids on her blog www.luxetravelwithkids.com

Stewart has over 16 years of media and advertising experience, across a wide range of different clients both locally and internationally. He is one of the youngest head of strategies across the PHD network which is a testament to his passion and commitment to strategic thinking.

As Chief Strategy Officer Stewart works across a multitude of different categories and clients ranging from technology to FMCG. Key clients include: Google, PepsiCo, ANZ and Unilever. His focus on creating ‘purposeful innovation’ and ideas that have a demonstrable effect has helped to evolve grow many client business and win a variety of different local and international awards.

As well as having a strong focus on the work that is produced across PHD, Stewart has also been instrumental in the development of the agency process and structure. He has led the localization and deployment of the PHD’s global planning system ‘Source’ and the creation of a both Strategy and Research teams within the agency. His unique ability to combine strategic leadership with business acumen has helped make 2015 one of PHDs most successful years to date, typified by winning the Unilever business across Australia.

Before moving to Australia Stewart worked at Vizeum in the UK. Stewart was responsible for leading the strategic planning across the Coca-Cola business. Most notably building the global strategy for Coca-Cola across the London 2012 Games. Prior to that Stewart began his career at MediaCom where is learnt the basics of planning and strategy working across the GSK business.

Eaon Pritchard is Head of Strategy at Dentsu Mitchell in Melbourne. A former Creative Director who switched to Planning his when he found out who Tessa Pollitt’s dad was, his agency pedigree also includes Weapon7 in London and Clemenger BBDO in Melbourne. He writes regularly for WARC and his first book is currently the subject of a bidding war among several publishers (not really).

Luke Brown is the CEO, Co-Owner and driving force behind Australian agency, AFFINITY.

Luke has divided his career equally between the disciplines of integrated communications, media and technology over the past 20+ years. Following a decade with some of the industry’s top multinational agencies, he uncovered a need for a very different type of agency. He started AFFINITY with data analysis at its core. AFFINITY is a data-driven media, CX and creative agency and has been named in WARC 100 as Asia-Pacific’s #1 Digital Agency.

Along the way he’s garnered an impressive list of awards from Effies to Cannes, and is an outspoken contributor in the quest for integrity and transparency in marketing through published opinion and regular speaking commitments both on the local and global stage.

Or Shani is CEO and Founder of Albert Technologies Limited (AIM: ALB.L), makers of Albert, the world’s first and only self-driven marketing and advertising platform. Albert is used by top brands, including Harley-Davidson, Cosabella, Dole Asia, EVISU, Made.com, and several others.

Or and a team of 80 data scientists, engineers, and mathematicians spent seven years reverse engineering human logic and intuition to unravel the conscious and subconscious decisions humans make throughout multi-channel digital marketing campaigns. The result is a fully automated, digital marketing solution that doesn’t just replicate what human marketers do, but increases prospects, conversions and transactions (online and in-store) at a scale not humanly possible by even the largest marketing teams.

Or took Albert Technologies Limited (formerly Adgorithms), public in 2015, raising $42 million on the London Stock Exchange.  In 2016, Albert Technologies (then Adgorithms), ranked #98 on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500—a list of the country’s fastest-growing companies—with an annual growth rate of 992%. Albert Technologies attributes its growth to overwhelming demand for Albert and “his” ability to alleviate legacy data and technology complexities for top brands.

Harley-Davidson, for example, announced in 2016 that it credits 40% of its New York City sales to Albert, which subsequently spurred further adoption by a number of its U.S. and global franchises. In 2017, lingerie retailer Cosabella completely replaced its digital agencies with AI after its drastic uplift in sales with Albert. And iconic global jeans designer EVISU recently revealed that Albert increased its digital sales ROI by 500% through its year-long, fully automated digital efforts in the U.S., UK, Canada Australia and Singapore.

Or Shani is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and the Young Presidents Organization (YPO). In 2017, Or was a finalist in the EY Entrepreneur Awards, named an “Innovator of the Year” by the prestigious Stevie Awards and “Most Innovative CEO” by CEO World. Or regularly contributes to publications, including Forbes, VentureBeat, Wired, AdExchanger, MarTech Today, CMO.com, Marketing Land, and others.

Edwin Wong is the Vice President of Research and Insights at BuzzFeed. He leads research efforts to identify key trends in consumer behaviour and help advertisers capitalise on these trends to effectively connect with their core audiences. Most recently head of Insights at Pinterest, Edwin has been studying digital consumer behaviour for nearly 15 years. Prior to Pinterest, Edwin held numerous insight roles at Yahoo for over a decade. Edwin has been published in the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Magazine, Journal of Social Psychology, and Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). He received his BA from Pomona College.

Bio to come…

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’.

