The Incentive Industry Influencer Award honours an individual who displays exceptional influence on the professional development and advancement of the incentive industry. Influencers ignite change and make a positive impact on their peers and clients through their vision, personality and determination. They are viewed as role models who maintain high standards for themselves and for the incentive industry.
Mercedes has spent the past 16 years transforming EVT Incentive Marketing from a respected family-founded agency into Australia's longest-running privately owned incentive marketing business. She was appointed Managing Director at just 25 years old following the passing of founder Virginia Trautwein. Mercedes led the company through the Global Financial Crisis and later the COVID-19 pandemic, steering sustained growth while preserving the values and relationships on which the business was built.
Under her leadership, EVT has expanded its team by over 60 percent, developed proprietary incentive technology and a dedicated program app, and achieved an average client tenure of 10 years. In 2025, the company celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Her nominator cited, “She has influenced how the industry communicates and adapts, through her consistent public voice and her willingness to share knowledge freely. She has been an ambassador for incentive marketing in rooms where it had no other advocate, from university lecture theatres to senior business forums. She has inspired colleagues and emerging professionals alike, not through grand gestures, but through the steady example of how she operates every day. And, she has maintained the highest standards within her own discipline while actively working to raise them across the industry.”
For more than 15 years, she has been a consistent advocate for the industry through published articles, media commentary, conference presentations, roundtables, and podcasts. Her expertise has been featured in leading publications including the Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Company Director, and numerous industry outlets, helping elevate incentive marketing as a recognised business discipline.
Mercedes is passionate about developing future-industry talent. Through university presentations, mentoring, industry education, and a long-standing commitment to hiring and developing people from outside the traditional incentive sector, she has worked to create pathways into a profession that lacks formal academic representation. Her efforts have introduced new generations of professionals to the industry and reinforced her belief that long-term success depends on investing in people as much as business growth.
“The incentive industry's long-term relevance depends on people who are willing to invest in it beyond their own commercial interest,” said her nominator. “Mercedes has been doing that work consistently, for nearly two decades. The profession is stronger for it, and it will continue to benefit from her leadership in the years ahead.”
View all IMA Summit Award winners on the IMA website.