Amy Baxendale

Global Capability & Workforce Readiness Director
Arcadis

Amy Baxendale is the People Director for Capability & Workforce Readiness at Arcadis, with over 20 years of experience in designing and implementing People & Culture solutions, she’s now responsible for leading Capability Development and Talent Acquisition on a global scale. With 36,000 employees in 70 countries, Arcadis provides sustainable design, engineering, digital and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets, Amy’s current focus is on transforming the business into a Skills Powered Organization to better address current and future skills needs, paving the way for future success. 

Glenn Carter

Head of Tech Capability (Product Owner)
ANZ

A highly purpose and values driven organisational capability leader, Glenn Carter has a strong track record of helping organisations succeed in designing and executing their capability development plans and supporting people to realise their full potential.  An expert in learning and talent management, he has worked in multiple global and regional roles across Europe, Asia and Australia.  Glenn’s passion for continuously learning and evolving his craft has resulted in numerous global and regional awards.   

Tara Haubert

Head Of People And Culture, Oceania
Asics

Tara is an experienced leader with a passion for progressive people practices. With over 15 years expertise in HR and people experience, Tara has led and embedded major change in multiple organisations with a common focus on driving high-performance cultures and strategic transformation. Tara has demonstrated experience across retail and hospitality industries, with her current home as Head of People and Culture at ASICS.

Tarishi Kwatra

Change Management Lead PepsiCo Asia Pacific & HRBP Strategy Transformation
PepsiCo 

Tarishi is a Human Resource professional with proven multi-tasking organizational abilities and 18 years experience across HR Business Partnering, Total Rewards, Talent Management, Culture, Diversity & Engagement, Talent Acquisition and Transformation Change Management. 

Amie Wallis

Chief of People and Culture
Australian Olympic Committee 

Amie Wallis is the Chief of People and Culture at the Australian Olympic Committee. Amie has more than 20 years’ experience in Human Resources, Change Management and Transformation across a number of industries including Professional Services, Banking and Finance, Logistics, Technology, and Sport. 

In addition, Amie is passionate about supporting Sustainability and is a Board Director of the Sports Environment Alliance.  

Amie has had success in leadership and specialist positions at the AOC, NAB, IBM, Victoria Racing Club, and KPMG, all with a key focus on partnering with internal and external stakeholders to deliver on purpose, strategy, culture and, commercial realisation. 

Bec Donnelly

VP People
SiteMinder

Bec Donnelly is a passionate HR leader with a love for tech and helping teams scale for success. With extensive experience across the full HR spectrum, Bec believes deeply in people-driven business strategies and creating high performance teams. Since joining SiteMinder in 2019, she has partnered with the company’s executive team as a trusted advisor and is currently acting Chief People Officer, holding the fort for the second time as the company’s existing CPO enjoys the second addition to their family. She has also overseen the company’s HR operations, talent acquisition and organisational development during periods of high growth; and in 2021 led the global team’s readiness journey to one of the most successful IPOs that year. Bec has supported the opening of four new international offices during her time and, most recently, led the in-sourcing of the company’s fast-growing team in Manila.

Before joining SiteMinder, Bec was the HR Manager for Commonwealth Bank’s Digital area and, prior to that, she helped grow the Organisational Development capability at ASIC where she launched the Commission’s EVP and first annual Women in Leadership Award and Indigenous cadet program.

Bec has over 15 years experience in HR and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Adult Education, with a major in Human Resource Development, from the University of Technology Sydney.

Brooke Adams

Director of Human Resources, Australia and New Zealand
Slalom

Brooke Adams is an accomplished HR professional with rich experience across a diverse range of Australia’s industry-leading companies including mining and resources, banking, consulting and technology.

Currently serving as Slalom’s Director of HR, Brooke has been a driving force behind the successful launch of the Australia and New Zealand markets, where she has played a pivotal role in establishing the HR function. As an impactful leader within Slalom, an internationally recognised business and technology consulting powerhouse boasting 13,000 employees across 8 countries, Brooke embodies the organisation’s purpose-driven ethos. Since their 2020 launch, the ANZ markets have already garnered recognition as a top employer on the AFR Boss and Great Place to Work lists.

