Credit: AdNews
AdNews can reveal the shortlist for its Emerging Leaders 2026 program, featuring rising talent from across media, marketing and advertising.
The winners will be announced at a cocktail event on Thursday, August 6, at The Promenade Docklands in Melbourne, where 20 Emerging Leaders will be named from the finalist pool.
One standout professional will also receive the Grand Prix for exceptional industry achievement.
The awards were judged by senior industry figures representing key associations and organisations from across the industry.
The shortlist in alphabetical order:
James Adams
Omnicom Media implementation group director
After starting out at independent agencies in the UK, James spent nine years at Omnicom Media in Sydney, helping Telstra beat targets by 30% before taking on the Audible account, where his team delivered record growth and expanded into new international markets. He's since scaled his implementation team from five to 15 specialists, now overseeing David Jones and Torrens University. Despite multiple agency mergers and a major acquisition this year, his team lifted client service bonus outcomes by 138% while maintaining above-industry retention. James has overseen more than 20 promotions during his tenure, seven in the past 18 months.
Margot Alais
Paper + Spark head of creative & production
A 30 Under 30 winner, Margot moved from production roles across Honda, BananaBoat and LG into creative leadership, eventually leading North American work in Vancouver before returning to Australia as Head of Creative & Production at Paper + Spark. Her Merck “Fertility Fit” campaign won expanded budget after she personally pitched the concept, generating 23.2 million impressions in its first month. She also turned Asthma Australia's Liz Ellis campaign into a national integrated push by rallying pro bono industry support. Margot mentors junior creatives and writes on diversity and access in the industry.
Caitlin Alcock
Saatchi & Saatchi Australia strategist
Caitlin joined Saatchi & Saatchi as an intern five years ago and has since earned two promotions within the agency's Strategy team, working across more than twenty brands. She was part of the team behind the agency's most successful year yet at the Australian Effie Awards in 2025, and helped sell in a Gen Z-focused platform that's since been elevated to a priority project for Publicis Groupe APAC. Beyond the agency, Caitlin co-
leads Assisterhood Victoria, a mentorship program for underrepresented communications professionals, which has grown to more than 326 alumni under her four years of involvement. She's also been recognised on The Wall through AWARD School.
Ryan Ambrose
PHD Media head of partnerships, Melbourne
Ryan has spent more than 10 years at PHD Melbourne, rising from entry-level coordinator to head of partnerships. His standout moment was playing a central role in securing the Bunnings account in 2025, the brand's first agency move in more than 30 years, alongside leading the Wesfarmers negotiations representing more than $90 million in media investment. Ryan also led the rollout of the Shift 20 initiative at PHD, partnering with the Dylan Alcott Foundation to secure more than $20 million in media support improving representation of people with disability in advertising. Outside of work, he took part in the UnLtd Three Peaks Challenge, helping raise more than $150,000 for Kids First Australia.
Berlian Ayudya
Hatched strategy director
Berlian leads strategy for Hatched's Sydney business, contributing to eight new business wins since joining in 2024. Her Klook brand launch strategy, “Be Seen. Get Known. Experience Joy.”, lifted brand awareness and users on a fraction of competitor budgets, growing into an ongoing partnership across multiple Klook products. She was appointed to Hatched's Sydney Management Team in Q1 2026 and was selected for both the TikTok Agency Accelerator and IMAA's Female Leaders of Tomorrow program. Berlian mentors Hatched's newest strategy hire while carrying the agency's strategic output largely on her own.
Kristy Barclay-Allen
Meta industry head, independent agencies ANZ
Kristy has built Meta ANZ's independent agencies unit from two to seven people, repositioning it as the company's fastest-growing business in the region. Her career has spanned the UK, Singapore and ANZ, including leading commercial and client service teams at Nielsen Sports and Videology across global brands. At Meta, she's driven consistent double-digit growth across revenue and product adoption while designing the unit's entire operating model from scratch.
