MC

RICKY NOWAK

Keynote Speakers 

DR ELIZABETH ARMSTRONG

Principal of Ithaca Impact, Dr Elizabeth Armstrong and her team specialise in corporate sustainability, ESG and responsible business, helping companies improve their impact on the environment, people and communities. With more than 25 years delivering innovative, agile social impact in a range of challenging political, economic and transitional contexts, Elizabeth is a social impact and social cohesion specialist working with companies, industry groups and chambers of commerce globally to help them identify and deliver genuine, strategically relevant purpose and impact. Having managed multimillion dollar budgets, designed and delivered complex programmes, and led high performing teams, Elizabeth also holds a PhD in the role of the private sector in contributing to social outcomes and peaceful communities from the University of St Andrews, and Masters degrees in Resource Economics and in Peace and Conflict Studies.

Elizabeth has earned her reputation for turning concepts into on-the-ground impacts over a range of high-level positions in the private, for-purpose and public sectors. She brings adynamic understanding and tested experience helping businesses manage the increasing risks and opportunities posed by ESG realities, including rising regulatory standards and stakeholder expectations. She is an expert advocate on how businesses can pragmatically and profitably contribute to achieving the UNSDGs, and among other roles is a Non-Executive Director of Community Services Industry Alliance, social impact advisor to the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, and member of UNESCAP’s Sustainable Business Network’s Digital Economy Taskforce and the Advisory Board Centre’s Ethics and Best Practice Advisory Board. Elizabeth is also a certified Advisory Board Chair.

DENNIS BARNHART

Dennis Barnhart is Managing Director for Dye & Durham Australia. Based in Sydney, Dennis is responsible for leading the growth and development of the company by bringing Dye & Durham’s world-class solutions to the local market. He is doing this by creating a made-in-Australia approach to running the company and finding unique ways to provide the best customer experience.

Dennis joined Dye & Durham Corporation in 2021 as President of the Canadian business, where he led the successful integration and consolidation of the DoProcess acquisition, before heading to sunnier climates to support the growth of the company in the Australian market. Since then, he has achieved significant success in accelerating the business and building upon its reputation of being the world’s largest provider of cloud-based legal practice management software.

Dennis has extensive leadership experience in the statutory registry and legal technology market, having held multiple leadership roles and successfully modernizing and transforming businesses to improve customer value. As the leader of Dye & Durham Australia, he will leverage his breadth of experience in continuing to move the company forward by maintaining it’s status as a world leader in legal technology.

DR BEN HAMER

Dr Ben Hamer is an accredited futurist, and he was recently awarded the number one thought leader for the Future of Work in the Asia-Pacific.

 Ben has undertaken work and research around the world, including time spent leading critical projects on the future of work and skills at the World Economic Forum as well as being a Visiting Scholar at Yale University.

 He is an Adjunct Professor at Edith Cowan University and a Board Member of the Australian HR Institute, where he was appointed as the youngest Non-Executive Director in the organisation’s history. A sought-after media commentator, Ben is the Chief Futurist at CreativeCubes and the author of The Kickass Career: How to Succeed in the Future of Work, today.

MOANA HOPE

Not only is Moana Hope a powerhouse of Women’s Football; she is familiar to Australian audiences of Australian Survivor: Champions Vs Contenders (2018) and 3rd place winner on Australian Survivor: All Stars (2020).

Moana Hope knows what it takes to be a strong woman. She is an incredibly talented AFLW player, runs her own business, speaks out against sexism and rocks a suit like nobody’s business.

"I don't think women get the same opportunities as men, and I want to see women shining in more areas of life. In sport, in business, everywhere." - Moana Hope

She has played premier division Australian football for the Darebin Falcons, St Kilda Sharks, Melbourne University, and the Western Bulldogs. In the 2016 season she kicked over 100 goals, the first ever female player to do so in the AFL Women’s competition.

 Since the AFL Women’s Exhibition Game in September 2016 where Moana starred for the Western Bulldogs in their win against Melbourne, kicking six goals, the interest in Moana and her journey was amazing.

Following the announcement of the inaugural AFLW season, Moana took her goal kicking prowess from suburban grounds to the big stage, representing the biggest sporting club in Australia, Collingwood. After two AFLW seasons with Collingwood, Moana was approached by North Melbourne to join their inaugural team for the 2019 Season.

Moana’s career has also been hugely successful off the field. In 2016 Moana featured along side Susan Alberti on the ABC’s Australian Story and in 2017 released her memoir My Way, published by the Melbourne University Press.

Moana competed on the fifth series of Network Ten’s hugely successful series Australian Survivor: Champions Vs Contenders (2018). Her time on the Island was cut short due to illness however in 2020 Moana more than made up for it, placing 3rd in the All Stars series.  

