Cairns Crocodiles Awards: Meet The Global CMOs Who Will Be Judging Round Two

Marketing leaders from the Asia-Pacific region will descend upon Far North Queensland to judge this year’s Cairns Crocodiles Awards. A handful of the judges have global marketing duties, illustrating the high calibre of live judging phase.

Buy your tickets to the Cairns Crocodiles 2025.

David Ohana

David Ohana is the chief communications and marketing officer at the United Nations. In this role, he spearheads global communications and engagement strategy, supporting the UN and its critical causes.

Ohana has 24 years of experience across branding, advertising, and social impact, and has led campaigns with figures like Beyoncé, Charlize Theron, and George Clooney, shaping narratives that have reached billions. 

Previously, he served as chief of brand building at UNICEF, content producer for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and head of film and special projects at OCHA, creating record-breaking content that drove action on major global issues.

Ohana has received over two dozen prestigious awards, including Cannes Lions and One Show honors.

Aside from judging, Ohana will be presenting a morning keynote, Big, Bold, Crazy Ideas – Why The World Needs Them (And You) Now More Than Ever, on Wednesday, 15 May.

Check out the full Cairns Crocodiles agenda and speakers.

Julia McMurray

Another high profile recruit is Julia McMurray, the global senior brand and marketing lead at mining company Thiess.

McMurray has spearheaded brand and marketing duties at Thiess for the past two and half years, and prior to this served as marketing marketing at Bundaberg Brewed Drinks, where she worked on campaigns including “Great Australian Brew”.

Previously she has held marketing roles at Michael Hill, Tatts Group and John Deere.

Buy your tickets to the Cairns Crocodiles 2025.

Polly Blenkinship

Polly Blenkinship, the global head of brand media at Audible, manages teams across four regions (APAC, EU, North America, LATAM) and is responsible for global brand media strategy and implementation across 13 countries.

She started her career in advertising and has held senior marketing roles both agency and client side for more than 15 years, including eight years at Foxtel.

Polly has a passion for leading diverse teams, driving collaboration through matrixed organisations and commercial growth from the implementation of measurable marketing initiatives.

She will be a panellist at the Cairns Crocodiles in the Reef theatre on Thursday morning, discussing what it takes to drive global brand success.

Check out the full Cairns Crocodiles agenda and speakers.

Nikos Patiniotakis

Nikos Patiniotakis is the head of global brand development at Zespri International, the world’s largest kiwifruit marketer and one of the top fruit brands across key markets globally, based in Singapore. 

He has extensive experience in brand development, strategy, portfolio management and innovation across B2B and B2C sectors. 

Patiniotakis  has successfully executed brand strategies for top global brands. His career spans local, regional, and global roles in four countries and two continents, at Unilever Food Solutions, and currently at Zespri. 

He is a firm believer in a brand’s responsibility to create value across its ecosystem by doing well and doing good, especially for food brands, which have a crucial role in improving the health of people, communities and planet.

Patiniotakis joins the same panel as Blenkinship on Thursday morning.

Buy your tickets to the Cairns Crocodiles 2025.

Sherilyn Shackell

Sherilyn Shackell needs little introduction. The founder and global CEO of The Marketing Academy has done more to develop leadership talent in marketing, media and advertising than just about anyone else.

The Marketing Academy opened in 2010, bringing together some of the world’s best known and popular brands to provide world class learning for all levels of talent from emerging leaders to CMOs. Their highly respected programs are delivered in the UK, Australia, APAC & USA.

Shackell  is also founder and chair of The Marketing Academy Foundation, a stand alone charity providing marketing apprenticeships for young people from challenging backgrounds and is a Board Advisor to Grace Blue and WeAreFearless.

A highly popular keynote speaker and podcast guest, Shackell has frequently been recognised for her work, receiving the CIM Women in Marketing ‘Special Award for Contribution to Marketing’, inducted into the Courvoisier Future 500, invited to join the Marketing Group of Great Britain and identified as one of the UK’s Vision100 by Adobe.

Her presentation at the Cairns Crocodiles on Wednesday morning, The Leadership Reckoning, is one not to be missed. 

Check out the full Cairns Crocodiles agenda and speakers.

Xanthe Wells

Xanthe Wells, the VP of global creative at Pinterest, has been driving the brand’s creative transformation, delivering a major step change in creative output over the last year of her tenure. 

Her team, the Pinterest House of Creative, has yielded unprecedented ROI for each of the major initiatives she has led – from their widely recognized efforts across the B2B space to the best performing brand campaign in the company’s history.

Prior to Pinterest she led the Google Devices & Services Creative Team for 5 years as Global ECD

At Google, Wells led her team of ~100 creatives and producers to international recognition by many industry award shows, culminating in the Brand Side Agency of the Year in both the One Show and Art Directors Club award shows in 2022 as well as a Grand Prix in Cannes for Real Tone on Google Pixel.

Wells has scooped almost every creative accolade in an accomplished career agency side (at TBWA) and at Google and Pinterest.

She will present a though-provoking session on Wednesday about how brands can create meaningful connections with Gen Z.

Check out the full list of round 2 judges below and make sure you buy your tickets to the Cairns Crocodiles 2025.

Cairns Crocodiles Awards 2025 Round 2 Judges