Paul was born and raised in Melbourne and is a proud father of 2, Max and Mila. Prior to becoming a father, he was fortunate enough to enjoy a career as a professional athlete dating back to the late 90’s, competing in the X-Games and other major events around the world.  

Since shifting from being an athlete to the professional world, Paul has over 20 years' experience and proven success in the areas of sports marketing, strategy, events, partnerships, communications and talent management with a variety of organisations across Australia and the USA. Paul spent 10 years living and working in the USA primarily for Red Bull until they eventually bought him home to take on the role of Head of Sports Marketing.

As an athlete and sports marketing professional, he developed a firsthand knowledge for how important the entire ecosystem of sport is, from athlete / participant, to fan, volunteer, sponsor, government, community and club - all play a key role in the success of the industry.

Paul is passionate about and has built a career on creating strategy and executing innovative ways for people, sports and brands to connect, be seen, heard and interacted with at global best practice level, with organisations he has worked for or with including Red Bull, CUB, NAB, AMPOL, Woolworths, Nissan, Chemist Warehouse, Sportsbet, WorkSafe Victoria, the Collingwood Football Club and many others.

Paul has been with TGI for 12 years and now serves as Executive General Manager of the TGI Sport Commercial and Client Strategy team, working with brands and rights holders to optimise the benefits of partnerships in all of Australia's major sporting codes.

Thomas is the CEO of SoldOut Events - an international award-winning agency, celebrating 30 years of success building value and impact for clients through the power of events, activations and experiences. Thomas works with dynamic leaders to create unique connections on a global stage, and he is also a Board Director of Meetings and Events Australia, and an Associate Member of the Association of Global Event Suppliers.  

Providing advisory, strategy, creative, management, operations and brand activation services to projects around Australia and across the world, SoldOut Events delivers over 300 experiences annually, including; corporate, brand, entertainment, sport, community engagement, arts & culture, marketing/PR and major international events. 

Thomas’ recent experience includes programs at events such as:

•      Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games
•      Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games
•      FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, and FIFA World Cup 2022
•      Sydney WorldPride 2023
•      SXSW Sydney
•      Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games
•      Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Meredith Cranmer is Co-Founder & Managing Director of Because, an independent, women owned & operated brand activation & experience agency.

Because has been listed as a BRW Fast Starter, won B&T’s experiential & promotional agency of the year and has clients including Woolworths Group, AGL Energy, Kraft Heinz and Asahi Lifestyle Beverages.

Meredith is a proud Kiwi, based in Sydney who has extensive global experience in leveraging & activating sponsorships, brand activations & events.

A passionate ocean swimmer and avid festival goer, Meredith believes activations & experiences can ignite extraordinary growth for brands by making them more engaging, which is more important than ever in a world where attention is fleeting.

Founded by Mark in January 2024, withandplus is a brand-focused marketing consultancy that enhances the power of creativity in sponsorship while integrating seamlessly into existing agency structures. Mark’s expertise helps brands maximise sponsorship effectiveness by uncovering creative and commercial opportunities, positioning sponsorship as a key component of overall brand development rather than a standalone channel.

Over the past three years, Mark designed the sponsorship strategy capability for the Clemenger Group, working with over 35 brands, including PepsiCo, Diageo, Samsung, Woodside Energy, Belong, MYER, IKEA, TABtouch and BMW.

Rebecca Lawson is the dedicated and dynamic Commercial Manager at the South Australian Motorsport Board, overseeing all aspects of sponsorship, brand activations, supply rights, merchandise and corporate hospitality for Australia’s largest domestic Motorsport event, the VAILO Adelaide 500.

Rebecca has over 20 years of experience, including working in senior roles at NewsCorp Australia, where she honed her skills in developing advertising campaigns for Australia’s largest organisations.

With a unique blend of experience across media and motorsport, Rebecca has a passion for exceeding partner expectations and creating immersive and unforgettable customer experiences.

With over a decade of management experience across sporting goods and FMCG, Scott is currently the Group Head of Commercial Partnerships at Asahi Beverages. With a broad swathe of his time spent across brand extensions, commodity licensing and product innovation, he is passionate about delivering best in class consumer experiences through meaningful partnerships across the CUB and Asahi Lifestyle Beverages Portfolios, but fair warning - not always via the most obvious nor orthodox means.

In his current role, Scott and his team are responsible for setting the strategic direction, and the day-to-day management of an incredible partnership portfolio, for some of the beverage industry’s best brands, including but not limited to, Victoria Bitter, Great Northern Brewing Co, Schweppes, Solo, Cool Ridge Water, Vodka Cruiser and Carlton Draught.

