Toby is both an entertaining and challenging facilitator and MC, consistently achieving ‘excellent’ ratings from clients, many of whom rate him as the best presenter they have experienced.

Toby was the Master of Ceremonies in 2010, and is very excited to be involved again in 2013.

“At the last OSF I met so many passionate and involved people, both speakers and delegates. It goes to show that sport is not just about the athletes, it’s about creating an environment for athletes to excel in.

I’m really looking forward to hearing all about the new developments that will help create our Sporting Future”.

Peter FitzSimons is a rugby star, best-selling author, popular and respected columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald and Sun-Herald and a television presenter on Fox Sports. Dubbed “Australia’s finest sports journalist” by Andrew Denton, he speaks four languages, has played rugby for the wallabies, co-hosted radio shows with Mike Carlton and Doug Mulray and boasts an impressive list of interview credits from George Bush to Diego Maradona and every Australian Prime Minister from Gough Whitlam to Julia Gillard. He is the author of over 20 best-selling books including Batavia, Tobruk, Kokoda, A Simpler Time, Little Theories of Life and biographies on Douglas Mawson, Nancy Wake, Nene King, Les Darcy, Steve Waugh, Nick Farr-Jones, Kim Beazley, John Eales and Charles Kingsford Smith. In 2001 and 2004 he was the biggest selling non-fiction author in Australia.

The best 200/400 metre sprinter in the history of the sport of track & field. Michael Johnson dominated the international scene, from 1990 – 2000, the first man ever to be ranked #1 in the world at both 200 metres and 400 metres, winning world championships in both events and in 1996 becoming the first man to win both events at an Olympic Games.  Johnson broke the world record for 200 metres and 400 metres during his career and still holds the world record for 400 metres and the 4x400 metre relay.

Since his retirement Michael Johnson has achieved success as an award winning television commentator for BBC, and as the founder and president of Michael Johnson Performance, a sports performance training institute specializing in training programs, injury rehabilitation, and sports nutrition, with global operations and clients ranging from youth athletes to Olympic and professional athletes and teams.

Phil Ruthven is the Founder and Chairman of IBISworld, an international corporation providing online business information, forecasting and strategic services. He is a director of several other companies, advisory boards and charitable organisations including the Melbourne Institute and Open Family Australia. IBISworld now operates in Australia, the USA, China, the UK and Indonesia with plans to add the rest of the European Union, Canada and Japan over the next five years. Phil is a regular contributor on business, economic and social issues to radio, TV, newspapers, magazines and documentaries. He continues to be one of Australia’s most frequent and prolific commentators in demand by the media, and is widely considered to be the nation’s most respected strategist and futurist on business, social and economic matters.

James, a chartered accountant and former fast bowler who played cricket for Victoria, has been Chief Executive Officer of Cricket Australia (CA) since 2001 — a role that involves heading Cricket Australia as the national umbrella body responsible for the administration of cricket. CA took over the administration of women’s cricket two years later.

During his time as CEO, the Australian men's and women's national cricket teams have won the men’s World Cup in 2003 and 2007, the women’s World Cup in 2005 and 2013 and the women’s World Twenty20 Championship in 2010 and 2012. At a community level, participation has grown strongly in his time to almost 900,000 registered players.

Off field, James has helped guide Cricket Australia through its recent detailed strategic review.

He was also closely involved in the 2011 Argus Review that resulted in sweeping changes to elite cricket management, in the 2012 CA governance review that sees CA’s board now transitioning from a board of state representatives to a board of independent directors, and helped steer a complex review of cricket’s national financial model that now sees the sport working more closely as a collective national game.

James is also a board member of Melbourne University Sport and the chairman of COMPPS — Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports (CEO’s of Cricket, AFL, ARU, NRL, FFA, Netball and Tennis).

Sam Almaliki is a sporting tragic and a passionate community leader. Sam has a personal interest in, and a strong commitment to, sport’s role in public policy. He is currently a Commissioner on the NSW Community Relations Commission (CRC), advising the NSW Government on multicultural affairs. He is also Founder and President of the Sydney Junior Winter Cricket Association Inc.

Sam is in his final semester of studying law at the University of Wollongong. He has recently commenced a role in the advertising industry following a year with Cricket NSW as Emerging Markets Leader. He has a particular interest in the Asian Century. On this phenomenon he makes the point that “the resulting demographic changes brought on by the Asian Century at a local and regional level are enormous. Across all social spheres and industry, sport no exception, we are being asked to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by such change. Being strategic in a highly competitive and dynamic environment has never been so critical”. 

Carolyn is a highly regarded and well-known figure within the Australian creative industries. A regular panellist on the ABC's The Gruen Transfer, she is a recognised authority on creative persuasion and is also a writer for both Drum Media and designfederation.net.

