Advanced Marketing
Leadership 2026

About Caroline

Caroline assumed the role of Country Director for Google New Zealand in 2017, and in this role she is responsible for driving Google’s overall business operation and is focussed on helping NZ businesses grow and transform in the digital age.

Prior to joining Google, Caroline served as Marketing and Product Director for Latitude NZ (previously GE Capital) as well as Brand Director for their broader AU/NZ region. Before her return to New Zealand in 2013, Caroline worked as the Regional Marketing Director for Philips Royal Electronics across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa.

When she's not helping customers, Caroline spends her time chasing two young children around the parks and beaches of Auckland. She also loves tennis and is an enthusiastic skier.

About Jodi

Jodi O’Donnell is TVNZ’s Chief Executive Officer.  She has over 25 years’ experience in the media industry across a range of senior marketing, communications and commercial roles, including most recently as Commercial Director and Chief Revenue Officer for TVNZ.

Jodi is an accomplished leader with a strong track record of driving transformational change, digital innovation and commercial sustainability in the local media sector.  A passionate advocate for storytelling and the power of video, Jodi is focused on the transformation of audiences and revenue for a digital-first streaming organisation.

TVNZ is New Zealand’s state-owned, commercially funded broadcaster and streaming business. Each day, TVNZ reaches two million Kiwis through online streaming platform TVNZ+, and broadcast channels TVNZ 1, 2, DUKE. Leading news site 1news.co.nz and socially driven online news brand Re: connect audiences to the important issues throughout the day, however they choose to engage.

About Jason

Jason is the CEO of One New Zealand, formerly known as Vodafone New Zealand.

He is a proud New Zealander, family man, and One NZ Warriors supporter with terrible dress sense.  He says his love of technology has helped shape his career.

Jason is passionate about enabling a better future for New Zealanders and New Zealand businesses.

About Clive

Clive has had a Global career in Sales, Marketing and Management, now having worked across multiple industries globally. As innovators and visionaries in the Training category, not many know the category better, and with ambitions bigger than ever, Les Mills helps athletes (the customer that sweats) be their mental, emotional and physical best.

Clive is a strong business leader, with a proven track record in delivering people, brand and commercial results across international businesses, and building high-performing teams. Bringing his high energy and leadership expertise to this role as CEO.

About Wendy

Wendy Rayner was appointed Managing Director of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners New Zealand (CCEP NZ) in January 2024 following 11 years as General Manager of Strategy and Brand for CCEP NZ across New Zealand and the Pacific, and in this role, she oversees all business activities for CCEP in New Zealand.

Wendy brings a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the business with much loved global and local brands in volatile economic conditions and a competitive marketplace.

As the first Kiwi woman to hold the position of Managing Director for CCEP in Aotearoa, Wendy’s leadership style is about being open, authentic and prioritising strong, collaborative relationships to drive excellent business outcomes.

Before joining CCEP NZ, Wendy held key leadership roles at TVNZ and Lotto NZ in Brand and Marketing and was named Marketer of the Year by the New Zealand Marketing Association in 2011. She has completed leadership and management programmes at the Harvard Business School, New Zealand Institute of Directors and is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing UK.

About Carmen

Carmen Vicelich is a globally recognised data and technology entrepreneur, known for building intelligent infrastructure that transforms how the world makes its most critical decisions.

As Founder and Global CEO of Valocity, Carmen has created one of the world’s leading digital infrastructure platforms for property and financial decision-making. Operating across more than 4,000 cities, Valocity enables banks, governments, and property markets to assess risk, allocate capital, and make high-stakes decisions with speed, transparency, and precision.

Under her leadership, the platform has supported over $2.5 trillion USD in lending decisions globally, replacing fragmented, manual systems with secure, auditable, AI-driven workflows that are redefining how modern property markets operate.

Beyond Valocity, Carmen is the founder of Generate Zero, an AI-powered platform addressing one of the world’s most urgent challenges measuring and reducing carbon emissions across financial systems and enterprise operations.

She is also the founder of Data Insight, a company focused on unlocking enterprise-scale value from data and AI, helping organisations move from strategy to execution at pace.

Across all three ventures, Carmen’s work is unified by a singular focus: building intelligent, scalable systems that enable better decisions, financially, environmentally, and operationally, at global scale.

