Julie Nestor leads Mastercard’s Integrated Marketing and Communications (IMC) team, playing a vital role in shaping the company’s reputation and bringing its brand promise to life for banks, financial institutions, governments, merchants, consumers, and other stakeholders.

As the head of IMC, Julie draws on her extensive marketing experience in the Asia Pacific region to elevate consumer engagement through Mastercard’s iconic Priceless platform. Her team also employs digital-first strategies, multisensory branding, major sporting and entertainment sponsorships, and experiential marketing to showcase Mastercard’s role in powering connected commerce.

Julie’s marketing approach centers on inclusivity, believing that marketers can drive social impact alongside business results. At Mastercard, she has led several impactful programs celebrating diversity and fostering inclusion through product-led, inclusive design thinking. Notably, the Cannes Lion-winning Touch, Australia’s first pictureless feature-length film, which uses sound to provide an inclusive cinematic experience for the blind and low vision community while promoting Mastercard’s Touch Cards.

Additionally, Julie’s team spearheaded the creation of Australia’s first wheelchair ballkid pilot program which developed open-source technology that enables wheelchair users to become tennis ball kids. These campaigns highlight Mastercard’s commitment to inclusivity and strengthen the brand’s connection with diverse consumer groups by creating practical products and solutions that tangibly advance the DEI agenda.

Originally from Sydney, Julie’s 25-year career has seen her leading marketing teams across Asia Pacific in financial services, technology, and hospitality. She spent 13 years at American Express in Australia and Hong Kong, and also worked at Hilton and eBay. Before joining Mastercard, she was the Chief Marketing & Experience Design Officer, Asia, at Manulife in Hong Kong.

Today, Julie is based in Singapore where she is a member of Mastercard’s Asia Pacific Leadership Team and Global Marketing & Communications Leadership Team. She also serves as the co-executive sponsor of the Asia Pacific ADAPT business resource group which aims to make Mastercard an employer of choice for people with disabilities.

Robin Gay is an accomplished Brand and Marketing Director with over 25 years of experience in the kids’ media industry.

Currently leading the global brand and marketing strategy for animated phenomenon Bluey at BBC Studios, Robin has a proven track record in driving brand growth and managing iconic kids’ IP including Mickey Mouse, Thomas & Friends and Ben 10.

His previous roles include VP of Global Brand Strategy and Management for Peppa Pig at eOne, and senior marketing positions at WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Company.

He is known for his expertise in brand strategy, marketing management, and global market expansion.

Dr. Karen Nelson-Field is a trailblazing media science researcher who has revolutionized media measurement, reshaping the industry’s understanding of attention and its role in effectiveness. A trusted advisor to leading media agencies and global brands, she is a sought-after speaker and the bestselling author of Viral Marketing: The Science of Sharing, The Attention Economy: How Media Works, and the industry-defining The Attention Economy: A Category Blueprint. Her pioneering research has been featured in Bloomberg Business, CNBC, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and beyond.

As the Founder of Amplified, she is at the forefront of omnichannel attention measurement, forging a future where biometric and other behavioural data signals power media planning, creative alignment, and in-flight optimization. Her mission? To bring clarity to modern media and make all reach equal again.

Ben is currently looking after the marketing and growth strategy across all snacking portfolios including chocolate, biscuit, candy and snack bars for the Australian and New Zealand markets at Mondelēz International, the global snacking leader behind iconic brands including Cadbury, Toblerone, Oreo, Philadelphia and The Natural Confectionary Co.
He started his journey with Mondelēz International (previously known as Kraft) in 2009, and over the years, he has taken on diverse roles in local, regional and global marketing leadership and general management.
With a career spanning over 25 years in the fast-moving consumer goods industry, he has also contributed to companies like Carlton & United Breweries/ Foster International and Mars Incorporated, holding various marketing and commercial leadership positions.
As a leader, he is passionate about developing diverse high performing teams, championing breakthrough ideas and impactful marketing innovation to drive business and brand transformation.
Native of Australia, he is a graduate of the Queensland University of Technology. He had the chance to live in both Australia and Switzerland with his wife, their three teenage children and black Labrador. Outside of work, he considers himself a “sports nut” and enjoys spending time in nature whenever he can!

CEO of Unilever International, Unilever’s global white space expansion division covering 200+ markets and managing all categories & brands. Digital and performance marketing expert building a agile model to scale brands worldwide, create new business models to cover channels like corporate partnerships, global diaspora, expand into markets like Africa & Latin America and build a digital incubation model for new brands. Won Unilever’s highest compass award 3 times & IMD management case study published on best practice in global market expansion. Building thegoodcart.com Unilever’s direct to consumer platform. Created Unilever Partnerships, our division that caters to the needs of over 100 Fortune 500 companies. Created Unilever Diaspora our global division to serve 500mn+ diaspora consumers.