Annika Barrett
dentsu VIC head of strategy
Annika was appointed head of strategy at dentsu VIC despite having half the agency tenure typically required for the role. Her standout work includes setting direction for more than $70 million in media investment as senior strategy director for Endeavour Group, and originating the BWYASSS House of Pride, a multi-award-nominated World Pride initiative. She also led strategy on Medibank's Family Roast campaign, the
brand's most significant marketing initiative in years. Every award submission under her leadership in the past year has resulted in a shortlist.
Dan Beer
Publicis Groupe client partner
Dan began his career as an intern at Saatchi & Saatchi and has progressed to leading CRM and digital for Toyota at Publicis Groupe. He was a founding member of Publicis Groupe's Next Generation Board and played an integral role in establishing two of the network's first fully integrated Power-of-One client models in Australia. Dan has backed two internal promotions and a new hire over the past year, and is known for bringing teams together across creative, media, CRM, technology and strategy disciplines. He continues to explore how AI can improve speed to market and customer outcomes for clients.
Sally Borda
Ogilvy Australia managing partner and AI lead
Sally 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 by 80% 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 ninth globally in the Kantar Advertising Effectiveness Awards, and “Life Takes Guts” for TAL, which reversed three years of youth decline for the brand. Sally co-created and scaled Ogilvy's University of Creativity AI learning program across more than 400 colleagues network-wide, and tutors MBA students from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
Alysha Calder
Nine client strategy lead
Alysha has spent eight years at Nine, the past four as client strategy lead within Powered by Nine, where she has directly delivered $75 million in premium partnership revenue. Her standout achievement was leading the strategic framework for the Australian Government's “Stop It At The Start” initiative, which reached 60% of Australia's “influencers of young people” and outperformed the regional benchmark by 17%, work she presented to more than 200 industry peers at the IAB Measure Up Conference. Alysha 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.
James Curtis
Ogilvy Australia head of consumer PR & influence
James joined Ogilvy in 2016 as an account director and has progressed through six levels to head of consumer PR & 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. His standout achievement has been converting client relationships from discrete projects into long-term retained partnerships worth more than $1.5 million per annum each, while playing a central role in landing new accounts including Tourism New Zealand and Specsavers. James directly mentors five Ogilvy professionals, leads the agency's Young Tigers mentoring program, and was appointed a judge for the Young Cannes PR Lions Awards in 2026.
Michael Dargan
MAXMEDIALAB head of digital
Michael was promoted to head of digital at MAXMEDIALAB within nine months of joining as senior digital media manager, and now leads digital strategy for Hermès, Paspaley, Armani and La Prairie. His standout build is MAXANALYTICS, a real-time reporting dashboard that has cut agency reporting hours by around 30%. Earlier in his career, he became the youngest person ever promoted to senior account manager at Zenith, after pitching and winning the Energia account.
Kiely Decker
Thinkerbell head thinker
Kiely leads a portfolio of more than a dozen brands at Thinkerbell, pairing commercial results with award-winning creative. Her standout work includes repositioning heritage beer brand Tooheys through the 'Tooheys on Tour' platform, and overseeing AI-led creative for Menulog designed to support local restaurants. Beyond client work, Kiely created Thinkerbell North's 'It's a Thinker Thing' training program and plays a key role in recruitment and mentoring across the business.
Lucy Dowling
ARN client partner
Lucy started in media in 2017 at Resolution Digital, then made the jump from agency to publisher, joining ARN in a sales role. The move paid off: she has consistently exceeded revenue targets while helping clients navigate digital audio opportunities. She was selected for TikTok's inaugural accelerator program and led an internal taskforce that contributed to multiple Google Performance Agency Awards wins.
Sam Down
Starcom business partner
Sam started his first business at 19 before committing to media, working his way up from the bottom in London without a degree or industry network. He moved to Australia without a job and rebuilt his career from scratch, becoming the youngest client partner at dentsu and growing his team from two to ten. His standout achievement was leading the launch of the Jaguar Land Rover Defender, which sold out completely and built an 18-month waiting list. At Starcom, Sam has delivered agency revenue growth and record client satisfaction scores, and leads the “Art of Planning” training program. He has also raised more than $15,000 for mental health causes.
