Past Speakers

Peter Weill’s work centers on the role, value, and governance of digitization in enterprises. Weill joined the MIT Sloan faculty in 2000 to become director of MIT Sloan’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR).

MIT CISR is funded by approximately 100 corporate sponsors and patrons, and undertakes practical research on how firms generate business value from Information Technology (IT). As chair, Weill focuses on globalizing the center’s research and delivery. In 2008, Ziff Davis recognized Weill as #24 of The Top 100 Most Influential People in IT, the highest-ranked academic. In Dec 2019, his 2015 MIT SMR article Thriving in an Increasingly Digital Era was recognized as one of The Best 10 SMR Articles in the 2010s.

Peter has worked on digitization issues with the Executive Committees and Boards of more than 40 companies globally. He conducts workshops for key conferences, including the CEO Summits for Microsoft, IBM, and SAP, and the International Monetary Conference.

As the CEO of PrivacyCode and a Partner at Privatus Consulting, Michelle Dennedy has over 20 years of experience in advancing the respect for human information. She is renowned for her expertise in privacy engineering, a field that bridges the policy and technology divide with metrics and outcomes. Additionally, Michelle is an author, a podcaster, and a strategic advisor for several technology companies.

Michelle’s mission is to build better technology that matters, promoting quality, integrity, and asset-level possibilities for information assets. She works closely with families, executives, innovators, and dreamers at all stages and in all sectors to support the combination of policy, practice, and tools. She is passionate about creating solutions that enable data privacy and security, as well as social and environmental responsibility.

Jodie is an accomplished CFO, Executive, and Director who has over 20 years of International and Australian experience across the IT, Professional Services, Telecommunications, Gaming, Hospitality, Property, and Manufacturing sectors. Her areas of expertise span Business Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Transformational Change, Project Management, Finance and Corporate Services Leadership (e.g. IT and Legal Services), Commercial Contract and Leasing Negotiations, and Cybersecurity. Jodie applies an entrepreneurial spirit to develop winning business growth strategies and creative, financial propositions. She drives innovative projects that leverage digitisation, automation and AI to create robust, streamlined operational systems and generate significant cost efficiencies and margin improvements. 

Shilpa is the Strategy and Product Management Director for Oracle’s ERP Cloud Financials, where she shapes the vision and execution of this flagship offering. With over 23 years of experience in finance and technology, Shilpa has held consulting, strategy, and leadership roles, helping global clients achieve strategic business outcomes through technology investments. She supports clients in making the right choices for their businesses when partnering with Oracle across data, applications, platform, infrastructure, and industry solutions. Shilpa holds a Bachelor’s in Finance and a Master’s in Computers. Based in Sydney, she is passionate about mentoring young professionals, enjoys board games, and loves traveling with her family. 

As Chief Technology Officer for Salesforce Australian and New Zealand, Gayan leads regional efforts in security, engineering and architecture engagement with Salesforce product engineering, industry and key customer accounts. Gayan is co-founder of Salesforce’s global Architecture Guild and is an Industry Research Fellow at MIT’s Center of Information Systems Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Gayan was the CIO 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 technology strategy and enterprise architecture 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 the ISO Committee TC/307 on blockchain standards.

Marek Kowalkiewicz is a Professor and Chair in Digital Economy at QUT Business School. Listed among the Top 100 Global Thought Leaders in AI by thinkers360, Marek has led global innovation teams in Silicon Valley, was a Global Research Program Lead and Founding Research Manager of SAP’s Machine Learning lab in Singapore, and a Research Fellow at Microsoft Research Asia. His newest book, “The Economy of Algorithms: AI and the Rise of the Digital Minions”, is an international bestseller, recently released as an audiobook.

As FP&A Leader for APJ & EMEA, Hussein is responsible for managing Alteryx’s International Go-to- Market (GTM) P&L and growth, as well as providing strategic insights to Alteryx executives. He brings 10+ years of experience in helping technology companies build, scale, and manage GTM and Finance Operations in international markets. Prior to his career in Finance, Hussein was a management consultant at EY, where he specialized in helping Fortune 500 organizations navigate digital transformation, optimize costs, and scale operations in an efficient manner. Hussein is passionate about technology adoption across the Office of the CFO (especially Alteryx!) and is always looking for new ways to get his business partners better insights, faster. 

With over 20 years’ experience in technology, the majority of those focused on customer experience technologies, I have been working with companies large and small across the globe to transform their businesses and to use data to serve their customers better.

Prior to joining Alteryx, Paul led both sales and presales teams at Salesforce and ServiceNow.

As a leader in sales engineering and a PreSales professional, Paul is in the rare position of being both tech- and business-savvy. Through his experience he has learnt to be multi-lingual, proficient in geek, sales, marketing, service, analytics and, most importantly, “plain and simple”.

When he is not working, he spends his time walking the dogs, snowboarding and hiking. He is also pretty handy with a hammer, building homes in Cambodia each year.

Richard Payne works with CFOs and finance teams to help drive finance-led business transformation programs, that deliver their organisations an:

–  Ability to execute and change at speed.

–  Holistic understanding of performance at any point in time.

–  Empowered workforce with insights to make better decisions.

–  Environment that is efficient, secure and compliant.

Richard has 25+ years’ experience in leadership with enterprise advisory and software companies. Prior to joining Workday in 2018, Richard spent 9 years at EY working with finance professionals, leading business development teams, and managing global accounts.

