Conference MC - Richard Wilkins

As Channel Nine's entertainment editor and regular red carpet resident, Richard Wilkins will be no stranger to any of you. A regular member of the TODAY SHOW team, Richard presents daily features and interviews from right across the world of showbiz from Madonna and The Rolling Stones to Andrea Bocelli and Nigel Kennedy.

Richard moved to Channel Nine to present MTV Australia – which set a new benchmark for Music Television in Australia. While he steered MTV through its six year run and made guest appearances on MTV US and MTV Europe, his career expanded in other directions with magazine columns, syndicated radio shows, TV Specials and exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in the world including, Keith Urban and Anthony Mundine.

But it’s not all work for Richard. He's a tireless supporter of numerous charities including the Starlight Foundation and Spastic Centres. He was awarded the Variety Club's Ricky May Heart Variety Award for his continuing support of the humanitarian causes. He’s also a keen environmentalist and a proud father.

We are delighted to welcome Richard Wilkins as our MC for the 2008 LJ Hooker International Conference.

Naomi Simson - Building Brand through People

It takes strength of character and determination to one day close the door on your long-standing career as a corporate marketer and go start your own show. Especially if it’s an online business and you know nothing about online!  Against the odds, Naomi Simon has blossomed into a one of Australia’s most vivid online success stories.

Naomi is the founder and CEO of RedBalloon, which is now a one of a kind, gift-giving phenomenon in Australia and New Zealand.  In its first six years 300,000 people experienced a RedBalloon Day. Customers can choose from an elaborate menu of more than 2,000 exciting activities from Chocolate Making Workshops to Sky Diving or Swimming With Dolphins to V8 Race Car Driving Days.

Alongside her commitments at RedBalloon, Naomi was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005 by Westpac, Finalist in the Telstra Business Awards in 2007, 2006, 2005 and Marketing Employer of Choice by B&T Magazine 2007.

We are excited to welcome Naomi to the 2008 LJ Hooker International Conference

Rex Pemberton - Rising to the Challenge

On May 31, 2005 Rex Pemberton made history by becoming the youngest Australian to climb to the summit of Mt Everest, after raising in excess of $100, 000 to support his dream. Having delivered significant Return on Investment to his sponsors, Rex raised a second 100k of funding to support his successful quest becoming the 3rd youngest person in the world to climb the highest mountain on all seven continents. 

Rex has set up his own personal development business and features as a lead climber and facilitator in the Peak Teams Mountain based programs.  He now combines his experiences in the mountains with his on-going education in business management to deliver inspiring presentations on living the life you have imagined and overcoming the obstacles put before you.  

We are excited to welcome Rex to the 2008 LJ Hooker International Conference

Andrew May - Switched on Performance

Do you turn up and turn on, or turn up and turn off? Andrew May is one of Australia’s leading performance experts; specialising in getting your employees to turn up and turn on.

He has spent the past 15 years perfecting the art and science of performance – first as an elite middle distance athlete and then transferring this knowledge and experience to forward thinking businesses, Olympic athletes and national sporting teams.

Andrew is the former Physical Performance Manager for the Australian Cricket Team; a leading organisation that is consistently voted amongst the world’s best performing teams. He has also worked with the NSW Cricket Team, Olympic athletes and gold medal performers in track and field, swimming, basketball, netball, hockey and tennis.

As the co founder of Good Health Solutions, Australia’s largest corporate health consultancy, he has first hand experience into the demands and pressures of growing a business and keeping key personnel on target and on track.

We are excited to welcome Andrew to the 2008 LJ Hooker International Conference

Alan Jones - The path to victory…. tips for leading a successful life

Australia's most popular talkback presenter, Alan Jones is a phenomenon. He's described by many as the nation's greatest orator and motivational speaker. Alan has the mind and capacity to make complex issues understandable to the largest Breakfast audience in Australia.

