Speakers

Ray Kurzweil is one of the world’s leading inventors, thinkers, and futurists, with a thirty-year track record of accurate predictions. Called “the restless genius” by The Wall Street Journal and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes magazine, he was selected as one of the top entrepreneurs by Inc. magazine, which described him as the “rightful heir to Thomas Edison.” PBS selected him as one of the “sixteen revolutionaries who made America.”

Ray was the principal inventor of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition.

Among Ray’s many honors, he received a Grammy Award for outstanding achievements in music technology; he is the recipient of the National Medal of Technology, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, holds twenty-one honorary Doctorates, and honors from three U.S. presidents.

Ray has written five national best-selling books, including New York Times best sellers The Singularity Is Near (2005) and How To Create A Mind (2012). He is Co-Founder and Chancellor of Singularity University and a Director of Engineering at Google heading up a team developing machine intelligence and natural language understanding.

@KurzweilAINews

Lord Turner is the Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission, a global coalition of major power and industrial companies, investors, environmental NGOs and experts working out achievable pathways to limit global warming to well below 2˚C by 2040 while stimulating economic development and social progress.

He is also a Senior Fellow of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, and was more recently appointed Chairman of Chubb Europe. He is a non executive director of Prudential plc., and a Trustee at the British Museum. In December 2018 he joins the Advisory Board of Envision Energy, a Shanghai-based innovative group focussed on energy technology services.

From 2008-2013, Lord Turner chaired the UK’s Financial Services Authority, and played a leading role in the post crisis redesign of global banking and shadow banking regulation.

Lord Turner has held high profile roles in public policy: he was Director General of the Confederation of British Industry (1995-2000); chairman of the UK Low Pay Commission (2002-2006); chairman of the Pensions Commision (2003-2006).  He was the first chairman of the UK Climate Change Committee (2008-2012) an independent body to advise the UK Government on tackling climate change. The recommendations set out in their first report “Building a low-carbon economy” were adopted in 2009.

He became a cross bench member of the House of  Lords in 2006.

Amongst his business roles, Lord Turner was at McKinsey&Co (1982-1995);  was Vice-Chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe (2000-2006) and a Non-Executive Director of a number of companies, including Standard Chartered plc (2006-2008).

He is Senior Fellow at the Centre for Financial Studies (Frankfurt) and a Visiting Fellow at the People’s Bank of China School of Finance, Tsinghua  University (Beijing). He writes regularly for Project Syndicate, and has published “Between Debt and the Devil” (Princeton 2015), and Economics after the Crisis (MIT 2012).

He  is an honorary fellow of The Royal Society, and received an Honorary Degree from Cambridge University in 2017.

@adairturneruk

Liesl Yearsley is an experienced founder & CEO that is well adept at creating technology breakthroughs and fostering industry-wide advancements. She has a proven ability to build and develop technology companies, with three past successes; two of which are in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) space.

Liesl is CEO and Co-Founder of A·kin, which is developing a new approach to general artificial intelligence; able to autonomously solve complex problems and form deep relationships with humans. Previous to that Liesl was founder and CEO of Cognea Artificial Intelligence, which was acquired by IBM and is now an integral part of Watson. Prior to that, she was founder of Mooter, a search engine company specialising in predictive personification. This company listed on the stock exchange.

She was born in Central Africa and built a large education organisation there. Yearsley is the inventor on 4 patents in Search and AI, has training in Cognitive Sciences, and her field is Computational Neurosciences. She divides her time between A·kin’s Silicon Valley headquarters, and their new Australian AI research hub in Sydney.

Geoff Mulgan CBE is Chief Executive of Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation which uses investment, practical innovation and research to promote innovation for the common good in the UK and dozens of countries around the world.

Between 1997 and 2004 Geoff had roles in the UK government including director of the Government’s Strategy Unit and head of policy in the Prime Minister’s office. From 2004 to 2011 Geoff was the first Chief Executive of The Young Foundation. He was the first director of the think-tank Demos; Chief Adviser to Gordon Brown MP and reporter on BBC TV and radio. He has been a visiting professor at LSE, UCL and Melbourne University and is currently a senior visiting scholar at Harvard University.

He is a regular lecturer at the China Executive Leadership Academy. He has helped set up many organisations including Demos, the Young Foundation, the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX), Uprising, Studio Schools Trust and Action for Happiness. Geoff co-chairs a World Economic Forum group looking at innovation and entrepreneurship in the fourth industrial revolution.

He has advised many governments and chairs an international advisory committee for the Mayor of Seoul and sits on advisory committees for the Prime Minister’s office in the United Arab Emirates, the French government’s digital agency, the Scottish Government and SITRA, the Finnish Innovation agency. Past books include ‘The Art of Public Strategy’ (Oxford University Press), Good and Bad Power (Penguin) and ‘The Locust and the Bee’ (Princeton University Press). His most recent book is ‘Big Mind: how collective intelligence can change our world’ (Princeton University Press). His books have been translated into many languages.

Geoff has given TED talks on the future economy, happiness and education.

@geoffmulgan

Kathleen Richardson is Professor of Ethics of Culture of Robots and AI at the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility (CCSR) at De Montfort University. Kathleen completed her PhD at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge and she has carried out research on different kinds of robots including social robots, robots for children with autism and sex robots.

She is author of An Anthropology of Robots and AI: Annihilation Anxiety and Machines (2015), Challenging Sociality: An Anthropology of Robots, Autism and Attachment (2018) and Sex Robots: The End of Love (forthcoming 2019). She is also founder of the Campaign Against Sex Robots.

@ProfKRichardson

Paul Cobban is the Chief Data and Transformation Officer in DBS. Based in Singapore, Paul and his team are responsible for strengthening the bank’s data-driven agenda by establishing a solid digital foundation and driving the start-up culture throughout DBS.

