Our Team

Brendan McDonald

Managing Director

Post Graduate Degree of Business, GAICD
 

Brendan leads a truly talented team of designers, content specialists and digital marketers. With a wealth of marketing experience and certifications, Brendan is the mastermind driving projects along, talking strategy, and discovering better process opportunities for our clients.

With over 20 years of industry experience, Brendan came to CoBright after revolutionising the digital marketing and rebrand of Dingo Mini Diggers as their National Marketing Manager. As Export Manager Brendan also took Dingo to South Africa, UK & Europe, South Korea, New Zealand and Chile.

In 2015, Brendan & Dingo were recognised as one of the winners of the ‘Regional Online Hero’ award, in recognition of outstanding use of the internet and digital technologies to grow their businesses.

Caitlin McManus

Marketing Director

Bachelor of Communications and Media with Distinction (Advertising)
 

A Toowoomba local, Caitlin has experience strategising, managing, and implementing marketing solutions for a range of industries.

Starting as a CoBright Content Specialist and evolving to Marketing Account Manager and now Marketing Director, Caitlin has an in-depth understanding of what it takes to make brands shine in the sea of digital content. Growing up in an ADF family, Caitlin’s pragmatic, detail-oriented and organised approach enables her to effectively ensure CoBright’s clients are getting proactive, strategic marketing support.

From talking strategy to creating high-quality content, Caitlin's happy to assist however she can. Specialising in Advertising, PR and English Literature, Caitlin is more than capable of finding the right solution for your next marketing campaign or website.

Anna Sessions

Business Development Manager

Bachelor of Communication (Advertising)

Growing up on a cattle farm, Anna has been part of the agricultural industry all her life—attending bull sales, breeding cattle, and now running an Angus stud with her partner. With over eight years of experience in both agency and in-house marketing, her background includes livestock photography, catalogue design, and marketing strategy.

As CoBright's Business Development Manager, Anna negotiates our partnerships and stategically expands our client base, connecting with agribusinesses across the country while based in Victoria. She enjoys the diversity of agency work and the opportunity to connect with people from across the agricultural sector.

Outside of work, Anna is busy around the farm, spending time with her family, and putting down roots in her local community.

Tayla Horton

Digital Content & Copywriting Specialist

Bachelor of Communications & Media, 2nd Year (Journalism & PR)

Currently studying Communications and Media, Tayla has plenty of marketing experience under her belt; having been the social media guru for the Australian Campdrafting Association and working with major media outlets, ABC and Seven.

In her role, Tayla writes an array of content for our team—from websites to social media, Tayla has you covered!

Growing up on a small property with plenty of cattle to keep her busy, Tayla enjoys the grounded nature of the agricultural industry and working with CoBright’s range of clients.

In her spare time, Tayla enjoys time with her fiancé, family, and Cavoodle, Maple.

Misty Bland

Content Specialist

Bachelor of Communication

With agricultural roots that span two continents, Misty brings a valuable blend of practical farming experience and strategic communication expertise to her role as Content Specialist.

Starting out farming in South Africa (cattle and macadamias), today Misty calls the Whitsundays home.

Now based on a sugar cane farm, with a small but much loved Droughtmaster herd, Misty has lived and breathed rural life for decades. Her career spans impactful storytelling and media roles, including public relations, events management, and marketing for several Australian organisations.

Misty combines first-hand agribusiness insight with sophisticated media strategy to support our clients as a content specialist, creating authentic, compelling material that resonates with audiences across a range of sectors.

Gareth Mason

Designer & Web Developer

Diploma(s) of Multimedia, Visual Art and Design, Business Management
 

With over 20 years of experience in design, Gareth takes projects from concept to completion. For Gareth, no two days look the same; his work spans from graphic design to UX, video and media production to application evaluation.

With experience working in agriculture and as a Director of Photography working on Indie Films, Gareth understands the balance between creativity and delivering real, tangible results. His favourite part of the job? Working with a variety of clients to deliver projects ranging from highly creative to highly functional.

Outside of work, Gareth finds joy in motorbikes, rock climbing, making music, and spending time with his son, Henry.

