Our 2023 Keynote Speakers are:

Gus Balbontin

Advisor, Adventurer and Alternative Futurist

Born and bred in wild Patagonia, Gus never allowed his small town and humble beginnings get in the way of his big dreams. A healthy disrespect for authority and a severe case of FOMO (fear of missing out) landed him in Australia at the Young age of 17.

By the age of 22, he had dropped out of uni, hitchhiked South America, set up his first business, and landed his dream job at Lonely Planet. Fast forward a few years and he was leading the company globally working with companies such as Google X, Nokia, and Amazon on the latest technology, creative cultures, and high-performing teams. 

Over the last 3 years, Gus has presented around the world. From audiences of 10 to that of 10,000, the simplicity of his message and his counterintuitive way of looking at the world will motivate you to do things differently.

He is involved in the start-up scene as a founder, investor, and advisor and is on the board of Startup Victoria and Director of Above All Human. He currently runs a small Creative Studio and Innovation agency called Roshambo, is the co-founder and partner at Atessa, and is the Entrepreneur in Residence and Executive Director of VU Innovations at Victoria University which keeps him close to large public corporate challenges as well as small business puzzles.

Dr Catriona Wallace

Founder of Responsible Metaverse Alliance

Catriona is an expert in the field of Artificial Intelligence and the Metaverse and is an Adjunct Professor, keynote speaker and Founder of the Responsible Metaverse Alliance. Catriona is also the co-author of the book Checkmate Humanity: the how and why of Responsible AI.

As the founder of one of the first Artificial Intelligence companies to list on the Australian Securities Exchange, Catriona has truly lived the life of an entrepreneur and CEO in the emerging technologies field. Indeed, Flamingo AI was the second only woman-led (CEO & Chair) business ever to list on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Robert Brittain

Expert Consultant in Advertising and Media efficiency 

Robert Brittain is an independent marketing consultant and strategic advisor to CMOs, focused on enabling enterprise-wide marketing effectiveness capability. A published writer and speaker in his field, Robert is co-author of the “Advertising Effectiveness Rules” series of reports from the ACA Effectiveness Database with the globally renowned Peter Field. These include “Winning or Losing in a Recession”, “To ESOV and Beyond” and “Attention and Effectiveness”. Prior to becoming an independent marketing consultant Robert spent 20 years in client-side commercial roles including leading Marketing Effectiveness at ANZ Bank Banking Group and Marketing Analytics at Mondelez International across the Asia-Pacific region.

Sarla Fernando

Head of Regulatory & Advocacy - ADMA.

Sarla is a globally experienced, digitally-grounded professional, who is passionate about using her legal and commercial skillset to help businesses navigate through the sometimes complex world of data governance and Privacy. Sarla is also proficient in developing Digital Marketing strategies, Data compliance frameworks and audience growth strategies for large multi-divisional/ multi-national businesses. With industry experience obtained through a career spanning Privacy, Digital Media, Television, Publishing, Events, Film, Ticketing, Data, Social Media, Sales, FMCG, Education, Hospitality, Marketing and Advertising, Sarla brings a unique perspective to regulatory and advocacy advisory. 

Sarla has also provided legal, governance, marketing and branding advisory for large-scale projects that cross jurisdictions for businesses in Australia, NZ, Germany, UK, USA, HK and Sri Lanka.