Speakers – 2022

Ada Guan CEO & Co-founder @Rich Data Co

Ada is CEO and Co-founder of Rich Data Co (RDC). Founded in 2016 in Sydney Australia, RDC is driven by our purpose to increase global access to inclusive, fair, and sustainable credit. Our AI-Native Decisioning platform provides lenders deeper insight into borrower behaviour, enabling faster and more accurate decisions that empower confident lending to new and underserved Business and SME lending segments. 

Ada brings to RDC over 20 years’ global experience in Financial Services, Software, and Retail industries.  Ada is an INSEAD certified international director and holds an EMBA from the Australia Graduate School of Management

Topic: AI to increase Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) access to inclusive, fair and sustainable credit

Buddhi Jayatilleke Chief Data Scientist @Sapia.ai

Buddhi is the Chief Data Scientist at Sapia.ai, a startup on a mission to build fair candidate screening tools that meet the needs of both candidates and employers by leveraging the power of AI. Prior to joining Sapia.ai he was the Lead Data Scientist at Culture Amp, where he led various data science projects focused on people analytics. Buddhi is a Data Science leader with a diverse background in machine learning, software engineering, and academic research. His research interests include intelligent software agents, natural language processing, people analytics, and AI ethics. 

Topic: Disrupting hiring bias with AI

Cheryl Vize Chief Commercial Officer @Red Marble AI

Cheryl is a technology change and adoption expert. As an executive, she has delivered successful large scale business and technical transformation agendas globally and with ASX-listed organisations including ANZ, Sensis, Thomas Cook, MYOB and has held board positions within a number of technology startups. With a passion for the intersection of technology and humans, she is inspired by the opportunities for businesses to embrace emerging technology.

With decades of industry experience in digital transformation and sales, Cheryl is also a business advisor and non-executive director, bringing her experience to complex challenges to create momentum around change.

David Goad Chief Technology Officer @IBM Consulting

Dr. David Goad is the Chief Technology Officer for IBM Consulting ANZ. He has over 20 years of experience in business and technology consulting and academia. He is also an Industry Professor for the Deakin School of IT. David has a PhD in AI and IoT from Sydney University.  David has advanced degrees in Engineering, Finance, Arts and IoT and several certifications in Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Project Management, and Operations. In Artificial Intelligence, David has extensive practical consulting experience in Machine Vision, Natural Language Processing, Sentiment Analysis, Recommendation Engines, and Conversational Agents. He has worked with a variety of technologies such as Microsoft Azure, Vmware, EMC, Cisco, SAP, Google, and Oracle and carries 20 plus technical certifications.

Dean Kocevski Associate Director IT Europe @Nabriva Therapeutics plc

Dean did his BSc in Computer Science at one of the faculties of the University of Sheffield and continued to nurture the passion for information technology and continuous improvement and support of businesses in different areas. Currently, he is responsible for the IT department in Europe for an international publicly traded pharmaceutical company, Nabriva Therapeutics plc, where he had the most recent experience in leveraging AI to improve business. When he is not working, you can find him playing his guitar or driving his car, which is, as he says, where the magic happens and most ideas come from.

Elea Wurth Partner Risk Advisory @Deloitte

Dr Elea Wurth is the Lead Trustworthy AI partner for Deloitte Risk Advisory.  She has 20 years experience in enterprise advanced analytics and automation with 16 years leading analytics and automation programs in federal government.  She now advises Australia’s largest organisations on ethical, lawful and technically robust AI and automation.