Since 2009, Paul has led multiple bank-wide transformation programs at DBS, to drive continuous improvement through process re-engineering, Human Centred Design and Journey thinking.

His leadership has been a major contributor to the DBS transformation journey to being named ‘World’s Best Digital Bank’ by Euromoney (for the 2nd time) as well as ‘Best Bank in the World’ by Global Finance this year. Paul and his team continue to redefine excellence in both customer and employee experiences across markets.

Considered one of the leading cultural transformation practitioners in the world, Paul is regularly sought after for global speaking engagements, to share his experiences. Paul currently chairs the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) Future-Enabled Skills Work Group and is an IBF Fellow. He also sits on the FinTech Advisory council for the Institute of International Finance (IIF). For the Infocomm Media Development Authority, Paul serves as a member of the Technology Road Map Steering Committee and is also Co-Chair of the TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA), IMDA’s SkillsFuture initiative.

@paulcobban

Carl H Smith is Director of the Learning Technology Research Centre (LTRC) and Principal Research Fellow at Ravensbourne University London. He has 16 years experience conducting research and development into the application of hybrid technologies for perceptual and cognitive transformation. He is currently working on 4 EU projects including the Horizon 2020 project ‘[WEKIT] Wearable Experience for Knowledge Intensive Training’ which aims to create ‘Wearable Experience (WE)’ – an entirely new form of media. His other projects include and involve Context Engineering, Umwelt Hacking, Natural Media, Cyberdelics, AR4EU (Code Reality), North Sense, Seeing I, Seventh Ray (Virtual Initiation), Pollinarium, Sensory Augmentation, Empathy Engines, Memory Palaces, Artificial Senses and Body Hacking.

@behindthebeats

Emma advises organisations and leaders on how best to create teams, solve problems and use technology. As COO, Emma manages the team and finances at Oxford Insights; she also leads projects advising governments around the world on how to prepare for, and benefit from, artificial intelligence. She regularly speaks and writes on organisational approaches to artificial intelligence, including for the Harvard Business Review.

Emma has taught leadership programmes for the World Bank, the European Commission and USAID; she co-created the Labora startup programme in Mexico City and the ASEAN Data Startup Accelerator in Kuala Lumpur; and she has advised the governments of Australia, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Israel, Malaysia, Bahrain, Tanzania, Oman, Ukraine and Shanghai on areas including technology policy, leadership and change management.

Before co-founding Oxford Insights, Emma worked at the Open Data Institute for three years, most recently as Head of Projects and Strategy, where she managed the grew the ODI’s international consulting team. Before that, she worked in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in Australia, specialising in public sector reform and international economic policy. She worked in the private office of two consecutive heads of the Australian Public Service, and in Australia’s G20 Taskforce.

Emma’s research on supporting Prime Ministers for the Institute for Government contributed to redesign of policy functions at 10 Downing Street. She holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Law degree with First Class Honours from the University of Sydney, and a Masters of Public Policy with Distinction from the University of Oxford, where she was a Clarendon Scholar and came first in her class.

@EmmaTruswell

Etienne is an accomplished neurologist with a special interest in cognitive neuroscience, and authority in early childhood brain development. Etienne’s 14-year career as a clinical neurologist means he has a deep understanding of the anatomy, biology, and physiology of the brain and the human nervous system. In more recent years, his professional and personal fascination with the remarkable discoveries coming from the various brain sciences has led him to believe in the vast potential of this new knowledge to enhance human capacity. The realisation of this vision is the founding of Cape Town based Neurozone ®, a neuroscience business dedicated to the application of brain science to enhance human capacity.

At the heart of the business of Neurozone ® is a proprietary working model of brain performance. Conceived and developed by Etienne, this model builds on the anatomy, biology, and physiology of brain performance to identify key drivers that can be individually and collectively enhanced for resilience and high performance for thriving in life. The model draws on research from neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry etc. and its impact in large organisations has been validated and is currently being used in various industries to enhance human capacity by focusing on the brain/body system. As a result, Etienne has developed a keen understanding of the neurobiological substrates, principles and insights that underpin organisational behaviour and performance.

Etienne is the founder of AmazingBrainz™, an organisation dedicated to the design of programs for the brain stimulation of young, developing children – especially in disadvantaged communities. Etienne worked as a neurologist in South Africa, the UK, and the Netherlands and currently spearheads the development of the Centre for Brain Performance Sciences in Cape Town in collaboration with the Stellenbosch University. As an avid keynote speaker, Etienne engages with diverse audiences of leaders, professionals, educators, and parents on the amazing human brain and its applications as foundational knowledge in a variety of fields where resilience and optimising human capacity takes center stage.

In addition to his Medical and Clinical Neurology degrees, Etienne also holds BSc degrees in Chemistry, Mathematical Statistics as well as Integrated Physiology and Virology.

@etvanderwalt

Richard’s work examines how people handle the complexity and ambiguity of modern organisational life and how original thought emerges in fast-changing, highly uncertain, often toxic environments via resilient coping methods, such as irony and black humour.

Leading names in management, including a Harvard Top-200 Guru, have described my work as “a touchstone for future work in management”, “outstanding in daring and imagination” and “at the forefront of modern debate”. Peers and colleagues have described it as “in another league altogether”, “iconoclastic”, and “a fresh breeze in the cliché-laden organisational culture buzz”.

Currently based in Hong Kong, Richard addresses the problem of organisational misbehaviour in the pursuit of good decision-making in complex organisational environments.

@BlaccRichard

David Gonski is Chairman of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.
David is also Chancellor of the University of New South Wales, President of the Art Gallery of NSW Trust, and Chairman of the UNSW Foundation Ltd. He is also a member of the Sydney Airport Corporation board, the ASIC External Advisory Panel and the board of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, a Patron of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation and Raise Foundation and a Founding Panel Member of Adara Partners.

