JJ is a senior media executive with more than 20 years’ experience in leadership positions at several of the world’s most innovative tech and media companies, including Rocket Fuel Inc, eBay, NineMSN, Fairfax Media and News Corp.

JJ is currently the Chief Executive Officer of HuffPost Australia. HuffPost Australia reaches over 5 million Australians every month, delivering the latest breaking news and top stories across politics, entertainment, sport, innovation, food and life.

Flip Prior is a journalist/strategist in the ABC’s Audiences division, focusing on social media, audience engagement and training. She works with content teams on strategies for existing and emerging third-party platforms and projects to attract critical new audiences to the ABC. Flip also helps to manage a range of external industry partnerships. Prior to the ABC, she worked at Twitter, The Walkley Foundation and The West Australian newspaper. She is a founding member of Women in Media, a member of the ABC News diversity committee and a regular trainer for the First Draft Partner Network in Australia and the wider APAC region.

Nicholas Gray has been CEO of The Australian since 2013 where he leads the commercial development of the masthead and has been responsible for top and bottom line improvements fuelled by digital subscription growth, an expanded focus on digital products, business and lifestyle coverage and successful marketing campaigns including The Australian Business Review and For The Informed Australian. He joined News Corp via the acquisition of Business Spectator, of which he was GM and Publisher.

Before this Nicholas was CFO / Strategy Director and then National Sales Director at ninemsn. Prior to this, Nicholas worked on corporate strategy at Lion Nathan and was an investment banker at Citigroup in London and Tokyo and Macquarie in Sydney.

Nicholas is a Non-Executive Director of Society One and the Community Newspaper Group. He has also previously held non-executive director positions at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), iSelect and 3P Learning (Mathletics).

Nicholas graduated from UNSW in 1997 with a BCom / LLB, and remains involved with the University as a Non-Executive Director of the UNSW Foundation board and Business School Alumni Leader.

Matt is responsible for all revenue generated within the Fairfax mastheads including
The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review. He leads
teams across agency and direct sales, key account management, programmatic
trading, brands & audiences, ad tech & operations and the recently formed 50-
strong Commercial Innovation division.

Matt’s extensive background as a global marketer, creative agency head and digital
publisher uniquely place him to drive results for Fairfax customers. His previous
roles include Director of Content Marketing at Cirrus Media Australia and Managing
Director within the Publicis Groupe in London.

Simon Crerar is Editor-in-Chief and GM of BuzzFeed Australia. In his expanded role, Simon is responsible for the overall vision and direction of BuzzFeed Australia, encompassing its editorial output, business partnerships and strategic development. Simon joined BuzzFeed in 2013 to establish the Australian edition of the global tech-powered media company, and has grown the Sydney-based team into a national leader in online news and entertainment content. Prior to BuzzFeed, Simon held roles at The Times and The Sunday Times in London and at News Corporation in Australia. Simon hails from Edinburgh, Scotland, and lives in Sydney with his wife and son.

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.

Todd Wheatland is the chief advisor to Isentia’s Strategy & Content division.Previously he was head of strategy at King Content, acquired by Isentia in 2015. Prior, he held a number of roles in the US and Europe, including global head of marketing at Fortune 500 workforce solutions company Kelly Services.

Todd is an active investor & mentor, and co-author of The Cult of Work, and the Marketer’s Guide series.

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

Carl Chambers brings over 13 years of email experience to Adestra. He is one of the original founding members of the company and has been instrumental in its global growth. Carl is currently Regional Director of Adestra APAC, where he is responsible for corporate and commercial strategy, as well as the successful expansion into Australia and the wider APAC region. He also serves on Adestra’s Board of Directors.

Carl has worn many hats over his time at Adestra. Prior to his current position, he was Operations Director for the company, responsible for its core offerings of Development, Professional Services and Support. In this role, he led the team in winning its first award for Customer Service.

With a strong background in technology and systems development, Carl was also Head of Development for Adestra. This included leading the design and implementation of new features for its email platform, bringing them to market, and ensuring the effective delivery of services.