Phoebe Duke
Bank of Queensland Group senior manager, brand, social & sponsorship
Phoebe 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 significantly lifted the bank's visibility and marketing return across the state. She also struck a regional-first media partnership delivering strong value efficiency, and established BOQ's first formal sponsorship strategy in over a decade. Beyond her core role, Phoebe mentors junior talent, contributes to university marketing courses at USYD and QUT, and sat on the 2025 Advisory Board for the iMedia Future of Marketing Summit.
Alexander Enriquez
Hearts & Science planning director
Alexander shifted Dry July's 2020 strategy from a familiar campaign mechanic to a behavioural narrative, delivering $13m in donations and the highest total since launch. His work on mycar has picked up wins across the ACA, Spikes Asia and AdNews Campaign of the Year. He played a key role in an APAC-wide pitch that secured Omnicom's Menarini account across seven new countries, and led the LG and MasterChef partnership to an internally awarded renewal into 2026. Alexander's mentorship helped retain four team members through a period of major agency restructuring.
Beatrix Fisher
Havas Play head of social media
Beatrix grew the social discipline at Hotglue to a team of 25 before its acquisition by Havas in 2024, and was appointed head of social media at Havas Play Australia in November 2025, a new national role. She now leads a team of 25 supporting more than $4 million in annual revenue, having built an integrated approach across social, influence, content and cultural navigation within seven months of starting. Her standout contribution has been launching “Play Your Part,” an internship program that shifted from unpaid coursework placements to paid roles, already placing three interns across Melbourne and Sydney. Beatrix also volunteers as Head Social Auntie for The Aunties, championing women and marginalised genders across creative industries, and previously ran a four-year paid internship partnership with Swinburne University that retained every participant.
Ernest Fu
Prophet data scientist
Ernest joined Prophet in January 2025 and rebuilt its modelling architecture from the ground up, work that's helped the platform scale rapidly and win AFR's Most Innovative Company award. He tutors 70 students a week at Melbourne Business School alongside his full-time role, and started a lunch-and-learn program at Prophet that's since spread company-wide. He holds a Master of Business Analytics from Melbourne Business School, completed on the Dean's Honours List.
Edelle Gettings
PHD Australia head of brand
Edelle joined the leadership team at Wunderman Thompson at just 24, and has been at the centre of two major industry mergers since, including the rollout of the VML brand across 13 APAC markets. 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. Earlier in her career, she created APAC's first composable technology hackathon and contributed to Vow's Mammoth Meatball project, which won a Bronze Cannes Lion.
Kyle Gradidge
2045 head of business management
Kyle 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 revenue has grown substantially, with Kyle 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 and has led the Youngbloods Victoria Speed Mentoring program, connecting more than 150 emerging professionals with senior industry leaders.
Caitlin Huskins
EssenceMediacom group director, Implementation & Activation
Caitlin previously launched adtech and gaming company Azerion in the Australian market as commercial director. At EssenceMediacom, her standout achievement was leading a restructure of the Implementation & Activation team through a period of business transition, achieving a 94% retention rate across the squad. She also led the rebrand of a major banking client through a campaign concept initially viewed as high risk, and operated across two senior leadership roles while covering a maternity leave, earning the agency's Managing Director's Award for 2025.
Manon Jardin
Starcom business director
Manon's standout moment was leading a decisive defence of Starcom's legacy Subaru account during a challenging agency review, securing a 12% lift in client satisfaction within six months. She also managed Vodafone's $16 million launch, the brand's largest media investment in 20 years, beating targets by more than 50% in under six months. Manon onboarded a new 10-person team for TPG, achieving 100% staff retention, and was selected for Publicis Groupe's Next Generation Board, one of 22 chosen across Australia and New Zealand.
Chris Kamis
Plus Also Studios design director
Chris has scaled Plus Also Studios' design function from one to 13 designers in 18 months, as the AI-powered creative technology studio shifted into AI-led production. His standout achievement is the proprietary design system that lets hundreds of venues generate brand-aligned assets at scale. Chris previously worked across UEFA, F1, Disney, Marvel, Mercedes-Benz and Visa, and led Effie-winning campaigns for Toyota and Arnott's at Saatchi & Saatchi.