Topic: Trustworthy AI – Bridging the gap from principles to practice

Gayan Benedict Industry Fellow @UTS

Gayan Benedict is the Chief Technology Officer for Salesforce Australian & NZ and Vice President of Customer Advisory. Gayan is the most senior Salesforce technical leader in region and leads a team of senior technology strategists, industry CIOs and principal architects. Gayan and his team are responsible for digital strategy development, industry and research collaboration. Career Highlights Prior to Salesforce, Gayan was the CIO and CTO of the Reserve Bank of Australia where he oversaw the digital transformation of the Bank’s federal government core banking services, delivery of Australia’s real-time national payment infrastructure (NPP), and uplifting the Bank’s cyber operations. Prior to the RBA, Gayan was the head of architecture and technology strategy for Westpac and director of customer data architecture for Oracle Asia Pacific. Gayan chairs Standards Australia’s governance working group for blockchain standards (IT-041) and is a member of ISO’s Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies Standards Committee (TC307).

Topic: How Innovative AI-enabled DAOs present Significant Risks to Societal Governance Regimes

Grant Case Regional VP & Head of Sales Engineering @Dataiku

Grant Case is the Regional Vice President and Head of Sales Engineering for APJ at Dataiku. Joining in 2018, he was the second sales engineer in the US and one of the first employees to join outside of Europe. In 2019, he moved with his family to Sydney to help lead Dataiku’s expansion into Asia. Today, he oversees a team of sales engineers spread across the region in Dataiku’s offices in Melbourne, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo. Bringing 20+ years of experience in the analytics and data science space, he has consulted with 100s of organizations across multiple industries. In his spare time, Grant is a frequent industry speaker, the host of the popular Proof of Concept podcast, and a lecturer at Columbia University in the Masters in Applied Analytics program. 

Hind Benbya Professor and Director of the Centre for AI and the Future of Business @Deakin University Melbourne

Hind Benbya is a Professor and the Head of IS and Business Analytics at Deakin University. She is also the Director of the Centre for AI and the Future of Business at Deakin University. Her main areas of expertise are Digital transformation and Artificial Intelligence, especially around the implications of automation via algorithms and robotics on work and organisations. Her career has criss-crossed between industry and academia and she publishes in both practitioner and academic journals.

Ian Ryan Global Head SAP Institute of Digital Govenment @SAP

Ian leads the SAP Institute for Digital Government, building and fostering relationships with government, academia and industry and focusing on thought leadership around key themes such as data-driven government, artificial intelligence, data sovereignty, future cities, Industry 4.0 and citizen wellbeing.

With an industry background in operations and originally joining SAP in 1994, Ian has worked on a variety of strategic consulting and innovation engagements across APJ, Europe and the Americas, with a focus on sustained operational improvement and is a regular contributor to policy making programs and public sector initiatives.

Topic: Guidelines for AI Adoption in the Public Sector – Research Findings To Date

John Studley Head of Data Science @PwC Australia

John leads a talented team of analytic professionals passionate about solving important problems. He currently spends most of his time leading the design and delivery of advanced analytic models for high value business use cases. This includes machine learning, simulation and optimisation for improvements in customer engagement, operational improvement, and risk management including the financial crime domains of money laundering, terrorism financing and sanctions. 

Jonas Christinsen Head of Data Science @Maurice Blackburn Lawyers

Jonas Christensen has spent his career leading data science functions across multiple industries. He is an author, international keynote speaker on data science and analytics leadership, a postgraduate educator and advisor in the field of data science and machine learning and host of the Leaders of Analytics podcast.

Jonas is passionate about what data science and AI can do for the world of business and beyond. He believes data science and AI will be as revolutionary to the way we do business and interact with each other as IT and personal computing has been over the past 40 years.

Jonathan Parsons Co-Founder and CEO @Cognitive Automation Labs

A well-regarded and highly skilled engineering and technology expert, consultant, and advisor with over 14 years’ experience in building technology-oriented teams. Jonathan has in-depth knowledge in the technology sector, helping businesses digitise their operations through Data, AI and Automation. In the past he has held senior leadership roles at EY and several multi-nationals, consulting globally across APAC and EMEA regions and has now headed up Cognitive Automation Labs as the Co-Founder & CEO to help build digitally native businesses of the future.

