Will Jago

Responsible for the AOC’s Marketing, Digital, Content & Brand, Will is focused on building the Australian Olympic Team’s fanbase throughout the Green & Gold Runway.

Building upon the Team’s Tokyo 2020 campaigns reaching 190 million people globally, Will is building a deeper connection with Australian communities through purpose-led campaigns, strategic partnerships and improved digital capability.

Before migrating to Australia, Will was part of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club’s marketing team, growing the club’s fanbase and revenue opportunities during a period of enormous transformation for the club

Rebecca McCloy

One of the youngest ever executives at Fox Sports, McCloy is the Commercial Director – Sport for the Foxtel Group. With a background in financial management and contract negotiations, she has been involved in hundreds of domestic and internationals broadcast rights deals for the pay TV network and streaming company, including the recent landmark deals with the AFL and Cricket Australia. 

Genevieve Hoey

Genevieve is a globally-awarded brand creative, currently Creative Lead ANZ for 72andSunny. Passionate about bringing together diverse, highly-engaged teams, nurturing talent and fostering a culture of creativity and innovation.

As a queer identified, female creative leader, her outsider energy has helped her carve a unique industry path for the past 20 years. She's won major creative and effectiveness awards connecting brands to culture to make relevant, impactful work that drives business results. She champions D&I, because true creativity demands different minds coming together. As a leader, she thrives on helping diversely skilled creatives unearth ideas and innovations to give modern brands relevance and utility.

Rebecca Sowden

Rebecca Sowden is a former New Zealand Football Fern and founder of women's sport sponsorship & marketing agency, Team Heroine. She is also the founding partner of social cause campaign, Correct The Internet which looks to tackle the gender bias that occurs against sportswomen in search engines with the goal of increasing the visibility of sportswomen. 

She's worked on global sport & entertainment properties including Hong Kong Sevens, Volvo Ocean Race, FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, Rowing World Champs as well as with the likes of Xero and VISA Europe on their women's football strategy. 

She started Team Heroine 4 years ago during the last FIFA Women's World Cup where she felt brands and rights holders were still missing an opportunity to unleash the value of women's sport despite 1b people watching.She believes we need to take bigger, braver and bolder action to fast-track women's sport to its rightful place in society. 

Allana Ferguson

Nine Network's Sunday Footy Show panelist, NRL commentator and brand ambassador. Former dual international, Allana Ferguson has seamlessly transitioned from the world of sport into the Australian media industry. On top of covering the NRL on a week to week basis, Allana also leads coverage for the NRLW and Super Rugby competitions, as well as the International Rugby test matches. She also regularly appears as a panellist on talk shows, including Sport Sunday, as well as on digital shows for the NRL and Nine network.

Nathan Godfrey

Nathan Godfrey, former CEO of the Canterbury Rugby Union NZ, is a senior sports executive with rights holder experience across multiple codes including AFL, Rugby and Football. He has worked in the public sector representing the NSW Government, including as the Director of Programs at the Office of Sport, and as a National Board Member for the Duke of Edinburgh International Award. An MBA graduate, with bachelor degrees in Commerce and Education, Nate is also a member of the Seven Continents Marathon Club, a group of less than 1000 runners globally who have completed 7 marathons on 7 continents, and he is also the Founder of Run Kangaroo Island.

Cameron Luby

Optus is an Official Broadcaster and Supporter of the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023, where they use their platform to inspire the next generation of female leaders. In addition, Optus partners with a number of female sports athletes, including Ash Barty who acts as the company’s Chief of Inspiration.

Cam is a strategic marketing leader with experience in world-class marketing teams and agencies, including Google and Goodby Silverstein & Partners. Currently the Head of Consumer Marketing at Optus in Australia. Cam has a unique ability to bring products, brands, creativity, and partnerships together to create innovative marketing programs with proven business results. He believes in speed, simplicity and that good ideas can come from anywhere.

Sam Fleming

I have been obsessed with sport from five years old, and fortunate enough to work in the industry for the past 13 years, with nearly decade being at TLA and now WILDCARD. From my first ever paid gig being $2 and a bag of red frogs for scoring my sisters’ netball games, to now leading a team at WILDCARD, working with incredible brands, organisations and events in sport, my obsession with all things sport hasn’t wavered since.