Anthony Everard is a professional sports marketer with over 25 years in the industry. Anthony received his Bachelor of Business (Sports Marketing) from Deakin University, and has completed post graduate study in Sport Law at Melbourne University and The Business of Media, Entertainment and Sport at Harvard Business School.

Anthony has worked across a number of sports in marketing and commercial functions, in the capacity of Rights Holder, Organising Committee member and Consulting Agency. 

Anthony is currently employed as Chief Clubs, Fans and Strategy Officer at Australia’s National Basketball League and is responsible for leading the growth agenda at a time that basketball in Australia is booming.   Prior to his time at the NBL Anthony led the Commercial Function at Golf Australia, and spent 3 years as Executive General Manager Fan Engagement at Cricket Australia, overseeing all customer facing functions including Marketing & Brand, Digital, Venue Business and Customer Experience.  Anthony led the Big Bash League over a period of six years since its inception.  

Anthony currently resides in Melbourne with his young family and is a regular traveler to Canada to visit his in-laws and broaden his knowledge of all things ice hockey.

Have been in the sponsorships, partnerships, brand experience space at Woolworths for the best part of 10 years, overall 19 years at Woolworths.

Reactive marketing and bringing the culture, prevalent topics in customers lives and turning them into timely and creative marketing campaigns is what really excites me as does building out brand experiences that are memorable in customers' hearts, minds and share of wallet.

My career highlights have been building & implementing our Woolworths Fresh Food Kids Discovery Tours program which saw a quarter of a million kids throughout stores on tours pre covid, driving our Collectibles strategy & working with our wonderful community impact partners and sponsorships partners over the past few years. These include OzHarvest, The Salvation Army, Foodbank (and many others), Cricket Australia, Netball Australia, Disney, Olympics & Paralympics. 

I have 3 boys under the age of 11 so weekend sport participation & sports more generally is life at the moment!

Ashlee, General Manager of AME for over 3 years, excels in developing impactful brand partnerships and strategic media positioning. With 15+ years in specialty media and communications, she’s an expert in brand strategy, media planning, and marketing. She has driven success for iconic brands like VB, Corona, Peroni, Bonds, and the UFC, contributing to their record-breaking attendance at Marvel Stadium in 2015.

In 2022, Ashlee spearheaded the launch of the start-up beverage brand Superboost and the new motorsport team Petronas MIE Racing across WSBK and MotoGP disciplines. Her skills in managing integrated advertising campaigns have propelled the Australian Supercross Championship to become the fastest-growing motorsport and entertainment property in Australia. Now, Ashlee is gearing up for the 2024 AUSX Open Supercross event, expected to draw a record 40,000 attendees to Marvel Stadium this November, with 45% coming from outside Victoria.

With 14 years' experience in the creative, advertising, and production industry, Alexandra excels in orchestrating impactful campaigns and experiences, while also spearheading dynamic activations for global brands.  Her leadership is defined by a dedication to creative excellence and innovation. 

Alexandra has delivered campaigns large and small for brands like Toyota, McDonald’s, Westpac, Chubb Insurance, Coca-Cola and Tabcorp, across their diverse sponsorship portfolios including the biggest sports in Australia; AFL, NRL, Netball, Cricket, Motorsport, Horse Racing, Tennis and A-League. ​ 

Paul began his career working in media planning at MediaCom and UM, before joining IPG's Ensemble as their Strategy & Ideas Director.

In 2016, Paul co-founded Banter, a specialist engagement marketing agency with deep roots in sponsorships and partnerships. 

In the last eight years, Banter have worked across a raft of sponsorship evaluation, auditing, strategy and creative work with the likes of Volkswagen, Qantas, Nestle, Taubmans, Priceline, ME Bank, BOQ, Aware Super, Tinder, AVL, Electrolux and Darrell Lea.

Paul is a former Cannes Young Lion Australia winner, Cannes Global Young Lions Silver medalist, B&T's Young Achiever of the Year Runner-Up and was named in B&T's 30 under 30 as the youngest in his category.  Paul was also selected for the 2017 cohort of The Marketing Academy. 

Paul is passionate about growing the value, importance and power of sponsorship. He also happens to love doing things that scare the shit out of him, like being on 2016's series of The Voice and trekking the very long and arduous El Camino in Spain. 