Topic: Leveraging AI and Automation to Build Digitally Native Businesses of the Future

Lemai Nguyen Associate Professor @Deakin University Melbourne

Lemai Nguyen is an Associate Professor in Information Systems and Business Analytics at Deakin University. She is an expert in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Analytics, especially around their applications and implications on individuals and organisations. She also has established a strong research track record in Digital Health and Socio-technical Analysis and delivered multiple industry reports to funding organisations.

Lemai is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health, a Senior Certified Professional of the Australia Computer Society, and a member of the Association of Information Systems (AIS). She co-chairs the Digital Health Track of the Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS), is a Section Editor of the Australasian Journal of Information Systems (AJIS), and a Review Editor on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Digital Health (Health Informatics), and a reviewer of numerous international scholarly journals, serving as a Track Chair and Program Committee member for various conferences.

Leo Kozhushnik Cloud Solution Architect @Microsoft

Leo is a data professional with over two decades of experience in providing data drive solutions, managing operational and project teams across a broad range of enterprise commercial and major public sector customers across Australia.

Starting out as a graduate consultant, Leo held various roles including database administrator, data analyst, data engineer, data architect, business intelligence, and project managing data warehouse projects.  These roles equipped Leo with a thorough understanding of the full data lifecycle and how raw data leads to information, and information leads to insights, benefits, and the art of the possible. More recently, Leo’s focus has shifted on providing cloud solution architecture & advisory including data strategies, roadmaps, and modern data platforms across a broad range of corporate & government clients.   

Working at Microsoft is a pinnacle in Leo’s career, and a privilege to be working with an industry leader at the forefront of industrial revolution 4.0, particularly around defining and setting the vision for AI and its future uses. 

Marek Rucinski Deputy Commissioner of Smarter Data @ATO

Marek Rucinski is the Deputy Commissioner of Smarter Data, the ATO’s data and analytics capability. He has strategic responsibility for the development and industrialisation of data, analytics and insights to support the administration of the tax and super systems, government priorities, and deliver value for ATO. This role combines the traditional roles of chief data and chief analytics officers in many other organisations. Marek leads the ATO Data and Analytics Professional Stream, is a member of the senior working group for the APS Data Professional Stream, and chairs the APS Data Champions Executive and Network Forum.

Marek has driven the evolution of data and analytics capabilities for over 20 years in industry roles and in a consulting services capacity across Australia, Asia and global clients. He has worked in retail, telecommunications, consumer goods, financial services, mining and utilities sectors and now, the federal government. Prior to ATO, Marek was a Managing Director in Accenture and was the Analytics Practice lead for Australia and New Zealand.

Topic: Ethical AI in the ATO

Michelle Gallaher Chief Executive Officer @Opyl Ltd

Michelle Gallaher is an award-winning health technology entrepreneur, recognised for her leadership in the Australian biotech sector.  Commencing in allied health in orthoptics (vision science), Michelle’s 25+ year career spans  clinical and administration roles in public and private health, management and executive roles with biotech and pharmaceutical companies, national medical research initiatives and leading a state-based biotech peak-body.  Michelle successfully established and later sold her first company, The Social Science in 2014 into ShareRooot (ASX:SRO) to then go on to found Opyl (ASX:OPL) in 2019, commercialising an AI approach to improving clinical trial efficiency.

Michelle is a non-executive director with Praxis Australia, Cancer Trials Australia and Medtech Actuator and co-founder of not-for-profit advocacy organisation, Women in STEMM Australia.

Michelle is a Victorian Honour Roll for Women inductee, Victorian Telstra Businesswoman and Entrepreneur of the Year, and a winner of Westpac’s 200 Businesses of Tomorrow.

Mike Erwing Executive Dean and Vice President @Deakin University Melbourne

Mike McHugh Senior Manager @Adobe

Mike has over 25 years’ experience in the design, and software industries. As former Senior Product Manager for Creative Cloud based in San Jose CA, he has a unique perspective on Creativity and technology. During this time, Mike became an Adobe inventor and innovator. Now Mike is back in Melbourne as a Senior Manager for Digital Media at Adobe Australia.