My skills have always been around telling the stories of sport and tapping into its emotion and theatre, whether that’s in the professional leagues or in community sport. WILDCARD was built to not only challenge the conventional approach to how brands, clubs and leagues tell their story in sport, but to create better emotional connections with fans, whether that’s in times of triumph or struggle.

Luke Haynes

Luke is an experienced passion marketer whose career has been spent helping brands connect to audiences through the things they love. Career highlights include creating the first ever live stream from Splendour in the Grass, transforming cycling culture in Britain, helping CommBank lead the way in women’s sport, creating the Australian Olympic Committee’s participation campaign, working with Origin to make sport sustainable, and getting Vanilla Ice on stage at V Festival to apologise for crimes against music.

He is currently Strategy Director at M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, and has previously spent time at RPM London, Sky Sports and Junkee Media.

James Tomkins

James Tomkins is an Australian rower, seven-time World Champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is Australia's most awarded oarsman. Tomkins is one of only five Australian athletes and four rowers worldwide to compete at six Olympics. From 1990 to 1998 he was the stroke of Australia's prominent world class crew – the coxless four known as the Oarsome Foursome.

Stephanie Rudnick

Stephanie Rudnick is a seasoned brand management and communications strategist with nearly 25 years of experience across numerous industries-sports, entertainment, lifestyle, tech, auto, travel, and luxury. She has looked after the personal brand management of dozens of A-list athletes, actors, musicians, and some of the world's leading brands throughout her career and is an expert storyteller and connector.

She relocated from NYC to Sydney in January 2021 and re-joined MKTG Sports + Entertainment as the GM of the agency's award-winning Experiences and Events team. Concurrently, Rudnick also heads up PR for Angel City Football Club, the professional women's soccer team in Los Angeles founded by Natalie Portman, Kara Nortman and Julie Uhrman, and is considered the world's first majority female-founded and female-run pro sports teams. ACFC investors Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams and their young daughter Olympia, Billie Jean King, Jennifer Garner, Abby Wambach, Eva Longoria, Gabrielle Union, Mia Hamm, NFL Quarterback Matthew Stafford, his wife Kelly and their four daughters, and 95 other notable, active investors committed to making an impact on and off the field. She's a native of Chicago and attained a BA in Journalism from the University of Southern California. She's lived and worked in LA, San Francisco and for 20 years in New York City before becoming a Sydneysider with her two kids- Charlie, 10 and Tilly, 8.

Gary Steele

Gary moved to Aotearoa four years ago and has now made the "land of the long white cloud" his home with his family. Since he joined DDB New Zealand, he has helped shape it into the successful agency it is today, with its work being recognised at all the international advertising festivals, including the coveted D&AD Black Pencil in 2022. Gary has also helped DDB New Zealand achieve Agency Of The Year for New Zealand at the Spikes Festival for the third year running, a feat everyone is proud of and another personal goal on his extensive to-do list.

But if you ask Gary what drives him, he will tell you He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata, the people, the people, the people. Those he has worked with and helped grow into the great creative people they are today, without whom Gary would not have this bio or any of these accolades.

Clive Dickens

Clive Dickens joined Optus as VP, Television, Content and Product Development in May 2019. Clive is responsible for product development, lifting Optus’ digital capability and importantly leveraging Optus’ important product assets, content and OTT partnerships, including Optus Sport, Optus SubHub and Optus Smart Spaces.

Before joining Optus, Clive was Chief Digital Officer at Seven West Media. He is an experienced digital leader with extensive worldwide media content relationships formed over the last many decades. He has delivered innovation and hyper growth in numerous start-ups and mature businesses and driven shifts in consumer behaviour through technology, including advising the founders of Shazam (now acquired by Apple). Other previous Non-Executive roles include Yahoo7 and Air Tasker and previous corporate executive roles include Southern Cross Austereo and Absolute Radio.

Clare Stewart-Hunter

After over a decade in advertising, Clare moved into the world of Sport & Entertainment marketing. She has led the thriving account management team at Gemba for the past seven years working with global brands such as Toyota, adidas, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola.​

As Head of Client and Creative Services, Clare is responsible for ensuring the Account Management and Creative teams deliver work of a consistently high standard to clients, building the future client base and the agencies go-to-market offer.