With over two decades at the intersection of AI, data, and trust, Carmen has built a reputation for solving complex, systemic problems in highly regulated environments, where accuracy, governance, and accountability are critical.

Her leadership has been recognised on the global stage, including:

• EY Technology Entrepreneur of the Year (2023)
• Best International FinTech, India (2025)
• Winner, Future of Living Challenge, Cityscape Global (2024)
• FinTech Scale-Up of the Year, India Global IFTA Awards (2022)
• Runner Up, Global FinTech of the Year, Singapore FinTech Festival (2022)

A sought-after international keynote speaker, Carmen is known for translating complex technology into real-world impact, bringing clarity to how AI, data, and digital infrastructure are reshaping industries, economies, and the future of decision-making itself.

She also serves on the UNICEF New Zealand Board, reflecting her commitment to purpose-led leadership and long-term societal impact.

About Craig

Craig was appointed to the role of Country Director for Lion New Zealand in February 2021. Prior to this appointment, he was the Marketing Director for Lion Australia and New Zealand.

Craig joined Lion in 1994 as a sales representative in Lion’s Wine & Spirits division before transferring to the Brewery division in 1999. During his career at Lion, Craig has held a number of leadership roles across both sales and marketing.

Craig has extensive experience working across the beer, wine, spirits and RTD categories in Australia, New Zealand and global markets. He has a deep passion for people and brands and has been recognised internally and externally for his leadership and brand building capabilities. Craig has been awarded the title of New Zealand’s most effective marketer twice by the NZ Commercial Communication Council – the only person to have received this honour on two occasions.

About Chris

Chris Lamers is an experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. He is skilled in Digital Strategy, Marketing Management, Customer Acquisition, Retail, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). He is a strong business development professional with a Graduate Diploma focused on Journalism from University of Canterbury. Chris was previously the Deputy Group CEO and Chief Customer Growth Officer at hummgroup, a finance company that operates across Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada.

He has extensive experience delivering a diversified and innovative range of financial consumer finance products. Chris previously held the role of Chief Officer Brand, Innovation and Marketing at New Zealand's largest life insurer, Sovereign.

Chris has been tapping into the potential of MTF Finance as the CEO for the last 2 years. Chris is also a member of the Financial Services Federation Executive Committee.

About Rachel

Rachel is a communication specialist with over twenty years’ experience in the Marketing industry working in both Agencies and Media businesses. She has run media agency teams, research and insight divisions, and set up an analytics division for a subscription-video-ondemand start-up in Asia. Rachel's passion is to uncover the consumer behaviour that really matters by distilling data and then translating it into concise strategies that achieve business outcomes. She has worked with major brands such as Unilever, Coca-Cola, Woolworths NZ, The Warehouse Group, Telecom, TVNZ and iFlix. Across New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia. 

About Mike

Mike is an experienced finance professional with a proven track record in leading teams, implementing financial systems and processes. Mike has 20 years of experience working in senior roles in New Zealand and internationally including at Westpac, Vodafone, ANZ in Singapore, Deutsche Bank in London and Singapore, and now MediaWorks.

At MediaWorks, Mike has played a critical role in driving the company's financial transformation and growth, initially joining as the Head of Finance Business Partnering in 2019, before serving as interim Finance Director and most recently as GM Finance and Transformation.

About Craig

Results-oriented and accomplished finance executive with a strong track record of driving profitable growth and business performance in diverse industries.

Possesses extensive experience in strategic planning, financial management, commercial operations, and leadership.

Demonstrates expertise in developing and executing plans, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and achieving exceptional financial results. A proactive leader who excels in navigating complex environments and delivering impactful solutions.

Committed to cultivating high-performing teams and driving continuous improvement. Brings cross border and international experiences across China, ASEAN, Europe, United Kingdom and Australasia.

Holds an MBA and professional certifications in accounting and treasury. 

About Valerie

Experienced sales and marketing leader across IT/SaaS, media, finance, retail, telecommunications with deep experience in both B2B and B2C environments across the globe. Results driven, strategic, creative and innovative, I excel in leading multi disciplined teams.

My current role at TVNZ focuses on delivering customer value, driving revenue growth and continuing to build our brand. Previous roles at Xero and IBM developed my Asia Pacific and global experience across general management and marketing roles.

