JAMES JOHNSON

Head of Professional Football at FIFA

Presently, James heads up FIFA’s Professional Football Department, which was set up following FIFA’s reform in 2015, and is responsible for general professional football matters as well as managing relations with the European Club Association, FIFPro, the World League Forum and European Professional Football Leagues Association. The Department is also responsible for the administration of FIFA’s Football Stakeholders Committee, FIFA’s club licensing system, the International Match Calendar, FIFA’s professional football services, research and analysis.

Patrick Delany

CEO at FOX SPORTS

Patrick was appointed as Chief Executive Officer, FOX SPORTS – Australia’s biggest TV production company, leading producer of sports television coverage and home to the number one general sports website – in 2011, after nine years as a senior executive at Foxtel.

As the CEO of FOX SPORTS, Patrick has overseen an extensive program of renewal and invigoration, cementing the company’s position as the home of unrivalled sports rights and game-changing broadcast innovations. Affirming the strength of its place in the Australian pay TV landscape, in 2015 Fox Sports accounted for a 7.24 share of all subscription viewing, and leads the industry in customer satisfaction and brand advocacy (NPS) for sport when compared to all other TV sports broadcasters, with a CSAT score of 75% and a +30 NPS rating.

In 2005, Patrick was appointed Executive Director of Content, Product and Delivery, Foxtel. In this role he was responsible for introducing a string of product and service innovations including: Foxtel iQ, Mobile Foxtel, Foxtel On Demand, HD, 3D, Foxtel on Xbox and Foxtel on T- box services, as well as Foxtel’s availability on Virgin Airlines. In 2007, Patrick renegotiated Foxtel’s long-standing movie deals, which were seen as a turning point for Foxtel profitability.

Patrick’s portfolio expanded in 2008 to include Foxtel’s Domestic and Commercial Sales Operations, during which time he was responsible for over one million gross subscription sales.

Cameron Schwab

Founder at LAMBEAU & Former CEO at Richmond FC, Melbourne FC & Fremantle FC

Cameron is a leadership coach and strategist who works with CEOs, coaches, senior sports administrators and their leadership teams to establish high levels of strategic, organisational and personal trust as the basis of high performance.

He is a positive, resilient and creative leader with 25 years of CEO experience in the highly scrutinised and unforgiving Australian Football League (AFL). Having taken on some of the sport’s most difficult and daunting challenges, Cameron established a track record of building teams and organisations, unifying groups while navigating periods of genuine adversity and complexity.

In addition to his CEO experience, Cameron has maintained a strong commitment to leadership development and education. Having received an MBA and Master of Marketing at the Melbourne Business School, he completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at the Harvard Business School where he was nominated as Valedictory Speaker for the Graduation Ceremony. He is also a Vincent Fairfax Fellow at the Centre for Ethical Leadership at Melbourne University and received his Coaching Certification from the Columbia Business School in New York.

As a keynote speaker, Cameron presents around his trademark “Finding Something”, an honest and personal account of the challenges of leadership, navigating change and building trust in teams and organisations.

His articles on sport and leadership have been published in The Age newspaper.

Cameron is also an artist and illustrator, studying Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA).

Jaimie Fuller

Chairman, Skins

When Jaimie Fuller took over at the helm of SKINS they were on the brink of bankruptcy, Backing the idea of creating a product of chanllenge the existing beliefs of sportswear and performance indicators with his own funds, SKINS is now the dominant brand in the compression garments markets.

Mark McCraith

CEO at Maxus Global

Mark began his career at JWT in 1989 working on Ford, Kraft and HP. Mark then moved to DDB Needham running the Cadbury Schweppes & Telstra accounts.

Mark was one of 3 people who establish Carat Melbourne in 2001 before moving to Mindshare in 2003 to run Ford in Australia and Asia Pacific.

Mark has been involved in big clients trading with the media and understands what is the best price to be paid in the market. Mark moved over to become Maxus COO and Trading Director in 2010.

Mark was then poached by the new CEO of Fiat Chrysler in April 2013 to become the Director of Marketing. Mark wrote and implemented the highly successful Jeep media strategy which focuses on more and more TV.

Mark has continued the highly successful “I bought a Jeep” campaign and taken it to a higher level with outstanding sales success.

Erin Lightfoot

Managing Director at Magnum Opus Partners (MOP)

Erin is a highly-skilled tourism and marketing expert with a strong reputation in the marketplace.

She has a long-standing and varied career having held tourism marketing, general management, Director and CEO positions across the private and public sectors of the Victorian tourism, events, marketing and advertising industry. For 10 years Erin owned her own strategic tourism, marketing, management and design agency, working in the tourism, leisure and events industry space.

Erin is much more than a consultant for hire. She has also “walked the walk” in the real world, having worked for the Oceanis Group as their GM Marketing Australia for 10 years (Melbourne Aquarium, Underwater World Sunshine Coast, Siam Ocean World Bangkok, Busan Aquarium Korea, Chang Feng Ocean Park Shanghai and Dubai Mall Aquarium). She thus has significant practical experience in the areas of tourist attraction management: master planning, business planning, branding, marketing and tourism trade sales management.

