ADAPT | Meet the Team

Our team is made up of some of the most driven, passionate and friendly people you’ll meet.

Leadership
Team

Jim Berry

CEO & Founder

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.

Chase Carleton

Chief Operating Officer

Anthony Saba

Partner & Executive Director, Transformation Services & GTM Services

Anthony leads the growth, strategy, and delivery of ADAPT’s Transformation Services and Go-to-Market Services Business Units.

He is driven by a core belief that we are experiencing a modern industrial revolution, one that will fundamentally reshape how business is done and pose serious challenges to the future of many Australian organisations and industries.

In this environment, success will not necessarily favour incumbents, or those with the deepest pockets or broadest resources, but rather organisations who are most able to ADAPT quickly and effectively to the evolving needs of their customers, employees and ecosystems.

With this belief, ADAPT is evolving into a critical platform that Australia’s enterprise leaders, local solution providers, and trusted advisors can rely on to succeed over the next decade.

By removing barriers, democratising access to proven expertise, promoting local ANZ innovation, and enabling rapid, meaningful connections between leaders and experts, ADAPT is committed to helping Australia not just survive, but thrive in the complex and uncertain times ahead.

Tenar Larsen

Head of People & Performance, Executive Programs

Tom Youngs

Partner and Executive Manager, Strategic Partner Engagement

Tom joined ADAPT in early 2017, quickly establishing himself as a key member of our leadership team.
As our Strategic Partner Sales Director, Tom is tasked with training, mentoring and evolving our staff to achieve consistent revenue growth for ADAPT. His team continue to achieve this growth with a client first, account management focus, placing retention and account development at their core.
Please contact Tom if you would like to discuss the fit for your organisation to join our network.

Brett Herbert

Partner & Senior Manager, Strategic Partner Engagement

Brett’s vast knowledge covers 20 years in the Telecoms, IT and Events space across Australia, China, Asia Pacific and the World. From such experience he has gathered a deep understanding and premonition of up-and-coming trends, even sometimes before they hit the market. He is an avid tech reader and researcher. He also has strong roots in International Business, Management, Organization & Organizational Development. Brett is customer facing and helps all stakeholders maximize their outcomes – often learning from ADAPT in the process. This is what helps us position yourself as a challenger and leader – and we’d welcome you putting Brett next to any other event sales team to see who has the greater understanding of your solutions and market challenges.

Matthew Hanley

Partner and Executive Manager, Strategic Partner Engagement

Matthew believes that Australia needs systemic and sustainable organisational change, and Technology is where businesses really now compete!

He brings over 15+ years of international experience, commercial acumen, and business processes that has solidified ADAPT as the premier business community in the market.

As an authentic connector of C-Level executives, board members & educational technology evangelists, Matthew has a real passion for understanding current trends and challenges, while utilizing intelligent and strategic data insights to equip the C-Suite with knowledge and competencies to make better decisions.

Between 2015 to 2018 Matthew led and managed ADAPTs Delegate Advisory Team, constructing one of the most talented advisor business units in Asia Pacific. The team of 14 being responsible for quality, integrity and the execution & delivery of all delegate acquisition and advisory programs for ADAPT. His business unit delivered:

100% Target Delivery Hit on all campaigns 2015 to 2018
+423% Growth Increase in private programs from 2015 to 2018
+20% Growth Increase in flagship programs from 2017 to 2018
While propelling ADAPT through this hot streak, Matthew was also Awarded; Employee of the year 2016.

Matthew sits on ADAPT’s leadership team, leads & mentors with EQ – & believes “Positivity” and “Humour” are two underrated and powerful assets in business and team building.. A book that really influenced Matthew in early life was “Key to Living the Law of Attraction”.

Ben Wymer

Director, Strategic Technology Initiatives

Joining ADAPT in early 2018, Ben brings experience from 17 years of building businesses, having served in roles and lead projects across several disciplines. Ben has a passion for business transformation, technology and automation with a drive to help ADAPT innovate and grow.