She has been working in advertising and marketing for over 15 years as a communications strategist, and regularly presents keynote presentations on the ways in which all manner of organisations can enhance their branding impact and creative strategies now and into the future, drawing on her considerable and diverse experience in the industry.

Belinda Moore is a membership specialist who has assisted thousands of not-for-profit organisations around the world with their membership challenges. She is a professional speaker who specialises in training, motivating and up-skilling boards, staff and volunteers to improve their membership performance. Known for her practical solutions, Belinda presents frequently for not-for-profit organisations.

Revealing insights from personal and professional experiences, she ensures that participants walk away with ideas and information that can immediately be applied. Belinda recently authored the Membership is Dead? whitepaper. She has also written two books, The Membership Machine and Membership Fundamentals, Australia’s premier references for membership specialists.

James Castrission and Justin Jones are two Aussie explorers well known for constantly pushing the boundaries of human endurance. They made history on January 26 2012 by completing the longest unsupported polar expedition of all time: in 100 years of polar exploration many had tried but no-one had ever walked from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back without assistance. After 89 gruelling days the pair made it back to the coast after having skied 2275km with everything they needed to survive in the harshest environment on earth. Four years earlier they “crossed the ditch”, paddling 3318km without assistance across the Tasman Sea, becoming the first kayakers to do so and setting a record for the longest transoceanic double kayak expedition. James is also the author of the best-selling Crossing the Ice and Crossing the Ditch and Justin the producer and narrator of two award-winning documentaries.

Netball is a game of skill, tactics and determination. Those traits are also utilised off-court by the Netball Australia Chief Executive in managing the repositioning of Netball Australia in the Australian sporting landscape.

Since her appointment as Chief Executive, Kate has led significant change. The national headquarters has been relocated from Sydney to Melbourne, substantial federal government funding has been secured, the ground-breaking ANZ Championship was developed and launched and recently Australia was successful in securing the rights to the 2015 World Netball Championships. A Williamson Fellow, Kate is also a trustee of the MCG, an International Netball Federation Director and Chair of the Victorian Institute of Sport.

Kate leads a team of 30 staff at Netball Australia supporting eight affiliated state/territory bodies and more than 330,000 registered members nationally.

Kate holds an Honours degree in Applied Science from RMIT University and Masters degree in Sport Management from Deakin University. A former state netballer, Kate enjoys running, golf and snow skiing.

Kitty Chiller has been the national manager of the Active After-school Communities program since the start of 2011. The federal government funded program employs almost 200 staff with an annual budget of around $40 million. Kitty has been involved in sport all her life, as an athlete, journalist and administrator. Kitty represented Australia at the 2000 Olympic Games in modern pentathlon although a fractured knee cap the week before the games unfortunately affected her performance and she finished 14th. Prior to Sydney, Kitty had achieved the world number one ranking in her sport and won numerous World Cup medals. In her professional life, Kitty has worked as a sports journalist on radio and television both in Australia and Europe; she managed all workforce training at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the 2006 Doha Asian Games; she is President of Modern Pentathlon Australia and was the Deputy Chef de Mission of the 2012 Australian Olympic team in London.

Brendan Lynch is a consultant in the sports industry specialising in strategic planning, organisational development and workforce planning. He has worked with international, national and state sporting organisations as well as conducting major projects for the Australian Sports Commission including the National Junior Sport Framework Review, National Framework for Inclusive Sport and Active Recreation and serving on the working group developing the National Sport Volunteer Strategy, as well as producing The Case for Sport in Australia outlining the value of the contribution by sport to Australian society.

Brendan has assisted major sports including Swimming Australia, Athletics Australia and Rowing Australia to develop strategic plans and the organisational reform required for their implementation. Brendan also facilitated the development of ACTIVE 2020, the 10-year strategic plan for sport and active recreation in the ACT.

As SOCOG Manager of Volunteer Recruitment, he headed the team responsible for the successful recruitment of the 55,000 volunteers for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Brendan is a Fellow with the Institute of Sport Management and holds Directorships with Australian University Sport, Volunteering ACT and Volunteering NSW.

General Manager of Skateboarding Australia (SbA), Glenn Walker has been involved with the organisation and the most influential youth and street culture for over nine years.  SbA' s role is to develop skateboarding at all levels and to increase opportunities for skateboarders. SbA seeks to be the agent of change, the vehicle which assists to propel and promote skateboarding's positive, creative and unique lifestyle.
 
On the back of skateboarding’s key attributes, relevance, accessibility & inclusivity, SbA has been able to create a complete participation pathway from its SbA Hubs network, thru to the SbA AM Series and SbA Pro/Am Tour. This innovative pathway has strong shared commitment with diverse range of stakeholders, which range from the Australian Sports Commission, commercial sponsors, state government partnerships & local government (over 75 LGA's Australia wide).
 
In addition to the participation pathway, SbA has invested strongly in digital content creation and social media. Dedicated staff members capture, create and direct unique content covering a diverse range formats, to be presented on sba.org.au. One of SbA's key strengths is the social media following, which is within the top ten of all sports nationally.