Erin is now the new Managing Director at Magnum Opus Partners (MOP). Magnum Opus Advertising, (now rebranded as MOP), is one of Australia’s longest established and best-known independent strategic marketing agencies.

Erin’s personal key strengths lie in her capacity to make things happen, think strategically and stay ahead of the game. She has helped Magnum Opus Partners to forge their new positioning in the market – “Results. Nothing Less.” As she says, “We are a “creative house”. But business strategies and creative ideas need to turn up positively on the bottom line, or really, what are we all doing?”

James Delahunty

Senior Relationship Manager at LinkedIn

James Delahunty is a Senior Relationship Manager at LinkedIn. He is responsible for working across LinkedIn’s current client base to advise on employer branding and how to digitally position both yourself and your company to attract the best talent in the market. James is an expert in all facets of LinkedIn Business. His session will provide great insight in how to find the best talent for your organisation.

Gianluca Pavanello

CEO of Macron

He is the CEO of Macron, an Italy-based European company operating in the Technical Sportswear sector.

Under his management Macron has become one of the leading international technical sportswear company with one of the strongest footprints in soccer and most popular team sports. Turnover has gone from €10M in 2004 to €70M in 2016; Ebitda from €1,1M in 2004 to €9,0M in 2016. Today, the Company is recognized internationally as the trusted technical sponsor of many prominent professional clubs and sports federations across most team sports (e.g. football, rugby, volleyball, basketball, etc). Macron sells its products through a unique retail network of over 115 mono-brand stores spread across 20+ countries, as well as via 800+ traditional multi-brand retailers, international distributors, fan shops of professional clubs and via the Company’s own e-commerce portal.

Matthew Leopold

Board director at European Sponsorship Association

With a background in PR and branding, Matthew has been involved in shaping and implementing partnerships for most of his career – latterly leading Sponsorship and Partnerships at British Gas.

He is a board director of the European Sponsorship Association, charged with helping the industry better demonstrate the impact of sponsorships on business results.

Matthew speaks widely about not just how sponsorships and partnerships work, but why they work and how they can grow engagement for consumers and employees. Through various activations and campaigns, he has learned how to build consumer trust and improve corporate reputation through sponsorship.

Primarily leading the sponsorship of British Swimming and its subsidiaries, Matthew has been able to focus on making swimming’s assets work hard for British Gas and deliver value and return for the brand.

As a non-Olympic sponsor of an Olympic sport, Matthew oversaw BG’s hugely successful 2012 campaign which gave free swims to anyone that pledged support to the British Swimming team, driving a huge brand uplift for British Gas.

James Hatzimoisis

Director at Barry Plant Real Estate Group

James is a Director of 7 offices within the Barry Plant Real Estate Group. James started with the group in 1986 and together with his business partner, John Nakic, they have been instrumental in the growth of the brand through Melbourne’s North Western Suburbs. They realized the best way for them to retain key staff was to identify opportunities to expand into growing corridors through equity involvement in new offices. Over many years their offices have been ranked amongst the best performing in the Barry Plant Group and they continue to be actively involved in the daily operations, with the main focus currently being: training, coaching and mentoring of newer staff. James was a key driver in focusing on the Auction system in the North-Western suburbs and is acknowledged as being one the area’s most experienced Auctioneers. He is a regular commentator on Melbourne Radio and print media discussing all things Real Estate and is a Board member of the St.Vincents Institute of Medical Research Foundation.

Blair Crouch

General Manager, Marketing & Commercial Operations at Moonee Valley Racing Club

Blair Crouch is currently GM Marketing & Commercial where he is responsible for the marketing, commercial, communications/PR, events, membership and community departments.

He has nearly 20 years’ experience across sport, large corporate marketing and commercial roles. Prior to joining the Valley Blair was with the AFL as Head of Partnerships where his primary responsibility was the acquisition and retention of 35 commercial partners. Previous to that Blair spent 4 years with well-known consultants Gemba Group working with a number of corporate and sporting organisations assisting with strategic sponsorship plans and marketing.

Debs Majumdar

Digital Commercial Manager at FOX SPORTS

Debs is the Digital Commercial Manager for Australia’s Sports Leader, FOX SPORTS. He has over 10 years experience, having worked for some of the country’s most notable telcos & media organisations, tasked to deliver & commercialise innovative customer-centric products.

Prior to FOX SPORTS he was with Singtel Optus, overseeing the roll out & commercialisation of all official FFA digital properties including, 11 club sites and two apps. Having worked on both sides of media – content & commercial – Debs now draws on these skills to oversee new strategic partnerships & growing digital commercial revenue.

Pablo Victor Dana

Founder & Managing Partner at Heritage Wealth DWC Dubai

Pablo Victor Dana, class of 1967, is the Managing Partner at Heritage Wealth DWC in Dubai. Mr. Dana has previously served in Senior Managerial Positions for International renowned Banks and Asset Management Companies. Pablo has been working in the Private Banking environment since 1993 in Geneva, New York, London and Dubai.

