Adam Spencer, Drawcard MC
A math genius, radio and television presenter, author and TEDx speaker whose talk attracted over two million views, Adam has interviewed bestselling authors, astronauts, CEOs, and CIOs of some of the world’s largest companies, winners of Nobel Prizes, and every Prime Minister on-stage since Gough Whitlam, among others.
Adam Spencer has been a breakfast radio announcer on Triple J and ABC Sydney, TV personality on everything from comedies Good News Week and The Glasshouse to weekly sports wrap The Back Page, and is a member of the Sleek Geeks Science Team with Dr Karl Kruszelnicki.
David Walker, Group Chief Technology Officer, Westpac Group
David Walker joined as Westpac Group’s Chief Technology Officer in 2019. David commenced his technology career in 1987 as an engineer, coding systems for various Australian based companies. After a decade of evolving his software engineering craft, David founded a consultancy specialising in the use of data, in what is now known as data science. For the last 15 years, David has been in large, complex organisations. He worked in ANZ across a number of executive roles, in both Australia and Singapore. It was in Singapore where David subsequently joined DBS, which transformed from a traditional bricks and mortar bank to be recognised as the Best Bank in the World and the Best Digital Bank in the World by Euromoney.
Leonie Valentine, Chair, AOMedia (Former Chief AI Officer at Regional AI Network & MD at leading companies including Google, Australia Post & Telstra
Leonie is a distinguished executive with extensive experience in technology and telecommunications and is the Chair of AO Media a computer vision and AI enabled digital media company. She was previously with the Australian Regional AI Network and has held c-level executive leadership positions at Telstra, Google and Australia Post. Leonie is a digital industry leader with 30 years’ experience in general management, sales, marketing and operations, including 20 years in digital technology and telecommunications. Over the years Leonie has been an active member of a number of boards including Not for Profits and ASX-listed Pro-Pac Packaging Ltd. She currently serves as a board member for Save the Children Australia.
Tim Hogarth, Chief Technology Officer, ANZ
Tim oversees the bank’s technology vision, strategy, and execution, with a focus on delivering customer-centric, secure, and scalable solutions. With more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, leading teams of architects, engineers, and developers across multiple domains and platforms. Tim’s core competencies include enterprise architecture, solution architecture, IT strategy, engineering standards, and innovation with strong track record of driving pragmatic, value-added IT initiatives that align with the bank’s business goals and regulatory requirements. Tim has a deep understanding of current and emerging technologies, such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and how they can create competitive advantages and new opportunities for the bank and its stakeholders.
Nirvana Luckraj, Chief Medical Officer, Healthdirect Australia
Dr. Nirvana brings a wealth of international healthcare experience to her role as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Healthdirect Australia. As a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and with more than 30 years’ experience across four continents, Nirvana has held leadership positions in digital health, clinical artificial intelligence, medical service provision and general practice, overseeing clinical governance, quality assurance, and service delivery. Nirvana’s career has also encompassed managing medical teams across Australia, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea while overseeing major government and private healthcare contracts. As CMO at Healthdirect Australia, Nirvana has executive accountability for strategic clinical leadership across the organisation to support effective clinical governance, clinical innovation and partnerships in the delivery of Healthdirect’s services. She leverages her vast experience to drive innovation in the delivery of accessible, high quality and safe digital and virtual healthcare services for all Australians.
James Roberts, General Manager, Group Fraud Management Services, Commonwealth Bank
James is currently the General Manager of Group Fraud Management Services at the
Commonwealth Bank of Australia overseeing the Bank’s prevention, detection and response to external fraud. James also serves on the Board of the Australian Financial Crime Exchange. He has worked in the financial services and fraud industry for over 20 years and has extensive experience in investigating and managing fraud and financial crimes. James was previously General Manager of CBA’s Group Investigations, Intelligence and Fraud Advisory division and holds a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Psychology. Prior to emigrating to Australia, James was the Head of Group Financial Crime Control at Standard Bank in South Africa managing their prevention, detection and response to external and internal fraud. During this time, he was also a long-standing member of the Commercial Crime Steering committee at SABRIC
Jeremy Hubbard, Chief Data and Technology Officer, Rest
Jeremy is responsible for charting and executing Rest’s technology, delivery and data insights strategy. His remit includes leading Rest’s functional areas of data, insights and analytics, digital architecture, software engineering, information security and strategic delivery. Jeremy has more than two decades of experience in innovation and technology roles across corporate, SME and consulting organisations. He joined the digital UBank in 2008 and was part of the bank’s executive team from 2015 to 2019. Before joining Rest he was UBank’s General Manager, Digital & Innovation. Jeremy was previously Head of IT for fintech start-up Once Australia, and worked in consultancy roles for Capgemini, Morse and Oracle Corporation. He has been the Director of two small consultancies between 2007 and 2018.
