Monash Marketing Dialogue: Marketing in a post-truth world - Reputation, Trust, and Responsibility

Join us for the 2026 Monash Marketing Dialogue - our flagship thought leadership series on the future of marketing practice and education. This free, public panel event brings together industry leaders to unpack the most pressing questions shaping marketing and marketing education today.

This year, the dialogue will explore how marketers can build and protect trust, reputation, and responsibility in an environment shaped by misinformation, disinformation, and synthetic content.

Whether you're a marketing professional, strategist, educator or student, this event offers fresh perspectives and thought-provoking insights at the intersection of technology, strategy and ethics.

Speakers

Carolyn Bendall - Non-Executive Director, MCC Foundation and Shaver Shop Group, committee member, Melbourne Cricket Club

Non-Executive Director, MCC Foundation and Shaver Shop Group, committee member, Melbourne Cricket Club
Ms Bendall is a qualified company director with ten years’ governance experience, complementing more than 30 years of executive experience in the banking and finance, higher education, sports & recreation and health sectors.

Ms Bendall sits on numerous business advisory boards and is a trusted adviser to businesses across a range of sectors.
In her executive capacity, Ms Bendall has an impressive record of achievement in leadership roles centred around value creation and revenue drivers, having held Chief Marketing Officer roles at Medibank and the Swinburne University of Technology, and GM Marketing for ANZ Banking Group Limited (Australia).

Violet Lazarcevic - General Manager, Customer Propositions, CX, and Marketing, ANZ

Violet Lazarevic is the Head of Customer Experience for the Commercial Bank at ANZ, leading customer-centric strategies for small and medium-sized businesses across Australia. She holds a PhD in Marketing from Monash University and brings broad expertise spanning academic research, market research agencies, and internal CX leadership at major brands including Telstra, Endeavour Group, and Visit Victoria.

With a strong foundation in statistics, data modeling, and qualitative research, Violet specialises in combining structured and unstructured data to build actionable, holistic customer insights. At ANZ, she focuses on enriching voice-of-customer programs, triangulating data sources, and using customer-centric storytelling to build alignment and empathy across complex organizational environments.

Violet's work centres on leveraging data integrity, transparent customer listening, and human-centered design to help organizations navigate rapidly evolving consumer expectations, protect brand reputation, and drive long-term business growth and retention.

Prof Stephan Ludwig - Professor of Marketing, Monash University and Co-founder of the Linguistic Extractor (LX)

Prof Ludwig is a Professor of Marketing at Monash University and Co-Founder of LX (Linguistic Extractor), an AI platform for analysing customer language at scale. He is an expert in marketing communications, digital marketing, and marketing analytics.

His research focuses on marketing communication design, the way we communicate, which reflects who we are, our intentions, the relationships we are in, and our likely impact on respective audiences. His work is regularly covered in the world-leading journals of marketing and information systems as well as popular outlets like the Harvard Business Review and the Harvard Business Manager.

He is also co-editor of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), area editor of the Journal of Retailing, on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Marketing, and an invited reviewer at all top-tier marketing-, information systems- and strategy journals.

Prof Ludwig teaches Digital Marketing at Monash University and has previously taught at leading universities in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and Switzerland. Alongside his academic work, he collaborates with industry partners across various sectors, applying his research to real-world challenges in customer communication and analytics.

Moderator

John Rizzo, Founder of Joyous Work

Mr Rizzo in 2024 founded Joyous Work, a work design firm that supports organisations in transitioning from inherited conventional industrial age practices, to better practices that fit an ever-changing world, creating step-change improvement in productivity and allowing the inherent joy of work to flourish.

Mr Rizzo’s deep understanding of systems of work comes from more than two decades of strategy, customer, marketing, and ventures leadership in major organisations, including ANZ bank and Bupa Asia Pacific, with start-up teams of three to multinational teams of hundreds. As founder of Joyous Work, John is an advisor to leaders of organisations of all sizes, from Australia’s biggest brands to not-for-profits.

Mr Rizzo was previously Chief Customer and Strategy Officer for Bupa Asia Pacific, leading its customer, corporate strategy, and brand activities across the region. He is a non-executive director of Flying Fox, an organisation dedicated to reducing social isolation for those with disabilities. He is a previous chair of the Monash University Marketing Department, and currently sits on the advisory boards of Field Bell Institute and Neighbourly Ride. His education spans Monash University, London Business School, and MIT.

Organiser

Department of Marketing, Monash Business School