Speakers

Dr Hugh Bradlow | Chief Technology Officer, Telstra Corporation
Hugh Bradlow is Chief Technology Officer for Telstra Corporation Limited and leads a group responsible for investigating the future technologies that will impact Telstra’s business.

Prior to joining Telstra in September 1995, Hugh was Professor of Computer Engineering at the University of Wollongong from 1987 to 1995. During his time at the University of Wollongong, he directed the Centre for Information Technology Research (CITR) and was Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He also took leave of absence from his University duties for four years to be Foundation Director of the NorTel Technology Centre; a R&D facility established on the campus of the University of Wollongong, by Nortel Networks.

Before coming to Australia in 1987, Hugh was Professor of Electrical Engineering (Digital Systems) at the University of Cape Town and a Control Systems Engineer at ICI Plastics Division in the United Kingdom.

Mia Garlick | Assistant Secretary for the Digital Economy branch, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
Mia's role involves the provision of high level policy advice to the Minister, Secretary and senior executive on a range of issues relating to the long-term direction of the Digital Economy. Mia joined the Department shortly upon her return to Australia from five years working in Silicon Valley. Her work in Silicon Valley included working at Google as Product Counsel for YouTube and several years as General Counsel for Creative Commons, a non-profit dedicated to enabling the flexible and authorised use of online material.

Chris Hancock | CEO, AARNet Pty Ltd
Chris Hancock was appointed Chief Executive Officer of AARNet Pty Ltd in 2004. Mr Hancock has had more than 25 years experience in senior leadership and executive positions, with the last 15 years in the media and telecommunications sectors.

As the CEO of AARNet, Australia's Research and Education Network, Mr Hancock was responsible for the implementation of AARNet3, Australia's next generation Research and Education network providing high capacity bandwidth and leading edge applications to the research and education sector throughout Australia.

The AARNet network serves more than one million end users and enables academics, researchers and students throughout Australia. Under his leadership, AARNet has developed one of the largest network footprints in the world connecting 19 points of presence across 30,000 kilometres of fibre.

Mr Hancock joined AARNet from Optus, where he held several key executive positions since 1998. He was Managing Director for Optus Wholesale and Managing Director for Optus Business. Mr Hancock was an integral member of the senior executive team that completed the initial public offering as well as the eventual sale of Optus to Singtel.

Mr Hancock holds a Bachelor of Arts (Social Science) from Charles Sturt University and an Executive MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

He also holds board positions with the Internet Industry Association, Charles Sturt University, Starlight Foundation of NSW, Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre and AARNet.

Ross Honeywill | CEO, Social Intelligence Lab
Ross Honeywill is a founder and executive director of the Social Intelligence Lab with offices in Australia and North America. Ross is author of the best-selling business book, NEO Power: How the new economic order is changing the way we live, work & play. Through his leadership role at KPMG (Asia/Pacific) between 1997 and 2001, Ross has become an internationally recognised authority on consumer behaviour and the impact of a rapidly changing social fabric.

Damian Kay | Managing Director, Telcoinabox
Damian is co-founder and one of the driving forces behind telcoinabox. As a telecommunications industry veteran, Damian brings experience from senior management and sales roles with market leaders Optus, Colgate Palmolive, Mars (Master Foods), and Bonlac.

Damian was the Managing Director of Universal Telecom in Australia, a global telco with a track record of success in Australian telecommunications. An experienced businessman, he took over Universal Telecom management in February 2002 and bought 50% of the company from a Scandinavian partner in June 2002. In February 2006 he sold the company to Commander Communications to focus on building telcoinabox.

Born in Adelaide, Damian has a Commerce degree from Latrobe University, Melbourne.

Dr Colin McLeod | Head, Research & Innovation, Australian Football League (AFL)
Colin McLeod is Head, Research and Innovation at the Australian Football League, having previously been General Manager – Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs. Colin was previously Executive Director, Marketing and Brand Management at Goldman Sachs JBWere, following several years as Group Marketing Manager for Telstra’s Mobiles division.

He joined Telstra after an academic career including appointments at the University of Melbourne, the Melbourne Business School and the Haas School of Business at the University of California – Berkeley and honorary appointments as a Senior Associate of the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Fellow of Monash University. Colin holds a BA, an MBA and a PhD, with the Commercialisation of Innovation as the topic of his doctoral thesis.

Colin is a Director of a company involved in technology development and also serves as a director of the Ladder Project, a joint venture with the AFL Players’ Association to combat youth homelessness, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Olivia Newton John Cancer Centre at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne.

Gary Morgan | CEO, Australian e-Health Research Centre
Gary Morgan is Deputy Director, Operations and Themes in the CSIRO ICT Centre. In this role Gary oversees the operations of the ICT Centre including communications, legal, finance, people and culture, and he is responsible for the key research outputs in the eHealth, Broadband, Sensors and Services themes. Gary is also the founding CEO of the Australian e-Health Research Centre. Established in 2003 as a joint venture between CSIRO and the Queensland Government, the Australian e-Health Research Centre is a leading national research facility in ICT for healthcare innovations. Prior to this, he was the founding CEO and President of Wedgetail Communications, a spin-off company from the CRC for Distributed Systems Technology Centre (DSTC). Wedgetail's identity management solutions were deployed in leading global financial services firms, technology corporations and government agencies.

Gary Morgan has more than 25 years experience in senior executive, commercialisation of technology research and product development, business development and project management roles in public and private sectors. Gary holds an Adjunct Associate Professor appointment with the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Queensland. He is a Board member of the Health Informatics Society of Australia and he currently serves as a member of the Cancer Australia National Data Strategy Advisory Group. A member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Gary has completed the Senior Executive Program at the University of Melbourne. Gary has a MBA and Graduate Diploma from Queensland University of Technology and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Griffith University.

