Janine is not your everyday self-made businesswoman. She grew her juice and smoothie empire in 2000 from her kitchen bench, to an international success story. Boost Juice Bars are now in 15 countries with three new brands of Salsas Fresh Mex Grill, Betty’s Burgers and Cibo espresso totalling over 600 stores. Janine then went on to share her knowledge with others through her a role as a “Shark” and mentor on Channel Ten’s Shark Tank. Her most recent adventure has been as a Champion contestant on Channel Ten’s Australian Survivor 2019. Janine’s business approach has made her a leader in her field, with BRW listing Janine as one of the top 15 people who have changed the way business is done in the last 25 years and Bastion Collective listing her as one of Australia’s top 20 most successful Australian’s in 2019. Apart from her Directorship with Retail Zoo, Janine is a Director on the publicly-listed Michael Hill Jewellers, and was the first female director on the board of the Hawthorn Football Club. She is the Best-selling author of The Accidental Entrepreneur, which is the story of Janine’s journey with Boost Juice and also the co-host of the Podcast Superwomen We Ain’t. Janine’s philosophy is simple – if she can do it, anyone can. “I still love getting up every morning and being a part of this great adventure. I’ll keep doing it as long as I love it and who knows where we could end up next!”

David Boynton is Chief Executive of iconic British brand The Body Shop, where he has responsibility for the company’s business strategy, execution and growth in more than 65 markets worldwide. He took the role in December 2017 following the acquisition of The Body Shop by Brazil’s best known beauty brand, and sustainability leader, Natura Cosmeticos.

David previously held senior positions at a number of major high-street retailers, most recently as CEO of menswear retailer Charles Tyrwhitt. He was also formerly at natural beauty brand L’Occitane for ten years, his last role at the group being Chief Executive of the western hemisphere where he was operationally responsible for a geographically diverse group of over 600 boutiques.  He has also held a number of senior management roles across Asian markets.

David has over 30 years’ experience in the retail sector and has expertise spanning operations, real estate, e-commerce and CRM, brand-building, operational marketing and sales development.

“Throughout my career, my passion has been to create working environments where everyone has the chance to fulfil their potential – irrespective of whether you went to Harvard or Haverhill Secondary Modern: if you bring creativity, energy and a strong sense of accountability to your work, you will be able to do spectacularly well.

Although I still feel as though I’m at the start of my career, it turns out that for more than three decades I have been supporting institutions that protect the world we live in and aim to deliver equality of opportunities. Leading The Body shop as it rediscovers its purpose is incredibly rewarding: everyday gives me a beautiful opportunity to make a difference to the things I care most about, in a business that was born to be a force for good.”

Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash is Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business. She was appointed to this role on 29 May 2019. Prior to this Senator Cash was the Minister for for Small and Family Business, Skills and Vocational Education. She held this role from 28 August 2018 to 29 May 2019. Senator Cash has also held the Ministerial roles of Minister for Jobs and Innovation from 20 December 2017 to 28 August 2018 and prior to this was the Minister for Employment, Minister for Women and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public service between 21 September 2015 to 20 December 2017. Senator Cash was also the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women from 18 September 2013 to 21 September 2015. In September 2010, Senator Cash was appointed to the dual roles of the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Status of Women. Senator Cash was Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate from September 2012 through to the dissolution of Parliament for the 2013 election. Senator Cash has also been actively involved in several Senate committees including as the Deputy Chairman of the Joint Statutory Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity. Senator Cash is a Liberal Senator for Western Australia. She was first elected in 2007 and commenced her as a Senator on 1 July 2008. Prior to entering Parliament, Senator Cash was a senior lawyer practicing in employee and industrial relations with the law firm Freehills (now Herbert Smith Freehills) in their Perth (and Melbourne 2001-2002) offices. Senator Cash holds an Honours Degree in Law from the University of London and a Bachelor of Arts (Social Science) from Curtin University in Perth, graduating with a triple major in public relations, politics and journalism. In addition, she holds a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the University of Western Australia. Senator Cash is married to Richard Price, a barrister. She is the daughter of former Minister in the Western Australian Government and former President of the Legislative Council, the Hon George Cash AM.

Alex is an experienced customer research professional who applies his Experimental Social Psychology background and his passion for research, design, and innovation to solving important customer and business problems. His professional goal is to help teams create remarkable products and services which make people’s lives easier and more enjoyable.

Currently Alex is leading Customer Research for the Zappos Family of Companies.  In previous positions, he was responsible for research and usability of the products and services for companies like TurboTax (Intuit), State Farm Insurance, and the Active Network.   He has over 15 years of relevant experience – 5 years of academic research and over 10 years of customer research in the software industry.  Alex received his PhD in Experimental Social Psychology from Clark University.   His areas of research include: defining and measuring emotions, individual differences, usability, and consumer segmentation.

Marketing, Communications & Leadership background as an international marketing executive with 20 years of experience in developing, managing and expanding the leading toy brand. I’m thrilled to work for a brand that allows me to be creative and fuel my passion to develop Retail Experiences & Shopper Activations that are unique, fun, memorable & impactful. Through my current role within the Shopper & OmniChannel Activation team combining classic Shopper Marketing with Retail/Omnichannel Strategy we drive opportunities together with our Retail Partners to enhance & bring to life the LEGO System of Play for Shoppers and Consumers around the world.

Ian was appointed Managing Director, Kmart Australia in February 2016 and assumed the responsibility for leading the Kmart Group division (encompassing the Kmart Australia, Target Australia and Catch Group businesses) in November 2018. Prior to this, Ian was Kmart’s Chief Operating Officer where he was instrumental in Kmart’s turnaround. Ian’s experience, both national and international, covers a number of industries including retail, professional services, consulting, technology and healthcare in positions that include general management, sales, business development and project management. Ian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and has completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Guy joined Wesfarmers in 2008 as Managing Director of Kmart, and was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Department Stores division (Kmart Limited/Target Limited) in February 2016. Prior to this, Guy worked for McDonald’s, beginning his career in 1974. He was appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at McDonald’s Australia from 1999 before becoming President, McDonald’s Greater China from 2005 to 2007. Guy was recently appointed Chairman of Guzman y Gomez premium fast casual Mexican restaurants. Guy is a passionate President of global non-profit, OneSky, for orphaned and at risk children.

A refreshingly curious and disruptive thinker, Megan Quinn has worked internationally across several industries and disciplines. She co-founded NET-A-PORTER and is now a senior advisor, international keynote speaker and sits on the Boards of three market leading listed companies and has previously served on the Board and national committee of UNICEF Australia and Fitted for Work.

With a renowned preparedness to constructively challenge the status quo and received paradigms, and with an absolute focus on integrity, the customer and the zeitgeist, Megan is focused on generating resonance, trust and sustainable growth. Regarded as a global game-changer and one of Australia’s leading businesswomen, Megan has a keen intellect and deep humanity and integrity. She brings expertise in innovation, transformation, digitisation, communication, creativity and the customer. Rather belatedly, she’s just launched her typically non-conformist business blog, Blog-ish.