With over 15 years experience at Executive level, Stuart has led and built successful, profitable, high growth technology centric businesses across EMEA and Asia Pacific regions. Outstanding track record delivering on business commitments (Revenue Growth, EBITDA performance, Market Share, Employee & Customer Sat.)..

Stuart is naturally engaging in his approach with flexibility, creativity, business acumen, customer centric approach and ability to build partnerships having proven the key to Stuart’s success. Experience working as both a buyer and supplier of products and services gives Stuart a deep appreciation of the need to develop competitive sales offerings which are underpinned with the credibility to deliver and service the customer.

Leading a 25-year corporate career in the services, print, IT, software and telecommunications industries, I displayed a combination of grit and resilience when I ventured into this industry. Fuelled by my passion for technology and making a positive difference in the community, I established reputation for determining viable business opportunities, driving sales and increasing revenue in Australian and New Zealand markets particularly in conjunction with commercial, strategic, government and education sectors; developing and implementing strategies and plans that delivered sustained, profitable growth within a competitive industry. Propelled by the need to lead with passion and purpose, I am keen to inspire and mentor other colleagues in achieving the strategic objectives of the company.

Rosie Carines is BlackLine’s Regional Vice President for Australia and New Zealand. With over thirty years of experience in the IT industry, she has worked with industry giants like SmartForce, SAI Global, and SkillSoft. Rosie is dedicated to empowering and guiding organisations to seamlessly integrate technology in every aspect of their work for a better future. 

Mike Goldsworthy is a Value Architect at BlackLine. He has 20+ years of experience within the IT and finance domain from both a professional service and end-user perspective. He brings with him extensive large ERP process and Best of Breed application Solution Architecture experience with a focus on integration and financial process excellence. Mike has worked across multiple global, multiple-jurisdiction deployments, merger, consolidations and divestment programs. Before moving into technology consulting, he commenced his career in CA with five years in Audit.

Narelle Beattie serves as Divisional Director, Corporate Services & Governance for Taronga Conservation Society Australia, bringing extensive financial management experience to her role.  

Since joining the not-for-profit organisation in 2015, Narelle has made significant contributions during a period of growth for Taronga and leads a complex portfolio which includes Finance, Procurement, Governance, IT and Capital Programs. This key role supports Taronga’s commitment to wildlife conservation, research and education by ensuring strong financial management, efficient operations and effective governance frameworks.  

Prior to joining Taronga, Narelle was Chief Operating Officer at Opera Australia and continues to be a strong supporter of Music and the Arts, serving as non-executive director on two performing arts boards. As a true Sydney Swans AFL fan, red and white are her favourite colours.’ 

Passionate about improved customer outcomes using SAP solutions. Having specialised in SAP technologies for over two decades and in recent years on S/4HANA, I seek opportunities for customers to create better outcomes using their investment in technology.

Thought leadership, diversity, improved ways of working and setting up for success are strategies I hold dear. I love sharing my experiences, vision and the benefits of my research with others……my views are my own, but always happy to share!

Jessica specialises in value capture and assurance within large, value-driven transformations, and technology simplification programs. She has partnered with executives across the UK, Australia, and Asia to address both the technical complexities and business concerns that arise in these major initiatives. Jessica’s recent work helping organisations derive long-term success from ERP transformations has resulted in her helping establish McKinsey’s ERP Value Assurance Service Line across Australia and New Zealand. 

Jim founded ADAPT with a vision to help Australia thrive commercially, now and for the future.  To enable that, Jim leads ADAPT’s mission to connect, inform and equip our local business and tech leaders.

Leading the development of ADAPTs agenda’s and content strategy whilst also advising executive leadership teams from global technology service providers, Jim is uniquely experienced to be the voice of the end-user, the customer and the vendor.

Bringing his deep knowledge of the local market, Jim regularly presents “Know your Customer” webinars and guides the world’s largest vendors with their G-T-M and content strategies.

Through entrepreneurial product development and a servant leader mentality with his team and clients, ADAPT grows annually with clearly differentiated value for all stakeholders.

As Director of Strategic Research at ADAPT Matt Boon, is responsible for directing and developing ADAPTs research content and positions. In his role at ADAPT Boon advises C-Suite executives across the end-user and technology provider landscape. Boon is also responsible for bringing together groups of C-Suite leaders to discuss and prepare for the myriad of challenges and opportunities they face.

ADAPT host’s numerous industry leading IT focused events annually and Boon is responsible for hosting, chairing and delivering ADAPT independent content and positions to help attendees make informed IT decisions.

Gabby’s primary role is managing ADAPT’s overall strategy for Data Analytics. He has extensive experience in using data to identify trends in technology that help shape Australian organisations. Utilising modern Data Science techniques, he provides ADAPT and their customers with confidence in the accuracy and validity of the information used for ADAPT’s Research, Advisory, and Events.​

With a passion for creating stories with data, Gabby is consistently rated as one of the top speakers at ADAPT Events. In round table discussions, he specialises in using statistics to initiate thought-provoking discussions. Gabby is effective in translating information into insights, enabling ADAPT’s customers to become more data-driven.​

Gabby’s primary areas of expertise are: ​

• Advanced AI and ML practices, including AI ethics.​
• Building models to benchmark and predict IT performance.​
• End-user behaviour and human-centred design.​
• Cross-functional team design and value, such as DevSecOps.​