"Snapchat is proud to support the AdNews Emerging Leaders as Presenting Partner. The people this program recognises are exactly who our industry needs - those who bring others with them, lead with authenticity, and stay human while everything moves fast. The next generation, shaping culture on our platform and celebrated through these awards, are already driving what comes next.”

Clare Rudduck
Head of Agency & Large Customer Sales at Snap Inc AUNZ

"Snapchat is proud to support the AdNews Emerging Leaders as Presenting Partner. The people this program recognises are exactly who our industry needs - those who bring others with them, lead with authenticity, and stay human while everything moves fast. The next generation, shaping culture on our platform and celebrated through these awards, are already driving what comes next.”

Clare Rudduck
Head of Agency & Large Customer Sales at Snap Inc AUNZ

Grand Prix Winner

Ernest Fu
Prophet data scientist

When Ernest Fu joined Prophet in January 2025, the platform had a single client and one bespoke model. He rebuilt the entire architecture from the ground up, preserving daily-level data granularity where competitors can aggregate and cut corners. That technical discipline helped Prophet scale rapidly and contributed to the platform being recognised as AFR’s 'Most Innovative Company.'

Fu also introduced Agile sprint planning and stakeholder tracking across the business, strengthening execution as Prophet grew. He brought technical expertise and commercial instinct together — including presenting complex modelling concepts in Mandarin to help secure alignment with a prospective client’s global CEO. Beyond Prophet, Fu tutors 70 students a week at Melbourne Business School and launched a lunch-and-learn programme that is now run company-wide.

"Some people build a career. Ernest built the architecture from the ground up," our judging panel said.

"That engineering instinct, paired with leadership that reaches past his own organisation, made him the standout. From a start-up to tutoring students every week, he's building the next generation of this industry in his own non-linear way."

Grand Prix Winner

Ernest Fu
Prophet data scientist

When Ernest Fu joined Prophet in January 2025, the platform had a single client and one bespoke model. He rebuilt the entire architecture from the ground up, preserving daily-level data granularity where competitors can aggregate and cut corners. That technical discipline helped Prophet scale rapidly and contributed to the platform being recognised as AFR’s 'Most Innovative Company.'

Fu also introduced Agile sprint planning and stakeholder tracking across the business, strengthening execution as Prophet grew. He brought technical expertise and commercial instinct together — including presenting complex modelling concepts in Mandarin to help secure alignment with a prospective client’s global CEO. Beyond Prophet, Fu tutors 70 students a week at Melbourne Business School and launched a lunch-and-learn programme that is now run company-wide.

"Some people build a career. Ernest built the architecture from the ground up," our judging panel said.

"That engineering instinct, paired with leadership that reaches past his own organisation, made him the standout. From a start-up to tutoring students every week, he's building the next generation of this industry in his own non-linear way."

Margot Alais
Paper + Spark head of creative & production

Margot Alais built her career by refusing to stay in one lane. She started in content and production, then moved into client services to deepen her strategic understanding of advertising while completing AWARD School. That path led her to Paper + Spark, where she progressed quickly from art director to creative lead before relocating to Vancouver to run North American projects. She returned to Australia as head of creative and production. Alais fights for bold creative in the room: she personally pitched senior stakeholders to win expanded scope and budget on a recent healthcare campaign, and turned a modest social campaign for a non-profit client into a national integrated push by rallying pro bono industry support. She mentors junior creatives, embeds regular coaching into her leadership style, and writes on diversity and access in the industry

Kristy Barclay-Allen
Meta industry head, independent agencies ANZ

Kristy Barclay-Allen has built Meta ANZ's independent agencies unit from two people to seven, repositioning it as the company's fastest-growing business in the region. Her career spans the UK, Singapore and ANZ, including commercial and client service leadership roles at Nielsen Sports and Videology across global brands such as Revlon, PayPal and Pernod Ricard. At Meta, she designed the unit's entire operating model from scratch and has driven consistent growth in revenue and product adoption since moving the business from Singapore to Australia four years ago. Barclay-Allen has led her team through significant organisational change, including restructures and an international relocation, while maintaining strong client satisfaction. Beyond Meta, she leads the company's relationship with the IMAA, sits on the leadership committee for Connected Women Australia, and has mentored working parents through groups she founded in Singapore and Sydney.