Brett Wilson, Chief Information Officer, Royal Australasian College of Physicians
Brett was recognised in the CIO50 in 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019 for innovation and leadership. As CIO of RACP Brett provides strategic direction and leadership for all aspects of information technology to support the college’s business objectives in growing member engagement and satisfaction, improving the digital experience of their teams, and supporting efficient service delivery.
Lee Hickin, Executive Director, Australian National AI Centre
Lee has over 30 years’ experience in the technology industry, having been in technical, sales and business development roles. Most recently he was the CTO for Microsoft ANZ and then lead the Asia region for Microsoft’s global Responsible AI team. Lee has worked across the UK, Asia, and Australia, before joining the Federal Government. In addition to his time at Microsoft, Lee led the Internet of Things team for Amazon Web Services in Asia Pacific, he was a CISSP security architect with RSA Security and worked at both Tivoli and IBM as a software engineer. During his time in industry, Lee has supported Governments around the world as an independent contributor; having been a member of the Singapore AI-Verify Board and a founding member of the NSW AI Assurance Committee.Today Lee leads the Australian National AI Centre (NAIC), with a mission to enable and support Australian Industry and society in its adoption of and acceleration through AI technology and services. He has a clear focus on the need for consistent and appropriate responsible safety mechanisms to support AI, balanced with the need to empower Australians with the confidence and trust in the positive and transformative potential of AI.Lee brings the importance of technical understanding combined with the need for clear and unambiguous language as we help shape a future where AI will be a powerful enabler of productivity, growth and society broadly.
Christina Igasto, Chief Digital Officer, Service NSW
Christina Igasto is a Digital and ICT professional with over 25 years of experience in Digital Business Transformation. Throughout her career, Christina led significant leading-edge transformation journeys to meet consumer expectations and address complex business requirements. Her expertise includes transforming customer services, governance, culture, business processes, technology, and strategic and operational management. Christina joined Service NSW in July 2024. Under her leadership, the teams collaborate with the public and private sectors to design and execute a digital and data vision that advances digital capabilities, enhances customer experience and insights and delivers innovative digital products for partner agencies, the people and businesses in NSW. As the Chief Digital Officer, Christina is responsible for the effective and agile development, implementation, and delivery of strategic digital programs, digital transformation and easy, accessible, trusted and integrated NSW digital government services.
Joanna Gurry, Executive Data Platforms, National Australia Bank
Joanna is a commercially focused technology executive with 25 years’ experience in banking, insurance and telecommunications. Building and leading large data and analytics teams at NBNCo, IAG, Commonwealth Bank and KPMG, Jo has led successful transformations of culture and capability in large, complex businesses.
Aiming always to strike the right balance between risk and compliance with strong commercial outcomes, Jo targets strategic relationships with great partners to propel an innovation agenda – driven by advanced analytics practices and underpinned by mature information management foundations.
Patricia Haueiss, CEO, Reality Labs; Advisor, Australian Metaverse Advisory Council
Patricia is a strategic consultant at the forefront of the metaverse, web3, and Artificial Intelligence. Recognized as one of Australia’s Top 100 Innovators, she has 10+ years of experience in augmented reality (AR), spatial computing, and the broader metaverse. With this knowledge, Patricia guides brands to become metaverse-ready and aids businesses in navigating these emerging ecosystems. Her clientele ranges from major automotive giants to Hollywood’s top studios. A thought leader in her field, Patricia has authored comprehensive reports on topics such as “Metaverse Fashion”, NFT Marketing, and the immersive worlds of AR & VR, attracting thousands of readers. Beyond consultancy.