He has participated in numerous Seminars and conferences as a Guest Speaker, Chairman and or Moderator in topics related to UHNI, Wealth Management and Private Banking. In addition to Sports acquisitions, Philanthropy, EAM’s and Family Offices/MFO’s.

Pablo is an active Business Consultant to several Banking and Governmental Institutions Internationally, for which he brings his knowledge of UHNI in general, their Lifestyles, Family Businesses and Banking.

Founder and CEO of Heritage Wealth, he assists clients and their legal counsels willing/needing to relocate their Wealth or their families to Dubai. Working closely with local/International Banks and Law Firms to adapt to local requirements and to clients needs.

Pablo focused and facilitated important acquisitions of several Italian, French and Spanish football teams. He was the initiator of the AC Milan Deal with Asian Investors followed by the Olympique de Marseille deal. Usually representing directly Buyers from Asia or the Middle East; to select, monitor, qualify, negotiate and acquire European football clubs / companies.
Today Pablo Facilitates large deals in the football industry on one side and acquires for the groups own portfolio under Heritage Sports Holdings, strategic and extraordinary football teams in lower divisions. The Holding Company is also a shareholder of GLS Football ltd.
Each acquisition is driven by potential increase in value, in image and in positioning. Acquisitions are shared with legends of football as example Gibraltar United 1943 acquired in partnership with Michel Salgado (former Real Madrid / Bristol Rovers) in April 2017.

Pablo sits on the Board of several companies in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Gibraltar and brings his advice and network to assist CEO’s in the strategic and commercial development of the groups hi oversees. Pablo is a Speaker, Chairman and/or Moderator in several Conferences and Seminars linked to Sports and Finance.

Married for almost twenty five years to Franchi, father of 5 children with whom he shares his passions for Horse Polo, Gastronomy and Classic Cars Rallies such as the Mille Miglia, Les 24h. du Mans Historique. He lives in Dubai since 2010 from where he operates as well as from Switzerland.

TOM PARKER

Partner, China Advisory at Bastion S&GO

Tom is one of the most experienced China specialists in the sport sector in Australia. Part of the original team that organised the first ever AFL game in China during the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

Mireille Ryan

CEO at The Social Media Marketing Institute

Founder of the Social Media Marketing Awards and an award-winning entrepreneur and speaker, Mireille is hired by brands around Australia & the world to help them discover their voice and implement the principles of content marketing and social media strategy to drive traffic into their businesses and accelerate profits.

ALLAN TURNER

Co-founder, Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation

Allan Turner is an inspirational man and an inspirational speaker. He is a co-founder of Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation with his wife Kim, formed in honour of his daughter Zaidee who suddenly died at the age of 7 years.

ADAM DIGBY

Football Journalist

As a respected European football journalist, Adam provides insight, background & context on football for a variety of media outlets including Bleacher Report, The Independent & Sport360.

Chris Thian

Legal Counsel at Telstra

Chris is an experienced Legal Counsel with a demonstrated history of working in the sports marketing, digital media, telecommunications and technology industries. Chris is an in house lawyer at Telstra and primarily practices across sports sponsorship and digital media rights.  Of particular relevance is the experience has  gained as a senior lawyer dealing with Telstra’s sports interests including:

• Telstra’s Sport Sponsorship and Digital Rights: Chris advises in relation to sponsorship and digital rights agreements with the National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), Netball Australia and National Basketball League (NBL). Chris is also deeply involved in Telstra’s sponsorship of football in Australia through its relationship Football Federation Australia (including the Socceroos, Matilda’s and Hyundai A-League) and individual sponsorship deals with a number of A-League clubs.
• Telstra Connected Stadiums: Chris has acted as a lead lawyer on Telstra’s sponsorship of stadium assets and the installation of enhanced technology (such as Wi-Fi and smartphone applications) throughout a number of major stadiums in Australia.

Chris was also selected as one of fifty people worldwide to be a delegate at the 2016 FIFA Fan Focus Group. Chris was invited to the Home of FIFA in Zurich to share his views on a range of contemporary football topics with FIFA staff from different departments and representatives of FIFA’s management. The range of topics, included women’s football, ticketing, the fan experience at major tournaments, the introduction of the new Video Assistant Referee system, future World Cup Competition Formats, fan engagement through digital and social media channels and the online experience interacting with FIFA. Chris recently presented his insights and  observations about his experience at FIFA to Football Federation Australia.

Chris can be reached on twitter @cjthian and is active on LinkedIn where you can connect with him.

Jeff Doyle

Group CEO at Altus Traffic

An Ex-Professional Footballer in the UK, Jeff went on to become CEO at a number of large national and international companies, such as Adecco and now at Altus. Jeff has overseen millions of dollars invested in sport through sponsorship culminating in front of shirt sponsors for leading Australian football club Melbourne Victory.

Justin Nelson

General Manager at Melbourne Boomers WNBL

Justin has spent the past 20 years as a sports commentator and administrator, working across Australian Rules Football, the National Soccer League, V8 Supercars, Australia’s largest online sports network, Softball Australia, and these days in the Women’s National Basketball League.