Will Jago

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

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

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

Genevieve Hoey

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

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

Rebecca McCloy

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

Greg Inglis

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

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

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

Rebecca Sowden

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

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

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

Nathan Godfrey

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

Cameron Luby

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

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

Sam Fleming

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

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

Luke Haynes

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

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

Stephanie Rudnick

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

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

Gary Steele

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

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

Clive Dickens

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

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

Clare Stewart-Hunter

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

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

Lesley West

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

Shadi Sade Sarreshtehdarzadeh

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

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

Ben Darwin

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

Alana Fechner

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

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

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

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

El Pigram

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

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

Matthew Granger

Leading a national sports sales team, Matt's primary focus is on driving premium revenues from Nine’s Sports portfolio across the Nine network. With his expertise and strategic vision, Matt plays a pivotal role in driving commercial returns Nine leveraging Nine's sports platforms.

Sam Elliott

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

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

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

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

Sam Chew

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

Kyra Bartley

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

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

Ian Perrin

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

Adam Hodge

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

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

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

Brent Richardson

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

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

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

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

Mark Kennedy

Mark is a marketing and brand building consulting leader with a focus on making a brand's behaviour sustainable. He has built a deep expertise in trends, cultural insight and sustainable marketing to shape understanding and strategy into clear actions. With experience in Australia, Asia, US, UK, Europe, Africa and Middle East, Mark’s started his professional life as a creative and marries rigorous thinking and creative thought to find new and different ways to tackle marketing problems and shape business culture. Mark’s expertise in brand and portfolio architecture, corporate brand development and business alignment, brand positioning, activation and new market entry ensures he brings a wealth of insight and experience as an advisor. He is at home when working in a blue-chip corporate, charity or lean and mean start-up.