Lisa Kokoreva
Wavemaker business director
Lisa has progressed from performance manager to group planning director on the L'Oréal account over 4.5 years at Wavemaker, the agency's biggest client in the Southern Hemisphere. Her standout achievement was developing an integrated Media x Advocacy playbook following WPP's expansion of the partnership, which delivered a 43% year-to-date increase in Share of Engagement. She also led the development of L'Oréal's cross-brand first-party data strategy, contributing to a 30% uplift in revenue during the 2025 Cyber period. Lisa mentors emerging talent across Wavemaker and its media partners, and was invited to join Meta's Agency Accelerator panel in 2025.
Sally Lawrence
Enigma Media executive director, media
Sally has helped grow Newcastle-based Enigma Media by 84% over six years while maintaining a 91% client retention rate, playing a major role in growing the media team from 12 to 30 people. Her standout work includes the agency's new Australian Pork business win and award-winning campaign for MobileMuster's interactive bus shelter. Internally, Sally helped introduce Enigma's nine-day fortnight and launched a new mentoring program, and partners with the University of Newcastle to build stronger pathways for regional emerging talent.
Jessica Loi
Havas Media Network Australia group business director
Jessica was promoted to Group Business Director within the past year, taking charge of the agency's largest billing account, The Travel Corporation, across Australian and international markets. She built her career managing clients including Unilever, NAB, Fonterra, adidas and MG Motor in earlier roles. She now leads the education of implementation planning at a grassroots level across Havas and runs monthly “Work That Wows” sessions, dissecting media plans to lift the agency's collective output.
Denise McCormack
Hatched head of digital, data and tech
Denise 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. She created Hatched ID, a first-party addressability solution introduced ahead of major privacy changes, and led the agency's move to bring programmatic media services in-house for the first time. Hatched has since earned Google Breakthrough Excellence recognition and held Premier Partner status for four consecutive years. Denise has built a team that's 75% female in a male-dominated tech space, with an internal promotion rate well above industry norms this year.
Rachel McEwen
Special head of Uber Asia
Rach has spent 11 years at Special, rising from a graduate with no advertising background to lead Uber's business across Asia, a region with no shared blueprint across its markets in partnership, product or culture. Her work on Uber ANZ became a global benchmark for the agency, winning Client Partnership of the Year and Account Team of the Year. Earlier in her career, she spent three years in London at Leo Burnett and AMV BBDO managing major retail and FMCG brands.
Trent Michael
Howatson+Company head of design
Trent joined Howatson+Company as a senior designer and has been promoted repeatedly as the agency scaled, now leading a team of more than 40 designers across Sydney and Melbourne. His design work spans triple j's Rejenerated identity, Allianz, Vodafone, Qantas guideline consolidation, Domain, Petbarn and UNICEF. Trent has also built internal AI tools and training programs, including agency-wide learning sessions, and mentors designers across the business.
Will Mitchell
Snapchat agency partner
Will grew Officeworks by 105% year-on-year and adidas by 1200% year-on-year as an account manager, before being promoted to agency partner at Snap in 2024. He now leads Snap's most senior agency holding company relationships across Australia and New Zealand, delivering more than 8% growth across major holding companies and lifting accounts activating on Snapchat by 53% over the past year. Will also leads Snap's ANZ Culture Club, recently engaging 100 colleagues in more than 400 volunteer hours.
Natalie Murray
Yango investment lead
Natalie has progressed into the role of investment lead since joining indie agency Yango in 2023, drawing on two decades of industry experience to negotiate competitive deals. Her standout result: a 62% increase in billings, from $24.1 million to $38.7 million year on year. For BYD, she leveraged long-standing media relationships to deliver $10.3 million in added value on a $24 million base spend, helping drive a record 52,415 vehicle sales in 2025. Natalie also mentors staff through Yango's +1 University training initiative.
Megan Naylor-Smith
WPP Media client development associate director
Megan moved to Sydney from London at 23 with no professional network, and was promoted to Director by 26, now leading a team and overseeing major client
relationships across two WPP Media agencies. She led WPP Media Solutions' first programmatic e-commerce activation, lifting conversions and beating engagement benchmarks. Megan also founded LEAP, an internal mobility program supporting employees relocating to Australia, after winning the company's Incub8or pitch competition.