Brendan Hopper, Chief Information Officer for Technology, Commonwealth Bank
Brendan is responsible for overseeing the bank’s technology strategy, aligning innovation with business goals and driving transformation across the organisation. With deep expertise in digital transformation, cybersecurity, and IT infrastructure, Brendan has played a pivotal role in enhancing CBA’s technological capabilities. He is passionate about evolving engineering practices, championing agile methodologies, and fostering a culture of empowerment and collaboration. His efforts have significantly improved software development efficiency, collaboration and quality. Brendan is known for his strategic vision and ability to cultivate innovation, enabling teams to deliver cutting-edge solutions that elevate customer experience and operational performance.
Pooyan Asgari, Chief Data Officer, Domain
Pooyan oversees Domain’s data, analytics, business intelligence, and AI strategies. Pooyan’s team is dedicated to providing seamless access to data and analytics across the business and supports teams to solve their complex problems with the help of data. His team also actively provides cutting edge AI and BI solutions to internal and external stakeholders. Before joining Domain in 2015, Pooyan was Director of Analytics Products for HLA Global, working with a number of high-profile healthcare organisations such as Cancer Council of Australia and centre of disease control (CDC) in the United States to provide cutting edge AI solutions for the medical sector.
Álvaro Colon, Chief Innovation Officer, Wisr
Álvaro has led Wisr’s technology and product teams across design, engineering, development and IT since February 2025. He has over 20 years of experience across strategy, experience, design, product and marketing. Álvaro has previously held senior roles both overseas and locally at Accenture and Citi.
Bijal Sejpal, Chief Operating Officer, Technology, Bupa Asia Pacific
Bijal is a strategic transformation leader and accomplished change architect. She has been instrumental in accelerating organisational response to the opportunities surfaced by rapidly evolving technology and data. Bijal’s strong foundation in driving innovation and sustainable change within the public and private sectors has enabled organisations to fast-track their transformation agendas and realise positive business outcomes through bimodal and modular architecture. Her expertise in AI transformation and fostering data-driven risk cultures has fuelled the execution of generative AI and data analytics initiatives that propel performance and optimisation. She is deeply passionate about bringing people together and challenging the status quo while effecting inspired change, growth and progress.
Artak Amirbekyan, Chief Data Officer, EBOS Group
Artak joined Ebos Group in June 2025, having previously led the AI, Data and Machine Learning team at Transurban, where his responsibilities included executing data and advanced analytics strategy and managing substantial CAPEX/OPEX budgets. He recently won the the iTnews Benchmark Award for Best Industrial Project. Prior to this role, Artak was the Executive Manager of AI Labs at Commonwealth Bank, leading a large team of data scientists on strategic projects and capability building.
Imma Chippendale, Senior Strategic Advisor, Data, ACCC
Imma Chippendale is an experienced data and strategy professional with experience across public, private, and non-profit sectors. She is currently the Senior Strategic Advisor on Data at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. She was Chief Data Officer at the Department of Regional NSW, where she promoted the use of data and analytics across government for the benefit of regional communities. She previously created and led the data and analytics team at the ACCC. She also has over a decade of experience in commercial strategy consulting.
Chaitanya Kuber, Chief Technology Officer, Airtasker
Chaitanya leads a global engineering and data team driving innovation and operational excellence across multiple continents for Airtasker. With over 20 years of experience spanning software engineering and technology leadership—including at Atlassian—he is passionate about building customer-centric products, scaling high-performing teams, and leveraging AI to accelerate growth. Chaitanya is recognised for fostering collaboration, delivering impact in both startups and established companies, and inspiring teams to embrace continuous learning and change.
Craig Templeton, Chief Technology Officer, Reece Group
Craig Templeton is the Chief Technology Officer at Reece ANZ, where he leads the strategic direction of technology across the business, driving innovation, resilience, and customer-centric transformation. Based at Reecetech in Melbourne, Craig is known for his ability to bridge board-level strategy with delivery reality, shaping enterprise-wide platforms that support Reece’s growth across Australia, New Zealand, and the US. Prior to joining Reece, Craig held senior leadership roles at REA Group, including Chief Information Security Officer and General Manager of Technology Platforms. He also brings over two decades of global experience from blue-chip organisations such as IBM, Deloitte, and ANZ Bank. His career spans cybersecurity, digital transformation, and executive advisory, with active involvement in mentoring programs and research institutes across London, Canberra, Sydney, and Melbourne. Craig is a passionate advocate for ethical AI, resilient systems, and talent development. He regularly contributes to industry conversations on leadership, emerging technologies, and the evolving role of the CTO in shaping enterprise futures.
