Scott Goodstein, Former External Online Director, Obama for America

Scott Goodstein was External Online Director for Obama for America, and developed the campaign’s social networking platforms.

He was responsible for developing the Obama campaign's revolutionary social networking platforms. His pioneering work included running the first political campaign to launch niche based social networks like BlackPlanet, Eons, MiGente, AsianAve, and Disaboom. He built the campaign's lifestyle marketing strategy and developed the "street team", materials used in battleground states.

Scott also created and implemented Obama Mobile, an advanced communication strategy that included text messaging, downloads, interactive voice response communication, a mobile web site (WAP), and even an iPhone application.

Prior to his work for Obama, Scott worked for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and has managed over a dozen political campaigns. Scott loves mixing music, culture and politics.

He was the co-founder of Punkvoter.com and Rock Against Bush efforts in 2004 which became a $4 million young voter mobilisation effort. He has conducted political training for the National Democratic Institute, UNICEF, Democracy for America, the Campaign Management Institute, and the New Organising Institute.

Christian J. Schultz, Head of Communications, Mattel Europe

Christian J. Schultz started his career in communication in the Asia-Pacific region, working with one of the worlds largest FMCG companies before moving on to London, the PR capital of Europe. With a Master with Merit in Public Relations and Public Communication he worked on the agency side for some years in the UK looking after a range of international brands in areas such as FMCG PR, Issues management, Public Affairs and Change communication. Christian then moved on to start up and manage Ogilvy PR in Denmark, a business he successfully managed for three years before deciding to join the worlds largest toy company Mattel. Today, Christian is Head of Communications for Mattel in Europe, leading an award winning PR team for all external PR and internal communication. Christian is not only an active member of several communication networks but he is also a regular contributor of articles and participator in global industry debates. When there is time in the calendar Christian is also guest lecturing at universities in Europe speaking on current topics and trends within the communication industry

Deirdre K. Breakenridge, President, PFS Marketwyse

Deirdre K. Breakenridge is President, Executive Director of Communications at PFS Marketwyse. A veteran in the PR industry, Deirdre counsels senior level executives at companies including Hershey’s, Infineum, JVC, Kraft, Michael C. Fina, and Secure Horizons.

Deirdre is an adjunct professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey where she teaches courses on Public Relations and Interactive Marketing for the Global Business Management program. She recently finished her fourth Financial Times business book, “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations,” co-authored by Brian Solis, published in March 2009 and available in major bookstores.  She has also authored: “PR 2.0, New Media, New Tools, New Audiences,” “The New PR Toolkit” and “Cyberbranding: Brand Building in the Digital Economy.”
Deirdre speaks publicly on the topics of PR, social media communications and brand building.  In June, Deirdre was featured as a keynote speaker for the Vocus 2009 Users Conference.  Previously, she has spoken for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), Strategic Research Institute (SRI), Women’s Presidents Organization (WPO), and at a number of colleges and universities.  Deirdre is a member of the PRSA and has served on the Board of NJ/PRSA and the New Jersey Advertising Club. She was named Woman of the Year in 2009 by the National Association of Professional Executive Women (NAPEW).
Deirdre is a contributing editor of TechConnect, PRSA’s Technology Newsletter.  She blogs about PR 2.0 Strategies at www.deirdrebreakenridge.com and discusses PR 2.0 for independent music artists at MusicQuench.com.

Kate Vale, Head Australia & New Zealand, YouTube

Kate Vale heads up YouTube in Australia and New Zealand where she works with Australian and New Zealand advertisers and content partners to help them leverage the YouTube platform to reach a wide audience. Prior to this role, Kate headed up Google's advertising sales operations in Australia. She was the first employee of Google Australia, selling AdWords from her lounge in 2002. Kate brings many years of online advertising experience to Google, joining the company from Looksmart where she was Sales Manager for NSW. Prior roles include online advertising sales at OzEmail and National Account Management at TMP Worldwide/monster.com.