Brooke’s dynamic fusion of people-focused passion and strategic business acumen positions her as an innovative leader in reshaping the modern workforce and establishing new paradigms of success at the forefront of cultivating an enriched workplace culture and delivering exceptional experiences.

Alec Bashinsky

APAC Partner
The Josh Bersin Company

Alec Bashinsky is a Strategic business thinker / innovator and FOW specialist who disrupts traditional Talent/ HR models and aligns people focus to deliver business outcomes.

His expertise is built on demonstrable HR & Business Transformation experience and he has strong change management and Leadership execution skills to underpin his successful achievements.

Alec is currently the APAC Partner for the Josh Bersin Company which provides HR strategic advice focusing HR/Culture Transformation, Future of Work, the Employee Experience. Learning and Wellbeing. The Josh Bersin Academy is an integral part of JBC and is the first global Professional Development Academy for HR.

Alec was also the Managing Partner of Blackhall & Pearl Talent Advisory which focused on HR/Culture Transformation, Future of Work, the Talent Experience and Diversity & Inclusion through the facilitation of advanced AI tools and insights.

Prior to this Alec was the Asia Pacific CHRO for Deloitte where he lead a team of Talent professionals responsible for 55,000 people in the AP Region, with offices in more than 120 cities in over 20 countries. Alec was also with Deloitte Australia for 12 years as CHRO – National Partner, People & Performance reporting directly to the CEO. He has also been a member of the Deloitte Global Talent Executive for 8yrs.

In his Australian role Alec was responsible for over 6500 employees and a team of over 90 people. His mandate is to drive a Performance Culture and build Leadership capability through establishing Leadership development, Talent Identification, Performance Culture, Diversity & Inclusion, Employee Engagement and Shaping the Workforce of the Future as part of innovating the People strategy for Deloitte.

He has significantly realigned the Deloitte HR offering including differentiated and segment Talent, globally optimize Talent practices and Predictive and Analytical Data Integration with the Business functions.

Alec’s previous roles were as CHRO with Deloitte as well as Senior Director Human Resources – Japan & Asia Pacific for Peoplesoft inc. Prior to this, Alec was the Group Manager – Human Resources for Cisco Systems for Australia /New Zealand for 3.5yrs , Asia Pacific HR Manager for 3Com and amongst his other achievements saw him tackle unique challenge of being the HR Director for the market entry of Toys R Us into Australia.

Stephanie Carman

People & Communications Director
hummgroup

Stephanie Carman is Director or People & Communications at hummgroup, which finances large purchases for consumers and businesses in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UK and Ireland. During her time at humm, she has led the business through a significant transformation and organisational realignment that established high-performing and agile global teams and enabled them to thrive. Prior to humm, she held senior leadership roles at Bupa, Karrikins Group (now part of EY) and SmartSalary.

Stephanie holds an MBA and is a certified Gallup Strengths Coach. She is passionate about delivering effective organisational design and development strategies that align with a company’s vision and values. She is also skilled in leadership development, culture change, and strategic communication, enabling her to build inclusive and psychologically safe environments that maximise business performance outcomes.

Maria Dimopoulos

Vice President | People Director | PX
Capgemini

Maria is a dedicated HR professional with a 17-year background in the ever-evolving world of Human Resources and People Experience. Throughout her career, she has led diverse teams and fostered a positive workplace culture that thrives on collaboration and growth. Her true passion lies in coaching and mentoring, helping individuals unlock their full potential. Whether they’re navigating the hybrid work landscape or fostering virtual collaborations that inspire innovation, Maria is passionate about people and making day to day experiences meaningful.

Netta Efron

VP People & Culture, Group Culture Officer
Koala

In Netta’s role as Global Director of People & Culture at Koala, she leads a team that shapes the company’s People Experience. Her experience in progressive HR spans over ten years, including talent acquisition, policy development, coaching and mentoring leaders. Netta enjoys discussing strategy and researching solutions to problems — she’s incredibly passionate about innovation and technology. A recent achievement she takes great pride in is the roll out of equitable and inclusive People processes that are designed to enhance the wellbeing of every team member. These include Work From Anywhere, 20 Weeks Paid Parental Leave and Life Leave which provides an additional 10 days per year for our team.