He was previously Chair of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools for the Commonwealth Government of Australia. He was also a member of the Takeovers Panel, Director of Singapore Airlines Limited, the Westfield Group and Singapore Telecommunications Limited, Chairman of Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd, the Australian Securities Exchange Ltd, the Sydney Theatre Company, the Guardians of the Future Fund, the Australia Council for the Arts, the Board of Trustees of Sydney Grammar School and Investec Bank (Australia) Ltd.

9The Hon Martin Pakula MP is the Victorian Minister for Jobs, Innovation and Trade, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Minister for Racing and Member for Keysborough.

Martin joined the Labor Party in 1987 while studying economics and law at Monash University.

In 1993, he joined the National Union of Workers, where he served as an Industrial Officer, Assistant State Secretary, State Secretary and National Vice President.

In 2006, he was elected to the Legislative Council as the member for Western Metropolitan Region. Between 2006 and 2010, Martin held the following ministerial appointments: Parliamentary Secretary for Transport and Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Ports.  Following that he served as Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Public Transport. In Opposition, Martin was the Shadow Attorney-General, Shadow Minister for Gaming and Racing, Shadow Minister for Corrections and Opposition Scrutiny of Government spokesperson.

In 2013, Martin moved to the Legislative Assembly in a by-election for the seat of Lyndhurst, which was subsequently renamed Keysborough. In the Andrews’ Government’s first term, Martin held the position of Attorney-General and Minister for Racing.

A keen football and racing fan, Martin has been a member of the Carlton Football Club for more than 40 years and is a member of the Victoria Racing Club. His other passions include music and running. Martin is married with two children.

@MartinPakulaMP

Sally Capp was elected Lord Mayor of Melbourne in May 2018 and was the first woman to be directly elected as Lord Mayor.

Sally was also the first woman to hold the post of Agent-General for Victoria in the UK, Europe and Israel. She has also served as the CEO for the Committee for Melbourne and COO of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Sally began her career as a Solicitor, after completing Law (Hons) and Commerce degrees at the University of Melbourne.

Sally has held senior roles at both KPMG and ANZ, and she took the small business she co-founded to the ASX. Most recently she was Victorian Executive Director of the Property Council of Australia.

A passionate Magpies supporter, in 2004 Sally made history as the first female board member of Collingwood FC. She is involved in a number of charities, currently sitting on the board of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, the Mary Jane Lewis Scholarship Foundation and the Melbourne University Faculty of Business and Economics.

Sally is also Honorary Patron of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Trustee of the Shrine of Remembrance, Member of the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors, Patron of the Royal Victorian Association of Honorary Justices, Patron of the Royal Women’s Hospital Foundation and Victorian Honorary Vice President of the Australia-Britain Society (Victoria) Inc.

Kim Williams has had a long involvement in the arts, entertainment and media industries here and overseas and has held various executive leadership positions since the late 1970s including as chief executive at each of News Corp Australia, FOXTEL, Fox Studios Australia, the Australian Film Commission, Southern Star Entertainment and Musica Viva Australia and also as a senior executive at the ABC.

Mr Williams was the chief executive of FOXTEL for the decade up until November 2011. At FOXTEL he pioneered many of the major digital broadcast innovations in Australia and received the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Subscription Television Association (ASTRA) for his diverse contributions.

Mr Williams has also held numerous board positions (and chairmanships) in commercial and public life over more than three decades including as chairman of the Australian Film Finance Corporation (which he founded for the Commonwealth in 1988); chairman of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and of Musica Viva Australia; and as the chairman of the Sydney Opera House Trust from 2005 until 2013.

He was appointed as a member in the Order of Australia in June 2006 for his services to the arts and public policy formulation in the film and television industries. In October 2009 he was awarded a doctorate of letters (honoris causa) by Macquarie University for his contribution to the arts and entertainment industry in Australia and internationally. He is a recipient of numerous other awards and honours in the Australian creative community.

Kim Williams is a current board member of numerous commercial bodies and foundations and serves as a commissioner of the Australian Football League and as Chairman of the Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company (responsible for the Reuters Trust Principles) and The Copyright Agency. MUP published his first non-fiction book Rules of Engagement in 2014.

Melinda is the CEO of CEDA. She is also a non-executive director of Woodside Petroleum and Australian Unity and Co-Chair of Reconciliation Australia. Melinda is also a member of the Parliamentary Budget Office panel of expert advisors. She was previously a Commissioner with the Productivity Commission and Deputy CEO and Chief Economist with the Business Council of Australia. Melinda has also previously held senior roles with the Federal Department of Treasury, Investor and the International Monetary Fund.

Melinda’s executive and director experience covers the corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors and she has a strong track record of working collaboratively across sectors. Melinda’s professional qualifications include a Masters of Economics (Australian National University), and Bachelor of Economics (Hons) and Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), (Flinders University, SA). She has also completed the AICD Company Directors Course.

@MelindaCilento

CEO of Innovation and Science Australia (ISA), ISA provides strategic, whole-of-government advice on all science, research and innovation matters. This includes guidance on the Government’s $10.1 billion investment in 2016–17 in innovation, science and research including measures through the National Innovation and Science Agenda.

Dr Day was previously Program Director for the University of Melbourne’s Carlton Connect initiative, a STEM innovation precinct that co-locates researchers from across the University’s academic disciplines with public and private sector organisations, increasing the innovation and impact of research outputs.

He is a member of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute board and on their Translation and Commercialisation Committee. He headed the University of Melbourne’s technology commercialisation company, Melbourne Ventures, from 2004–10 and was a co-founder of the internationally recognised Melbourne Accelerator Program which supports start-ups at the University.

Dr Day is a Rhodes Scholar and completed a PhD in the dynamics of jet engines at Oxford University. He brings significant expertise in innovation, business development, technology commercialisation, venture capital and start-up creation.

@DrCharlieDay

Nicole Cook was appointed the CEO of Jobs for NSW in 2018.