Turnaround expert delivering between 2-10X turnover and profit return on multiple businesses across the world by leveraging cross border sourcing, digital performance marketing, agile innovation and team collaboration.

Leadership & productivity expert with over a million+ views on linkedin and author of upcoming productivity book 10x Productive. Have spoken at Harvard, SMU, NTU, NUS and multiple other forums on leadership, productivity, digital marketing. Driven highest ever improvement in engagement scores.

Digital Marketing and Social Media specialist (Certified Inbound Marketer) having created many successful campaigns in the space and teach the same at leading business schools globally. Marketing Trainer with a track record of training over 5000 professionals in marketing skills across leading international marketing forums.

20+ years of rich P&L and brand leadership experience across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, India, South East Asia, South Korea, China and North Asia with a track record of doubling / tripling brands, high success rate in landing new brand innovations and delivering the top category innovations in the last decade on sales and profitability.

Winner of the Marketing Excellence Award, CMO Council Award. Selected by Times of India as one of India’s 24 leading emerging young leaders for the future in Lead India. 3 time winner of the HUL Chairman’s Award and Global Category Unilever Award.

Expertise

Disruptive Format and Benefit Innovation, Social and Digital Media Marketing, SEO, SEM, Growth Hacking, Analytics, Performance Marketing, Driving and Managing Hyper Growth, creating solutions in emerging markets across the world, Leadership, Agile innovation, Direct to consumer, Productivity, Public Speaking.

Libby Minogue is a senior executive and board member with over 20 years of experience in driving strategy and digital transformation across marketing, technology, product, consumer experience, and sales in Australia and the US.

In 2021 Libby was appointed Chief Marketing officer at Virgin Australia. Prior to joining Virgin Australia, she held various executive leadership roles including Executive General Manager of Media, Content, and Marketing at the REA Group. Libby is also a Director of Tennis Australia since 2016 and Marketplacer Ltd. She has a proven track in P&L management as well as leading and building large, high-performance teams. She holds a Bachelor of Business from Charles Sturt University and has been a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors since 2016.

With over a decade experience as an IKEA marketer in Australia and Europe, Kirsten Hasler is the brand’s Head of Marketing in Australia and NZ, and one of its most passionate brand ambassadors.

Having spent most of her career in digital marketing roles across web, social media and CRM, she has led several transformation projects including the development of IKEA’s global social media framework and the implementation of advanced CRM for the IKEA Family loyalty club in Australia.

Kirsten is focused on driving ambitious commercial and brand growth for IKEA and believes that leading both business and people development together drives the best results.

She lives in Sydney with her husband and two young children, in a home filled with wonderful IKEA products.

Julian has spent the last decade in senior sports marketing roles and currently is CMO at Grill’d, leading the marketing, partnerships creative and digital teams. Prior to this role he ran marketing and content at the AFL, overseeing marketing, owned and operated digital channels, content and commercial integration, driving significant innovation, audience and revenue growth.

Previous roles include heading up marketing at Cricket Australia and prior to that running sponsorship at the Gemba group, after starting his career on the graduate program in marketing at General Motors Holden.

He has led some of Australia’s more innovative sports marketing launches and branding projects. This includes the marketing and brand strategy behind the Big Bash League and eight new BBL sporting teams, new AFL brand positioning and introduction of the AFL’s fan agenda, Sunday Funday and Super Round programs and overseeing the highly successful Toyota AFL sponsorship. In the last two years he has overseen a raft of new content, platforms and partnerships which have driven significant audience growth and revenue for the AFL. More recently at Grill’d delivering a new marketing strategy, new collaborations and campaigns.

He has led some of the country’s most creative, award winning, marketing campaigns and content strategies, including bringing back the “I’d like to see that” AFL campaign and the “Don’t believe in never campaign”.  Focused on business outcomes, he has won numerous marketing effectiveness and creative awards. This includes a best practice digital case study utilized by Facebook globally and multiple Effie awards.

In his time at both the AFL and Cricket Australia he has contributed to driving significant cultural change and audience growth, including all time attendances records, record revenue growth and large shifts in brand and reputation metrics. He is passionate about building new products, great brands, storytelling and brilliant content, leading teams and working with smart, committed people.