Alan Noble | Engineering Director, Google
As the recently-appointed Engineering Director at Google Australia, Alan's role is to manage the growth of Google Australia's engineering and R&D centre. Alan joined Google from NetPriva, a software company which he co-founded and where he served as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer for nearly two years. In 1996 Alan founded NetMind in California, which was acquired in 2000 by Intellisync and subsequently Nokia. He remained at Intellisync as VP of Engineering until 2002, when Alan took on the role of CTO at Foursticks, which was acquired by Netpriva in 2005. Alan has been granted seven U.S. patents and has several others pending.

Steve Outtrim | Chairman, ekoLiving
Steve Outtrim founded Internet software company Sausage Software when he was 22 and took it public 16 months later. This made him the youngest person to ever be CEO of a public company in Australia, eclipsing a record held by Rupert Murdoch since the 1950's.

Steve sold out of Sausage Software and founded his investment company, Pagan Investments. A mix of venture/angel capitalist, technology research lab, and business incubator, Pagan invests in high growth businesses that are also environmentally, socially and ethically responsible.

More recently, Steve has assumed the mantle of Executive Chairman for a company he has founded in Queensland, the Greater Springfield Digital Edge Corporation. Set in the heart of the fastest growing region of Australia, GeSDEC is dedicated to making the Springfield community Australia's leading digital edge city. In partnership with Maha Sinnathamby and the Springfield Land Corporation, Steve has created ekoLiving@Brookwater, a selection of high-end residential Smart Home packages. These are being offered exclusively for home buyers at Brookwater, the #1 rated Golf Course development.

Howard Seccombe | Director, Client Services, Roy Morgan Research
Howard's background is in marketing and communications, both as a supplier and as a client. He has worked in advertising and marketing agencies where he has managed telemarketing campaigns, database development and creative executions.

Howard has worked at Roy Morgan Research in various roles over the last 8 years, developing the application of the Roy Morgan Consumer and Media data to enhance the strategic planning processes and marketing campaigns of its clients. In Howard's current role as Director, Client Services, he is responsible for managing the direction of the various client services account teams to achieve the sales growth and profitability targets of the company.

Prior to this, in 2004 Howard was appointed to head up Roy Morgan International's London office where he managed and developed the UK operation. His role there included the establishment of Roy Morgan UK Single Source, Asteroid software bureau service and Customised research capabilities. In his earlier role as Manager, Marketing Analysis at Coles Myer Limited, Howard had considerable experience in driving business benefits from large volumes of customer, business and research data.

Howard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Andrew Skewes | Director, Innovation and Technology Policy, Department of Innovation, Industry, and Regional Development
Andrew Skewes is the Director, Innovation and Technology Policy in the Victorian Government’s Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development (DIIRD).

Andrew has over ten years experience as a senior executive in the Australian Commonwealth and Victorian State Governments. In addition, he has experience as an academic, a consultant and senior manager in public affairs and corporate marketing.

Andrew studied at the University of Melbourne and holds an Undergraduate Degree in Science, a Postgraduate Diploma in Education and a Master of Economics (Hons.)

Michael Smellie
With a career in the music business spanning over 25 years and across 5 continents, Michael has a unique view on today’s global business. Starting his career as Finance Director with Chappell Music Publishing in Sydney in 1980, he soon moved to PolyGram (now part of Universal) and held senior Finance positions in Australia, Brazil and the UK before returning to Sydney as Group MD from 1987-1991. After then serving briefly as CEO of the MMA Group he was appointed as MD for BMG in Australasia in 1993 and soon after moved to Hong Kong as Head of the Asia/Pacific Region for BMG. In 2001 he was appointed as COO for BMG worldwide and moved to New York. In this role he directed the company through some turbulent years and was an integral part of negotiating and implementing the merger with Sony Music. He was appointed as COO of the newly formed Sony BMG in 2004 and left at the end of 2005 to return to Australia in order to spend more time with his family. On his return, he maintained his interest in the media business through his role as President of Media Development, Asia Pacific for German media giant Bertelsmann. He is also an investor and Board member in ‘start ups’ in Australia and the US.

Mark Vassarotti | Associate Director, Pricewaterhouse Coopers
Mark Vassarotti joined PwC from the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission in the ACT, where he was involved in economic regulation and policy development. Mark has also worked on cost of capital issues in the rail industry, regulatory accounts in the electricity industry, as well as a variety of economic projects including cost benefit analysis in the brewing and building industries. Mark also has extensive experience in the development of pricing principles having written pricing principles for the electricity and water industries in Australia during his time with the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Science (majoring in environmental resource management) and a Bachelor of Economics from the Australian National University. He has experience in working with large urban utilities users, urban utilities distributors and retailers, Australian utility regulators, community groups, and working in multi-disciplinary teams.

Deanne Weir | Group Director, Corporate Development and Legal Affairs, AUSTAR
Deanne joined AUSTAR in January 2002, and performs the roles of General Counsel and Company Secretary. In addition to these roles, she has responsibility for programming, corporate strategy, corporate communications and legal and regulatory matters. Prior to joining AUSTAR, Deanne worked with Telstra Corporation Limited for nine years in a variety of legal roles, including that of Regulatory and Competition Counsel, and spent two years in New Zealand with TelstraSaturn, where she was Director of Corporate Development. Deanne is a former member of the Council of the Law Institute of Victoria, a former Director of the Museums Board of Victoria, the founding Convenor of the Victorian Women Lawyers Association, and in 1998 was the winner of the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association's Young Achiever of the Year award. Deanne holds Honours degrees in Arts and Law from Monash University, as well as a Master of Laws from the University of London where she studied as the recipient of the Britain-Australia Commercial Law Scholarship awarded by the British Council.