Enjoying the challenge, chaos, change and impact that projects bring, he is always eager to take on the responsibility of new initiatives with a knack for analysing situations to identify both opportunity and risk.

One of Ben’s greatest sources of motivation and inspiration is a believe that in today’s technology revolution, anything is possible with and it is a matter of figuring the best way to get there.

Ben also serves on ADAPT’s leadership team to help guide the it into the next decade.

Fran Naccarella

Finance Director

Fran leads Finance for ADAPT. After 10+ years working in public practice and seeing the other side of business and not being able to affect change needed, I’ve been at the forefront of ADAPT ensuring all teams have the resources to build the events and products that makes ADAPT renown.

Rachel Rock

Director of Executive Programs Engagement & Delegate Acquisition

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 Director of Executive Programs 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 a few years ago, you’ll have to excuse the American accent and mispronounced Australian slang (we’re working on it).

Jonathan Boctorani

Head of Technology & Business Operations

With over 10 years of experience across project management, IT operations, software development, and cybersecurity, Jonathan Boctorani is a technology-driven leader known for driving digital transformation and operational excellence.

His background spans managing enterprise platforms, overseeing cyber security initiatives to ACSC standards, and delivering bespoke digital solutions.

Jonathan combines strong commercial acumen with hands-on technical skills to lead high-performing teams and deliver business outcomes at scale.

Analyst
Team

Matt Boon

Senior Research Director

Peter Hind

Principal Research Analyst

Byron Connolly

Head of Programs & Value Engagement

Pooja Singh

Senior Research Analyst & Strategic Research

Gabby Fredkin

Head of Analytics & Insights

Honey Mari Gay

Junior Data Analyst

Harshit Goel

Senior Analyst & Strategic Research

Matt Boon

Senior Research Director

As Senior Research Director 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 hosts 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.

Peter Hind

Principal Research Analyst

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

Byron Connolly

Head of Programs & Value Engagement

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.

Pooja Singh

Senior Research Analyst & Strategic Research

Pooja is an expert in technology research and advisory, with a focus on areas such as AI, ML, Cloud, and the business value of Emerging Technologies across different sectors, such as in Healthcare. In her role Pooja offer insights and helps C-Level end user clients and their strategic partners to meet their mission critical priorities.

Pooja supports these persona in her written research and offering insights on best practices, case studies, market trends, and can advise about strategic sourcing decisions. Pooja is familiar with technology markets worldwide, with a specific focus on the Australian and South Korean markets.

Gabby Fredkin

Head of Analytics & Insights

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.

Honey Mari Gay

Junior Data Analyst

As a Junior Data Analyst at ADAPT, Mari provides the means for uncovering and defining market trends through visually meaningful statistics and ensuring that presenting accurate data is aligned with modern statistical standards.

Mari is passionate about data and transforming them into insights. She has held project management and academic research roles for over three years. Her experience includes managing end-to-end survey and research projects, processing and analysing data using different statistical tools and techniques, while providing statistical consultation and insights to clients.

Harshit Goel

Senior Analyst & Strategic Research

Harshit’s role as a Senior Analyst at ADAPT focuses on delivering actionable insights that help technology and business leaders navigate emerging trends, optimize technology investments, and drive transformative value across industries. Specializing in the BFSI, fintech, telecom, and retail sectors, Harshit advises C-suite executives and business leaders and his expertise spans areas like digital banking and payments, artificial intelligence applications, and digital commerce and digital experience platforms.

Before joining ADAPT, Harshit was a Senior Research Analyst at Gartner, where he spent over 6 years advising CIOs, marketing and sales leaders on the intersection of technology and business. Following his time at Gartner, he led research & strategy, and product marketing at Comviva, a global technology firm specializing in digital platforms for organisations in telecom and finance sectors.

Known for his practical approach to addressing business challenges, Harshit is passionate about helping organizations harness technology to create meaningful impact. Outside of work, he enjoys traveling to the mountains and spending quality time with friends and family, bringing the same sense of curiosity and exploration to his personal and professional pursuits.