Nicholas “Nick”  Stone is a native of Melbourne Australia who moved to New York City in 2010. He is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Bluestone Lane, an Australian-influenced lifestyle and hospitality brand based in New York, NY.

Nick envisioned Bluestone Lane whilst attending Business School in New York, with the idea of providing a premium coffee/cafe experience that is readily found in his former hometown of Melbourne Australia (but not readily available in New York). Since opening its first location in July 2013, Bluestone Lane has become the fastest-growing premium coffee and café having opened 27 stores open now across 6 markets being New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New Jersey and a flagship coffee roastery and production facility within its first 4.5 years of operations.

Nick joined Bluestone Lane as its full-time Chief Executive Officer in June 2016, having spent 10 years as a Corporate Finance Director with ANZ Banking Group Limited and UBS Investment Bank, advising and financing some of the world’s largest multinational corporations in the United States, Europe and in Asia Pacific.

Prior to banking, Nick was a professional Australian Rules Football (AFL) player for 6 seasons, having been selected in the 1999 AFL National Draft from Wesley College, Australia (High School). Nick played for the Collingwood, Hawthorn and the St Kilda Football Clubs.

Bluestone Lane it set to have more than 40 locations by the end of 2018, across 6 United States core-markets, including New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

So lucky to catch Nick on one of his quick trips home to Melbourne..

Michael Smith was the CEO of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) from 2007 to 2015 following his retirement he remained an Adviser to the Board until July 2017.  He is the Chair of York Butter Factory (YBF) established in 2011.  YBF is the “destination point for innovation in Australia”.  He also holds the position of Senior Adviser Asia Practice at PwC.

Prior to this he was President and Chief Executive Officer, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited; Chairman, Hang Seng Bank Limited; Global Head of Commercial Banking for the HSBC Group; and Chairman, HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad.

He graduated with honours in Economic Sciences from City University London and in 2015 was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from City University London.  In 2013 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Monash University, Melbourne.

He is a Senior Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia and an immediate past Member of the Australian Bankers’ Association and Business Council of Australia.  He is a Member of the Chongqing Mayor’s International Economic Advisory Council, having previously served at its Executive Chairman, and a Fellow of The Hong Kong Management Association.  He was formerly a Director of the Institute of International Finance, the International Monetary Conference and Member of the Shanghai Mayor’s International Financial Advisory Council.  He is a Life Member of the Financial Markets Foundation for Children.

He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2000 and a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Merite Agricole in 2007.

Adam founded Kegstar in December 2012 and has extensive experience in the beverage industry having also co-founded McLaren Vale Beer Company and being a Founding Director of Australia’s Independent Brewers Association.

McLaren Vale Beer Company was one of the fastest growing beer companies in Australia during 2009 to 2011 under Adam’s leadership. It was during this period, when continually falling short on beer supply due to keg shortages, Adam identified the opportunity for the Kegstar keg-pooling model. Having sold McLaren Vale Beer Company to investors in December 2011, Adam embarked on the project to bring Kegstar to life.

Kegstar is an asset pooling business specialising in stainless steel kegs used to transport beverages, principally beer and cider. Under its pooling model, Kegstar owns and manages a growing pool of over 300,000 kegs. Each Kegstar keg is uniquely identified and tracked when the keg moves through the supply chain. Kegstar was sold to global supply-chain logistics company Brambles Limited in December 2015 and currently operates in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and launched in the USA in April 2017.

As a professional Adam has a background in corporate finance, corporate development and M&A with Ernst & Young, Diageo, easyGroup, Rinker Materials and APN News & Media.

As an entrepreneur, Adam was a co-founder of easyCar.com in London in 2000, co-founder of McLaren Vale Beer Company in 2008, co-founder of the Independent Brewers Association in 2011, founder of Kegstar in 2012 and founder of The Balmain Ball in 2014. Adam holds an MBA from Melbourne Business School and in 2011 Adam was an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist.

Adam has lived in Adelaide, McLaren Vale, London, Tianjin, and Sydney.

Ben Chan is the Chief Commercial Officer of Envato, where he is head of a 140 person group, responsible for growing Envato’s revenue and customer base. His group comprises of 6 functions: product, engineering, marketing, customer analytics, customer support and UX & Design. Envato is ranked in the top 100 most visited websites in the world, and is the world’s leading online ecosystem for digital content and creatives, where millions of people come everyday to purchase files, hire freelancers, and learn the skills needed to build websites, videos, graphics and more.

Ben is Acting CEO of Envato (350 people) whenever the Founder CEO is on leave.

Prior to Envato, Ben was a Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, working throughout Asia, Europe and Australia. Ben was also a Foreign Exchange Trader for Goldman Sachs in New York where he traded on Wall Street during the financial crisis. Ben has Bachelor degrees in Engineering and Actuarial Mathematics from Melbourne University where graduated top of his class in both degrees. Ben also has an MBA from Stanford University where he graduated in the top 10% of his class.

Mark Ritson is Adjunct Professor of Marketing at Melbourne Business School and a Visiting Professor at Singapore Management University. He has a PhD in Marketing from Lancaster University and has been a faculty member at some of the world's leading business schools teaching on the MBA programs at London Business School, MIT Sloan, and the University of Minnesota. He is widely acknowledged as one of the world's best marketing instructors and has been the recipient of MBA teaching awards at LBS, MIT, SMU and MBS.