Prior to this she was the ANZ Managing Director at innovative global recruitment firm PeopleScout, overseeing the delivery and growth of their solutions in the APAC region. Nicole is an experienced senior executive with a background in managing technology divisions, management consulting and professional services.  She brings significant executive leadership experience to the position, including time at three major technology and services startups: HRX Inc., Nexus Energy Software and Celarix Inc.

Nicole will build on the Jobs for NSW’s fantastic work to date, which includes setting up the nation’s single biggest startup location – the Sydney Startup Hub.  Since it was established in 2015 Jobs for NSW has delivered innovative products, services and investments to startups and high potential, fast growth, small businesses and was on track to support the creation of more than 20,000 new jobs by 2021-22.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Catholic University of America and a Masters of Business Administration from Melbourne Business School where she won the 2016 Dean’s Scholarship for Women and Management

Peter is Chairman and one of the original Founders of Greenhill Australia, a leading Australian corporate advisory firm that is now part of the global Greenhill advisory group. He has been advising local and multi-national companies and governments in Australia for over 25 years.

In the NFP sector, Peter is Chairman, Grameen Australia; Chairman, So They Can, and Director and Founder, Women’s Community Shelters. Peter is also a member of the Advisory Councils of Mission Australia and the Centre for Social Impact. Previous roles in the sector have included Chairman, AMP Foundation; Chairman, Australian String Quartet; Trustee, St Vincent’s Clinic Foundation; a Director, Odyssey House and a Director, St James Ethics Centre.

Peter was made a member of the General Division of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2010 for services to the philanthropic sector.

Jane King joined the Australian Taxation Office in 2007 as Deputy Commissioner, Customer Service and Solutions where she managed the contact centre network (around 1500 seats across 8 sites) and oversaw the customer service strategy for the ATO. Jane managed the transformation of the ATO call centres into a multi-channel contact centre environment serving its customers with most inbound interactions.

In mid-2014, Jane was tasked with leading the ATO’s Budget Response Program as well as being the project sponsor of a number of enabling reviews. Jane undertook the Chief Information Officer role for the ATO’s Technology Group from November 2014 to December 2015. Jane has recently been appointed as the Deputy Commissioner for the Design and Change Management capability across the enterprise.

Prior to joining the ATO, Jane worked in senior roles in customer service for over 20 years with Telstra, the Brisbane City Council and various departments in the Queensland Government always driven by the belief that citizens deserve as good a service from government as they get from anywhere else.

Jane started her career as a teacher and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Jane sits on a number of boards within the ATO and other federal agencies. She is also a non- executive director for Auscontact, the national industry body for customer experience in Australia.

@ato_gov_au

Sam Mostyn is a non-executive Director and Sustainability adviser, with a long history of governance roles across business, sport, the arts, policy, and NFP sectors.

Her current board roles include Mirvac, Transurban and Virgin Australia, and she is the Chair of Citi Australia. She joined the board of the Sydney Swans in 2017, after over a decade serving as a Commissioner with the Australian Football League.

In 2005 she was the first woman to be appointed to the Commission where she was an advocate for the Respect & Responsibility Policy for the inclusion of women at all levels of the AFL. She was an advocate for the creation of the AFL Women’s league and is the 2018 AFLW Cup Ambassador. In 2009, Sam was a member of the Crawford Review expert panel which examined sports funding in Australia.

Her corporate roles have encompassed human resources and culture change, corporate and government affairs, community engagement and corporate sustainability.

Sam has served on the boards of Reconciliation Australia, the Australian Museum, the Sydney Theatre Company and now chairs Carriageworks and between 2013-2017 was President of the Australian Council for International Development. She was an inaugural commissioner with the National Mental Health Commission and was Deputy Chair of the Diversity Council of Australia. She serves on the board of the GO Foundation, founded by Adam Goodes and Michael O’Loughlin to provide education scholarships to indigenous students and serves on the Board of the Foundation for Young Australians.

Sam has served on the Business & Sustainable Development Commission, and was recently appointed Chair of ANROWS, the Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety.

Sam has held a long interest in climate change, serving on the boards of Climateworks Australia and The Climate Council. She was also a founding supporter and Chair of the women’s climate action group 1 Million Women and serves on the Australian faculty of the Cambridge University Business & Sustainability Leadership Program.

Seckin Ungur is an Associate Partner in McKinsey Australia’s Public Sector practice. She is a co-author of Australia’s Automation Opportunity – an independent McKinsey research report in conjunction with the McKinsey Global Institute, on the public-sector implications of the Future of Work in Australia. Seckin is particularly passionate about strengthening the education to employment landscape in Australia, including through re-skilling. Seckin serves clients on delivering major government transformations, with a focus on improving citizen outcomes.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Seckin worked in the Australian public sector for over 15 years. She was Head of Strategy for Jobs for NSW, a dedicated job creation agency governed by a private sector Board. Seckin led the development of the Jobs for the Future Report, a 20 year whole of government plan to drive jobs growth and economic development in the State of NSW.

She previously also held senior leadership positions within the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Seckin holds an Executive Master of Public Administration from Sydney University and a Masters in Forensic Psychology from the University of NSW.

Dr Finkel commenced as Australia’s Chief Scientist on 25 January 2016. He is Australia’s eighth Chief Scientist. Prior to becoming Chief Scientist, he was the eighth Chancellor of Monash University and the eighth President of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE).

Since commencing as Chief Scientist, Dr Finkel has led a number of national reviews, delivering the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap, the 2017 Review into the National Electricity Market (“Finkel Review”) and the 2018 STEM Industry Partnership Forum report. He serves as the Deputy Chair of Innovation and Science Australia.

Dr Finkel has an extensive science background as an entrepreneur, engineer, neuroscientist and educator. He was awarded his PhD in electrical engineering from Monash University and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in neuroscience at the Australian National University.

In 1983 he founded Axon Instruments, a California-based, ASX-listed company that made precision scientific instruments. After Axon was sold in 2004, Dr Finkel became a director of the acquiring company.