From pizza delivery driver to pizza store entrepreneur, to Group CEO and Managing Director of Australia’s largest and first publicly-listed pizza chain, Don Meij has proven he has the recipe for success with passion, hard work and dedication the main ingredients.

After commencing as a pizza delivery driver in 1987 in Redcliffe, Queensland, for Silvio’s Dial-a-Pizza (Silvio’s) while studying to be a high school teacher, Don fell in love with the business and has since worked his way up the ranks.

By 1996 Don took the plunge and bought his first franchise in what is now Domino’s at Morayfield, Caboolture – which went on to become the second busiest store on the planet in its first year. Don went on to build a network of 17 stores, before vending his stores into Domino’s, becoming Chief Operating Officer (2001), and then Group Chief Executive Officer (2002). In May 2005, Don led Domino’s to become Australia’s first publicly-listed pizza chain on the ASX.

Domino’s Pizza Enterprise Limited (DPE) is now the largest master franchise in the world and owns and operates more than 2,500 stores in Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Luxembourg and Denmark.

Don has always held a deep passion for innovation and entrepreneurialism and through his leadership and commitment, Domino’s has launched many world-first initiatives in the technology and digital innovation space.

Examples include Domino’s GPS Driver Tracker technology that allows customers to track pizza from the store to the door, the launch of autonomous pizza delivery vehicles and drones, and DOM Pizza Checker, which uses artificial intelligence to improve the quality and consistency of pizzas.

Don passionately believes businesses must disrupt, or be disrupted, and is now leading the Company’s investment in machine learning, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Food, meeting demand from more customers than ever before who want to engage with businesses online. All of Domino’s innovation work aims to answer one simple question: How can we make this experience better for our customers and keep them coming back for more?

Don has won many industry awards including; Brisbane Lord Mayor’s Channel 7 Business Person of the Year Awards 2015, The Ernst & Young Australian Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2004, Australian Institute of Management (AIM) Professional Manager of the Year 2004 (QLD) and the 2002 QLD Retail Franchise.

Don’s international Domino’s awards include Pizza International Manager of the Year in 1996 and Chairman’s Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Domino’s worldwide network in 2004.

In 2016, Don was listed No. 4 on Business Insider’s list of 100 Coolest People in Australian Tech and Domino’s was named No. 20 on Forbes’ Most Innovative Growth Companies list.

In 2017, Don celebrated 30 years with Domino’s which today, is the market leader in most of the countries in which it operates.

In 2018 under Don’s leadership, Domino’s was inducted into Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in recognition of its remarkable national and international success in the food industry, resulting in pizza market leadership in seven countries through Don Meij’s outstanding leadership and disruptive innovation. The Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame was established by QUT Business School, State Library of Queensland and the Queensland Library Foundation to recognise the public contribution made by leaders of business to the reputation of Queensland and its economic and social development.

In 2019, Don united all DPE markets behind one purpose – to bring people closer through the world’s best bonding food: pizza. In this divided world, Domino’s is determined to break down the barriers between customers, and the food they love to share – offering something for everyone from meat lovers, to vegetarians and vegans, so everyone can share in the joy of pizza.

The story of Domino’s and the dedication and commitment from Don will continue to evolve well into the next decade.

Craig Woolford is Director of Research for Australia and New Zealand as well as lead Australian Consumer sector analyst. Craig joined Citi in 2005. His specialisation is food and beverage companies, supermarket retailing and discretionary retailing with a focus on leading-edge industry insights. Craig’s previous experience includes equity product development, funds management and debt origination. Craig has been consistently ranked a top 3 Australian Consumer sector analyst under the Peter Lee survey of fund managers. Craig has a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in Finance and Accounting from the University of New South Wales and is a CFA Charterholder.

Alan commenced with Wesfarmers as General Manager, Advanced Analytics, in June 2018. Prior to this, he held the role of Group General Manager, Corporate Business Intelligence and Advanced Analytics with Falabella Group, a leading South American retail and financial services group. In previous roles, Alan was a Principal at Quantium Australia, Director at Emnos Consulting UK and Head of Customer Insights at Sainsbury’s Supermarkets. Reflecting that 2 years ago, the Group MD, Rob Scott, made Data and Digital a top 3 strategic priority for the Wesfarmers Group, Alan has responsibility for accelerating the delivery of business benefit through Wesfarmers becoming a data driven organisation. He leads the Advanced Analytics Centre (AAC), a team of Data Scientists, Data Engineers and Business Translators who work in partnership with the divisional advanced analytics teams to realise divisional commercial potential. Together they utilise best practice advanced analytics approaches to scope, develop and scale advanced analytics solutions and build the underlying business-wide analytics capabilities. These advanced analytics uses cases have ranged from marketing and merchandising through to operations, covering the Wesfarmers retail and industrials divisions.

A creative expert in sports retail, Bob has extensive experience in both Global fields and Asia Pacific. Born in France, educated in the United Kingdom, Bob has occupied his roles in Hong Kong, Asia Pacific and Globally for the last 25 years.

With his name, behind over 10,000 concepts in stores around the world, Bob has developed and understanding of the international market and the specific nuances in cultures worldwide. Being formally trained and versed in Three Dimensional, Product and Retail Design has given Bob n extensive skill set in translating brands into the retail space with self-evident bottom line growth.

Anthony is a highly experienced retail executive with a strong digital and marketing pedigree and a track record of growing businesses. He joined Super Retail Group as a member of the Group Leadership Team in April 2015 and was appointed the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer in February 2019. Super Retail Group is ASX-listed, one of Australia and New Zealand’s largest retailers and the proud owner of four iconic brands: Supercheap Auto, Rebel, BCF and Macpac. Comprising more than 12,000 team members, their collective purpose is to inspire their customers to live their leisure passions – whether that’s proudly looking after their car, running a marathon, catching a ‘barra’ or reaching a mountain summit.

In the 2019 financial year, Super Retail Group generated more than $2.7bn in sales. Across the four brands and an omni-retail offer including 690 stores, Click & Collect and home delivery, the Group handles more than 46 million customer transactions per year and has more than 6 million active club members. In his previous role as Managing Director – Outdoor Retailing, Anthony was responsible for the BCF, Rays and Macpac businesses. As part of the overhaul of Rays and BCF, he unveiled an innovative format and streamlined the store network. Anthony initiated and directed the April 2018 acquisition of Macpac, integrating the brand with the Rays business and spearheaded the plan to grow Macpac into the leading outdoor adventure retail specialist across Australia and New Zealand.

Before Super Retail Group, Anthony held a number of senior management roles at Pacific Brands Limited, most recently as Group General Manager of Underwear, responsible for the flagship Bonds underwear business. In this role, he led the transition of the business model from a wholesale operation to a direct-to-consumer business and expanded the network of retail stores from one to 75. Anthony was previously Global Marketing Director for Foster’s Group Limited, at the time one of the largest executive marketing roles in Australia. This role followed more than a decade at advertising agencies George Patterson and McCann-Erickson, where he served as Managing Director.