Carmel Guerra is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) based in Melbourne. CMY was the first organisation in Australia to work exclusively with migrant and refugee young people, by providing services and advocating for the needs of these young people.

Carmel has over 20 years experience in the sector and has long recognised the role of sport and recreation in assisting with the settlement of newly arrived young people. CMY has been actively engaged for many years in providing training and working with sporting clubs and associations to make sport more accessible to migrant and refugee communities.

In 1994 Carmel was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate issues of migrant and refugee youth overseas.  In 2003 she earned a Centenary Medal for services to young people, migrant and refugee communities and in 2005 was entered into the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll for services to the community.

With over 20 years’ experience both here and overseas, Ben Crowe is regarded as a global expert in the sports and entertainment industry.

He joined NIKE Australia in 1992 and in 1997 at age 27, he moved to the US and then Hong Kong, where he became the youngest director in NIKE Inc. history, heading up its Asia Pacific Sports Marketing division. Here he worked with many of the world’s most famous athletes and teams, including Michael Jordan, Manchester United and Tiger Woods.

Ben then moved to the world’s largest and richest sports organisation, The Hong Kong Jockey Club (with 19,000 employees and an annual turnover of $26 billion) where he became their first head of marketing in 125 years. In 2000 he returned to Australia to set up gemba (previously Crowe Lovett) along with Rob Mills and recently retired Essendon captain James Hird.  gemba was set up “to help the sports and entertainment industry do things better and be better for it” which includes the brands that intersect with entertainment. Consequently gemba has since worked with almost every major sport organisation in Australia and develops both business and brand strategy for many of the world’s leading brands. They also work with state and federal governments on the commercialisation of sport.

Ben is married with 3 children who all barrack for Richmond and cry themselves to sleep during winter!

David Culbert is a sports marketing, media and sponsorship expert.

As a long jumper, David reached Olympic and World Championship finals and twice won Commonwealth Games silver medals.  Following an international career that lasted ten years, David established Athletics Australia’s media and marketing operation in 1994. 

Since the establishment of Jump Media & Marketing in 1998, David and the team have worked on projects with a broad range of national and international federations and events. Recent projects include media, communications and marketing activities for the UCI Track and Road Cycling World Championships, Tour of Beijing, Australia Post Stawell Gift, Herald Sun/CityLink Run for the Kids and FIH Champions Trophy Hockey.

Currently a member of the IAAF Television Commission after eight years on the Press Commission, David has worked as a commentator at four Olympic Games, four Commonwealth Games and seven World Athletics Championships. In addition he concentrates on the projects of his own production company.

Ross Kilborn is Yachting Australia’s Sports Development Director. Ross has combined his passion for increasing community participation and engagement in sailing, with his broad business skills and experience. His attraction to sailing is shared by the thousands of Australians …. the on-water freedom and fun, and the social opportunities at clubs.

Ross joined Yachting Australia in July 2011.  His objective, and performance measure, is simple — more people sailing safely at member clubs. Prior to this appointment, Ross was CEO of Yachting Victoria where he gained a deep understanding of the diversity and needs of member clubs,  and a strong appreciation of the sports business market. Previously Ross spent a decade in the direct marketing industry, including as General Manager of a business that specialised in consumer analytics and segmentation.

Born in Melbourne and educated in Australia and the United States, Steve Wood combines a successful track record in business with a lifelong involvement in tennis.

As a top state player in the 1980s, he was a contemporary of Pat Cash and Wally Masur and represented Victoria at junior level before embarking on the professional ATP tour from 1985 – 1987 prior to moving his career aspirations into business.

He was appointed in 2005 by Tennis Australia as its new Chief Executive Officer to take on the responsibilities for day-to-day administration of one of Australia’s most successful sports.

Before joining TA, he gained extensive business experience as the Chief Executive of information, communications and technology companies in Australia, across Asia-Pacific and around the world.

Tennis Australia provides leadership and direct financial support for the work of the Member State and Territory Associations and is committed to the development of the game worldwide especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

Landry Fevre is General Manager Media, Commercial Strategy. Landry is responsible for the media and entertainment industry engagement for the National Broadband Network (NBN). He is an evangelist for NBN and works closely with the media industry in articulating how the national broadband network will unlock new opportunities in the future digitalisation of media.

Landry has been with the NBN for over 3 ½ years and before joining, worked at Vodafone in market insights and strategy roles. Landry also served as IDC telecom and digital media research director for 5 years and has been tracking the Australian telecom and media market for the past decade. Landry's experience spans across multiple countries in Asia Pacific over his 20 year career with the last 13 years in Australia.

He has a Master's degree in Physics from  the Université d’Angers, France, and a Bachelor degree in Physical Mechanics from  the Université de Reims, France.