Speakers

Artak Amirbekyan Head of Data, AI and ML @Transurban

Dr. Artak Amirbekyan heads up Enterprise Data and Analytics function at Transurban. He previously founded and led AI Labs team in Commonwealth Bank as an Executive Manager. At Transurban – his team research and develop innovative tolling and transport technology solutions that make travel easier and safer for everyone. The team helps Transurban to achieve its vision by providing data analytics and machine learning solutions that ranges from simple analytics to more complex machine learning applications.  He has a PhD in Data Mining and has been working in both industry and academia for more than 18 years in machine learning field.

Panel: AI Value Pathway to the Future

Daniella Kafouris Partner Risk Advisory @Deloitte

Daniella is a partner in Deloitte;s Risk Advisory team with a focus on privacy, security and innovation. She began her career in 2006 after specialising in cyber and technology legal consulting through her own business. In 2010, she joined Deloitte South Africa to lead their Privacy and Tech Law Practice. Daniella was admitted as a Partner in 2018 and is currently the Lead for Data & Privacy In Cyber across the Australia region. Prior to this, she led and collaborated with teams across Africa, Europa and the US to service clients listed across those territories. She has worked across multiple industries and focus areas within compliance, regulatory and risk management. She is an experienced lawyer with a focus on information communication and technology law, data privacy law, the regulatory environment as it pertains to data and has deep experience in third-party risk management and compliance. Daniella is currently Innovation Leader for Risk Advisory Australia and has led initiatives across privacy enhancing technologies.

Topic: Deriving Value with Privacy Enhanced AI

Franz Strich Deputy Director of the Centre for AI and the Future of Business @Deakin

Franz is a lecturer at the Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics at Deakin University and the deputy director of the Centre for AI and the Future of Business at Deakin University. His research focuses on the impact of advanced technologies and information systems on employees’ identities and self-understanding. Franz also explores the unintended consequences and dark sides of AI and potential pathways for organisations to mitigate adverse effects. 

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

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 Oppermann Chief Data Scientist @NSW Government

Dr. Ian Oppermann is the NSW Government’s Chief Data Scientist working within the Department of Customer Service. He is also an Industry Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).  He heads the NSW government’s AI Review Committee and Smart Places Advisory Council.

Ian is considered a thought leader in the area of the Digital Economy and is a regular speaker on “Big Data”, broadband enabled services and the impact of technology on society. Ian has an MBA from the University of London and a Doctor of Philosophy in Mobile Telecommunications from Sydney University. Ian is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, is a Fellow and Immediate Past President of the Australian Computer Society, Fellow of the NSW Royal Society, and a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Jonathan Robinson Chief Data and Analytics Officer @inkl

Jonathan is a seasoned data scientist and engineer.  He has worked across various industries, including defense, health, insurance and banking. Jonathan has extensive knowledge and experience of applying machine learning and statistical methodologies to large datasets for predictive analytics, natural language applications, automated decision-making, clustering, propensity and uplift modelling. In recent years he has held senior data science roles at ANZ, NAB, Commonwealth Bank and Suncorp Group, and is currently the CDAO for inkl, a start up in the news industry. He holds a PhD in AI from Auckland University.

Karin Verspoor Executive Dean School of Computing Technologies @RMIT University

Katarina Dulanovic General Manager Data Office @Allianz Australia

Katarina is a passionate data leader with over 20 years of experience in building data driven organisations of the future, allowing them to scale, change and adapt to a world where technology shifts at breakneck speed , with data and AI at the forefront. As a senior leader and industry contributor Katarina has held executive roles in data and analytics with several large-scale organisations across the Financial Services and Insurance sector (CBA, NAB, Suncorp, IAG etc), consultancy (KPMG, PWC) and currently Katarina is the CDO for Allianz Australia leading data and advanced analytics teams in their mission to mature data culture deliver the data enterprise of tomorrow.

Topic: AI and a Culture of Value

Leonie Valentine Strategic Advisor @CommandHub

Leonie Valentine is a Strategic Advisor to CommandHub, and a board member of Save The Children Australia. Until February 2023 Leonie was Executive General Manager, Customer Experience, Digital & Technology at Australia Post. Prior to Post, Leonie spent 7.5 years at Google as a member of the global leadership team. She held the positions of Managing Director, Google Melbourne and Government (2021-22), Managing Director, Google Hong Kong (2016-2020), and APAC Director, for Google’s Global Customer Experience team (2014-2016). She has over 30 years of experience in sales, marketing, digital technology and operations.

Prior to joining Google, Leonie was Executive Vice President, Customer Service & Operations at CSL HK Limited (a Telstra subsidiary). Earlier, she held the position of Chief of Staff for Telstra International Group, and was a member of the Executive Leadership Team charged with managing Telstra Corp’s business growth and assets outside of Australia and New Zealand.

Topic: Anonymous and Autonomous AI for the real world

Matt Kupperholz Adjunct Professor @Deakin

Panel: Conversation about generative AI

Michael Chau Professor @University of Hong Kong

Dr. Michael Chau is a Professor in Innovation and Information Management of the HKU Business School at the University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on the cross-disciplinary intersection of information systems, computer science, business analytics, and information science, with an emphasis on the applications of data, text, and web mining in various business, education, and social domains. Dr. Chau’s research has been well published and recognized.