In 2006, he focused his career in Australia and undertook a wide range of activities including co-founding Cosmos Magazine. During his time at ATSE, he led the development and implementation of the STELR program for secondary school science.

@ScienceChiefAu

Professor Jane den Hollander AO has been Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University Australia since July 2010. At Deakin, Professor den Hollander introduced LIVE the future, an aspiration for Deakin to drive the digital frontier in higher education, harnessing the power, opportunity and reach of new and emerging technologies in all that it does.

Professor den Hollander is a Director of UniSuper Limited and Trustee, a member of the Premier’s Jobs and Investment Panel and a member of the VERNet Board (Victorian Education and Research Network) Prior to taking up her appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University, Professor den Hollander was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Curtin University in Western Australia. Professor den Hollander received an Order of Australia for her distinguished service to tertiary education in the 2017 Australia Day Honours awards.

@VCdeakin

Simon’s distinguished career includes being named as one of AFR Boss’ True Leaders for the 21st century, with Carol Schwartz noting; “I don’t know one CEO or chairman in corporate Australia who has not worked with Simon Longstaff”. Simon Longstaff began his working life on Groote Eylandt (Anindilyakwa) in the Northern Territory where he worked in the Safety Department of the then BHP subsidiary, GEMCO. He is proud of his kinship ties with members of the island’s Indigenous community.

Following a period studying law in Sydney and a brief career teaching in Tasmania, Simon undertook postgraduate studies in philosophy as a Member of Magdalene College, Cambridge. Simon commenced his work as the first Executive Director of The Ethics Centre in 1991. Simon is a Fellow of CPA Australia and in June 2016, was appointed an Honorary Professor at the Australian National University – based at the National Centre for Indigenous Studies.

Formerly serving as the inaugural President of The Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics, Simon serves on a number of boards and committees across a broad spectrum of activities. He was formerly a Fellow of the World Economic Forum. In 2013, Dr Longstaff was made an officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for “distinguished service to the community through the promotion of ethical standards in governance and business, to improving corporate responsibility, and to philosophy.

@SimonLongstaff

Toby Walsh is Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales, research group leader at Data61, guest Professor at Technical University of Berlin, external Professor of the Department of Information Science at Uppsala University and an honorary fellow of the School of Informatics at Edinburgh University.

He was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, and of AI Communications. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of the ACM, Journal of Automated Reasoning and the Constraints journal. He has been elected a fellow of both the Australian Academy of Science, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the European Coordinating Committee for AI in recognition of his research in artificial intelligence and service to the community. He has won the NSW Premier’s Prize for Excellence in Engineering and ICT, the Humbolt Award, and the Research Excellence Award of the Association for Constraint Programming. He has been Secretary of the Association for Constraint Programming (ACP) and is Editor of CP News, the newsletter of the ACP. He is one of the Editors of the Handbook for Constraint Programming, and the Handbook for Satisfiability.

He has been Program and Conference Chair of the main conferences in Constraint Programming, Automated Reasoning and Artificial Intelligence.

@TobyWalsh

Tania de Jong AM (pronounced Yong) is one of Australia’s most successful female entrepreneurs and innovators developing 5 businesses and 2 charities over 3 decades. Tania works across the public, private, creative and social sectors. She founded Creativity Australia, Creative Universe, MTA Entertainment & Events and The Song Room and works with disadvantaged communities through Creativity Australia’s ‘With One Voice’ choir social inclusion programs. Tania presents keynote speeches and leadership programs and performs internationally as a soloist and with her group Pot-Pourri. She has released ten albums including her new solo release Flying Free.

Tania’s TED Talk How Singing Together Changes The Brain has sparked international interest.

She is Founder and Executive Producer of Creative Innovation Global winning national and international awards. Creative Universe and Creative Innovation Global were ranked among the top 20 event organisers and agencies from around the world as part of the newly released Eventex All-Stars Index.

Tania has recently founded a co-working space called Dimension5 in Melbourne to drive social innovation and collaboration.

Tania’s awards include Ernst and Young Australian Social Entrepreneur of the Year. She was inducted into the AGSE Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame at Swinburne University and named Brainlink Woman of Achievement.  In 2018 Tania was named in the 100 Women of Influence and the 100 Australian Most Influential Entrepreneurs lists.

She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2008 for service to the Arts as a performer and entrepreneur and through the establishment and development of music and arts enrichment programs for schools and communities.

Tania’s mission is to change the world, one voice at a time!

@TaniadeJong

Rufus Black is the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Tasmania. Previously, he was Master of Melbourne University’s Ormond College and an Enterprise Professor in the Department of Management and Marketing and a Principal Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne.

Rufus’ private sector experience includes nine years as a partner at McKinsey and Company, serving clients in Australia and Asia, and as a Director for national law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth. His educational and social sector experience includes being the President of Museums Victoria, the Deputy Chancellor of Victoria University, the founding Chair of the Board of the Teach for Australia Board, a Director of the New York based Teach for All and a Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.

He has worked extensively for government at Federal and State levels. He was a Board Member of Innovation Science Australia, conducted the Black Review into the Department of Defence and the Prime Minister’s Independent Review of the Australian Intelligence Community and was the Strategic Advisor to the Secretary of Education in Victoria.

Rufus holds degrees in law, politics, economics, ethics and theology from the University of Melbourne and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

@_rufusblack

Mr Ben-Meir has extensive experience in the venture capital industry and commercialisation more generally. Over the past twenty six years he has been involved in numerous venture capital organisations; has been a founder or co-founder of six start-up companies; as well as an investor, investment manager, and advisor to several other companies.

In April 2010 Mr Ben-Meir was appointed by the Australian Federal Government as the inaugural CEO of Commercialisation Australia and, from 1 July 2014, was further appointed as the Director of the Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Programme.

