Agenda

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.

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.​

Tenar has spent the last 18 years working in sales, running her own company consulting to corporate Australia around Workplace Wellness / Employee Experience and now she finds herself back over on the dark side as an employee, part of a well oiled machine – and loving it! As a Senior Manager of the ADAPT Advisory team, Tenar runs the team that fulfils over 60 private advisory events each year across Asia Pacific. Tenar build genuine relationships quickly and easily, loves connecting people, finding out how to solve a problem and then delivering.

Bevan Slattery is one of Australia’s leading digital infrastructure entrepreneurs having founded a record 5 ASX companies spanning everything from metro fibre, subsea cables, data centres and elastic connectivity. PIPE Networks, NEXTDC, Megaport, Superloop, SubPartners, SUBCO and SODA are some of the companies that have were founded by Mr Slattery over the past 25 years.  Mr Slattery has deep knowledge on all aspects of building, financing and operating submarine cables systems as having conceived, built, owned and operated PPC-1 (Sydney to Guam), Indigo Central and West (Sydney to Perth and Perth to Singapore via consortium), the Oman Australia Cable and now SMAP (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth) system currently in build.  Additionally, Mr Slattery is a major investor in sensing platform FiberSense and is the Founder and Patron of Biopixel Oceans Foundation which aims to build 1 million square metres of tolerant reefs.

Matt Preswick is the Principal Solutions Engineer for Wiz in APJ, with experience in network, email and cloud security at leading security vendors in EMEA and APAC. Before joining Wiz, he lead operations at a Sydney based network analytics startup before returning to Cloud security with Wiz. 

Matt is passionate about developing scalable and actionable security practices within APJs largest organisations. 

An accomplished cybersecurity executive, Edwin brings a unique blend of visionary leadership, strategic acumen, and a people-centric approach. With a proven track record in steering organisations through complex cybersecurity landscapes, he excels in inspiring, motivating, and effectively communicating to foster a culture of innovation and resilience. Edwin has successfully led organisations through significant security uplifts to meet regulatory requirements. Notably, he played a pivotal role in enhancing the security posture of an organisation to successfully obtain a banking licence. Edwin has also presented at several events, including RSA, AISA, All Day DevOps, AppSec Day, DevSecOps Leadership Forums, OWASP, CISO Sydney and other executive conferences.

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.

Brendan joined Canva more than 11 years ago as a founding engineer, and has played a pivotal role in shaping the architectural foundations of Canva’s product and rapidly scaling its engineering organisation. Prior to Canva, Brendan has built software for companies large and small, across a wide range of industries including telecommunications, banking, and eCommerce. In 2003 he co-founded his own company which he later sold to Atlassian. At Canva, he leads a team of more than 2,300 engineers. Brendan’s passion is in setting up Engineering teams to be productive, happy and ambitious. He’s a firm believer in striving for pragmatic excellence, building from first principles, and practicing empathy in Engineering.

Nam Je Cho is an accomplished technology executive and thought leader with over 20 years of experience driving digital transformation and leveraging latest technologies deliver customer value.

He currently serves as the Director of Solutions Architecture at AWS where he has spent over a decade helping customers transform their business in the cloud. Throughout his career, Nam Je has honed his skills in presales, consulting, and systems integration underpinned by latest and emerging technologies.

He brings deep expertise in cloud computing, data analytics, artificial intelligence, enterprise applications, resilience, cybersecurity, and aligning digital solutions to business strategies that drive value. Outside of work, Nam Je is passionate about promoting STEM education to youths and career in technology.

Nam Je holds a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Excellent record in national level roles in Pacific, with expertise in the field of Enterprise Software Sales, SaaS, edge IoT devices, Account management, Partner Management, Marketing, Presales, Strategic Pursuit of identified opportunities across Tier1/2 clients. Well versed in communication at all levels, CEO, Executives, Business unit manager and Technical Leaders. Customer driven with consistent sales growth and high customer satisfaction results attained through building, leading and managing high-performance teams including –Sales Presales, Projects, Engineering, Technical Support, and Customer Service groups with full P&L responsibility.

John Hopping is an accomplished technology leader with nearly 30 years of experience in the IT and telecommunications industry. As Director of Sales Engineering for Enterprise Wireless Solutions at Ericsson, he oversees technical strategy and solution design across the Asia Pacific region, helping enterprise clients unlock the power of advanced wireless networks.

John’s extensive career spans leadership and architectural roles across major global organisations. Serving as served as Principal Architect and CTO for APAC at Ericsson, he has led enterprise network transformation initiatives for nearly eight years. He has also held key technical positions at Optus, BT, Procter & Gamble, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, with a strong background in network design, architecture, and enterprise IT infrastructure across both ANZ and EMEA markets.