Ross Honeywill - Social and Business Futurist
The doyen of consumer behaviour, Ross Honeywill is an internationally recognised authority on the impact of a changing social fabric on the future of business & politics, of marketers and employers. Through his leadership role at KPMG (Asia/Pacific) between 1997 and 2001, Ross has become recognised as a challenging and stimulating futurist.
A best-selling author, Ross’ new book NEO POWER has generated international acclaim, and his successful first book, I-Cons has been published in Australia, New Zealand and Mainland China. Ross is CEO of the privately funded consumer think-tank, the Social Intelligence Lab with offices in Australia and North America.
He is in demand as a speaker not only for his hard evidence but also for his engaging presentation style that brings his topics, and his audience, to life.
His knowledge and expertise are also in demand by national and global brands including Qantas, David Jones, Lexus, Sony, Westpac Broking, Moët-Hennessy, National Australia Bank, Yahoo!, Energex among others.
Ross unveils startling new insights into the social and consumer changes that are reinventing the rules of engagement in both the marketplace and the workplace.
According to influential media commentator Robert Gottliebsen, ‘No one knows more about the consumer revolution than Ross Honeywill.’
Ross is a regular media commentator on international trends and is widely quoted on social, business and political issues.
US business analyst & commentator Richard Cartiere says, ‘Ross Honeywill's penetrating insight into the real behavior of consumers has shaken the very foundations of marketing in the 21st Century and has helped global industry prepare for this new where past assumptions no longer work.’
John Mutter, the executive editor of the influential Publishers Weekly in New York said ‘Ross Honeywill’s exciting approach to consumer behavior focuses on discretionary spending that adds to the quality of one's life. Business, community and political leaders alike would do well to wake up to the Honeywill message’
Matthew Hingerty - Managing Director, Australian Tourism Export Council
Matt was appointed as ATEC Managing Director in January 2005.
Prior to this he was Chief of Staff to the Hon. Joe Hockey MP, the former Australian Tourism Minister who produced the Tourism White Paper.
As the Minister’s senior political adviser Matt was responsible for the development and implementation of his strategic approach to political and policy issues. He was the key link between the industry and the Government during the development of the White Paper.
Prior to this Matt’s previous roles included General Manager, Public Affairs with the Tourism Task Force, as well as a policy advisor role with the NSW Minerals Council and various roles within NSW Government over nine years as adviser to the NSW Parliamentary Liberal Party team.
Matt presently serves on a number of senior industry panels and working groups, and has most recently been selected as part of Federal Tourism Minister, the Hon. Martin Ferguson MP’s National Long-Term Tourism Strategy Steering Committee.
He is married with three sons and one daughter and lives on the NSW Central Coast.
David Grant - Brand Consultant, Futurebrand
David joined FutureBrand in 2009 bringing ten years of broad strategy and design skills, which has led him to develop a specialisation in the area of spatial strategy – on a large scale through the creation of destination brands, right down to bespoke retail brand strategies for one-off experiences. His experience extends into the area of brand management systems, strategic design thinking to facilitate innovation and environmental design. Through this wide-reaching experience, he has developed a holistic understanding of how brands interact with their audience in a ‘living’ sense. Most recently, in his role as creative strategist with E2 – a brand experience agency, he conceived, tested and evaluated spatial design guidelines for Westfield shopping centres; repositioned the Herman Miller brand and product offer across Asia; defined and articulated a new customer experience for Sony; improved the St. George customer communications program through user analysis; defined the Qantas internal training experience and developed the branch of the future for Commonwealth Bank.
Previously, David was employed as a senior experience designer for FutureBrand, New York. In that role David developed the spatial strategy and experience design for some of the world’s largest destinational brands including Miami World Center, Bahrain Bay and The World, Dubai. While with Landor, he was responsible for the strategic design and execution of brand campaigns across identity, print and environmental applications. In particular, he devised a brand valuation system for Westfield. The system involved extensive market research, assessment, and recommendation for future brand development of all internal touchpoints. In his time at Landor, David also consulted to clients including IPOH, Caltex, HP and JetStar. He holds an undergraduate degree in architecture from Sydney University, a Masters of Design (UTS) and is currently undertaking a MBA at UTS.
Nikolai Pitchforth, Senior Industry Analyst Travel, Google
As Senior Industry Analyst at Google, Nikolai’s role is to understand how consumers interact with digital channels and advise travel businesses on how to respond. Nikolai has worked as an analyst in the US, UK and Australia. For the last 7 years he has focussed exclusively on digital media, with an emphasis on understanding the shifting impact of the internet on consumer behaviour.
