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Introducing our speakers: Jonathan Barouch Jonathan Barouch CEO Roses.com.au, FastFlowers.com.au, Fastflowers.co.nz The story goes that, as a teenager, Jonathan felt uncomfortable purchasing flowers for his girlfriend. So, in 1999, fastflowers.com.au was born and has continued to grow through sound business practice which includes a methodical approach to traffic driving strategies and product innovation. In 2001, Fastflowers.com.au branched into bricks and mortar stores launching two Sydney city stores. In 2005, a large production facility in Enmore was opened followed in 2006 by a busy retail store in Melbourne CBD. This year will see stores opened in Brisbane and Auckland CBDs. At 26, Jonathan is one of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs, having been a finalist in the Australia Post Small Business Awards as well as being a semi-finalist for Young Australian of the Year, 2003. In 2003, Jonathan completed a BComm at UNSW and in 2004 completed his Honours in Economics on the subject of “Online Advertising Auctions” which occur on Google. In 2006, Jonathan completed a Masters in International Relations at the School of Political Science at UNSW. Jonathan has been named “A Future Rising Star” by the Sydney Morning Herald and sits on the board of the Sydney chapter of The Young Business Forum. Chris Hitchen Chris Hitchen Managing Director Getprice Originally from Melbourne, Chris spent the past eight years in Europe, beginning in London in 1998 with eCommerce & payments specialist Earthport plc. Chris played an active role in taking the company public in 2000 in what was at the time, the largest listing on the AIM stock exchange at £25m. In 2002 Chris moved to Munich and joined Lycos Europe (part of the Bertelsmann media group) to expand their shopping business Pangora into the UK. Pangora is now a recognised global leader in the price comparison sector, having recently purchased German competitor Mentasys GmbH for €30m. Since leaving Pangora early in 2006, Chris has consulted various European clients on corporate development and strategy, including: London-based mobile commerce specialist Reporo; Europe’s largest Search Engine Marketing agency, The Interactive Marketing Works (known globally for their BidBuddy search management tool); and Summit Media, a European full-service digital agency. In mid-2006 Chris returned to Australia as Managing Director of Getprice Ltd. He is a fluent German speaker; a member of the Australian Business in Europe group; a regular speaker at international events (i.e. Search Engine Strategies, London) and is engaged by Venture Capitalists and business owners for his opinions on strategy, market trends and business opportunities. Chris is also involved with a private consortium of Australian-based investors who invest in a variety of businesses within the digital space. Shaun Cornelius Shaun Cornelius Australia Country Manager Shopping.com Australia Shaun Cornelius, Shopping.com’s Australian Managing Director is an outstanding leader with a strong background in the online shopping arena. Shaun currently manages the Shopping.com Australia team driving Shopping.com’s online presence in Australia, with online comparison sites DoorOne.com.au and Shopping.com Australia under his remit. Shaun was previously on eBay Australia’s management team for 5 years , holding roles as Finance Director and more recently Director of Category Management, during which time the company experienced dramatic growth culminating in eBay establishing itself as the leading Australian ecommerce site. Shaun’s broad eBay experience in business strategy & analysis, financial management, telemarketing and account management combined with his understanding of the Australian internet industry has been instrumental as Shopping.com in Australia entered the rapidly growing ecommerce market in May 2006. Since launch, Shopping.com has become the number one online comparison shopping site in Australia and is aggressively growing partnerships (including powering ninenmsn shopping) and building its retailer network. Prior to eBay, Shaun worked at Deloitte in South Africa, San Jose and Sydney, consulting to a range of high growth businesses including business planning, corporate finance and audit. Involvement with high growth businesses has been consistent throughout Shaun’s career and he also worked for a venture capital fund in London (part of Natwest Bank), which invested in early stage IT companies. Shaun holds an honours degree in Commerce and is a Chartered Accountant. John Debrincat John Debrincat CEO eCorner Pty Ltd John Debrincat has over 37 years of experience in the Information Technology Industry in the Asia Pacific. He is a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society and Honorary Life Governor at Sydney University. Since 2004 John has been Managing Director of eCorner Pty Ltd, which specialises in offering eCommerce