Speakers

Janine is not your everyday self-made businesswoman. She grew her juice and smoothie empire in 2000 from her kitchen bench, to an international success story. Boost Juice Bars are now in 15 countries with three new brands of Salsas Fresh Mex Grill, Betty’s Burgers and Cibo espresso totalling over 600 stores.

Janine then went on to share her knowledge with others through her role as a “Shark” and mentor on Channel Ten’s Shark Tank.

Her most recent adventure has been as a Champion contestant on Channel Ten’s Australian Survivor 2019.

Janine’s business approach has made her a leader in her field, with BRW listing Janine as one of the top 15 people who have changed the way business is done in the last 25 years.

Apart from her Directorship with Retail Zoo, Janine is a Director on the publicly-listed Michael Hill Jewellers, and was the first female director on the board of the Hawthorn Football Club. She is the Best-selling author of The Accidental Entrepreneur, which is the story of Janine’s journey with Boost Juice and also the co-host of the Podcast Superwomen We Ain’t.

Janine’s philosophy is simple – if she can do it, anyone can. “I still love getting up every morning and being a part of this great adventure. I’ll keep doing it as long as I love it and who knows where we could end up next!”

Sessions

Plenary 1

Jon Dee is an award-winning social entrepreneur, broadcaster and campaigner.

He is a leading expert on business innovation, sustainability and efficiency. His business guidebooks ‘Sustainable Growth’ and ‘EnergyCut’ have shifted over 130,000 copies.

On Sky News Business channel, Jon researched, wrote and presented 115 episodes of ‘Smart Money’ – a live weekly TV program where he showed businesses how to become more innovative, efficient and sustainable.

Using real world case studies, he presented over 700 stories that showed how innovation, efficiency and sustainability can boost the business bottom line. He also initiated regular coverage about the plant-based future of food and the business potential of a more Circular Economy.

Since 1986, Jon has run campaigns that have created major change. He is currently the Australian Coordinator of the international RE100 initiative. In that role, he has been successful in getting 10 of Australia’s biggest companies to commit to using 100% renewable electricity in their operations (this includes Australia’s top 5 banks). More major companies are set to follow.
As a philanthropist, Jon Dee co-founded Planet Ark with Pat Cash in 1991 and ran the organisation for its first 15 years. Jon also started the DoSomething Foundation and Rock Aid Armenia charities.

Jon is the Global Director of One Tree Per Child which he founded with Olivia Newton-John. Jon and Olivia also founded Australia’s highly successful National Tree Day and fronted the event for the planting of its first 10 million trees.

Jon has also just launched his DoSomethingNearYou.com.au website that shows Australians what they can do to give back and volunteer in over 15,000 towns, cities and suburbs around Australia. In 2008, Jon also launched his FoodWise.com.au food waste website which put the issue of food waste on the Australian media map.

Every week, Jon is on 53 ABC Radio stations with the ‘Good News With Jon Dee’ segment where he talks about the latest positive sustainability news. Jon has also produced and directed hundreds of sustainability-themed TV ads which featured stars such as Tom Cruise, Kylie Minogue, Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman, Richard Branson, Jeff Goldblum, Olivia Newton-John, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin McCloud and many others.

Jon also had a top 40 UK hit with his all-star Rock Aid Armenia charity remake of ‘Smoke on the Water’. The associated album was the first UK charity album to go ‘Gold’. The bands recruited by Jon to join Rock Aid Armenia included Queen, Pink Floyd, Bon Jovi, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Rush and Deep Purple, to name but a few.

As part of this project, Jon and his friend Ara Tadevosyan built a music school in the Armenian earthquake zone. Opened in 2015, the school currently teaches 220 children a year.

Jon was Australian of the Year 2010 (NSW). In 2009 the President of Armenia gave Jon Armenia’s highest award – ‘The Order of Honor’ – for his long term work helping people in the Armenian earthquake zone. In 2016, his ‘Smart Money’ TV show was awarded the International Media Prize by Green Accord in Italy.

Sessions

Plenary 2

Charlie Arnot is recognized as a thought leader in food and agriculture. He is highly regarded as both a writer and sought-after speaker who engages audiences across the globe. Charlie has more than 25 years of experience working in communications, public relations and issues management within the food system. He is the founder and president of Look East, an employee-owned consulting firm. He also serves as CEO of the Center for Food Integrity, a international non-profit organization dedicated to building consumer trust and confidence in today’s food system.

One client said of Charlie’s work, “others help us talk about our business, you help us think differently about who we are and what we do.” His commitment to excellence, innovation and integrity have positioned him as a trusted counselor to CEOs, government leaders and executives, and a respected industry advisor on critical issues within the food system. Clients and food and farm industry leaders seek his unique expertise in applying the peer reviewed trust model to help them build trust in their processes, products, people and brands.

Charlie is frequently sought out by media for his insight on food and agriculture issues and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Time, NPR, CNBC, The National Journal, Entrepreneur, Yahoo health, Huffington Post, Grist and dozens of trade publications globally.

Charlie is the author of, “Size Matters, Why We Love to Hate Big Food,” which was named the top ag book of 2018 by noted DC journalist Jerry Hagstrom who said, “Charlie Arnot is the only consumer analyst who can explain to agribusiness executives why consumers distrust them – and not make the executives angry.”

Charlie spent ten years as a corporate officer for a leading food company; he worked for a public relations agency, was an award-winning radio journalist and worked in video and film. Charlie grew up in southeast Nebraska and graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Journalism degree.

Sessions

Plenary 3