Name: Nicholas Ridis

Role(s): Academic, Director (Board Member) Australian Marketing Institute, Founder AVODKA & maleMorphosis, entrepreneur

Qualifications FAMI CPM FAIM CPMgr MAICD BMgmt(Mktg) AssocDipBuiltEnv CREA

Current project or activity: Chair of the AMI Accreditation Committee. My focus is on helping our amazing team accredit the University and VET sector.

Proudest accomplishment: AVODKA, my consulting business.

Marketing mentor? To my University students over the last 17 years.

Which brand do you most admire and why? TESLA. They make the impossible possible, have a customer centric focus and a strong CSR focus.

Marketing program you wish you had worked on? Red Bull Stratos.

What’s the most valuable marketing lesson you picked up during your career? Be like Steve Jobs.

What are the biggest challenges facing marketers today? Competition can come from multinationals to a single entrepreneur who can disrupt complete industries.

Best recent technological advance for marketing? The internet of things and data mining.

Future direction for the marketing profession? A seat next to the CEO. Marketers are the only source of income for a business. Every other department is a cost.

What’s your professional development aspirations for 2017 and beyond? Continuing my University studies and helping grow the AMI.

What attributes make a great marketer? Grit and a strong global understanding of the business environment.

Articles or books you have read that influenced your thinking as a marketer? I read voraciously for work and the research coming out of Universities is amazing.

Favourite quote? If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.

Last movie? Documentaries on Netflix.

Favourite sports team? None, I would rather be out there doing it than watching.

Favourite holiday spot? Anything with Scuba diving, food and culture.

Last book you read? Generally University texts for work, but reading Building the Internet of Things by Maciej Kranz.

Hobbies? Scuba, mountain biking and Photography (on land and underwater).