Danika Porter joined Mumbrella in the role of Head of Marketing in January 2016, covering the portfolio of Mumbrella’s websites, newsletters and events across Australia and Asia. Previous to this, Danika was the Head of Marketing at Beyond Television. Based in Sydney this role focused on the international distribution division across global offices, as well as the corporate entity. With a career starting in television with WagTV in London – a highly regarded production company – Danika returned to Australia to join Macquarie Southern Cross Media as Account Manager where she was ranked #1 statewide. Danika brings a wealth of international experience to her roles in Australia, having worked abroad in America, Canada and England. Danika achieved a 1st class BA Hons Degree in Broadcasting and New Media at Ravensbourne, London. In her free time Danika is an accomplished travel journalist, with feature stories running regularly in Get Lost travel magazine, as well being published in Escape, Vacations & Travel, Get Up & Go and inflight magazines.

Mike Bruce is senior editor at The New Daily responsible for daily production of its news edms. As part of this role, he has a heavy focus on audience engagement.

Mike is an experienced newsman having held senior writing and editing positions with The Courier Mail in Queensland and The Herald Sun in Victoria.

Ross Macrae is a data professional with over 25 years of experience helping clients gain insight from their customers’ demographic, attitudinal, transactional and behavioural data. He has worked with some of the largest global brands, including American Express, P&G, Ford, Vodafone, HSBC and Ebay. Ross is a Senior Solution Architect at Marketsoft, where he builds solutions that enable digital marketers to create and execute automated, data-driven, individually tailored nurturing campaigns.”

Gereurd is the Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Magazines, the multi-media and publishing arm of Australia’s largest and best-performing integrated media group, Seven West Media.

He leads a portfolio of the country’s most influential, iconic and powerful cross-platform brands including Better Homes & Gardens, marie claire, New Idea, InStyle, Women’s Health and Men’s Health.

Gereurd has more than two decades of experience across all facets of the media industry, having held positions at Guardian News & Media, ACP (now Bauer Media) and Pacific across editorial, commercial, publishing and general management.

He is also the Chairman of Australia’s industry body for magazine publishers, Magazine Networks.

Phillip is a media executive with over 15 years’ experience, in a media career that spans finance, business, economics, professional services, defence, international politics and development.

He has lead the launch and growth of a range of award-winning business platforms and is recognised for his expertise in building and commercialising highly-connected professional communities.

As a director of Momentum Media, Phillip has been integral in creating one of Australia’s fastest growing, most rewarded and forward-thinking media and market intelligence businesses.

The company has received four consecutive BRW Fast 100 rankings plus a raft of other major accolades and awards. Phillip has a Master’s degree in International Relations and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science www.momentummedia.com.au; Twitter: @philliptarrant

VICE is the world’s leading youth media company specialising in creating, distributing, and optimising original content across 35 countries and for every platform.

Alice is VICE’s Head of Strategy & Insights, and resident nutty professor. A youth and entertainment specialist, passionate about connecting brands with fans. At VICE she works with our brand partners, editorial and creative teams to unearth provocative insights from the deepest depths of emerging and popular culture. A self-confessed numbers geek, prior to VICE she held creative strategy roles in several specialist agencies and moonlighted running music festivals on the side.

A media professional with over 10 years experience in both print and digital journalism, public relations and corporate communications. Passions include technology, travel, business, aviation, cars and motorsports, media, tennis, and family. An enthusiastic and sociable people person with a track record of building and maintaining relationships and strengthening brands.

Amie Larter leads all things content for Octomedia, whether print, digital or events. Her leadership, understanding of publishing and ability to see audience insight is unparalleled, which has contributed to Octomedia’s 800% growth in the last 3 years. Leading a team of 14, Amie has managed to create a powerhouse of content that services over six industry mastheads. With a proven history in publishing as managing editor at APN and previously CEO Magazine, Amie provides a unique insight into publishing that is built during the industries most disruptive times. Her breadth and knowledge of digital, mixed with commercial acumen has driven innovation in an industry the pundits have said is ‘dead’.

Richard is the CEO of Realview Digital, a company he founded in 1999 to help publishers with digital strategies. A true digital publishing pioneer, Richard’s vision and tenacity has seen the company develop and adapt new strategies over the years. Realview has recently launched Partica, a brand new content platform that enables publishers to extract, organise, distribute and monetise content easily and intelligently.

Richard has a background in computer science and spent time running a lithographic planning and scanning house, giving him insight in publishing, printing and technology

Susannah George is Founder and CEO of The Urban List – Australia and New Zealand’s most influential local lifestyle guide.