Nick Molnar is co-founder and U.S. Chief Executive Officer of Afterpay, the leading retail installment payments innovator and one of the fastest growing global fintech companies.

As a former investment analyst and young, serial-entrepreneur, Nick’s vision for Afterpay was to create a global payment solution that would allow consumers to pay for items in four interest-free installments. As a millennial himself, he recognized that this generation has an aversion to credit cards because they can lead to compounding debt. Nick launched Afterpay in Australia with co-founder Anthony Eisen, in October 2014 and listed the company on the ASX in 2016. The company expanded into the U.S. in May 2018 and the UK in June 2019.

Prior to establishing Afterpay, Nick launched the leading American online jeweler, Ice.com, in Australia and successfully grew the business to become the largest online-only jewelry and watch retailer in Australia. Earlier in his career, Nick worked as an Investment Analyst at venture capital fund M. H. Carnegie & Co., where he was primarily responsible for growth stage investments.

Previously, Nick was a semi-professional rugby player in Australia and now is an avid skier and sports fan.  He lives between San Francisco and Sydney, with his wife and daughter.

Pippa Hallas is the CEO of the iconic skincare empire Ella Baché. The embodiment of female empowerment – she’s a mentor, an avid traveller, wellness authority, a mother to two young sons and a wife. Ella Baché is a family run business which was launched by her great aunt Madame Bache in Paris in the 1936 and brought to Australia by her grandmother Edith Hallas in the ‘50s and developed under the leadership of her father John in the eras that followed. Now, in her capable hands, Pippa is driving the brand into a new era of beauty. Over the past 10 years as CEO, she has focused on the same principles the business was founded on, but adds to its repertoire as a trusted go-to brand in the skincare and cosmetic world. Hallas is all about introducing a new audience to the iconic family empire with Ella Baché skin ambassadors, embracing social media as a platform for exchange and collaborating with fashion designers for her beauty crusade. She’s also passionate about the brand’s online education program where Ella Baché beauty therapists can aspire to be business leaders too. Prior to joining the company, Hallas worked at the esteemed advertising agency, McCann Erickson in London. Her love for brand building and marketing [she studied business/marketing at university and did her post-grad in the same field] saw her join the family business in a marketing role, later as GM and then as CEO to take Ella Baché to the next generation. Hallas has grown the franchise business to over 155 salons and launched the e-commerce site which has evolved over the last seven years. Hallas says she’d like to continue to support the franchise model and continue to prove that it is a viable business option for young women wanting to become business role models.

Rolf Weber co-founded Marley Spoon Australia in 2015 at the cusp of the meal kit delivery trend, with a clear vision of delivering more choice, convenience and superior logistics than previously available to consumers in Australia.

Rolf is an entrepreneur with a wealth of experience in e-commerce, SMEs and retail, having built one of Australia’s most popular private online shopping clubs, brandsExclusive, into an award-winning business, including accolades such as Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and BRW Fast 100.

Danny has over 24 years of experience in senior sales, commercial and strategy roles, leading large scale businesses across multiple geographies in Asia-Pacific, 17 years with Diageo, and 4 years in strategy consulting. Danny has lived and worked in Australia, Korea, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.

Danny joined PepsiCo from Australia’s leading Food & Grocery industry commercial consulting firm, Real World FMCG Consulting, part of The Advantage Group of companies, where he was Managing Director of the commercial division, working with major FMCG suppliers on commercial strategy, trading terms and price increase negotiations, route to market strategy, capability and joint business planning across Asia Pacific.

Prior to this, Danny worked for Diageo across a number of different roles over 17 years. His roles included Commercial Director – Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific; Vice President Commercial – Joint Venture Diageo Moët Hennessy Thailand, Sales Director – Korea;  and Commercial Director – Asia Pacific based out of Singapore where he and his teams led global customers (Tesco, Walmart, 7-11, Carrefour, Campbell’s Cash & Carry, Costco), route to market entry, field force design and structure, commercial capability as well as major trade deals and channel strategy initiatives across Asia Pacific.

Danny joined PepsiCo in November 2016 as Senior Director and Chief Commercial Officer Australia and New Zealand, and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in May 2018.  Leading a team across Australia and New Zealand he is passionate about driving PepsiCo toward its vision to: ‘Be the Global Leader in Convenient Foods and Beverages by Winning with Purpose.’

Danny holds a Bachelor of Communication and lives in Sydney with his wife and two children.

Shane is a technology and retail leader, with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries, including retail, finance, media and government.

Currently the CIO at Cue Clothing, which includes brands Cue, Veronika Maine and Dion Lee, Shane’s responsibilities include overseeing all aspects of IT and digital, both strategic and operational.

Skilled at challenging the status quo to transform business, Shane helps retailers understand changing consumer behaviours and how to take advantage of new technologies to grow revenue and deliver better outcomes for customers.

Prior to his role at the Cue Clothing, Shane’s held various technology positions at organisations such as Tricom Equities, AMP Capital Investors, St George Bank, Commonwealth Bank, British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB) and JCDecaux.

– #4 Internet Retailing 2019 Top 50 People in E-Commerce.
– #3 on RagTrader’s The Power 30 2018: most powerful people in the fashion industry.
– #6 on RagTrader’s 20 top tech influencers in Australian fashion 2019
– #12 on CIO magazine’s CIO50: New Zealands most innovative CIO’s 2019
– #25 on CIO magazine’s CIO50: Australia’s most innovative CIO’s 2018

Wayne Baskin started as Booktopia’s first developer in 2008, having spent 4 years at GE Commercial Finance. In his first 5 years he built the companies bespoke website, their custom Warehouse Management System and was responsible for the implementation of the business’s pricing and inventory algorithms. Today in his position as Deputy CEO, Wayne is responsible for the overall business strategy, vision and customer experience while also overseeing logistics and the businesses pricing and inventory strategy. In his role as Chief Technology Officer, Wayne oversees all R&D for both Booktopia and Angus & Robertson which includes all system development and the business’s integrations into external systems and third-party channels. In 2017 and 2018, Wayne was a finalist for the Online Retail Industry Recognition Award, taking out the award in 2019. He has also been named in Inside Retail’s Top 50 People in E-Commerce for five years, in 2019 and 2020 being awarded Number 8 on the list, as well as being a finalist for the BRW’s Best Rising Star Award. Wayne sits on the board of Booktopia, is an advisor to a number of other businesses and is a Director of Car Next Door.

Mark is an independent consultant helping digitally led companies with growth strategy. He’s worked with a range of companies including CMO at Showpo (where they grew over 400% in 3 years with no funding),  Woolworths, Adore Beauty, Officeworks, Microsoft, and others. He was named a top 50 CMO in Australia in 2018 by CMO Magazine, and #15 in the Top 50 People in Ecommerce list in 2019.