Mark has worked globally as a private marketing consultant on projects ranging from brand strategy, market research, segmentation, CRM, marketing communications, brand acquisition, brand valuation and brand extension. His clients have included Baxter, Loewe, McKinsey, PepsiCo, Subaru, Eli Lilly, Donna Karan, Johnson & Johnson, De Beers, Sephora, Benefit, Amgen, Ericsson, Jurlique, Cloudy Bay, Unilever, KPMG and WD40. For thirteen years - from 2002 to 2015 - he served as in-house professor for LVMH - the world's largest luxury group - working with senior executives from brands like Louis Vuitton, Dom Perignon, Fendi, Tag Heuer, Dior and Hennessy.

He has written a weekly column on branding for Marketing Week for over a decade. On 3 occasions he has been judged the Business Columnist of the Year at the PPA Press Awards, the highest award for magazine journalism in the UK. He is also a columnist for The Australian newspaper. His more scholarly publications include articles published in Sloan Management Review, Harvard Business Review, the Journal of Advertising, and the Journal of Consumer Research. He was the recipient of the Ferber Award in 2000, one of the most prestigious prizes in Marketing, for his doctoral thesis. In 2001. His co-authored research on pricing was cited by George Akerlof during his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

He is a Tasmanian by marriage and lives somewhere between there and the "mainland".

For more than 20 years Scott Harris has been coaching, mentoring & speaking to individuals, businesses & large audiences to help them create great success; financially, physically & emotionally.

Having dedicated his entire adult life to growth, change, and inspiration, Scott now delivers profound powerful training, coaching & mentoring programs around the world to facilitate life-changing positive influences. He’s worked with many of the World’s most influential forces such as Tony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki just to name a few.

Scott is uniquely qualified to be “The Ultimate Coach”.

Scott is deeply committed to COACHING as a powerful tool for creating lasting results and causing massive shifts in people; as well as training and mentoring individuals to speak, present and coach through his training programs which leverage on his own versatile experiences along with proprietary techniques.

He’s spoken to audiences as large as 12,000 and in more than 15 countries around the world, impacting how they live each day, and now he’s here to share with you.

Elaine Bensted is Chief Executive, Zoos South Australia commencing 3rd September 2012.  Since being in the role Elaine has led an improvement in the financial position of this conservation charity and an increase in Zoos SA membership base from 26,000 to over 43,000. She also led the work that culminated in the release of a 20 year Master Plan for both Adelaide and Monarto Zoos in early 2015.

Prior to being appointed as Chief Executive, Zoos South Australia Elaine held the position of Chief Executive, Office of TAFE SA.

Elaine has previously held senior positions in State and Local Government, and the private sector in the finance industry.

Elaine’s qualifications include an MBA and a Masters in Public Policy and Management as well as qualifications in finance. She has experience in both the private and public sector in management, marketing and community engagement.

Elaine was the recipient of the 2014 Australian Institute of Management Not for Profit Manager Award.

Elaine is the recipient of the Telstra South Australian Business Woman of the Year Award for Purpose and Social Enterprise 2017.

Elaine is also a Board member of Nature Play SA, Zoos & Aquarium Association (ZAA), Children’s University Advisory Board, the Uni SA Business School Program Advisory Board, The Australian Rhino Project Board, International Koala Centre of Excellence Advisory Board and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) Finance Committee.

Martine is an experienced executive within non-profit and international policy sectors, providing high-level expertise in public policy development, formulation and promotion both in Australia and internationally.

Martine joined the Committee in March 2016, after serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Australia China Business Council (ACBC), where she led the development of the organisation’s national strategy.

Prior to her role at the ACBC, Martine was Deputy Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, where she led the organisation’s business and organisational development. As Secretary-General of the Australian Red Cross (ARC) from 2001-2004, based at its national headquarters in Melbourne, she worked on a national transformation strategy to help the ARC improve its delivery of community and relief services across Australia and globally.

Martine was a senior Australian diplomat for 17 years and an advisor to Foreign Minister Evans from 1992 to 1994.

She served on the Australian National University Council from 2004-2014 and is a member of the Australian Volunteers International board. Martine speaks French, German and Spanish.

Dave is a  senior international executive and entrepreneur with a proven track record in global brand, digital & product marketing, brand communications and management. 

A thought leader, passionate about all aspects of integrated marketing, digital and social innovation and the application of emerging technologies in nurturing and growing brands.

20+ years experience in Australian, UK and International brand marketing with expertise in entertainment media and technology

Digital marketing strategy. Planning and delivering consumer focussed and integrated campaigns across all digital channels; social, web, mobile, direct.

Proven track record in building and driving brands to success.

Leader with experience curating successful, passionate local and international teams.

Dave's other passions include startups, futurism and ultra marathon running.

Brooke Miller is BP’s VP Sales & Marketing Australia, leading the company’s retail business in a highly competitive fuels market. Brooke is focused on delivering a high quality, differentiated offer at 1,400 BP-branded sites and successful partnerships with some of Australia’s largest commercial customers.

Prior to being appointed to this role in April 2016, Brooke was BP’s CFO Fuels AsPac. Over four years, she brought focus and rigour to the financial performance and strategy of the business during a time of significant change.

Brooke first joined BP after receiving an MBA from Melbourne Business School. Brooke has held roles including: General Manager for Elite Customer Solutions, a team of 500 employees providing finance, sales and marketing, and logistics services; Regional Director for BP Solar Australasia, involving the deployment of the solar photovoltaics in the Asia Pacific; and General Manager of BP Bitumen Australia, a national manufacturing and sales operation.

Brooke's career started in landscape architecture and town planning, and she holds a Bachelor of Planning & Design and a Master of Landscape Architecture. For nearly 10 years, she helped to design and construct commercial-scale projects.