Gem Ocean
PHD strategy director
Gem's career has been built on a simple philosophy: say yes to every opportunity. That mindset has taken her from the MFA NGEN Award and a 2024 AdNews Emerging Leaders shortlist to being appointed Strategy Director at PHD at just 27, working across some of Australia's biggest cultural moments and commercial campaigns. Her standout work includes a reimagined AFLW magazine designed to bring new fans into the sport, alongside a strategic reset of major retail client investment that drove strong sales growth. Beyond client work, Gem co-led an industry-first initiative with Shift20 to boost disability representation in advertising, and has spent three years supporting MissingSchool in reconnecting seriously ill children with their classrooms.
Matthew Pakes
Spark Foundry analytics director
Matthew started as an entry-level analyst at Spark Foundry in 2020 and now leads a team of 12 analysts servicing 16 clients across FMCG, insurance, retail, travel, automotive, education and entertainment. His standout achievement was embedding himself within client-side team HCF to co-develop a five-year growth strategy now being implemented from FY27, and sharing the data-led approach behind Cancer Council's “End the Trend” campaign with international clients including the Singapore Government. Matthew has also been a champion of Publicis' “Power of One” philosophy, collaborating across agencies on projects including the Weber Store Opportunity Finder. He built the Project Centre, a shared repository that lets his team learn from each other's approaches across projects, and mentors analysts at every level of seniority.
Aaron Paul
Dentsu client director
Aaron moved to Australia at 21 with no established network after trying paths in engineering and finance, and has since progressed to client director at Dentsu through consecutive annual promotions. His standout achievement has been evolving a client relationship from a performance-led SEM account into a full-funnel partnership over four years, expanding the agency's remit across almost all paid media channels. He also led the pitch and launch of a new Chinese car brand entering the Australian and New Zealand market, and presented a search case study on stage to more than 700 people at MFA Inspiration X. Aaron was appointed co-chair of the Media Federation of Australia's Leadership Series this year and mentors junior talent through the NGEN program.
Trent Peppercorn
WPP Beauty Tech Labs managing partner AUNZ
Trent pitched and launched Reprise ANZ's first creative studio before taking on the challenge of merging three creative studios into MBCS AUNZ, achieving 100% retention of staff and clients through the transition. His standout achievement has been launching and scaling WPP Beauty Tech Labs, consolidating L'Oréal ANZ's agency roster into a single media discipline and securing the L'Oréal Advocacy & Influencer AOR account. Over the past 12 months, the team grew creator engagements more than threefold year-on-year and helped L'Oréal secure the top two positions for Share of Influence in the beauty market. Trent mentors a number of rising talents on his team and has spoken at SXSW Sydney on the shift toward creators as the new broadcasters.
Melanie Pritchard
Mindshare Australia AI architect & transformation consultant
Melanie was selected as one of just 12 people globally for a Starcom exchange program early in her career, before going on to lead McDonald's data and tech transformation as Transformation Director at OMD, including the local launch of the MyMacca's Loyalty Program. She's since become Mindshare Australia's first AI Architect, leading the local rollout of WPP Open and rebuilding a campaign reporting process that returned thousands of hours a year back to her team. Melanie founded the WPP Media ANZ AI Council and contributed to the AANA's submission on the Privacy Act Review. She was a top-four global finisher at the WPP Hackathon among 25 competing teams.
Anais Read
HERO/McCann senior copywriter
Anais 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 moment was helping raise more than $300,000 for children's charity Act for Kids through the One Less Present campaign. Anais is also creative lead for mentorship program Assisterhood, helping expand it across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK.
Matt Richards
Ogilvy Australia group strategy director
Matt was appointed client lead for Coca-Cola, one of WPP's most significant roles in Australia, steering more than $10 million in annual billings to deliver 30% 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 36 million organic TikTok views. Before Ogilvy, Matt led the repositioning that transformed TSB from the UK's least-liked to most-recommended bank. His performance led to his promotion to lead Ogilvy's
David Ogilvy” honour in 2025. Matt also leads the Australian Ad Council's Account Leadership course and writes for LBBOnline on lessons from failure in the industry.
