DATE: 20th-21st March
LOCATION: Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre (within the MICE expo at the Café Education Stage. Enter via Door 9).
DOORS: 8:15am for gourmet standing breakfast
SESSION ONE: 8:45am - 9:30am
SESSION TWO: 9:30am - 10:15am
The Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) will host the GCR Leaders Symposium from 20-21 March, a two-day event in the mornings before MICE, tiered at roasters, business operators and key industry decision markers.
Prime Creative Media Publisher and former Global Coffee Report Editor Sarah Baker will moderate the event, which is set to return after a sold-out 2024 event, with an extended schedule of panel discussions and international speakers.
Head of McCafé
Jared has spent almost 20 years in the coffee industry working with some of the largest coffee brands across retail, QSR and coffee chains. He is passionate about creating an impact on the industry by lifting the standards of coffee at scale so that more Australians can drink better coffee. In his current role as Head of McCafe at McDonald’s, Jared is responsible for building the strategy for growing the McCafe brand.
7-Eleven Product Owner Dispensed Beverages
Liam joined 7-Eleven in January 2017 and is responsible for managing the product and services on offer to customers for the Hot Drinks, Slurpee and Shakes portfolio. This includes category management, supply chain, in-store merchandising, product development, product and space planning and food innovation. In his time at 7-Eleven, Liam also has experience looking after the confectionery, snack foods, ice-cream and packaged beverages portfolio. Liam is passionate about growing businesses through brand development and is committed to creating highly engaged teams and developing strong relationships with supply partners to achieve mutual growth.
Soul Origin National Coffee Manager
With more than 20 years of experience in the coffee industry, Sam has dedicated his career to the art and science of coffee, which includes competing at a national level and judging prestigious events such as the World Barista Championship. His passion extends beyond the cup, focusing on the next generation of baristas, guiding them through their professional journey, ultimately aiming to elevate the coffee experience for all.
Sales and Account Manager of Condesa Co Lab
A Food and Beverage specialist since the age of 14, Luke Terrey has built a diverse career working in all aspects of front of house in from coffee carts to fine dining, culminating in experience as a Sommelier and Manager in Sydney Hatted restaurants, Luke has honed his skills in high-end service. Luke now connects roasters with global coffee producers, ensuring beans meet specific needs and budgets. His broad expertise across hospitality and coffee makes him a versatile professional in the industry with an emphasis on Risk Mitigation in Coffee Supply.
Shae Macnamara is the Australian founder of Bali-based specialty coffee producer Expat.Roasters. Shae has more than 25 years of experience in the coffee industry. His extensive experience in Australia's coffee scene includes serving on the board of the Australian Specialty Coffee Association and holding roles in sales, operations, and training. He also served as the Coffee Ambassador for one of Australia's largest coffee roasters and has consulted on café openings in Australia, Europe, and Asia. In 2016, Shae was crowned Australian Champion in the Coffee in Good Spirits competition and placed fourth in the World Coffee in Good Spirits competition. Shae currently leads a team of approximately 300 staff across Expat. Roasters’ facilities, cafés, brew bars, training rooms, sales teams, and offices throughout Indonesia. Shae’s dedication to training is evident thanks to 100+ baristas working at Expat. Roasters, and the thousands trained annually through the company’s expert-led programs. This year, Shae hopes to expand Expat.Roasters into Malaysia and Singapore.
Founder, Day For It Hospitality
With more than 20 years of experience in the coffee and hospitality industry, Michael Meates has dedicated his career to helping brands grow, scale, and succeed in some of the world’s most dynamic markets. Having worked across Sydney, Melbourne, London, California, and in New York for the past eight years, he brings a global perspective and a deep understanding of the specialty coffee scene and hospitality landscape. As the founder of Day For It Hospitality, Michael is committed to helping brands thrive, ensuring they not only enter the market successfully but build a strong foundation for long-term growth. He specialises in guiding coffee brands, cafés, and hospitality concepts through expansion in the New York market, and beyond. From navigating real estate selection, venue design, and equipment sourcing to green coffee procurement, roasting partnerships, recruitment, and operational strategy, Michael offers a full-spectrum approach to building and optimising successful hospitality businesses. Michael’s expertise extends to understanding local laws, securing liquor licenses, developing financial models, and assembling high-performing teams. Whether working with an emerging coffee brand looking to establish a presence in NYC or an international concept seeking a strategic US launch, he provides tailored solutions that drive sustainable growth and profitability.
