BRISBANE
Speakers
Keynote speakers
Chris Ridd
Chief Executive Officer
Chris joined EventsAir as CEO in September 2022 and has over 30 years' experience in the IT industry including 5 years as Managing Director for Xero Australia scaling the business to 320,000 customers and 15 years at Microsoft in various senior executive roles.
John Murray
Chairman
John is a technology executive, entrepreneur and investor with experience in start-up, mid-sized and enterprise organizations. Acting as chairperson of EventsAir, John has a successful track record leading organizations through periods of change and driving results.
Rowdy McLean
The Change Room
Rowdy has been a leader in the sporting arena, built a successful entrepreneurial start up, turned around a failing company, runs several companies, mentors and works with world-class leaders from blue-chip organisation’s daily.Recognised as an outstanding speaker on the global stage, Rowdy has delivered over 1000 presentations to more than 400,000 people across the globe.
Dr Ali Walker
The Change Room
With a PhD in human behaviour and Masters' Degree in criminal law and international relations, Ali is the resident expert on behaviour and social connection.Ali developed a special personality assessment tool, which helps people develop stronger communication skills and better relationships. The science behind this is amazing, but more important is the impact this has on our life expectancy.
Industry thought-leaders
Tracey Edwards
Global Strategic Lead and General Manager ANZ
Event Travel Management
Tracey has been with Event Travel Management (ETM) since its inception in early 2011. With over 30 years of experience in the travel and event industry, she has managed operations around the world, including living, establishing and growing an event business in China for three years.
Under Tracey's leadership, the ETM team has transformed from a localised specialist office in Sydney to an award-winning event management company that specialises in incentive travel programs and meeting & conference management, with over 100 staff globally. Tracey ensures that the team delivers extraordinary experiences for clients by meeting diverse needs and adopting intuitive technology. This commitment to excellence has earned ETM recognition in the industry, including the AFTA Award for 'Best Business Events Travel Agency' on multiple occasions.
Jess Glass
Sponsorship, Partnerships, Events and Stakeholder Engagement Executive
The University of Queensland
Jess Glass is a highly accomplished event management professional with a strong track record of success. She is currently the Manager of Sponsorships and Events at The University of Queensland, where she manages a team of event professionals to deliver events ranging from a few hundred attendees to over 20,000. Jess also leads sponsorships for UQ, managing all large-scale sponsorships, developing sponsorship strategy, policy, and procedures.
Jess has been at UQ for more tan 10 years and has previously worked at Bond University and in the financial services sector. Beyond her role at UQ, Jess has served as a Director at Meetings & Events Australia since 2020. In all her spare time, she is also the Events and Fete Coordinator for her daughter’s school once they found out that she is an event manager.
Sarah Markey-Hamm
Chief Executive Officer
ICMS Pty Ltd
Sarah’s father founded ICMS 50 years ago. After living through the events of the family business, Sarah emerged into ICMS in 1993 to learn the expertise of the family trade. Sarah is driven by a passion for events and is a firm believer in the power of interactions to build communities, inspire and promote change. Thanks to her client relationships and creative spirit, Sarah is a driving force in today’s events industry and holds influential positions in many industry organisations.
To date, Sarah has been Chair of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Australian National Committee and has held positions on the ICCA Meetings Advisory Group. She is the current President of the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO), has been a board member of Business Events Council of Australia (BECA), and past President of the Meeting Events Australia (MEA) Victorian Chapters.
Alex Heathers
Event Technology Experience Lead
Telstra
Alex has over 20 years’ experience in corporate sponsorship, brand management, experiential marketing, and event management. He currently leads the data and technical elements of Telstra’s business and enterprise events team. With qualifications in marketing and an intuitive understanding of technology, Alex thrives on designing and delivering human focused technical event solutions, juggling the demands and complexities of big corporate with the practicalities of real world customer experience.
Playing a pivotal role in Telstra’s events strategies, Alex designed and continues to manage a bespoke inhouse IFTTT-style event messaging platform which for over 10 years has been the engine behind over a million digital customer engagements at Telstra events and non-traditional marketing activities. He is one of the many marketers thankful for the post-pandemic adoption of QR codes.
Chris Buckley
Managing Director
Touchpoint
Chris has more than 20 years of event management experience and has worked on hundreds of events across the world in a wide variety of environments including government, corporate and private industry. Chris has an extensive background in service delivery and data management for large-scale global meetings and events. Chris’ track record includes the 2007 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Sydney, four Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings from 2002 through to 2015, the Brisbane G20 meetings and the ASEAN meeting held in Sydney in 2018.