John Brady, Director of Media and Communications, National Rugby League

John Brady has been involved in Media and Communications roles in Rugby League for almost fourteen years.

It is a period in which the role of media and communications professionals has evolved considerably and in which the media itself has been changed even more dramatically.

A former sports journalist, commentator and news director with Channel Seven in Sydney, John has been involved in managing a wide range of high profile issues and public campaigns.

Maha Krishnapillai, Director, Government and Corporate Affairs, Optus

Maha Krishnapillai is the Director of Government and Corporate Affairs for Optus with responsibility for Government, Corporate, Regulatory and Economic Affairs, Sponsorship and Community Relations.

Prior to this he was Macquarie Telecom's Group Executive, Carrier and Strategy where his responsibilities included industry strategy, carrier negotiation and regulatory and government liaison for Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.   He also had overall executive responsibility for Macquarie’s mobile business and its Southern Regional office.
Maha has a strong background in the telecommunications industry where he has been instrumental in driving a number of reforms in the sector since deregulation.
Maha was a founder, and the elected President (2005) of the “Asia-Pacific Carriers Coalition” (APCC); the Singapore based association seeking to maximise pro-competitive policy and the benefits of competition in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Some of his other achievements include winning both the SPAN/Comms Day “Telecommunications Ambassador” Award and the Victorian Government “Face of ICT” Award in 2005.  Maha has also worked with AUSTEL where he held a wide range of management positions.
Maha holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and post graduate qualifications in management. 

Simon Talbot, Head of Corporate Affairs, Kraft AU/NZ

Simon was appointed to Kraft 3 years ago as a part of a new Executive Team charged with turning around a stagnant organisation that was disengaged from consumer needs. Despite having strong brands such as Toblerone, Vegemite and Philadelphia the business was process driven and not consumer facing, nor consumer focussed.

Kraft embarked on a series of communication led internal and external initiatives; these were designed to re-energise relationships with our  stakeholders: i.e. consumers, employees, retailers, community and government.

The results are unprecedented in Kraft's long history;with 3 years of 25% YOY profit growth, regional and international PR and marketing awards, launching the very first new vegemite (in 85 years) and most importantly a workforce excited by a new set of values and winning attitude.

Anthony Hayes, CEO, Tourism Queensland

Anthony joined Tourism Queensland in 2005 as Executive Director International Operations after a long career in management with Qantas, which included heading up the Airline’s German and Austrian operations, Industry Sales for New South Wales, Product Development, Tourism Marketing and Corporate Sponsorships.  He was also Assistant to Managing Director James Strong.

Anthony was appointed Chief Executive Officer in September 2007 after acting in the position for three months.

Anthony has served on several tourism industry body boards of management including the Australian Tourism Export Council and Sydney Visitors and Convention Bureau.  He is currently a board member of Tourism Tropical North Queensland.

Jason Laird, Executive Director Corporate Affairs, GM Holden

Jason Laird was appointed as Executive Director - Corporate Affairs for GM
Holden in June 2008.   He leads a function including government relations
and public policy, energy and environment, internal communications, external corporate and product communications, community relations and social media in Australia and New Zealand.  He was appointed to the Holden Board of Directors in July 2008.

Jason joined GM Holden in 2001 and was National Manager Media Relations until 2006.  In 2007, he was appointed to the GM Asia Pacific head office based in Shanghai, China holding Associate Director positions in corporate communications and later product and technology communications.

Jason started his career as a newspaper journalist, was a media adviser to a former Premier of Victoria and a Media Relations Manager at Telstra Corporation.