Toby’s Estate General Manager
Jody Leslie has spent eight years in various development roles at McDonald’s, including Vice President of Supply Chain ANZ before working as CFO and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Guzman y Gomez, Director of Supply Chain at Suntory Oceania, and GM of Toby’s Estate for the past six years. Jody will share her insights on Toby’s expansion into the United Arab Emirates and doing business in Dubai. www.tobysestate.com.au
Former Nestlé & Kraft Foods Executive, Founder of International Coffee Consultant
Gerd Müller-Pfeiffer has more than 25 years’ experience with coffee in various roles at Kraft Foods, and the past 23 years at Nestlé. Gerd was involved in product development of Nescafé, the launch of Nescafé Dolce Gusto (NDG) in Germany as Pioneer Market globally, NDG roll-out in Europe across 44 countries, and spent five years in the Nordic region as Managing Director Coffee including Roast and Ground experience. He held a regional role as Business Manager for Middle East, North Africa, Central Eastern Europe, Israel and Turkey/Greece to Germany/Austria/Switzerland, was spent five years as General Manager Coffee, which included Starbucks’ launch in retail. During Gerd’s time in the Nordic region, he was in charge of green coffee buying, especially in East Africa. He says the active living of the Nescafé plan as the biggest sustainability program for coffee for Nestlé, as well the Coffee by the Woman Concept for Female Farmer in Africa by ZOEGAS, underlies his passion. More than 10 years of experience abroad in various roles highlights his ability to lead teams and cultures in an international environment. As of 2024, Gerd is an International Coffee Consultant with a small company and help smaller specialty companies in scaling up, vision, strategy, portfolio management, distribution, customer, consumer, commercialization, growth, and finance. www.mueller-pfeiffer.com
Cofi-Com – General Manager
Stephen joined Cofi-Com as General Manager in August 2024, bringing with him a deep understanding of coffee from both origin and destination markets. Stephen has held numerous senior positions across the Asia Pacific region and has a wealth of coffee and commodity risk management knowledge. Origin experience from Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Singapore, gives him a further insight into the challenges and flows of this dynamic industry. Stephen’s specialties include building and sustaining high-performance teams, leveraging an extensive network of global buyers and sellers, preparing complex financial reports, driving transformational change, navigating the complexities and legalities of international trade, and managing country and counterparty risk.
Bean Alliance Group – CEO / Director
Ange is a seasoned leader in the global coffee industry with a career spanning four decades. With vision, Angelo evolved Monte Coffee into Bean Alliance Group, a sophisticated production facility based in the coffee heartland of Melbourne’s the northern suburbs. Many of the company’s brands are in coffee machines and pantries across Australia and these blends and brands are known and loved. Bean Alliance traverses multiple markets with success, including Italian Bar, Ethical Sustainable and Hipster as well as exhibiting “best in class” as a private label roaster. In 2019, Ange realised the vision to merge forces with globally recognised Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group (Segafredo) and, since then, has continued to contribute as a values-centred leader. Ange is highly respected by his colleagues and industry cohorts, and currently sits as the Chair of ACTA.
MPC International – Principal Advisor
Dominic previously spent 32 years in global container shipping (Hamburg Sud, latterly Maersk) developing trade, line management, commodity pricing and new service development skills. He has worked around the world with extended secondments in South America (Chile and Venezuela for two years), Miami (11 years) and latterly Australia (20 years). While in Miami, Dominic handled annual coffee negotiations for the import trades to the United States. His ACTA role brings him back to his deep interest in coffee.
Industry leaders share their stories on doing business overseas, how approach the international market, the realities no-one talks about, identifying emerging hot spots, and how to build community in a foreign city.
Shae Macnamara
Michael Meates
Jody Leslie
Where will future growth come from? What are the rising varieties of coffee culture. Will coffee be available in 2050?
Gerd Müller-Pfeiffer
Deep-dive into the Australian quick-service sector, discussing the evolution of the foodservice category, growing consumer connection, coffee pricing, and balancing quality vs volume. Discover the coffee commitment and growth plans from some of the industry's largest brands including McCafé, 7-Eleven and Soul Origin.
Jared Chapman
Liam O’Brien
Sam Taylor
The roadblocks behind green bean transportation and logistics, the pricing crisis and its impact across the supply chain, and solutions to drive the industry forward – now and into the future.
Luke Terrey
Stephen Bannister
Angelo Augello
Dominic Enthoven