Vanessa joined Michael Hill in January 2018 in the newly created position of Chief Brand & Customer Officer, to lead the commercial growth strategy across the areas of customer product, brand marketing and eCommerce.  Vanessa is a recognised leader in strategic brand, customer

and digital strategy, and is renowned as a transformative specialist in building brands with expertise covering the end to end spectrum of customer, brand and marketing communications.

Vanessa has more than 20years experience gained in Australia, Europe, Latin America and Asia, where she has been a key advisor to a number of global and domestic commercial businesses and government organisations include being a Partner at PWC and Managing Director of Clemenger BBDO.

Angus is the Chief Executive Officer at Barbeques Galore, a national retailer with over 90 stores across Australia, and is also a member of the NORA Advisory Board. Prior to joining Barbeques Galore in July 2019, Angus spent 11 years at Super Retail Group, working across areas including retail operations, merchandise and ecommerce. Throughout this time, Angus led initiatives which resulted in Supercheap Auto being recognised on a number of occasions as Australia’s best multichannel retailer, and was also included in the 2018 list of the top 50 people in ecommerce.

Brett Spinks operates with a vision, sharp agility and a people focused approach. With over 10 years’ experience in the jewellery retail industry, Brett has led Swarovski Australia to new heights with record sales year-on-year since taking his role as Managing Director in 2017. Currently, as Managing Director at Swarovski, Brett identifies opportunity and talent within the organization to drive excellence and results. He has a hands-on management style and has spearheaded the business’ dynamic shift to focus on retail and people; customers and the Swarovski team. He’s an inspirational and credible leader, with exceptional business acumen from his extensive retail experience. Swarovski Australia continues to gather momentum under Brett’s watch. Previously, Brett spent seven years at Pandora rising through the ranks to become Vice President of Sales in 2015. Stepping into the business, he was integral to the extraordinary strategic change and business growth before taking on the VP of Sales role, maximizing revenue by driving a team of sales leaders.

Gwen’s career has been devoted to helping companies create growth through more meaningful customer engagement. While working at creative agencies such as Young and Rubicam, she identified the gap between brand imagery delivered through advertising and the presentation of products at retail. This led her to specialize in retail brand strategy. Gwen spent several years at an award winning interior architecture firm working to create branded environments and experiences. She then launched a retail design unit at a Chicago-based agency where she worked on global brands such as Nike, Nestle, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s. At The Store, Gwen is responsible for extending WPP’s thought leadership and capabilities across retail innovation, shopper marketing and insights. A key focus is how data and technology are impacting the ways consumers experience brands. Her team delivers curated content to WPP’s agencies and clients in the form of presentations, conferences, webinars, and reports. Gwen has led global industry research in emerging markets and has written for business publications such as HBR and Brandweek. Gwen serves on the editorial board of Journal of Brand Strategy and has contributed articles focused on sustainability and purpose-led marketing. She is a frequent speaker at international conferences including National Retail Federation, CES, and Retail Leaders Forum in Sydney. She is a guest lecturer at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, and University of Arizona. Gwen also serves on the Advisory Board of Fashion Group International. She launched an iTunes channel for The Store-WPP with podcasts from leading experts on topics ranging from how IoT and AI are transforming the retail landscape to women in tech. Gwen contributes time to Endeavor entrepreneurs around the globe to support high-impact start-ups in the retail and marketing innovation space. She is an avid skier and enjoys sailboat racing.

Julie is responsible for all aspects of 7-Eleven’s customer offer including brand and communications, category management, research and insights, in-store design and merchandising.

She is the Chair of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores.

Julie previously held a number of senior marketing and category management roles with Red Bull, Coca Cola and Tesco Stores UK.

Rodney joined Best&Less as Chief Executive Officer in January 2016. Rodney started his retail career selling menswear in a suburban Sydney mall, over the next 35 years he has worked either as a retailer or servicing retailers as a supplier. During this period Rodney has worked for brands such as IBM, Harvey Norman, and DOMAYNE. Spanning across business functions such as sales, marketing, merchandising, operations and as a business owner for a period of 13 years. Since January 2016, Best&Less has fundamentally changed the way they operate specifically relating to Project Reclaim where the business has changed from a Promotional Discounting strategy to an Every Day Low Price model with the focus on increasing customer traffic into stores as the lever to drive financial results.

Jaana Quaintance-James is Chief Sustainability Officer of Global Fashion Group, parent company of the ICONIC and three other internet retailers globally. A member of the global executive team Jaana is responsible for integrating sustainability into all elements of the business’ operations across 17 countries and execution of the global sustainability strategy. Drawing on 15 years’ experience in multi-category retail, prior to being promoted to GFG, Jaana led THE ICONIC’s sustainability agenda and was responsible for delivery of THE ICONIC Considered, a ground-breaking way for customers to shop by their sustainability values, and the #whomademyclothes documentary for Fashion Revolution 2019.

In her role she draws on developing and implementing change programs that deliver sustainability and ethical sourcing objectives. She has strong expertise in internal and external stakeholder engagement and a comprehensive knowledge of both the issues on the ground and how to drive forward long-lasting change.

Jaana has a Master of Arts in Organisations and Social Change from the City University of London specialising in Corporate Social Responsibility and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations & Social Policy from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Peter is a highly awarded and applauded CEO and senior retailer, specialising in digital innovation, e-commerce and business transformation within disrupted markets. From creating and developing Online start-up’s to working with some of Australia’s largest public companies, privately-owned companies, NFPs, Co-operatives and Mutuals, including Myer, Dymocks, Thrifty the Co-op and St Vincent de Paul.

Peter has been recognised as one of Australia’s top 50 people in E-Commerce and successful leader of a Top 50 online retailer, an ORIA winner along with being a National Retail Association Multi Channel Retailer of the year winner. NORA Advisory Council Member and Mentor. Chair Online Retailer.

This breadth of experience working on Advisory Boards, NGO’s and Start Up’s provides a virtually unparalleled view and understanding of the entire retail ecosystem and Circular Economy.

Peter switched on Australia’s first high volume consumer website in 1998 and now has over 20 years’ experience in online retailing in all its forms, as well as being a leading strategy mentor for NORA members and ORIAs Awards Head judge keeps Peter at the leading edge of most online and innovative retail industry operations, developments, practice and trends.

Peter has been the Deputy Chairman of the Retail Council representing Australia’s largest retailers, Director of the National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations (NACRO) and a founding director of the Business Council of Co-operatives & Mutuals (BCCM) with members representing nearly 80% of Australian Consumers. Peter has also helped build and create Australia’s first Co-operatively owned Craft Brewery.

Mozi Zhang is the Ecommerce Merchandising Manager at Temple & Webster, Australia’s leading online retailer of furniture and homewares, where she is responsible for site merchandising and consumer insights. Being an analytical leader in the business, she has led multiple conversion optimisation projects from initial proof of concept to the end site implementation.