Sally Borda
Ogilvy Australia managing partner and AI lead

Sally Borda joined Ogilvy Australia as group account director on the American Express business before progressing to client lead within three years, and now holds the role of managing partner and AI lead. Her standout achievement was leading the rebuild of ING's brand character, Roary the Lion, using proprietary AI, cutting production costs while maintaining creative quality, work so strong it saw Ogilvy Australia win a competitive pitch to lead ING's global end-of-year campaign. She also led "Be the Lion" for ING, ranked in the top 10 globally in the Kantar Advertising Effectiveness Awards, and "Life Takes Guts" for TAL, which reversed several years of youth decline for the brand. Borda co-created and scaled Ogilvy's University of Creativity AI learning program across the network, and tutors MBA students from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, hosting the cohort at Ogilvy when they visited Australia.

Alysha Calder
Group Strategy Director Zenith

Alysha Calder has spent eight years at Nine, the past four as client strategy lead within Powered by Nine, where she leads the strategic architecture behind major partnerships and annual negotiations. Her standout achievement was leading the strategic framework for the Australian Government's "Stop It At The Start" initiative, which reached a majority of Australia's "influencers of young people" and outperformed the regional benchmark, work she presented to more than 200 industry peers at the IAB Measure Up Conference. Calder is a member of Nine's inaugural Women's Mentoring Program and Gen AI Program, and has built an internal AI tool that helps junior staff translate strategic thinking into client-ready insights. She also mentors women rebuilding their lives through TwoGoodCo and supports youth advocacy programs in regional NSW, including Down The Track and Larn.

James Curtis
Ogilvy Australia head of consumer PR & influence

James Curtis joined Ogilvy in 2016 as an account director and has progressed through six levels to head of consumer PR and influence over the past decade. He has built award-winning programs for brands including KFC, eBay, Tourism New Zealand and Coca-Cola, earning recognition including three Cannes Lions, a Global Grand Effie and five APAC SABRE Awards, plus two D&D Pencils. His standout achievement has been converting client relationships from discrete projects into long-term retained partnerships, while playing a central role in landing new accounts including Tourism New Zealand and Specsavers. Curtis directly mentors five Ogilvy professionals, leads the agency's Young Tigers mentoring program, sits on the CPRA mentoring committee, and was appointed a judge for the Young Cannes PR Lions Awards in 2026.

Margot Alais
Paper + Spark head of creative & production

Margot Alais built her career by refusing to stay in one lane. She started in content and production, then moved into client services to deepen her strategic understanding of advertising while completing AWARD School. That path led her to Paper + Spark, where she progressed quickly from art director to creative lead before relocating to Vancouver to run North American projects. She returned to Australia as head of creative and production. Alais fights for bold creative in the room: she personally pitched senior stakeholders to win expanded scope and budget on a recent healthcare campaign, and turned a modest social campaign for a non-profit client into a national integrated push by rallying pro bono industry support. She mentors junior creatives, embeds regular coaching into her leadership style, and writes on diversity and access in the industry

Kristy Barclay-Allen
Meta industry head, independent agencies ANZ

Kristy Barclay-Allen has built Meta ANZ's independent agencies unit from two people to seven, repositioning it as the company's fastest-growing business in the region. Her career spans the UK, Singapore and ANZ, including commercial and client service leadership roles at Nielsen Sports and Videology across global brands such as Revlon, PayPal and Pernod Ricard. At Meta, she designed the unit's entire operating model from scratch and has driven consistent growth in revenue and product adoption since moving the business from Singapore to Australia four years ago. Barclay-Allen has led her team through significant organisational change, including restructures and an international relocation, while maintaining strong client satisfaction. Beyond Meta, she leads the company's relationship with the IMAA, sits on the leadership committee for Connected Women Australia, and has mentored working parents through groups she founded in Singapore and Sydney.