solutions throughout Asia Pacific. He is a major shareholder and founder of the company. John is Director and Shareholder of Inhouse Consulting Pty Ltd a specialist Human Resources firm focusing on Work – Life Balance. He is also part owner of Gartelmann Hunter Valley Estate a successful Australian wine producer and distributor. He has been a senior executive in various information technology companies for over 20 years. Originally from an engineering and technical background he made the move to sales and marketing with the American company Cincom Systems in 1980 and was appointed Asia Pacific Vice President from 1982. In 1986 he became a shareholder and General Manager of Executive Computing, a local Australian ICT company. The business was acquired by Compuware Corporation (Nasdaq – CPWR), a multinational software and services organisation, in 1994 and John became Senior Vice President of Compuware for Asia Pacific. He is Chairman of the Australian Computer Society Foundation. This is a nonprofit organisation that has raised over $9 million dollars for scholarships since 2001, and has funded over 650 scholarships for Information Technology students to universities in Australia and New Zealand. He is an Honorary Life Governor and President of Sydney University Foundation for Information Technologies. The Foundation provides guidance and advice on the issues related to Information and Communications Technology research and development. It provides linkage between industry and the university. John is a Director of the International Environmental Weed Foundation. It is a non-profit body with a mission of expanding the knowledge of how to control nonindigenous James Cassidy James Cassidy General Manager - Travel Fairfax Digital James joined Fairfax Digital in February 2006 to manage the recent acquisition of Stayz Pty Ltd. In the last year the Stayz group of Websites has grown significantly to facilitate more than $50M of online bookings to its 10,000 Australian properties. This growth has been driven by focusing on the fundamentals in online travel site management, promotion, development and alliance building. Stayz started in 2001, as a back yard venture by a couple in Dural, Sydney. Through low cost, gradual growth in traffic and incremental product innovation responding to market feedback, Stayz grew over four years to the point where it gained the attention of Fairfax. It was purchased in January 2006 for $12.7million. Its market value now is significantly more, following the growth in value of leading online travel sites around Australia. Kim Wingerei Kim Wingerei Founder & Managing Director MobileSelect Kim Wingerei is the founder and managing director of MobileSelect - the Biggest Choice and the Best Deals in mobile phones. MobileSelect is aiming to become the "wotif.com" of the mobile market in Australia. Established in late 2004 and launching in October 2005, MobileSelect is already the no. 1 independent online retailer for mobile phones and plans in Australia. Kim founded the business on the idea of helping people find the right mobile plan and building a business model on being the online broker for the mobile market. The key value proposition for MobileSelect customers is to Save money by being on the right mobile plan. For the mobile carriers and service provider, MobileSelect represents a low cost customer acquisition channel." Mark Baartse Mark Baartse Managing Director Shopping-cart-reviews.com, Useyourweb.com Mark Baartse, Managing Director of UseYourWeb.com provides a unique cross-business perspective. Mark's extensive experience in ecommerce, online marketing, internet technologies, usability, content, CRM, search engine optimisation, and process change provides a big picture view which is rare to find in one person. His clients include Microsoft (US & Australia), Young & Rubicam and the NSW Government. UseYourWeb.com is asked to consult in such areas as: Strategic use of search engines and search engine optimisation strategies and tactics Ecommerce strategy for online shops Helping vendors of ecommerce products with market positioning Strategy and project management for new or revamped sites, specialising in high complexity sites. Integration of online CRM into your marketing activities Strategic use of metrics - how you can measure the success of your online activities in a highly accountable way. Michael Walmsley Michael Walmsley General Manager Hitwise Michael joined Hitwise in July 2004. After two successful years growing the Hitwise Competitive Intelligence business in the Asia Pacific region, Michael was appointed General Manager in July 2006. Michael has extensive knowledge in applying data and information to client businesses. Previous appointments consist of Bankers Trust in Australia and Digital in the UK. Here, Michael established new office based sales operations which were expanded nationally and then into Project Management becoming involved in cutting edge service