Agenda

Jim is known for exceeding expectations in execution.His entire career has been spent connecting the right people at the right time in roles across Europe and Asia Pac. ​
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He founded ADAPT to deliver quality outcomes with integrity – 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. ​
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At the centre of agenda creation and strategic partner management for two decades, Jim is uniquely experienced to be the voice of the end-user, the customer and the vendor. ​
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He satisfies C-suite attendees with all agendas across ADAPT Edge events. He also regularly presents “Know your Customer” webinars and guides the world’s largest vendors with their GTM and content strategies.​
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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 builds genuine relationships quickly and easily, loves connecting people, finding out how to solve a problem and then delivering.

David Avrin, CSP, GSF is one of the world’s leading Customer Experience speakers and consultants. He helps CEOs and organisations better understand and serve their changing customers and clients to help future-proof their businesses by becoming ridiculously easy to do business with. David’s the author of seven books: It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who Knows You!, Why Customers Leave (and How to Win Them Back) and his newest book: Ridiculously Easy to Do Business With: A practical guide to giving customers what they want-when and how they want it. His business insights have been featured worldwide.

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

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.

Stephen Hardy is a member of Bain & Co’s Advanced Analytics practice and has more than 20 years of experience building and deploying AI and machine learning across financial services, government, retail and consumer electronics. He works extensively to deliver practical solutions embodying responsible AI principles to clients across the Asia Pacific.

Stephen’s career has spanned the technology areas of customer experience optimisation, causal modelling of programmatic impacts, image and video recognition algorithms, and privacy-preserving data analytics.

He has published articles across a number of different fields and is a co-inventor on more than 15 US patents across multiple technology domains.

Prior to joining Bain, Stephen was formerly the CEO of Ambiata, a Sydney based data science services company and was also previously SGM of Canon Information Systems Research Australia Image and Video R&D Lab.

He holds a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Sydney and a BSc (Hons) with a university medal from the Australian National University.

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.