In this role, Mr Ben-Meir led the establishment of a national portfolio of over 550 companies including 4 successful exits and several substantial capital raising (>$5million).

In June 2015 Mr Ben-Meir was appointed the inaugural Executive Director of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation at the University of Melbourne and CEO of University of Melbourne Commercial Limited, with responsibility for all research funding, external commercial engagements and the commercialisation of University generated intellectual property.

In July 2016 Mr Ben-Meir was appointed Vice-Principal Enterprise on the Chancellery Executive of the University of Melbourne. Building upon the operational base established within the Research, Innovation and Commercialisation portfolio, this new role is responsible for the overarching strategic development of the University’s Enterprise Agenda which focuses on the appropriate utilisation of the University’s human capital, physical assets & platforms, investment capital and its intellectual property portfolio to maximise the resources available for its research and teaching objectives.

Mr Ben-Meir’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering (1st Class Honours) from Monash University, Melbourne. He is also a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

@unimelb

Dr Amanda Caples BSc Hons PhD GAICD is Victoria’s Lead Scientist, a ‘catalyst’ responsible for working across the Victorian Government to identify opportunities for economic outcomes by building relationships between business, the research sector and government. Amanda brings to the role broad experience in technology commercialisation, public policy development and governance of public and private entities.

Amanda joined the Victorian public service in 2002 as the inaugural Director of Biotechnology and subsequently was appointed as the Executive Director Science and Technology and Deputy Secretary Sector Development and Programs to drive the state’s science agenda. In these roles, Amanda has led the development of industry sector strategy plans, delivered research-led health initiatives, regulatory and legislative scientific reforms and established international business development and research alliances. Amanda has worked with Commonwealth agencies on national science and innovation policies and programs, including the Australian Synchrotron and the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Scheme.

Dr Stefan Hajkowicz is a senior principal scientist working in the field of strategic foresight at CSIRO’s Data61. Stefan leads the Data61 Insight Team which is a group of researchers and consultants helping organisations navigate digital disruption. Stefan’s research and consulting work helps companies, governments and communities explore plausible futures and make wise strategic choices. Stefan is a world leading scholar in the field of decision theory and has published seminal works on the use multi-objective decision support.

His research has contrasted structured versus intuitive approaches to decision making. His decision models have guided investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars and have been used by Australia’s State and Federal Governments to make critical policy choices. Stefan is widely published in the international research literature and his most recent book titled “Global Megatrends” is available through CSIRO Publishing. Stefan has a doctorate in geography from the University of Queensland and postgraduate qualifications in economics from the University of New England. He is a current and recent member of the OECD and World Economic Forum global strategic foresight communities.

@stefanhajkowicz

Felicity Furey is a Civil Engineer who has been delivering Australia’s mega infrastructure projects for over 10 years. This work includes extending the life of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, delivering a life saving upgrade to the most dangerous road in Brisbane, and shaping the city of Melbourne as a design manager on the West Gate Tunnel Project.

Felicity applies the design principles learnt in her professional career to engineer a better society. This involves increasing diversity in the people who design our world – engineers, and creating inclusive workplaces. She specialises in identifying the root cause of societies ‘wicked’ challenges, and creating businesses and initiatives which tackle these directly.

Felicity is backed by some of Australia’s largest companies like Qantas, Boeing, Telstra and Energy Australia who partner with her to help implement her vision. This work has led her to be awarded.

• Engineers Australia, Innovative Engineer of 2018
• AFR BOSS Magazine, Young Executive of the Year 2016
• National Association of Women in Construction Young Leader 2015
• Foundation for Young Australians, Young Social Pioneer 2014
• AFR and Westpac, 100 Women of Influence 2012

Michael Pope has been the Master of Ceremonies for most of the annual Ci conferences since 2011, and it is a thrill to have him back for Ci2019.

With one of the quickest wits in the industry, Michael has been first on stage for 30 years, bringing warmth and humour to any occasion. Starting out as an actor, and then television show host, Michael continues to work in the television industry as the crowd wrangler for programs such as Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell, Millionaire Hotseat, The Footy Show and many more.

Spending more time these days in the corporate sphere as conference MC, Facilitator, Awards Night Compere and the like, Michael has a unique ability to engage, enthuse and excite. He brings a welcoming face to Ci2019. www.MichaelPope.com.au

@MichaelPopeMC

One of Australia’s leading young musicians, Anthony Barnhill is a versatile pianist, composer and conductor. His performances have been described as ‘heroic’ (Wilma Smith, concertmaster MSO), ‘sensitive and intelligent’ (ArtsHub review), and displaying ‘incredible showmanship’ (Tina Arena). Anthony’s credits span radio, national television, and as guest soloist with symphony orchestras.​

Anthony has worked for the Victorian State Schools Spectacular,Monash University, Opera Scholars Australia, and on various professional musical theatre productions. He has been pianist for Grammy nominated RnB artist Mario, and performed widely across Australia with corporate entertainers Pot-Pourri. Anthony toured China as Musical Director for Australian International Productions, and served as Composer in Residence for Creative Innovation Global 2016-2017.​

Anthony studied at Monash University where he won numerous awards including the Anna Chmiel Memorial Piano Prize and the highly competitive Concerto Competition, while also achieving the university’s highest performance result in each year of study. Anthony was winner of the prestigious Rob Guest Endowment Musician Award.

Melbourne born, London based, Warren Wills is a multi-award winning composer, musical director and performer who has worked with many of the world’s best cabaret, opera, jazz and classical artists. One of the most versatile and gifted musicians on the international scene, he has authored 8 original operas, 10 musicals, 13 children’s musicals, 25 albums ( with Prestige Records on iTunes, and Spotify), 5 major orchestral works and music direction credits on more than 50 productions. Warren has played and composed for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), as well as for Woody Allen in New York City, Pamela Anderson in London, and has toured extensively in Europe, Asia and the US, with appearances on MTV in the Middle East.