In 2019 she was included in Who Magazine’s list of Sexiest People. 

In 2023 Moana joined the team on the new digital radio show Disrupt Radio, with her own daily show ‘Entrepreneur Her’ from 2-4pm.

With a great AFLW playing career behind her Moana has been an ambassador for brands including NIKE, Special K, Gameday, Hydralyte, La Roche Posay and Cocobella. She has also been the face of the MYER Beauty Campaign and the Melbourne Racing Club Caulfield Cup and in 2019 worked with international fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger. Moana is also an in-demand public speaker, talking about women in sport, leaders in business, and being part of the LQBTQI community.

Moana runs her own Traffic Control company, and has fourteen siblings. With a strong focus on family, Moana is a full-time carer for her sister Lavina (‘Vinny’), who lives with a rare condition called Moebius Syndrome, and is proud mother to daughter Svea and son Ahi, both via IVF.

ALAN KOHLER AM

Alan Kohler AM is an Australian financial journalist and newspaper editor. He began as a cadet on The Australian in 1970 covering the Poseidon boom and bust; has been a columnist for Chanticleer in the Australian Financial Review and editor of both the AFR and The Age, and a columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. 

For the past 28 years he has been working for the ABC, first as business editor of the 7.30 Report and then host of Inside Business and finance presenter on ABC News. He was the founder of Eureka Report and Business Spectator, and currently writes for Eureka Report, now owned by Investsmart, and The New Daily.

CIARA LANCASTER

Australia’s female speaker and bestselling author dedicated to helping you transform your team from change fatigued to change fearless. 

Finally, a keynote speaker with real-world business experience, resilience AND stage presence. 

Ciara Lancaster, a former Change Manager at Deloitte Australia, has led teams of 500+ through change management, business transformation and digital innovation efforts. Add to that, that she literally went on to write THE book on the topic. During the peak of the pandemic, 'Reimagine Change' became a #1 best-seller in Organisational Behaviour and Stress Management. 

You will frequently see Ciara Lancaster's thought leadership in the media. The Financial Review, Sky News, In The Black, Women's Agenda and CEOWorld Magazine to name a few. 

Keynote speaker, Ciara Lancaster, is also an alumna of Sydney University, University of New South Wales, Stanford University and The Mind Academy in the domains of Psychology, Economics, Organisational Change Management, Compassion Cultivation and Modern Psychology. 

Most importantly, in a world dominated by celebrity, Ciara brings authenticity, vulnerability and relatedness that the audience comments on time and time again. 

Ciara Lancaster knows that in the business world inspiration isn't enough. It's all about impact. For this reason, audience members will learn at least three action steps, as shared from the stage. Many leaders also gift their team copies of the book as a valuable post-event resource to embed the learnings. 

If this is resonating with you and you are ready to transform your team from fatigued to fearless, then connect with Ciara Lancaster today. Personal transformation is a powerful precursor to business transformation. Let's do this!

KAREN MCCARTHY

JASON POPKOWSKI

Jason Popkowski is VP Sales at Dye & Durham Australia, leading the Australian sales team as he oversees the strategic growth of the company. Jason brings a wealth of experience in the property and tech sectors, having previously worked at organisations such as NSW Land Registry and eBay. With more than 20 years of experience in the sales domain, Jason has a proven track record connecting with clients to help ensure their growth and success and cultivating enduring relationships.

STEPHEN VAN DORP

Stephen van Dorp is a finance and operations executive with extensive professional service experience. He had 15 years of experience working within a chartered accounting firm, before moving out of public practice and into the corporate accounting world, primarily working in professional service firms for the last 15 years.

TOBY WALSH

Toby Walsh is Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of New South Wales and CSIRO's Data61. He has a B.A. from the University of Cambridge and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree from the University of Edinburgh. He was named by the Australian newspaper as one of the "rock stars" of Australia's digital revolution.

Professor Walsh is a strong advocate for limits to ensure AI is used to improve our lives. He has, for example, been a leading voice in the discussion about killer robots, speaking at the UN, and to heads of state, parliamentary bodies, company boards and many other bodies on this topic.

He has been elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. He was named on the international "Who's Who in AI" list of influencers, and his twitter account was voted in the top ten to follow to keep abreast of developments in AI. He has won both the Humboldt Prize and the NSW Premier's Prize for Excellence in Engineering and ICT.

He has given talks at public and trade events like CeBIT, the World Knowledge Forum, TEDx, New Scientist Live and writers festivals in Adelaide, Bendigo, Bhutan, Brisbane, Canberra, Geelong, Jaipur, Margaret River, Melbourne, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Sydney and elsewhere. He appears regularly on TV and radio, been profiled by the New York Times and has authored three books on AI for a general audience, the most recent one entitled "Machines Behaving Badly”.