Cam is a strategic marketing leader with 20+ years of experience in world-class marketing teams and agencies. Currently the Head of Consumer Marketing at Optus in Australia, and previously held roles at Google in the US, Goodby Silverstein & Partners in the US and Naked Communications in Australia. I believe in bridging the gap between brands, products, partnerships and creativity to drive great commercial outcomes.

Emma Barbato is a New Media Producer and Creative Director at Duke and Dame AI, pioneering the next frontier of AI-driven storytelling and immersive brand innovation. She is the creator and producer behind Bruce Ryder, Australia’s first AI celebrity and commercial brand ambassador, and The Shadow Players, an immersive LitRPG world that merges narrative gameplay with hyper-fiction storytelling.

As the first in Australia to commercialise these breakthrough projects, Emma is redefining how fiction, technology, and commerce intersect—blurring the lines between narrative, character/user identity, and AI digital presence.

With over 15 years’ experience as a Brand Manager and Creative Director, her work has been featured on prime-time television, national publications, and stages across the country. Most recently, she’s been a leading voice on the evolution of AI-generated media and the rise of interactive mythos as a new storytelling economy.

Ex-agency nerd turned Co-founder and CEO of Springboards.

Springboards is built to keep creative people in the creative equation by using AI to spark ideas, not replace them. With 15+ years in advertising, media, and marketing, Pip has spent his career helping brands punch above their weight by embracing the unexpected.

Now, he’s taking on creativity’s biggest enemy: mediocrity.

Shaun Davies is a consultant who works at the intersection of AI, technology and content. He currently leads the Google News Initiative's AI Workshops program for Bastion Digital. He worked on AI and content moderation at Microsoft and before that held editorial and product leadership roles with the BBC, Newshub, Nine and others.

Marie-Celine is an innovator driving AI and automation at MADE THIS (Omnicom). As Head of AI & Creative Technology, she drives scalable, personalised content through AI-powered workflows. She is also the creator of the AI Artist Collective, uniting diverse artists to push creative boundaries. Her focus: blending tech and creativity to deliver cultural impact and business growth.

Sarah spearheads B2B marketing initiatives in Asia Pacific at Getty Images. Sarah’s expertise lies in equipping brands with insights and strategies to create visuals that cut through the noise and forge genuine connections with customers. Sarah has built and executed region-wide thought leadership and demand generation campaigns, and has partnered with leading brands and organisations to promote the power of content in visual storytelling. Prior to joining Getty Images, Sarah worked as a marketing leader in the professional services and luxury fashion industries.

Ben Gunn is co-founder and chief revenue officer of leading creator economy platform Fabulate. A highly experienced media sales executive, he has held senior sales roles, leading teams across many of Australia's largest media/technology businesses including Nine, Fairfax Media, and Red Planet.

A psychology grad with a passion for innovation. Vijay has launched new products & services over 30 years in corporate, scale-up and start-up. Behaviourism, curiosity & paranoia are his drivers.

He's been part of the digital inflection points in this time. Launching a website for Unilever in the 1990s, launching the Shazam app pre-iphone in 2002, setting up a CRM for lastminute.com in 2005, working with a Swedish tech company to track player performance for Castrol using infra-red tech in 2008, building Facebook pages for BlackBerry in 2010 across EMEA, launching mobile optimised websites for Philips along with a series of connected products (toothbrush, baby monitor, cooker etc) when the internet of things kicked off in 2013 and a multi-radio station streaming app in AU back in 2016. In the last 5 years he has been immersed in the ANZ start-up scene launching a mental health start-up and coaching over 150 founders. In 2023, he developed an AI presentation for higher education whilst at tech company Sinorbis.

With a background in publishing and production Vinne always been at the forefront of driving innovation in the industry. She embraced AI early on marrying its power with human craft and intelligence. Previously she was the MD of creative production for the Monks in Australia, New Zealand and for the EMEA markets of BMW/MINI. Vinne has experience working across many markets and cultures, having worked in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands before landing in Australia eight years ago.

Matt Farrugia is Co-Founder of Mutinex. Prior to Mutinex, Matt’s career spans two decades in advertising across creative, media, data and digital at leading agencies. Holding senior roles at companies including SBS Broadcasting and Y&R / WPP where he was Managing Director. He’s built modern capabilities in agencies and has delivered solutions across the entire marketing, media, data and technology landscape, for some of the most well known brands globally.

Abe Udy founded Abe’s Audio 27 years ago, and the business has grown to a team of over 25 staff.
They provide audio production and voiceovers at scale to media, agency, video production & creative clients around Australia & beyond,
and have leant heavily into AI, walking the line of leveraging human talent while embracing tech.

As the National Technology Officer for Microsoft in Australia and New Zealand, Sarah is responsible for identifying and understanding emerging technical trends, building the technical strategy that will enable Microsoft to leverage these trends, and supporting the company's most significant customers across enterprise and government sectors in their understanding of the risks, implications and pathways to adoption of cutting-edge technology. In addition to her primary role, Sarah is also the Responsible AI lead for Microsoft in Australia and New Zealand and a member of Microsoft’s regional AI product Red Team.

