ANZ

Rachel is a brand and innovation leader with more than 20 years’ experience across FMCG, consumer goods and agribusiness in New Zealand, Australia and international markets. She believes the strongest brand transformations balance modernisation with protecting what makes a brand distinctive — knowing which assets carry genuine consumer recognition and which are merely familiar.

Most recently, as General Manager Marketing & Innovation at Shoof International, Rachel led the transformation of the Shoof masterbrand, strengthening its positioning and consistency across formats and international markets. Prior to Shoof, she led brand, trade and marketing strategy at Reckitt, including Air Wick’s award-winning New Zealand Reblossom partnership with WWF.

Rachel’s career also spans Campbell’s Soup, Hansell’s, Earthwise, Tasti, Edgewell and Tip Top. At Earthwise, she developed and launched Earthwise Baby, still on shelf in the same distinctive format more than a decade later. Today, she works with brands ready to evolve without discarding what already works.

Mick is a commercial creative leader, strategic problem solver and brand builder who believes great creativity should make a measurable difference.

After decades as a Senior Creative/Director in leading agencies across Australia and Singapore (DDB, TBWA, Leo Burnett, BWM Dentsu etc), he has spent the past five years building and leading in-house creative teams for BOQ Group (ME Bank, Virgin Money, and Bank of Queensland) and Eightcap, a global fintech company based in Melbourne.

His experience spans fully-integrated ad campaigns, brand building, behaviour change, customer loyalty and commercial growth, with work designed to deliver everything from greater fame and saliency to market share, sales and shareholder value.

His professional motto is simple: work hard and be nice

Ian is a brand design director who combines creativity, empathy, and systems thinking to shape brand expressions for scale and measurable results. Based in Sydney, he is currently Design Director of Brand & Marketing at Karbon, a global growth-stage software company. Previously, he was Creative Director of Brand and Marketing Design for QuickBooks, overseeing brand design worldwide across acquisition and retention. Prior to that, he co-founded the San Francisco agency Ready State, leading work for clients including Google, Airbnb, and YouTube. Earlier in his career, he held creative leadership roles at MRM (McCann Worldgroup) and Razorfish Australia. Ian is at home in complex, fast-moving environments, bringing structure, clarity, and focus to brand and marketing design.

John is Creative Director and Head of UX at Unmute, where he leads the development of sonic identities for global brands, including Lounge by Zalando, Arla, and Bang & Olufsen. A classically-trained Tonmeister holding Bachelor and Master’s degrees from the Royal Danish Academy of Music, he brings a cross-disciplinary approach to sound, spanning classical orchestral recording to experimental electronic production. His focus is on craft and design, and a drive to push sonic branding into new creative territory

Head of Sonic Branding for WithFeeling - an award-winning global full post-audio production agency, specialising in delivering full holistic sonic branding solutions for some of the world's leading brands and start-ups alike.

Melanie Hallett is an executive marketing and brand leader with more than 25 years' experience transforming brands, marketing models and audience engagement across government, not-for-profit and commercial organisations.

As Lead, Brand & Group Marketing at Uniting NSW.ACT, Melanie leads enterprise brand and group marketing across one of Australia's largest human services organisations, where she has developed and launched its first integrated enterprise brand platform in seven years.

Her career has been defined by challenging legacy thinking and creating more contemporary, audience-led brands and experiences. Her work includes transforming Vinnies Shops across 220+ stores into a contemporary sustainable fashion and circular-economy brand; repositioning Mark Moran Group around lifestyle, hospitality and wellbeing; and leading major NSW Government brand and behaviour-change initiatives.
Earlier at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Melanie conceived MCA ARTBAR and the Young Ambassadors Program, creating new ways for younger audiences to engage with the institution.

Eli Hochberg is a Design Director at Canva, where over five years he's helped build and shape one of the world's most recognised design brands — leading creative across iconic brand moments, events and product experiences seen by hundreds of millions globally. Before Canva, he honed his craft at leading agencies across Australia and New York, including Droga5, Pentagram and Huge, working with brands like Google, Meta, Mastercard and The New York Times. He specialises in brand systems rooted in exceptional craft and conceptual thinking, built to scale across entire organisations.

