Don't miss Australia's Premier Professional Services Event
Driving the Change
How Marketing & BD can set the Agenda for Firm Growth and Renewal.
Artificial intelligence, corporate ethics, hybrid work and so much more.
It’s all changing the way we work each and every day.
For marketers, sales leaders, business developers and communicators, the big question is whether these new attitudes and technologies help or hinder our core pursuit – driving change within our firms and across our markets.
If you are a B2B professional in any sector, whether it’s accounting, legal, engineering, property and architecture, technology, management or elsewhere, the 2023 ICON APAC Conference will help you navigate the new landscape and provide the knowledge you must have to set the agenda for your firm’s growth and renewal.
And of course, the conference will be followed by the famous ICON APAC Cocktail Party where you can meet, greet and kick up your heels with friends and colleagues.
We hope you can join us to celebrate 30 years of ICON APAC supporting B2B marketers in Australia and the Asia Pacific.
For a detailed brochure on the Melbourne programme, click here.
Conference Keynote Speaker Details:
Topic: The AI Tsunami: How Professional Services brands can retain control in the age of machine learning.
Melissa Donnelly, Director, Affinity Communications
In her 30 plus-year career, Melissa Donnelly has launched, reignited and triaged global brands, as well as brands that are rock stars in their own industries. She knows that when CEOs are scaling for growth, they need a powerful brand vehicle and show-stopping communications.
Melissa's portfolio encompasses global enterprises, such as MTV, ESPN and Telstra; along with NFPs and NGOs; plus high-growth ventures in the professional services, technology, telecommunications and mining services sectors.
Topic: The Great Debate: Should Marketers have sales targets? Revenue Marketing in focus
Andy McFarlane, Managing Principal - Asia Pacific, Inflexion Group
Andy is an accomplished senior executive with a deep B2B commercial and international marketing skillset. He has a strong track record of delivering results through a pragmatic and people centric approach with extensive global experience across the technology and professional services sectors. Andy is currently the Managing Principal for Inflexion Group in Asia Pacific.
Regan Barker, Head of Sales & Sales Enablement, Grant Thornton
With over a decade of experience in banking, finance, and professional services, Regan is committed to applying structured true sales processes and coaching across the industry.
Based in Brisbane, Regan leads a national market-facing team focused on both inbound and outbound sales, as well as the sales enablement program that benefits the entire business. This creates a full-circle model that transforms best practice sales into practical strategies for adoption across the firm.
James Fielding,
Head of New Business Distribution, Findex
James is a seasoned sales-enabler and growth leader in professional services. He’s known for driving sales culture transformation via coaching programs and the creation of sales infrastructure, resources, and processes. He was recognised as ‘One to Watch in Sales Enablement 2023’ and is a multi-award winner for his trailblazing work with technology-supported selling. He’s based in Melbourne and leads a team of BDMs and Industry Leaders across Australia and New Zealand for Findex.
Toby Baker, Solutions Consulting Lead, EMEA
Toby's been in tech for 30 years - and in the best job in the world, Solution Consulting, for 26 of them. Working in very large and very small organisations, and everything in between, most recently in MarTech and SalesTech, Toby loves what tech can do for businesses, and is always looking for new innovations that help buyers buy and sellers sell. As an individual contributor and leader, clarity of communication has always been a core tenet of success.
Facilitator - Mona Lolas, Global Sales & Marketing Executive
Mona Lolas is an accomplished Global Sales and Marketing Executive with over 25 years of experience in High Tech and Consulting. As an industry veteran who is passionate about technology and Partnership, Mona has deep expertise in B2B technology marketing and sales leadership. She has in-depth knowledge of marketing disciplines including strategy and planning, channel/partner marketing, Partner programs, indirect sales leadership, and analyst relations.
Prior to moving into consulting, Mona held senior executive positions with market-leading organizations including Forrester, Autodesk, Gartner, Symantec, Intel Security, IBM, Optus, and Telstra. She served as a Board Director at AMI, Australian Marketing Institute, and is currently a Board Member of ICON APAC. Named Revenue Marketing: Ones to Watch 2023
Topic: Panel | Ethics, Trust and the Management of Professional Services Brands
Amanda Fong, Intent Advisory
Amanda is a dynamic and purpose-led leader with 20+ years’ experience working with ambitious and market leading B2B organisations across property, professional services, investment management and technology in Australia, across Asia-Pacific and globally. This includes leadership roles at Urbis, PPB Advisory (now PWC), LSE-listed Intermediate Capital Group and NYSE-listed MMC Inc.
She has a deep appreciation of the dynamics that drive performance - particularly the interplay between strategy, brand and clients, culture and leadership, and innovation. She is particularly passionate about partnering with leaders and organisations when there is a strategic impetus to drive change and growth.
Murray McKeich, Lecturer, RMIT University
Murray McKeich was born in Wellington New Zealander and is currently resident in Melbourne Australia. His early career was in commercial art, as an illustrator and art director. After gaining a PhD in Fine Art from Monash University Melbourne Australia, Mckeich’s recent career includes lecturer with the School of Design at RMIT University, and visiting researcher at Goldsmiths London, Berlin University of Art, and Sussex University.
