The Hon Juila Gillard MP

Prime Minister of Australia

Julia Gillard is the 27th Prime Minister of Australia. She is the first woman to hold this position, having also become the first woman to serve as Australia's Deputy Prime Minister.

Julia Gillard represents the western Melbourne electorate of Lalor in the House of Representatives. She has been involved in progressive politics throughout her adult life, working as an adviser to the Labor Party, a lawyer at Slater and Gordon, and leading Australia's national student representative body.

She is the number one ticket holder for her beloved AFL team, the Western Bulldogs.

Senator the Hon Senator Stephen Conroy

Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy

Senator the Hon. Stephen Conroy was sworn in as Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy in December 2007, and as Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Productivity in September 2010. He is also Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate.

Stephen's portfolio responsibilities include the National Broadband Network and the enabling foundation for our digital economy. As part of the Digital Productivity portfolio, Stephen is responsible for cross-government programs that are pioneering the use of high-speed broadband to improve service delivery in areas including health, education and aged-care.

The Hon Bill Shorten MP

Minister for Employment & Workplace Relations, Financial Services & Superannuation

As a senior member of the Gillard Government’s economic team, Minister Shorten has played a key role in delivering a balanced budget sharing the wealth of the mining boom through increases to retirement savings, and establishing the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Since taking on the Workplace Relations portfolio, Minister Shorten has helped broker outcomes in a range of industrial disputes and worked to ensure Australia’s unemployment rate remains one of the lowest in the industrialised world . Bill has also secured safe rates for truck drivers, delivered greater rights and protections for vulnerable textile workers and is overseeing one of the largest investments in training and workforce participation in Australia’s history.

Before his promotion to the Ministry, Bill was the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Children’s Services and Victorian Bushfire reconstruction. Prior to that Bill worked at the Australian Workers Union, holding key leadership positions including State Secretary of the AWU Victoria Branch from 1998 to 2006 and the National Secretary from 2001 to 2007.

Bill has also been a director of AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest superannuation fund and a director of the Victorian Funds  management Corporation. This experience, combined with his MBA from the Melbourne Business School and a Bachelors degree in Arts and Law from Monash University, gives Bill both the education and practical experience required for such a diverse and complex portfolio.

The Hon Jeffrey L. Bleich

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Australia.

Ambassador Bleich was nominated by President Obama, and confirmed unanimously by the Senate on November 10, 2009. He presented his credentials to the Governor General of Australia Quentin Bryce on November 26, 2009, becoming the 24th American ambassador to the Commonwealth of Australia.

Immediately prior to his nomination, Ambassador Bleich served as Special Counsel to President Obama in the White House.  From 1995 to 2009, Ambassador Bleich practiced law as a partner in Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP.

Ambassador Bleich was born on a U.S. Army base in Germany, and grew up in Connecticut.  He received his B.A. from Amherst College with high honors, his Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University with highest honors, and his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, again with highest honors.  Following graduation from law school, he clerked for Judge Abner J. Mikva of the D.C. Circuit (1989-90), Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the United States Supreme Court (1990-91), and Judge Howard Holtzmann of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal.  He received his certificate in Public International Law from The Hague Academy in 1993, and an Honorary Doctorate in Law from San Francisco State University (2011).

He and his wife Rebecca have three children, Jake, Matthew and Abby.

Professor Glyn Davis AC

Vice-Chancellor, the Univerisity of Melbourne

Glyn Davis is Professor of Political Science, Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Melbourne, and Chair of Universities Australia.

Professor Davis was educated in political science at the University of New South Wales and the Australian National University, before undertaking post-doctoral appointments as a Harkness Fellow at the University of California Berkeley, the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Internationally, Professor Davis is an immediate past Chair of Universitas 21, a grouping of 24 leading universities from around the globe, a member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, and a Director of the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies at King’s College London.

Prof Rod Tucker

Director, Institute of a Broadband-Enabled Society

Rod Tucker is a Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne and Director of the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications (CEET).  He is also Director of the Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society, which is a foundation member of the GreenTouchTM consortium.  Rod leads a group of academics and students undertaking research on broadband access technologies and energy-efficient in telecommunications. Rod has previously held positions at Plessey, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Hewlett Packard Laboratories, and Agilent Technologies.  He joined the University of Melbourne in 1990.

Mr Philip Cronin

Chair, AIIA & Director of Sales & Business Development, Intel Asia

Philip Cronin has worked in senior roles with Intel for over 13 years. The world leader in silicon innovation, Intel develops technologies and products that continually advance people's work and lives. Founded in 1968, Intel introduced the world's first microprocessor in 1971. Revenue in 2007 topped $38 billion delivered through over 86 thousand employees worldwide. The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) is Australia's peak ICT industry representative body and advocacy group. For over 30 years AIIA's mission has been to advocate, promote, represent and grow the ICT industry in Australia. AIIA represents over 400 member organisations totalling more than 40,000 employees and almost 20 billion dollars in annual Australian revenue.