Mozi has held leadership roles in online and offline retail across Australia, United States, and China. Putting the customer at the heart, she is always passionate about e-commerce and all the things businesses can do for their customers. Prior to Temple & Webster, she was working in consultancy with the focus of consumer insights & advanced analytics across multiple industries, including Retail, FMCG, Tech, and Finance. Mozi commenced her career in investment banking and assisted in carrying out a reverse IPO for a 30 billion Chinese company, and was well recognised in the industry.

Outside of work Mozi loves Photography and outdoor adventures. Has climbed to the basecamp of K2 and survived the grand canyon river rafting, she has shared her stories and photos in exhibitions and galleries.

Matt is the Chief Growth Officer for the Big Red Group house of brands which include iconic e-commerce marketplaces RedBalloon, Adrenaline and Lime & Tonic. 

Matt sets the vision, strategic direction and growth agenda for the brands in-market, driving our expansion and innovation initiatives within the experiences category both across existing markets in Australia and New Zealand and globally as we expand further. Matt is a spirited and talented leader; passionate about people, brand strategy and innovations and shifting the way our customers experience life. Matt is the force behind BRG’s purpose of delivering an experience every second, somewhere on Earth, bringing our vision to reality.   

Matt’s career journey has spanned three continents and multiple industries working for some of the world’s most well-known and trusted brands across Financial Services, Media and Technology, from start-ups through to multinational conglomerates. Matt holds a Bachelor of Psychology from the University of Michigan. 

Richard leads Alceon Group’s principal investment team, focussed on investing in mid-market private businesses. He has a successful track record investing in business turn-around, growth capital, management buyouts, ownership succession and capital reconstruction.

Richard has a particular focus on retail and consumer goods investments. He oversees, is an investor in and director of an extensive portfolio of operating businesses, including traditional and multichannel retailers, pure-play e-commerce platforms and a network of over 1000 stores which collectively generate c. $1.5 billion in annual sales:

Directorships include:

• Executive Chairman, Alquemie Group
• Chairman, Mosaic Brands Limited (ASX:MOZ)
• Chairman, Cheap as Chips Discount Variety Stores
• Investor, Marlin Brands

Richard identifies, structures and directly manages principal investments along with a high calibre and cohesive senior team at Alceon. His business interests and specialties include direct investment, growth capital, management buy-outs, turnarounds and business strategy.

He has a particular interest in how data and technology are redefining the future of retail and consumer behaviour.

He has a firm belief that talent is the key differentiator in business.

Steffen serves as Chief Marketing Officer at Booktopia. The Telstra People’s Choice Winner, and Bookstore of the year. Booktopia is a pure play online retailer selling an item every 6 seconds and shipping more than 5 million units a year. While Booktopia is a 15-year-old Australian startup success story, the team is now 220 people strong and in double-digit revenue growth.

Over the last decade, Steffen has founded companies in Denmark, Italy and Indonesia.
Successfully launching a Danish high-end online consumer electronics store 2006, became the driving force for pursuing more digital ventures. Ultimately leading to Profitize; A Full-Service Digital Agency specialising in E-commerce Conversion Rate Optimisation, Strategy, Design/Development and Digital Marketing Strategy.

Having helping more than 300 SMEs through Profitize and the experience from founding 4 Online Stores, Steffen holds a broad experience in global e-commerce strategy and Digital Marketing tactics across B2C and B2B. After arriving in Australia 5 years ago, and prior to joining Booktopia, Steffen headed up the digital area of the The Co-op where he as General Manager – Digital & Marketing was responsible for growing customers and revenue through digital platforms, e-commerce and marketing during its growth period and the later acquisition and consolidation of Australian Geographic Retail.

John is Non-Executive Director for Zip Co, Foodco, General Pants Group and HRI. He has cross sector experience across Marketing, Digital, Customer Experience, and General Management previously holding the position of Director of Marketing and Digital for Westfield/Scentre Group and the Regional Managing Director of the Wrigley Company. John holds a Masters in Management from MGSM majoring in Human Resources, a Bachelor of Business degree majoring in Marketing and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

For the last 10 months, Kristy Minter has been the acting Head of P&C Food at Metcash Trading Limited.  Prior to this she was in the role of Head of Performance, Recognition and Reward.

Metcash is a distribution, marketing and sales organisation supporting the Food & Grocery, Liquor and Hardware markets with over 6,000 employees.

Kristy has over 20 years’ business experience across Asia Pacific, in banking, consumer goods and retail businesses, focusing on all aspects of people and culture, with the driving purpose to build capable and confident leaders.

Recent achievements at Metcash include the WGEA citation and development of the Own Your Career framework which are both driving increased people engagement.

Kristy has a life long love of learning and actively supports emerging leaders through mentoring, with a participular interest in helping young adults find their work passion.

In her spare time she enjoying supporting her family with their extensive sporting interests and rennovating their family home.

As creative as she is data-geek, Nicole is a unique marketing leader, bringing a deep passion for technology and human behaviour to every customer interaction. With 20+ years of marketing and advertising experience, she has lead brands such as Dell, Pandora, eharmony and Woolworths towards transformative growth and financial success. Now Director of Marketing and Commercial at WW ANZ (formerly weight watchers), Nicole is tasked with amplifying the WW vision “To inspire healthy habits for life” and grow the global brand locally to ensure more Aussies and Kiwis are reaping the benefits of the wellness and healthy habits the WW experience brings.

Kshira Saagar (Shee-Rah Sa-Ga) has been with the Analytics/Decision Sciences industry for almost a decade now having worked across Americas, Asia, Europe and more importantly Australia. The bulk of his work has been focussed on developing solutions for the Data Science and Analytics problem spaces of the Retail, Telecom and Insurance marketing departments at some of the leading Fortune 100 clients. In his other roles, he has also enabled decision making through data for clients from the Media, Healthcare, Aviation, Logistics and FMCG organisations. Kshira believes in making data everyone’s job at an organisation and not have it just as a specialty role. In his current role at Global Fashion Group (the parent company of THE ICONIC), as the Director of Analytics and Data Science, he’s responsible for enabling data driven smart-decision making across 14 different countries within the fashion e-commerce space. Previously at Datalicious & prior to that at Fairfax, he was responsible for institutionalising data-driven analytics across the company’s core competencies and building new-age analytical products for the organisation.

Rebecca is a senior HR leader with over 10 years’ experience specialising in ER/ IR strategy, change and transformation across Retail and Logistics industries, and thrives in high growth global organisations. Passionate about HR’s role delivering commercial value through culture and an exceptional employee experience, Rebecca is well versed in developing people strategies that support transformation and drive growth. Originally from the north of England Rebecca completed her HR studies in Manchester before moving to Melbourne where she has worked across Australia and New Zealand.

Lee has over 15 years experience in corporate sustainability roles from start ups to large multinationals and recently ran a team of climate change consultants in Sydney.  He has recently joined Fonterra and moved to Auckland last month to head up the Corporate Sustainability Team.  In 2011 he was selected and trained by Al Gore to become a Climate Reality Leader and he is now part of the global mentoring team.

