Emmy award-winning Creative Director with over 25 years of top, diversified experience specializing in large scale, high-profile branding initiatives. Critically acclaimed design and 360 marketing campaigns have been featured on major television/ cable networks, popular television shows, commercials, theaters, experiential events and across social. Manages creative teams producing outstanding content, creative strategy and multimedia marketing solutions for global advertising and entertainment-based media groups. Currently engaged in building a global, internal hybrid agency model (Creative Center) that services all of Sony Pictures Television. The Creative Center is currently rebranding and launching 100 networks across the globe and services Distribution, Franchise and Syndication Marketing, Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Television Studio and Sony One initiatives across Sony Pictures Entertainment. Previously at Troika, Los Angeles and Turner Broadcasting (now Warner Media) working with brands such as TNT, TBS, TCM, HBO, Filmstruck, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, CNN, HLN, truTV, Turner International, Turner Sports, NBA, FOX, MLG, Activision/ Blizzard, National Geographic, MSNBC, STARZ, Discovery, ABC, Freeform, Lifetime, Discovery. Prior to the above, Kasumi was the VP Creative Director for Pittard Sullivan New York and Los Angeles and Razorfish New York creating title sequences and launching global networks such as Fox International Channels, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp), Family Channel Canada, Stream Italy, BSKYB, Universal and Disney.

Matt Williams is Managing Director, Marketing and Revenue. He joined Optus in April 2019 and leads the core products that serve Optus’s consumer customers. A highly experienced executive with over 20 years’ experience in telecoms and technology in markets around the world. Matt joined Optus from Vodafone where he was part of the global leadership team and held roles spanning strategy, marketing and commercial management. He has led country business units in Vodafone operating companies, and held leadership roles in the Group’s global headquarters. He most recently led the Consumer Business for Vodafone in New Zealand, and prior to that was the Group Commercial Director leading marketing, product and commercial initiatives across the world-wide business. Earlier in his career Matt worked in strategy consulting and investment banking. Matt has also held a number of board director roles. Matt has lived and worked in cities around the world. He has an MBA with Distinction from London Business School, where he also led the Student Association and was a member of the school’s Governing Board. Earlier, Matt completed a Master of Arts with First Class Honours at the University of Auckland. Matt is passionate about the essential role that digital connectivity plays in our modern lives, and is focused on delivering great customer experiences and digital innovation. Matt has recently moved to Sydney with his wife, Lucy, and three children.

What does it take to build a global brand these days? What even is a global brand? Hamish has spent the last 9 years trying to get to the bottom of it whilst developing HSBC’s brand, creating campaigns for one of the world’s most famous media plans – Airport Jetbridges – and partnerships around the world, including the last Lions Tour to Australia. After consolidating a solid position at the top of the brand rankings, the world (and the brief) fundamentally changed, and the team needed to pull the brand apart, re-think the whole strategy and rebuild it from the ground up. Working through the largest brand refresh in the company’s 155 year history, they established a new strategy, purpose and visual identity. They then created a new sound identity for the bank working with Jean-Michel Jarre and have since been working on multiple global-local strategies with markets ranging from Australia to Mexico and Canada to Malaysia. Of course Covid-19 has stopped him from being in the room, but he will also share some experiences over the last few months coordinating their global response to the global pandemic. Hamish will share his personal and honest journey of attempting to transform a $20billion global banking brand and some of the successes and the challenges along the way. Whether it’s now relevant for 2021 is a different question…

Peter Sloterdyk is an experienced marketer and technology leader with a penchant for building teams and taking companies from start up to growth company and beyond. He recently joined Koala as their first Global Chief Marketing Officer with oversight of the marketing, data and analytics, and technology teams. At Koala, Sloterdyk is responsible for brand marketing and sales, communications, technology and digital development, and data and analytics. Prior to joining Koala, he lead original series marketing for Netflix in a broad global and strategic role. Peter got his start working with agencies such as Digitas, Deep Focus, and MXM (An Accenture Company) before transitioning to the brand side as the CMO of the queer social networking app Grindr, leading marketing, analytics, acquisition, and content development. Peter was born and grew up in Des Moines, IA and has lived in Chicago and Los Angeles in the United States. He is currently planning his move to live in Sydney, Australia with his interior designer husband and their two dogs.