Sally Borda
Ogilvy Australia managing partner and AI lead

Sally Borda joined Ogilvy Australia as group account director on the American Express business before progressing to client lead within three years, and now holds the role of managing partner and AI lead. Her standout achievement was leading the rebuild of ING's brand character, Roary the Lion, using proprietary AI, cutting production costs while maintaining creative quality, work so strong it saw Ogilvy Australia win a competitive pitch to lead ING's global end-of-year campaign. She also led "Be the Lion" for ING, ranked in the top 10 globally in the Kantar Advertising Effectiveness Awards, and "Life Takes Guts" for TAL, which reversed several years of youth decline for the brand. Borda co-created and scaled Ogilvy's University of Creativity AI learning program across the network, and tutors MBA students from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, hosting the cohort at Ogilvy when they visited Australia.

Alysha Calder
Group Strategy Director Zenith

Alysha Calder has spent eight years at Nine, the past four as client strategy lead within Powered by Nine, where she leads the strategic architecture behind major partnerships and annual negotiations. Her standout achievement was leading the strategic framework for the Australian Government's "Stop It At The Start" initiative, which reached a majority of Australia's "influencers of young people" and outperformed the regional benchmark, work she presented to more than 200 industry peers at the IAB Measure Up Conference. Calder is a member of Nine's inaugural Women's Mentoring Program and Gen AI Program, and has built an internal AI tool that helps junior staff translate strategic thinking into client-ready insights. She also mentors women rebuilding their lives through TwoGoodCo and supports youth advocacy programs in regional NSW, including Down The Track and Larn.

James Curtis
Ogilvy Australia head of consumer PR & influence

James Curtis joined Ogilvy in 2016 as an account director and has progressed through six levels to head of consumer PR and influence over the past decade. He has built award-winning programs for brands including KFC, eBay, Tourism New Zealand and Coca-Cola, earning recognition including three Cannes Lions, a Global Grand Effie and five APAC SABRE Awards, plus two D&D Pencils. His standout achievement has been converting client relationships from discrete projects into long-term retained partnerships, while playing a central role in landing new accounts including Tourism New Zealand and Specsavers. Curtis directly mentors five Ogilvy professionals, leads the agency's Young Tigers mentoring program, sits on the CPRA mentoring committee, and was appointed a judge for the Young Cannes PR Lions Awards in 2026.

Phoebe Duke
Bank of Queensland Group senior manager, brand, social & sponsorship

Phoebe Duke has rapidly become one of BOQ Group's most influential brand strategists, now leading a multidisciplinary team across Bank of Queensland, Virgin Money Australia and ME Bank. Her standout achievement is Bank of Queenslanders, a brand repositioning that challenged the bank's original brief and shifted it from fragmented, product-led marketing to a cohesive platform grounded in local pride and community connection, significantly lifting the bank's visibility and marketing return across the state. She also struck a regional-first media partnership with WIN News built on editorial storytelling, and established BOQ's first formal sponsorship strategy in over a decade, securing partners including the Queensland Reds and Ekka. Beyond her core role, Duke mentors junior talent, contributes to university marketing courses at the University of Sydney and QUT, and sat on the 2025 Advisory Board for the iMedia Future of Marketing Summit.

Edelle Gettings
PHD Australia head of brand

Edelle Gettings joined the leadership team at Wunderman Thompson at just 24, during the JWT and Wunderman merger, and has been at the centre of two major industry mergers since, including the rollout of the VML brand across 13 APAC markets while leading growth marketing and partnership initiatives for the region. Now head of brand at PHD Australia, she's the youngest member of the agency's executive leadership team and has led eight major pitches in the past year, including the retention of two of the agency's largest clients. Earlier in her career, Gettings created APAC's first composable technology hackathon, bringing together more than 650 attendees, and contributed to Vow's Mammoth Meatball project, work designed to provoke conversation around sustainability and the future of food, which won a Bronze Cannes Lion. She has mentored five people across different career stages over the past year.