Prior to Microsoft Sarah served in the Australian army, followed by a decade travelling the world and working across a broad range of industries in both Europe and the Middle East. From supporting Think Tanks to building custom business applications and even attending ballet for a living, Sarah's varied experiences and perspectives bring a unique lens to the way she approaches innovation and the potential of
technology.

Sarah has a Bachelor of Science from the University of NSW, a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from Cambridge Marketing College and an MBA from the City of London University. Sarah is passionate about education and learning and serves as an advisor to the Institute of Applied Technology – Digital and sits
on the Advisory Boards of Swinburne University and Chisholm TAFE.

Sarah serves on the board of DoxAI as a non-Executive Director, was named as the 5th most powerful woman in technology in Australia by B&T in 2024 and won ARN’s Rising Star award for 2024.

Parnell is head of strategy and policy at campaigns agency Agenda C, a non-executive board director, and a regular columnist on culture and politics for the Sun-Herald and Sunday Age. She has worked on policy and communication for political parties in Germany and Australia. In addition to writing a column, Parnell regularly appears on Sky Afternoon Agenda, the ABC and an increasingly bewildering number of podcasts. Thanks to Shaun Davies, she is ably represented by a snarky AI version of herself at Yell-at-Parnell.zapier.app.

The Lost Futures is a groundbreaking multimedia project exploring the intersection of nostalgia, technology, and creativity. Combining innovative synthography (AI assisted visual design), sound design, and visual composition, it pushes boundaries with cyberdelic artistry and bold, hybrid storytelling. Founded by artist and creative technologist Luke Burton, the project transforms fear of technological disruption into artistic possibilities, offering a fresh perspective on the future of creativity.

Ben Gunn is co-founder and chief revenue officer of leading creator economy platform Fabulate. A highly experienced media sales executive, he has held senior sales roles, leading teams across many of Australia's largest media/technology businesses including Nine, Fairfax Media, and Red Planet.

A groundbreaking AI platform providing real-time insights into customer experiences. With a deep background in behavioural research, systems design, and AI, Michelle is dedicated to eliminating distortion in customer insights, helping businesses connect directly and authentically with their customers.

Michelle has spent over 15 years working globally to uncover genuine human insights and has pioneered methods that bridge human-centred research with AI-driven speed and accuracy. At Juno, she champions a novel approach to understanding customer experience, empowering organisations to make smarter, faster, and more authentic decisions.
Michelle is building the listening engine for the world.

Join Michelle at HumAIn 2025, where she will explore how genuine customer insights captured through AI can transform marketing, media, and customer connection.

Nathan McDonald co-founded We Are Social, a socially-led creative agency where he served as Global CEO. Under his leadership, We Are Social expanded from a London startup to a global advertising leader with more than 1,200 specialists across 20 international offices. The agency's client portfolio includes many globally recognised brands: adidas, Amazon, Audi, Booking.com, Google, McDonald's, Netflix, Lavazza, and Samsung.

We Are Social was acquired by Blue Focus in 2014, after which the agency continued its growth trajectory through both organic expansion and strategic acquisitions. After surviving the challenges of the pandemic, We Are Social became part of Plus Company in 2021 when Blue Focus divested a majority of its international assets to financial investors.

With over 30 years of experience in digital marketing and content creation, Nathan established his career in Sydney working in film and television production. He was a founding team member of Inside Film Magazine and after moving to London in 2000, held roles at Tribal DDB and MRM Worldwide. In 2008 he recognized that social platforms weren't just new digital marketing channels but represented a fundamental shift in brand-consumer relationships, and co-founded We Are Social.

Currently, Nathan provides strategic growth advisory services, leveraging his comprehensive experience in guiding businesses from startup phase through rapid growth, global expansion, product innovation, and mergers and acquisitions. His expertise and insights are particularly valuable for professional services organisations operating amid ongoing technological disruption and social change.

Celia Harding is the founder of LEOPRD, Australia’s first strategic advisory focused on Language Engine Optimisation (LEO) - helping brands show up, stand out, and stay credible in the AI era. With two decades of experience in PR, digital visibility, and startup growth, she has helped launch, scale, and reposition brands across tech, consumer, and lifestyle industries.

She founded LEOPRD to challenge outdated PR models and equip companies with the tools to earn visibility in real life and in AI-generated answers.

Ben Cooper, helps businesses fuse the power of creativity with technology to grow.

Having been instrumental in leading the hybridisation of digital innovation and traditional marketing, creating groundbreaking campaigns for prestige brands through his roles at leading creative agencies M&C Saatchi and The Monkeys, he is now consulting as part of Australia’s first generative AI experience agency, Time Under Tension, as well as directly to brands, agencies and scaleups – locally and internationally – at the forefront of the Climate Impact (Everclime), Mobility (Uber), large-scale Retail (Woolworths, Big W), and Luxury Hospitality sectors.

