27-29 November 2024
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Adam Spencer was completing a PhD in Pure Mathematics when he happened to win the national Triple J Raw Comedy championship in 1996.
From there, a television and radio career beckoned and Adam completed 15 years as one of Australia’s most respected, wittiest and most thought provoking breakfast radio commentators across Triple J and later ABC 702.
The author of the Little Book of Numbers, Adam explained his love of prime numbers and the magic of maths to an enraptured TED audience in early 2013. Since being posted online, his talk had had over a million views, and he has released two books, the Big Book of Numbers and the World of Numbers.
Alicia McKay is a leading authority on strategy, change, and leadership, empowering leaders to make better decisions, challenge unhelpful norms, and turn good intentions into meaningful action.
She's an expert facilitator and a celebrated author and speaker. Her books, 'From Strategy to Action' and 'You Don’t Need An MBA,' challenge leadership myths and offer practical insights. Alicia also founded 'Not An MBA,' a program turning leaders into savvy strategists. She consults with primarily public sector clients in New Zealand and Australia, specialising in local government. Alicia lives in Wellington, New Zealand, with her three children.
Learn more at www.aliciamckay.co.nz or follow Alicia on LinkedIn.
Julian Moore is a skilled and entertaining speaker who provides practical and useful ideas through real-world examples and case studies. Julian is an unabashed technology geek who is thoroughly enjoying the process of adapting to an AI world. With extensive experience in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, Julian is committed to helping organisations achieve their goals. Contact: +61 401 648 533 or julian@smsonline.net.au to learn more.
Over the past 25 years, Lou has worked with over 50,000 individuals to improve results, transform cultures and drive outcomes. As the CEO of Results Group International, he is one of the APAC regions leading authorities in supporting IT and Digital Transformations. We have helped more than 3,000 IT organisations make the transition from a reactive, technology-centric, order-receiving culture to one that is the consultative, client-focussed, business partner of choice. Lou is the co-author of the book "Unleashing The Power of IT: Bringing People, Business and Technology Together"
Chris Mohan has worked for fortune 50 companies security teams, bringing insight and actionable measures to those firms' security posture and responsibilities. Chris' career has had him grow from a world of front line IT operations through to advising and guiding those in boardrooms. His drive is to instil relevant, intelligent and practical security controls and practices that securely enable the business in an unpredictable online world. Chris became one of the few to achieve the prestigious GIAC Security Expert (GSE) certification and holds a number of other security and vendor qualifications.
William has considerable experience across the private and public sectors, having worked in banking/finance before spending the last 14 years in Local Government.
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He is a transformative and engaging leader with a passion for business improvement and leveraging data insights to drive performance and enhance the customer experience.
Matt is the founder of GDATA, a data engineering company that specialises in data products to power analytics for LGAs. With over a decade of experience in the public sector and a successful stint in London’s dynamic private sector, Matt is passionate about breaking down the technical barriers that prevent Councils from unlocking the full value of their data.
Elias Atie is the director of Cloud Context, an IT service provider who has a strong focus on Local Government. Elias has over 15 years in the industry working in various sectors and is passionate about helping organisations transform their digital capabilities and improve their service delivery.
Colin Butt is the Head of Professional Services at Cloud Context, with over 13 years of experience in IT, specialising in cloud adoption strategies, Azure migrations, M365 adoption and security. Colin is heavily focused on Local Government IT and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to customers.
Matthew is a seasoned digital leader with three decades of experience spanning both private and public sectors. His depth of knowledge in driving digital change and innovation is extensive making him a sort after authority in leveraging digital strategies and technologies. As the Industry CTO for Local Government and Community Services at Telstra, he works nationally with customers on building digital capabilities to deliver complex digital solutions.
David joined Taggle as CEO in February 2022, having previously been Chairman of the Board since May 2020, where he had the chance to get the know the business and see the potential. David has a background as an entrepreneur and experienced founder and Chief Executive Officer, with a 30-year history of working in the telecoms, information technology and services industries. David has a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing from University of New South Wales, is an Alumni of the Harvard Business School
Zlatko Hristov is a security practitioner at ThreatDefence, an Australian cybersecurity firm specializing in detection and incident response. With 30 years of experience, Zlatko is passionate about solving cybersecurity challenges and developing advanced capabilities to combat threat actors. His team drives ThreatDefence's sovereign, innovative SecOps platform, protecting organizations from evolving threats.
Sandra has spent most of her career in ICT leadership roles, helping organisations navigate their digital transformation journey. She prefers living in regional communities, which is why she chose to work in local government. For the past 40 years, Sandra has been tackling the daily challenge of managing stakeholder expectations and relationships, and is still working on cracking that code, so any ideas are welcome!