Daniel Kowalski

Daniel’s courage in the pool is legendary and his leadership out of the pool, inspirational. After narrowly missing the 1992 Olympics as a 16-year-old, Daniel finally earned his prized swimmer pin, #431, and a place on the Australian swim Team in 1993.

He eventually qualified for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and walked away with more medals than any other Australian athlete – an individual silver and two individual bronze medals. At the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Daniel won gold in the 4 x 200m relay, completing a unique trifecta of every coloured Olympic medal.

A graduate of Bond University, Daniel has served in a number of key leadership roles. He was the Australian Swimming Team Mentor at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2005 World Championships and was a sporting ambassador for the United Nations. In this capacity he visited refugee camps on the Thai/Cambodia border, an experience he rates as highly as any of his sporting achievements. Today he currently serves on the World Aquatics (formerly FINA) Athletes’ Commission.

A refreshing keynote speaker, in 1999 the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) recommended to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that Daniel be nominated as the preferred sporting personality to address the United Nations General Assembly on behalf of Australian and World athletes. Daniel introduced a peace resolution on behalf of all the athletes at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. This set the foundation for a career of public speaking and engagements.

Today, Daniel is Head of Olympian Services at the Australian Olympic Committee. In this capacity he leads the programming and events for Australia’s 4315 sized alumni grounded by three pillars, career, connection and wellbeing.

Sam Chew

As the head of product for ASICS Oceania, Sam Chew oversees the strategic direction of all product categories in the Oceania market. Sam has played a role in the growth of the ASICS brand in the Oceania region over the past 20 years - first as a team member in the marketing department and subsequently head of the department. Following a stint as the General Manager of Global Category Marketing at the head office of ASICS in Japan, Sam returned to the Oceania team to take up the challenge of leading the ASICS Oceania product department two years ago.

Lesley West

Lesley West uses her global analytical and consulting expertise to help brands understand, and consequently maximise, their marketing and communications effectiveness with the aim of improving overall business objectives. A strong analytical mind partnered with an aptitude for understanding commercial business needs and an ability to communicate effectively allows Lesley to transform client data into actionable business insights. Growing up in Glasgow, Lesley was born into a football-loving family although playing netball was her passion. Since moving to Australia, she decided that three sports were better than one, and is now a highly competitive age-group triathlete – meaning that her skills in ROI measurement are more valuable than ever.

Shadi Sade Sarreshtehdarzadeh

Shadi is a Strategy Lead at 72andSunny, with experience spanning over a decade of working in advertising at top global agencies including BBH and Ogilvy in London and 72andSunny in Australia.

She has also worked at the BBC, with commissioners on programming for BBC 2, BBC 4 and BBC Factual, as well as writing for The Guardian and The Huffington Post. Female empowerment has been a theme throughout her career, working on campaigns for Kotex, Depend, SheaMoisture, Unstereotype Alliance/UN Women.

Catherine Whelan

Whelan has had a long career at SBS and had led the coverage on major Australian sporting events including the Tour de France, NBA and NBL Basketball and the FIFA World Cup 2022. Whelan has overseen the live production of the Tour de France on SBS, the biggest annual sporting event, since 2014, leading the production and editorial teams on location in France. With over 15 years in the industry, Whelan has extensive experience in cross platform production including video editing, live studio production and digital and social media content strategy.

Ben Darwin

Ben established GAIN LINE Analytics after more than a decade of involvement in professional sport. As a player, Ben represented the ACT Brumbies in Super Rugby and played at international level for the Wallabies. Ben has considerable experience in coaching, player development and analysis. This includes a variety of coaching and performance analysis positions with the Western Force, Melbourne Rebels and in Japan with NTT Shining Arcs and Suntory Sungoliath. Driven by a desire to introduce a greater degree of empirical analysis into professional sport, Ben started GAIN LINE Analytics in 2013. As a hands-on founder, Ben is involved at every level of the business, whether it be developing predictive models, presenting research findings or consulting with clients.

Alana Fechner

Alana Fechner is a dynamic leader driving development, growth, and digital initiatives for sports consultancy Rich Digital and Greg Inglis's Goanna Academy.

As Commercial Director across the two organisations, she is responsible for fostering sustainable partnership ecosystems across sport, government, and media, while consulting with top tier sporting organisations, brands and C-Suite executives to transform strategy into meaningful and profitable business outcomes.

