ACOMMS 2008 Judges

The ACOMMS Judges are specially invited by ACOMMS for their expertise and in-depth industry knowledge of the communications sector to select the ACOMMS winners.

	Malcolm Alder, Head, Information, Communication and Entertainment Advisory Practice, KPMG Malcolm is Partner for Digital Business at KPMG Australia. He also leads the Communications segment. Malcolm has been a consultant, advisor and investor in telecommunications and media for over 15 years during which time he has worked with operators, regulators, governments, investors and users in Australasia, Asia and North America. He specialises in strategy and performance improvement with a particular focus on advises organisations of all types on potential impacts, opportunities and responses to digital technology. Past clients have included the ABC, Optus, Foxtel, Telstra, Two Way, Multimedia Victoria, Virgin Mobile, Bell Canada, Multimedia Development Authority of Singapore, Oztam and Radio New Zealand. Malcolm is a regular writer and speaker and in public forums on topics such as broadband, digital content and interactive TV and has a regular column in Digital Media magazine. Malcolm is currently a Director of Sydney Philharmonia Choir and was previously on the Board of an ASX-listed media company. He has also appeared in more than 25 theatrical productions from Shakespeare to musicals.
	Chris Althaus, CEO, Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association Chris is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA). Chris was appointed to this role in December 2005. AMTA is the peak national body representing Australia’s mobile telecommunications industry and operates programs covering telecommunications policy, infrastructure, health/safety, recycling and law enforcement / national security. AMTA represents mobile Carriage Service Providers, handset manufacturers, network equipment suppliers, retail chains and other suppliers to the industry. Before joining AMTA Chris was the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Trucking Association for 5 years. The ATA is the peak industry organisation representing all aspects of Australia’s $30b road transport sector responsible for moving over 80% of Australia’s land based freight. Prior to joining the ATA Chris spent 15 years in the forests sector in roles such as; Executive Director of Timber Communities Australia and Director of Market Development for the National Association of Forest Industries. Chris has a Bachelor of Science from the Australian National University; a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of Canberra; and a Business Administration Diploma from Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
	Dr Paul Brooks, Founder, Layer 10 Consulting Sometimes described as a "Serial CTO," Paul's expertise in telecommunications network design, planning and operation is derived from extensive hands-on experience in broadband access and large-scale data networking. His practical and pragmatic knowledge of communications protocols, leading equipment suppliers, carriers, service providers and the Australian regulatory environment has been forged through executive positions in large and small organisations such as Global One AsiaPacific, Flowcom/Macrocom, eCOM and Consultel BWP, and numerous consulting engagements. He is one of the few people in Australia with direct experience in wide-scale residential NGN access network deployment and broadband video delivery through his appointment as Chief Technology Officer at TransACT Communications in Canberra, and has served as CTO for a number of other carriers and start-ups.
	Tony Chan, Co-Founder & Editor, Green Telecom Tony is the co-founder and editor of Green Telecom, an online information resource on sustainable telecommunications practices. Tony has close to 15 years of journalism and marketing experience in the telecommunications and information technology industries. Tony founded Green Telecom following a term in corporate marketing and communications at a major regional telecommunications operator. Prior to that role, Tony was part of the team that established the Telecom Asia Group of publications, which at the time included Telecom Asia and Wireless Asia, as the leading trade titles in the Asia Pacific region.
	Kim Denham, CEO, Australian Computer Society Kim is CEO of Australian Computer Society. Kim has more than 20 years experience in ICT, including management roles with Ericsson Australia, West Australian Newspapers, Tourism Western Australia and CSBP Limited. She was a finalist in the 2006 Telstra Business Women’s Awards in WA and has worked on various boards, panels and steering committees, including the ACS WA Branch, ACS-W Board, ICT Industry Collaboration Centre in WA, Curtin University of Technology IS Advisory Board, Information Industry Forum in WA, WA Information Technology & Telecommunications Awards and Australian Telecommunications Users Ggroup in WA.
	Anne Hurley, CEO, Communications Alliance Anne has been the Chief Executive Officer of Australia's Communications Alliance since its formation. She was previously CEO of the Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF), which amalgamated with the Service Providers Association Inc (SPAN) to create Communications Alliance in September 2006. Throughout her tenure at Communications Alliance and ACIF, Anne has been a prominent advocate for the industry's ability to solve its own problems without relying on government intervention. Since graduating from the Australian National University with a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Arts and acquiring a Master of Laws (Hons) from the University of Sydney, Anne has worked on communications issues both in Australia and overseas for many years. Her extensive experience includes working in the corporate, legal and academic sectors across communications, trade practices, telecommunications policy and regulation. Anne has published a number of specialised competition and telecommunications law texts and has lectured at both the University of Sydney and the Australian National University.