In a career spanning two decades, Mim has become recognised as one of Australia’s pre- eminent leaders in marketing. In her role as Suncorp’s Executive General Manager Brand & Marketing, Mim leads Suncorp’s network of brands, which include Suncorp, AAMI, GIO, Apia, Shannons and Vero. She is responsible for setting the overall brand strategy and the end to end marketing program across all of the brands in the portfolio including brand strategy and positioning, digital and programmatic marketing, marketing automation, social and content, sponsorships, 1:1 customer lifecycle management, and master media management. Previously General Manager for M&C Saatchi, Australia’s largest advertising agency, Mim has been globally awarded for building the brands of some of Australia’s most recognised companies including Commonwealth Bank, IAG, ANZ, Woolworths, Lexus and Optus. In 2017 under Mim’s leadership, M&C Saatchi was named Australia’s most innovative company by the Financial Review. Mim is known for delivering cut-through creative that delivers results. She is passionate about supporting the next generation of creative and marketing leaders and has been recognised as an industry leader for her drive to find new ways to move the industry forward, as well as being an active speaker and mentor. Mim is also a Board Trustee for St Vincents Clinic Foundation, and a member of the advisory Board for Wheelchair Rugby Australia.

Tara Lordsmith has held senior CMO roles across leading FMCG, Retail, Entertainment and Financial Services brands across Australia and NZ and is currently CMO for ASX listed Murray River Organics, where she is building and creating Australia’s leading vertically integrated Organics business.

As an executive, marketer and product leader, she has raised and deployed millions of dollars to realise the potential of brands.  She has held fulltime CMO roles with Australia’s largest department store, Myer and leading food manufacturer, Simplot. However, since starting Lordsmith & Co in 2014, she has thrived by providing outsourced marketing support to CEO’s, Boards, Founders and other CMO’s who are looking to accelerate their performance.  This has led to taking on various marketing leadership roles and assignments including IAG, Tabcorp, Grill’d, SPC, OfficeBrands and various other scale-up businesses who require interim senior executive marketing support.  This experience has given her a depth of knowledge that enables her marketing advice to be highly impactful and commercially astute.

She has been awarded Marketer of the Year by the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) and is currently Chair of the Deakin University Advisory Board.  Tara co-founded CMO Collective – www.CMOCollective.com – with Andy Lark, her partner, to bring CMO’s from all sectors together to share insights, improve marketing performance and address data and digitally driven change.

Chris Garlick has been CEO of Starbucks Australia since 2014. Chris’ appointment to the role was part of the acquisition of Starbucks Australia by the Withers Group. It was also the beginning of the transformation of the business, after a challenging period since the brand entered Australia in 2000. Under Chris’ leadership, the transformation of Starbucks Australia has been characterised by a deep understanding of the economics of the Australian market, as well as an unrelenting focus on delighting customers with exceptional experiences in stores, consistent delivery of high quality beverages, and the delivery of physical and digital engagement of customers in a way that has strong resonance with target groups. By the end of 2020, Starbucks Australia will have reached 55 stores; beyond that, there is an exciting pipeline of future stores in locations exposed to high customer traffic flows. Prior to Starbucks, Chris was General Manager of the Non-Food business at Coles Supermarkets for 2.5 years. This role provided the opportunity for Chris to be a prominent leader and active contributor to the remarkable performance trajectory of that business during that period of time. All of this was after Chris “grew up” within BP over 16 years. Over his time in BP, Chris moved from a graduate intake in the very early stages of his career, to running the Retail business in Australia. Notable highlights were his 6 years in Senior Marketing and Sales roles in BP America based in Chicago, including 4 years as Vice President of Product & Offer Development; and leading the Australian Petrol & Convenience Business to deliver material profit growth through a highly engaged team. Chris has an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM), and has spent time at Kellogg Graduate School of Management undertaking various Sales & Marketing programs. His undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Arts, with Honours in Politics.

Charlotte Valente is Seven West Media’s first Chief Marketing Officer, appointed to the role in October 2019. In her role, she is responsible for developing Seven’s audience-centric messaging and marketing, directing communications and strategy across Seven’s businesses. This includes management and direction of Seven’s Consumer and Trade Marketing, Creative, Corporate Communications and Publicity, as well as Audience Intelligence, to deliver a holistic message and experience across all of Seven’s audience touchpoints. Charlotte has over two decades of industry experience, both domestically and internationally across senior marketing roles with globally-regarded brands including the BBC and Guardian Media Group. Prior to joining Seven West Media, Charlotte was General Manager, B2B at Big Red Group, with other roles held including General Manager Marketing at APN Outdoor.

Laura is a strategic executive and proven leader of change. With 18 years’ experience in financial services organisations spanning B2B, B2B2C and B2C markets; she has most recently focussed on leading and transforming strategic marketing, digital and analytics teams. Knows how to source, monitor, analyse and respond to internal and external data to identify opportunities and minimize threats. Has a proven history of being able to see beyond facts and observations to identify insights based on human, category and brand truths, than when translated into propositions deliver both customer and commercial outcomes. Experienced in using human centered design techniques, working in a highly controlled environment, naturally collaborative and a strong communicator. Passionate about helping employees achieve their goals and developing strong values based teams focused on making a difference.