I have also been involved in a number of start ups in my career to date including BankDirect (NZs first phone and internet based bank), nzoom.com (internet portal) and launching the NZ arm of the Wunderman direct marketing agency brand.

I am proud to be a judge for the Effies, IAB Digital Awards, HiTech Awards and the Asia Pacific Campaign Agency of the Year awards in addition to mentoring up and coming marketers.

I have previously been part of the On Board program. 

About Astrud

Astrud is responsible for the continued growth and development of New Zealand's leading financial services brand. Her portfolio includes all brand, advertising, marketing and sponsorship activities across ANZ New Zealand's business. She is also responsible for creating strategic competitive advantage from data through the development and deployment of customer insights, delivering better decisions through analytics and ensuring data is well governed.

Astrud has held various marketing and data roles at ANZ. Prior to her time at ANZ she worked in a variety of roles in financial services and advertising in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

She has a Masters in Marketing Management from Otago University.

About Frankie

Frankie Coulter serves as the Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Growth Marketing & Category for Goodman Fielder in New Zealand. Recognised for his impactful leadership in marketing, Frankie was awarded the 2024 Marketer of the Year at the NZ Marketing Awards, highlighting his success in upskilling his team and fostering innovative campaigns that have significantly boosted brand engagement and growth. His work with Goodman Fielder, a leader in food manufacturing with iconic brands like Meadow Fresh and Vogel's, underscores his role in enhancing the company's market presence and strategic growth initiatives

About Astrud

Astrud is responsible for the continued growth and development of New Zealand's leading financial services brand. Her portfolio includes all brand, advertising, marketing and sponsorship activities across ANZ New Zealand's business. She is also responsible for creating strategic competitive advantage from data through the development and deployment of customer insights, delivering better decisions through analytics and ensuring data is well governed.

Astrud has held various marketing and data roles at ANZ. Prior to her time at ANZ she worked in a variety of roles in financial services and advertising in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

She has a Masters in Marketing Management from Otago University.

About Sarah

Bio to come

About Mike

Mike Felix is the joint Chief Creative Officer of dentsu Aotearoa. He has been ranked in the top 30 Creative Directors in the world by the Big Won Report(2019) and D&AD (2022).

Notable work includes four of New Zealand Lotto’s popular Imagine commercials as well as digital projects like Steinlager’s Fight For Territory, Re:scam for Netsafe and Samsung iTest – which was presented at DDO 2022 after winning New Zealand’s second only D&AD Black Pencil and evolving into Try Galaxy, Samsung’s global switching platform. 

About Nikki

Nikki is a highly accomplished brand and customer experience strategist with over 20 years of leadership experience. Known for transforming customer-focused ideas into real business success, she previously led Customer Experience at Air New Zealand, aligning brand, operations, and CX.

An alumna of Stanford’s d-school and Melbourne Business School, Nikki is passionate about building innovative, customer-first cultures. Most recently at ThoughtFull Design, she partnered with organisations including Kiwibank, Air New Zealand, NZ Merino, Port of Auckland, One NZ, Southern Cross, and Sky to craft strategies that elevate brand and customer journeys.

Nikki is a collaborative leader with proven ability to deliver results at scale.  

About Luke

Luke Rive, Marketing Director at McDonald's New Zealand, is known for his innovative, creative campaigns that engage audiences across generations. Notable projects include the “Driver Tax” campaign, which leveraged relatable humor by allowing users to calculate a “driver tax” for food orders on summer road trips, creating a strong seasonal association with McDonald's. His recent work also introduced the viral Grimace Shake to New Zealand, adapted with a local twist in a nationwide road trip campaign featuring Kiwi landmarks. Luke’s approach emphasizes brand resonance through playful, authentic storytelling, aiming to make McDonald's a staple in Kiwi culture and drive engagement through relatable, “earned-led” content.

About Annemarie

Career professional in Sales and Marketing, with extensive leadership experience across teams and geographies.

Performance driven team player who has risen to senior leadership positions through a passion for creating consumer and customer advantage to drive sustainable growth and stakeholder value.

Excited by the challenging models impacting business today, with an ability to effect change in organisations to achieve success and competitive advantage.