From humble beginnings – launched from her bedroom in 2011 – The Urban List articles and videos are now viewed more than 18 million times a month, connecting with an audience of 2.4 million people across seven markets.

As the audience as grown, so too has the business, attracting some of the country’s most talented storytellers and strategists, and a partner portfolio of top tier tourism bodies and lifestyle brands.

Beyond The Urban List, Susannah is mother to 1 year-old Xavier; an ambassador for The Hunger Project’s Unleashed Women initiative; an independent board member of Racing Queensland; and an active member of Entrepreneurs’ Organisation. She is also a finalist in the 2017 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

Bio to come…

A two-decade veteran of the online industry, Chris has helped lead and grow some of the most popular sites on the internet including Netscape, CompuServe, ICQ, AOL, MySpace, IGN.com and Rotten Tomatoes.

More recently, he was Chief Digital Officer at Trinity Mirror where he transformed the company’s digital fortunes to become the #1 news publisher in the UK and created a portfolio of new digital businesses such as UsVsTh3m, Ampp3d, and Pinpoint.

His teams’ accomplishments have earned wide recognition, most notably the first Emmy ever awarded to content delivered via the internet for the Live 8 concerts, and UsVsTh3m lauded as “one of several online publications changing how news is delivered” (Financial Times).

He is currently assisting companies to develop their intraprenuerial capabilities, having successfully exited the Sydney based cloud start-up he co-founded.

Deborah Bibby is currently Editor-In-Chief of the newly launched JONES and Mr. Jones magazines for David Jones.

Deborah was previously Editor-In-Chief of real living magazine (10 years) – voted Australia’s Best Homes and Food magazine 2008; Bauer Media Magazine of the Year 2012; Publishers Australia Runner Up Editor of the Year 2013; Winner Publishers Australia Consumer Magazine of the year (above 20,000 circ.); AMA Home & Garden Magazine of the Year 2013; Winner Publishers Australia Excellence Award 2013 and winner of Magazine of the Year at the 2014 Australian Magazine Awards.

She launched the magazine 10 years ago after a successful career as editor of numerous titles including: Fashion Editor CLEO magazine Australia; Editor Dolly magazine, Australia; Editor Look Now magazine, UK and Editor-In-Chief Follow Me and FMG magazines, Australia. Deborah has also freelanced as a fashion / interior stylist/writer for The Australian Weekend magazine; Australian House & Garden and Inside Out magazine.

Deborah established her own independent publishing house Box Press Pty Ltd and published over 11 titles. All titles were short listed for the Australian Book Publishers Association Design Awards.

Deborah studied Fashion and Textile Design at Sydney College of the Arts and prior to completion was offered her first job as a fashion assistant on CLEO magazine.

Deborah appeared as a host on the design segment for Channel Nine’s MyHome lifestyle show in 2008 and as a guest judge on Channel Nine’s HomeMade interior design TV show 2009.

In 2014, Deborah successfully launched homes+ magazine for Bauer Media, which she edits alongside The Block magazine and real living magazine.

Fiona Corsie is the Content and Communications Manager for the APT Travel Group (ATG), a travel company based in Melbourne. ATG has a long and proud history, and over their 90 years in operation has grown into a global business with an extensive portfolio of touring and cruising brands including APT, Travelmarvel, Botanica and Captain’s Choice.

Fiona’s passion for travel was inevitable – having lived in Asia throughout her childhood, and later working as a tour guide for more than a decade, crossing several continents. On settling in Australia she got her first ‘real’ job in travel, and went on to study copywriting, design and marketing, complementing this with a Post-Grad in Publishing and Editing, and a Masters in Communication.

Having worked for 15 years in the digital arena, a recent return the world of content creation (regardless of its medium) was welcomed. From first- hand experience Fiona knows it’s the stories behind the destinations that resonate most, and that every client’s journey is unique. It is here that the genius of marketing happens.

Cassandra Laffey has worked as a journalist and editor in magazine publishing and content marketing, contributing to independent lifestyle publications and national and international sites. She is currently Content &; Publications Manager at Flight Centre Travel Group.

Natalie Taylor is the National Sales Director of Blue Star WEB (Magazine Print division) and Franklin WEB (Catalogue Print Division) which are the Heatset printing businesses at the IVE Group. She has a very strong passion for print and generating new ideas for her customers to ensure their publications and catalogues are as engaging, surprising, and compelling as possible for their target market.

