James is the Founder and CEO of Activation Union

He began his career working in media planning and buying in the UK before starting an events and sponsorship business with clients such as Time Magazine. After returning to Australia to work on the Sydney 2000 Olympics, he was approached by Clemenger to set up and run the group’s sponsorship and event company, MM Communications Sydney office.

In 2001, he launched Australia’s first experiential based agency, Traffik, with founding client St George Bank, and a roster that grew to include Diageo, Holden, P&G, Nickelodeon, and Ikea to name a few, and built a national footprint with offices in five capital cities. He grew the 100 per cent Clemenger Group-owned business to become Australia’s most awarded activation agency, with accolades including two appearances in BRW Top 100 Companies to Work For.

As a member of the Clemenger Group board from 2014 to 2022, Neale helped deliver numerous projects including establishing the Diversity and Inclusion committee.

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.

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!