Kyle Gradidge
2045 head of business management

Kyle Gradidge began his career at CHEP before moving through Hardhat and Thinkerbell, where he led the award-winning Mattel x Hot Wheels campaign that won a Gold Webby. In 2025 he joined independent agency 2045 to establish its first dedicated business management function, and has since been promoted to head of business management, leading teams across business management and production for clients including Bupa, Pernod Ricard and L'Oréal. Since his arrival, the agency's commercial performance has grown substantially, with Gradidge playing a key role in securing new business including the Jameson account following a competitive pitch. He was named a 2026 AMARI Industry Innovator finalist, recognising his leadership within the African-Australian community, and has led the Youngbloods Victoria Speed Mentoring program, connecting more than 150 emerging professionals and university students with senior industry leaders across two of the program's largest events to date.

Sally Lawrence
Enigma Media executive director, media

Sally Lawrence has helped grow Newcastle-based Enigma Media into one of Australia's top 10 media independents, maintaining a strong client retention record while playing a major role in growing the media team from 12 to 30 people, much of it through training and elevating local regional talent. Her standout work includes leading the agency's new Australian Pork business win and an award-winning interactive bus shelter campaign for MobileMuster, recognised as Adweek's Campaign of the Week and a Cairns Crocodiles finalist. Internally, Lawrence helped introduce Enigma's nine-day fortnight, launched a new mentoring program, and led the agency's International Women's Day workshop and resulting action plan. She sits on the IAB Outdoor Working Group, has been selected as an IAB mentor, and partners with the University of Newcastle to build stronger pathways for regional emerging talent.

Denise McCormack
Hatched head of digital, data and tech

Denise McCormack joined Hatched in 2021 as director of programmatic media and now sits on the agency's executive leadership team as head of digital, data and tech. When she joined, Hatched was primarily a traditional media agency; she has since led its shift to digital-first, embedding performance specialists within client service teams and establishing a Digital Solutions team spanning martech, adtech, data and AI. Her standout achievement is Hatched ID, a first-party addressability solution built ahead of major privacy changes that has since evolved into a broader data collaboration and measurement framework. She also led the agency's move to bring programmatic media services in-house for the first time. Hatched has earned Google Breakthrough Excellence recognition and held Premier Partner status for four consecutive years. McCormack has built a Digital Solutions team that's majority female in a traditionally male-dominated space, with a strong internal promotion rate this year.

Phoebe Duke
Bank of Queensland Group senior manager, brand, social & sponsorship

Phoebe Duke has rapidly become one of BOQ Group's most influential brand strategists, now leading a multidisciplinary team across Bank of Queensland, Virgin Money Australia and ME Bank. Her standout achievement is Bank of Queenslanders, a brand repositioning that challenged the bank's original brief and shifted it from fragmented, product-led marketing to a cohesive platform grounded in local pride and community connection, significantly lifting the bank's visibility and marketing return across the state. She also struck a regional-first media partnership with WIN News built on editorial storytelling, and established BOQ's first formal sponsorship strategy in over a decade, securing partners including the Queensland Reds and Ekka. Beyond her core role, Duke mentors junior talent, contributes to university marketing courses at the University of Sydney and QUT, and sat on the 2025 Advisory Board for the iMedia Future of Marketing Summit.

Edelle Gettings
PHD Australia head of brand

Edelle Gettings joined the leadership team at Wunderman Thompson at just 24, during the JWT and Wunderman merger, and has been at the centre of two major industry mergers since, including the rollout of the VML brand across 13 APAC markets while leading growth marketing and partnership initiatives for the region. Now head of brand at PHD Australia, she's the youngest member of the agency's executive leadership team and has led eight major pitches in the past year, including the retention of two of the agency's largest clients. Earlier in her career, Gettings created APAC's first composable technology hackathon, bringing together more than 650 attendees, and contributed to Vow's Mammoth Meatball project, work designed to provoke conversation around sustainability and the future of food, which won a Bronze Cannes Lion. She has mentored five people across different career stages over the past year.