As a contemporary artist, McKeich rose to prominence in the 90s as an early exponent of digital imaging and has since remained a leading practitioner of digital media in Australasian contemporary art. His work is often included in survey exhibitions of contemporary Australian photo-media and has been exhibited widely in Europe, USA, and Asia.
Abigail Forsyth, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Keepcup
Known worldwide for its bright, bold and instantly recognisable reusable cups, KeepCup is a global campaign for reuse. Since launching the world’s first barista-standard reusable cup in 2009, KeepCup is now embraced by reusers the world over, diverting millions of single-use cups daily.
KeepCup is in business for better - a certified B Corporation, living wage employer and member of 1% for the Planet, donating at least 1% of global revenue to environmental causes.
Following a successful career as a solicitor, Abigail and her brother Jamie set up their own chain of cafes across the city. Alarmed by the amount of disposable packaging being wasted, Abigail started her search for a more sustainable and environmentally conscious way to serve food, and the concept of KeepCup soon became a reality.
Topic: Reigniting CRM use and optimising effectiveness
Emma Egerton, Head of Strategy & Experience, The Lumery
Emma believes in unifying business, products and customer needs to create impactful, measurable change. She has championed "the customer" for over a decade in communications, experimentation and marketing; having worked across industries including Retail, Financial Services, Property and Consumer Electronics to drive demand, growth and meaningful customer connections.
Carol Riley, Client Systems Manager, Hall & Wilcox
Carol has worked in professional services for over 20 years, primarily in the client systems space, but also in marketing and BD roles. Her main focus has been on implementing and driving the engagement of CRMs through understanding and alignment of processes to the needs and objectives of the teams and firms she has worked for. Carol has a passion for data and client systems and having worked outside the CRM space for a time she understands both the end user perspective as well as the person driving the change.
During her career Carol has developed various programs to help drive client, industry and group BD efforts with the ability to use hard data to demonstrate progress and results. Her end goal is to continue to convert non-users to advocates through demonstrated efficiencies and outcomes built on a joint understanding and agreement of what is required and why.
Rajan Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, The Lumery
Rajan is Co-Founder and CEO of The Lumery, a marketing and technology consultancy bringing clarity to the complex. Rajan has pioneered a unique approach to MarTech consulting, combining the optimisation of tech stacks with the development of clients’ internal capabilities, processes, and data-driven cultures, ensuring lasting outcomes can be achieved. Rajan is passionate about building high-performance teams through supportive culture and loves collaborating with forward thinkers.
Christopher Nugent, Salesforce Director, Slalom
Christopher is an accomplished Salesforce Consultant, Business Analyst, and Manager in the technology industry. A combination of technical, analysis, and communication skills provides the ability and flexibility to play multiple positions within the team as circumstances require.
Time spent working client side has given Christopher an appreciation for the needs of the customer. While his experience in consulting demonstrates he possess the skills and temperament to deliver in high pressure environments.
Facilitator - Vivienne Corcoran, Director, Marketing Logic
Vivienne has been an enthusiastic member and presenter for APSMA and now ICON since back in the days when there were 8 large accounting firms! She started her working life with actuaries and has since held marketing and strategy director roles for accountants, engineers, IP and IT firms, and lawyers, working and presenting all over Australasia and throughout UK and Asia.
Along the way Vivienne spent 15 years in brand strategy, developing and rolling out brands for B2B and B2C brands such as Telstra, ANZ and NEC. In the last 10 plus years Vivienne has developed a real passion for the voice of the client. She has interviewed 000s of clients and developed and delivered client feedback programs. She lectures in practice development and marketing for the College of Law in their Masters program and is the author of “Growing Your Professional Practice”. More recently Vivienne has taken this passion into working on a PhD in client feedback with Edinburgh Business School.
Topic: CMO Panel: The Future of Work
Danielle Bond, principal, Danielle Bond Advisory
Danielle is an award-winning brand, marketing, and communications professional with expertise in professional services. She has led the Brand, Marketing & Communications departments of leading professional services firms throughout her career, most recently as CMO at Aurecon, Asia-Pacific design, engineering, and advisory company. Reporting to the CEO, Danielle played a key role in positioning Aurecon as an innovative, eminent and purpose led organisation. She worked closely with leadership to position the firm and her team for the new world of work.
Graham Seldon, Director, Seldon Rosser
Graham Seldon was the founder of Australia’s first professional services marketing recruitment business in 2000, which became Seldon Gill and is now Seldon Rosser.
As a passionate advocate for the sector, in particular for education and skills training, he was an early Board Member for APSMA (now ICON) and has been working with professional service firm leaders for two decades, helping them develop and resource their marketing, communications and BD/Sales functions.
Cameron Menzies, General Manager, Clients & Markets, Beca
Cameron Menzies is a strategic growth and marketing professional with more than 20 years’ of senior experience in the engineering, consulting, and professional services sector. He has a proven track record of leading high-value strategic client and market initiatives in complex, multinational organisations to deliver revenue, brand, and importantly people growth. What sets him apart is his lateral thinking and ability to drive positive change by harnessing the power of people to transform businesses for the better.