In a world of digital disruption, Natalie sees her print divisions responsible at helping their clients think of new ways to ignite a response and spark in their printed magazine and catalogues. This could be from design, format, creative print advertising executions, personalization to new ways of distribution – for us it about ideas that have maximum ROI and impact. She says “Print has never been more alive, Print illuminates without batteries, it’s a place we escape to relax, unwind and consume good quality content of our choice in our own time – nothing is more powerful than that”.

IVE is a vertically integrated marketing services and print communications provider. IVE enables its customers to communicate more effectively with their customers by creating, managing, producing and distributing content across multiple channels. The marketing services and print communications industry is dynamic and constantly evolving. IVE’s response to this evolution has been to maintain relevance with our customers through ongoing investment and expansion of our product and service offering.

Rob Gallagher is co-founder and managing director of Adventures Group Holdings, a content and marketing business specialising in the self-drive, regional tourism market. Adventures was born out of a management buyout from Bauer Media in December 2016 which included a range of adventure focused brands.

A relative newcomer to publishing, having joined Bauer in 2012, Gallagher could see the changes in publishing happening in front of his eyes without the constraint of historical norms. It was clear that the traditional way of doing things was challenged, and not just the print disruption, and that there was an opportunity to flip the model on its head. Hence Adventures.

Gallagher identified the biggest asset Adventures had was its content, complemented by its proprietary technology platform, strong brands and its relationships with the market. A shift to a content first business re-framed the way the business operated – no longer was the printed product the most important thing as it was in a “publishing paradigm”.

In its first 6 months of operation, Adventures has been able to successfully relaunch two of its key brands CAMPER & Outdoor, developed a significant content marketing client portfolio and grown its digital network by almost 50%.

With a background in sports marketing and wagering, Gallagher has always operated in dynamic, entrepreneurial environments where data insights and technology innovation have been critical in success.

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

With almost 25 years experience across the broader communications and marketing industry, Tim recently founded Iaini Group in order to accelerate Digital change.

Prior to Iani, Tim spent time as a Partner at MacMorgan; as a Digital Intelligence lead at PwC and Heads of Data & Analytics and Digital respectively.

Over the years, these roles have seen Tim work with Government, C-Suite and Management with areas of focus include Transformation, Customer Acquisition/Retention.

Today, Tim helps translate the potential value of new players that incumbents might not yet understand, focussing on technologies and the people and capabilities required to get the most out of them.

Tom is a content creator and publisher with a background in digital strategy and marketing. His unique mix of creativity, technical knowhow and commercial instinct has proven successful in building online channels and telling brand stories in an authentic way across Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and editorial content.

Pitney purchased former Fairfax youth publication TheVine in 2015 and tripled the website’s audience and social media reach in 18 months before Junkee Media acquired TheVine in 2016. Pitney is now the Managing Editor behind Junkee’s new Gen Z title, Punkee. He is analytics-obsessed, loves dreaming up forward-thinking ideas and putting them in to action to get results.

James founded The Shovel in 2012 in response to the growing need for a serious, dedicated space to make fun of Tony Abbott. Since then The Shovel has grown to become one the country’s most popular comedy websites, and for many Australians, a trustworthy source of political analysis.

James is also a regular contributor to The Chaser Quarterly, has written for The Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review and The Guardian, and last year travelled to the US to cover a series of Donald Trump rallies. He survived.

Piers is the co-founder and Publisher of The Betoota Advocate.

He is also a TV and film producer with extensive experience on documentary and comedy projects. He has produced 80+ hours of original content for ABC, Nine, Foxtel, SBS and cinema release.

Ms Cruickshank, who joined Fairfax Media in 2005, has over 20 years’ experience, 17 of which are in digital media. She leads the national marketing and editorial divisions where she is responsible for growing consumer and trade audiences as well as driving the content, social and mobile marketing programs. Ms Cruickshank’s background covers a broad set of digital businesses in both London and Sydney, including roles in e-commerce and media agencies. She was part of the division within Fairfax Media that drove digital product and audience growth via Fairfax Digital. Most recently, Ms Cruickshank was Group Director at Fairfax Media leading the commercial content arm including the brands Traveller, Daily Life, Executive Style and Essential Baby.

Ms Cruickshank holds a BA (Hons) from Monash University and Grad Diploma from Birkbeck University of London.