When she’s not working, Netta is a busy mother of three and enjoys cooking and dancing with her kids. In addition to being a self-proclaimed nerd, she has a lifelong love of learning and trying new things, as well as being a total sneakerhead.

Haren Krishnadasan

Head of Talent Acquisition – Tech, Analytics, Digital & Delivery
Commonwealth Bank

Currently Head of Talent Acquisition for Technology, Data & Digital at CommBank. He has 18 year experience in the talent and HR project roles, working across multiple industries.

Krishna Mohan

Senior Manager, People Strategy, Insights & Projects
Mirvac

Krishna is a results-oriented professional that is making significant contributions to renowned organizations. With a deep expertise in strategy, data, change management, process improvement, and technology, Krishna has a proven track-record of solving complex problems, improving customer experiences, and has consistently positioned companies as industry leaders to attract top talent.

Currently serving as a Senior Manager at Mirvac, Krishna is responsible for developing comprehensive people strategies that encompass various aspects of People and Culture, such as learning, listening, leadership, talent, recruitment, and flexibility.

Dimitra Papadolias

Director People Services & Technology
Transport for NSW

Dimitra provides strategic HR service transformation and technology leadership and direction as a senior executive member of the People and Culture team at Transport for NSW.

She and her team work closely with stakeholders to design and deliver human centred, sustainable, evidence-based solutions that enable people to thrive, and to create a future fit workforce.

With over 20 years of experience as a People and Culture professional and organisational psychologist, Dimitra has deep expertise in enabling individuals, teams, and organisational realised their full potential and objectives.

Garth Quinn

Head of Talent Acquisition and People Experience
Healius

Garth is a seasoned leader with a diverse background in talent acquisition and people experience spanning industries such as mining, construction, healthcare, and social services.  

He has successfully built and implemented talent acquisition strategies in challenging markets with severe candidate shortages to consistently delivering the necessary capability to meet present and future needs.   

Garth excels at creating new functions and guiding rebuilds, viewing effective talent acquisition as the intersection of empowered teams, innovative recruitment marketing strategies, transparent data and metrics, and top-tier technology stacks.   

His expertise and track record make him an asset in attracting and retaining the right talent for organisations. 

Kylie Speer

Host
Key Media

Kylie Speer is a television host, media professional and author with international experience spanning more than 15 years. Since graduating from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Kylie’s career has seen her assume posts in Sydney, Melbourne, London, Dubai, Los Angeles and New York across numerous print, online and broadcast television media outlets including The Sunday Telegraph, nineMSN, the Nine Network Australia and Sky TV in the UK.

Dean Summlar

VP Talent Management & Learning – International
Schneider Electric

Dean Summlar is currently the Vice President of Talent Management, Learning, D,E&I and Wellbeing for Schneider Electric in International Operations.

Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Dean has enjoyed a varied career in multiple industries including Retail, Healthcare as well as Energy Management & Automation. He started his career as a Commercial Manager leading large teams for UK Retailer Marks and Spencer Plc before diversifying his career into Human Resources in 2009.

Dean first joined Schneider Electric in UK & Ireland in 2014 as the Senior Business Partner for Transformation, leading large-scale change projects. In 2017 he and his wife moved to Australia where he joined the Pacific Human Resources Team. In 2018 he took up the role as Vice President of Human Resources and, in 2021 expanded his role to become Chief of Staff.

Dean has a passion for how technology, business strategy and commerce intersect with human behaviour. He believes it is HR’s responsibility to develop new ways of responding to the changing demands this brings and rapidly develop strategies and culture to enable the workforce to learn and adapt.

The idea of helping people create careers they love gets Dean out of bed every morning.

Whilst living in the U.K. Dean also worked part time as a professional musician and his love for music, creativity and enjoying yourself filters into his approach to work.

