2025 Judges

Adam Franklin is the author of Web Marketing That Works — an Amazon #1 best seller. He is a professional speaker, marketing coach and CEO of Bluewire Media. Accolades include being named Australia’s #1 business blog, #7 LinkedIn Expert in Asia Pacific and #9 on Entrepreneur magazine’s top marketing podcasts. Adam’s work has featured in Forbes, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, The Australian, and the Sydney Morning Herald. Adam helps businesses win high-value clients via LinkedIn. He teaches 1000s of students via his online courses and coaching programs and his weekly ‘Bluewire News’ email goes out to over 35,000 business owners worldwide.

Andrew Phanartzis is the visionary Director of Property Association, Australia’s boutique consultancy for residential developers. Under his leadership, the firm delivers end-to-end expertise—from site acquisition and strategic planning through creative marketing, sales execution, and ongoing property management—helping clients transform land parcels into thriving communities.
With more than 15 years’ hands-on experience alongside some of the nation’s largest master-planned communities, apartment complexes and house-and-land subdivisions, Andrew has contributed to more than $2 billion in residential projects across the East coast of Australia. His strengths lie in anticipating market shifts, innovating sales strategies, and unlocking hidden value at every stage of the development lifecycle.
A licensed real-estate agent and FS146-qualified financial planner, Andrew holds a BA in Human Resource Management and English from the University of New South Wales. He is celebrated for his unwavering professionalism, unrelenting work ethic and a client-first mentality that consistently delivers above-market returns

Hayley Mitchell started in Real Estate in 1999 and has built a successful career working in all facets of Property Management including owning her own businesses. A fully licenced Estate Agent, Hayley has won numerous awards and accolades including REIV Property Manager of the year twice and was also named one of Elite Agents Top 50 Industry influencers in 2017, 2018 & 2019. She is passionate about improving the standards in the Industry and shares her knowledge with others through her training and Events Company – MitchellPT. This business provides training that is Innovative, relative, and useful.

Jeff Zulman the leading expert when it comes to helping Mortgage Brokers buy, grow and sell their businesses.

Jeff’s mission is to help smart business owners grow, manage and sell their businesses so they maximise profit and minimise the stress that comes with owning an SMB.

In Jeff’s role as the Managing Director of Trailblazer Finance, he’s helped thousands of Mortgage Brokers with expert advice, industry leading valuations and access to the finance they need for growth.

In Jeff’s role at Trailblazer Finance, he works closely with ambitious brokers who are committed to achieving business success.

Jess Densley is the founder of the Elite Agency Success System, a leading real estate consultancy group working with business owners and sales people to achieve peak performance in their business worldwide.
He has previously been a high performing real estate agent ranked in the top 2% of agents in

Australia, inside the country's largest franchise group operating from a regional market place. Jess also has been a leading business owner who operated an award winning real estate business that was crowned the number one regional business a record 4 times across Victoria & Tasmania.
As well as being a leading sales coach, Jess also has credentials as an accredited level one (ICG) human behaviour coach working with corporate organisations on unlocking potential in their individuals and teams.

Leanne Pilkington is Chief Executive Officer and Director of boutique real estate network Laing+Simmons. She is the current President of the Real Estate Institute of Australia and was the longest serving President of the Real Estate Institute of NSW. She is also a Trustee on the REISuper Board.

Leanne’s 40+ years’ experience covers the full spectrum of real estate services: sales, property management, retail and commercial leasing and management as well as property development. Being recognised in a range of awards such as Telstra and Optus Business awards and a number of industry Thought Leadership Awards, she is considered one of the industries most influential people.

Leanne continues pioneering industry firsts, including being founder of the Real Women in Real Estate network holding events around the country, improving diversity on the REI Board and champions the growth of industry professionalism. Leanne is a licensed real estate agent, has completed her Property Valuation qualifications, and holds a Masters in Business Administration.

Neville Hurst is a senior lecturer in property studies at RMIT University, Victoria, Australia. Although originally trained as an electrical engineer Neville has worked extensively in industry and for the last 40 years in the property sector as a practitioner and academic. His research interest focuses on real estate industry practices, valuation practices, housing markets and in particular energy efficient housing. Completing his Phd in 2019, Neville investigated real estate agent attitudes and engagement with energy efficient housing and is working with peak industry bodies to create greater awareness of the importance of sustainable housing to future cities.

Peter Lynch is a leader in Professional Indemnity Insurance in the real estate, valuation and management right industry sectors.
He boasts over 30 years’ experience with Aon Risk Solutions and as the Client Manager is responsible for developing new business within the real estate sector including the identification of business opportunities with franchise groups and other stakeholders.
He took a significant role in providing advice and support to introduce a Real Estate specific indemnity insurance scheme and is responsible for the highly successful REIQ/REINT schemes which he coordinated with the assistance of industry, lawyers, underwriters and claims staff.
Peter has a strong interest in promoting safe and quality business practices in real estate and has been a regular contributor to course materials, presentations and editorial submissions. He has been called upon to be a guest speaker at training forums for the REIQ, REIA, REINT, REIWA and various franchise groups.
Peter also provides individual Risk Management training to a number of his Franchise Group clients.

Dr Rahat Munir is a Professor and Head of Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Macquarie University. He is FCA, FCPA and PhD. For over 30 years Professor Munir has been at the forefront of initiatives that have positioned organisations to support significant development and change. He is internationally renowned for curriculum development, pioneering innovative learning and teaching (L&T) practices, Micro Credentials and academic standards (including TEQSA and Australian Qualification Framework), Accreditation (AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS, Professional Accounting Bodies), student experience and research. He has played a pivotal role in creation of research and teaching collaborations with professional accounting bodies, Universities in China, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Europe. He has served on the panel for Faculty/Course Reviews of various Universities in Australia and New Zealand.

His research is across management accounting and controls and related subjects. He supervises Master of Research and Ph.D. students. His research interests include from management accounting systems, performance measurement systems, CSR, corporate governance, and management control systems. He has published in leading international journals as well as presented at international conferences in many parts of the world. He is affiliated with several professional bodies including the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, Professional Risk Managers International Association, USA, American Accounting Association and European Accounting Association.

Professor Munir serves on various high-level Committees and Advisory Boards. Professor Munir has also served on the TAFE NSW Higher Education Academic Board. He has served as guest editor and referee/scientific program committee of various international journals, and organised conferences & workshops. He has been invited for Keynote lectures and Policy presentations in international conferences and public sector institutions. With his strong engagement with industry, he leads CFO Forum, Industry Academic Series, Thought Leadership and Business Leaders Roundtables.

Professor Munir’s sustained excellence in teaching and research has been recognised through international and national awards, including:

2 x Macquarie University Vice Chancellor’s awards for developing programs and outstanding contributions to student learning,
Dean’s teaching excellence award,
2 x CPA Australia’s award for achievement in academia, and
Business/Higher Education Roundtable Award for excellence in accounting teaching collaborations.
Professor Munir's contribution has also been acknowledged for his projects in 2015 and 2021 for the Wharton-QS Stars Reimagine Education Awards at the University of Pennsylvania in the Nurturing Employability Award category for the most innovative pedagogical approach to learning and teaching. He has served on the judging panel of the Momentum Media and Accountants Daily’s Australian Accounting and Australian Digital Technology and 30 Under 30 Awards. Professor Munir's case study - The Ethics of Profit in the Australian Retail Industry was amongst the top 4 teaching cases globally by the Decision Sciences Institute, Washington DC for the ‘Best Teaching Case Studies Award’ competition.