Mr Innes Willox

Chief Executive, Australian Industry Group

Innes Willox joined Ai Group as Director International and Government Relations in 2008 with responsibility for policy development and advocacy across federal and state government systems including in the areas of trade, defence, climate change, industrial relations and communications. He was appointed Chief Executive in May 2012.

Prior to joining Ai Group he held a number of senior roles in both the public and private sectors. He served as the Australian Consul General to Los Angeles from 2006 to 2008, where he represented wide-ranging Australian interests on the west coast of the United States. He was Chief of Staff to the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, from 2004 to 2006. Eariler he was Manager for Global Public Affairs for Singapore Airlines based in Singapre (2000-04).

Innes began his career as a journalist. His positions included Chief of Staff at The Age newspaper in Melbourne and Chief Political Correspondent for The Age in the Canberra Parilamentary Press Gallery.

Dr Ric Simes

Director, Deliotte Access Economics

Dr Ric Simes has extensive knowledge in public policy, governance, finance, econometrics, economic analysis and strategy. He has held senior positions in the Commonwealth Treasury, academia, Prime Minister Keating's Office and the private sector before joining Access Economics late in 2005. Ric headed the Sydney Office and the Financial Services team within Access Economics and has led numerous projects in the digital economy, financial services, climate change, energy, transport and water. Ric is now a partner of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and a Director of Deloitte Access Economics. The Directors and staff of Access Economics joined Deloitte in early 2011.

Mr Corey Fisher

Managing Director, Colmar Brunton Social Research

Corey is the Managing Director of Colmar Brunton Social Research. In this role Corey is responsible for the overall performance of Colmar Brunton's government business. His focus is to provide direction to government decision making through effective research design and a pragmatic approach to transforming data into action. Corey began his career in commercial market research but for the last 8 years has consulted exclusively to State and Federal government agencies.

Ms Jennifer Dudeck

Director, Global Employee Engagement, Cisco

Jennifer Dudeck leads Cisco’s Employee Engagement Solutions team, with responsibility for enterprise wide Employee Assessment and Development, Employee Listening Practices, Flexible Work Practices, Manager Excellence and Engagement Special Programs. Jennifer’s organization provides thought leadership and applies innovation toward developing end-to-end solutions in these areas. These solutions are foundational elements in creating a positive employee experience at Cisco.

Jennifer joined Cisco in 2001. Prior to her current role, Jennifer held numerous strategic and operational leadership roles within Human Resources (HR). She has been a change leader within the function for major initiatives such as evolving Cisco Compensation programs and transforming the HR organization model.

Before joining Cisco, Jennifer held several business aligned HR leadership roles at the Honeywell Corporation within the Aerospace and Performance Materials business units. 
Jennifer embraces the flexible work practices her team at Cisco supports, as a working mother performing her role from a home office.

Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and English from Albion College and a Master of Human Resources and Labor Relations from Michigan State University.

Ms Ilona Charles

Group Executive, People & Culture, Medibank Private

Ilona is currently the Group Executive, People and Culture at Medibank, joining in February 2010. In her role she is responsible for all aspects of People and Culture across the Medibank group in addition to setting up a Business Transformation Office responsible for portfolio reporting and project/change management practices and methodologies. Medibank now comprises 4500 people over half of whom are health professionals. This is following the successful acquisition of 4 companies over the past two and half years. Ilona spent the majority of her career – 14 years, at National Australia Bank in a variety of senior executive HR and business related roles. She commenced her career as an Occupational Therapist and has a Masters of Business Administration.

Mr Chris Menadue

Acting Director Employee Performance, IP Australia

Chris has worked in a variety of human resource management roles in a career approaching 30 years. This has included periods in the Department of Defence, the Australian Customs Service, the private sector, and now in IP Australia.
Chris was also part of the Australian Public Service Commission team which developed the first Whole of Government Strategic ICT Workforce Plan.

IP Australia is the governing body which oversees the administrative processes for the registration of intellectual property rights of patents, trademarks, designs and plant breeder's rights within Australia, and now employs over 1000 staff.  Mr Menadue’s current responsibilities in the agency are focused on workforce planning, including a more strategic use of teleworking.
Mr Menadue has tertiary qualifications in science from the University of Adelaide and in human resource management from the University of Canberra.

Mr Gordon Noble

Director of Advocacy and Policy Strategy, Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia

As Director of Advocacy and Policy Strategy at the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia Gordon Noble is responsible for the association's advocacy with Government and stakeholders around key superannuation reforms. He has been involved in projects including ASFA's work on distribution of superannuation taxation concessions, infrastructure investment, fixed interest, corporate bonds and structure of ASX. Prior to coming to ASFA Gordon was the Deputy CEO of the Committee for Melbourne, a business network that focuses much of its efforts on developing policy responses to address Melbourne's burgeoning population, advocating for long term investment in the city's infrastructure. He has also worked with the global secretariat of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, for a major superannuation fund, as a policy adviser to Senator Stephen Conroy and with a major bank in business lending.