With a solid background in advancing digital commercial operations across both Australia and UK markets, she has keen eye for identifying and creating opportunities to expand audience growth via digital channels, and acts as a trusted advisor to the likes of NSWRL, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Brisbane Tigers.

An expert in moving start-ups to scale-ups, Alana is passionate about building sustainable brands that build enduring legacy, embracing digital innovation, and championing development pathways to grow future leaders.

Anne Gruber

Anne Gruber is Director of Content Partnerships - Sport, Olympic and Paralympic Games at Nine. In this role, she leads Nine's sport content partnerships arm, encompassing a diverse range of marquee sports assets such as rugby league, tennis, rugby union, cricket, golf, and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Anne plays a crucial role in the development and execution of Nine's sport content, as well as integrated solutions for brands. Her contributions have led to internationally acclaimed and industry-leading contextual content solutions.

David Weiner

David Weiner is the Director of Content at the A-Leagues, where he has established the media brand KEEPUP as the home of Australian football content, while building the league’s digital, social, video and original content capability as part of a strategy to grow fan engagement around the A-League Men and A-League Women competitions. David’s career in football and digital media spans 15 years, having been the editor of Fox Sports Football and Optus Sport, an award winning digital journalist, podcast host and Head of Social Media. He has also covered World Cups, European Championships and UEFA Champions Leagues as an on-air television pundit. He never thought his favourite sporting moment, Australia’s win over Uruguay in 2005, would be trumped, but is thrilled the Women’s World Cup this month has done just that.

Konrad Marshall

Konrad Marshall is a senior writer for Good Weekend magazine. An acclaimed longform journalist specialising in sport, art and science, his work has appeared in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald as well as The Indianapolis Star and The Florida Times-Union.
Konrad is the author of Yellow & Black (2017), Stronger & Bolder (2019) and The Hard Way (2020) and has collaborated on books with AFL stars Max Gawn and Dustin Martin, as well as trans advocate Danielle Laidley and tennis star and Indigenous icon Ash Barty.

He has twice been named print journalist of the year by Sport Australia, and in 2019 and 2023 won the Harry Gordon Australian Sports Journalist of the Year.

Richard Hunwick

Director of Sales for Total Television at Australia’s leading content company. With a footprint that covers broadcast, digital and publishing, and Australia’s most in depth and robust domestic data proposition, our business ethos is to create great content, distribute it broadly, with the aim of engaging audiences and advertisers at scale.

Sam Elliott

Sam is an Associate Professor and leading authority in the field of sport parenting, participation and retention, and psychosocial outcomes in youth sport. He has been invited to present his work internationally in Australia, China, the UK, Canada, and the US.

He is a multiple-award winning academic including the prestigious SA Young Tall Poppy science award, Flinders VC Award for Early Career Research, the World Congress on Science and Football Best Research Paper by Code (AFL) Award, and the Universities Australia Award for the ‘Pitch it Clever’competition. He has also received the Vice Chancellor's Award for Innovation in Teaching and consecutive College Excellence in Teaching Awards.

Sam is a science communication leader, representing Flinders at the Australian Academy of Science Falling Walls Lab Australia and in the global award-winning series, Raising the Bar. He is also the creator and co-host of Beyond the Club – Australia's leading science communication podcast for community sport.

At Flinders, he holds leadership positions as Higher Degree Research (HDR) advisor in Education and Sport, course coordinator of the Graduate Diploma of Research Methods (GDRM), and the Graduate Certificate of Sports Coaching. Sam also supervises 10 PhD students in his Children and Youth Sport Research (CHAYSR) lab. At the undergraduate level, he is the topic coordinator of three topics in sport psychology and sport coaching. He is also a Deputy-Director of the Flinders Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing and member of the SHAPE Research Centre.

Kyra Bartley

Kyra Bartley is an awarded Australian director, whose work has earned her a reputation for elevated yet intimate storytelling. She draws on her background in fine art, animation and post-production to bring a multidisciplinary approach to her projects, showcasing an ability to stretch the boundaries between the real and the fantastical.

With a profound fascination for the human experience, she is driven to tell stories that spark curiosity, provoke conversation and challenge the status quo. This has enabled her to create category defining work for brands such as Google, UNHCR and Vodafone, whilst being recognised at Cannes, Shots, D&AD and Ciclope along the way. 

