Agenda

Jim is well known in the local market for delivering on his promise and his entire career has been spent connecting the right people at the right time in roles across Europe, China and Australia.

He founded ADAPT to deliver quality outcomes with integrity and now in our 8th year, growth has been consistent. Jim is still positioned across sales and account management where he delivers innovative results and programs and leads by example.

He also runs entrepreneurial product development and the evolution and clear differentiated value of ADAPT’s offerings. As well as a NSW Small Business Excellence nomination, ADAPT were 55th in BRW’s 2014 Top 100 Start Ups – Jim’s 3rd time there – previously as Founder of Strategic Path, an award-winning ICT publisher, he steered the company to make the list in both 2009 and 2010.

Dr. Michael G. Kollo is recognised as an accomplished executive leader and educator within the realm of artificial intelligence’s significance in business strategy and product development across various sectors including financial services, technology, and public services. Holding a portfolio of leadership roles, Michael has contributed his expertise to renowned institutional investors such as Blackrock, Fidelity, Renaissance Asset Management, Axa Investment Managers, and HESTA. Additionally, he served as a non-executive director for Clime Investment Managers, an ASX-listed entity.

In the entrepreneurial sphere, Michael has been involved with AI and software companies, notably as a key figure at Faethm Pty, an Australian AI software company that was acquired by Pearsons in 2021, and at the Blockchain company Clanz. Beyond entrepreneurship, he actively participates in mentoring and supporting fintech and cybertech startup ecosystems in London and Australia.

In the realm of academia, Michael boasts a PhD in Finance from the London School of Economics, coupled with extensive lecturing experience at esteemed institutions such as the LSE and Imperial College. He has also been invited as a speaker at TedX events, focusing on the responsible utilisation of AI. With publications addressing machine learning’s application in investment management and contributions to the World Economic Forum’s AI/Fintech panel, Michael’s expertise is widely recognised. Moreover, he has cultivated a global audience through educational podcasts like “Curious Quant.”

As well as Director of AI at ADAPT, Michael is also the CEO of Evolved AI, a distinguished executive education and software development firm dedicated to empowering individuals through effective and responsible AI usage, thereby fostering resilient, transparent, and rapidly evolving enterprises.

Shankar Vedaraman is a highly versatile leader in the data domain, with a strong foundation in data science and engineering. He is passionate about enabling organisations to harness data efficiently and develop innovative data products that drive meaningful business outcomes.

Shankar excels at building and leading global engineering and analytics teams, envisioning and deploying scalable data solutions, and crafting strategies that lead to measurable impact. His expertise extends to solving complex product and people alignment challenges, fostering innovation, and maintaining a relentless focus on execution.

With deep domain knowledge in marketing, finance, and payments, Shankar specialises in areas such as data architecture, big data batch and stream processing, analytic frameworks, data operations, and enabling experimentation and machine learning. He is committed to building trust across cross-functional teams and driving progress through strategic investments in the data space.

Jim is well known in the local market for delivering on his promise and his entire career has been spent connecting the right people at the right time in roles across Europe, China and Australia.

He founded ADAPT to deliver quality outcomes with integrity and now in our 8th year, growth has been consistent. Jim is still positioned across sales and account management where he delivers innovative results and programs and leads by example.

He also runs entrepreneurial product development and the evolution and clear differentiated value of ADAPT’s offerings. As well as a NSW Small Business Excellence nomination, ADAPT were 55th in BRW’s 2014 Top 100 Start Ups – Jim’s 3rd time there – previously as Founder of Strategic Path, an award-winning ICT publisher, he steered the company to make the list in both 2009 and 2010.

Accountable for driving Tabcorp forward across revenue, customer experience, productivity, cost and harm minimization through data, insight, AI and automation. 

Suzie has a proven track record in leading digital transformation strategies and new data-led digital products for media organisations. With long experience in digital and data platform development, she has worked for some of Australia’s largest media organisations including Foxtel, News Corp and Nine Entertainment.

In her roles with Foxtel and News Corp, Suzie was responsible for developing new commercial data-driven digital products. At News Corp she launched the industry-first audience segmentation and intelligence platform, Intent Connect.

Currently, in her role as Chief Data, Product & Technology Officer, Enterprise for Nine Entertainment, Suzie is leading the development and implementation of Nine’s data strategy, focusing on building value from Nine’s scaled audience and first party data asset. She is also responsible for developing and implementing Nine’s AI strategy. She leads a team of data technologists, product managers and data scientists.

Dr. Damian Brennan is Head of AI at Macquarie Group. He leads Macquarie’s enterprise Generative AI approach, including AI strategy, governance, platforms, solutions, practitioner community, training and adoption. He joined Macquarie in their London Office 6 years ago from IBM, and moved over to Sydney in 2021. He has expertise in AI and Analytics and is the inventor of several patents.

Richard Fleming is the leader of our Asia-Pacific Advanced Analytics practice. He is also a leader in our Transformation and Change practice.

He has more than 25 years of management consulting experience, advising business leaders on their biggest opportunities and challenges. He has supported clients with business transformation across strategy, customer experience, performance improvement, M&A, operating model design, digital, data and technology. His work is increasingly to support clients transform their businesses with digital, data and technology.

He has deep experience working with financial services clients in banking, insurance, wealth management and payments. Richard has also worked across industries including retail, consumer products, telecommunications, medtech and manufacturing.

He has applied his strategy consulting expertise globally, having served clients in the North America, Australia, the United Kingdom, and across Asia.

Prior to joining us in 2001, Richard worked for two other global consulting firms with a focus on technology.

He earned an MBA from Australian Graduate School of Management and a BA with Honors in physics from Oxford University.

Kavita Mistry is an accomplished technology leader with expertise in driving transformational change to deliver strategic and commercial objectives. She has more than 20 years’ experience across a variety of technology roles specialising in financial services, including superannuation, investments, digital, data, lending, and corporate applications. 

Prior to AMP Kavita was at AustralianSuper, where she held the roles of co-acting-CTO and Head of Enterprise Technology. There, she established and transformed technology capabilities across investments, member experience, cloud infrastructure, employee experience, data, CRM and enterprise technology assets. Prior to this, Kavita held various senior positions over 14 years at ANZ, including leadership roles within Home and Business lending technology.

Recently won the the iTnews Benchmark Award for Best Industrial Project

Trevor Schulze is the Chief Information Officer at Alteryx, leading the company’s IT and Operations teams in shaping and delivering a cutting-edge technology portfolio that drives innovation and delivers measurable business outcomes.

He has recently focused on harnessing AI and advanced analytics to address complex business challenges, optimise operations, and unlock new market opportunities.

Passionate about inspiring global teams, Trevor drives the design and execution of scalable, innovative solutions that accelerate growth, build businesses, and bring award-winning products to market.

With a proven track record in operational excellence, digital transformation, and market innovation, he thrives at the intersection of strategy, technology, and leadership—where bold ideas translate into meaningful execution.

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.