Global Speakers

CONFERENCE CHAIRPERSON

Robert Kinkade leads EY’s Digital Operations practice across Asia-Pacific and works primarily with clients across consumer products, retail, life sciences, travel and transport sectors. He specialises in developing winning strategies and change programs with business and government; with primary focus around supply chain and operations – powered by digital innovation, analytics and anchored in tangible customer experience and performance improvement. Prior to working in advisory Robert held senior management positions with Nordstrom where he led various initiatives within a successful technology-enabled business transformation program and had early involvement with multi-channel operations and customer experience (early 2000’s). In addition to working with clients Robert has extensive thought leadership experience including speaking at international conferences and writing on key digital trends. Robert is passionate about leveraging his rich network of innovators and entrepreneurs and exploring the space between startups and enterprise to help clients challenge established practices and innovate at scale. Robert has worked directly with Nordstrom, Wesfarmers (Coles, Officeworks, and Target), Super Retail Group, Al-Futtaim Group (Dubai), Woolworths Holdings, Qantas, Toyota, Unilever, Coca-Cola (Thailand), Roche, Novo Nordisk, NSW Government, Elders and several early stage/growth businesses.

Troy Wild is Legal Director of the National Retail Association (NRA), which is Australia’s largest and most representative retail industry organisation. For almost 100 years, the NRA has represented the interests of the retail, fast food and broader service sector, delivering critical information, legal advice, training and industry events to thousands of businesses nationally. Troy has an extensive background in industrial relations and employment law with clients ranging from small businesses to large public and private corporations. Troy also brings unique insight to a wide range of topics with 13 years’ experience as a Criminal Investigative Police Officer.

Michael Stone is Director of Products at Invigor Group where he is responsible for the company’s portfolio of business intelligence and big data solutions.  Prior to his current role he was CEO of Amethon Solutions, which was acquired by Invigor Group at the end of 2014. Before his appointment to Amethon, he spent 15 years at Ericsson in a number of solution management, general management and sales management roles focused on mobile network infrastructure and applications. Throughout his career, Michael has worked across a wide range of retail industries including shopping centres, telecommunications, consumer electronics and liquor to generate meaningful and actionable insights from big data analytics, helping businesses grow through digital and mobile transformation.

Claire brings 20 years of Product and General Management experience in Digital Marketing, Media and FMCG to her role as Executive Director & Co-founder of Sprooki. Sprooki is enabling Asia-Pacific’s largest malls, retailers and brands to engage their shoppers in more intelligent, relevant and mobile-first ways. Prior to co-founding Sprooki, Claire held a number of management roles within blue-chip media companies and dynamic start-ups alike including General Manager, Multimedia Interactive Technologies for ASTRO (Malaysia), one of Asia’s largest broadcasters, overseeing all Internet, mobile and Interactive TV products & services. Claire has also held Senior Marketing and Product Development roles for Australia’s premier publisher, Fairfax Digital Media, publisher of the Sydney Mourning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review (Australia) and Brand Management roles within FMCG retail marketing giant, Procter & Gamble (Europe). Claire is a Global Advisory Board member of the Location-based Marketing Association, dedicated to the fostering of a community of interest around all avenues of advertising and marketing as it relates to location-specific opportunities.Claire holds a Masters of International Business from Bond University (Australia) and is based in Sydney, Australia.

Steve is responsible for defining eBay Australia’s marketing and advertising strategy & leads all marketing & advertising activity across the business. He has been tasked with the challenge of changing consumer perception of eBay to mirror the site’s new direction and service offering – new products from leading Australian and International retailers. As Chair of ADMA, Steve is passionate about data-driven marketing and the role it plays in helping Australian businesses of all sizes drive growth, build customer advocacy, and develop stronger brands in a digital world. Prior to joining eBay, Steve spent 4 years with leading digital payments company PayPal heading up marketing across the rapid growing Asia Pacific region, and more than a decade with Virgin Mobile in the UK and Australia leading omnichannel sales & marketing.

Dominic focuses on finding the digital sweet spot with the right balance of ingredients that includes: advertising and promotion, content and experience, social and relationships, commerce and sales, underpinned by data. A marketing technologist, Dominic excels in driving corporate change through the creative use of cutting-edge technology solutions in real-world applications. He is a nationally recognised digital expert with a passion for commercially aware, analytics-led decision making that results in technology and media savvy outcomes.

Andy has 26 years of experience in the retail and consumer services sectors, half of which has been spent in operational line management. He is a former Director at Deloitte, where he was a leader in its Online and Strategy & Operations practices. He has delivered omni-channel retail strategies for Woolworths Target, Repco, Landmark, Toyota and Australia Post, and has advised Pandora, Birdsnext, Adairs Myer and IGA in the area of multi-channel engagement models and customer service improvement. He is one of Australia’s most sought-after commentators on omni-channel retail and the new retail landscape. He is a 5-time judge of Australian Online Retail Industry Awards and a recent commentator on Sky News Business Success programme. His views have appeared in the Australian Financial Review, The Age, BRW, Rag Trader and The Business Lounge.