Bio to follow soon...

Sarah is a seasoned creative leader with 25 years’ experience across design and brand agencies and in-house teams, both in Melbourne and London. Starting her career as a graphic designer and progressing to client service director, she now leads the multi-disciplinary Creative Services team at AustralianSuper. Sarah brings deep expertise in brand development, design and creative strategy, along with a passion for building strong, collaborative partnerships. Her strengths in team leadership and creative culture-building help drive impactful, high-performing outcomes.

With over 20 years of global experience across Asia, the Middle East and Australia, Henri is a wayfinding and industrial design specialist renowned for his ability to transform sketches into immersive spatial experiences. Henri is a member of the Sydney Airport Planning and design team. He integrates customer experience with brand identity into the airport's built environment, contributing to its evolution of serving its 2 billionth passenger.

Internationally, Henri has consulted for prestigious hospitality brands, including Hyatt, Intercontinental Hotel Group, and Marriott, to implement their wayfinding systems and brand designs in new properties. His expertise has significantly enhanced user experiences in various high-profile, luxury environments.

Pete is Xero’s global head of brand & design strategy, known for turning bold thinking into brand work that lands with clarity and emotional punch. He has led brand and design strategy for global campaigns, content, and experiences across markets including ANZ, the UK, and North America. From defining brand platforms to shaping global event identities and employee value propositions, Pete blends creative instinct with commercial rigour, helping brands find their voice and connect with people in meaningful ways. 

Gareth is a creative director with over 20 years of global experience in design and branding studios across London, Sydney, and now Brisbane, Australia. He currently leads the design team at Coinstash, leading the brand, product, and marketing transformation for one of Australia’s fastest-growing crypto platforms.

With a background spanning graphic design, digital design, and art direction, Gareth has extensive experience across the property, lifestyle, luxury, corporate, and commerce sectors.

His approach is collaborative and considered, blending culture, strategy, and design to deliver meaningful, idea-driven work. Gareth is committed to quality, originality, and elegance—building brands with depth and purpose.

Ant Smith is a branding and identity specialist, with two decades of experience across global agencies in both London and Sydney. Known for leading branding projects and crafting purposeful design systems, Ant combines strategic thinking with hands-on execution to deliver cohesive brand experiences. Agencies and brands alike trust Ant for his clarity, collaboration, and no-nonsense approach to solving creative challenges.

Allie Sparr is a marketing leader with 16 years of experience across a broad range of marketing functions, predominantly in the travel industry.

Allie joined Flight Centre Travel Group in 2021 as the Australian Marketing Manager for independent brands and was appointed to the Global Head of Brand and Marketing role in 2022 when the business initiated the globalisation of the independent business. She spearheaded the creation and global rollout of Envoyage, which fuelled her love of brand building.

Alongside the brand development, Allie built and globalised a marketing team across Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada and South Africa.

Allie leads with curiosity, compassion and ambition, focused on defining clear brand strategies to inform messaging and audience engagement. She is committed to advancing Envoyage's global footprint, balancing localised marketing requirements with global brand consistency to build lasting brand equity.

Ramon is a musician and economist with a Master’s in Communication, fluent in six languages and passionate about innovation, sound, and storytelling. After serving as Press Director for Spanish tours of artists like Bruce Springsteen and the Backstreet Boys, he co-founded and led Sixième Son Spain from 2012 to 2024, pioneering sonic branding in Spanish-speaking markets.

He directed sound-strategy projects for Enel, FC Barcelona, La Liga, MAPFRE, Vueling, Gallina Blanca, Naturgy, and Banco Santander, earning the iF Design Award 2023 for MAPFRE’s global sonic identity. In 2025 he launched The Sonic You, a full-service sonic branding agency, whose earliest major client is Banco de España, the first European central bank with its own sonic identity. Ramon teaches brand sound strategy at several universities and speaks at international marketing forums. He also composes under Clementines and Plou—both produced by two-time Grammy winner Roger Rodés—and more recently Supermon, whose trademark DC Comics blocked.