Ryan is the Head of Sustainable Development at Officeworks, helping shape the company’s long term sustainability and responsible sourcing strategy, whilst supporting the business to achieve their short term objectives.  Ryan’s role includes leading Officeworks’ approach to upholding and respecting human rights across their global goods and services supply chain, and their response to environmental issues such as climate change, the transition to a circular economy and more sustainable purchasing.

Prior to this, Ryan was a Buying Manager for Global & Responsible Sourcing, with a background in buying across various retail sectors.

Ryan’s approach to solving complex social and environmental issues is to establish progressive partnerships, work collaboratively and think creatively. Being part of the solution is what motivates him each day.

Ryan holds an MBA in Strategic Carbon Management, from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, and a Bachelor of Business from Monash University.

Graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Leeds (U.K.), Amy’s early career started with a legal focus, and upon moving to Australia in 2010 (anticipating to stay only for 2 weeks), she started her journey with Lush Cosmetics.

Amy quickly progressed from a store management role at the Lush Sydney flagship store, to managing the training and development portfolio, more recently going on to establish the People Support department in early 2017.

With expertise in employment law, employment relations, compliance and managing complex business projects, Amy’s role as People Support Manager is diverse and also oversees the key functions of recruitment and safety.

Throughout her time at Lush, Amy has been driven by authentic leadership and having a genuine desire to see people reach their potential and achieve their goals inside or outside the company.

Sally Townsend is a passionate Sustainability and Communications professional. She has 20 years of experience in the retail and healthcare sectors and specialises in developing strategies with a strong corporate narratives and deep alignment throughout organisations. In her current role as Head of Sustainability for Blackmores, Sally has responsibility for the Group Sustainability Vision aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and is working to integrate these commitments into the core business strategy to deliver on the company’s vision for a world where people and nature thrive together.

Karen is a senior retail and consumer executive who has worked in some of Australia’s most iconic retail brands: Woolworths, BIG W, Caltex and Rebel Sport.  She is currently the Group Chief Executive Officer at Craveable Brands. Karen has been a CFO, COO, GM of Strategy, GM of Transformation and Replenishment in public, private and private equity environments. Karen is a CEW scholar, having completed the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD in France in 2019, as a result of winning the Chief Executive Women’s scholarship. Karen is passionate about retail, people and diversity.

Bernard Wilson is CEO of Cashrewards and a highly experienced loyalty, e-commerce, digital and data leader with proven credentials across a range of leading Australian corporations including Woolies X, Myer, Lion and Quantium.

Bernard spent the first decade of his career as a solicitor specialising in mergers and acquisitions for King & Wood Mallesons and in investment banking for Credit Suisse.

As General Manager for Customer Data, Analytics, Media and Commercialisation for Woolworths, Bernard was a member of the WooliesX executive committee and involved in the successful re-launch of Woolworths Rewards and the build and operation of a world-class personalisation capability.

At Myer, Bernard led Loyalty, Data, Media and Marketplace, including the MYER one loyalty program and was responsible for >$100m in sales and ~$33m in EBIT.

Bernard joined Cashrewards from data science and artificial intelligence leader Quantium, where he was responsible for commercial and go-to-market leadership of its banking and wealth division, including its push into FinTech.

Darren Gunton is a passionate and successful retail marketing with over 25 years of marketing experience.

Darren has worked for some of Australia’s biggest brands in a variety of industries including homewares, beauty, pharmacy, gambling and hardware.

Passionate about turning customers into fans, by enhancing the customer value proposition of brands. Darren has successfully driven change in a number of organisations through agile marketing, technology, innovation and a strong understanding of the customer.

Damian Madden is an award-winning global executive with close to twenty-years of experience in digital transformation, emerging technologies, operations and marketing. A recognised expert in empowering innovation, Madden is regularly sought as a keynote speaker and has spoken around the world on the topic as well as how to prepare your business for the customer of tomorrow. He regularly donates his time within the creative sector to help artists, museums and galleries to better engage with their patrons and integrate technology into their practice.

Renee Gamble is Google’s Industry Leader of Retail, Technology, Telecommunications and Energy where her responsibilities include growing and stewarding Google’s customer relationships with CxOs of some of the largest organizations in ANZ.  Renee joined Google in 2015 to head up the ANZ Google Cloud business, before taking on her current role in 2017.

Renee brings an extensive track record of technology and business innovation leadership.  Before joining Google she spent over 10 years at Microsoft in Singapore and Australia in various sales and business leadership roles. She previously worked as an industry analyst and business leader with IT & Telecommunications research advisory firm International Data Corporation (IDC) across Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore. Earlier experience included IP start-ups and software firms.

Renee has a Bachelor of Arts (Social Science) from the University of Technology Sydney and a Masters of Commerce (Electronic Commerce) from Curtin University, Australia. Away from the office, Renee enjoys family life with her husband and two daughters and escaping for short breaks to travel and explore.

As General Manager People and Culture for kikki.K, Stacey is directly responsible for leading strategic HR on a global front. As a member of the Executive Team, Stacey is responsible for developing the People Strategy in alignment with the company’s overarching strategy. She provides leadership on the full range of people issues, including; organisational capability, talent management and acquisition, industrial relations, remuneration and benefits, workforce planning, performance management system, and HR technology. Stacey has experience spanning the education, telecommunications, insurance, retail and hospitality industries.

Koala combines customer-centric products, a world-class technology and fulfilment platform, and incredible customer service to be one of Australia’s fastest growing online retailers.

As the Head of Data and Analytics Tom is responsible for both maintaining the data infrastructure that powers decision making across the business, as well as unlocking the value of advanced analytics and data science.

Tom has experience building customer centric data architectures from the ground up in a range of industries including Retail, Hospitality and Education. He believes that to rise above the fluff, data driven customer analytics requires constant distillation into actionable levers for decision makers. As head of data and analytics for a rapidly growing brand he is passionate about bridging the inevitable gap between state of the art analysis and commercial reality.

Dean Salakas is the Chief Party Dude at The Party People. Dean has pioneered in retail launching Australia’s first online party store in 1999, being Google Australia’s First Advertiser and more recently trialing Scan & Go as well as Magic Mirror technologies. Dean was named 2018 Retail Leader of The Year by The Australian Retail Association and 2019 Inspiring Retail Leader by Retail Doctor Group.

Amy is energetic, creative and has built her career building brands through great marketing here and overseas.

She started her corporate life in Australia at Telstra, then moved to London in 1993 where she worked for over a decade running creative advertising agencies including TBWA, WCRS and Nike’s long standing agency, Wieden + Kennedy.  She also worked for the French media group Havas in Paris and is a fluent French speaker.

After 12 years in Europe, she returned to Australia in 2005 as Managing Director of TBWA, Melbourne and Sydney.  She then moved to JWT to become the CEO of Australia and New Zealand.  After winning the pitch for the ailing Jenny Craig business, she was offered the position of Managing Director of Jenny Craig and left advertising in 2008.

