Andy Lark is a globally awarded marketer and leader in social and digital technologies. He is the CEO of Group Lark and former Chief Marketing and Online Officer for Australia’s leading financial institution, the Commonwealth Bank. Previous career employment includes senior positions at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Dell, LogLogic, Sun Microsystems, Nortel Networks and Fleishman-Hillard International. He is also a partner at Number 8 Ventures – New Zealand’s leading technology venture capital firm and is on the advisory boards of Xero, Xsigo and Prof Gary Hamel’s Management Innovation Exchange.

Andy has 25 years of experience across business-to-business and consumer sectors building successful businesses and leading award-winning marketing programs and teams for Fortune and Times 100 companies, global technology brands, start-ups and the world’s hottest advertising and communications agencies. Andy was at the helm of executing the marketing strategies for Commonwealth Bank, Dell, and Emirates Team New Zealand during his tenure. For Commonwealth Bank, he and his team were responsible for the eWallet for smartphones and Facebook as well as the ‘Can’ Campaign - one of Australia’s largest brand campaigns.

Andy has won over 100 awards for work in building brands and creating online capabilities, most notably the Flying Kiwi Award for outstanding contribution to technology and the Facebook Studio Award for the Commbank Community seeds. Today he leads Group Lark – a global consultancy driving brand and digital transformations for the world’s leading countries and enterprises. Group Lark helps great ideas flourish in a digital world – and great brands design their future there.

A native of Auckland, New Zealand, Andrew holds a bachelor’s degree from Auckland University. When he is not immersed in work, he is a competitive sailor, a very non-competitive cyclist and writer. His Blog, the daily lark, is in the Top 100 ranked marketing blogs globally and his book, The Connected Customer, will be published shortly worldwide.