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 g-t-m 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.

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.

Rachel has spent the last few years building a strong understanding and knowledge around the government landscape, where she has successfully worked across Federal Government IT Departments. Now as a Program Director at ADAPT, Rachel works with both Leading Enterprise and Government Organisations to help enable C-Level Executives with the tools and Australian based data to make informed decisions.

With an educational background in Big Data Coding, Rachel will happily nerd out on Infrastructures and technology, however, is more likely to get caught up in a conversation around life, dogs & travel. Having only relocated from the USA three years ago, you’ll have to excuse the American accent and mispronounced Australian slang (we’re working on it).

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.

Robert is an experienced cyber security professional who led SME for North Korean Cyber Security for the United States Department of State (CTR Program), held roles as Head of Cyber Operations at BAE Systems, GM of WithYouWithMe Cyber, advisor to the Australian Shadow Cabinet for Cyber Security and CEO of Internet 2.0.

Herb is the Project Fort Zero team lead and Industry CTO Government at Dell Technologies. He has and extensive multi-decade career beginning as a GE trained engineer and manager, and subsequently as a successful software entrepreneur, an IBM trained architect, IBM’s first CTO for Cyber Security, and the Chief Architect for a US Department of Defense’s mission support agency’s global portfolio.  

Herb supported the Intelligence Community around the world post 9/11, designing secure clouds, secure networks, and agency-wide mission infrastructures. He was deployed to create the operational watch for our National Counter Terrorism Center and invent analytics for social media intelligence. Herb participated in joint R&D activities, including the system that became IBM Streams. In the commercial arena, Herb has designed healthcare data analytics for the affordable care act, implemented cognitive solutions for IBM Watson and applied blockchain to secure software supply chains for globally distributed IoT devices. 

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

With over 20 years of experience in start-ups and the broader technology industry, I am a renowned advocate for cyber security in Australia. My journey has been marked by fostering collaboration and propelling the growth of Australia’s cyber security industry.

Key Achievements:

• Developed strategic initiatives and partnerships that fuel innovation in collaboration with start-ups, industry leaders, government agencies and academia.
• Recognised thought leader, sharing insights on entrepreneurship, cyber security and public-private sector collaboration.
• Featured in reputable media outlets, amplifying the significance of cyber security in today’s digital landscape.

I am committed to driving innovation and resilience in the field, leveraging my expertise to align strategies with industry needs and address evolving cyber threats. My role at AustCyber involved close collaboration with various stakeholders to develop strategic initiatives and forge partnerships that fuel innovation.

Anafrid is a SABSA Certified Chartered Security Architect, ISACA Certified Information Systems Auditor, and ISO 27001 Lead Auditor, having 10 plus years of experience in developing, overseeing, managing, and implementing strategic security programs across organisations. She is an award winning security ambassador shifting the security culture within organisations and a strong believer of teamwork, collaboration, and valuing people.

“The cornerstone of business resilience is building a cultural foundation that encourages people to work together. I work to strengthen ‘the human element’- because people are our greatest assets.”
As a People, Cyber, and Technology leader, Anafrid leads and influences fit-for-purpose business outcomes through solid business partnerships. Linking cyber to organisational safety and wellbeing principles to ensure it becomes part of daily conversations, she leads incident response and recovery activities with minimal disruption to the business, customers, and community – having a people-first approach.

Bennet is clearly a rising star. As well as creating and leading GWW’s cyber security strategy, she has been named a highly commended ‘One to Watch in IT Security’ by the Australian Women in Security Awards, ranked 4^th in the 2022 CSO#30 and impressively the Next CIO to watch award in the 2023 CIO#50. The judges there saying “Anafrid Bennet is already displaying the leadership, technology, business, innovation and people skills to take her far in our industry. Like any great leader, she inspires others to excel, and leads by example. If Anafrid is indicative of the next generation of CIOs and technology leaders, then our industry is in very safe hands.” 

Andy is at the helm of Cybersecurity product development at Telstra, driven by a mission to deliver Telstra’s world-class cybersecurity expertise to our customers.

With a career spanning over 25 years in security, Andy has traversed a diverse array of roles encompassing cyber operations, engineering, governance, delivery, and strategy for Fortune 500 companies in America, Europe and Asia.

Most recently, as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of the NSW government insurance agency, icare, Andy’s primary objective was to simplify and streamline security processes, enabling businesses to focus on their core missions while maintaining safety—a philosophy he strives to extend to as many people as possible.

Chris Mohan has worked for fortune 50 companies security teams, bringing insight and actionable measures to those firms’ security posture and responsibilities. Chris’ career has had him in grow from a world of front line IT operations through to advising and guiding those in boardrooms.

His drive is to instil relevant, intelligent and practical security controls and practices that securely enable the business in an unpredictable online world. Chris became one of the few to achieve the prestigious GIAC Security Expert (GSE) certification and holds a number of other security and vendor qualifications.

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

Tamara’s work with clients is driven by a passion to provide insight, objectivity and evidence as a platform for driving change in the way people and organisations manage risk. She works closely with executive teams across the financial sector on issues related to risk, culture, strategy and people with a focus on crystallising how people work in practice and what this means for firm-wide risks. Core to this is providing actionable advice and synthesising the relationship between complex issues to provide clarity.

Tamara is a highly-skilled specialist with a unique blend of regulatory and practical perspectives affecting risk management and outcomes. Prior to Rhizome, she spent 15 years with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in roles spanning supervision, policy, strategy and risk advisory across banking, insurance, superannuation and wealth management. Tamara has also worked with international regulators and thought-leaders to regularly exchange ideas and approaches to supervising and assessing culture in global financial institutions.