Tom is a marketing and partnerships leader with over 15 years’ experience in delivering brand and commercial outcomes that help businesses grow. Tom specialises in using his rich understanding of fan passion to create deep connections between brands and their customers and has led teams working with some of the world’s most iconic sport & entertainment properties including Rugby World Cup, UEFA Champions League and the Australian Open. Tom began his career with Octagon, a leading global sports marketing agency, and over a 12-year period he held senior roles at start-up offices in both Singapore and Tokyo, contributing significantly to the growth of the business across Asia Pacific. He then moved into the corporate world with American Express where he focused on building tailored commercial partnerships with large B2B organisations, delivering a unique customer value proposition based on enhanced working capital and loyalty solutions. He is currently the Head of Sponsorships – Pacific for Howden, a UK headquartered Insurance Broker with a 30-year history and over 15,000 employees worldwide. He has been tasked with establishing the Sponsorship function in the market and is responsible for driving commercial impact through sponsorships of the British & Irish Lions, Victoria Racing Club and RecLink. Tom thrives on working as part of collaborative, high performing teams and is energised by mentoring, guiding, and learning from his peers and colleagues. His career highlight to date, was his time in Tokyo, Japan, where he opened the Octagon office and built a team of 18 staff, comprised of 7 different nationalities. He is most proud of the culture that was cultivated, where the diversity of the team served as a superpower and ensured all members could flourish whilst delivering outstanding results for clients.
Outside of the office, Tom enjoys spending time at the beach with his two young kids, keeps active by learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and coaching his daughter’s Maroubra United U7 Soccer team and is an enthusiastic Karaoke pretender.