Dan Monheit is Co-Founder and Strategy Director at Hardhat, a creative agency built for today. A student of the old and a driver of the new, Dan spends his days working with ambitious marketers to build enduring brands. Hardhat clients include National Australia Bank, Deakin University and Devondale Murray Goulburn.

Dan is also Creator and Host of the Real Big Things event series, a Mumbrella 360 debating champion (1-0), an oft flamed contributor to our fine industry publications, and co-host of Bad Decisions, the behavioural economics podcast your competitors have been listening to for months.

Dan is nowhere near as smart as Dr Mel.

Dr Melissa Weinberg is a psychologist, academic, and research consultant specialising in subjective wellbeing, resilience, trauma, and sport and performance psychology. Since completing her PhD in 2011, she was the Research Fellow of the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index at Deakin University and Senior Research Fellow at the Young and Well CRC. Melissa has practical experience working with young people, carers, people with cancer and their families, Holocaust survivors, and elite and professional athletes.

Melissa’s research focuses on measurement and methodological issues relating to subjective wellbeing, and she has authored book chapters, scientific journal articles, and research reports in this space. Her research has captured the attention of media outlets including ABC and CNN, and she has appeared on various TV and radio programs as an expert on the science of happiness. In May 2015 she delivered a TEDx talk on the topic. She is the Co-Host of Bad Decisions, a popular podcast that explores decision making through the lenses of psychology, neuroscience and marketing. Melissa is a member of the Australian Psychological Society and an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Centre on Quality of Life at Deakin University.

Ed opened the Asia Pacific office for WARC at the beginning of 2011 in Singapore, bringing the world’s most comprehensive marketing intelligence service to the region. Since then, the business has been expanding at a rapid pace, while generating new content with initiatives like the Warc Prize for Asian Strategy.

Ed has a creative agency background. Before WARC, he was Managing Director of Bates in Singapore, where he led integrated teams to develop campaigns for Sony, Heineken, Nokia and the Singapore Pavilion at Word Expo in Shanghai. Before moving to Singapore, Ed was based in London, where he worked for 14 years at Rainey Kelly/Y&R, latterly as Global Business Director for Land Rover, leading integrated teams to develop launch campaigns around the world.

Always a keen proponent of effective communications, he has won several awards throughout his career, including Effies for Sony and the Anti-Drugs campaign in Singapore and has also judged for the MMAs, Singapore Effies, Australia APG and Mumbrella APAC Awards.

Ed is an evangelist for smarter insights and strategic thinking, who regularly brings to life WARC content at marketing conferences across Asia Pacific.

Hamish Cargill never thought he’d take an interest in chatbots. As Director of specialist brand voice and strategic copywriting agency XXVI, he’s been more focused on helping Australia’s largest organisations communicate better.

Working across all levels of business and with a list of clients that include NAB, Qantas, Hyundai and Australia Post, Hamish draws on more than his writing skills to influence the culture that shapes the way an organisation writes. Today his fight for clarity, consistency and distinctiveness is moving into new platforms, as brands embrace the opportunities of AI and chatbots.

It might be new tech, but in his mind, it’s only by harnessing old skills that brands will succeed in this space.

When he’s not thinking about chatbots, Hamish is at home with his horses on the property he shares with his wife in the Southern Highlands. If you ask, he’ll happily tell you about his commute.

Mike leads Ebiquity’s International Effectiveness practice, which undertakes multi-territory modelling, testing and consultancy to help brands optimise their ROI across markets. Prior to joining, Mike spent 12 years at Ninah Consulting as Managing Director of its London office and Global Head of its FMCG Centre of Excellence, working with companies such as Nestlé, Diageo and General Mills.

Prior to Ninah, Mike commercially headed up IRI’s modelling practice in Europe.

Tim is Managing Director of the analytics and optimisation consultancy, Digital Balance, part of the Ebiquity Group.  Whether it’s figuring out what to measure, generating actionable insights, or creating long term sustainable practices, Digital Balance is working with some of Australia’s largest brands, helping them better understand the consumer path to purchase and improve their ROI.  Tim has over 18 years of experience in digital analytics and thrives on providing an unbiased and independent view on data.

Bri Williams is an expert in buying behaviour – how to apply behavioural economics to customer purchasing patterns so you delete all hesitation and maximise every dollar of your marketing spend.

A CPA with a degree in Applied Psychology, Bri founded People Patterns in 2011, a specialist consultancy that helps businesses maximise their chances of influencing customers and stakeholders. Prior to this she worked in finance, HR and product management for some of Australia’s leading brands.

A regular contributor to various publications including Smartcompany, Bri has written five books including “Behavioural Economics for Business” and “22 Minutes to a Better Business” and appears regularly as a presenter, panellist and media commentator.