Thea is highly regarded within the industry for her ability to conceive, produce and promote a diverse portfolio of global events – from staging international ceremony events, including live televised entertainment spectaculars, musical arena tours, to more recently, global touring exhibitions.

​

She commenced her career over 20 years ago with IMG and was a key member in delivering major events such as the V8 Supercar Series; The PGA Coolum Classic; 1994 Brisbane World Masters Games and the re-launch of Gold Coast’s Indy Car Event. In her role at V8 Supercars, Thea managed the highly acclaimed “Greatest Show on Wheels” V8 Supercar brand campaign starring P!NK, the collaboration winning a GOLD Promax TV Award.

After five years with IMG, Thea was appointed Director of Marketing and Sales with Australian company SEL, responsible for managing key elements of their touring entertainment productions including Grease—The Arena Spectacular, The Main Event (John Farnham, Olivia Newton John & Anthony Warlow), Cold Chisel’s Reunion Tour and The Federation Outback Spectacular created for Australia’s Centenary Celebrations. Additionally, theatrical tours co-produced with multi-award-winning producer John Frost OAM including The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music, and Annie among a string of others.

​

In both 2009 and 2011, Thea was the Producer and Artistic Director of the Opening Ceremony of The Arafura Games, an event held in partnership with the Oceania and Australian Paralympic Committee. The Opening Ceremony (at Darwin’s TIO Stadium) involved over 40 nations and 3,000 athletes. During this time, Thea also co-produced the acclaimed 50th Anniversary Motown Event Australian Arena Tour, starring original Motown artists The Temptations, The Four Tops and Mary Wilson, among a list of other Motown artists.

​

Throughout 2013 – 2014, Thea helped drive another successful endeavour which saw her working for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Organisation, as the Producer of Glasgow’s 2014 Commonwealth Games Flag Handover Ceremony, televised by Network Ten and starring Jessica Mauboy. Having been an essential part of the final phase of Gold Coast’s Commonwealth Games journey since 2011, Thea produced Queensland’s formal bid presentation and gala dinner at the Commonwealth Games Associations’ General Assembly, in St. Kitts.

​

In 2009, Thea established iEC (International Entertainment Consulting) with husband Tony Cochrane. iEC has had several global successes, and highlights include promoting The Rolling Stones record-breaking concert to officially open South Australia’s Adelaide Oval in 2015. With the success of the concert, iEC forged a strong relationship with The Rolling Stones and together they produced the first ever major exhibition on the band and their 50+ years of history. Exhibitionism – The Rolling Stones, a 15,000sq ft exhibit with over 500 original and rare items, opened at London’s Saatchi Gallery in April 2016 to critical acclaim and is now touring internationally. The interactive exhibit will open in Sydney Australia in November of this year, after playing in NYC, Chicago, Las Vegas and Nashville.

 

Thea’s most recent iEC projects have seen her working with the famous Spanish Football Club, Real Madrid, lead producing the Real Madrid World of Football Experience, which debuted in Melbourne (June-September) this year. Overlapping with this project, Thea and the iEC Team unveiled another world premiere exhibit on the life and times of Nelson Mandela at the Melbourne Museum, called Mandela My Life: The Official Exhibition, in full collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Foundation in South Africa. This special exhibit runs from September through March 2019.

 

In 2017, Thea was the International Women’s Day recipient of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Award, in recognition of her creative Leadership talent.