Joe Hassell, Senior Director & Sales Leader - APJC, WEKA
Joe Hassell has played a pivotal role in driving sales growth and market share within the region throughout his career in the IT Sector. Joe previously held key roles at companies such as Actifio, VMware, and IBM, demonstrating strong leadership in sales, technical guidance, architectural expertise, and innovative solutions in cloud computing and virtualization. Joe’s career journey underscores his commitment to driving business success, leveraging his robust technical acumen, strategic leadership, and a fervent dedication to nurturing strong partner and customer relationships.
Yan Chen, Chief Executive Officer, Aurora AI & Studio Architect Kennedy Miller Mitchell
Yan is a renowned studio architect, technologist, and entrepreneur in the realms of AI, visual effects, and immersive media, best known as the CEO of Aurora AI and the Studio Architect for Kennedy Miller Mitchell. He has played a pivotal role in shaping next-generation visual effects pipelines for major Hollywood films (The Matrix Reloaded, Astro Boy, Happy Feet Two, Furiosa) and building influential startups dedicated to AI-powered video and immersive technologies. Chen’s approach bridges deep technical mastery (from computer science and neuroscience to generative AI and machine learning) with creativity-driven, real-world production for industries and global studios
Jagdeep Singh, Chief Technology Officer, Rimini Street
Jagdeep is a transformational technology and business leader known for his guiding principle – credibility through delivery. With a career spanning 25 years at large ASX organisations such as Wesfarmers and BlueScope, he has built a reputation for leading large-scale transformations with global teams – that deliver measurable long-term value. As an ex-customer and new appointed CTO for Rimini Street ANZ, Jagdeep helps organisations drive enterprise-wide modernisation by optimising their assets and transforming without disruption. His leadership is marked by a deep commitment to innovation and operational excellence, ensuring every initiative translates strategy into bottom line uplift. Jagdeep frequently speaks on topics including AI, Cyber, change leadership, and digital transformation. His mission is to help organisations embrace new technologies while maintaining the trust and discipline that make change truly effective.
Chelsea Gordon, Legal Lead - AI Advisory, MinterEllison
Chelsea is the Legal Lead in MinterEllison’s AI Advisory team, and is at the forefront of AI regulation, governance and Responsible AI. Chelsea enables clients to maximise AI opportunities while mitigating legal risks. She advises organisations about how to implement AI and other emerging technologies to achieve legally sound, commercial and strategic outcomes. Chelsea guides boards and executive teams on AI governance frameworks, Responsible AI implementation and regulatory compliance. She supports clients in developing privacy and contract settings that protect personal information and intellectual property and that align with AI risk management and ESG obligations. Chelsea advises ASX-listed companies and government across regulated sectors, including healthcare, education and financial services.
Cory Hawkvelt, Chief Product & Technology Officer, NexGen Cloud
Cory Hawkvelt has a long track record of managing large IT teams of up to 650 personnel for large organisations around the world. In addition, he has over 15 years’ experience in software development providing a very diverse range of skills to help develop our current and future projects.Before joining NexGen Cloud, Cory has been acting as CTO for a large cloud company, one of the only two authorised to work with the government on some of their higher tier security cloud projects, earning him NV1 security clearance.He has been responsible for the development and build-out of many highly secure cloud environments for the public sector, ensuring NexGen Cloud operates at the highest level of security it can throughout the entire organisation.
Thuy Lam,CEO & Founder, Blackbook.AI
Thuy is the founder and CEO of Blackbook AI, one of the first Australian-owned global AI consulting companies with a presence in Asia Pacific and North America. He is passionate about growing local talent in the communities where Blackbook has established operations, ensuring delivery is driven locally. Last year, he launched Australia’s first agentic AI platform, a testament to Blackbook’s seven-year journey of combining AI, automation, digital and data to solve and automate large, complex problems.