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

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 is focused on embedding an enterprise-wide content marketing strategy and introducing a new operating model that creates scale and efficiency, as well as fuels commercial returns.

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 Bupa’s internationally acclaimed Health Influencer 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!

Alexandra Tselios is the Founder and Publisher of The Big Smoke Australia and The Big Smoke USA. The Big Smoke provides fresh and distinctive articles written by some of the most recognisable identities and erudite voices; as well as a full-service Advertising Development Group who excel at Native Advertising and Data-driven outcomes that convert. Alexandra Tselios has a Masters in Business, and is the co-founder of Not-for-Profit news site Plus61J which analyses Israeli and Australian politics. She is a regular commentator on radio shows across Australia most days of the week and also appears on ABC News 24 as a TV commentator on technology, politics and the trending topics Australians are talking about.

Bobbi Mahlab is the founder and Managing Director of Mahlab, a content marketing agency that celebrates it’s 20th birthday this year.

Based in Sydney, Mahlab employs 37 staff including writers, editors, strategists, designers, videographers and producers and draws on an extensive network of freelancers in Australia and abroad. Clients include Cisco, HBF, Engineers Australia, Australian HR Institute, Fitness Australia and Commonwealth Bank to name a few.

Mahlab is a two-time global finalist for Content Marketing Agency of the Year in the prestigious USA Content Marketing Institute awards. The company has won numerous awards for its content led websites, b2b content strategies and print magazines.

A former board member of Publishers Australia, Bobbi has experience on many non-profit boards and is currently a member of the Sydney Women’s Fund Advisory Board and Detour House, a refuge for women and homeless teenage girls.

Bobbi began her career in journalism as a graduate cadet in the business section of The Melbourne Herald. She then moved to The Sunday Age as a general reporter.

Bobbi is a past judge of the Telstra Business Awards and in 2015 was chosen to participate the inaugural EY Asia-Pacific Entrepreneurial Winning Women program.

Last October, she co-founded Mentor Walks Australia, a ‘speed mentoring’ event where senior women walk and talk with aspiring female leaders for an hour once a month. Mentor Walks take place in Sydney, Brisbane and soon Melbourne.

Kate Cox is Commercial Content Director at Fairfax Media. She has spent almost two decades with the publisher, with previous roles including editor of The Sun-Herald, editor of Sunday Life magazine, Features editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and numerous reporting rounds. She was also national managing editor of food and drink across the group. She works on innovative digital, print, audio, social and video campaigns for clients including GE, Tourism Australia, Samsung and Airbnb; her team recently won an INMA for their Decoding Genius branded podcast. She is a regular Today Show panellist, and appears frequently on television, radio and as a speaker at events.

Adam oversees Mumbrella’s sponsored features, podcasts and videos as well as contributing editorial.

A diverse career has seen him work as a feature writer, copy editor and news reporter for more than 30 British newspapers and magazines including GQ, Esquire, The Sunday Times, The News of the World, The Sunday Mirror, Gentleman’s Journal, Cosmopolitan and NME. He’s written profiles on England footballer Paul Gascoigne, famed sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and pop star Tinie Tempah.

Commercially, he has written copy for luxury clients such as The Ritz-Carlton hotels, Grenson shoes, Princess Yachts and Mr Porter as well as editing celebrity autobiographies.

A self-taught journalist, he started his career in 2005 leading York Vision to win Guardian Student Newspaper of the Year as editor while being twice nominated for Reporter of the Year.

Nicole Bence is a commercially astute digital media leader with a proven track record of designing and executing strategic programs across multiple platforms.

She has established and managed highly successful sales and integration teams renowned for delivering market-leading innovation, revenue and category growth.

Nicole currently works as Commercial Strategy and Solutions Director at Pacific. Previously she worked at Nova as Digital Commercial Director, held a range of senior sales and strategy positions at News Life Media and, prior to this, co-founded and ran her own digital marketing business, Black Chopper, for more than five years.

She has a passion for innovation and for using insights and data to inform decision-making.

Paul Blackburn is media sales executive with 17 years experience spanning several of Australia’s leading media organisation across digital, print, magazines, radio, social, and OOH.

As the General Manager of Key Accounts NSW at News Corp, Paul is focused on leading the market with content-based marketing solutions that leverage the scale, influence and precision of News Corps vast array of brands, platforms, technology, and data capabilities to deliver real-world outcomes for clients.