Kyle Gradidge
2045 head of business management

Kyle Gradidge began his career at CHEP before moving through Hardhat and Thinkerbell, where he led the award-winning Mattel x Hot Wheels campaign that won a Gold Webby. In 2025 he joined independent agency 2045 to establish its first dedicated business management function, and has since been promoted to head of business management, leading teams across business management and production for clients including Bupa, Pernod Ricard and L'Oréal. Since his arrival, the agency's commercial performance has grown substantially, with Gradidge playing a key role in securing new business including the Jameson account following a competitive pitch. He was named a 2026 AMARI Industry Innovator finalist, recognising his leadership within the African-Australian community, and has led the Youngbloods Victoria Speed Mentoring program, connecting more than 150 emerging professionals and university students with senior industry leaders across two of the program's largest events to date.

Sally Lawrence
Enigma Media executive director, media

Sally Lawrence has helped grow Newcastle-based Enigma Media into one of Australia's top 10 media independents, maintaining a strong client retention record while playing a major role in growing the media team from 12 to 30 people, much of it through training and elevating local regional talent. Her standout work includes leading the agency's new Australian Pork business win and an award-winning interactive bus shelter campaign for MobileMuster, recognised as Adweek's Campaign of the Week and a Cairns Crocodiles finalist. Internally, Lawrence helped introduce Enigma's nine-day fortnight, launched a new mentoring program, and led the agency's International Women's Day workshop and resulting action plan. She sits on the IAB Outdoor Working Group, has been selected as an IAB mentor, and partners with the University of Newcastle to build stronger pathways for regional emerging talent.

Denise McCormack
Hatched head of digital, data and tech

Denise McCormack joined Hatched in 2021 as director of programmatic media and now sits on the agency's executive leadership team as head of digital, data and tech. When she joined, Hatched was primarily a traditional media agency; she has since led its shift to digital-first, embedding performance specialists within client service teams and establishing a Digital Solutions team spanning martech, adtech, data and AI. Her standout achievement is Hatched ID, a first-party addressability solution built ahead of major privacy changes that has since evolved into a broader data collaboration and measurement framework. She also led the agency's move to bring programmatic media services in-house for the first time. Hatched has earned Google Breakthrough Excellence recognition and held Premier Partner status for four consecutive years. McCormack has built a Digital Solutions team that's majority female in a traditionally male-dominated space, with a strong internal promotion rate this year.

Trent Michael
Howatson+Company head of design

Trent Michael spent a decade as a DJ before joining advertising with no portfolio or industry network. He joined Howatson+Company as a senior designer when the agency was a dozen people strong, and has been promoted three times since, most recently to head of design, now leading a team of more than 40 designers across Sydney and Melbourne. His standout work includes triple j's Rejenerated, an audio-reactive variable typeface that changes with the music, and pro bono work for the Sydney Jewish Museum that prompted TikTok to update its global content moderation policy. He's also led brand work for Allianz, Vodafone, Qantas, Domain, Petbarn and UNICEF. Michael has built internal AI tools including a brand compliance checker, runs agency-wide AI training sessions, and mentors designers through a structured program he created off his own back.

Trent Peppercorn
WPP Beauty Tech Labs managing partner AUNZ

Trent Peppercorn pitched and launched Reprise ANZ's first creative studio before taking on the merger of three creative studios into MBCS AUNZ, achieving full retention of staff and clients through the transition while relocating to lead the Melbourne business. His standout achievement has been launching and scaling WPP Beauty Tech Labs, consolidating L'Oréal ANZ's sprawling agency roster into a single, high-performing media discipline and securing the L'Oréal Advocacy and Influencer agency of record account. Over the past year, the team grew creator engagements substantially year-on-year and helped L'Oréal secure the top two positions for share of influence in the beauty market, without proportionally increasing spend. Peppercorn mentors several rising talents on his team and has spoken at SXSW Sydney alongside a chief creator officer on the shift toward creators as the new broadcasters.

Melanie Pritchard
Mindshare Australia AI architect & transformation consultant

Melanie Pritchard was selected as one of just 12 people globally for a competitive Starcom exchange program early in her career, spending three months working in New York. She went on to lead McDonald's data and technology transformation as transformation director at OMD, including the local launch of the MyMacca's Loyalty Program. She has since become Mindshare Australia's first AI architect, leading the local rollout of WPP Open and designing its first global onboarding workflow, now under review for wider rollout. Her standout achievement was rebuilding Nestlé's campaign reporting process from the ground up, combining a centralised dashboard with an AI-generated commentary tool that returned thousands of hours a year back to her team. Pritchard founded the WPP Media ANZ AI Council, contributed to the AANA's submission on the Privacy Act Review, and finished in the top four globally at the WPP Hackathon among 25 competing teams.