With over two decades of Automotive industry experience across two of the world’s most valued and high profiled brands, Tony Sesto is currently the General Manager of Marketing for BMW Group Australia and was appointed into the role in early 2018. Having worked for the BMW Group for over 10 years, Tony has held senior positions prior to this current role first heading up BMW Motorrad for Australia and New Zealand followed by running the MINI brand across both Australian and New Zealand markets. Prior to his tenure at BMW, Tony worked his way up through the ranks at Honda Australia MPE starting his career as a Marketing Analyst and progressing through various marketing, sales and customer lead areas of the business. Now, as GM of Marketing for BMW Australia, Tony is responsible for all facets of marketing including, product planning and price management, development and execution of marketing communications, customer experiences, digital marketing as well as the brand’s certified Driving Experience program. During his time in his current role, Tony has played a key role in reinvigorating the BMW brand within the Australian market significantly increasing brand strength and consideration as well as introducing a number of key campaigns which have been awarded and acknowledged both locally and globally.

Jenny Melhuish is passionate about brands and their ability to deeply connect and genuinely help Australians. She has been recognised as one of Australia’s top Marketers, recently voted as ‘Marketer of the Year’ in the 2019 B&T Awards. She is currently Head of Brand, Advertising and Media for Westpac Group, where she has worked for over ten years. This role sees her and her team leading the Brand Strategy across the group encompassing Westpac, St.George, BankSA, Bank of Melbourne and RAMS, with the ability to reach over 12 millions customers through her portfolio of Advertising, Media & Sponsorships. Jenny loves to have a laugh and doesn’t take things too seriously. Her favourite part of the role is seeing her team shine and thrive. Outside of the office, Jenny is mum to twin girls who keep her busy and up to date with the latest TikTok antics and most other trends going on in the 10 year old universe.

Jee Moon is the Vice President of Marketing for American Express Global Merchant Services, responsible for the Asia Pacific region. She is a seasoned marketer with over 20 years of management experience building and transforming brands and businesses across the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific. Prior to joining American Express, Jee held senior marketing roles at organisations such as Luxottica (OPSM), Best&Less, Westpac, Vodafone, Dell and Canon. In her last two roles in retail, she was part of the Executive teams, responsible for the turnaround of the businesses, returning them to growth and profitability. Jee holds a BA in International Relations from Tufts University in Boston, MA, and an MBA from the University of Cambridge, UK. In 2016 she was named one of Australia’s top 50 CMO and in 2018 graduated from the AICD.

Ant was appointed Chief Client Officer of AMP Australia in April 2019. He’s previously held a number of roles at AMP, including acting Director of Strategic Marketing and Customer Experience and Head of Digital Growth. Prior to joining AMP, he worked in marketing and customer focused roles with the Hutchison Group across the Orange, 3 Mobile and Vodafone brands. It total, Ant has more than 25 years-experience in senior sales and marketing roles in both the telecommunications and financial services industries, with a track record in executing large customer-focused programs. He was recently a judge of the ADMA Digital Collective and the 2019 AMI Marketing Excellence awards, and is an Advisory Board Member for the Gen Alpha Project, which focuses on inspiring kids to become future innovators and change makers. He is a firm believer in using human centred design to deliver better customer experiences, and outside of work has a passion for the ocean, the outdoors, and a strong belief that if you put your heart in it, anything is possible.

Gareth Tomlin is Network 10’s general manager, data, insights and analytics, responsible for research, data strategy, analytics and insights across the company, including the Content, Advertising Sales and Digital divisions. Prior to 10, Gareth was at The Nielsen Company for almost five years working in the television audience measurement division. He joined 10 in September 2012 as Research Manager before being promoted to Head of Research in November 2016 and then into his current role in August 2018. He is Network 10’s Director on the Board of the audience measurement company OzTAM, and sits on the Interactive Advertising Bureau Measurement Council.

A Yellowknifer turned Sydneysider, Alexander has nearly 15 years of experience leading digital communications strategies for multinational corporations. He started with ‘The Big Australian’, BHP, where he kick-started the company’s digital journey. During his tenure, the company launched a new website and thought leadership blog. He also helped deliver the digital component of BHP’s first advertising campaign in over 30 years and saw the company’s social reach go from zero to over one-hundred million. At Coca-Cola Amatil, he is working across the company to help develop a digital communications and social media strategy towards the creation of a roadmap for the on-line future of the ‘Regional Beverages Powerhouse’. During his spare time, Alexander volunteers as the digital manager for the Yellowknife Community Foundation from his hometown in northern Canada and The Pinnacle Foundation, who provide educational and vocational support to young adults across Australia where their gender identity, sexual orientation or sexual characteristics have prevented or hindered achievement of their career aspirations or personal development.