Credits include: Winner of Best Musical: Carling London Award 1992 for Pinmoney Opera which he co-wrote with Christiana Jones; Runner-up, Critics Circle Award for Josephine; Twice finalist for the Vivian Ellis Award for Moscow Belongs To Me and House Of Obsession; Musical Director and Arranger Soul Train, nominated for Olivier Award for Best Entertainment; Composer of Critics Choice Card Index (BAC); Composer and pianist on the album Lost And Found; Composer Great Expectations (UK/Philadelphia co-production); Composer and Musical Director Ella and Marilyn (Stratford East Theatre); Composer Penelopiad (RSC production Swan Theatre, Ottawa); Musical Director The Realness (Young Vic with Only Connect); Composer and Musical Director Happy Hooker (launched NYC); Xmas with Alistair McGowan (Riverside studios); numerous solo albums as part of the Maestro series for Prestige Records including Eleven Aspects and Piano Classics, and Composer and founder of INTERNATIONAL SHED, a collaborative, socially inclusive musical theatre for children from disadvantaged and special needs backgrounds in Australia, Hong Kong and UK.

Janet Borg is a sacred harpist who plays in a way that is extraordinarily beautiful and her presence uplifts all who witness her intuitive playing. The music she creates is embedded with both soul and spirit and she creates an ambience full of love and healing. The ancient way of playing harp is renowned for its impact on wellbeing. Janet offers private sessions and also runs meditation groups for mindfulness, joy and tranquility

www.soothingyoursoul.com.au

Zoe Black is a violinist’s violinist, known for her beauty of sound and natural virtuosity. In 1989 she won the National Youth Concerto Competition and in 1991,
the string section of the ABC Young Performers Awards.

After graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1992, Zoë was awarded grants from the Australia Council and Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Trust as well as the major performance award of the Australian Music Foundation in London, which facilitated her studies at the Guildhall School of Music under David Takeno and subsequently at the Vienna Hochschule with Michael Schnitzler.

Zoë was appointed assistant leader of Australian Chamber Orchestra in 1993, touring the world extensively. A committed chamber musician, in 2005 Zoë cofounded the Freshwater Trio with whom she toured nationally and internationally. She has also performed as soloist with various chamber and symphony orchestras and is a regular guest concert master with MSO & QSO.

Zoë returned to the ACO in 2012 in a part time capacity, where she regularly led the ACO Collective, performed as soloist and was an integral component of their educational programme. More recently, Zoë was a guest leader of the Australian String Quartet in 2016, performing at Festivals in Victoria, WA and in Italy (Rome, Venice and Cremona).

In 2011 Zoë co -founded the innovative duo with pianist/composer Joe Chindamo. The duo has performed at all the major festivals in Australia and recorded 3 ARIA nominated CDs, (REIMAGININGS , DIDO’S LAMENT and their re-versioning of the THE GOLDBERG VARIATIONS, premiering the latter at Carnegie Hall in 2015. The duo made their debut Italian performance at the Spinacorona Festival in Naples, at the invitation of renowned pianist, Michele Campanella in 2018 and are invited to perform the aforementioned Goldberg Variations at the Bach Festival in Leipzig in 2020.

A passionate teacher and tutor, Zoë has taught and tutored at Melbourne University, VCA, VCASS and Monash University.

“Everything Zoe Black touches turns to gold.” Francis Merson, musician and editor of limelight Magazine.

Much like a language ‘interpreter’, Max uses real-time hand-drawn images and fonts that translate a conversation. This graphical representation enables people to see what is being said, thus forming a shared understanding. Conversations and speakers suddenly become even more memorable; complex subjects become simpler to understand; and the event experience becomes even more engaging.

Max’s background as an international musician performing for non-English speaking audiences and, when not on tour, an I.T. Project Manager, brings a unique combination of deep listening, creativity and logic that facilitates clarity, new perspectives and decision-making.

Contact Visual Storytellers
Extending the value of your event. BEYOND THE ROOM
hello@visstorytellers.com.au
0403 683 755

I am an Illustrator and Graphic Recorder based in Melbourne.

As a Graphic Recorder I capture meetings, presentations, and events with live drawing. This process involves listening carefully, processing the information and translating the key messages into a combination of words and images to create a visual record. Because people think visually, the pictures I create are a highly effective method in engaging audiences, bringing an event to life, encouraging continued discussion and creating the opportunity to share content with a wider audience.

In addition to Graphic Recording, I work with some clients to synthesise complex messaging into engaging visual narratives known as Rich Pictures. These illustrations create an accessible way for their teams or customers to understand a new product, process, journey or way of working.

Some of the clients I am proud to have worked with include: ACC New Zealand, AGL, ANZ, Ausnet, Alfred Health, BHP Biliton, Brotherhood of St. Laurence, BuzzFeed, Cap Gemin, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Department of Veterans Affairs, KPMG, Melbourne University, PwC and Western Power.

I illustrate and graphic record using a range of methods including on whiteboard, paper and digitally using an iPad and iPencil.

Contact Visual Storytellers
Extending the value of your event. BEYOND THE ROOM
hello@visstorytellers.com.au
0403 683 755

With 40 overseas tours and 7 CDs under their belt including Europe, Asia and USA, Melbourne’s Pot-Pourri presents their unique and innovative blend of music theatre, cabaret, opera, magic, didgeridoo and comedy in a superbly entertaining show that is so hot it sizzles! These talented artists hit those high C’s in Opera, belt out Broadway, seduce with song, dance up a storm, create magic and stir your soul with haunting ballads! Described as brilliantly talented, funny, fresh, moving and must-see… do not miss them!

Recently named Australian Event Entertainers of the Year by BT Publishing, Pot-Pourri is Tania de Jong AM (soprano), Rebecca Bode(soprano), Jon Bode (tenor), Jonathan Morton (baritone) and Anthony Barnhill (pianist). These 5 talented artists have all performed with Australia’s major musical and opera companies and performed internationally as soloists. Pot-Pourri has an extensive touring schedule and has appeared at major venues such as the Melbourne Concert Hall, Sydney Town Hall, Burswood and Wrest Point Casinos. The group has toured throughout many parts of the USA, Europe, New Zealand and Asia.