Toby Boon

Toby Boon is the Director of Strategy & Creative Solutions, overseeing a talented and dynamic team of strategists. Together, they collaborate closely with brands and their agencies to craft creative and innovative solutions across Nine's TV, digital, print, and radio channels. At Powered, Toby's Strategy & Creative Solutions team merges creative thinking with audience insight, delivering groundbreaking marketing solutions for clients.

El Pigram

El leads the APAC division of Crowd DNA, a cultural insights & strategy consultancy that creates culturally charged commercial advantage for some of the world’s most exciting brands.

As a senior strategist & researcher, El has travelled the globe exploring topics as diverse as gender, aging, wealth and sustainability. They’re no stranger to exploring the world of movement either, having run global projects for the likes of Nike, Lululemon, Adidas to name a few.

Ian Perrin

Ian is a media strategist by trade having worked on numerous blue-chip brands across Africa, North America and Asia. Having started his career at Ogilvy and Mather in South Africa, he moved to MindShare New York before taking a Regional Strategy Director role at MindShare Sydney. He was Managing Director of Naked Communications before a four-year stint as CEO of ZenithOptimedia Australasia. He launched independent media agency SPEED in 2017 with his business partner Duncan Parfitt and they currently look after brands such as Colonial First State, Carnival, Taco Bell, Archie Rose, Dulux, Clear Skincare, Boody, Elmo and Wisr.

Dan Robertson-Jones

Dan is a Partner in Kantar’s Consulting team and leads the Cultural Insights practice. He has extensive experience leading cultural and futures programs for some of the largest brands in the world. He brings a very sensitive and nuanced understanding of humans and their culture applied to wicked business problems. When Dan’s not charting the futures of human existence and its commercial applications, he can be found organising the future generation of soccer players in the Inner West.

Adam Hodge

Adam has over 20 years experience in sponsorship marketing strategy. Working in sports and entertainment in Australia, Asia and Europe, Adam has experience in brand, agency, and media roles for Telstra, EMI Music, Virgin Media, Sky, Octagon and now leads the Marketing Strategy team at Gemba.​​

He has worked with some of the world’s biggest brands across Telco, FMCG, Consumer Electronics, Payments, Insurance, Luxury, Auto and Beverages. ​​

Adam has been engaged for Sponsorship Marketing Strategy in recent years by Virgin Australia, Diageo, Mastercard, Standard Chartered, Toyota, Westpac, Bunnings, Telstra and QBE.​

Brent Richardson

Brent Richardson is a seasoned brand management and sports marketing professional with years of experience working with some of the biggest brands and talent in the world. As the CEO and co-founder of Rich Digital, he works with sporting franchises, leagues, and athletes on launching their community initiatives to make a difference. 

This led to the creation of the Goanna Academy with Greg Inglis. The Goanna Academy is Australia’s first Indigenous-owned Mental Health Education Provider with programs in schools, communities, and workplaces. 

Before his work at Rich Digital & Goanna Academy, he worked at Google NYC working on global brands such as Spotify, The New York Times, IBM, Youtube & the NBA. 

In his downtime, he loves coaching and grassroots sport. He was Head Coach of the 2019 USA National Champion Brooklyn Kings and coach of the USA Hawks national team.

Simon Fordham

Simon Fordham is a television executive with more than 25 years experience in live sports broadcasting. During this time production credits include Olympic & Commonwealth Games, Bathurst 1000, Rugby World Cup, State of Origin and Australian Open Tennis. More recently in his role of Head of Partnerships & Strategy at Wide World of Sports he is responsible for negotiating the acquisition of sports rights & media talent and maximising their exposure across all of Nine's media assets.

Greg Inglis

Greg Inglis grew up in Macksville, within the Nambucca Valley, Greg faced both triumphant and challenging moments, which shaped his character. Supported by his family and friends, he discovered the power of resilience amidst adversity. 

Greg's passion for discussing mental health has driven him to share his own struggles, knowing that open dialogue can bring solace and connection. Through the establishment of the Goanna Academy, Greg aspires to transform lives, particularly within youth, adults, and the indigenous community, by addressing mental health concerns. 

Guiding the next generation and fostering empathy are central to his mission, empowering Academy participants to become champions who support those in need.