Michael Rossiter
Howatson+Company group PR & influencer director
Michael has been promoted three times in three years at Howatson+Company, where he built the agency's integrated PR and influencer offering from the ground up. He now leads integrated campaigns for McDonald's, Vodafone, PepsiCo, IKEA and Mastercard across the UK and EU, driving consistent growth in earned media performance and stronger integration between PR, influencer and social outputs.
Francesca “Franky” Ryan
Boomtown marketing lead
Franky returned to lead marketing at Boomtown a decade after helping establish the regional media collective as Trade Marketing Manager at SCA. This year she launched the Boomtown Insiders young guns program and partnered with Commbank iQ on the Boomtown Spend Snapshot, a report using deidentified spend data from more than 17 million Australians to prove regional shoppers spend on par with their metro counterparts. The report has driven national media coverage and a touring breakfast series with marketers. Franky is currently a top-five fundraiser for the UnLtd Adland Bailout.
Natalie Sareff
Spark Foundry strategy director
Natalie 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, Natalie 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.
Vishal Shah
MIQ Digital head of product & analytics, ANZ
Vishal has spent 12 years at MiQ, joining as a campaign analyst in India when the company was 50 people strong 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. Vishal is an active member of the IAB Australia Data & AI Councils and mentors team members across analytics, solutions and creative disciplines in India and Australia.
Danielle Steele
Are Media head of GTM
Danielle has been promoted four times in five years, moving across agency, partnerships and publisher-side roles before landing at Are Media, where she now leads go-to-market strategy across 23 brands. There, she built The Longevity Report, Social Currency and The Power Gap, thought leadership platforms focused on women as a commercially influential audience. Danielle also mentors emerging talent and contributes to internal initiatives including Cost of Caring and Save Our Skin.
Mia Stern
The Daily Aus head of operations
Mia 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 51% year-on-year revenue growth in a market that grew 19%, launched 44 podcasts, and scaled a team of 22. Since joining The Daily Aus in late 2025, Mia 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. She has held positions on the CRA Podcast Committee and the IAB Audio Council, and sits on Nine's Gender Equity Committee.
Mary Storey
Clemenger BBDO group business director
Mary was promoted to group business director at Clemenger BBDO in under 18 months, with just 10 years in the industry, taking on the agency's full-service offering across media, strategy, creative, design and production for Samsung. Her standout moment was leading “Clash of Commuters,” the first campaign she spearheaded after joining the agency, which won four MFA Awards including the Grand Prix. Over the past 12 months, Mary helped deliver a 16% increase in brand metrics and a 31% increase in out-of-scope revenue, while Samsung's TRR scores doubled under her leadership. She is a member of the MFA 5+ Committee and a mentor within the NGEN Mentorship Program.
Lauren Tzilantonis
Dentsu digital director
Lauren has progressed from associate to digital director in five years, now leading digital strategy on the Medibank Group account, which exceeds $30m in investment. Her work lifted digital joins by 14% and conversion by 18%, and made Medibank the first health insurer to optimise acquisition across digital, phone and in-store channels. Lauren was nominated to Meta's global Select programme and won Dentsu's Never
Before Award for “We Dream Loud”. Half her team has advanced into more senior roles under her mentorship.
Ramona Wardan
Equality Media + Marketing senior account manager
Ramona has spent seven years in media, growing from managing campaigns to a senior leadership role at Equality, where she now leads four of the agency's top 10 client accounts. Her standout work includes a Time & Place campaign with a Broadsheet content partnership that contributed to a multi-million dollar sale within 12 months, and onboarding new client Bioderma for its first Australian and New Zealand suncare launch. For three years, Ramona has also supported Equality's pro bono work with Women's Property Initiatives, helping secure more than half a million dollars in grants and added-value media.
Scott Zonneveldt
Plus Also Studios head of product engineering
After more than 20 years across game development, web studios and enterprise engineering, Scott 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, letting in-house teams automate large-scale creative production. He also led the development of Petbarn's PetWatch platform, combining data and mapping to deliver real-time parasite risk information.
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