They were selected as one of the companies to represent Australia internationally for the Reaching the World program of The Sydney Olympic Games and were invited to perform at the World Expo 2000 in Hannover as a result of a standing ovation at the Australia Germany Association Conference Gala Dinner in Brisbane. Pot-Pourri also create tailor-made performances for your conferences, dinners, awards nights, launches, private and special events.

“Sublime musicality is what Pot-Pourri is all about: their voices, the evergreen songs they choose and their pianist are all world class. Pot-Pourri harmonies are spine-tinglingly glorious to hear and they are beautiful and inspiring. Their show is a joyous thing to experience!” ArtsHub.

Loneliness, and the depression which accompanies it, is the global epidemic of our era. Statistics show that 2 in 5 people feel socially isolated and unheard. This isolation leads to serious mental and  physical health issues and great economic disadvantage.

Creativity Australia is building a happier, healthier, more inclusive nation. We bridge the gap between people experiencing disadvantage and those more fortunate through the neuro-scientific benefits of community singing. We build supportive networks that help people connect to brighter futures.

Creativity Australia’s program runs a network of 23 community choirs in 7 States of Australia. The choirs unite people aged 9 to 90, from all faiths and all walks of life: migrants, people with disabilities, job seekers, executives, seniors, students, refugees, asylum seekers and more.

Choirs are led by professional conductors and meet weekly, followed by supper. Through The Wish List, participants grant one another wishes big and small: such as resume assistance, friendships, language tuition and jobs. The choirs help people connect to whatever they need in life: friends, mentors, wellbeing, self-esteem, networks, skills and employment.

Following Founder Tania de Jong AM’s TED Talk ‘How Singing Together Changes The Brain’, Creativity Australia has received enquiries from across the globe. The innovative program model is now being replicated in communities globally through a social franchise model.

Creativity Australia won the 2016 Melbourne Award for Contribution to Community by a Community Organisation and has been named in Australia’s top Social Innovations.

Creativity Australia’s social impact goal is to help break down the traditional silos of the social welfare sector, building cohesive communities that include and support one another, rather than relying on ‘top-down’ services. Thus, we mobilise and multiply community change-makers far beyond the capacity of our organisation: diverse people who will pay it forward and help address the deep issues that impact our society.

Your support is critical to the future of the program.
Together, we can change the world… one voice at a time.

Connect with us at
www.creativityaustralia.org.au

@CreativityAust

Andrew Horsfield is a performance consultant who advises leaders in business, sport and social enterprise. With deep expertise in advancing people and performance, he avoids fist pumping rah-rah preferring to deliver cutting edge capability that delivers real world results.

Helping people perform at their peak is what gets him out of bed in the morning – sometimes way too early. He has turned around disengaged teams, helped CEO’s champion organisational change and assisted professional athletes find another level.

The author of three books, one a national best seller, he works exclusively with forward thinking leaders with a bias for building a better future.

@andrewsthriving

Rachel is an innovation and marketing architect. She helps organisations think differently and unearth less intuitive ideas to create more creative ecosystems. She uses a range of methods in training, projects and building innovative ecosystems but the most trans-formative is the Israeli method, Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT). Its sweet spot is unique in that it busts cognitive thinking patterns that often hold us back in our efforts to be innovative.

She embraces collisions and paradox in all her work. She has a passion for training people and mentors with CSIRO’s OnPrime program, lectures at UTS and equips corporate intrapreneurs with the toolset and mindset to think differently.

@SITInnovation

John Pickering is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Behaviour Innovation. Dr Pickering is a behavioural scientist who specialises in analysing and modifying behaviour at the population level. His work focuses on understanding resistance to change and how people can work better together to bring about change in how we see the world.

Currently, he is the director of multiple projects, including Project Cane Changer, one of Australia’s largest environmental behavioural change initiatives aimed at improving water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef. His work appears in leading international journals, national media, and he provides advice to governments on how psychology can be applied to help overcome complex, entrenched problems.

@johnpickering

Yamini Naidu is a leading global expert in business storytelling and the world’s only economist turned business storyteller. She works with business leaders from Fortune 500 and ASX 100 companies and entrepreneurs from all over the world helping them move from spreadsheets to stories.

Rated among the top three business storytellers globally, Yamini is a highly acclaimed speaker, mentor and best selling author. She informs, inspires and entertains audiences all over the world with her practical business insights and fresh ideas.

Yamini herself has held senior leadership roles and consistently kicked it out of the ball park with her engagement scores using the power of storytelling. An economist by training (please don’t hold that against her) she has helped clients achieve significant business results, such as increasing employee engagement, leading organisational change, winning multi million dollar tenders and increasing sales …all through the power of business storytelling.

She believes that whatever you are trying to achieve in business, storytelling can help you get there and in fact guarantees that!

@yamininaidu_

How do you connect as a leader? What does it take to create a visceral experience when you speak? What if you could articulate the complex, simply and powerfully?

As an executive speaker coach, Jon Yeo helps leaders tap into a domain of real leadership and engagement, build deep connection and loyalty and co-create a new reality of human potential.

Known for his ability to articulate the complex simply, Jon works with CEO’s and senior leadership teams to build trust, empathy and engagement in an increasingly distracted world.

Past clients include SAP, Princess Cruises, Auspost, MYOB, Deakin University, DHHS and DET.

Jon is a past Chapter President of Professional Speakers Australia (formerly NSA) and leads TEDxMelbourne, one of the world’s largest and longest running TEDx events in the world. As Licensee and Curator, he selects and prepares all speakers as well as leads 45+ volunteers around the TED vision of “ideas worth spreading”

@jontv