Conference & Speaking Enquiries

Opening Keynote Conversation

State of Retail:

Leadership, Market Risk and the Future of Retail

Paul Zahra in conversation with Craig Woolford

A senior industry conversation examining where Australian retail stands today, the market risks and strategic choices facing the sector, and the leadership decisions shaping its future.

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Paul Zahra

Former CEO David Jones, 

Former CEO Australian Retailers Association, 

Chair and Non-Executive Director. 
A leading Australian retail executive and board director with over 30 years’ experience across retail transformation, governance and industry advocacy.
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Craig Woolford

Senior Consumer Discretionary & Retail Analyst

MST Marquee

Featured 2026 Speakers

The 2026 conference programme brings together senior leaders from retail, technology, supply chain, grocery, store transformation and industry advisory to examine the priorities shaping retail execution across Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region.
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Erica Berchtold

CEO

David Jones

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Bernie Brookes AM

Chairman 

AFGC

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Poornima L Nathan

Chapter Lead, Technical Solution Design

7-Eleven Australia

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ShiSh Shridhar

Global Director, Retail & CPG Startups

Microsoft Corporation

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Andrew McCrohan

AI Specialist Lead

Google Cloud - Google Australia

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Ruban Stephens

Senior Account Executive

Retail & Consumer Goods, Amazon Web Services

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Martin Stirling 

Chief Executive Officer 

Master Grocers Australia 

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Julie Grard

Commercial Merchandise Strategy Manager 

David Jones

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Nicole Szujda

Head of Supply Chain and Transformation

David Jones

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Peter Jones

Managing Director

Prological and The Iconic

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Gary Mortimer

Professor

QUT

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Andrew Hoyne

Head of Place Strategy

Hoyne

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Nick Gray

Founder / CEO

IGU GLOBAL

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Dean Salakas

CEO

Retai Community

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Juanita Neville-Te Rito

Managing Director and Founder

RX Group


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Adam Posner

CEO

The Point of Loyalty

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Elvin Tan

Principal

ElvinTan Design

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Joseph Yuen

Chairman

Hong Kong Federation of Electronic Commerce

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Tack Soon CHUNG

Secretary General

Malaysia Cross Border

E-Commerce Association 

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Kristie Longhurst

Managing Director ANZ

Diebold Nixdorf

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Wiwy Sasongko

Executive Director

NielsenIQ Indonesia

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Gareth Lewis

COO - Chief Operations Officer

NORA - National Omni Retailers Association

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Anthony Dean

Marketing Director ANZ - Pet Nutrition

Mars

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Adrian Mullan

Founder & CEO

Norby

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Reece Appleton

Regional Director APAC

Huntress

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Adrian Campbell

Chief AI Officer

Codex

Jessica Wilson

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Associate Principal, Sustainability Business (SEAS)

Schneider Electric

Reece Appleton

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Kiel Johns

Head of Data, AI and Technology Advancement

Reece Group

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Jessica Wilson

Associate Principal, Sustainability Business (SEAS)

Schneider Electric

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Dana King

Sustainability Manager for Environment

David Jones

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Natalie Turmine

CEO

Service and Creative Skills Australia

Reece Appleton

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Michael Tutek

CEO, Co-Founder

preezie

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Paris Young

CEO

storepro

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Luke Fisher

General Manager of Retail and Strategic Partnerships

Farmlands Co-Operative Society

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Nicole Venter

Stakeholder Engagement Manager

Service and Creative Skills Australia

Reece Appleton

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Rania Awad

Chief Strategy Officer

Helfie.AI

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Charles Blomfield

Director of Customer Experience

11Ants

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Lakshan Gunasekera

Director - Oceania

Hanwha Vision

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Joe Woodward

Enterprise Account Executive

Humanforce

Reece Appleton

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Julian Szekely

Account Director

Velrada Capital Pty Ltd

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Wendy Chen

CEO and Founder

omnistream

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Ash Rosshandler 

Founder and CEO

Gathcy

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Samanyou Garg

Founder and CEO 

Writesonic

Reece Appleton

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Sam Mokhtarbaf

Technology Manager

Neuweb

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Nick Rouse

Senior Solution Architect - Business Solutions and AI Technologies

FUJIFILM MicroChannel

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Katrina Marques

Practice Head, Microsoft & Security

Atturra

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Abid Naqvi

AI Alliance & Partnership Development

Ingram Micro

Reece Appleton

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Dr. Michael N'Guyen

Executive Consultant, Cybersecurity

Atturra

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Ash Perkins

Commercial Master Trainer

Microsoft

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John Edney

Event Host & MC

John Edney/Edney Celebrations

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Jonathan Uptin

MC / Event Host

Moments by Jono

ShiSh Shridhar

Global Director, Retail & CPG Startups

Microsoft for Startups

ShiSh Shridhar is the Global Director for Retail & CPG Startups at Microsoft for Startups. With nearly three decades at Microsoft, he has spent more than 15 years working alongside the world’s leading retailers and brands to address complex business challenges using AI, machine learning, agentic systems, and emerging technologies. He is known for championing disruptive retail innovation and helping founders scale through cloud and emerging technologies, and is recognised among the RETHINK Retail Top Retail Experts and RTIH Top 100 Retail Technology Influencers.

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Keynote:

Agentic AI in Retail:

From Task Automation to Business Autonomy


How agentic AI is redefining retail,

 including:

  • The shift from task automation to autonomous decision-making
  • What makes an AI system truly agentic
  • Multi-agent architectures across merchandising, marketing, and supply chain
  • Transforming customer experience, operational efficiency, and competitive advantage