Anais Read
HERO/McCann senior copywriter

Anais Read has built a career combining sharp creative work with developing the next generation of industry talent. Originally from Aotearoa New Zealand, she has worked across HERO/McCann, T&P and Leonardo.AI on campaigns for Tourism Australia, Uber, Mastercard, Toyota and Fujifilm. Her standout achievement was raising more than $300,000 for children's charity Act for Kids through her campaign One Less Present, work she describes as something that actually did good in the real world. Read is also creative lead for mentorship program Assisterhood, scaling it from a handful of mentors to close to 100 across Australia, then expanding it to New Zealand, Singapore and the UK, while managing a creative team of nine and building processes to reduce bias in applications and shortlisting. She also runs Can't Run Can Coffee, an inclusive women's run club with a community of more than 2,500.

Matt Richards
Ogilvy Australia group strategy director

Matt Richards was appointed client lead for Coca-Cola, one of WPP's most significant roles in Australia, steering the brand's integrated offering to deliver strong year-on-year growth. His leadership was pivotal in delivering the Cannes Lion-winning "Meet Me at The Coke Sign" campaign, which turned a Sydney landmark into a national conversation, and "Coke Studio: Uncovered," which sparked millions of organic TikTok views among a sceptical Gen Z audience. Before Ogilvy, Richards led the repositioning that transformed TSB from the UK's least-liked to most-recommended bank, and worked on Amazon's Alexa launch across Europe. His performance led to his promotion to lead Ogilvy's entire strategy department in 2026, and he received the agency's internal "Spirit of David Ogilvy" honour in 2025. Richards also leads the Australian Ad Council's Account Leadership course and writes on lessons from failure in the industry.

Trent Michael
Howatson+Company head of design

Trent Michael spent a decade as a DJ before joining advertising with no portfolio or industry network. He joined Howatson+Company as a senior designer when the agency was a dozen people strong, and has been promoted three times since, most recently to head of design, now leading a team of more than 40 designers across Sydney and Melbourne. His standout work includes triple j's Rejenerated, an audio-reactive variable typeface that changes with the music, and pro bono work for the Sydney Jewish Museum that prompted TikTok to update its global content moderation policy. He's also led brand work for Allianz, Vodafone, Qantas, Domain, Petbarn and UNICEF. Michael has built internal AI tools including a brand compliance checker, runs agency-wide AI training sessions, and mentors designers through a structured program he created off his own back.

Trent Peppercorn
WPP Beauty Tech Labs managing partner AUNZ

Trent Peppercorn pitched and launched Reprise ANZ's first creative studio before taking on the merger of three creative studios into MBCS AUNZ, achieving full retention of staff and clients through the transition while relocating to lead the Melbourne business. His standout achievement has been launching and scaling WPP Beauty Tech Labs, consolidating L'Oréal ANZ's sprawling agency roster into a single, high-performing media discipline and securing the L'Oréal Advocacy and Influencer agency of record account. Over the past year, the team grew creator engagements substantially year-on-year and helped L'Oréal secure the top two positions for share of influence in the beauty market, without proportionally increasing spend. Peppercorn mentors several rising talents on his team and has spoken at SXSW Sydney alongside a chief creator officer on the shift toward creators as the new broadcasters.

Melanie Pritchard
Mindshare Australia AI architect & transformation consultant

Melanie Pritchard was selected as one of just 12 people globally for a competitive Starcom exchange program early in her career, spending three months working in New York. She went on to lead McDonald's data and technology transformation as transformation director at OMD, including the local launch of the MyMacca's Loyalty Program. She has since become Mindshare Australia's first AI architect, leading the local rollout of WPP Open and designing its first global onboarding workflow, now under review for wider rollout. Her standout achievement was rebuilding Nestlé's campaign reporting process from the ground up, combining a centralised dashboard with an AI-generated commentary tool that returned thousands of hours a year back to her team. Pritchard founded the WPP Media ANZ AI Council, contributed to the AANA's submission on the Privacy Act Review, and finished in the top four globally at the WPP Hackathon among 25 competing teams.