After graduating from university with a handful of majors, Alan was appointed speech writer and senior adviser to former Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser. Alan was elected Australian Rugby Union Coach in 1984 – 1988 and in December 1985 he was selected by the Confederation of Australian Sport as Australia's Coach of the Year. In March 1985, Alan Jones was recruited to join Radio 2UE as their morning radio host and quickly established himself in the competitive world of Sydney radio. Quickly, he moved to the breakfast shift, 5.30am to 9.00am and achieved the largest breakfast audience and also the largest radio audience in Australia.

In March 1989, Alan Jones was honoured by the Variety Club of Australia as their Australian Radio Personality of the Year. In 1990 – 93 and again in 1995-97 Alan Jones was awarded by the radio industry, the prestigious award of Australian Radio Talk Personality of the Year.

In 2002, Alan Jones joined 2GB as Breakfast announcer and joined the Today Show on Channel 9 as editorial commentator.

In 2004, Alan received a Queen's Birthday Honour - an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) partly for his service to the media and sport industry, but also his years of dedication to supporting a variety of charities including the Heart Research Institute. LJ Hooker is delighted to welcome Alan Jones as our Keynote Speaker for the 2008 International Conference!

We are excited to welcome Alan to the 2008 LJ Hooker International Conference

Conference Speaker - Larry Emdur

Larry Emdur began his career as a copyboy at the Sydney Morning Herald in 1980 and since then has worked on virtually every form of television.  At 17 he became Australia’s youngest national newsreader presenting the overnight news for    Channel 7.
After two years reporting and presenting at 7 news, Larry was invited to join channel 10’s Good Morning Australia where he travelled the globe reporting on weird and wonderful stories.

He has reported and presented on news, current affairs, lifestyle, infotainment shows and participated in live international broadcasts

He also enjoyed successful breakfast stints as host of Sydney radio 2UW and later Mix 106.5. He has been a popular fill-in host on many breakfast and evening radio shows in Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast.

However Larry is probably best known for his record-breaking five-year run on the Price is Right and has twice been nominated for a Logie. 

LJ Hooker welcomes Larry as our MC for the International Crystal Globes Awards Ball on Friday 29th August.

We are excited to welcome Larry to the 2008 LJ Hooker International Conference

Conference Speaker - Pam Walkley

Pam Walkley is a widely experienced finance journalist. She started her career at the Melbourne Age while studying for a commerce degree at Melbourne University.
Throughout her career Pam has specialised in business, investing and property, taking over as Editor of Australian Property News in 1984, at the same time as writing for BRW and Personal Investment magazines.

In 1988 she moved to the Australian Financial Review as Property Editor and later become News Editor and Chief of Staff of the AFR, a position she held for seven years, with a one-year break when she was national communications director for one of the world’s largest real estate consultants, Jones Lang   LaSalle.

In early 1999 she moved to Australian Consolidated Press to launch Money Magazine, which quickly became Australia’s biggest-selling personal investment magazine.  As well as editing Money, Pam previously wrote on investing in real estate for The Bulletin, and now also writes a monthly personal investment column for Australian Women’s Weekly.

We are excited to welcome Pam to the 2008 LJ Hooker International Conference

Conference Speaker - Ross Greenwood

Ross Greenwood is Channel Nine’s Business and Finance Editor and the       executive producer of Nine’s flagship business program - Business Sunday. He regularly appears on the Today Show, Nine News and Nightline. 

Before he joined Channel Nine Ross, was editor-in-chief of the British magazine Shares, which he set up. The magazine won the British publishing industry’s “launch of the year” award in 2000.  He was a regular commentator on the BBC, CNN, Sky News and Bloomberg and also appeared on the BBC radio business program, Wake up to Money. 

In Australia, Ross was Editor of Business Review Weekly (BRW), Personal Investor and The Age's money section and he also created Shares magazine in Australia.  In the finance industry Ross was a  director of a sharemarket-listed investment company WAM Capital and for six years was chairman of the investment committee of the JUST superannuation fund, the industry fund for journalists and       entertainers.

In 1997 the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees named him Superannuation Trustee of the Year for his work with this fund. His journalism in Australia has also won numerous awards.  This is the second year the LJ Hooker family welcome Ross as a part of our Conference program.

We are excited to welcome Ross to the 2008 LJ Hooker International Conference