See our 2023 Speaker Line-up

Adam Ferrier

Creative Strategist & Consumer Psychologist

Adam is one of Australia's leading creative strategists, and a consumer psychologist. Adam began work life as a criminal psychologist, before becoming a cool hunter (and completing his masters in psychology in ‘Identifying the Underlying Constructs of Cool People’) and then co-founding Naked Communications APAC. Naked was a wild trip and became one of Australia’s most audacious and successful agencies, embracing a strategically focused behavioural change model. Following that, Adam co-founded Thinkerbell - where they practices 'measured magic' - bringing together marketing science and hardcore creativity. After just 3 years Thinkerbell was officially recognised as Mumbrella’s 2021 Creative, Full Service, and PR Agency of the Year - the first time one agency has won all three awards.

In other news Adam is also the author of two books “The Advertising Effect” (Oxford), and 'Stop Listening to the Customer' (Wiley). Adam co-hosts the potentially multi-awarding winning podcast ‘Black T-Shirts’, and is a regular media commentator on Sunrise and The Project (and served his time on the panel of Gruen for 6 years).  Adam is married to Anna and has two sons Asterix and Arturo (like the Kardashians but with an ‘A’).

Sarah Sandoval

GM Consumer | 2022 NZ Marketer of the Year

Sarah is GM Consumer at NZ Post and 2022 Marketer of the Year.  Her marketing career has crossed different industries and taken her to three different continents.  She describes the recent transformation of marketing and brand at NZ Post as a career defining moment.

Sarah is a Spanish speaking kiwi with a husband from Latin America and two remarkable children.  She’s an active lover of the outdoors and her energy and achievement focus are key traits that have shaped her career.

Dr Michelle Dickinson

Nanotechnologist and Materials Engineer 

Dr Michelle Dickinson is a Nanotechnologist and Materials Engineer. She has spent the last two decades contributing to cutting-edge technologies, researching solutions for medical and technology applications for clients who range from small start-ups to large corporates
Having written a book about innovators and their inventions and working for some of the most successful innovators in the world, Dr Michelle Dickinson has collected her top lessons for how to innovate in all industries. The key is that innovation isn’t about ideas - it’s about making ideas happen.

Matthew Gerrie

Director of Strategy, Analytics in Global Strategy & Business Development at Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) 

Matt is a Director of Global Strategy & Business Development at Booking.com (Booking Holdings; NASDAQ: BKNG). Over the past 10 years, Matt has led several functions at Booking including Marketing Science, Brand Advertising, Customer Insights, Data Science and Machine Learning. He was a foundational member of the Global Facebook Measurement Council and sat on the Google Measurement Roundtable. He holds a PhD in Psychology.

Dr Ben Hamer

Adjunct Professor at Edith Cowan University  |
#1 APAC Future of Work Influencer 

Dr Ben Hamer (CPHR) is the Head of Future of Work at PwC Australia and is the author of The Kickass Career: How to succeed in the future of work, now. He is an Adjunct Professor at Edith Cowan University’s Centre for Work and Wellbeing, has worked at the World Economic Forum and been a Visiting Scholar at Yale. In 2021, Ben was appointed to the Board of the Australian HR Institute as the youngest Non-Executive Director in the history of the organisation. 

Ben is a Certified Futurist and an admitted member of the Association of Professional Futurists. He has authored a number of major pieces of work, has taught both undergraduate and postgraduate courses at leading Australian universities, is the host of the PwC Future of Work podcast, and regularly features across Australian media providing expert commentary on the Future of Work.