Topic: Depression Detection on Social Media

Niels Wouters Senior Design Researcher @Paper Giant

Topic: AI and the need for civic participation

Ofir Turel Professor @University of Melbourne

Topic: Meet Your New Co-Worker: Questions About and Implications of Working with AI

Oliver Fleming Senior Vice President @H20.ai

Topic: Becoming an AI company

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 

Topic: Intelligence in Resources Industry – Artificial or Augmented?

Reihaneh Bidar Lecturer in Business Information Systems @UQ Business School

Reihaneh is a Lecturer in Business Information Systems at the UQ Business School, The University of Queensland. Her current research focuses on managing AI. The outcome of her research guides non-governmental organizations and public agencies on how they can deliver value by efficiently implementing human-AI hybrid.

Topic: Risk-informed work-redesign framework for AI implementation

Rory Wooster Analytics Lead @Kmart Australia

Rory has worked in the retail industry for 30 years, most recently in his role as Analytics Lead for Digital Stores at Kmart, leveraging emerging technologies and data to solve complex business problems. 

Rory has also held leadership roles on other large scale transformational projects at Kmart including the establishment of an innovation and technology hub in India and updating Kmart’s store format in over 220 stores across Australia and New Zealand. 

Topic: From concept to reality: AI and RFID in retail operations

Rowena Westphalen SVP Solution and Customer Advisory, APAC, @Salesforce

Rowena Westphalen is a customer experience, AI, and technology-focused leader with a passion for ethical AI, innovation, and the power of businesses to improve the state of the world through integrated philanthropy. She envisions a future where technology and human-centered design create positive change for individuals, organizations, and society as a whole.

Currently, Rowena holds the position of SVP at Salesforce.com, leading the Solution and Customer Advisory function across ANZ and Asia. Before joining Salesforce, Rowena spent 10 years at SAP & Business Objects, honing her skills in Design Thinking, Analytics, Machine Learning, IoT, and large deal collaboration across Japan, Asia, and Australia. Her work contributed to significant growth in the region, strengthening the company’s presence and market share.

Salvatore Trimboli CITO @TLC Health

Salvatore is an acknowledged business leader with 15 years of international experience. His management has delivered high performance through both organic growth, and mergers and acquisitions. Salvatore specialises in innovation, and is passionate about strategy, governance and operational excellence. He has a wealth of knowledge about utilising technology to expand businesses and has a growth-focused leadership style; making him a trusted executive business advisor.

Supplemented by his governance and ISO standards experience, Salvatore has a successful track record in delivering large transformation change programmes from mid to large organisations across logistics, retail, professional services, construction, and financial services.

Panel: AI Value Pathway to the Future

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.

Panel: AI Value Pathway to the Future

Scott Thomson Head of Innovation @Google

Scott is Head of Innovation for Customer Engineering at Google.  Scott has worked in Google since 2015 in the Ads Data Platforms, Analytics and Google Cloud product areas in AuNZ and APAC. Before Google, Scott worked with Adobe across APAC on digital strategy and digital transformation.  He also worked for Telstra and Sensis in digital transformation and held the role of CTO in an Australian startup focused on personalised video advertising for mobiles. He is passionate about working with and helping startups throughout AU and NZ and still dreams of running away to join another startup circus.

Panel: Conversation about generative AI

Steve Iatropoulos CTO Finance @Microsoft

Steve has worked in Technology for over 30 years in various technology leadership roles. Early in his career he helped organisations capitalise on the transformation to client/server computing and the Internet. He moved to Europe where he worked for start-up rolling out a large scale, distributed retail system and then moved to Microsoft advising large corporates and governments on systems integration, B2B and B2C. On returning to Australia, Steve directed the technology enablement of Microsoft’s partners to help them expand in opportunities in Cloud and SaaS services.

Steve’s current role is a Client CTO in Finance where his focus is directing the technology relationship between Microsoft and Banks especially in the fields of technology-aided productivity, AI and security.

Topic: Shared responsibility in the age of Generative AI

Thanh Thi Nguyen Senior Lecturer @Deakin University

Dr Thanh Thi Nguyen had been a leading researcher in Australia in the field of Artificial Intelligence, recognized by The Australian’s Research Magazine in a report published in 2018. He had been ranked among the world’s top 2% scientists in 2019, 2020 and 2021 by Elsevier B.V. and Stanford University. Dr Nguyen was a Visiting Scholar with Stanford University in 2015 and Harvard University in 2019. He received a European-Pacific Partnership for ICT Expert Exchange Program Award from the European Commission in 2018, and an Australia–India Strategic Research Fund Early- and Mid-Career Fellowship from the Australian Academy of Science in 2020. Dr Nguyen obtained a PhD in Mathematics and Statistics from Monash University and he is currently a senior lecturer in AI and machine learning at Deakin School of IT.

Topic: Artificial intelligence for the metaverse

Toby Walsh Chief Scientist @UNSW AI Institute

Toby Walsh is Chief Scientist of UNSW.AI, UNSW’s new AI Institute. He is a strong advocate for limits to ensure AI is used to improve our lives, having spoken at the UN, and to heads of state, parliamentary bodies, company boards and many others on this topic. This advocacy has led to him being “banned indefinitely” from Russia. He is a Fellow of the Australia Academy of Science, and was named on the international “Who’s Who in AI” list of influencers. He has written three books on AI for a general audience, the most recent is “Machines Behaving Badly: the morality of AI”.

Topic: Misconceptions about Generative AI

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.

Topic: Automatic Generation of Grammar-Agnostic Visualizations and Infographics using LLMs

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.