Virginia Hyland launched her own start up independent agency 12 years ago. As a one woman band she single handedly pitched to clients, knocked out the competition and created a unique agency that has grown to 40 people. HYLAND is now the largest Independent female owned Media Agency in Australia today.
HYLAND works with an enormous breadth of clientele from beauty, fashion, accounting, entertainment, FMCG, Pharmaceutical, Home and Lifestyle industries. Some of the clients that work with HYLAND include Calvin Klein, Natuzzi, RIMMEL, OPI, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Sally Hansen, Lilydale, Steggles, Olympus and Silversea Cruises.

In 2017 Virginia launched Programmatic Media Pty. A managed services business which trains and support marketers who want to develop inhouse programmatic buying teams. Marketers access transparent and independent guidance across leading Tech and Media. Companies such as Citibank, Flight Centre, Ubisoft, Commonwealth Bank, Sony and MIT have engaged Programmatic Media across areas such training and planning.

Her passion to launch both businesses is based on the premise that to be effective marketers we need to unlock all possibilities in how to engage audiences. Virginia says “There is a great need to inspire and communicate effectively with audiences”. Her goal today is to build a team of entrepreneurial thinkers who support marketers to harness multiplatform campaigns and relevant content that works in individual channels.

She has won numerous awards such as NSW Finalist Telstra Business Women of the Year, Top 30 Female Powerlist in Media, Media Agency of the Year Finalist and Employer of the Year Finalist.

Executive Director of Magazine Networks, the industry body for magazine media, Mary Ann is a senior executive with over 20 years’ experience in Marketing, Public Relations, Media, Corporate Communications, External Relations and Agency Management.

Trained and developed by the world leading FMCG Company, Procter & Gamble with experience covering Australia, New Zealand, Middle East & Asia. Mary Ann is widely recognized for an outstanding track record of building strong brands behind robust research and data. She is adept in the development and training of highly engaged and productive teams and development of organizational systems and processes resulting in strong sales and cost savings.

Ralph is a world authority on effective radio and audio branding. He started his career as an agency writer winning a Clio Award for one of his first radio ads. He got the hint and has specialised in audio ever since.

Ralph founded Eardrum in London in 1990, and launched Eardrum’s Australian agency in 2006. It is now the most awarded radio and audio agency in the world, producing effective radio campaigns, audio branding and audio content for advertisers and their agencies around the world.

His passion for audio is fuelled by a determination to innovate, subvert and explore new ways for brands to connect to their audience through sound.

Each year, Eardrum’s work is recognised at the world’s leading award shows. Recent highlights include three Gold Lions at Cannes, One Show Grand Prix, New York Festival Gold, and being named Radio & Audio Agency of the Year three years in a row by the London International Awards.

In recognition of these accolades, he was selected as one of the ‘advertising legends’ to serve as jury President at the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Lions Festival. His creative workshops never fail to enthuse advertisers and inspire creatives.

One day his Mother will know what he does for a living.

Roshni Mahtani is the CEO and Founder of Tickled Media, the publisher of parenting social network – ParentTown, and media assets – theAsianparent.com and IndusParent.com

Her company reaches 10 million Asian mums monthly and has operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and India. She has over 10 years of media experience across the US and Asia Pacific.

Roshni is also actively involved in the start-up community. In 2015, she founded the Female Founders Network, a group of over 2,000 female founders. She also sits on the board of TIE Singapore and is a mentor at JFDI and the Crib where she works with early stage start-ups.

Besides her interest in the start-up world, Roshni is also an Executive Producer of Untouchable: Children of God – A 2014 documovie about young girls in the brothels of India and how they are sold and trafficked from Nepal. The film won the Humanitarian Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival 2014 and is currently playing on Singapore Airlines flights.

Roshni has graced the cover of multiple magazines and newspapers in the region. Her company has been mentioned in over 200 media outlets ranging from the BBC to the Singapore Straits Times.

Zoe is a journalist currently working at Mumbrella as a reporter. She assists the editors in reporting on news related to the media, publishing and marketing sectors, more specifically media owners.

Zoe has previously covered the advertising agency beat.

She has worked overseas, writing for an international newspaper in Seoul, and did a major in Italian studies at university.