Brent joined the SATC in November 2015 as a marketing specialist with senior experience across a number of industries. During Brent’s tenure tourism expenditure has grown 36% in South Australia. Brent oversaw the launch of a new global brand for tourism in South Australia, a number of global advertising campaigns and a digital program that now sees southaustralia.com attracting over 5.5Million visitors annually. Brent also oversaw the successful partnerships with Chinese megastar Huang Xiaoming, the Project and Masterchef Australia. In 2018 and 2019 Brent was recognised in the top 25 on the CMO50 list of Australia’s top marketers, and in 2019 won a national Mumbrella Award for best Social Campaign of the Year.

Gemma Hunter joined MYER as General Manager, marketing in September 2019. Prior to that she spent 10 years at MediaCom where she set up MediaCom Beyond Advertising, Australia.  Under her leadership the team of Creatives, Producers, SEO, Social, data and analytics and EComm experts won over 40 awards globally and produced what is still the world’s most in demand ad funded observational documentory, Air Rescue, for Westpac.

With over 20 years industry experience, Gemma’s background includes working in radio in the UK, creating International Marketing Partnerships team at MTV Europe which she ran for 8 years, and also running the Brand Entertainment division at TBWA London for 4 years.

Gemma is passionate about nurturing future leaders and developing campaigns that move people.

Eva is no stranger to hyper-growth after joining Airbnb as the first employee in Australia in 2012, quickly expanding her remit across the Asia Pacific region. In 2018 she joined Sendle, an Australian parcel delivery company for small businesses and the country’s first Technology BCorp. Sendle’s mission is ‘Shipping that’s good for the world’ and has sent parcels as far as Neptune and back, with every delivery 100% carbon neutral. The company is based in Sydney, Australia and launched in the US in late 2019

Ryan Gracie is a marketing and media professional, operating at the intersection of marketing, technology and creative. After starting life in the media from the studio floor of a Television station and growing into the role of General Manager of the WIN radio network, Ryan went on to become the Digital Lead for APN News & Media before 4 years as the Digital Marketing Manager for iconic Australian retailer, JB Hi-Fi, then Global Marketing Director for ASX listed Toy manufacturer and distributor Funtastic. For the past 4 years Ryan has been the CMO of Catch.com.au, now part of the Wesfarmers group and Australia’s largest ecommerce business.

Nicole Stanners is the Marketing Director of Campari Australia, the Australian subsidiary of Gruppo Campari, an Italian-listed, international spirits and wine business. The company owns well-known premium global brands such as Wild Turkey Bourbon, Aperol, Cinzano, Appleton Estate, Frangelico and the company’s namesake, Campari. Nicole has more 20 years’ experience, holding local, regional and global marketing, innovation and trade marketing roles across Europe, Asia and Australasia for leading FMCG companies such as Unilever, Cadbury, SCA and Diageo. She is an Alternating Director on the Drinks Industry Board and Director on the Drinks D&I Board which has an ambition to bring more Diversity and Inclusion to the Australian Drinks Industry. Nicole has a personal passion for creating and seeding purposeful brands that can drive cultural change.

Chris is a marketer with a track record of delivering results through an effective mix of strategy, analytics and creative thinking. He has worked across multiple sectors, from FMCG, financial services to education and retail. Chris is now the CMO for the Heart Foundation, working to reduce heart disease risk across Australia. In 2019 he launched the multi-award-winning Serial Killer campaign that compelled the Government to fund Heart Health checks under the Medicare system. Chris’s career began as a sales and marketing executive at Coca-Cola Amatil working across food and convenience store business units. Chris worked in a number of marketing roles at the marketing agency, Pinpoint Marketing, before joining Visa International where he worked in a number of roles including: Director of advertising, sponsorship and alliance portfolio across the Asia Pacific region and Director of Marketing for Australia and New Zealand. Chris established his own marketing consulting agency, consulting to a range of clients before joining Woolworths to lead the Services marketing team that managed Financial Products, Insurance and Telco portfolios. Chris then took on responsibility for marketing of WooliesX digital business channels including: Online Shop, Customer Services and was also responsible for the integration of digital solutions into the supermarket marketing plans, in-store and owned channels. As Chief Marketing Officer at the Heart Foundation, Chris is directing the marketing, fund raising, digital and media/communications functions to help achieve the organisations vision of an Australia free of heart disease.