Mr Brad Wynter

Manager Organisation Improvement , City of Whittlesea

Brad Wynter has worked in Local Government for 8 years at the City of Melbourne and 14 years at the City of Whittlesea. Brad was brought into Whittlesea to establish an innovation unit. The innovation unit has since won 14 national awards including the Federal Government National Local Government Innovation Awards in the IT section 4 years running and two international awards. This includes running sector projects including FoodSmart – online food safety compliance project with the State Government and all Victorian Councils, and the EasyBiz project for online business compliance which was a $6.2 million project with the State Government, 8 local government vendors and 32 Victorian Councils. Brad has qualifications in psychology, sociology, electronics and business.

Brad was awarded the Australian Telecommunications User Group Excellence in Communications Management Award in March 2011 for his work in facilitating broadband at the City of Whittlesea and local government sector leadership.

Mr Mark Wolstenholme

NRMA

Mark Wolstenholme is responsible for formulating the National Roads & Motorists Associations (NRMA's) policies and advocacy on traffic, transport and road safety issues.

He has over 20 years experience in global transport and has worked for international transport consultancies in the UK, Hong Kong and Sydney, as well as with the NSW Roads & Maritime Services and for local government.

He is the author of NRMA's "Decongestion Strategy" that outlines practical ways to get more from the existing road network, including using flexible working hours and teleworking.   The Strategy was released last year and is continuing to result in real improvements for road users.

Mr Martin Stewart-Weeks

Senior Director, Public Sector (Asia-Pacific), Cisco

Martin Stewart-Weeks has over 25 years’ experience in organisational management and consulting in the corporate and public sectors and with a wide range of not-for-profit organisations. 

He has held senior policy, management and advisory positions for Ministers and government agencies at the federal and state government level in Australia and New South Wales.  In the early 1980s, he held the position of Senior Private Secretary to a Federal Minister and between 1990 and 1996 was a consultant in the Office of Strategic Planning in The Cabinet Office in New South Wales.

In his consulting work over the past 18 years, Martin has specialised in strategy, policy analysis, facilitation and market and social research.  In his work with the Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) at Cisco, Martin’s focus is primarily on the public sector.  He has been a key member of the global team developing Cisco’s thinking on eGovernment (lead writer for two major publications, The Connected Republic and The Resilient Society) and on the group’s work on social media and government 2.0.  

In January 2007, Martin took up a position to lead IBSG’s public sector practice in Asia-Pacific, leading a small team of senior consultants working on policy and reform projects in government, education and urbanisation in India, China, South-East Asia and Australia and New Zealand.  

Martin was a member of the Ministerial Task Force on Government 2.0 which reported to Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner and Special Minister of State Joe Ludwig in December 2009. He was also a member of the advisory committee on Government 2.0 in Victoria.

Recently, in his role as a member of its policy submissions sub-committee, Martin was the principal author of a paper from the Institute of Public Administration Australia on the “future course of modern government”.

In 2008, with a small group of other entrepreneurs, Martin established the Australian Social Innovation Exchange (ASIX), which he chairs and which is part of a global network of social innovators initiated by Geoff Mulgan and the Young Foundation in London.  He is also on the Board of The Australian Centre for Social Innovation, established by former South Australian Premier Mike Rann.

Mr Chris Ridd

Managing Director, Australia, Xero

Chris Ridd leads Xero’s growing Australian operation, having joined the company as managing director in February 2011.

He has spent over 20 years in the Australian IT industry, the last 15 years at Microsoft. Chris’ experience spans a range of disciplines including enterprise sales and marketing, product management, strategic planning, business analysis, channel development and people management.

With overall responsibility for business strategy, people management, revenue growth and key alliances, Chris plans to lead the expansion of Xero’s market share in the Australian marketplace as the IT industry shifts aggressively towards cloud computing. He enjoys working directly with customers and demonstrating the positive impact of technology in business.

Before joining Xero Chris was director of the Microsoft Dynamics Business Group for Australia. With a reputation for effective and decisive execution of strategy as well as a proven ability in building and leading strong teams, he holds a track record of success and delivering against challenging growth targets. Chris holds a BA in economics and marketing from Swinburne University of Technology.

Ms Anne Hurley

Master of Ceremonies, Telework Congress

With more than 20 years executive experience in the telecommunications industry, an early career as a lawyer, and a passionate belief in the transformative driver of broadband for how we live and work, Anne is the owner of a business engaged in professional and commercial initiatives centred on the digital economy.  Her online retail clothing business aims to combine commercial and humanitarian objectives, and directs a percentage of profits to charity partners working in mental health initiatives for young people as well as supporting cruelty-free lifestyles.  Anne provides management consulting services on an interim executive or consultant basis, including an ongoing role as Chair of the Stakeholder Forum for the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA), the peak self-regulatory body for the payments industry. Previous roles include CEO of Communications Alliance and Director of Asia Pacific network engineering operations for American Express.  In 2010 Anne's work was recognised in the ATUG Chairman's Award for Contribution to the Industry and in 2011 she was a recipient of a Board Diversity Scholarship, a joint initiative of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Government Office for Women to increase the number of women on Australian boards.