Nicholas Gray

Bio coming soon.

Rebecca Costello

Rebecca Costello is the managing director of the Guardian in Australia and New Zealand, part of the Guardian’s global network delivering trusted, independent journalism that is open to all, funded by many, and beholden to no one. She leads the organisation’s commercial strategy and operations, ensuring its long-term sustainability. 

Previously, Rebecca was CEO of Schwartz Media for 17 years, where she oversaw The Monthly and launched The Saturday Paper and the award-winning daily news podcast 7am, establishing the company as one of Australia’s most trusted and influential independent publishers. Earlier in her career, she held senior commercial roles across both established and start-up media organisations. 

A committed advocate for independent media, Rebecca focuses on building strong commercial frameworks that support a diverse and sustainable media sector. She is also passionate about gender equity, creating pathways for women and amplifying diverse voices across the industry. 

Tim Duggan

Tim Duggan is an optimist who loves thinking about big ideas. He is the Chair of the Digital Publishers Alliance, an industry body representing over 150 titles from Australia’s leading independent digital publishers.

He has co-founded several digital media ventures, most notably Junkee Media, the new media publisher which was acquired by ASX-listed oOh!media.

His first book, ‘Cult Status: How to build a business people adore’ was awarded the Best Entrepreneurship and Small Business Book at the 2021 Australian Business Book Awards, and his second book on creativity, ‘Killer Thinking: How to turn good ideas into brilliant ones’ was named one of the Best Books of 2022 by Apple Books.

Tim’s latest book, ‘Work Backwards: The revolutionary method to work smarter and live better’ explores how anyone can take advantage of a once-in-a-generations moment to rethink how and why we work.

Will Hayward

Will Hayward is the CEO of Private Media, parent company of Crikey, The Mandarin, SmartCo Media and a variety of other brands. Will is also an adjunct professor at the University of Canberra. Prior to Private Media, he served in a variety of roles at The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and BuzzFeed.

Zara Curtis

Zara Curtis is an award-winning content and marketing leader with more than 20 years experience across media, content, marketing, and television production.

As the Chief Content Officer at Mamamia, Zara is driven by a deep curiosity and a personal belief in the power of storytelling to drive connection and activate change. She is an audience-obsessed and growth-focused leader who sets the strategic direction for the company, overseeing the Content, Creative Services, and Audience teams across all platforms.

Prior to her current role, Zara held senior leadership positions including Head of Customer Experience, Brand and Social Impact at IAG; General Manager, Commercial Content and Brand Storytelling at FremantleMedia Australia; and Commercial Director at News Corporation. She was also an Executive Producer on the award-winning documentary, A Fire Inside. Renowned for her ability to create highly effective teams and drive business outcomes, Zara leads with curiosity, passion, and a culture-first approach.

Toby Hemming

Toby Hemming is a senior creative and media leader with over 20 years’ experience across advertising, communications, publishing and brand strategy. As Managing Director of LBB APAC, he’s grown the region into a global top-three market, building a high-performing team and delivering over $1m in annual revenue.

A former founder of Bold Media Group and senior exec at WPP AUNZ, News Corp and Sky UK, Toby blends commercial acumen with strong editorial instinct. He’s a regular industry judge, speaker and board director with a passion for purpose-driven storytelling, team wellbeing and mentoring the next generation of creative talent.

Kurt Gessler

Kurt Gessler is a staff product manager at Taboola, focusing on publisher data and tools, including personalization, AI and agentic experiences. Before joining Taboola, Gessler was a senior manager and editor in newsrooms for more than two decades. As the director of editorial product & strategy at Tribune Publishing, he oversaw audience growth, newsroom data, platforms and product development. Prior to that role, Gessler was head of digital for the Chicago Tribune. He also has served as adjunct faculty in the graduate programs at Northwestern University and the University of Nebraska. For his work on social media metrics and audience engagement, he was named to MediaShift's 2017 MetricShift20 list of leaders in media metrics.