The worlds of advertising, marketing and media have never been so heavily dependent on technology. And, at the rate the industries are changing, they’ll never be as un-dependent on tech as they are today.
But while we regularly hear from the superstar CMOs, CCOs and CEOs who dominate headlines and sign the big cheques, most consumers’ interactions with brands, companies and the wider world have more to do with these 10 developers (and the thousands of others like them) than any of those C-suiters.
These developers craft and tune the experiences that millions of customers have with the brands we know and love. For instance, the next time your CommBank or Westpac app goes on the blink, it won’t be Jo Boundy or Annabel Fribence riding to the rescue. It’ll be their teams of developers. And if they don’t get it right, you might lose a customer or two.
B&T’s Best of the Best series heralds the people at the top of their game in whatever section of adland they find themselves. Last week, we looked at the best Creative Strategists and before that Mentors and Indie Media Agency Leaders.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be revealing the Best of the Best Consultants, Media Agency Commercial Directors, Creative Agency Commercial Directors and Film Directors.
If you know anyone who should be in the top 10, email [email protected] and let us know.
So, without any further ado (of which there has been much), here are you Best of the Best Developers in 2024.
10. Ian Grant, head of technology delivery, oOh!media
Grant will be a familiar name to many, given his place on last year’s Best of the Best Developers list (read that here) but also because he is the leading technological light at a business that is fundamentally changing how it works.
Last year, CEO Cathy O’Connor told B&T that its digital assets now account for 68 per cent of oOh!’s revenue and in its latest full-year results its reooh retail media arm grew by two per cent. As the head of oOh!’s technology delivery, Grant is central to all of oOh!’s innovations. It’s no wonder he has been described to us as “something of a tech superstar.”
9. Matt Burrows, general manager – technology consulting, AU/NZ, Acceleration
Burrows, as have many others, made the switch from London to Sydney in July 2022, first setting up shop at Media.Monks where he served as the cloud solutions lead for APAC. This time last year, he made the move to WPP-owned Acceleration to helm its technology consulting business.
With the current clamour around AI solutions, as well as market mix modelling and other forms of econometrics to prove the effect of marketing at a time of tightened budgets, Burrows’ work for Acceleration is vital to its clients’ success. While Burrows’ LinkedIn says “I build data platforms,” he does a lot more.
8. Aanvika Wagh, engineering manager, Nine
As an engineering manager at Nine, Wagh’s work is crucial to Nine’s digital-facing business. She manages a team of engineers who deliver the tools necessary for the company’s content producers to deliver their work.
However, there is much more to Wagh’s role than simply creating tools and products. Shortlisted for the Women Leading Tech People’s Choice Award last year, Wagh also works tirelessly to promote and mentor women in technology and champion working parents. It’s little wonder that she has been described as a “formidable leader within the Nine business” with her forward-thinking approach to business and empathetic approach to leadership.
7. Puravin Sivaganam, head of engineering, GumGum
Another familiar face from last year’s list, Sivaganam also took home the Developer trophy at the Best of the Best Awards in 2022. At that time, he technically worked for Playground xyz.
Now he’s fully ensconced in the global world of GumGum, along with the rest of the Playground team and is driving the future of digital advertising forward with the rollout of the company’s Mindset Platform. Already, the platform is delivering huge results for global clients such as Domino’s.
6. Cassie Jordan, head of operations and community, Woolworths Group
Jordan placed third on last year’s list and took home the Delivery trophy at the 2023 Women Leading Tech Awards. Having previously served as the head of delivery across wiq — the joint venture between Quantium and Woolies — she was responsible for harmonising the two businesses and leading a team of more than 500 professionals across data science, analytics, insights, engineering and machine learning disciplines.
As of six days ago, she now serve as the head of operations and community at Woolies and continues to lead a team of experts in creating better services for customers.
5. Angelica Veness, senior manager, AI & innovation, business consulting, Salesforce
Veness came very highly recommended to B&T by the upper echelons of the Salesforce leadership team in Australia and it’s very easy to see why she is such a respected leader within the business.
Having been with the firm for more than seven years, she leads the team in building prototype tools for Salesforce’s clients, helping to make their work smarter and more effective. She also uses her years of data and AI experience to help customers understand the value that AI can bring to their organisations by automating, augmenting and accelerating business goals. She also knows that AI can be a catalyst for equality or a blocker, so is working to educate women on the importance of understanding AI.
That last sentence points to the broader work that Veness does at Salesforce. Until April this year, she was the president of the company’s Women in Solution Engineering group that sought to inspire diverse perspectives that attract and amplify talent, incubate ideas and create opportunities for Salesforce’s solutions teams to connect, grow and thrive. Now she serves as the overall president of Salesforce’s Women’s Network. There are few more important people for improving diversity in technology than Veness.
4. Jade Loyzaga, engineering director, Canva
Loyzaga leads the 12 teams (up to 110 people) that make up the Editing group at Canva and is responsible for the software’s core Editing functionality. Given the rapid acceleration that the business has been on, Loyzaga’s role has expanded and she has led the development and launch of new products and features such as Canva Docs, Canva Drawing and other AI tools.
Described as bringing “amazing positive changes to a highly demanding area” Loyzaga’s role at Canva extends beyond leading these teams of Canvanauts. She has also kicked off a mentoring program for the business’ female engineers, pairing them with a leader who can advise and guide them to boost women within the company further.
3. Adam Coates, managing director, data science & customer solutions engineering Asia Pacific, Google
Coates placed second on last year’s Best of the Best Developers list and with good reason. He’s been with Google for nearly 18 years and has been the top person in its APAC data science and customer solutions engineering team for nearly four years.
Coates also has the depressingly unusual honour of running an APAC engineering team out of Sydney. Many of Google’s global tech rivals don’t have engineering functions within Australia, with roles most commonly located in Singapore. Regardless, Coates is a formidable leader in the industry and Google is better for his vast experience.
2. Azadeh Khojandi, senior engineering manager, The Trade Desk
Last year’s winner, Khojandi has become a regular fixture on Women in Media and Women Leading Tech shortlists and in the pages of B&T thanks to her impressive technical abilities and her inspiring story.
After leaving her native Iran in 2010 as a refugee, Khojandi came to Sydney and after spending time at SCA and Microsoft found her way to The Trade Desk. In 2017, she co-founded GEEQ (Girl Geek Sydney) and organises workshops and personal development sessions to improve the lives and career opportunities of women in technology. She has also founded Women in TTD in Sydney, a support group at The Trade Desk that gives women the soft skills necessary to advance their careers. It has been so successful that the group has expanded around APAC.
1. Nik Zavgorodniy, head of engineering, Mutinex
Mutinex is one of the hottest tech-focused marketing businesses anywhere in the world at the moment and as its head of engineering, Zavgorodniy is a big reason why.
In December, Zavgorodniy stepped up from his principal software engineer role to his current interim head of engineering spot. Described by a colleague as “awesome,” Zavgorodniy leads Mutinex’s crack team of devs and engineers to create its DataOS and Platform products, giving marketers the white-hot insights they need in an approachable manner.
After spending time at the likes of Telstra, Pluralsight and Kaspersky Lab, Zavgorodniy also works as an advisor to payments firm Chippit.