delivery projects that included packet switch mobile technologies. Returning to Australia, Michael worked for M.A.I.D (Market Analysis & Information Database) and helped establish a new Australian operation in Sales & Account Management in online information services. Michael continued in this field finishing up with Thomson and heading up Asia Pacific Strategic Account Group. Michael spearheads growth for the Hitwise Online Competitive Intelligence and Search Marketing Services divisions. Michael Veith Michael Veith CEO & Co-founder ShopFactory Michael Veith is one of the founding members of 3D3.COM Pty Ltd - and its first investor in 1995. He kickstarted the idea of helping shop owners establish themselves on the Internet. He worked as business unit manager for Power Electronics ABB Industry in Australia and was responsible for the Australian, New Zealand and South Asian Market before joining 3D3.COM full-time in 1998. He is now responsible for international sales and marketing strategies and the running of 3D3.COM. Mike Clucas Mike Clucas Co founder and Managing Director Bizar Software Pty Ltd Mike was a founding director of Bizar Software in 2000. He has worked extensively to develop the product during that time, working closely with end users ranging from many small businesses through to larger organisations such as Foster's, Disney Channel and Melbourne University. Bizar Shop us used by hundreds of merchants world wide and uses open source technologies as the basis for it's functionality. It is coded in Python, a language extensively used by Google, NASA and Industrial Light and Magic among others. Mike has heard just about every "bright idea" you can think of relating to eCommerce, he's watched successes and he's seen vendors crash and burn. Share some of those experiences and find out what has made the good ones thrive. David van Leeuwen David van Leeuwen Co-founder and Director Biztube Pty Ltd David van Leeuwen has over 10 years experience in management and marketing consultancy to small and medium business across Australia. In 2001, David took over as Managing Director of DVL Marketing Services Pty Ltd, which specializes in business expansion models and business structure for small to medium enterprises. With a background including Operations, Sales, Marketing and Quality Systems, David brings a wealth of experience to Biztube. In mid 2006, along with partners Ian McAllister, Datamax Australia and Box Media, Biztube was born. Conceived from the need to provide a full service Online Streaming Advertising Service, Biztube offers a range of Video Advertising options designed to meet the needs and budget of most small-medium enterprises and online retailers. Options include Ads produced from Biztube Produced footage, Supplied footage and Photo-Video packages. Whilst the business will formally launch in Mid April 2007, the activity levels during the start-up phase since October 2006 has been exceptional with orders and interest from virtually all business sectors. Biztube is an added value, one stop production and hosting service for businesses wishing to demonstrate their products and services through the online video medium. Simon Warner Simon Warner CEO Centricom Pty Ltd Simon is the founder of Centricom. He has over 10 years experience in the eCommerce industry, working with organisations such as Advantra (Telstra / IBM / Lend Lease Joint venture) where he headed up business development for the IBM Universal Server Farm and IBM Global Network in Australia. He then worked for ANZ bank, where he headed up Business Development, Marketing & Distribution for the bank's Business eCommerce Group - for both Australia and New Zealand and across Asia Pacific. Before his career at ANZ, Simon was head of professional services for one of Australia's first datacentre's and distributors of one of Australia's first Credit Card payment gateways (Camtech). Prior to Camtech, he ran his own successful software application development company with clients such as Mobile Oil, United Energy, Smorgon Steel and Gippsland Water. Before coming to Australia, Simon served eight years as a Police Officer in London and spent the latter part of his Police career working on specialist IT projects. Hilton Rutgers Hilton Rutgers Director of Sales Trellian Hilton is a Director of Sales for Trellian, a leading provider of online marketing tools including the keyword research tool Keyword Discovery and Competitive Intelligence. He is an expert in keyword research and optimisation, as well as running multiple marketing campaigns for clients of all sizes, from “one man bands” to major corporate accounts. His roles at Trellian have included product and service sales, worldwide tradeshows, account management, customer support, speaking spots and marketing & optimisation campaigns. Hilton has also done extensive training in public speaking, human psychology, sales, marketing, keyword research and business growth and development.