Ben's work, including the founding of innovation studio Tricky Jigsaw, reflects his belief in the transformative power of technology to enhance traditional marketing landscapes, driving both creative and strategic growth.

He is known for leading the world-first shark detection system, the 'Optus Clever Buoy' to win seven Cannes Lions and the coveted Titanium, as well as SXSW, SPIKES Grand Prix and a D&AD White Pencil. The Buoy received backing in a $16m shark mitigation pledge from the NSW Government. His studio’s methods and product design work for NRMA Fireblanket (an early bushfire detection system) won the Australian Financial Reviews ‘Most Innovative Product’ and overall ‘Best Innovation’ categories. Resulting in a pole position win as the ‘Most Innovative Company’ in Australia the same year.

Ben has been a member of the D&AD Impact Council since 2018, an ambassador for Good Design Australia, a collaborator with Design for Good and was personally recognised amongst the ‘Top 20 Creatives in Australia’ by Adnews. In his spare time, he co-founded O Six Hundred, a skin-on-frame kit kayak that won ‘Best in Category’ at the Good Design Awards.

Lucio has held senior executive roles at Optus, Nine, and Seven, founder of three tech businesses, a former lecturer at RMIT and Deakin. His consultancy work includes partnerships with Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Goldman Sachs, NVidia, Mondelez, and SpaceX.

A graduate of AICD and an AI scholar from MIT, Lucio has pioneered transformative projects, from Australia’s first AI automotive bots for BMW to SpaceX satellite partnerships and aboriginal Metaverse experiences for the Art Gallery of NSW. Media has described Lucio as one of Australia’s most respected, awarded, and innovative digital executives.

Recognised among the top 100 online marketers globally and a LinkedIn Top Voice, Lucio is also a Forbes columnist and co-creator of the InnovAItor series.

Jason is a cofounder of Time Under Tension (www.timeundertension.ai), an AI-age company which helps agencies and brands identify and harness the power of Generative AI. He believes generative AI is driving an "experience reboot" which, when navigated correctly, is enabling the creation of amazing new experiences, utility and value. Previously Jason led digital strategy, product and marketing teams at leading digital agencies, Accenture Song and most recently as Head of Frog Design AU.

Grace Gilbert is a marketing professional with a diverse background spanning media buying at top advertising agencies, in-house marketing, and marketing science. Currently serving as a Marketing Science Partner at Mutinex, Grace specializes in leveraging AI and data-driven insights to optimize marketing strategies across a range of well known brands. With hands-on experience across the industry, Grace brings a unique perspective on how AI is transforming media, measurement, and consumer engagement.

With over 17 years of strategic technology leadership experience, I specialize in guiding enterprises through their AI transformation journeys. As Director of Anchora's AI & MarTech Practice, I partner with organizations to develop comprehensive strategies that drive measurable business value through artificial intelligence.
My expertise spans generative AI implementation, intelligent automation, conversational AI solutions, and custom AI agent development. I excel at helping organizations identify high-impact AI use cases, develop practical implementation roadmaps, and measure ROI from their AI investments.

At Anchora, we focus on creating pragmatic AI solutions that enhance operational efficiency, streamline business processes, and transform customer experiences. My approach combines strategic vision with hands-on implementation experience to help organizations navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
I'm passionate about demystifying AI for businesses and enabling them to leverage these technologies as a competitive advantage while ensuring thoughtful implementation that aligns with their unique business objectives and organizational readiness.

Hal Crawford is a journalist and media executive with experience in all digital media. He is the former Editor in chief of ninemsn, former Chief News Officer at Mediaworks in Auckland, and is now the Editorial Director at Mumbrella. He chairs the Advisory Board at the Centre for Media Transition at UTS.

Julie is a commercial business leader with a reputed track record of building company growth and managing through change.

With over twenty years’ experience in Marketing, CRM/Customer Experience, Advertising and business management she led and grew leading CX Agency, MercerBell, through acquisition, buy-out and strategic merger. As agency lead, Julie has helped blue-chip brands such as Qantas, Mastercard and Purina to unlock their customer potential.

With a people-first leadership approach Julie is a positive culture creator. A recent demonstration being taking The Works, part of Capgemini to a 93NPS, 4th best place to work in Australia in the WRK+ Awards and winning the 2024 Mumbrella Culture Agency Award.

A key industry contributor her leadership has been acknowledged, winning the coveted AC&E Jon Clark Outstanding Contribution Award and Mumbrella Industry Leader of the Year 2019. She was also finalist in the Women in Media Awards for Business Leader and Glass Ceiling awards in 2023.

Currently Jules runs her own Brand, Customer and Employee Experience Agency, ‘Dormand’. She is also founder of The Friday Lunch Club a networking group for senior execs and founders, Chair of the Advisory Board and Chief of Staff for Ellipsis Loyalty and a mentor for Mentor Walks Australia and The Marketing Academy.

Jules brings a mix of business mind and empathetic nature. She believes in Daring Leadership, the value of Human Connections and making business fun.

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