Dean Shortland, Media Director

Dean Shortland was born in 1975 in Melbourne, Australia. He attended Whitefriars College and Donvale Christian College. He then attended Monash University where he received a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Psychology and Theatre from Monash University in 2000, and then he attended Swinburne University where he obtained his Master of Business Administration in 2003... 

Between 1999 - 2001 he worked in Youth Marketing for World Vision in Melbourne, where he was responsible for donor development in Schools, Churches and Organizations around the State. He traveled as an itinerant speaker to educate these groups on Landmines, Child Labor and Child Soldiers and also ran an annual Youth Leadership Convention with annual attendance of 1000 teenagers from Schools and Churches around Victoria. His advocacy work resulted in an increase in annual donor revenue of 40%. 

Between 2001 - 2003 he worked as a Marketing & Strategy Specialist, commercializing new products for MYOB Australia, specializing in small business software applications. In that time, Dean was responsible for the successful launch of 12 new products for the company over an 18 month period. 

Between 2003 - 2005 he was contracted to GAPbuster Worldwide, a Global Brand Measurement agency in Melbourne, as a project manager to assist them in launching business operations in North America, Canada, and Japan. After successful launches, he was then promoted to Brand and Communications Manager to assist them manage their marketing department and also help them in developing new business in the United States. He was also the client project manager for McDonalds North America, and worked heavily with key McDonalds Management to implement a USA-Canada Brand Measurement program. 

While Dean was working at GAPbuster Worldwide by day, he has spent the last 12 years working as an actor and TV Host in various TV, Film and Theatre projects in Melbourne and Sydney... Passionate about his craft, Dean has lead a double life in business and the media and up until he left Australia, Dean was working as a TV Host on a national network TV program called The Short Film Show. 

Dean left GAPbuster (and The Short Film Show) in late 2005 to vacation in Nashville, Tennessee and after an extended vacation, was appointed as the 2006 Director of The Australian Festival in Nashville, TN. Following the Festival's move to Ft. Lauderdale, Dean remained in Nashville ("home is where the heart is" he says!), but that wasn't the end for Dean with the Australian Festival! Dean is volunteering his time as the Media Director for the 2007 Australian Festival and you can still see his smiling face and hear his G'day's echoing throughout Ft. Lauderdale during the Festival. 

Dean currently works in Nashville as the International Project Manager in the Community Relations Team at Emma Inc - http://www.myemma.com. A global company that specializes in helping small to medium enterprises to talk to their customers. Dean also volunteers his time running an indy music collective called Black Flag Militia - http://www.myspace.com/blackflagmilitianashville which helps to develop artists in Nashville.

Dean enjoys sports (particularly snowboarding), writing, reading, promoting independent music, theatre and film and is actively involved in promoting Australia across the United States.