He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Queensland and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Andrew Sedger, Director of Communications, Earth Hour Global

Andrew Sedger is Director of Communications for Earth Hour Global and ran the global communications for Earth Hour 2009, which took place in over 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries. He is currently working on Earth Hour’s VOTE EARTH, a campaign aimed at providing a public mandate for world leaders to make the climate deal the planet needs at the Copenhagen climate summit in December this year. Prior to joining Earth Hour Andrew was Head of the Corporate and Public Affairs practice at Porter Novelli.  Before moving into communications Andrew was an environmental policy analyst and project manager with the NSW Government. He has qualifications in environmental science, environmental law, communications and psychology

Joanna Stevens-Kramer, Head of Corporate Communications, Microsoft

Joanna Stevens Kramer was appointed head of corporate communications for Microsoft Australia in September 2008.  In this capacity she is responsible for all of Microsoft’s external and internal communication activities, including executive engagement, product launches and publicity, and reputation and issues management.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Joanna spent eight years with Yahoo! Inc. in the USA, most recently as vice president of corporate communications.  In this role, Joanna was responsible for developing and driving an integrated communications program across Yahoo’s corporate interests, investor relations, consumer programs, advertising and search customers, and employees.

Joanna also served with Hill and Knowlton for five years in both its San Francisco and Sydney offices, across its public affairs, corporate, and investor relations practices.

Joanna holds a bachelor of business from the Queensland University of Technology.  She lives in Sydney with her husband Bob and two dogs, Cookie and Scout.

Lydia Buchtmann, Communication Manager, Food Standards Australia & New Zealand

Lydia Buchtmann is the Communication Manager for Food Standards Australia New Zealand, the food standards setting agency for Australia and New Zealand. She has been in that role for almost 12 years and is responsible for driving risk communication within the organisation, with a particular interest in communicating to consumers the difference between perceived risk and the actual scientific risk. She is also the Chair of the Government Food Communicators' Group – a network of food communicators from government agencies in Australia and New Zealand – and is a member of an international food communicators’ group with the US, Canada and New Zealand..

She has had more than 20 years experience as a professional communicator both as a journalist and in the public sector as Director of Public Affairs for the Australian Taxation Office and the Federal Attorney-General’s Department. She has a Masters in Communication by Research specialising in indigenous communication and is a Member of the Public Relations Institute of Australia.

Trinity Scarf, Advocacy Manager - Global Public Relations, Tourism Australia

Trinity Scarf is responsible for the launch of several new advocacy programs at Tourism Australia during the last 12 months, all designed to harness influential advocates to help generate powerful word of mouth via their extended networks.  Indicative of the increased importance Tourism Australia is placing upon advocacy and word-of-mouth marketing, Trinity will talk about the launch of the Visiting Opinion Leaders and Friends of Australia programs as well as the organisation’s use of social media as a key tool to drive positive dialogue about Australia.

Andrew Humpherson, General Manager Government and Public Affairs, ANSTO

Andrew Humpherson is the Government and Public Affairs General Manager at ANSTO – the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. Andrew is responsible for liaison and relationships with media; governments; external and international nuclear organisations; education and local community interaction; and internal and external communication.

Andrew has been at ANSTO since early 2007 after serving 15 years as the State Member for Davidson in the NSW Parliament. In that time he held Shadow Ministerial responsibilities in Justice, Planning, Environment, Water, Housing and Emergency Services. His previous political service included five years in local government.

As a qualified Chemical Engineer, Andrew worked in the oil industry prior to politics with Shell Australia for six years in engineering, sales and marketing and planning roles.

Living with his wife and three sons in his former electorate on Sydney’s northern beaches Andrew has strong interests in touch football and soccer.  

Ross McSwain, Director of the Office of the Commissioner, Queensland Corrective Services

Ross McSwain is a senior communications professional with extensive experience in dealing with and managing a wide range of issues in both the private and public sector.  He has successfully combined   experience in national print and electronic journalism with public affairs management, and policy and corporate communications advisory roles.  He is currently the Director of the Office of the Commissioner, Queensland Corrective Services.

During his career he has dealt with the communications challenges in a broad range of social policy areas and has extensive experience in public affairs, issues and crisis management, media and communications strategy development and implementation.

