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He was appointed CEO of The Cheesecake Shop in Australia in 2022, eager to reignite passion for the nostalgic brand as he and his team pursue ambitious expansion plans for the business across Australia and New Zealand. The versatile and dynamic business leader joined The Cheesecake Shop after two decades with Domino’s, where he oversaw operations inside the brand, most recently as CEO of Domino’s in Ireland.

He brings his appetite for the franchise industry to his role as CEO, alongside an innate ability to build connections, innovate and lead franchise teams to success. With exceptional leadership skills and business acumen, he is focused on growing The Cheesecake Shop's sales and improving company and franchisee profits.

Under his leadership, The Cheesecake Shop has recently undergone a significant rebrand, introducing a modern brand identity. This exciting new chapter for The Cheesecake Shop embraces their rich history and reflects the changing needs and desires of their customers.

His journey kicked off in 2016 with the humble beginnings of a food truck operation right by the Han River in Seoul, Korea. Fast forward to today, and GOPIZZA boasts an impressive 200 outlets across seven countries and substantial funding of 50 million USD, firmly establishing itself as the most valuable Food & Beverage startup in South Korea.

Jay's accomplishments have garnered recognition on a global scale. In 2019, Forbes Asia acknowledged his achievements by naming him one of the "30 Most Influential CEOs Under 30." The Financial Times recognized GOPIZZA as one of the rapidly emerging companies in the Asia Pacific region in 2021 and 2022. He was asked to join an economic delegation to the United States alongside the President of Korea in 2023. This remarkable experience led him to the President's Office, where he showcased GOPIZZA's innovative technology and personally served pizza to distinguished figures, including top conglomerate leaders and the President himself.

He returned to RFG as Head of Growth in early 2020. He was subsequently promoted to the position of Head of Retail in November 2020, where he was responsible for driving strong operational outcomes for the Group’s domestic retail franchise networks within a challenging retail environment, including through the COVID-19 pandemic. He has since developed an extensive knowledge of all aspects of RFG’s business and played a vital role in implementing the Company franchisee first and consumer centric values and strategy. In June 2023, the Company announced Matt’s promotion to Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 July 2023, where he will drive the realisation of growth opportunities and sustainable value creation for the Company’s stakeholders.

Prior to RFG, he worked with a variety of major brands and organisations including Cadbury Schweppes, Asahi, RFG and, more recently, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare. He has held a number of senior commercial roles including Head of Sales, Head of Trade Marketing, Managing Director – Brumby’s Bakery, and General Manager – Commercial Partnerships & Planning.

Lara Thom is currently Global Chief Marketing Officer at Guzman y Gomez. GYG is Australia’s fastest-growing fast food company. , serving real, made-to-order Mexican food using real, fresh produce and authentic ingredients. With speed, technology and innovation at the core of the business, Guzman y Gomez is reinventing fast food by showing it’s possible to serve good food, fast, without compromising on nutrition or quality. 

Lara joined Guzman y Gomez in 2016 after a period as General Manager of Digital and Marketing for Vittoria Food & Beverage. Lara is an entrepreneur at heart and thrives within founder led businesses. Having launched several successful ventures, including digital agency Be.Interactive which was sold to Salmat in 2010, babywear brand “L'il Fraser Collection” and the “Junior MasterChef” range of children’s cookware and aprons. Lara began her career as a journalist at the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph. Lara was also named in the 2022 CMO50 list. 

She currently sits on the Board of Directors at Loreto Normanhurst, has served on the Local Organising Committee for the FIBA Women's World Cup in Sydney 2022 and she is the proud Mum to 5 children between the ages of 19 and 11. Lara spends her weekends driving children to sports and answering questions like “are you completely mad?”

With over 18 years experience spanning media, marketing and digital strategy, Claire looks after the eCommerce and innovation portfolio for KFC SOPAC.

Director, Marketing for Australia and New Zealand, she joined Subway in January 2020. She brings a wealth of knowledge to this role, with more than 20 years’ experience in marketing roles for many iconic leisure and retail brands both domestically and internationally.

She has a successful track record of leading high performing teams to deliver exceptional marketing results through innovative retail marketing and brand strategies, digital transformation and an integrated media approach.

Simon-Kucher is a global consultancy firm with over 2,000 employees in 30+ countries focused on unlocking better growth that drives measurable revenue and profit for their clients. Mitchell Taylor is a Partner based out of Simon-Kucher’s Sydney office. He leads the Consumer Goods and Retail practice within Australia, and the Restaurant practice across APAC. He specialises at working with clients in the Restaurant space to use levers like Pricing, Menu, Promotions and Customer Management to drive long-term measurable growth.

Chris Garlick has been CEO of Starbucks Australia since 2014. Chris’ appointment to the role was part of the acquisition of Starbucks Australia by the Withers Group. It was also the beginning of the transformation of the business, after a challenging period since the brand entered Australia in 2000.

Under Chris’ leadership, the transformation of Starbucks Australia has been characterised by a deep understanding of the economics of the Australian market, as well as an unrelenting focus on delighting customers with exceptional experiences in stores, consistent delivery of high quality beverages, and the delivery of physical and digital engagement of customers in a way that has strong resonance with target groups. By the end of FY24, Starbucks Australia will have reached 72 stores; beyond that, there is an exciting pipeline of 50+ future stores in locations exposed to high customer traffic flows.

Prior to Starbucks, Chris was General Manager of the Non-Food business at Coles Supermarkets for 2.5 years. This role provided the opportunity for Chris to be a prominent leader and active contributor to the remarkable performance trajectory of that business during that period of time.

All of this was after Chris “grew up” within BP over 16 years. Over his time in BP, Chris moved from a graduate intake in the very early stages of his career, to running the Retail business in Australia. Notable highlights were his 6 years in Senior Marketing and Sales roles in BP America based in Chicago, including 4 years as Vice President of Product & Offer Development; and leading the Australian Petrol & Convenience Business to deliver material profit growth through a highly engaged team.

Chris has an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM), and has spent time at Kellogg Graduate School of Management undertaking various Sales & Marketing programs. His undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Arts, with Honours in Politics

Sam has been at the helm of the Oporto familia as our Chief Executive Officer since January 2021. An authentic and visionary leader, Sam has a proven track record of driving growth, transforming brands, creating innovative products and digital experiences. Sam brings a wealth of knowledge to her position as CEO with more than 10 years’ experience in marketing executive positions in leading brands such as Fitness First, Hallas Trading Co (Ella Bache) and Australian Vintage (McGuigan, Tempus Two, Nepenthe), as well as serving as Oporto’s Chief Marketing Officer for two years prior to her appointment as CEO. Sam is known for her skill in blending creative thought-leadership with a growth mindset to build high-performing customer-centric teams.  

Roxanne joined Circana in April 2022. In her current role as Senior Manager at Circana’s foodservice team, she works as a lead analyst developing insights and thought leadership for key QSR clients and partners. Prior to Circana, Roxanne spent over 6 years as a journalist and production editor at a B2B publishing company covering a range of sectors in the Asian region, including healthcare, insurance, and banking & finance. She then worked as a stakeholder relations manager at a bank’s corporate communications team for a couple of years before obtaining her MBA from Macquarie University in 2021.

Ben Gilbert is the head of the Australian research term at Jarden, leading a team of >30 analysts providing insights into Australian macro and company trends. Ben also leads the retail team at Jarden, having been consistently ranked #1 in his field for the past >5yrs. In his role he analyses macro, industry and company trends across the Australian and global retail landscape including food, QSR, travel and discretionary retail.