He has an MBA from the University of NSW and studied Entertainment, Media and Sport at Harvard Business School.  He has previously held a board position at Maccabi Australia.

Kim is an accomplished marketing leader with a rich background in sports marketing, brand sponsorship, broadcasting and rights holding. She brings more than 25 years experience to TEQ, having achieved excellent results in her previous roles utilising a consumer-centric approach, and is the first female to be permanently appointed as TEQ’s Marketing Group Executive.

Leading Pepsi Sports Sponsorship, as part of PepsiCo, Kim oversaw the prestigious Super Bowl half-time show from 2014 to 2017, featuring artists including Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Cold Play, Beyonce and Lady Gaga. Kim also worked across PepsiCo in Bangkok, overseeing North and South East Asia including China, New York, Melbourne and Sydney.

Returning to Australia in 2017, Kim was appointed the General Manager for the Big Bash Leagues, using her expertise in US sports entertainment to make the BBL and WBBL the family entertainment spectacles they are today.

Most recently, Kim was the Director of Marketing at Kayo Sports where she developed Kayo into one of the world’s most comprehensive sports streaming services. Her leadership drove Kayo’s subscriber base to nearly 1.5m sports fans and helped it achieved its highest ever net promoter score.

Josie has extensive experience with customer, digital and brand marketing deployed to build brands and drive growth. Josie has worked both business and agency-side, with many years in Asia leading digital marketing strategy for international brands. Josie joined Endeavour Group in 2023 as GM Marketing for BWS. Prior to Endeavour Josie was Chief Marketing Officer at Tennis Australia developing the Australian Open brand and event experience as well as harnessing data and technology to lift tennis participation.

With a sports marketing career consisting of 15 years at AFL clubs, Gavin has gathered experience across roles specialising in content, communications, marketing, multimedia, digital platforms, fan engagement and audience growth. He holds a Bachelor of Film and Digital Media and has completed executive education at Harvard Business School in Marketing in the Digital Era.

His current role at the Carlton Football Club oversees marketing, media and communications, creative, and digital functions, with a team focus on community growth, demand generation and responsible brand custodianship. This internal team also operates as the marketing engine of the business, to deliver holistic marketing, creative and communication services.

Lindene Cleary brings over 20 years of marketing expertise to her role as Chief Marketing Officer at Tourism Tasmania. Her journey has taken her from creative agencies to global powerhouses like Coca-Cola and Diageo, honing her skills across brand management, content creation, and strategic marketing communications.

At Tourism Tasmania, Lindene leads all aspects of the destination’s marketing strategy both domestically and internationally. Her leadership has shaped signature creative work including the award-winning ‘Come Down For Air’ platform and the distinctive ‘Off Season’ initiative, which she developed during her five years as Head of Brand Marketing before stepping into her current role.

With experience spanning Sydney, Singapore, London, and Seoul, Lindene brings a global perspective to her work. Yet it’s her deep connection to Tasmania—the place she now proudly calls home again—that truly drives her vision. A passionate advocate for her island, Lindene champions the vital role tourism plays in Tasmania’s economy and community. She boldly and authentically leads the Tourism Tasmania marketing team in sharing Tasmania’s unique story with the world, bringing her diverse experience to the place that matters most to her.

Ben Allen is a visionary leader in innovation, marketing and artificial intelligence, currently serving as the Group General Manager of Innovation at Mirvac. With over two decades of experience, Ben has consistently delivered market-first innovations and transformative projects that drive enterprise-wide impacts.

At Mirvac, Ben leads key innovation initiatives, leveraging his extensive background to propel the company to the forefront of technological advancement. Previously, he spent 18 years at Stockland, where he held various leadership roles including as General Manager of Customer and Marketing for the group. During his tenure he launched the company’s Innovation program, and significantly expanding its Data and Insights function to execute many successful AI applications.

Ben holds a Bachelor of Business from Queensland University of Technology and has completed executive education programs at Harvard Business School, the University of California, Berkeley, and Northwestern University.

Ben is dedicated to shaping the future of AI adoption to improve both customer and business outcomes.

Outside of work, Ben is a proud husband and father of three young adults. He enjoys surfing, traveling, reading and watching the footy with his family.

Amy is a purpose-driven executive, focused on creating value and competitive advantage through customer obsession and future ready capabilities. She has 25 years’ experience in Gaming, Banking, Telecoms, Retail, Technology across three continents. Her career is grounded in deep technical expertise, strong commercial acumen, and a passion for delivering meaningful, scalable outcomes for both Customers and Organisations.