Hayley Monteith is the National Sponsorship and Content Manager for GPC Asia Pacific. GPC Asia Pacific is the largest automotive aftermarket and industrial parts supplier in Australia and New Zealand. The GPC portfolio includes Repco, NAPA, AMX, Sparesbox amongst others.

Hayley has been involved in Sponsorship since the inception of the sponsorship team in the GPC business in 2021 and in her short time has successful delivered some of the company’s largest event projects to date, Repco celebrating 100 years in the automotive aftermarket industry and the Repco Bathurst 1000. Hayley and her team manage the largest partnerships within the Australian motorsport landscape, the Repco Supercars Championship and Dick Johnson Racing Team.

I'm passionate about designing impactful experiences, harnessing technology, and driving measurable ROI through events, sponsorships, and brand activations.

I’ve founded and led global brand experience agencies working with some of the world’s most respected brands and organisations. My journey has been defined by learning, collaboration, and continual evolution. I’ve pioneered and delivered multi-award-winning experiences to Olympic and Commonwealth Games ceremonies, government programs, and the experience-led Polestar luxury EV brand launch program into Australia.

At Designteam, our goal is to pioneer unforgettable experiences, and in 2023, The Australian recognized our solutions as a world-changing creative innovation. I help sponsors and brands achieve performance by designing experiences that foster deep connections with audiences, using cutting-edge technologies to transform engagement into measurable impact.

My work has included British Royal family roadshows, World Expo Australia pavilions, and activation experiences for tier-one sporting events like the Australian Open Tennis, Formula 1, and the VRC Melbourne Cup. Currently, my focus is on cultural and museum content experiences reimagined for web3 and spatial engagement alongside physical activations.

I’m committed to ensuring sponsorship and brand experience opportunities deliver maximum impact. As a founding member and global council member for the WXO (World Experience Organization), I witness firsthand a new era for experiences. As they evolve, I’m driven to collaborate and blend art, science, and technology to shape the future of the industry.

Belinda is the General Manager of Live at TGI Sport and oversees their portfolio of Major Events, Premium Experiences and Brand activations across the largest rights holders and brands in sport.

Previously she spent 9 years heading up League Operations & Events for the Big Bash Leagues This included all aspects of match delivery, the League’s Event and Fan Experience strategy which aims to sit at the intersection of sport and pop-culture, as well as operational execution across 120 matches over 27 venues. Belinda was a key architect in the development and growth of the Women’s Big Bash Leagues. In addition to her 20 years’ experience across major events, venues and Government, Belinda is also a lecturer at Deakin University in the Sports Facilities & Event Management space.

Hayden has worked in the liquor industry for the entirety of his career, beginning with Lion New Zealand in 2008 before moving to Diageo where he’s been for the last 12 years. He has held a variety of sales, marketing and innovation roles during this time and has worked across liquor categories and geographies spanning Australasia, Europe and Africa.

Currently the Marketing and Innovation director for Diageo Australia, Hayden has the great privilege (and immense responsibility) of managing a department of 40 people and a portfolio of some of the worlds most iconic spirits brands including Johnnie Walker, Bundaberg Rum, Smirnoff Vodka, Baileys and Don Julio Tequila.

Steve Whately has been working in the business of sport for 15+ years, spanning senior roles with the likes of KPMG, the Australian Sports Commission, Nielsen Sports & now MKTG. 

Steve has partnered with the biggest rights holders and sponsors in the country to deliver a range of a outcomes across strategy, participation and commercial. He has dedicated the last 10 years of his career to best-practice sports marketing. 

Steve has helped the likes of the AFL Cricket Australia & Tennis Australia to drive commercial outcomes, and big brands like Asahi, Bunnings, Woolworths & Nissan to extract the most value out of sponsorship. 

Tim graduated from the University of Ballarat with an Applied Science, Sports Marketing degree. He then worked for two years at a Melbourne based Events Management company before deciding it was time for a change of scenery and moved to London to work for advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather.

After two and a half years working and travelling Tim returned to Melbourne to work for sports marketing agency, TGI Sport and then onto National Australia Bank as Head of Sponsorship. Post NAB Tim worked at Carlton & United Breweries as Director of Sponsorship & Experiential before founding the Club Connect business within CUB.

Tim is currently the Head of Commercial Partnerships at the AFL.

In addition to work, Tim spends whatever spare time he has playing and watching various sports as well as enjoying time with his wife and four young children.