Prior to joining Google, Nikolai led the Digital Analytics team at News International in London. He previously worked as Senior Digital Brand Planner for the Times, where he helped transition the brand into the digital age. In earlier roles, Nikolai worked with a wide variety of other leading brands in the digital sector, including Tesco.com, Ask.com, Telewest and chello Broadband. He also served on the Consumer Research Committee of the UK Association of Online Publishers. In his spare time Nikolai loves to travel and is a regular participant in marathons and ultra-marathons.
Charles Bracewell - Events Tasmania
Charles Bracewell is the Manager Event Development for Events Tasmania, which delivers the State Government’s Events Strategy and is the key driver of event tourism to Tasmania. He has held top leadership roles for twelve arts, film and cultural festivals in Australia and New Zealand in the last fifteen years, most notably as Director of the NZ International Short Film Festival, Executive Producer of the FEAST Festival, Director of the New Zealand Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and Associate Festival Director for the Australian Festival for Young People.
During his three years as Executive Director of Young People and the Arts Australia, the nation’s peak body for artists and companies working with young people through arts, he was also Director of Hosting as YPAA presented the largest ever Australian youth arts festival – the ASSITEJ World Congress. Charles is also an internationally renowned and award-winning filmmaker and cabaret practitioner, whose films have screened at over 80 prestigious festivals across 38 countries, and whose skills as a cabaret performer, writer and mentor have been much in demand for the last eighteen years.
Fiona Barber, Arts @ Work
Fiona began her career in the arts as an actor and spent her twenties touring across Australia, to the West End and the Edinburgh Festival. In her thirties she turned to arts management and, after completing her post graduate studies, took up the positions of General Manager of HotHouse Theatre and of the internationally acclaimed Flying Fruit Fly Circus. She was the Deputy Chair of Arts NSW’s Theatre Committee and a founding member of Regional Arts Victoria’s Touring Consultative Committee.
Fiona returned to Tasmania, where she grew up, in mid 2007 to manage arts@work, the industry development arm of Arts Tasmania. In this role she overseas programs, projects and initiatives designed to increase the capacity of the arts sector and the viability of a career in the arts in Tasmania. arts@work has a statewide brief and works across the visual arts, design, performing arts, literature and the contemporary music sectors. In 2010 a major project for arts@work will be the development of a cultural tourism strategy.
Simon Stubbs - Freycinet Adventures
At the age of only 37, Simon has been working in the adventure tourism industry for over 17 years. Beginning his career as a rafting guide on the renowned Franklin River in Tasmania, Simon spent many winter seasons guiding sea kayaking tours in Far North Queensland. In 1996 he established his own sea kayaking business in Freycinet, on the east coast of Tasmania and has spent the last 13 years establishing this as a multi-award winning operation.
Simon lives in Tasmania with his wife and two young children. He is highly regarded for his passion for Tasmania’s natural wilderness and his commitment to enabling others to experience this through providing a professional adventure experience with exceptional customer service at all levels of its operation.
Robert Hazelwood - Brand Tasmania
Robert has been the Executive Director of Brand Tasmania for past six years; previously he was involved in marketing, communications, and television production.
His first career was in the television industry and included positions as assistant cameraman (cinematographer) cameraman, director/producer, executive producer, and Acting Manager of Television in Tasmania.
He has worked for the ABC, SBS and national commercial networks in Australia and overseas with Thames Television in London and ARD in Germany.
After 15 years in television he moved into advertising with MDA in Melbourne before moving to Hobart where he soon established his own niche market design and advertising agency.
Eyelevel joined the BBDO group, later merged with Clemenger Tasmania and Robert became General Manager of Clemenger Tasmania.
He moved from there to become Executive Director of Brand Tasmania.
Robert has an MBA from the University of Tasmania, is a board member of the Tasmanian Apple and Pear Industry Research and Development Trust Fund, a member of the Australian Cinematographers Association, and a paid-up member of the Melbourne Football Club.
Graeme Phillips
Graeme Phillips has had almost thirty years involvement in the Tasmanian food and wine industries – as chef, restaurateur, industry consultant, food and wine writer for The Mercury and Sunday Tasmanian newspapers and contributor to a number of interstate and overseas magazines.
Karen Rees - Innkeepers
For the past 14 years Karen Rees has worked in the tourism industry, predominantly in small, multi-award winning businesses. She has had hands-on experience in all aspects of a small tourism small business, including financial management, operations, planning and marketing, business and development.
Karen’s achievements were formally recognised last year when she won the Outstanding Contribution By An Individual at the TICT State Tourism Awards.
A graduate of the AICD, Karen has served on boards and board committees since 2003, including the Tas South RTA Board and currently, as a director of the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania.
She is particularly skilled in product and business development and is perhaps best known for creating specialist tourism products combining the best and most appealing products showcasing the Tasmanian brand, from a diverse range of sectors - food and wine, art and culture, nature and science, as well as high-end accommodation and transport.
Karen is a strong advocate of the Tasmanian tourism brand and has marketed Tasmania as a destination across the world.
