2026 SPEAKERS

David Brook is the General Manager of Paradise Resort Gold Coast and a 40-year hospitality veteran, with senior roles across Australia, the UK and the South Pacific with major hotel groups including Hilton, Accor and Carlson. Over the past 15 years, he has led the resort’s transformation into one...

Deputy Editor at Travel Weekly Australia and writer and speaker on authentic voice for women. With 7+ years’ experience as a B2B journalist across travel, media, insurance and finance, I specialise in sharp, story-led coverage and industry insight.

Mehwish Kazim is an Interior Designer and Design Director with over 16 years of international experience delivering hospitality, residential and commercial projects across Australia, the Middle East and the USA. Her work focuses on creating thoughtful, experience-driven interiors that balance...

Helen, Partner at FK, is a highly respected architect with over 20 years of place-making experience locally and globally. She specialises in affordable accommodation and managed asset classes, including co-living, build-to-rent, and student accommodation. Helen brings deep expertise in...

Gareth has an extensive background in operations, having led hotels, portfolios and regions for IHG Hotels & Resorts over a period spanning more than two decades. Prior to joining Axsia HTL as Head of Asset Management, Gareth oversaw IHG’s luxury & lifestyle portfolio of hotels across...

Timo Lorenzen is a hospitality leader, General Manager, and community builder with over two decades of experience across lifestyle hotels, food & beverage, and hotel pre-openings in Australia. Currently the lyf Champion (General Manager) for Ascott's lyf Bondi Junction Sydney Timo is known...

With over 40 years of experience, Founding Director David Madden anchors the creation of client value in stakeholder collaboration throughout entire project lifecycles. David established MBM in 2002 following 18 years of engagement in the construction industry. Delivering technical expertise...

Cushla McFadden, director of Tom Mark Henry brings her adept creativity and systematic delivery approach to design that sees unique design resolutions realised with each project. She gains a great deal of satisfaction when a project is truly collaborative and a number of factors contribute to its...

Trevor Rawnsley is the Chief Executive Officer and Company Secretary of the Australian Resident Accomodation Managers Association. ARAMA is the peak body for the Management & Letting Rights industry. As CEO Trevor advocates for and represents the entire MLR Industry across Australia and along...

I’m David Stubbs and I own + operate The Berry View, a boutique motel inspired more by Palm Springs than the traditional Aussie roadside stop. My background’s in property development, typically the duplex, townhouses or small apartment space. What interested me about this project is how you can...

Alicia Szerszyn is a seasoned hospitality professional with over 25 years of experience across Food & Beverage, Sales, and Marketing. Her career began internationally with a winter season at Mammoth Mountain, California (2000–2001), before returning to Australia to join Accor at Mercure Resort...

Su-Lin Tan is a Sydney-based senior journalist with Green Street News. Most recently, she was a correspondent at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and Singapore where she covered trade, business and geopolitics. Before that, she was at the Australian Financial Review (AFR), covering real...

Callie van der Merwe is a registered Architect specialising in Interior design, specifically in the application of neurodesign and neuroarchitecture as a meaningfull performance enhancers of people and place. Within COOOP.co they have developed a methodology called Envirohacking as a strategic...

Anna Verghese is the Founding Director of Cerulean, an independent, client-side development, programme and project management consultancy devoted to the realisation of exceptional built spaces. With over 20 years of international experience across Australia, APAC, EMEA and the USA, Anna has led...