About us
A community built one lunch at a time.
We bring together founders, entrepreneurs and leaders for lunch in beautiful venues run by a community lead who Lives locally and has a welcoming vibe.
our people
Meet the Team
These are the people who host, curate and quietly connect the rooms across all six of our regions.
Jules Dormand
Founder
Friday Lunch Club is the passion creation of Julie Dormand. Jules has worked for a couple of decades running creative agencies in Publicis Groupe and Capgemini. Known for creating highly engaged workplaces and with a passion for improving employee experience, she now runs her own Employee Experience Consultancy, Dormand: The Culture Creator. A key industry contributor, her leadership has been acknowledged with the coveted AC&E Jon Clark Outstanding Contribution Award and Mumbrella Industry Leader of the Year 2019. She is also Chair of the Ellipsis Advisory Board, and a Management Course facilitator and a mentor through her business as well as The Marketing Academy and Mentor Walks.
Renee Kraus
Strategic Advisor
Renee’s career breadth as a strategic marketer in professional services spanning multiple industries, has fuelled her belief that we’re more similar than we are different. Renee’s passionate about applying universal ‘must haves’ that drive performance, resulting in her ability to deliver transformational change across some of the most successful global and local brands including Westpac, Citibank, Telstra, Optus, and Bupa. She currently works as Director of Marketing for the Sonova Group.
Louise Rathbone
Community Lead: Inner West
Louise is a strategic marketing leader with 20 years experience spanning a range of industries including Aviation, Retail, Entertainment and Finance. Having started her career in London, Louise has spent the last decade in Australia working both agency and client-side for some of the Australia’s most iconic brands including Tabcorp, Westpac and Qantas. Louise has a passion for driving business impact and has delivered strong commercial results through her steadfast focus on customer-centricity and her dedication to building high-performance teams. Louise thrives on a fast-paced environment and believes that being curious through continuous learning is the passport to the future.
Jamie Gilbert-Smith
Community Lead: Gold Coast
As Trade Marketing Director at Nine Jamie leads the whole of trade media across all platforms. He has over two decades of marketing experience in London and Australia. Prior to his current role he has helped brands achieve omni-channel full funnel working at Head of Partnerships at Hogarth and MD of M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment. He has helped some of Australia’s biggest brands thrive across all elements of the media mix.
Anita Zanesco
Community Lead: Eastern Suburbs
For more than 25 years, Anita has been immersed in the world of advertising and marketing communications, collaborating with courageous brands and talented creative minds along the way. Her decade in consultancy at TrinityP3 shaped her philosophy on partnership helping marketing teams find agency relationships that work not just on paper, but culturally, creatively, and strategically. Beyond her commercial experience, Anita is a Certified Organisational Coach and Personal Trainer. She believes that mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing are inseparable when it comes to unlocking human performance and joy whether in the workplace or beyond.
Elise Hunter
Community Lead: Brisbane
Elise is a strategic marketing leader with more than a decade of experience within the ANZ SaaS landscape. As Chief Marketing Officer at PeopleBench, Elise drives international growth for the EdTech organisation across the K-12 sector in Australia and the United States. Prior to joining PeopleBench, Elise served as Director of Marketing at the DMA UK, the United Kingdom’s largest trade association for marketers, championing a customer-first approach to marketing through the power of data and insight. Elise’s philosophy is anchored in data-driven strategy, innovative technology, and brand integrity. She is passionate about scaling high-impact marketing, enabling business transformation, and building teams that thrive in fast-paced, future-focused environments.
Sue Kim
Community Lead: Sydney CBD
Sue is an experienced digital and CX transformation leader who founded NEON Digital, working with leading brands to solve for their data and technology blockers resulting in real business outcomes and revenue growth. She has over 17 years of commercial and digital experience including, Deloitte Digital and various tech firms. Sue provides support to businesses that require focus on their CX, data and infrastructure capabilities and brings deep technology expertise.
Elodie Myers
Community Lead: Eastern Suburbs
Elodie is a strategy and insights leader with two decades experience, having held Director roles at Fiftyfive5 (Accenture Song) and Hall & Partners (Omnicom). She has led complex, high-stakes programs for some of Australia’s most iconic brands including Woolworths, McDonald’s, Mastercard and Amazon. A natural problem-solver, Elodie has never stayed in one lane, spanning FMCG, retail, financial services and tech. She holds a GAICD qualification, co-chairs Women in Big Data Australia and judges the Effie Awards. As a proud Frenchwoman, Elodie has always believed that the best conversations happen around a table, preferably with good food and a decent glass of wine. Discovering The Friday Lunch Club felt less like finding a networking event and more like finding her people.
recent speakers
Learn from inspiring leaders
Every lunch features a short, honest talk from someone who’s built something worth listening to. No slide decks. No sales pitches.
Michelle Guthrie
Non Executive Board Member
Chair Mighty Kingdom; Non-executive Director Starhub, Catapult Group and BNK Bank
Tracy Hall
Author · Who the hell is Hamish
International Keynote Speaker, Author, Top 20 Fraud Experts LinkedIn 2025, Scams & Intimate Fraud, Trust Literacy, Board Director, Advisor, Mentor.
Tim Duggan
Author
Author, founder and optimist. I make complex ideas simple.
OUR SPONSORS
Proudly supported by.
A quietly excellent group of Australian businesses who help make every lunch possible.
where we lunch
Find your local lunch club.
We currently have seven regions in total, five across Sydney plus Brisbane and The Gold Coast, with more to come.
Region
Sydney Northern Beaches
From Palm Beach to Manly, Terrey Hills to Belrose.
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Region
Sydney Inner West
From Birchgrove and Ashfield, Tempe and St Peters to Annadale.
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Region
Sydney Eastern Suburbs
From Watsons Bay to Bondi Beach, Darlinghurst to Malabar.
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Region
Sydney CBD
Including suburbs out to Centennial Park, Alexandria, Glebe and Pyrmont.
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Region
Gold Coast
Reaching up to Hope Island, inland to Narang and Tallai and down to Coolangatta.
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Region
Sydney North Shore
Including areas from Sydney Harbour to Hornsby, Mosman to Lane Cove.
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Region
Brisbane
Including areas from Brighton to Bellbowrie, Pallor to the Port of Brisbane.
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Region
New Areas
We are always looking at new areas. Register your interest here.
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Events
Upcoming Events
Enquire about upcoming events, membership and sponsorships here.
Get in Touch
Your seat at the table
Want to hear more about The Friday Lunch Club?
Build meaningful relationships over exceptional lunches with like-minded business leaders.