As Chief Analytics and Data Officer at Tabcorp, Amy leads its analytics and AI strategy and execution, drove significant business transformation and profitability growth, next-gen customer experience while upholding regulatory compliance and player safety. Previously, Amy held senior leadership positions at CBA, HSBC, and NAB, leading large-scale analytics and data science functions, driving strategic initiatives such as data management modernisation, data-driven decision making and advanced risk practice across complex and highly regulated environments. Amy also co-founded DataSpark, a pioneering data monetisation spin-off, taking it from inception to commercial success, scaling the business into five countries. Through these roles, Amy has demonstrated significant leadership in strategy and innovation, building positive culture and delivering commercial success.

With experience across financial services, retail and energy,  Naomi is a well-respected marketing executive. Passionate and energetic, the customer is always core to her thinking and she is motivated to bring the best out of her teams and the best for business through driving positive cultural change to enhance productivity.

Naomi has a demonstrable track record of developing and transforming brands to find success. She has strategic experience launching new products and services and building go-to-market strategies that deliver results. Digitally savvy, data focussed and outcome-oriented, she specialises in building and running teams across the entire value chain known for their commercial capability.

Born and raised in Melbourne, Jen with degree in Behavioural Science and Commerce. Plus, over 12 years of experience in the FMCG sector, she has worked with renowned brands such as Fonterra and McCain. She later ventured into entrepreneurship, co-founding Fenix Fitness with her partner. For the past four years, Jen has taken on the role of leading Koko Black, transforming the traditional chocolatier into a uniquely Australian brand. Her expertise is broad – keen sense for with cost-effective marketing, blending corporate knowledge with start-up agility to drive brand growth and innovation in retail.

Channa Goonasekara is the Brand Lead for Uber in ANZ, leading teams and developing work across the region for Uber’s Delivery and Membership businesses.

Known for his focus on unlocking creativity in culturally relevant ways, Channa’s work is globally renowned; having launched Uber Eats’ latest brand platform Get Almost, Almost Anything, and being instrumental in the evolution of the Tonight I’ll be Eating platform – leading it on to become a Grand Effie – award winning campaign.

Channa brings more than 15 years of experience in leading food and retail brands both in Australia and abroad – navigating the brand through consumers, partner and merchant opportunities. He is also a key member of the Uber team that was named Australia’s Marketing Team of the Year by Mumbrella (2022 and 2024).

Jo describes herself as a purpose driven and outcomes focused leader with experience in strategic marketing. She brings together and blends her experience in brand, customer experience, communications, corporate affairs, government relations and community engagement.

She has worked across a diverse range of industries at times when those industries and businesses have been adapting to rapid changes in technology, shifts in population & customer preference and the implementation of government reform.

Jo is currently the General Manager, Customer Marketing at nbnco and her previous executive roles have included: Transport Accident Commission (Victoria), City of Melbourne, Australia Post, REA Group, AAMI/Apia (Suncorp) and Telstra.

Jo loves taking on challenges, particularly those that deliver digital transformation, profitable customer outcomes, and she is a huge supporter of vibrant, inclusive, connected & prosperous workplaces communities!

In her downtime you’ll find her managing her diary to squeeze in a mix of pilates, spinning classes, travel, theatre food & wine experiences.

Tara Lordsmith is a commercially minded, award-winning marketing leader with a track record of driving brand and business growth across some of Australia’s most recognisable organisations. Over her 25+ year career, she has held executive roles at Myer, Simplot, SPC, Murray River Organics and PCL Lawyers, leading marketing and commercial teams through transformation, growth and a focus on commercial outcomes.

Tara is now CEO and Co-Founder of The Accelerants, a strategic consultancy she leads alongside well-known marketing leader Andy Lark. Together, they help businesses sharpen strategy, unlock brand potential, and accelerate results by bridging the gap between ambition and execution. She is particularly passionate about the role of digital in driving marketing performance and business transformation. The Accelerants are agency advocates and believe in the power of collaboration.

Tara has advised boards, CEOs and CMOs across sectors including FMCG, retail, finance, tech and services. Her past clients include IAG, Tabcorp, Grill’d, OfficeBrands and Fluidra, along with several high-growth scale-ups. She was named Australian Marketer of the Year by the AMI and currently serves as Chair of the Deakin University Marketing Advisory Board while completing her Master’s in Digital Marketing.

Known for her strategic clarity and warm leadership style, Tara brings a practical and energising perspective to growth, marketing performance and leadership. Based in Melbourne, she’s inspired daily by ambitious clients, great ideas and brand storytelling . . and her partner Andy of course!