Passionate New Zealander - love this country, the people and our openness to try new things 

About Graham

Curious, visionary and experienced Brand and Marketing leader with a successful history across multiple industries and markets. Skilled in Brand strategy, Communications delivery and customer engagement to create winning propositions 

About Caroline

Ah Chong-Douglas has a comprehensive background in marketing strategy and execution, particularly within the entertainment and hospitality sectors. In their most recent role as Director, Sales & Marketing for SkyCity Hotels Group, they were instrumental in enhancing entertainment experiences through a diverse portfolio of hotel brands, focusing on delivering exceptional service and unique offerings. Prior to this, Ah Chong-Douglas held several managerial positions within SKYCITY Entertainment Group, overseeing marketing for various divisions including Hotels, Sky Tower, Tourism, Restaurants, Bars, and Gaming. Their responsibilities encompassed end-to-end management of marketing campaigns, strategic planning, budget management, creative execution, and performance analysis, with a specific focus on driving gaming activity and international business.

Earlier in their career, Ah Chong-Douglas contributed to APN Digital as an NZ Herald Marketing Executive, where they focused on subscription marketing to drive acquisition and retention. They also served as a Business Development Manager at the Employers and Manufacturers Association, an organization dedicated to business growth through advice, learning, advocacy, and support. This diverse experience has equipped Ah Chong-Douglas with a broad skill set in marketing, sales, and business development, enabling them to effectively manage campaigns and contribute to organizational objectives across different industries 

About Lisa

Lisa is an absolute advocate of the power of creativity to shape culture and has a fundamental belief that as creators of content and experiences we have a responsibility to ensure the things we put into the world make an impression on people.

As she says, “Our job is to create. Sometimes it's advertising, but a lot of the time it isn't. It might be a product, an experience or a service. We create these things knowing they will enter into people’s lives, into their precious time, and potentially become part of culture. It's our responsibility to make things that are worthy of people’s attention in the first place, but what’s even more exciting is that we have an opportunity to use our creativity to contribute to shaping the world we want our kids to inherit. The best way I've learnt to do this is to make sure we understand and respect the people we are creating for in the first place, applying empathy wherever and whenever possible".

She started her career at a small indie radio station you might have heard of, George FM, broadcasting from Ponsonby Road. Deciding the breakfast show wasn’t going to pay the bills she switched to qualitative research before being tempted to join the agency world as a planner working on Coca-Cola.

She’s worked across New Zealand’s best advertising agencies on both corporate and government business, including The Campaign For action on Family Violence, and the conception of the platform “It’s not ok”. Additionally, she’s worked with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, the Ministry of Primary Industry, and the Ministry of Health’s ‘The Journal’ and The Lowdown projects.

Lisa has also contributed significantly through her work promoting diversity and opportunities for Māori in the creative industry. She’s proudly served as Convenor of Judges for Effie Aotearoa for the past three years.

She has an annoying habit of constantly asking questions to ensure we are truly solving the right problem. For this she apologises in advance.

About Bridget

Bio to come

About Helen

A global brand and marketing leader with over 20 years’ experience in New Zealand and around the world. I bring a deep understanding of both the art and the science of marketing: the ability to combine award-winning and effective long-term brand platforms with efficient performance marketing strategies that deliver growth back to the business. 

About Dominic

I have had a successful career in implementing customer-centred growth strategies that have delivered excellent business performances and generated long-term brand loyalty.

I have led numerous customer marketing, data, insights and customer experience functions in sector-leading organisations.

My core expertise lies in generating a deep understanding of the customer and translating these insights into sustainable business growth plans enabled by new capabilities and operating models. By proactively responding to customer needs and anticipating trends, I’ve enabled organisations to stay ahead of and outperform the competition.

Innovation and transformation have been key to my success, with recent 'start up' initiatives including Foodstuffs Precision Media (2023), a differentiated retail media business unit and Foodstuffs Rewards Limited (2024), a proprietary app-led loyalty programme. My collaborative and positive approach alongside strong influencing skills has enabled me to engage effectively with multiple Boards and Executive leaders. I have a proven history of guiding leaders and teams through unified change and implementation programmes.

I am passionate about building inclusive and rewarding work cultures, new capabilities and talent which has consistently resulted in high team engagement and productivity.

