Scholar in Focus: Karen Nelson-Field (ILF 2019)

CEO & Founder of Amplified Intelligence

Driving Profitable Growth, Harvard Business School, Executive Education Course, 2019.

Amplified Intelligence is an audience measurement company counting Spotify, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Shell, and global ad agencies among its clients. A second product, an attention-fed predictive engine for buying media, is about to launch.

"Winning an ILF grant gave me the chance to go to Harvard Business School to learn with business leaders from all over the world. During this incredibly valuable short course:

●       I learned how valuable our unique technology and our data is

●       I learned the value of being a disruptive technology - new market, new customers, explosive growth

●       I learned how to accelerate growth with venture capital

●       I learned we needed a growth strategy, a purpose and a product roadmap

●       I learned that standardisation is my friend and bespoke is my enemy

●       I learned we needed to build a central tech architecture to deliver critical tasks fast

Read more here>     

From the CEO Geoff Vogt:

The biggest news for the ILF in October was the reopening of international travel from varying dates in Australia. This will allow those Scholars who have not been able to study overseas to do so. We normally allow two years and three months from the Awards Ceremony for Scholars to undertake their course and the clock will start ticking soon. I expect to have a further update in the December bulletin.  

October was a busy month again with an ILF Board meeting and preparations for the ILF AGM to be made. In addition, I sought feedback from the Scholars committee about the tempo and type of Scholars Network Activities we might schedule in 2022. These will be discussed and finalised at the committee meeting scheduled for next Monday, 8 November. If you have any suggestions, please email them to me by Friday, 5 November so the committee can consider them. It is particularly pleasing to see a significant number of 2021 Scholars already enrolling in their courses and claiming their grants. 

As reported last month there were 15 female Scholars out of a total of 39 at the 2021 Awards Ceremony which is the equal highest number ever. While there is more to do I believe the remarkable turnaround from the very low 2020 base is due in no small part to the contribution of a group of volunteers, including Zoe Detmold, Annie Flannagan, Christine Molitor, Corrina Wright, David Heaslip, Glenn Toogood, Keetah Murphy, Kelly Keates, Kris Lloyd, Lisa Bosworth, Peter Piliouras, Sarah Hibbard, and Adrian Fahey. They met twice, advised me how to correct last year’s shortfall, actively recruited a strong field of quality applicants and I thank them for their support for the ILF.   

The Scholar in focus this month is Karen Nelson Field, Executive Director and Founder of Amplified Intelligence. This follows her excellent talk at the Awards ceremony.  For those who were not there Karen has developed a world leading method of analysing the effectiveness of advertising. Her clients include major international brands such as Burger King, Spotify, Mars, Shell, Facebook etc. She has no SA-based clients however she has aggressive growth plans and plans to continue to provide all her services from here.

The ILF has a busy calendar to round out the year:

·        Mentoring season three launches on 10 November Supported by Deloitte and held in their city office. If you would like to be mentored and wish you had nominated there is good news. Usually we are short of mentors, but this year we are fortunately blessed have three highly talented mentors in waiting so if you would like to join let Suzi know ASAP.

·        A Morgan Stanley breakfast explaining the principles of personal investing will be held on 29 November. Invitations have already been sent and details are included below.

·        The popular annual Scholars Christmas breakup, carefully timed after most Christmas functions are over, is being held on 13 December at LMS on Churchill Road at Prospect. Save the date, invitations coming soon. More details in the bulletin.      

The Isobel Marshall cocktail function at SAHMRI was a highlight in October and the tours of the building following Isobel’s talk were a real eye opener. Adelaide is now the second largest biomed city in the world and SAHMRI is the epicentre of the action in Adelaide. A summary by Brad Spencer (ILF 2018) is included in the bulletin. Brad found time to write this while also adding to his CV three jobs in two months, leaving Nova Systems to join Naval Group two weeks before the Nuclear Subs deal was announced, then quickly being picked up by BAE Systems.  

I attended a lunch address by the Premier in which he said “the latest stats showed private investment in SA is up 21% compared with 1% Australia wide and youth unemployment is at its lowest level in 12 years". The general opinion in the room was that the SA economy is in pretty good shape and the future looks highly promising.  

My readings this month included a short article about fast charge low fire risk batteries under development for e-vehicles and another written in early October discussing investment portfolio issues and surmising that inflation is not really an issue for the foreseeable future, and four articles about China from the Australian, the Economist, Ashmore investments and Livewire Investment Services on birth-rates’. I would look at the fourth first.  

Read more of the November CEO Report here>

Scholar event summary:

South Australia’s own Isobel Marshall, a social entrepreneur and the 2021 Young Australian of the Year, was special guest speaker at a cocktail function sponsored by William Buck and supported by SAHMRI.

Thanks to Brad Spencer (ILF 2018) who wrote:

“I will admit the topic of Period Poverty is not one I had heard of prior to attending October's ILF cocktail event at SAHMRI. I was shocked to find out that over 800 million women are currently living in period poverty around the world - in other words, over 20% of the global female population. I have Young Australian of the Year, Isobel Marshall, to thank for bringing to light this global issue facing women, as she walked the ILF community through her social enterprise for TABOO Products.

What is a social enterprise? Perhaps you already know, or perhaps you're like me and hadn't come across the term before. In short, a social enterprise is an organisation that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. As a social enterprise, 100% of TABOO's net profits are donated to ONEGIRL - a global charity that provides comprehensive support to young girls in Sierra Leone and Uganda.

When asked about her future plans, long term sustainability of TABOO and being profit limited in terms of the impact TABOO could have, Isobel introduced us to the  "Pad It Forward" product donation program - supporting those experiencing period poverty right here at home in Australia. To learn more, visit TABOO.

Thank you once again to William Buck for sponsoring the evening, SAHMRI for providing the function space at no charge to the ILF and as always the team at the ILF for hosting another fantastic get together. I look forward to the next one!

Personal Investing Breakfast:  29 November, Mayfair Hotel, 7.15am.

This event booked out in under 24 hours. New seats released now but be quick. Zoom option being explored.

November Readings:

Inflation - Is it here to stay?

This medium length article published in early October suggests probably not. It says semiconductor shortages are being overcome, shipping container shortages are being resolved, ship queues at ports are shortening and it appears that commodity prices are moderating. The risks are a continuation of elevated energy prices, transition to net zero dislocation, excessive focus on sovereign security of supply chains and extended immigration restrictions. By the time you read this the RBA will have announced its interest rate decision and it seems likely that they will have revised their interest rate stance due to an increased risk of inflation. This illustrates why having a good investment adviser is paramount to good investment performance.

Read the Livewire article here>   

China’s economic woes spreading into Asian high debt markets

This article on China by Robert Gottliebsen in the Australian provides analysis of the actions of the Chinese Government, indicates some serious danger signs for the west and Australian in particular and offers some suggestions about how Australia should react.

Read the article here>   

The One Number that changes everything in China

This article attributes recent tectonic changes in policy in China to one factor and that is the declining birth rate reported from last year’s census.

It was thought the rate was 1.7 children per household and that this would rise with the lifting of the one child policy, but the census reported that the rate had dropped to 1.3. At 1.7 the population of China would drop by 14% in the next 40 years, at 1.3 the decline would be double at 28% and population will more than halve by 2090. The article explains why this is a concern to the Chinese Government.

Read the Livewire article here>   

Scholars in the Media:

SAHMRI cocktail function social photos: