Meet our Chairs & Facilitators

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"Profit and culture are friends, not adversaries. You don’t have to choose between happy staff and happy shareholders. One feeds the other."

With over 30 years in the highly competitive advertising industry, Ian Elliot progressed from mail boy to CEO and Chairman of Australia’s biggest agency, George Patterson. Ian became renowned as the industry’s most prolific new business winner. Along the way Ian has been the architect of iconic brands like Optus creating the ‘YES’ campaign in addition to working on dozens of famous campaigns for brands like Arnotts, Energizer, and VB. He also ran the Communications Strategy for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Ian continually believes that staff engagement, through his strong trust in the power of culture, is what got George Pattersons to the top and kept them there during his entire 30 years with the company.

Recognised as the most prolific new business winner in the advertising industry ($250 million over 4 years) and a 78% win record with an astonishing 100% client retention rate between 2000–2002. Leaving a legacy, George Pattersons posted their highest ever profit in his final year. 

For more refer detailed biography below.

"Create a world-class team that assists you to rise to the challenges of your industry."

John Cracknell is an experienced and successful leader of business teams across a 30-year career. Having spent 23 years with the Disney Group, John was one of the longest-serving executives, having joined the organisation in 1992 in its home entertainment unit.

Over his tenure, John held various other roles including Head of Home Entertainment for South East Asia and Country Manager for Walt Disney International in Australia and New Zealand. In his most recent role as the Managing Director of Australia and New Zealand, John was passionate about the important role and responsibility of his teams in delivering Disney magic to Australian families.

As a name, brand, and global entertainment company, Walt Disney is indelibly interwoven into the childhood memories of millions of people across the globe. With its subsidiaries and affiliates, The Walt Disney Company is the world’s biggest family entertainment organisation and media enterprise, consisting of five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products, and interactive media.

Juanita is one of Australia’s best-loved and former experienced news presenters, and an accomplished MC and speaker.

For 21 years, she had anchored the ABC’s flagship 7pm News in Sydney, making her the public broadcaster’s longest-serving prime-time female TV news presenter. She resigned from the ABC in 2023. Before this, she anchored CNN’s morning news and business show in London for five years, and was one of the first Australians to present TV news on the BBC. She has also worked for Channel Ten and Sky News, and has been a columnist and feature writer for The Bulletin magazine, News Corporation and Fairfax. She has written a series of children’s books The 

Newspaper Kids, and is the author of a best-selling memoir about juggling work and motherhood, A Pressure Cooker Saved My Life.

For the past 10 years, Juanita has used her interviewing and presenting skills to work as an MC, speaker and panel moderator. She specialises in business, fintech and cyber security, but has a wide range of both business and government clients, including the mining and banking industries, local and state governments, and the finance and technology sector. She is sought-after for her skill in interviewing keynote speakers, and facilitating panel discussions. Juanita is known for her entertaining and insightful interviews with thought leaders including Erin Brokovich, Steve Wozniak, John Howard, Julia Gillard and Captain “Sully” Sullenberger. She’s also known for keeping complex conferences running to time – a skill she attributes to decades of meeting newsroom deadlines!  

Juanita’s areas of interest and expertise include cyber security, tech innovation, politics, economics, leadership and gender equality.

“New words may not change anything. But nothing changes without new words.” Mark Strom

As an inductee to the Australian Businesswomen’s Hall of Fame, as well as a Telstra Businesswomen’s awards finalist, Dr Lindley Edwards loves life-giving ideas. She has a rare gift for sparking and animating new conversations and has been doing this for nearly 3 decades with communities, businesses, and governments.

A story-teller with a PhD in Philosophy, it is Lindley’s ability to breathe new life into ideas and conversations that has been paramount to her success as a leader.

A leadership course facilitator at the University of Sydney, Lindley is also a skilled corporate advisor who has worked on numerous private and public M&A and corporate transactions across sectors including food and agriculture, services, environment, technology, education, and digitisation. She

specialises in mergers, acquisitions, divestments, licensing, fundraising, strategic consulting, distribution, and joint ventures. Since the mid-90’s Lindley has been very active in ASEAN, the Pacific, Asia, the US, and Europe, undertaking cross border corporate transactions and strategic work. Lindley is also the Group Managing Director of AFG Venture Group and its various subsidiaries.  

For more refer detailed biography below.

"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." - Jack Welch.

Ric Lazar was an owner for 40 years and CEO of Professional Public Relations (PPR), Australia's largest PR company, is a Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Australia and a Director of several organisations including the PGA (Professional Golfer's Association of Australia.)

Ric led PPR for over 35 years. He developed the Sydney-based business into Australia’s largest PR company (employees & Billings). It was the most awarded and one of the largest consultancy chains in the Asia Pacific region, with offices in every major Australian capital city, in NZ as well as opening branded offices in the US, UK and Europe. 

Ric is the co-author of the No. 1 selling PR textbook, 'The Australian and New Zealand Public Relations Manual', now in its 5th edition and was featured as an ‘Australian Public Relations Legend’ in the newly published PRide and PRejudice. 

He is highly regarded for his issues and crisis management expertise, lecturing in this particular field and having successfully managed issues for industry bodies from oil and gas, energy, forestry, agriculture and environment, to pharmaceutical companies and the property sector. His work for Greythounds NSW and several high profile celebrities in recent years are well documented success stories. He has advised government at many levels and been the creative director and responsible for managing some of the largest and most complex community education and engagement campaigns and events in Australia over an extended period of time, from launching and running McHappy Day for over 25 years to designing key elements of Sydney’s Sesqui Celebration, Australia’s Centenary of Federation and the Sydney Olympics. He has negotiated major deals across all manner of business from retail to healthcare, sports to entertainment, corporate merger, acquisition and industry rationalisation.

Ric's creative approach, his experience in corporate culture change, media and government relation, issues and crisis management, PR planning and strategy, consultancy administration and career development have established him as a leader of the profession.

Specialties:

• Public Relations
• Issue and Crisis Management
• Change Management Consulting
• Marketing and Communications
• Relationship and Event Managet
• Corporate Social Responsibility and the Environment

"Promote curiosity; always be asking “what if” and “why not?”..."

With over 25 years in strategy and leadership experience across three iconic organisations, Gary Flowers is sought by boards to build brands, restructure and turn around businesses.

With a double degree and Harvard educated, Gary started his career as a lawyer and was soon promoted to the National Managing Partner of Sparke Helmore. During his tenure, Gary grew the firm by over 600%, taking it from being a NSW based firm to having a national profile and claiming a top 10 ranking in Australia.

Following an international search for a new Managing Director, Gary joined the Australian Rugby Union in 2004, leading significant structural reform and capturing record sponsorships in just three years. In 2006, Gary accepted a dual role as Chief Executive Officer for SANZAR.

With a talent for diversification, Gary joined the Mirvac Group [ASX: MGR] in 2008 as Chief Operating Officer. Gary was instrumental in turning around the Mirvac Group and securing its survival during the GFC. Mirvac achieved a top 3 status and improved its share price in the most volatile of markets.