Gareth has spent over 20 years in a variety of senior sales, marketing and general management roles including two years as CEO of an Australian sporting goods retailer and seven years in the DSE division of Woolworth’s, responsible for group-wide merchandise management, marketing and store planning. In addition Gareth has spent a number of years consulting retailers, as well as lecturing at Sydney’s Macquarie and Shanghai’s Jiao Tong Universities. In 2011 Gareth was appointed Retail Industry Executive in Telstra’s Industry Development team.

Peter is an accomplished IT & Digital senior executive with over 30 years’ experience across a variety of industry sectors. He has spent the last 2 years in a pivotal role in heading up the Digital area for The Retail Apparel Group, home to the well-known menswear brands – Tarocash, yd, Johnny Bigg and Connor and women’s active wear brand – Rockwear. Leading a team of dedicated professionals he successfully launched all menswear sites for the brands, all of which are achieving results beyond expectations. Peter spent the previous 4 years in a transformational IT & Digital leadership role for Apparel Group Australia and Asia- home to the well-known brands of Sportscraft, Saba and Willow.  As General Manager for Emerging Technologies and IT, he had the responsibility for E-commerce business strategy development and implementation, in addition to improving the ERP strategy for the business through enhancements in systems, applications, efficiencies and processes for staff, suppliers and customers

Gaurav Patni is globally recognized as a Retail, Consumer Goods and Digital Innovation thought leader, speaker and author. He has over 18 years of executive leadership experience, developing technology focused innovation programs for global household retail name brand organizations like Walmart, Nordstrom, Best Buy, Procter & Gamble, JCPenney, David Jones, etc. Gaurav serves as Global Executive Advisor for Logic Information Systems – a boutique consulting firm providing business advisory and systems integration services to Retailers.He is also an Advisor and Mentor at NORA, and Advisory Board Member and Investor at several retail and technology startups.

JORDAN MUIR is an accomplished entrepreneur listing a Marketing service business on the ASX at the age of 27, selling a software business built from scratch to a NZX organisation and leading a management buyout of one of Australia’s leading online wine companies. Jordan is currently the Co- Founder of one of Australia’s most progressive online food business where he now helps to shape what Aussie Farmers Group can do in the future. Aussie Farmers Group have one of Australia’s largest refrigerated and dry logistics networks including 13 distribution centres Nationwide. Already, Jordan has been utilizing our innovative Digital Logistics Model to support some of the largest independent businesses in the FMCG sector. The business is setting a new standard of integration across eCommerce, technology and direct home delivery services.

A Senior Digital strategist with over 15 years in Fortune 500 companies including Manufacturing, FMCG, Technology and Software, Joe is tasked with researching the latest digital technologies for 3M. He has developed expertise in identifying new trends in a wide range of digital media from gaming to social media and the rise of mobile. Joe is now exploring the Augmented & Virtual reality technology potential and how it will merge the digital and physical worlds to transform customer experience.

DAVOR BISKO has been a prominent Enterprise Architect in the field of Omnichannel, customer experience, technology and architecture for more than 20 years. He was formerly the Omnichannel Replatforming Lead Architect with Target Australia and has prior contribution on a high profile e-commerce replatforming. In 2015, he was rehired by Target Australia as a Customer Experience Domain Architect where he contributed numerous strategic initiatives from the domain and enterprise level in enhancing users’ customer experience. He has also a vast experience in digital and omnichannel business combining with agile methodologies.

Graham Jackson is a senior executive with more than 23 years’ experience in sales, technology and omni-channel retail. Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive Officer for the Australian technology company, Fluent Retail, he was the Senior Vice President of APJ and China for SAP Hybris, responsible for major growth in the company and market share across the region. He was also previously the Managing Director for Bazaarvoice, and has launched two successful IT businesses in Australia and set up operations for two others. Graham holds a BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Kent and is a trusted advisor to many top executives and industry peers.

Julie is a passionate digital, multichannel and retail professional having worked in many omnichannel businesses in the UK, Asia and Australia including John Lewis, Aeon, Coles, and most recently Masters. Julie led the turnaround of Masters Multichannel Strategy to deliver triple digit growth year on year. She has also worked in retail consulting at Javelin Group, along with private equity and has sat as a non-exec on the boards of Whittard of Chelsea and Storevision, a tech retail fraud prevention company. She is a passionate entrepreneur having founded the business Flora & Fauna, Australia’s largest vegan beauty and lifestyle store. Julie firmly believes the customer must be at the centre of all decision making for a true omnichannel experience. She holds a degree and Master’s Degree in Engineering from Cambridge University and has worked in retail for over 20 years.