Anais Read
HERO/McCann senior copywriter

Anais Read has built a career combining sharp creative work with developing the next generation of industry talent. Originally from Aotearoa New Zealand, she has worked across HERO/McCann, T&P and Leonardo.AI on campaigns for Tourism Australia, Uber, Mastercard, Toyota and Fujifilm. Her standout achievement was raising more than $300,000 for children's charity Act for Kids through her campaign One Less Present, work she describes as something that actually did good in the real world. Read is also creative lead for mentorship program Assisterhood, scaling it from a handful of mentors to close to 100 across Australia, then expanding it to New Zealand, Singapore and the UK, while managing a creative team of nine and building processes to reduce bias in applications and shortlisting. She also runs Can't Run Can Coffee, an inclusive women's run club with a community of more than 2,500.

Matt Richards
Ogilvy Australia group strategy director

Matt Richards was appointed client lead for Coca-Cola, one of WPP's most significant roles in Australia, steering the brand's integrated offering to deliver strong year-on-year growth. His leadership was pivotal in delivering the Cannes Lion-winning "Meet Me at The Coke Sign" campaign, which turned a Sydney landmark into a national conversation, and "Coke Studio: Uncovered," which sparked millions of organic TikTok views among a sceptical Gen Z audience. Before Ogilvy, Richards led the repositioning that transformed TSB from the UK's least-liked to most-recommended bank, and worked on Amazon's Alexa launch across Europe. His performance led to his promotion to lead Ogilvy's entire strategy department in 2026, and he received the agency's internal "Spirit of David Ogilvy" honour in 2025. Richards also leads the Australian Ad Council's Account Leadership course and writes on lessons from failure in the industry.

Natalie Sareff
Spark Foundry strategy director

Natalie Sareff started her media career as a social producer at Webprofits, earning six promotions in four years before retraining from scratch in strategy at Spark Foundry in 2021. Her standout achievement has been advancing from media strategist to strategy lead of Johnson & Johnson's multidisciplinary five-agency unit, K1, within nine months, and contributing to Kenvue's APAC pitch strategy across India, Thailand and Australia. She was named Publicis' ANZ Connecteur of the Year and selected for Google SheLeads and the TikTok Accelerator program. Beyond her client work, Sareff founded Webprofits' AccessAbility Day internship scheme and co-founded enABLE, Publicis' employee resource group for disability, drawing on her own experience of chronic illness to champion greater accessibility across the industry. She has mentored colleagues for a decade, with a focus on supporting career pivots into strategy.

Vishal Shah
MiQ Digital head of product & analytics, ANZ

Vishal Shah has spent 12 years at MiQ, joining as a campaign analyst in India when the company was a small operation and now leading product and analytics in Australia. He built MiQ's APAC analytics capability from scratch, including the region's first product suite, before pitching for a move to Australia in 2019 and arriving months before a hiring freeze hit. His standout achievement has been leading the ANZ localisation of MiQ's Sigma platform, securing data partnerships with VOZ, Samsung Ads and LifeSight that let the business build a Total TV planning tool addressing a long-standing gap in the Australian market, closing out blind spots like YouTube that other planning tools have consistently excluded. Shah is an active member of the IAB Australia Data and AI Councils and mentors team members across analytics, solutions and creative disciplines in India and Australia.

Mia Stern
The Daily Aus head of operations

Mia Stern has spent a decade driving commercial and audience growth across digital media, holding progressively senior roles at Fairfax Media, Havas Media UK, Unruly and Nine, where she became head of digital growth leading Nine Radio's digital transformation. There, she delivered strong year-on-year revenue and audience growth, launched 44 podcasts, and scaled a team of 22. Since joining The Daily Aus in late 2025, Stern has built the organisation's people infrastructure from scratch, brought its commercial and ad technology functions fully in-house, and is now working with a co-founder to build a custom operating system designed to consolidate six separate platforms into one, due to ship mid-2026. She has held positions on the CRA Podcast Committee and the IAB Audio Council, and sits on Nine's Gender Equity Committee.