Lillian has been studying a Bachelor of Business Information Systems and commenced employment at Wollongong City Council in 2022. During Lillian's time at Wollongong City Council, she has supported our major ERP systems and worked on multiple projects that have benefited Wollongong's Community. Lillian is passionate about developing technical solutions that meet business needs, driven by her enthusiastic approach to problem solving. These attributes are underpinned by her passion working towards Wollongong's City of Innovation vision.
Matt has been I the data field for over 12 years with a background in spatial sciences. Matt joined Wollongong City Council in 2020 as the Coordinator of Spatial Information and last year was appointed as Council’s Information Manager. Matt is responsible Insights and Location Analytics as well as Records Management and Information Governance.
Sam recently completed a double degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Sam began his career at Wollongong City Council as a Data and Analytics Graduate 3 years ago. Over that time Sam has delivered several exciting projects including: Whole of Council Emissions Monitoring and Intelligent Defect Management (Road Asset Defect Capture by AI). Sam was recently appointed to The Coordinator of the newly formed Insights and Location Analytics Team.
Customer, digital and product specialist who has worked across biotechnology, professional services, government, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and the telecommunications industry.
Abbas Kudrati is an award-winning CISO, cyber security strategist, and thought leader in the Cloud tech domain. He has been featured in countless publications like the ‘Zero Trust Journey across the Digital Estate’ and ‘Threat Hunting in the Cloud’ and is a firm advocate of the OSINT framework. Abbas believes in the policy of “never trust, always verify,” and this philosophy translates to every aspect of his work. He is a strong proponent of Zero Trust Architecture models and has appeared as Tom Fox’s second guest on Microsoft Week. You can spot him tweeting from @askudrati, and he is currently based in Melbourne (VIC), Australia.
With experience across commercial, non-profit, and government sectors, Danijel is a people-focused technologist who strives to enable a collaborative and high-performing culture. Since joining Bayside, Danijel and the IT team have focused on modernising and migrating systems to the cloud, automating business processes, and enhancing the council's cybersecurity posture.
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Sharon joined Hornsby Shire Council in January 2020 as Manager, Technology and Transformation. Since then, she has led a significant transformation of the tech infrastructure, operational foundations, and the way Council does business, via an extensive digitisation program. Prior to joining Council, Sharon spent almost 20 years as a business consultant specialising in Local Government, where she worked across a broad range of clients and projects.
After a 15-year ICT technical career in private enterprise, Jeff made a switch to government in 1991. He is the Manager Information System/ERP Project Manager at the City of South Perth where he has focused on implementing the Technology One CIS SaaS solution. His career goal has been to contribute to the growth of organisations by leveraging technology to enhance business strategies in a secure, cost-effective, and standardised manner, all while ensuring excellence in customer service. Outside of work, he spends most of his time enjoying life, through travel, watching live sports and attending live music events.
Mark is a change enthusiast with 30+ years’ experience in delivering Customer and Digital transformation programs across a number of industries
Ned is an experienced Enterprise and Solution Architect with 30+ years in delivering innovative business solutions. Passionate about technology and strategic planning, driving business transformation across private, public, and engineering sectors
Jeff has 20+ years IT experience - across multiple IT disciplines, industry verticals, and customer and supplier- side roles.
Adam has worked at Maitland City Council for 23 years. He has progressed his career to the current role of Manager ICT Operations, looking after everything operational including GIS, ServiceDesk and support, ICT Infrastructure, Cloud platform and Cyber Security.
Jan Spinder is the Chief Information Officer at Yarra Ranges Council in Victoria, located on Wurundjeri land, and is leading the delivery of innovative customer-centric tools and digital services to a growing residential and commercial population. Jan has an extensive technology career in government, not for profit and the private sector, focused on making technology work better for humans.
Mike started his career as a 'really dodgy' radio announcer, actor and stand up comedian. Missing out on a TV gig because the producer didn't like his eyes, Mike thought, blow this "I need a normal job".
Throwing a pack on his back, he worked in the Australian wilderness as a Group Facilitator for Outward Bound Australia, discovering the power of 'action based' learning, facilitating behaviour change and the dynamics of team culture.
Along with his wife Sarsha, they went on to launch Interactive Events to revolutionise the Team Building Industry moving it beyond 'trust falls' and 'high ropes' to what it is today - using fun and play to build, bond and grow strong, unified and productive teams.
Ever since, Mike has been on a mission, working with business owners and leaders across Australia, helping them build purpose-driven and inspired team culture by harnessing the power of fun in the workplace.