Richard Davies,Regional Lead ANZ, Airia
Richard has spent the last 15+ years providing transformative technologies to clients across APAC. With a passion for emerging or disruptive technologies and start-ups looking to expand into the region, he previously served as the ANZ Regional Vice President at Lacework before it’s acquisition to Fortinet. In his current role, he is tasked with building the GTM team and strategy across the ANZ region for Airia, a leading enterprise AI management platform.
Michael Cole, Director – Specialty Sales, Dell Technologies
Michael has an extensive background in large scale infrastructure deployments across a broad range of industries in a variety of roles with Dell Technologies. Throughout his career, Michael has developed a comprehensive understanding of IT strategy, a track record of solving complex customer challenges, and an ability to leverage the broad Dell portfolio to meet customers’ requirements across a wide range of industries. Michael’s focus is the application of IT to address business challenges and deliver innovation over a variety of use cases by drawing on his combination of technical expertise, business acumen and a strong desire to deliver outcomes that deliver high levels of value and innovation for customers and partners.
Peter Graves, Area Vice President, Australia & New Zealand, UiPath
Peter Graves leads the UiPath Australia and New Zealand customer engagement and sales strategy by raising awareness about how UiPath can help businesses achieve enhanced efficiencies, productivity, and innovation in their operations using agentic automation. Peter is a growth-oriented enterprise sales leader with more than 20 years of experience in SaaS, software development, digital media and consulting across ANZ and the Asia Pacific region. Formerly the Regional Vice President for Enterprise Salesforce Marketing Cloud with Salesforce, he has extensive experience in managing, scaling and enabling high growth teams with a focus on customer success, developing a high-performance culture and embedding process efficiencies.
Chris Ellis, APAC Solutions Engineering Director, Nintex
Chris Ellis leads a dynamic team helping organisations reimagine the way they work through the power of process improvement, automation and AI. With a knack for turning complexity into clarity, he’s passionate about driving real-world impact — from eliminating bottlenecks to accelerating innovation. A regular speaker on the future of work, Chris brings energy, insight, and a healthy dose of pragmatism to every conversation about transforming business processes for the better.
Mathew Carpenter, Head of Customer Engineering, Telecommunications & Financial Services Industry, Google Cloud Australia & New Zealand
Matthew is the Head of Customer Engineering for Telecommunications and the Financial Services Industry at Google Cloud Australia & New Zealand. He is a highly accomplished strategic and transformational leader with a proven track record of transforming large, complex organisations. At Google he leads customer engineering, focusing on driving innovation and digital transformation for strategic blue-chip Australian brands. A Chartered Accountant by trade, Matthew started his career auditing and advising investment banks at Ernst and Young. He has held senior executive and leadership roles across major companies including Qantas, Amazon and Google Cloud.
Jeremy Pell, Country Manager - AVP, Elastic
Jeremy brings over a decade of leadership experience in enterprise sales and digital transformation across the ANZ region. Prior to joining Elastic, he held key roles at Adobe Experience Cloud, TubeMogul, and InMobi, where he was instrumental in driving growth and building strategic partnerships across sectors like financial services, retail, and government. At Elastic, Jeremy is focused on accelerating innovation, deepening customer engagement, and delivering scalable solutions that create real business value.
Daniel Apps, Solution Architect, ResetData
Daniel helps organisations harness sovereign, secure, and sustainable AI infrastructure. With over 20 years’ experience in IT architecture and cloud solutions, he specialises in making complex technologies practical for enterprises and government. At ResetData, Daniel enables customers with ready-now access to GPUaaS, AIaaS, and AI Factories – backed by 100% Australian-hosted platforms that are compliant, resilient, and environmentally efficient. Passionate about strengthening Australia’s intelligence economy, Daniel works with industry leaders to unlock innovation while protecting national assets. His mission: to ensure AI adoption drives progress with speed, sustainability, and sovereignty at its core.
Dan McMahon, APAC Solutions & GTM Executive, Avanade
Dan leads Avanade’s solutions and GTM across Asia Pacific. He has spent over 20 years working with business and technology leaders on re-defining products, services and operations in retail, energy, insurance and healthcare – focusing on designing and executing transformation and the critical role that real-time trusted data and intelligence plays in making that happen.