Fraser McNaughton, Chief Marketing Officer, Grant Thornton & President of ICON APAC
Fraser McNaughton is the Chief Marketing Officer at Grant Thornton Australia. Based in Sydney he leads a national team of highly experienced and enthusiastic marketing, sales, and communications professionals, together, responsible for defining and delivering Grant Thornton’s go to market vision, strategy, and objectives. Fraser is also the National Industry Leader, where he is responsible for the development and implementation of Grant Thornton’s national industry strategy.
Fraser is an experienced and intuitive marketing and sales professional who, as a member of Grant Thornton’s executive team, has a particular passion for improving client interactions as a driver of better client experiences and the foundation to brand loyalty and sustainable revenue growth. He has over 30 years’ experience and a proven record of achievement in the professional services, financial markets, insurance, and digital media industries.
Topic: Workshop | Storytelling
Lisa Nixon, Managing Director, BBS Communications
Lisa is a former journalist, now a highly regarded communications strategist, with more than 30 years’ experience advising senior executives on matters of reputation, strategic communication and crisis management.
She has a particular interest in B2B communication and advises professional services firms on brand and services marketing, internal communication and media engagement across accounting, law, engineering, architecture and design and project management.
Keynote | Is your firm a best kept secret? The relationship between client services and brand by beaton benchmarks.
Libby Maynard, Partner, Beaton
Libby works with Beaton’s clients to help them win, retain and grow business and deliver value to their clients in sustainably profitable ways. She creates order out of chaos, works at both strategic and operational levels, combines creativity with strong analytical skills and big picture thinking, sets clear priorities and readily engages stakeholders at all levels.
Libby has been instrumental in designing and executing major marketing, pricing and client service programs and winning significant competitive bids to corporates and governments. In addition, she has trained and coached in legal, consulting engineering, patent attorney, accounting and consulting, and financial services firms. Her approach is based on sound research, evidence and analysis and grounded in practicality.
Getting a business case over the line | CXO Panel
Andrew Whitford, Advisor
Andy is a Melbourne based advisor advising family offices and corporates.
Over a 30 plus year career, he has worked in Australia, United Kingdom, Shanghai and Hong Kong in various senior executive and senior product banking roles. Over this time he has been involved in many start-ups and establishing new businesses including a structured finance business in the United kingdom for one of the big four Australian banks, was charged with establishing from scratch the China business for another Australian bank which saw him spend 15 years in Asia where he grew the Greater China business for the bank holding the position as Chief Executive Officer for Westpac Hong Kong and Regional Head of Greater China for Westpac Banking Corporation.
After his banking career he joined the global campaign, research, intelligence and advisory firm C|T Group as Managing Director to establish their presence in Asia based out of Hong Kong. After establishing the office in 2019 he relocated back to Australia in 2021 into the role of Group Managing Director for Australasia, where among other things he worked on the establishment of their Singapore office He left C|T in June 2023.
Caroline Ruddick, Founder, Connecting Humans
Caroline Ruddick’s career is focused on being a change agent and connecting humans with each other, and the organisations and products that can enhance their everyday lives. Caroline has over 25 years’ experience in General Management, Marketing, Product, Sales, Digital Transformation, Communications and Business Development.
Before founding Connecting Humans, Caroline was GM Client Acquisition at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, responsible for Marketing, Response Centre and Business Development. As a CMO50 Marketer in 2022, she led the brand strategic repositioning and introduced their new digital experience platform.
As GM Marketing at Latitude Financial Services, Caroline had responsibility across Sales Finance, Credit Cards, Personal Loans and Insurance for Australia and New Zealand.
Facilitator - Priyanka Nadkarni, Director, Window Seat Consulting
Priyanka is the MD at WS Consulting, an APAC marketing consultancy optimising digital channels and capabilities into the sales and marketing teams of multi-national brands and scale ups, in Financial Services and Fintech. Having spent the last 18+ years in B2B marketing, and 12+ years based in Asia – Priyanka has worked with brands such as Experian, Westpac, ANZ, Standard Chartered Bank and bolttech.
With first-hand experience in issues such as: the struggle to get senior management buy-in for adoption of tech; sales and marketing alignment; optimising digital media distribution; content marketing for lead generation; or introducing digital elements in event marketing; WSC helps other B2B marketers navigate their path to results.
Event Details:
Wednesday, 25 October 2023
8:30am - 5:00pm (Registration starts at 8:30am for a 9:00am conference start)
Work Club, Olderfleet
477 Collins Street, Melbourne
Followed by cocktail party
5:30pm - 8:30pm
Valhalla, Olderfleet
477 Collins Street, Melbourne
Pricing:
Members (Full day conference & cocktail party): $500
Non-Members (Full day conference & cocktail party): $650
Members (Cocktail party only): $55
Non-Members (Cocktail party only): $75
Registration details:
By registering here, you give your consent to your contact details being shared with our ICON APAC Conference major sponsor. Please email events@iconapac.com if you do not want your contact details shared.
ICON thanks our Conference Sponsors
ICON thanks our 'Future Talent' Sponsor
ICON thanks our Conference Supporters
ICON thanks our Event Partner