George Akle

CEO
GovernHR

George Akle, the founder of GOVERNHR™, is a thought leader in Human Resources structural and procedural Governance. With over 20 years of experience in his field across The Asia Pacific Region, he has headed up HR for Southeast Asia, held the roles of Regional HR COO & Regional HR Business Partner as well as having led large-scale HR transformations, technology implementations, regional payroll, HR Operations, HR Finance and HR Analytics for 17 countries across the APAC region. Today George combines his business management background and his in-depth knowledge of HR to help companies identify and remediate structural and procedural deficiencies across their HR organisation, build new HR functions or transform existing ones. He also facilitates One-to-One or group HR coaching/training and provides virtual HR Director support services to organisations across the region. He shares his insights into HR in his blogs, through webinars, as a guest speaker at HR events and through his short videos on YouTube

Charlotte Bowen

Account Executive
ContactMonkey

Charlotte is an Account Executive at ContactMonkey, who recently moved from the Toronto office to Sydney. Charlotte works with organizations to help create their internal communications strategy by leveraging data and analytics.

Dave Burrows

Founder
Strictly Workforce Planning

Dave Burrows has over 30 years’ experience devoted to the delivery of data, reporting and analytics including almost 20 years focused on delivering people analytics and strategic workforce planning (SWP) in both London and Sydney. 

In London he honed his craft at Deloitte, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, before relocating to Australia in 2012 to lead the workforce analytics team at Commonwealth Bank of Australia where he won two CEO awards for delivering innovative solutions in people analytics. 

Dave has helped many global organisations take their first steps into SWP and was most recently Director of Workforce Planning at Pearson where he set up the SWP function, implemented a methodology underpinned by six playbooks and provided hands-on coaching to clients. 

Ben Dixon

Principal Talent Insights Consultant
LinkedIn

Ben Dixon is the Principal Talent Insights Consult for the APAC region at LinkedIn, partnering with large enterprise customers to optimise their use of data and Insights to inform their strategic workforce and hiring decisions.

Ben has over 10 years of Talent Acquisition, Organisational Development and DEI experience across major Australian Banking organisations like the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and Bankwest before joining LinkedIn as a product consultant and data storyteller.

Charles Ferguson

General Manager
G-P

Charles Hamilton Ferguson is the General Manager and head of G-P’s business in Asia. In this capacity, he is responsible for establishing scale and efficiency for G-P and its customers’ business expansion in one of the most dynamic markets in the world. G-P helps growing companies unlock their full potential by making it possible to build highly skilled global teams anywhere in the world, in days instead of months. Through its SaaS-based platform, G-P helps companies to find, hire, onboard, pay, and manage global teams quickly and compliantly, without the hassle of setting up local subsidiaries or branch offices.

Alex Gelman

Partner
Strategy Assist

Alex Gelman is a serial entrepreneur and corporate technology adviser with a passion for social impact.  He inter-twines technology advisory with innovation, governance and organisational change to achieve business outcomes. 

In his role as Strategic Technology Advisor at Strategy Assist, Alex advises corporate and social impact enterprises on technology strategy, technology architecture, digital transformation and practical innovation. He operates at a senior level, advising numerous clients in the Health and Ageing, Professional Services, Property, Not for Profit and Government sectors.  

Alex has assisted numerous clients strategically define their HCM requirements and select the right systems, then proceeding to oversee the implementation to achieve agreed outcomes.    

Alex is regularly called upon to speak on business technology, innovation, and emerging technologies. Using insights from his work, he published Great Choice!, a self-help guide for organisations to strategically purchase technology. In supplementing his corporate and government clientele, Alex enjoys helping Social Impact organisations optimise their business to do more good.  

Alex also engages with boards either as a Non-Executive Director or through advisory boards. 

Simon Holmberg

Leader, People Division
Sage

Simon has 20 years’ experience helping businesses embrace HCM technology. Having worked in HR consulting, learning and development, recruitment and technology, he brings a deep understanding of how technology can help shape the future of HR. Simon has worked with, and consulted to, ASX 50 organisations and public sector agencies, leading the development of technology frameworks, using advanced data analytics and improving employee experiences to provide greater connection and insights between organisations and their people. 