From 2009 to 2011, she embarked on a 3-year turnaround plan that revitalized the brand (from Magda to Mel B), doubled the business and resulted in the sale of the ANZ Jenny Craig franchise to Nestle in 2011/12 for over $50 million.

During her time pre-sale, she expanded stores to over 100 locations, launched an online weight management business, Jenny Craig at Home, a men’s weight loss business, Jen for Men and JenMe, an adolescent weight management and education program in collaboration with Monash University.

For the two years post sale, she worked under Nestle as the Global CMO of Jenny Craig creating campaigns for US and UK, France and ANZ.

She left Jenny Craig in 2013 and established Rise Productions, and began consulting in marketing and brand strategy consultancy, product and packaging innovation, retail design and go to market strategies.   Her clients included Dineamic, Cricket Australia’s Big Bash, Target and Swisse.

In 2014, she became a part owner of the Dineamic business and took the healthy pre-packaged food offering from a niche offering just feeding elite athletes, to a mainstream retail and online business creating and selling healthy meals for busy people.  Dineamic is now in retail, wholesale, on line and has five food stores and cafes in Melbourne.

She took on the role as Head of Marketing and Brand at Grill’d from 2015 – 2017.  Her remit was to revitalize the Grill’d brand, refresh restaurant design, redefine and re position ‘healthy burgers’ and align NPD to the core millennial customer.

In 2018 she took on the role of CEO at Jamie’s Ministry of Food Australia operated through The Good Foundation with a mission to transform Australia’s eating habits through inspiration, education and healthy cooking.

In February 2019, she became Global Brand Director at T2Tea, responsible for brand strategy, design, marketing, CRM, VM and Customer Care across the world.

Ciara McGoohan is Afterpay’s global lead for Merchant Data & Insights. In her role, she  is responsible for generating additional value for Afterpay’s merchants from the wealth of data that is harnessed from millions of customers.

Ciara has over a decade’s experience in a variety of sales and business leadership roles across data analytics, payments technology and retail. Before joining Afterpay, Ciara was General Manager – Insights & Advanced Analytics at David Jones and Country Road Group, where she was responsible for driving customer centric and data-driven decision making across the organisation. She previously worked for Mastercard Data & Services, where she built the Retail & Partnerships business across ANZ.

Ciara is a passionate advocate for data-driven and customer centric decision making, shaped by earlier experience working for Quantium and dunnhumby in the UK and China.

Lenore Harris is a retailer first and Human Resources Manager second, having worked in retail from the age of 15 and in a diverse range of HR roles for the last 20 years. Her experience includes working at Myer twice, first during the buoyant days of department store retailing and then again in more challenging times when Myer demerged from Coles Myer and relisted on the ASX. Lenore has also worked as a Program Director at the Australian Centre for Retail Studies, Monash University, and for the last 2 years has been the Group Human Resources Manager at Beacon Lighting, an organization centered around 109 retail stores but with a number of other arms including commercial, street lighting, globes, solar and international. Having worked in most areas of Human Resources, Lenore’s real areas of passion are leadership and culture, believing that if you can get those two right, just about anything is possible.

Innes Willox is Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group, a leading industry organisation representing businesses in a broad range of sectors including manufacturing, construction, transport, defence, ICT and labour hire.  Innes was appointed Chief Executive in May 2012.

His current appointments include:

• Director of Australian Super
• Director of the Innovative Manufacturing Co-operative Research Centre
• Board Member of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue
• Convenor of the Industry 4.0 Advanced Manufacturing Forum
• Chair of the Migration Council of Australia
• Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Skilled Migration
• Chair of the RMIT College of Business Industry Advisory Board

Innes served as the Australian Consul General to Los Angeles from 2006 to 2008, where he represented wide-ranging Australian interests on the west coast of the United States, including in the areas of trade, finance, culture, bio-technology, environment and energy sectors.

He was Chief of Staff to the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, from 2004 to 2006.

Earlier, Innes held a number of private sector and government positions including Manager of Global Public Affairs for Singapore Airlines based in Singapore (2000-04).

Innes began his working career as a journalist.  His positions included Chief of Staff at The Age newspaper in Melbourne and Chief Political Correspondent for The Age in the Canberra Parliamentary Press Gallery.

Innes was educated at Melbourne High School; Monash University (BA History and Politics); and Edinburgh Business School.   He is on the Board of Windermere – Victoria’s oldest family and child services agency.  He is based in Melbourne and is a lifetime supporter of the Collingwood Football Club.

Diana has over 12 years’ Procurement and Supply Chain experience across Australia and Europe and experience in a diverse range of industries including, Retail, FMCG, automotive,  finance, aviation, healthcare and energy. She has proven experience managing Procurement of Supply Chain in Australia and New Zealand for more than 8 years within Siemens, Murray Goulburn (now Saputo) and David Jones & the Country Road Group. 

Diana graduated with a Bsc in Economics and Business, a Masters degree in International Business and a Masters degree in International Procurement. 

Sophie Renton is a social researcher, trends analyst and Team Leader of Research at the internationally recognised McCrindle. As an experienced researcher, Sophie understands how evidence-based insights can inform strategy and help organisations to thrive amidst change. From her experience in leading the research team at McCrindle, Sophie assists organisations by bringing a clearer picture to complex problems. Sophie is adept in sharing strategic insights that guide CEOs and executive teams in leading their organisations. Sophie’s engaging, research-based presentations have seen her present to various sectors through board room strategy sessions, keynote presentations and workshops. With academic qualifications in sociology and psychology, Sophie brings robust, research-based content to her engaging presentations and consulting.

Paul Zahra is CEO of the ARA, stepping into the role in April 2020 to lead the ARA’s national team.

A leading force in the Australian Retail Industry for over 35 years, Paul’s corporate roles have included Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Australia’s premium department store, David Jones Limited as well as senior leadership roles at Target Australia and Officeworks Superstores. Paul has also advised Boards and Companies in areas including retail (both traditional and startups), leadership, transformational change and diversity.

Paul is credited with leading the digital transformation of one of the oldest department stores in the world achieving market-leading momentum, resulting in financial stability for the business during the worst retail conditions in 25 years and leading to its successful sale at a premium in 2014.  Under Paul’s stewardship, David Jones was transformed from a traditional bricks and mortar retailer to a contemporary omni-channel retailer, resulting in the Company’s average online order rising to three times the value of the average in-store transaction.

A powerful champion for diversity and inclusion in the workplace, Paul has led numerous high profile LGBTI campaigns and initiatives. In February 2016, Paul was appointed Chair of The Pinnacle Foundation, a not for profit which provides scholarships and mentoring to disadvantaged LGBTI youth in Australia. Paul has recently been appointed CEO of the Australian Retailers Association.

Paul is an alumni of Stanford University, USA.

Andrew Myers is the Vice President of Global Digital Strategy & the APAC region for WorkJam. With over 20 years’ experience as a retailer, Andrew has deep experience across all aspects of the business and has spearheaded transformations in supply chain, store format, and operations. Before joining WorkJam, he was the chief operations officer at Target Australia where he pioneered their Digital Workplace transformation strategy and deployed WorkJam across the organisation. Having written numerous whitepapers on the evolution of employee engagement & the future of retail, Andrew is a principal subject matter expert on aligning employee experience with operational efficiency to drive customer satisfaction.