Hank Jongen, General Manager Corporate Communications, Centrelink

Hank has been a senior Australian Public Service executive for almost twenty years and has been responsible for national strategies supporting key Government reforms and had a major role in the creation of Centrelink, which replaced the Department of Social Security and Commonwealth Employment Service.

As well as managing a large Division responsible for Centrelink communication, Hank is also the primary media spokesperson for Centrelink, regularly participating in question/answer sessions on talkback radio, as well as radio and television interviews.

Hank was awarded an Australian Public Service Medal  in 2007 for outstanding public service as Centrelink’s media spokesperson and leading innovations in marketing and communication.
 
Hank is also past President of the Major Mail Users of Australia, an associate member of the Australian Marketing Institute, and a member of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Danielle Koopman, General Manager Corporate and Government Relations, Tourism Queensland

Danielle Koopman is Tourism Queensland's General Manager Corporate and Government Relations.  She oversees the organisation's corporate communications, internal communications and ministerial and government liaison. Originally a newspaper journalist with The Courier-Mail and other Queensland publications, over the past 15 years Danielle has headed up public and media relations for a variety of organisations including Arts Queensland, Women's Affairs, the Queensland Fire Service and State Emergency Service.  

Mariana Vit, CEO, Youngcare

With high-profile and senior executive positions in government, corporations and the property industry, Marina brings a wealth of specialised experience to her role as Chief Executive Officer of Youngcare.
Marina was the Chief Executive Officer of Brisbane Marketing, engineering its restructure to focus the organisation on its vision and delivery. During her time with Brisbane Marketing Marina was instrumental in developing Brisbane’s first brand campaign – positioning Brisbane in key southern markets.  As the Chief of Staff to long-serving former Lord Mayor, Jim Soorley, Marina was a key member of the team that developed “Australia’s most liveable” city through planning, policy and communication.  Marina has also held positions with Communications and Development organisations.
Marina is also a Director of the Queensland Museum.
She holds a Bachelor of Business Communications, is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management. 

Margaret Lawson, Director, Cole Lawson

Margaret Lawson has more than a decade of experience in media relations and corporate communications, across the private, public and university sectors.

She has led teams responsible for complex communication projects including acquisitions and mergers, and played a key role in the $1.2 billion sale of Ergon Energy Retail in 2007. Prior to the sale, Margaret was responsible for managing Ergon Energy’s retail communication activities nationally, delivering corporate communications that helped achieve the business's ambitious goals. 
Margaret has a long-standing passion for aerospace and aviation, and applied this to direct the media and publicity for the launch of the Australian FedSat satellite in Japan in 2002. She has furthered this interest at Cole Lawson as the leader of the firm's aviation practice. Cole Lawson offers organisations in the aviation, aerospace and transport industries specialised counsel with media relations, marketing, crisis planning and management, and corporate communications.
Margaret has also held media relations and marketing communication positions with the Queensland University of Technology, where she worked to promote the work of the university's researchers and their industry partners. She is the creator of the successful Expert Guide media web site and, as a consultant, has worked with prominent national and global clients in transportation, engineering, healthcare, publishing, property and energy.
Margaret’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Business (Communication) and a Graduate Diploma of Arts (Journalism).  She is currently undertaking a Master of Science & Technology, specialising in Aviation Management, and completing her Private Pilot's Licence. She is a member of the Public Relations Institute of Australia, and has twice been commended by the institute for her work in crisis communication teams.
As a journalist, Margaret has worked on newspapers in Australia and the United States, and has written for publications including Australasian Science and Australian Journalism Review.
Margaret offers Cole Lawson’s clients an understanding of the operation of media, from both the point of view of the journalist and the business client. She applies her experience and skills to create and implement campaigns that support business goals, and achieve the highest level of technical and factual precision.

• Communication research and planning
• Media relations and strategy
• Aviation issues and communications
• Online communications
• Media training.