Leah Louey

Senior Change Manager
Strategy Assist

Leah Louey is a passionate people person, who loves to create business processes and manage the change associated with the transition. While coming from a consulting systems based background, leah has developed a passion for organisational change management which she infuses with process optimisation, validation and immersive knowledge transfer to drive lasting change.  

Mitch McMurray

Senior Account Executive
HiBob

As Senior Account Executive at HiBob, Mitch partners with HR teams and leaders across Australia to help them find the right solutions to achieve their strategic initiatives. He has worked with HR teams from various industries such as tech, finance, media, construction, medical and more. Mitch believes a great company culture and employee satisfaction plays a big role in business success.

Birthe Nohrden

CEO & Founder
TeamTalks

Birthe Nohrden is a thought leader in the realm of human connections at work. With expertise as an innovative learning designer, she has become a sought-after speaker and facilitator, specializing in leadership, productivity, workplace wellbeing, and personal development. In 2022, her company TeamTalks Pty Ltd achieved a significant milestone by winning a seat in the prestigious EY Foundry Start Up Accelerator Program. Leveraging a unique combination of technology and human-centered design, Birthe’s company has successfully created an innovative employee experience that fosters connection among hybrid teams. Her proprietary teaming framework is a simple, yet effective way to build psychological safety in teams in a fun and sustainable way. 

Jason Portelli

Founder & Managing Consultant
Tech Pathfinder

Jason is a speaker, Podcast host, and technology evangelist who has worked in the HR tech world for over 10 years.

With hands-on experience across Australia, New Zealand, Asia Pacific, and the UK, he has built and led teams across many aspects of the HR tech space, and his people-centric approach allows him to guide and motivate them to great outcomes for his team and clients. His experience has helped him play an integral part in the growth of tech businesses from start-up to ASX listing and beyond.

Jason is the founder of Tech Pathfinder, a consulting firm helping guide clients to better outcomes through software selection, implementation, and people-focused change management.”

Joel Smith

Chief Revenue Officer
Affinity

Joel Smith is the Chief Revenue Officer at Affinity Payroll where he is responsible for go-to-market and business growth strategies. Joel has worked in technology leadership roles for over 18 years and has extensive experience working in payroll, HRIS and financial services businesses across New Zealand, Australia and the UK. He is passionate about solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technology and driving transformation initiatives to help businesses succeed now and well into the future.

Martha Travis

CEO & Founder
Martha Travis People Innovators

Martha is a pragmatic, commercially savvy and professional Human Resources Consultant. She has an array of operational and strategic experience in a range of environments, with employee groups from 1 to 5,500.

Technology has been the cornerstone of Martha’s HR practice and she has implemented and utilised technology in several businesses across her career, with her strongest experience being with ELMO Talent Software and more recently with Employment Hero for businesses of up to 50 employees.

Since founding her HR consultancy in 2019, Martha Travis People Innovators have assisted more than 40 organisations implement, optimise and enhance their HR technology to support them to deliver both transactional and strategic HR objectives.

Prior to being a Human Resources Consultant, Martha worked as General Manager People and Culture, within contract-based businesses.

Martha’s passion is for people; and she believes that in every organisation, it is the people who are the key to achieving strategic business outcomes and ensuring long-term sustainability. Martha is always seeking new ways to engage people and help them work to their potential and has a proven track record in using technology to help leverage those outcomes.

Denzel Viluan

Account Executive
ContactMonkey

Denzel has had numerous years of experience in the HR Tech space across multiple roles. Currently he is an Account Executive at ContactMonkey helping drive employee engagement through an organisation Internal Communications.

Anne Wilson

Strategic Sales Executive
G-P

Anne Wilson works as a global expansion expert with G-P enabling organizations to expand their talent pool and hire candidates in new countries without the legal, tax, and HR burdens as well as removing the need for setting up entities or subsidiaries. 

Anne has over 20 years of experience working within the Software Industry across different disciplines from resourcing and delivering large Software Implementations to Professional Services Sales and prior to that many years spent in various Talent Acquisition roles within the IT Sector. Anne is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Psychological Science and Counselling degree.