Joel Dobson

Digital Marketing Specialist & Business Development Officer 

Bachelor of Business
 

After working within the marketing teams of an Australian motorcycle importer and large-scale marketing agency based in the Gold Coast, Joel joined the CoBright team. Starting out as a content specialist in 2019, Joel quickly became CoBright’s go-to Digital Marketing Specialist—strategising, delivering and reporting on CoBright’s Google and Facebook ad campaigns.

As a certified Google Partner, Joel is best placed to get your ads in front of the right audience at the right time, every time. From retail to manufacturing, Joel enjoys partnering with a range of clients to deliver real results. Whether you need to target your ideal audience through clever campaigns with defined goals or simply want to know what your metrics mean, Joel can help.

An active cyclist, motorsport enthusiast, and slight caffeine addict, Joel’s favourite part of working at CoBright is being a valuable part of a team where success is shared with each other and our clients.

Ella Paine

Content Specialist & Copywriter

Bachelor of Communications (Public Relations)
 

A rural gal originating from Winton, Ella’s role focuses on content and copywriting, working to create captivating information for the audiences of our clients and our own brand.

As CoBright's (un)official International Correspondent, Ella is currently based in the UK (the Scottish Highlands, to be precise!) and travelling while she works. Prior to joining the team, Ella worked with a range of small businesses including e-commerce, healthcare, wellness and the not-for-profit sector. Her ability to find the right words and fine-tune a message to resonate with the audience has enabled our clients to get their message across with style and precision.

With a lifelong involvement in agriculture, Ella brings to a team an in-depth understanding of many of our rural clients. Her passion for learning and taking on new challenges is well met by the variety of work and clients at CoBright. Ella’s creativity isn’t limited to the office though—when there’s a spare moment you will find her scribbling away in her journal, pinning new destinations on Google Maps or plotting her next adventure!

Nathan Cronin

Designer & Web Developer

Bachelor of Computer Graphic Design

Chances are if you’ve seen a CoBright website, it was built by our very talented Designer and Web Developer, Nathan. 
 
Having worked with CoBright for more than 10 years as a freelance designer and web developer in our New Zealand ‘Foreign Office’, Nathan is truly part of CoBright’s furniture. 
 
Officially joining the team full-time in 2023, Nathan brings an incredible wealth of experience and a vast variety of skills to our team. From graphic design, interactive media and exhibition design development to responsive web design and development, Nathan has worked on many unique and varied projects. 
 
Coming from a family of artists, Nathan enjoys the interactive side of digital art, and seeing his ideas come to life. With a particular passion for learning and adapting to the latest design trends, Nathan is continuously refining and developing his skills. 
 
When he’s not bringing a brand’s story to life, you can find Nathan out on a hike, playing a videogame, or getting immersed in a good book. 

Renata Schindler

Special Projects Account Manager

Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Arts, Post Graduate Certificate of Business (Integrated Marketing Communications)
 

As our Special Projects Account Manager, Renata oversees CoBright’s unique projects. With a broad array of experience in education, publicity, event management, and medical marketing, Renata is a catalyst for ideas. She was even promoting webinars before it was normal!

With two decades of experience in arts publicity and medical education, Renata is your go to for educational event coordination, webinars, podcasts, database management, and CDP and CRM platforms. Her knack for doubling brands’ user bases stems from a deeper understanding of people, leveraging analytics to recognise audiences’ psyche and successfully tell brands’ stories.

Classing her personality as ‘subdued flamboyance’, Renata sees things in a unique way, asking the questions no one thinks to ask and bringing creativity and interest to any industry. She enjoys watching knowledge spread like wildfire—seeing a spark turn into something amazing. And did we mention she can firebreathe?

Keith Dickmann

Software Developer

Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Information Technology
 

Keith has a professional background in software development, with extensive experience in web development, hosting administration, and systems integration. He specialises in connecting platforms and streamlining how tools and technologies work together.

As the most technical brain at CoBright, Keith primarily works on systems integration projects for a range of clients. Having been with the team for over a year, he enjoys the variety of projects and the chance to work with different technologies.

His favourite part of working at CoBright? The people he collaborates with and the diversity each project brings.

Outside of work, Keith runs a home server, self-hosting alternatives to major tech platforms, and occasionally sets up multiplayer game servers for friends, combining technical skills with a bit of fun.