	Graeme Innes, Federal Disability Discrimination Commissioner, HREOC Lawyer, Mediator and Company Director, Graeme has been a Human Rights Practitioner in NSW, WA and nationally for 25 years. Graeme was a member of the Australian delegation to the United Nations developing a Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Graeme has been active in the disability field for thirty years. He was Chair of the Disability Advisory Council of Australia for four and a half years. He was the first blind President of Royal Blind Society of NSW, and the first Chair of Vision Australia, Australia's largest national blindness agency. Graeme has been one of Australia's delegates to the World Blind Union, and the President of that Union's Asia-Pacific region. Graeme has been a consultant to organisations such as Westpac, Qantas, and Sydney Water, on disability issues. In 1995 Graeme was admitted as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his contribution to the development of Commonwealth disability discrimination legislation. He was a finalist for Australian of the year in 2003.
	Grahame Lynch, CEO, Comms Day Grahame founded Decisive in 1994, launching the Communications Day newsletter. He won the Australian Telecommunications Users Group Journalist of the Year award in 1996 and the Service Providers' Association of Australia Media Excellence award in 1997. He then took leave-of-absence from Decisive, joining Advanstar in Hong Kong as group editor of Telecom Asia and Telecom China, where he launched Wireless Asia magazine. In 1999, he was promoted to group editorial director of Advanstar Telecom Group, in charge of America's Network, Telepress Latino America and the aforementioned Asian titles. Under his stewardship, America's Network was nominated for a record six National Magazine Awards in 2001. In April 2001, he returned to Decisive to spearhead the company's Asian expansion. Grahame has also written a book, Bandwidth Bubble Bust: The Rise and Fall of the Global Telecom Industry, published in the US in July 2001. He has also been extensively published in titles such as, The Bulletin and The Australian. Grahame is a director of Touchwood Eurasia, and managed agarwood plantation company and the publisher of Thailand Business Informer.
	Mark McDonnell, Telecommunications, Media & Technology Analyst, BBY Mark is Senior Analyst in Telecommunications, Media and Technology at BBY Limited. As an equity market analyst, he is actively involved in assessing trends and developments in the communications industry, and valuing listed companies in this sector. In the 1990s Mark was an industry consultant. His clients included Telstra, Optus, Telecom New Zealand, IBM, Ericsson, GE Information Services and many others. He was also the founding CEO of ASTRA, the pay television industry association. In the 1980s Mark was employed in the policy division of the then Department of Posts and Telecommunications, and later gained regulatory and public inquiry experience in the then Australian Broadcasting Tribunal. He saw out that decade as a business analyst and manager of policy development for Aussat. Mark has a Master’s degree in Applied Finance and is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
	Andrew Parker, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Andrew is a Sydney based partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and heads PwC's Asia Pacific Communications Industry Group. He has 12 years of international experience in the industry having worked in the UK, Eastern Europe and most recently Asia before returning to Australia in 2005. Andrew's clients have included companies, both large and small, operating in all sectors of the market including telecoms, traditional media, including print, cable and terrestrial free to air TV, as well as “new media” and the internet. In 2006, Andrew was one of PwC's lead partners advising Telstra and the Commonwealth in relation to T3 and more recently has completed a secondment to Sensis, where he was the Finance Director.
	Lars K. Rasmussen, Research Professor, Telecommunications, Institute for Telecommunications Research, University of South Australia Lars is a co-founder of Cohda Wireless Pty Ltd. Cohda Wireless was established in 2002 (incorporated 2003) from technology produced by the Institute for Telecommunications Research (ITR) at the University of South Australia and commercialised through the University’s incubator ITEK. In December 2003, Cohda secured pre-seed funding from SciVentures Investments and to date, the company has attracted additional early stage private investment, as well as received two significant grants from the Australian Government. Lars has published a total of more than 100 refereed journal and conference papers and is currently being supported by two Australian Research Council Discovery grant. In 2004, Lars was part of the successful bid for the ARC Communications Research Network (ACoRN), for which he is now the Network Convenor. Lars is currently the leader of the Communications Signal Processing research group at the Institute for Telecommunications Research, University of South Australia, where his research interests include multiple user communications, iterative information processing, and adaptive modulation and coding.
	Noel Robertson, Managing Director & CEO, MatrixView Noel has extensive experience in the telecommunications industry. He is currently CEO and Executive Director of Orion Telecommunications Limited, a publicly listed global telecommunications service provider. Previously, Noel worked with Vodafone Australia in the capacity of Executive Director, and with Telstra Corporation as Group General Manager. He now sits on the board of the Telecommunications Service Provider Association of Australia as Director. Noel also has extensive Venture Capital experience in Australia, a role in which he originally joined Telstra. Noel holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne and is a Fellow of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants.