Justin “Jonesy” Jones

Australia’s pre-eminent Explorer, keynote speaker & adventure thinker

His expeditions have taken him to the very corners of the world. From the depths of blizzards in Antarctica, to the terror of 10 metre waves towering above – in a storm at sea and the suffocating heat in the heart of the Outback. He currently holds two Guinness World Record and a place as one of Australia’s 50 Greatest Explorers of all time.

Over the past 18 years he has made a career of undertaking huge, epic, record setting expeditions around the world and sharing these on the stage and the screen.

Jonesy is a passionate story teller.

A humble, charismatic and inspiring character…he is the perfect example of how determination, detailed planning and foresight can enable the most ‘normal’ of us to undertake the most extraordinary feats.

For the past 10 years he has presented on stages right around the world on the corporate and public speaking circuit. His keynotes interweave dramatic and forceful emotion with powerful lessons on teamwork, risk mitigation, grit, resilience, leadership, trust and communication.

He whole heartedly believes that if you want an audience to walk away inspired – with takeaways firmly cemented in mind, you have to shift them emotionally first. To date he has shared his keynotes and facilitated workshops to over 350,000 people globally.

Nathan Buckley

Former professional AFL football coach, player and commentator

Nathan Buckley is one of the greatest players to ever play in the AFL and one of the most revered voices in the game.

A Brownlow Medal winner and AFL Hall of Famer, Nathan was a fierce competitor on field, always pushing himself and his team to be the best they could be. Nathan played 280 games at Collingwood where he we was a six time Best and Fairest winner. He then went on to coach Collingwood for 218 games, taking them to the 2018 Grand Final, and finishing his AFL career in 2021.

Antoinette Battista

Executive Director, People & Culture
Department of Transport and Planning

With an HR career spanning 25 years in the public sector and currently the Executive Director at the Department of Transport and Planning, Antoinette has extensive experience as a strategic leader. She has worked in public transport in government departments for over 20 years.

Antoinette has experience in leading strategic and operational people and culture functions and multidisciplinary teams, spanning all functions of HR. She has extensive experience in leading large change programs to drive engagement, positive workplace cultures and performance.

Antoinette is a fervent believer in an inclusive workplace where people can be their best at work. Developing collaborative relationships based on trust, respect and integrity is a key strength and developing a culture of collaboration both in the department, its portfolio and across government, is central to her success.

Andrew Buckland

Associate Director, Workforce Strategy & Analytics
Eastern Health

With over a decade of experience in workforce strategy, capability, and leadership roles across diverse industries like Supply Chain Logistics, Technology, Education, and Public Healthcare, Andrew is well versed in building, aligning and optimizing organizational talent. Andrew has been successful in ensuring organisations have the right people in the right place with the right skills and capabilities using a variety of talent management solutions. Currently leading the Workforce Strategy and Analytics team at Eastern Health, Andrew has been focused on growing the workforce data literacy of the organisation and using this to build and deliver Strategic Workforce Plans in a critical industry.

Kristen Bugeja

Chief People Officer
Defence Bank

Kristen has 26 years’ experience in the financial services sector, and 17 years’ as an executive of Defence Bank, a member owned bank that serves the Australian Defence Force.

Kristen has extensive experience in cultural change and in developing the capability of frontline and support office teams. She has successfully enhanced the bank’s employee value proposition through the integration of reward and recognition, with strategic direction and talent and leadership programs.

Under her leadership, the Bank’s People team was named in the 2023 HR Director Australia’s Innovative HR Teams list and Defence Bank has been named an Excellence Awardee for both 2023 and 2024 in the categories of Employer of Choice (100-999 employees) and Best Reward and Recognition Program at the Australian HR Awards.

Alexia Bryant

Chief People Officer
IPG Mediabrands

Alexia is a seasoned HR leader with over a decade of experience driving organisational excellence through strategic people management. Currently serving as the Chief People Officer at IPG Mediabrands, Alexia has established herself as a dynamic force in shaping workplace cultures and fostering talent development.

Throughout her career, Alexia has navigated various industries and countries, consistently delivering impactful HR strategies tailored to organisational objectives.

Passionae about nurturing thriving workplace cultures and maximising organisational potential, Alexia brings a wealth of experience and insights. Her strategic vision, combined with hands-on experience positions her as a valuable resource navigating the evolving dynamics of the modern workplace.

Kent Cabrera

General Manager Talent Enablement, Insights and Partnering
AIA

Kent has worked across several sectors including insurance, government, petroleum, public health and retail.  A unique background that includes leadership in HR operations, Talent and HR system project implementations; his most recent focus has been the global implementation of HR systems, process redesign, HR analytics and people risks. He continues to focus on the value and evolution of HR. 

Daniel Cavedon

General Manager People & Culture
MYER

Daniel Cavedon is a senior People & Culture practitioner with over 25 years’ experience in the retail industry, including Coles, Officeworks and Kmart. He currently leads the People and Culture function at Myer, supporting a recent transformational people agenda which has focussed on putting the customer first by strengthening Myer’s ecommerce offer and loyalty functions, whilst simultaneously driving down the cost of doing business.  Importantly, over the past few year, the Myer People & Culture team lead by Daniel has driven capability and performance improvement by implementing rigorous performance and talent management systems and leadership programs with the aim of creating career pathways for all employees.

Meredith Crowe

Senior VP, Global People & Culture
Telix Pharmaceuticals

Meredith is a People & Culture executive specializing in organisation growth and culture, global operations, and organisation effectiveness.

As Senior VP, Global People & Culture at Telix Pharmaceuticals, she leads a global team with focus on talent acquisition and management, and building flexible and future-proofed People & Culture practises that can scale with a business. Telix is an ASX200, fast growing and highly innovative biopharmaceutical company with employees across APAC, EMEA and AMER.

Meredith has worked in Healthcare and BioTech for most of her career, and excels in high-stakes, purpose-driven environments. She have a keen curiosity for all things people, particularly in how the systems and networks in the workplace influence capacity for accountability, communication, empathy, and self-awareness.

Louise Duffy

General Manager of Client and Markets
TSA Riley

Louise is TSA Riley’s Co-Chair of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion group (Thrive). Additionally, she is TSA RIley’s General Manager of Client and Markets and previously Queensland’s Advisory team General Manager. She has a passion for people and creating and leading diverse and high performing teams.

Hanan El-Sheikh

Director of Human Resources
The Ritz-Carlton Melbourne

With over a decade of strategic HR leadership, Hanan is a trusted partner in driving organizational growth and transformation. Holding an MBA, CIPD, and Prosci certifications, Hanan has honed expertise in optimizing performance and cultivating inclusive workplace cultures across the hotel, corporate, and education sectors in 3 continents across the globe.

Dr Marnie Gibson

Global Director People
T2 Tea

Marnie is the Global People Director at T2 Tea, an omnichannel operation across Singapore and ANZ. She has worked in generalist HR in industries such as professional services, FMCG, mining, financial services, retail and local government in APAC and MNC’s. She has also led OD in global organisations and in 2018 completed a doctorate researching leading and engaging remote employees, a relevant focus post Covid. She also lectures in HR and has written HR programs to drive more practical experience for the HR professionals of the future. Whilst Marnie takes her work very seriously, she seriously values FUN and is a passionate, curious practitioner driving best practice and research in HR.

Krista Hunt

General Manager, People & Culture
Carlisle Homes

Krista Hunt, known within the HR community for her boundless passion for people, performance, and growth.

Starting on racetrack as a jockey to now notching up 20 years in business, her career to date spans across Professional Services, Not for Profit, Vitamins and Minerals, and Construction.

Krista loves the challenge and potential of partnering with bold and ambitious founders, CEOs, and executive teams. She thrives on turning inspiring visions into reality through her simple approach of removing the unnecessary complexity, for people and businesses.

With formal qualifications in Human Resources, Project & Change Management, Positive Psychology, and most recently her MBA, Krista blends these learnings together with diverse life experiences and takes a holistic approach to fostering both personal and organisational success—believing that the true power of business and people emerges when you hear the ‘hum’.

Kimberley Kelly

General Manager, Organisational Effectiveness and Learning
TSA Riley

Kimberley Kelly is General Manager Organisational Effectiveness & Learning for TSA Riley and has been instrumental in designing and shaping TSA Riley’s acclaimed GROW and THRIVE programs – the company’s global learning and development and Diversity Equity and Inclusion offerings. Her passion for fostering a culture of continuous and integrated learning sees her leading and driving transformational initiatives to ensure that people are inspired, empowered, and supported to grow and reach their potential.

Kimberley has extensive experience in the professional services industry, with qualifications in business and human resources. She currently is an active member of the Property Council of Australia People and Culture committee, channelling her expertise towards fostering leadership capability within the Australian property sector.

Andrew Lafontaine

Consulting Services Leader ANZ
Mercer

Andrew is a Partner at Mercer working with clients across a range of workforce and transformation initiatives. Over the last 25 years, Andrew has held senior roles in both global technology and consulting firms as well as having held senior HR roles with some of Australia’s largest organisations.

Andrew has worked with large global and multinational organisations in various locations specialising in workforce transformation, HRIS strategy & implementation, assessment, capability building, culture, engagement and strategic workforce planning.

Andrew is passionate about working with organisations to affect real change in their organisation and workforce.

Jessica Lantieri

Chief People & Culture Officer
Judo Bank

Jess joined Judo in early 2022 with over 15 years’ experience in People and Culture (P&C) roles across diverse industries, including FMCG, global Information Technology, Foreign Direct Investment and Professional Services. Jess brings to Judo a global perspective on best practice People and Culture strategies, having spent much of her career working in the US and the UK, and in global P&C roles with accountability for teams in Asia, Europe, North America and New Zealand. Prior to Judo, Jess spent almost seven years in senior P&C leadership roles at ASXlisted Treasury Wine Estates in Australia and the US, working across HR business partnering, culture and engagement, organisational design and business transformation, capability development and talent acquisition. Prior to this, Jess worked in senior P&C Business Partnering roles at Fujitsu across Australia and the UK. Jess holds a double Bachelor’s degree in Commerce (International Business) and International Studies (Politics and Languages) from the University of Adelaide and Post Graduate Certification in Human Resources Management from Coventry University, UK.

Tamsin Lawrence

Senior Associate
Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors

Tamsin is a highly credentialled employment lawyer with Australian Business Lawyers and Advisors in Melbourne, acting for a broad range of employers across both the public and private sector. She performs a mix of litigious and advisory work in workplace relations and is a regular author and presenter on a range of bargaining, employment, discrimination and work health and safety related topics.

Tamsin was very closely involved in responding on behalf of employers to the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australia Workplaces and lead the Chambers’ response to the introduction of the Respect at Work Act including the new prohibition on sex-based harassment in the workplace and role as an associate employer representative member on the newly formed Federal Government Respect@Work Council.

Tamsin takes a keen interest in and is often at the forefront of IR Changes, including providing feedback and advice to Government and employer groups on the implications of reforms.

Jamila Malkoun

Talent Acquisition Lead
HESTA

Jamila is a seasoned HR and Talent Acquisition Leader with nearly 25 years of experience driving organisational growth and success through strategic people and talent initiatives.

Jamila’s experience spans beyond Talent Acquisition, she is an experienced Strategic HR Business Partner and HR Operations Manager, she has worked across many sectors including retail, infrastructure services, local government and now in Financial Services.

Jamila is currently the Talent Acquisition Lead at HESTA, an award-winning specialist Industry super fund, leading a high performing team of TA Partners to build, implement, lead and evolve the talent acquisition strategy to meet the current and future needs of the fund. Jamila grew and transformed the function to enable HESTA to more than double in size over the last few years going from 270 employees to an organisation of over 600 through innovative sourcing solutions and approaches. Jamila and her team were SEEK finalists in 2022 for ‘Talent Acquisition team of the year’ and very proud to be in the TOP 5 performing Talent Acquisition teams in the country.

Sarah McInerney

General Manager, People & Culture
Origin Energy

After beginning her career in the Human Resources industry over twenty years ago in London, Sarah worked across a range of recruitment, business partnering and consulting roles before moving back to Sydney in 2010. Since joining, Sarah has played a pivotal role in shaping Origin Energy’s People & Culture strategy. Her comprehensive understanding of the industry and dedication to employee development have been instrumental in her contributions. As Origin’s General Manager of People & Culture she now leads the focus for organisational development, remuneration, benefits, IR/ER, culture, change, diversity and inclusion strategies. 

Ricky Nowak

Leadership Presenter, Executive Coach and Facilitator

Ricky Nowak CSP, CEOI, CAHRI is a highly versatile and intuitive leader, speaker and executive coach specializing in working with high performance individuals, teams and organisations through APAC and EMEA regions. She is a true champion of leaders helping them dramatically increase their influence, build their internal and external networks and personal brand. Ricky is committed to helping clients enhance their reputation, improve their short- and long-term career objectives while maintaining their focus on wellbeing. 

She is an Executive Coach for the AICD, is a Certified Human Resource Professional, Presenter for Brave Feminine Leadership Group, Advisory and Mentoring (Singapore), The Executive Connection, The CEO Institute, Women in Banking and Finance and Hargraves Institute of Innovation. She is one of only 98 Australian women to obtain the global Certified Speaking Professional Accreditation and is certified by Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Coaching Group. Ricky has thousands of hours of practical experience working with managers and leaders in professional services and 30 years of experience in education and leadership development. She has authored four leadership books and is a well-known Media resource. 

Mathew Paine

Executive General Manager – People & Culture
Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA)

Mathew Paine is a leader in human resources, organisational culture, diversity, inclusion and belonging spaces for over two decades.

His pro-bono life is reflected in his passion for best-practice and industry leading people and culture practices and his passion for social justice and equality. This includes his work with The Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, Australia’s oldest community-based HIV organisation, and his work with the Australian HR Institute (AHRI).

His business acumen has been driven by his passion for helping Australian workplaces to be the best they can be and creating world-class people and culture teams. His vision is “to create safe, inclusive and productive workplaces where everyone belongs, one workplace at a time”.

He is Executive General Manager – People & Culture, at the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, Chair and President of the Board of Directors at The Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, Founder and Executive Director of HR Expert Australia, and Member of the Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Panel, and Co-convenor of the NSW Industrial/Employee Relations (IR/ER) Committee at the Australian HR Institute (AHRI).

Mathew’s leadership has resulted in numerous industry awards, including the highly coveted Australian HR Team of the Year, Australian HR Employee of the Year, Best Talent Development Program, Best Recruitment Campaign, Most Inclusive Workplace Awards, NSW Training Award, National Training and Education Award, just to name a few.

Carina Parisella

Head of Technology Workforce
ANZ

Carina Parisella leads the Technology Workforce agenda at ANZ Bank. She is the Architect behind ANZ’s Tech Talent Marketplace, an internal mobility platform designed to mobilse talent to the most important work and is the co-founder of ANZ’s award winning Return to Work program – the first returnship program in the Australian financial services sector.

Carina’s team is focused on attracting, developing and retaining a diverse and highly capable global workforce through building early talent, internal mobility, learning and development, ways of working and workforce management.

A passionate diversity and inclusion advocate, Carina and her teams have been recognised globally for their work across various initiatives focused on leveraging untapped talent like the ANZ award-winning Return to Work program and the highly successful Spectrum program for autistic individuals.

Prior to her current role, Carina has held a number of leadership roles across banking, media, communications, innovation and partnerships and plays an advisory role in the innovation and start-up economy. She’s a regular in the Australian speaking circuit and passionate about increasing awareness of diversity in business and untapped talent. A relentless optimist and business creative, Carina loves working with people and technology to bring ideas and solutions to life.

Carl Phillips

Chief People Officer
Costa Group

Carl Phillips is Chief People Officer for Costa Group, a world leading, large scale horticultural company with growing and marketing operations in Australia and overseas, supplying fresh produce to millions of people.

Having led Costa’s people function since 2014, a key focus for Carl has been to ensure the function has delivered the necessary strategy, support, and practical outcomes for the organisation as it moved from being privately owned to a public company, while also exponentially expanding its domestic and existing international operations, including the establishment of new operations in China.

The Costa people function is required to deliver timely expert advice and support to our business leaders securing the best talent, and a workforce that can meet comprehensively the needs of a seasonal and at times volatile growing environment. Carl has been instrumental in developing and implementing key employment and workplace initiatives that deliver a positive experience for workers in order that they continually return and support the harvest, packing and movement of fresh produce through the various locations and seasons that Costa operates across.  He leads a talented team of HR and safety professionals to support Costa’s aspiration to grow and deliver premium fresh produce, underpinned by our core values and mission.

Carl has extensive experience across various industries including retail, mining, services, and horticulture.  His formative career experience was developed through his role with the Federated Iron Workers and as the national industrial officer of The Australian Workers’ Union.  This saw Carl deeply involved in many workplace negotiations and dispute resolutions across many different workplaces and industries, including aviation, aluminium, pastoral and general manufacturing industries.

Carl has formal qualifications from the University of Newcastle, focused on labour economics and industrial relations. He has always had a strong passion to help people develop into being best they can at all levels of their working and personal lives.  A passion for sport, in particular football, has seen Carl coach and support young players, helping them to develop both technical and game sense, while always seeking maximum enjoyment from competing.  He grew up in the lands of the Worimi people and respects those past and present who have and continue to guide and lead our society for a better future.

Hugh Ragg

Global Skills Program Director
Arcadis

Hugh is currently a Global Skills Director at Arcadis, leading a skills transformation program that utilizes AI to identify and match skills to work, creating better career and growth opportunities for their people. He has 15+ years’ experience working across various HR disciplines in multiple countries leading large scale, technology enabled human-centred change programs.

