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 & Research and Advisory Executive Director

Anthony leads the growth and development of ADAPT’s Research and Advisory Practice engaging directly with ADAPT’s community of C-Level Executives, equip them with the relevant research, tools and advice to effectively lead and transform their organisations.

ADAPT’s Research & Advisory is pillared around equipping C-Level Executives with the insights & tools to:

– Empower the Workforce
– Improve Operational Efficiency
– Execute Data Driven Strategies
– Modernise Legacy Environments
– Embed Trust & Security
– Enhance Customer Experience
– Transform as a Business Leader
– Align the CEO & Board
– Engage Stakeholders Effectively
– Drive Technology Thought Leadership
– Enable Innovation & Transformation
– Optimise Budgets & Ensure ROI

Additionally, Anthony manages ADAPT’s 13-person Delegate Advisory Team responsible for the execution and delivery of all delegate acquisition and advisory programs for ADAPT across Asia Pacific.

Anthony also works within ADAPT’s Strategic Partner team consulting to leading service providers on customer acquisition and GTM strategies.

Externally to ADAPT, Anthony is the Public Officer and Board Member for Conviction Group; a newly established not-for-profit organisation aimed at encouraging young Australian’s to re-evaluate their perspectives on pivotal issues concerning their mental health and provide them with the tools to enhance their decision-making.

Tenar Larsen

Head of Community & Ecosystem Partnerships

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 of Business Operations & Technology

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).

Analyst
Team

Maranda McLaren

Head of Product, Research & Advisory Services

Matt Boon

Senior Research Director

Shane Hill

Principal Research Analyst

Peter Hind

Principal Research Analyst

Byron Connolly

Head of Programs & Value Engagement

Pooja Singh

Senior Research Analyst & Strategic Research

Gabby Fredkin

Head of Data & Analytics

Aarjun Kumar

Junior Research Analyst

Honey Mari Gay

Junior Data Analyst

Maranda McLaren

Head of Product, Research & Advisory Services

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.

Shane Hill

Principal Research Analyst

Shane Hill is part of ADAPT’s Strategic Research and Advisory team. As Principal Research Analyst, he produces pragmatic insights tailored to the specific needs of technology leaders in Australia and New Zealand.

Hill has worked in technology delivery and market intelligence roles for the past 15 years. His expertise encompasses automation, data science, and machine learning domains. He focuses on how emerging technologies will impact the business models, frameworks, and operations of end-user and vendor organisations.

Formerly of Gartner and with IT services experience across multiple jurisdictions, Shane has led business transformation, technology modernisation, vendor management, and advisory programs for leading consultancies, major corporates, government agencies, and boutique firms.

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 Data & Analytics

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.

Aarjun Kumar

Junior Research Analyst

As a junior data analyst, Aarjun is responsible for aiding the analyst team, by gathering and crafting accurate, and relevant insights used at ADAPT’s Edge Events and by the Research and Advisory Team.

Having gained a solid academic foundation in data analytics, Aarjun aspires to observe the tips and tricks of data analysis, statistics, and data visualisation to leverage ADAPT’s variety of data sources, and inform organisations of the latest challenges, business-oriented pain-points and peer-rated business priorities.

Outside of ADAPT, Aarjun is an active member of Toastmasters International, where he has won speech competitions for his Toastmasters club.

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.