I am the proud winner of 2025 Southern Cross True North Wayfinder Award for contributions to improving team health and wellbeing 

About Georgia

Bio to come

About Tony

Tony works with private and public organisations to grow their leaders and teams. He develops leaders by growing their leadership skills and their ability to lead people in authentic, influential ways. He coaches teams to high-performance by developing their collective skills, behaviours, and processes.

Tony draws on global research, proven processes, tools and skills, and over 20 years personal senior leadership experience in New Zealand and APAC including General Manager, Chief Executive and governance roles.

About Colleen

It’s been a tough few years, and it’s not over yet. Is being playful or humorous a risky strategy? Should brands stand back? Yet, to be memorable, brands need to tap into our emotions.

The current narrative is that humour is a powerful emotional device. When a punchline is the difference between being cringeworthy or a crack-up, getting it wrong can be costly. But being playful, however, is de-stressing and lightens the load – if your audience is in the mood for it.

With so much at stake, we sent our finest research minds into the field to find out. They chatted with a couple of thousand New Zealanders and Australians and mulled it over with comedians, brand owners and creative types. Then they spent hours analysing this research to uncover the uncommon truth.

Join Colleen Ryan and special guests, comedians Tom Sainsbury and Brynley Stent, stars of Silo’s upcoming show Camping, for a barrel of humorous insights into the findings.

About Colleen

Colleen Ryan is recognised in the international research industry for her notable contributions to innovation in research. Together with Wendy Gordon, she co-founded The Research Business International (TRBI), lauded for its pioneering role in the methodologies of insight gathering and application, and creating the boutique research category in the UK.

Over the last decade, Colleen has played a pivotal role at TRA as a partner, steering thought leadership and innovation strategies within TRA's operations across Sydney, Melbourne, and Auckland.

Her expertise is extensive and multifaceted, encompassing brand strategy, cultural sociology, cognitive psychology, behavioural science, applying these disciplines to continuous innovation in research and its application to marketing.

About Carl

Carl is one of New Zealand’s best-known social scientists. His long and distinguished career in research stretches over 30 years and includes stints as an academic, practitioner, and author. He has crafted an enviable reputation for his expertise in consumer psychology, research design and behavioural change. Carl is the author or editor of ten books about research practise in New Zealand and he is the past Chief Commissioner for the Families Commission. These days Carl is the Head of Insight at Research First and he is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Canterbury.

About Suzi

Founder Suzi McAlpine is a leadership development specialist and author of the bestselling book Beyond Burnout and the award-winning leadership blog, The Leader’s Digest.

She studies, writes and teaches about accomplished leadership, what magic emerges when it’s present and how to ignite better leadership in individuals, teams and organisations.

Suzi graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor of Business Studies (First Class Hons) in Management and spent 10 years as an Associate Director and shareholder at OCG Consulting where she was part of the management team who led the business through double digit growth before selling the business to a multinational.

She then spent four years as a Managing Consultant at Futurestep, a division of Korn Ferry, partner to over 93% of Fortune 100 companies, before starting the business that would become Suzi McAlpine Leadership in 2011.

About Steve

Steve Ballantyne is one of New Zealand's leading business storytelling experts, boasting a 30-year career that spans over 150 brands throughout Australasia.

His workshops are a treasure trove of insightful case studies and captivating stories, all delivered through a lens of creativity and a deep understanding of story structure.

About Denisa

Experienced FMCG Marketing professional with a demonstrated history of working both in the marketing industry( Brand Management and the higher education industry as an academic ( Marketing and Work-Integrated Learning).

Skilled in running marketing simulations (BrandPro, MarkStrat, Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing), experiential lectures, applied assessments, moderation, Intercultural Communication, Research Design, Instructional Design and facilitator of marketing workshops. 

About Nigel

Nigel has more than 35 years experience in the industry. The first 10 media side with what is now NZME and then TVNZ which he left to start his own independent agency. After a series of mergers and acquisitions he built the agency from nothing to a $100M business and sold it to WPP.

From there he moved to NZ’s most recognised media agency, OMD, where he was the CEO for 8 years. During that time he has participated in more than 300 pitches.

His understanding of how agencies work and how to get the best from them is second to none.