More from our team
Nick Thornton
Chief Revenue Officer
Nick Thornton, an executive leader with 20+ years of experience, excels in Revenue Management, Sales, Marketing, Strategic Planning, and Company Acquisition Management. His impressive telecom career at Windstream spanned 14 years, where he led and drove growth. He spent 9 years at Daxko, excelling in SAAS software leadership, including team building, sales processes, marketing collaboration, and navigating acquisitions. Awards adorn his career, but he attributes true success to people, emphasizing his ability to attract, nurture, and retain exceptional individuals.
Kelly Harvey
Chief Marketing Officer
Having recently joined the team Kelly oversees all EventsAir global brand and growth efforts. Everything from strategic marketing to content, communications PR, performance marketing and of course the marketing and delivery of AirTime, EventsAir’s annual conference. With a marketing career spanning 15 years, Kelly specialises in the tech industry, she is a big believer in using data to drive marketing decisions and the power of using events to build a brand.
Medhi Khalili
Chief Technology Officer
Mehdi is an executive leader with over 20 years of experience in technology, leadership and strategy. Mehdi has helped a wide range of organisations from small family owned businesses to large enterprises articulate their vision, and create and execute a winning strategy and outstanding products.
Renee Elliott
Chief Customer Officer
Renee has been a part of the EventsAir team for over 20 years which has given her a deep understanding of the events industry. She currently leads the global strategy for all things customer - success, support and education.
James Flynn
Head of Product
James has over 15 years experience leading product and technology across a range of industries, from FinTech to established tertiary education firms. He also has a background working in political advisory, policy and serving not-for-profits through his corporate governance expertise.
Thomas Gray
Director of Sales (APAC)
Tom has been part of the EventsAir sales team since 2014, both as an individual contributor and as a sales leader. During this time, he's helped hundreds of customers navigate the often-confusing world of event technology, driven by a passion for how technology can make event planners' lives better, while fostering positive outcomes for all stakeholders - our planet included.
Nikita Gurung
Customer Success Specialist
Nikita is the friendly face behind successful customer onboarding at EventsAir. With a Master's degree in Tourism, Hotel, and Event Management from the University of Queensland (2018), Nikita's all about turning her passion into profession. As a Customer Success Specialist, she's the go-to for making sure your journey with EventsAir is top-notch. Whether it's getting things up and running or guiding you through, Nikita's attention to detail and proactive spirit ensure you're in good hands.
Michelle Cuzens
Account Executive
Michelle is a seasoned event professional with 13 years' experience. Before joining the EventsAir team she worked with Australia’s leading venues, associations, and PCOs dedicated to crafting lasting, transformative events that unite, educate, and engage. As an experience EventsAir user, Michelle is a tech-savvy innovator who harnesses event technology to elevate event experiences.
Justine Stewart
Head of Education
Justine Stewart's background in communications and training has included working across event-related fields including radio, magazines and the music industry. Based in Brisbane, Australia but with experience working remotely with colleagues across the globe, she has more recently specialized in writing and developing online training programs and software education manuals and is delighted to be part of EventsAir's customer education and success team.
Vanessa Harper
Customer Success Team Leader
Vanessa has been with EventsAir since 2010 and is a senior member of the Customer Success team.With more than 10 years in the industry, Vanessa brings with her an extensive background in educating and supporting event planners across all industries and markets.With an extensive knowledge of EventsAir, Vanessa loves working with her clients and helping them get started in their EventsAir journeys, taking great pride in helping clients solve all their event management needs within the EventsAir platform.
Warren Prasek
Lead UX Designer
Warren has worked in digital product design for over 20 years with a particular focus on simplifying the complex workflows of B2B SaaS platforms.
Whilst new to EventAir, he loves the challenge of learning new domain knowledge and meeting customers to understand then solve their problems through simple and intuitive digital experiences.
Hope Simona
Marketing and Event Coordinator
Hope is a dynamic marketing and events coordinator, infusing occasions with a vibrant touch. She's conquered everything from grand community gatherings to corporate conferences and intimate occasions. As a charismatic host and MC, Hope brings a captivating energy to the stage, ensuring every event leaves a lasting impression. Her leadership has powered hundreds of successful client events at EventsAir.