Past Speakers

Jan Brecht currently serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, with a global responsibility for IT across all divisions, brands and markets.

Prior to assuming this position, he worked for the adidas Group from 2009 to 2015, most recently as CIO & Head of Global Supply Chain, combining the IT and logistics responsibilities.

Jan has started his career at the former Daimler-Benz AG in 1997. Since 2000, he has held various IT management positions at Daimler in automotive sales, financial services, production, and engineering. Among other tasks, Jan Brecht headed Information Technology Management for the Mercedes Car Group’s production sites in the US, China, Brazil, and South Africa, and was CIO for Mercedes-Benz Sales and Daimler Financial Services in North and South America.

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.

Laura is an experience public sector leader having spent 15 years in roles in the NSW Government, Commonwealth Government and the not-for-profit sector. Her expertise and achievements were acknowledged in 2018 as the recipient of a Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to policy development and reform initiatives.

Prior to leading Digital.NSW, Laura led Service Delivery for Service NSW, where she was responsible for the Service NSW shopfronts and Contact Centre (13 77 88), leading over 3500 staff. She joined Service NSW as Executive Director Partnerships where she was instrumental in providing Service NSW with dedicated cluster and agency partnership support.

Before Service NSW, Laura was the founding Executive Director for Office of the Secretary at the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation and held various roles at the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Commonwealth Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Antoine Shagoury is Kyndryl’s Chief Technology Officer.

Antoine comes to Kyndryl as a venture partner at Ridge-Lane LP, a strategic advisory and venture development firm focused on solutions to grand challenges in education, sustainability, and information technology.

Previously, he served as an Executive Vice President and global Chief Information Officer at State Street Corporation, where he served on State Street’s management committee and was responsible for managing enterprise-wide technology, transformation and modernization operations in 27 countries. Prior to joining State Street, Antoine was group Chief Operating Officer and CIO at the London Stock Exchange Group. He also served as CIO at the American Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange Alternext.

As a proven technology executive, I have extensive experience partnering with business leaders to deliver technology-enabled organisational transformation. I am passionate about my team and our work to leverage end-to-end IT processes, data, and advanced technologies to solve business problems and create new opportunities.

Throughout my career in heavy asset industries such as aviation and the railway sector, as well as in education and government, I have led technology functions through a variety of critical business phases including organisational-wide transformational change, company separation, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offers and other sale processes like Virgin Australia’s high profile and successful administration.

Christopher Johnson has been working in the IT industry for over 30 years, across marketing, telecommunications, professional services, media and commercial real estate. He has held multiple CIO/CTO roles throughout his career, and in his current position, he heads Group Technology for Fund Manager, and largest holder of commercial real estate in Australia, Charter Hall.

Nic is a distinguished Data Scientist at McKinsey & Company in Melbourne and the Chief Data Scientist for QuantumBlack Australia.

He leads data science teams to extract actionable insights from data in a pragmatic and responsible way across a range of fields, including telecommunications, IoT and financial services.

Nic has more than 15 years of post-PhD experience in research, development and commercialisation of product innovation in big data analytics and predictive modelling. His areas of expertise include: data science, machine learning, analytics transformation programs, MLOps and ethics in AI.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Nic led data science at Dun & Bradstreet and analytics at a Big Data start-up in the US.

Delivering integrated training and coaching that ensures consistency across the sales team and providing sales process discipline that supports customers along the entire customer journey.

Roz works with senior leaders helping them implement technology & new ways of working that create the ideal environment to build, operate, and optimise modern apps.

Jimmy Miloseski is the Head of Technology Strategy for Telstra Purple. He has over 15 years of experience in the software industry and worked at top tech companies like Amazon and Meta in the US. He helps Australian businesses grow by using proven technology strategies. Jimmy is skilled in navigating complex technology ecosystems and delivering effective solutions. His expertise enables organisations to make strategic decisions and meet their objectives. With a track record of leading successful teams, projects, and organisations, Jimmy is excited to collaborate and explore new avenues for growth and transformation. 

Dereks help organisations adapt for the future of work, he speaks about tech trends and the success of our customers.

Derek has held a broad range of roles in my 25-year technology career from startup developer, product manager, consultant, offshore development leader, solutions engineer and product marketing executive.

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.​

Byron is a highly experienced technology and business journalist, editor, corporate writer, and event producer.

Prior to joining Adapt, he was the editor-in-chief at CIO Australia and associate editor at CSO Australia. He also created and led the well-known CIO50 awards program in Australia and The CIO Show podcast.

Byron creates valuable insights for our community of senior technology and business professionals that help them reach their organisational and professional goals. He has a passion for uncovering stories about the careers and personal philosophies of Australia’s top technology and digital executives.

When he is not working, Byron enjoys hot yoga, swimming, running, and spending time with his family.

Peter Hind has spent the last 25 years as an analyst and commentator on the ICT industry. He says his primary areas of interest are the potential of technology to transform the way organisations operate, the change management obstacles executives encounter in realising this potential and the tactics and techniques leaders have deployed to overcome these difficulties.

Peter now takes on multiple roles within ADAPT including the moderation of private events and roundtables, interviewing business executives about the strategies they are pursuing and assisting with the structuring of our delegate surveys and the interrogation and analysis of ADAPT’s treasure trove of end-user and C-level data