Chris is Managing Director of Australian Metro Publishing at Fairfax Media. Prior to this appointment he was Director of Publishing Innovation. In his current role, Chris oversees The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times, WAtoday, Fairfax’s Life Media brands (Traveller, Good Food, Essential Baby, Essential Kids) and the Fairfax Events portfolio.

Chris was previously the founding CEO of HuffPost Australia, a joint venture between The Huffington Post and Fairfax Media, and has more than 20 years’ experience building market-leading digital media businesses. He was also the founding CEO of Allure Media, one of Australia’s largest independent digital publishers, and responsible for launching Business Insider, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, POPSUGAR and ShopStyle in Australia.

Chris’ previous experience includes senior editorial roles at News Corp and production company Endemol Southern Star.

Steve has been forecasting, analysing, and measuring the Media Marketing industries for some decades now. His firm predictions have been published for 30 odd years.

He is the most widely quoted source of market dimension, trend and commentary for the Media industries. He is actively engaged everyday planning client strategies, measuring their results, and solving their market challenges.

He has lectured widely, including UNSW, Macquarie University and UTS and been a judge on many media panels including Cannes Media Lions, Magazine Publishers, Publishers Australia, CEASA Media Trends over many years. Also Foundation Chair Of Australian Magazine Awards. Twice voted by marketers as Australia’s best and brightest media planner/buyer in BRW Magazine.

The AMAA is one of our oldest industry bodies, it was established by advertisers through the AANA way back in 1932. Whilst advancing best practice and accountability is the AMAA’s function, its core goal is in building trust: the invisible thread of influence that underpins the advertising trading ecosystem.

Josanne knows a bit about trust issues, especially the role of trust in the media.
You could say it’s permeated her entire career; from the early years as part of the advertising team for The Australian Women’s Weekly, the magazine trusted by more Australian women than any other. To her long stint in strategic marketing with News Corp, focused on bespoke research that confirmed the value, to advertisers, of the trust consumers place in newspaper brands.

Now, with the AMAA, she’s shining a light on the trust issues at the heart of digital ad trading. This year the AMAA’s research, The Trust Equation, confirmed
‘Trust = Money’ with 9/10 of marketers and media agency professionals agreeing that ‘where there is trust there is more willingness to spend’. Also, 8/10 media agency professionals considered programmatic ad trading the area that most needed to build trust.

It all adds up to a simple fact: #TrustMatters.

Ros Allison is Media Lead at Insurance Australia Group (IAG). Now advertiser side, Ros has spent almost 20 years working in senior investment and digital leadership roles at media agencies, previously head of digital at Zenith and Performics, and launching the programmatic trading capability for Publicis in Australia and NZ. After a year building a consultancy business aimed at bridging the widening gap between agencies and their clients, Ros is now media lead at IAG, across brands including NRMA, with a particular focus on value, governance and strategic innovation in media.

Michele Levine has been Chief Executive Officer of Roy Morgan Research since 1992.
With over 30 years’ experience as a researcher, Michele has been responsible for thousands of surveys, including some of the largest research projects ever undertaken in Australia, many of which continue to play a crucial role in shaping our society today.

Driven by an insatiable curiosity about people and what makes them tick, as well as a fundamental belief in the empowering value of information, Michele was instrumental in developing Roy Morgan Single Source, the world’s leading consumer study based on over 50,000 interviews a year, and the Roy Morgan Business Survey.

With a passion for Australian culture, education and the arts, Michele was Chair of the Malthouse Theatre Board, where she provided leadership in strategic planning, philanthropy and corporate engagement. She also served on the Australian Made Campaign Board of Directors, where her expertise in buyer behaviour and the Australian marketplace was greatly valued.

A staunch believer in social justice, Michele is an Ambassador for the Menzies School of Health Research, advocating for their work in closing the gap in health and education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

In her roles as Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute for Business and Economics at The University of Queensland, and member of the Advisory Board of the Melbourne Business School’s Centre for Business Analytics, Michele strives to connect industry with university research.

Tim Burrowes is the Founder and Content Director at Mumbrella. Prior to Mumbrella, he was group editor of Reed Business Information’s Media Group, including editor of B&T. Before coming to Australia, Tim was the launch editor of the Middle Eastern edition of Campain magazine, and in his previous role to that, he was editor of Media Week in the UK. He was twice named the British Society Magazine Editors’ business editor of the year.