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.

Nadia Taylor

Chief Executive Officer
Mapien

Nadia Taylor is the CEO of Mapien, a people consultancy with offices in Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney. 

A sought-after speaker and genuine thought leader, Nadia’s expertise includes industrial relations, negotiation, advocacy, disputes, enterprise bargaining, leadership, culture and the people side of scaling businesses. 

On top of leading Mapien’s core team of 65+ staff, Nadia serves on a not-for-profit board and is a mentor for Queensland Leaders and the Australian Owner Manager Program.  

Nadia has spent more than 25 years helping to build Mapien into what it is today — from her first role as a graduate consultant, to her current role as CEO. She played a critical role in the company’s interstate expansion, merger, financial growth, flexible work culture, and more. Under Nadia’s leadership, the company has achieved awards for Best Workplace and Change Champion, was officially recognised as a Great Place to Work, and was featured in workplace design book, The Next Workplace. 

Leading with her famous optimism and flexibility, Nadia has helped make Mapien a workplace of choice, while enabling the team to deliver best-in-industry people solutions for every client. 

Jennifer Tiffin

Human Resources Director – APAC
Bunzl

Jennifer Tiffin is the Human Resources Director at Bunzl Australasia which comprises Bunzl Safety, Bunzl Australia & New Zealand, Bunzl Asia, Interpath, Fire Rescue Safety Australia and LSH (Singapore). Bunzl is part of the global Bunzl Group of companies, established in 1854 and now a FTSE 100 listed company.

With a remit that encompasses eight Business Units across Australia, New Zealand, China and Singapore, Jennifer’s responsibilities include establishing, aligning and executing against a business strategy that covers an international multi-business multi-site landscape.

Her expertise lies in People and Performance Management, Workplace Health and Safety, and Leadership Coaching and Strategy. A genuine interest in Corporate Responsibility extends her involvement with Bunzl’s Modern Slavery stand, plus Community Engagement activities that include supporting opportunities for Indigenous organisations.

Respect, integrity and teamwork are the three guiding pillars Jennifer works within. She brings this approach to her professional life and her academic goals (currently MBA studies), and even her first 10km Fun Run where she raised over $6000 for Peter McCallum. Jennifer finds balance from her busy calendar by camping, bushwalking, knitting and spending time with her family.

Cynthia Wong

GM Customer Experience
Employment Hero

Cynthia is focused on ensuring that the needs of Employment Hero’s customers remain front and center when it comes to the products and services that we provide. As part of her role, she is constantly driving her team to uncover innovative solutions to existing challenges and looking for new ways to better service the 300,000 businesses that use Employment Hero. Cynthia has over twenty years work experience in product development, customer-led design and process improvement. Her industry experience spans across the health insurance designing consumer products at Medibank as well as working with small and medium sized businesses at Sensis and Xero.

Steven Zinsli

CEO
HealthNow

On a mission to revolutionize the way organizations engage in and support the health and wellbeing of their people. Improving accessibility, equity, and outcomes for people and improving organizational performance.His started his journey in rehabilitative healthcare, at age 22, Steve and a business partner scaled their healthcare business 15 clinics and 120 staff across six different healthcare disciplines in 5 years, treating 120+ thousand unique patients.

His firsthand experience at the front line of healthcare exposed how cost was the biggest single hurdle that prevented people accessing healthcare when they needed it. Leading to treatment delays, poorer health outcomes and follow on impacts in the persons day to day life.

With patient stories of extended time off work, inability to do their job properly and individual wellbeing effecting performance in the workplace. Steve noticed something many have realized; employee health and wellbeing is critical to business success.

As a business leader, steve had experienced the complexity of managing traditional approaches to organizational health and wellbeing. Vendor management, complicated and administratively heavy wellbeing/occupational health and safety programs or reimbursable…

Determined to solve this issue on a broader scale, Steve delved back into the startup sphere to build HealthNow.

HealthNow, operates at the nexus of Fintech, Healthtech, and employee benefits – Because no one benefits more from healthy staff than employers do.

With HealthNow, organizations are able to empower their people with funded HealthNow accounts connected to HealthNow Mastercards. Facilitating seamless access and choice for their diverse and distributed team members to access health and wellbeing services.

Through customizable contribution plans, organizations dictate spending parameters while ensuring universal acceptance within accepted sectors.

Steve’s vision extends beyond conventional boundaries, envisioning a world where organizations can efficiently and effectively engage economically in their employees’ health and wellbeing. With HealthNow, he’s turning this vision into reality, one transaction at a time.