Scott Zonneveldt
Plus Also Studios head of product engineering

After more than 20 years across game development, web studios and enterprise engineering, Scott Zonneveldt now architects AI-driven production systems at Plus Also Studios. His standout build is a Figma-based asset generation platform used by Myer, News Corp, Foxtel, Qantas and Dan Murphy's, replacing offshore production teams and letting in-house creative teams automate large-scale content production. He also led the front-end of Petbarn's PetWatch, a national parasite-risk tool combining vet-visit and weather data with a mobile-first interface, which drew tens of thousands of users in its first week and attracted significant media coverage. Zonneveldt established the code review, mentoring and CI/CD practices that now shape how his team builds, runs a monthly AI Practice Forum for the studio, and is guiding a team member's transition from a MarTech background into a full-stack developer.

Natalie Sareff
Spark Foundry strategy director

Natalie Sareff started her media career as a social producer at Webprofits, earning six promotions in four years before retraining from scratch in strategy at Spark Foundry in 2021. Her standout achievement has been advancing from media strategist to strategy lead of Johnson & Johnson's multidisciplinary five-agency unit, K1, within nine months, and contributing to Kenvue's APAC pitch strategy across India, Thailand and Australia. She was named Publicis' ANZ Connecteur of the Year and selected for Google SheLeads and the TikTok Accelerator program. Beyond her client work, Sareff founded Webprofits' AccessAbility Day internship scheme and co-founded enABLE, Publicis' employee resource group for disability, drawing on her own experience of chronic illness to champion greater accessibility across the industry. She has mentored colleagues for a decade, with a focus on supporting career pivots into strategy.

Vishal Shah
MiQ Digital head of product & analytics, ANZ

Vishal Shah has spent 12 years at MiQ, joining as a campaign analyst in India when the company was a small operation and now leading product and analytics in Australia. He built MiQ's APAC analytics capability from scratch, including the region's first product suite, before pitching for a move to Australia in 2019 and arriving months before a hiring freeze hit. His standout achievement has been leading the ANZ localisation of MiQ's Sigma platform, securing data partnerships with VOZ, Samsung Ads and LifeSight that let the business build a Total TV planning tool addressing a long-standing gap in the Australian market, closing out blind spots like YouTube that other planning tools have consistently excluded. Shah is an active member of the IAB Australia Data and AI Councils and mentors team members across analytics, solutions and creative disciplines in India and Australia.

Mia Stern
The Daily Aus head of operations

Mia Stern has spent a decade driving commercial and audience growth across digital media, holding progressively senior roles at Fairfax Media, Havas Media UK, Unruly and Nine, where she became head of digital growth leading Nine Radio's digital transformation. There, she delivered strong year-on-year revenue and audience growth, launched 44 podcasts, and scaled a team of 22. Since joining The Daily Aus in late 2025, Stern has built the organisation's people infrastructure from scratch, brought its commercial and ad technology functions fully in-house, and is now working with a co-founder to build a custom operating system designed to consolidate six separate platforms into one, due to ship mid-2026. She has held positions on the CRA Podcast Committee and the IAB Audio Council, and sits on Nine's Gender Equity Committee.

Scott Zonneveldt
Plus Also Studios head of product engineering

After more than 20 years across game development, web studios and enterprise engineering, Scott Zonneveldt now architects AI-driven production systems at Plus Also Studios. His standout build is a Figma-based asset generation platform used by Myer, News Corp, Foxtel, Qantas and Dan Murphy's, replacing offshore production teams and letting in-house creative teams automate large-scale content production. He also led the front-end of Petbarn's PetWatch, a national parasite-risk tool combining vet-visit and weather data with a mobile-first interface, which drew tens of thousands of users in its first week and attracted significant media coverage. Zonneveldt established the code review, mentoring and CI/CD practices that now shape how his team builds, runs a monthly AI Practice Forum for the studio, and is guiding a team member's transition from a MarTech background into a full-stack developer.