As the Director of Global Partnerships at ASM Global, he leads commercial opportunities and manages partnerships for a network of arenas, stadiums, convention, and exhibition centres in Australia. With 30+ years of experience in the industry, he has developed expertise in naming rights, commercial management, business development, marketing, event promotion, and production.

Previously, he had been seconded from Global Partnerships to rebuild the brand of the AEG Ogden owned NBL Sydney Kings basketball team, culminating in a successful sale of the team after three years. Prior to this, and before the merger in 2022 to ASM Global, he served as the AEG Ogden Group Marketing Manager and held various commercial roles across Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney and RAC Arena, Perth.

Florencia Aimo is an accomplished marketing leader with a rich career spanning over 20 years. Currently serving as Vice President of Marketing at Mastercard, Florencia drives the company’s strategic marketing initiatives across Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. In this role, she leads a talented team in executing consumer and B2B marketing strategies, managing high-impact sponsorships, fostering merchant partnerships, and spearheading innovative communications campaigns. Her leadership is central to advancing Mastercard’s marketing objectives and reinforcing its brand presence in the region.

Before joining Mastercard, Florencia built a distinguished career in the hospitality industry with Hilton and Marriott International. At Marriott, she served as Senior Area Director of Marketing for Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific, where she orchestrated marketing efforts for 46 hotels across 15 brands. Her strategic acumen was key to launching 20 new hotels and introducing six new brands to the Australian market, including Moxy, The Ritz-Carlton, and W Hotels. Florencia also played a significant role in the global success of Marriott Bonvoy, contributing to its growth to over 200 million members.

Florencia’s diverse experience and strategic insights have shaped her exceptional ability to drive impactful marketing strategies across different industries.

With over 20 years of commercial experience spanning 10+ Olympic Games, multiple Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup’s, Jess has been at the forefront of Corporate Partnerships in Australia & UK.

This included Jess leading the Corporate Partnerships team for the British Olympic Association (Team GB) in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.  Jess is the Founder of the Sports Bra Project Australia and is also a mentor to a young athlete through the Minerva Program.

Stephanie Taylor is a dynamic Marketing, PR and Communications professional with  robust experience in the consumer, fashion, beauty, major event and wellness industries.

As Head of PR and Communications at Swisse Wellness (H&H Group), Stephanie is proud to play a pivotal role in shaping Swisse’s distinctive brand narrative, enhancing its reputation, and capturing audiences via unique and disruptive methods.

With over 15 years in the industry, Stephanie has a myriad of communications  experience - executing countless strategic PR, content and social media-led campaigns, media relations strategies, talent and ambassador procurement and creative brand management projects across a wide range of industries.

As Group Account Director in her previous 5+ year role at communications agency AMPR, Stephanie led major campaigns for brands such as Witchery and the OCRF, David Jones, NGV, The Melbourne Royal Show, Chadstone The Fashion Capital, Australian Grand Prix and Chemist Warehouse Group.

Stephanie is incredibly passionate about championing young professionals, as an effective mentor and leader, developing and refining the creative, communication and strategic skills of individuals around her.

Outside of “the office”, Stephanie stays abreast of emerging trends and social channels thanks to her incredible team of GenZ-ers. She is a mum to Alfie (7) and Gigi (5) - as well as her youngest (and favourite child) a Hungarian Vizsla named Humphrey. 

With her expertise and dedication, Stephanie continues to elevate Swisse Wellness’s presence in the market, driving engagement, brand salience and awareness with the aim of inspiring individuals to prioritize their health and well-being.

Tom Hickey is the Director of Business Development for Brisbane 2032. Tom is responsible for all matters relating to commercial partnerships for Brisbane 2032 – including with domestic partners and global Olympic partners (known as TOP Partners).

Tom has over 10 years’ experience in the global sports industry with particular expertise in the commercial sector. Prior to commencing at Brisbane 2032 in late 2022, Tom held roles with the National Football League in the USA and the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland.

Originally a lawyer, Tom began his career as a sports lawyer in Melbourne, Australia.

Tom studied at the University of Melbourne.

Steve Bliesner is the founder and Creative Director of companies: HeyOK, At the Beep and Owner of Breeze Software. With nearly 15 years experience in the Photo Booth/Events Industry and regarded as an “out of the box” thinker.

Over the last 10 years, HeyOK (previously The Photo Booth Guys) have curated events, custom solutions and specialist technology for likes of Lamborghini, Qantas,Tinder, Armani, QRL, Priceline, BOQ, Virgin Australia, Louis Vuitton and Canadian Club.