Kate Box is the Head of Retail for Facebook and Instagram, where she works with leading organisations across ANZ to develop innovative strategies that will grow their business in the new mobile era. Kate has more than 20 years of experience working in marketing and advertising. Prior to joining Facebook in 2011, Kate led the Social Media team at Microsoft Advertising UK and also worked client side for Sensis, McDonalds and Tabcorp.

Charlie started with Kronos 15 years ago in the United States where he was Vice President of Business Development. In this role he was instrumental in driving Kronos strategy as a $1 billion global enterprise software leader, culminating in the company reporting record breaking financial results, with $1.4 billion revenue in its 2018 fiscal year.

As Kronos strengthens and expands its footprint in the ANZSEA markets, Charlie made the move down under in 2018 as MD ANZSEA in Kronos’ regional headquarters in Sydney.

Many organisations talk about people being important, but Charlie goes further to say that employees are a company’s strongest source of competitive advantage. While a lot of businesses talk the talk, Charlie’s vision for Kronos in the region is to help businesses walk the talk.

Kronos Australia has been voted one of the top 20 places to work in the nation, and Charlie says continuing to keep eagle eyed focus on customers and people will be the recipe for success under his watch.

Not only equipped with a savvy business mind, Charlie is known in the business for his technical thinking, which he applies to both innovation and functionality of Kronos systems. He holds a degree in science from the University of Maine and a Masters of Science in management and chemical engineering from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Maria Palazzolo has led and shaped industry initiatives across Australia throughout her 36-year career with GS1 Australia. During this period, Maria has held various Management and Executive roles leading to her appointment as CEO seventeen years ago.

Inspired by the insights offered by her years working with the GS1 system, as a member of various international, regional and local industry committees, Maria enjoys a unique appreciation of how GS1 organisations can change the way an entire nation does business.

Maria has successfully positioned GS1 Australia as a change agent in a highly dynamic field. GS1 Australia is a significant player in the Australian eCommerce landscape, with a growing membership of over 20,000 companies, expanding services, innovative approach and customer focus it has become a partner of choice for many Australian organisations.

A large part of Maria’s role is to encourage industry leadership and collaboration to enhance supply-chain management and drive the competitiveness and profitability of Australian industry in local and international markets. Her business acumen and leadership skills are highly sought after. She is also an experienced facilitator and sits on several global committees, advisory councils and boards.

Maria’s strength lies in her passion, knowledge, business acumen and unshakable belief that the future of GS1 is bounded only by its creativity.

Maria also holds positions on the GS1 Global Management Board and on Boards within Australia.

Alex is Head of Sales at WingArc Australia, an organisation that harnesses the power of AI with connected device technology (IoT) to help retailers, manufacturers and logistics organisations drive efficiencies and improve user experiences. WingArc Australia is helping local retailers, such as MUJI, to maximise sales and optimise efficiencies in their stores by combining video analytics from existing security camera infrastructure together with powerful BI capabilities to produce valuable insights on shopper behaviour.

Alex has a 20 year career in data and technology roles in the UK and Australia for companies including Experian, Liferay and Australia Post, advocating for the intelligent use of data to produce actionable insights. In recent years he has helped deliver transformational programs of work encompassing data and technology to organisations including Coles, Priceline Pharmacy, ME Bank, NAB, Bank of America and SkyTV (NZ).

Kylie joined dunnhumby in 2017 and is responsible for launching dunnhumby into Australia and New Zealand. She quickly built up a team across both countries to successfully bring on board our first clients for these markets. She is passionate about using data to help retailers deliver exceptional customer experiences and brings 24 years of experience with her to help guide them.

An accomplished Commercial & Business Director with extensive experience in leading Global organisations such as FrieslandCampina, Nestle, Coca-Cola, Kantar Retail (TNS, Fonterra, J&J, BAT) – both within Australia and Internationally (Asia, Africa, Middle East & Europe), Kylie brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the dunnhumby team.

Aarron Spinley is a growth strategist and futurist who observes culture, society, and digital. With a passion for designed human experience and the social sciences, he writes, consults, and speaks in the fields of business growth and customer engagement through his work at spinley.co – and at the global tech giant, SAP.

Aarron is also the host of EVOLVE™ (search SPINLEY MEDIA on YouTube and EVOLVE AUDIO on podcast players), where he interviews global guests in a critical exploration of business growth in the experience economy.

Widely regarded as one of the leading thought leaders in his field, Aarron himself describes his work as “always lighthearted, never lightheaded”.

Michelle is the Retail Lead for Accenture Australia and New Zealand and has over 20 years of hands-on experience in the retail industry. Based in Melbourne, Michelle has worked across major CGS, Pharma and Retail sectors and has senior management experience with brands including Billabong International, Country Road Group, Pacific Brands and Myer both domestically and globally in the United Kingdom, Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Michelle has a passion for helping retailers understand the future of their industry.  

Shelby Ferson is the Commercial Manager of Databricks Australia & New Zealand. In the last 4 years, Shelby has been helping scale Databricks’ expansion internationally, having relocated to Sydney from San Francisco in January of 2020. She is acutely focused on driving data and AI innovation forward as the company continues to grow its presence in the region, supporting the successes of Australian and New Zealand customers including Coles, Hivery and Zip Co.

Ann’s current executive role at Accenture is Australia & New Zealand Client Group Lead for Products Industry Group. She is a 25 year veteran in Accenture working across Products and Resources clients in Australia, New Zealand and throughout Asia Pacific. She leads teams to assist clients adapt and thrive as they face disruptive changes driven from regulation, mergers, divestments, competition and the impact of digital and advanced technologies.

Livia Wang is Chief Brand Officer and one of the co-founders of Access Corporate Group. The company was established in 2017 and today has more than 1,000 employees in Australia, New Zealand and China, with a portfolio of beauty, health and lifestyle brands under its management.

She founded and ran Access CN in 2014 before joining forces in 2017 with a former university friend Warren Liu, as well as Will Wu, a leader in social retailing and Frank He, a pioneer of brand globalization and omnichannel reform to form Access Corporate Group.

Identification of new brands has been critical to the company’s success and she has spearheaded the company’s growing brand portfolio. Today the company manages more than 20 brands, many of which it owns or holds investments in, and this is growing.

With a curious and creative mind, Livia is always looking for new opportunities or new ways to solve problems and do things better.  She leads many of the company’s major events around the world including a popular end-of-year “brand leaders breakfast” where she provides a forecast for the upcoming year including trends and a comprehensive overview of where the market is heading.

She is a sought-after speaker and is passionate about the future of Access Corporate Group, its brands and the people and partners who work for it and with it.

She has a Master’s in Education and a Master’s in Public Relations and Communications from University of Sydney and is married with two children.