Topic: AI is our creative Co-Pilot – AI should enhance human creativity, not replace it and make generative AI work for us.

Raj Mathiravedu Vice President Digital Solutions @Orica

Raj is Orica’s Vice President, Digital Solutions leading the company’s global digital product development and execution team. Raj moved into the Vice President, Digital Solutions role in October 2018. Prior to this, he was Senior Manager of Technology based in Singapore. He joined Orica in May 2017, following a 16-year career at Schlumberger, a global leader in oilfield services. Raj’s experience includes leadership roles across several functions including research and development, manufacturing, marketing, operations and sales. Prior to joining Orica, Raj spent three years as Strategic Marketing & Technology Head, Schlumberger Houst 

Sandra Hogan Co-founder & Data Analytics Lead @Amperfii

Sandra is an accomplished Data Science and Analytics Leader with over 20 years’ experience in building and leading Analytics and Data Science teams and over 10 years in providing specialist consulting to many large organisations across Australia and New Zealand. In 2018, Sandra was recognised as #2 Analytics Leader in Australia by the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia (IAPA).

Today, Sandra is a co-founder of software company, Amperfii, that is developing software that helps people create valuable data products by focusing on great conversations between teams and prioritising work based on business results.

Stela Solar Director National Artificial Intelligence Centre @CSIRO

With most recent experience as Global Director of AI Solutions Sales and Strategy at Microsoft, Stela’s experiences across business development, strategy, ecosystem development, marketing and product management inform her insights surrounding cross-organisational factors affecting an organisation’s ability to capture an advantage.

Stela has returned to Australia after seven years in the US to join CSIRO and lead the National AI Centre. As Director of Australia’s National Artificial Intelligence Centre hosted by CSIRO, she helps put AI on the agenda for corporations and the broader AI ecosystem.

Tatiana Tokareva Principal Data Scientist @Teradata

I have identified analytical opportunities for clients and accelerated their monetisation. My leadership, management, communication and people skills have been shaped by over 20 years of in-depth industry experience, working for Fortune 500 companies and hands-on data science expertise.

I drive value for our clients from their technological investments by designing, leading and managing end-to-end analytical projects, from analytical roadmaps all the way to operationalisation. Time and experience have taught me what works and what does not work in analytics and analytical architecture.

Victor Tibia Principal Research Software Engineer @Microsoft

Victor is a Principal Research Software Engineer at the Human-AI eXperiences (HAX) team, at Microsoft Research. His interests are at the intersection of human-computer interaction (HCI), computational social science, and applied machine learning. His research has been published at conferences such as EMNLP, AAAI, and CHI and he has received best paper awards. His work has also been featured in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and VentureBeat.

Willem Palling Head of Analytics & AI @IAG

Willem is the Head of Analytics and AI at IAG.  He has previously worked across marketing, data science and customer experience in travel, television and retail. Willem has a background in academic research, having completed his PhD in 2012.

Topic: Accessible AI: Unpacking AI for Claims Transformation

Ying Yang Assistant Commissioner of Data Science @ATO

Dr. Ying Yang is an award-winning senior data scientist at the cutting edge of information technology and computer science, and was recently nominated for the Women in AI 2022 Award, Australia and New Zealand.

Ying leads the data science capability in the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), one of the Australian Public Sector’s largest data science teams of over 100 data scientists. Ying and her team deliver trusted data science service and expert advice to the full business spectrum across the ATO. Their work is of very large scale and high impact, is renowned for innovation and excellence, and has won many awards.

Topic: Ethical AI in the ATO

Speaking Opportunities

There are opportunities for industry-focused speakers to present at this conference. If you’re interested in speaking at the event to share your business case studies or experiences in AI and Future of Work, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us to enquire about speaking opportunities.