Our Speakers

Kristine Dery is the Professor of Work, Technology and Innovation, and Associate Dean Curriculum and Learning- Post-experience at Macquarie Business School.

She leads the strategic development and delivery of all post graduate programs for executives with business experience looking to upskill or transition to new roles. These courses include: MBA, GMBA, Master of Applied Finance and a suite of Executive Education open and bespoke programs including micro-credentials. Kristine is also an Academic Research Fellow with MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research (MIT CISR).

Kristine’s current research explores what it takes for large companies to transform their workforce to be relevant in a digital world. Together with colleagues at MIT CISR, Kristine has recently published a framework that helps firms understand the degree to which their workforce is future-ready. Kristine’s previous research has explored the employee experience in the context of Agile Ways of Working, Virtual Connectivity, and also what it takes to attract and retain the Talent with the digital skills to successfully deliver on the challenges of new digital business models. She works closely with research colleagues both at MIT CISR and Macquarie Business School to ensure that her research is integrated into the broader context of digital transformation.

Humbled and honoured – they’re two words Sir John Kirwan (known to most as JK) often uses to describe how he feels about his contribution to a campaign to raise awareness about depression, but they’re also the same words he uses to describe his knighthood. The former All Blacks and 1987 Rugby World Cup winner became a “Sir” in 2012, joining a list that includes other well-known former All Blacks. However, unlike his fellow All Blacks, Kirwan was recognised as much, if not more, for his contribution outside of rugby; for services to Mental Health, having been for several years at the forefront of the campaign to heighten public awareness of depression, an illness he has suffered from himself.

JK’s willingness to share his mental wellbeing story from surviving to thriving has gone a long way to removing the stigma that surrounds mental health here in New Zealand.

This energy and commitment to share his story has led him to create the mental wellbeing platform Groov (formerly Mentemia). Originally developed as a workplace wellbeing app to tackle everyday stress and anxiety in the workplace, a free version of Groov was specially adapted to help Kiwis and Australians through the COVID-19 pandemic, with the support of Kiwibank and Westpac in New Zealand, and AIA Vitality in Australia.

What keeps JK thriving today is found across the Groov platform, along with world class, evidence based tools and techniques from leading clinicians.

Bri Williams is one of Australia’s leading authorities on behavioural influence.

A CPA with a degree in Applied Psychology, Bri founded People Patterns in 2011, a specialist consultancy that helps businesses get staff, customers and stakeholders to take action. Prior to this she worked in finance, HR and product management for some of Australia’s leading brands.

A regular contributor to Smartcompany and host of Talking Talks, Bri has written multiple books including “The Williams Behaviour Book”, “Behavioural Economics for Business” and “The How of Habits” and appears regularly as a presenter, panellist and media commentator.

Dana’s extensive experiences include in providing advisory services and project management, support for HR service delivery, process design, human resource strategy alignment, organisation design, and technology delivery. With a background in both the United States and Australia, he has collaborated with organisations of all sizes across diverse industries, tackling complex HR and people-related challenges.

He possesses a keen passion for transforming exciting ideas into tangible realities. Afflicted with a self-acknowledged case of “distracted by shiny thing-itis,” he revels in exploring new, captivating concepts, and brainstorming their practical implementation. He thrives on challenges and is driven by his team’s determination to excel, learn, innovate, and achieve results.

He is also an ardent advocate of collaborative learning and consistently seeks opportunities to broaden his knowledge and standards.

An entrepreneurial spirit with an ownership mindset, I am an innovative and creative senior executive with a proven track record of achievement with leading technology brands; Adobe, HP, Oracle and ServiceNow. I thrive on engaging audiences through storytelling and connected, emotive experiences that drive demand, brand awareness, loyalty and build and strengthen business relationships.

Committed and driven IT professional with 20 years’ experience in the Global IT Industry including Development, Project/Program Management, Strategy development, Consulting and Transformation.

A proven leader in developing and managing diverse teams, built on a leadership style which is highly collaborative and communicative, outcome driven and focused on building capability to deliver and sustain the changes put in place. An experienced executive who provides thought leadership and with a proven track record in implementation of complex and cross-functional change.

Experience Architect that partners with organisations to drive transformational change and develop agile solutions that generate productivity, growth and value. With international experience in both consulting and industry roles my core skill set includes:

– Program Management
– Strategic Change Delivery
– Process Transformation
– User Experience Design
– Data Analytics and Data Driven Decision Making

Anna is passionate about coaching and developing others to build high performing teams. She is motivated by a drive to continuously learn and thrive in an environment, where she can solve business challenges, establish meaningful relationships and champion the needs of Customers to deliver growth.

Lucy is the Co-Founder and CEO of NOBL, a culture change organizational design firm. She believes in building legendary cultures and helps her clients operationalize their wildest ambitions.

She embodies a bias-to-action, using her experience in operations, human resources, and organizational strategy to drive meaningful and lasting change. Previously, she was a VP at the fashion house Rag & Bone, an advisor to the global digital studio ustwo, and partner at Undercurrent, a leading digital consultancy.

Liz is an Associate Principle at NOBL, a global organisational design firm born in the US with a new office in Sydney. She’ll break down what leaders can do to create and retain a high-performing team, drawing on her experience in operations, human resources, and organisational strategy to drive meaningful and lasting change.

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.