Opening remarks from the chairperson

Sonya Law
Founder
SL Human Resources Consulting
26-27 July 2023, CROWN CONFERENCE CENTRE
Founder
SL Human Resources Consulting
Founder
SL Human Resources Consulting
‘Human-to-Human at work’
Sonya’s passion is Wellbeing and Human Resources, for her, they both go hand in hand. By creating a Healthy Workplace where people can perform and reach their potential.
Her professional career in HR spans 25 years. Some of her highlights are being part of a Senior Leadership Team for Hitachi in the Mining Industry, she completed her MBA at Monash in 2018, and working internationally across USA, Europe and Asia.
What’s important to her now is chairing the HR Summit in Melbourne and Sydney each year, helping organisations in creating a high-performance team where people feel valued and supporting the leadership team.
With the latest research showing upwards of 60% of Australian workers report burnout, and more than 50% say stress and anxiety directly impact their job performance, it’s time to ask the question, is your team match fit for work? What tools do they have to manage stress, be more productive, build resilience, and support their mental well-being?
Mental Fitness and Peak Performance Mindfulness expert
The Good Place
Mental Fitness and Peak Performance Mindfulness expert
The Good Place
As the founder of The Good Place, Ray is on a mission to create a more mindful world and help fight the global mental health crisis. Ray teaches mental fitness, high performance and mindfulness grounded in neuroscience and positive psychology to help individuals, teams and organisations fight stress, think better and perform at their peak.
Many of Australia’s biggest organisations have relied on Ray’s expertise, including Tourism Australia, the Victorian & A.C.T Governments, RACV, Mercy Health, Macquarie Bank, Torrens University, Tennis Australia, and Nova Entertainment, to name a few.
This session explores the importance of role-based risk assessments as the foundation for an effective background screening program. Discover how a role-based assessment and screening program can help identify potential vulnerabilities and protect the integrity of your workforce. The session will cover:
Vice President, Head of Australia and New Zealand
First Advantage
Vice President, Head of Australia and New Zealand
First Advantage
Jim is currently the Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand at First Advantage, a company that was awarded the Gold in the 2022 HRD Service Provider Awards. Since 2015, Jim has held several regional leadership positions before assuming his current role. Prior to joining First Advantage, he worked with Thomson Reuters and LexisNexis in different Asian markets, where he led teams deploying compliance, legal, and risk management solutions for top tier enterprises. Jim started his career as an attorney in the United States, where he focused on litigation and complex commercial transactions.
In this interactive, gamified session, through experimentation with various realistic challenges, delegates will have the opportunity to learn about individual leadership styles and the impacts of those on a team, to identify the importance of utilising different approaches, to inspire, engage and motivate other people, and to develop an ability to choose the right approach in a given situation.
Joint Managing Director
Be Challenged
Joint Managing Director
Be Challenged
Oliver is more than his qualifications, knowledge, and experience. Oliver is real, innovative, passionate, and playful. Oliver doesn’t believe in the term work, life balance, he believes there is no such thing… it’s just life! It’s this way of thinking that allows Oliver to consult and engage with clients to develop a range of programs that help people and teams of all walks of life to reach their full potential.
For the past few years, HR leaders have been tested in unprecedented ways, from The Great Resignation, intense competition for talent, the rising cost of living to the post-pandemic hybrid work environment, to name a few. In this ever-evolving economic landscape, it’s crucial to look for effective ways to attract and retain top talent while driving business growth, productivity and engagement. Join us to learn:
Director of Consultancy
Reward Gateway
Director of Consultancy
Reward Gateway
Kylie Terrell has partnered with HR leaders across Australia & New Zealand for over 10 years to design and deliver strategic employee engagement programs that have employees at the heart. Responsible for helping organisations bring their purpose, mission and values to life across numerous best in class engagement programs, Kylie is driven to help businesses use Engagement as a core lever for success.
Passionate about leveraging technology to build better connections, she is an advocate for peer led recognition as an engagement driver having seen the positive effects it can have on culture and engagement first hand. Her area of expertise lies in the delivery and analysis of surveys, facilitating focus groups and strategic program design, supporting leadership education and change and of course thoughtful, engaging marketing/communications strategy.
As the world and work continue to change faster, pressure on HR to remain relevant at board level is increasing. Organisations need to look at different ways to become more adaptable, more quickly, and more accurately. This session will help you to look at your organisation’s full potential to gain a competitive edge in the talent market:
VP APAC
Avature
VP APAC
Avature
As VP for APAC based in Melbourne, Adam acts as a strategic advisor for customers throughout early exploration and engagement. He has over 20 years of experience in the Talent and HR industry across different roles and responsibilities, including consulting, managed services, vendors, multi-national end-users and cutting-edge HR technology start-ups. Having recently led the TA advisory practice in APAC for Deloitte’s Human Capital consulting arm, Adam delivers strong consulting with a customer focus to bring customer solutions to life.
The workplace has changed. It’s now even more challenging to deliver impactful learning solutions across an organisation. Learning time is scarce, face to face learning a luxury and creating lasting impact is harder to achieve. This workshop will explore three strategies that can help address these issues:
CEO
Herrmann Asia
CEO
Herrmann Asia
After working closely with Ned Herrmann, Michael founded Herrmann International Asia in 1988 and remains its Chief Executive.
For over 30 years, the Whole Brain® Model has been his passion and he is one of the region’s leading experts on how the HBDI® can stimulate innovation and creativity in the workplace. Over three decades, Michael has worked with some of Australia and Asia Pacific’s largest industrial, pharmaceutical, technological, educational and financial organisations.
Through Whole Brain® Thinking, he has helped them develop and harnessthe true power and potential of their workforces. Using this powerful and scientific instrument, he has helped people at all levels develop a recognition and appreciation of their individual thinking styles. These transformative insights have enabled individuals to become more creative, intuitive, analytical, and productive. He has helped teams communicate and collaborate more effectively and better appreciate one another’s vital contribution to achieving their shared goals.
Michael’s approach is to apply the principles of the Whole Brain® Model to stimulate innovative and problem-solving thinking that will be relevant to the client’s business model and drive bottom-line results.
As well as delivering programs, Michael is a keynote speaker who has addressed professional audiences from a broad range of categories across Asia. He’s also the author of two seminal books – Making Innovation Happen and Creating Workforce Innovation.
When he’s not working, Michael likes to use all four quadrants of his brain in the relaxing but sometimes challenging past-time of sailing
Beyond the traditional organisational responses, there are strategies which can help HR and senior business leaders respond to the economic realities of a downturn while addressing the shortage of skilled labour and sustaining their employer brand.
This session will feature practical tips to help navigate ongoing disruption:
Managing Director Australia and New Zealand
LHH
Managing Director Australia and New Zealand
LHH
James is the MD of LHH Australia and New Zealand and the Executive Sponsor of LHH partnerships with large customers. James is passionate about helping build better careers, better leaders and better businesses. His strength is in developing solutions to complex problems and addressing these through mobilising and managing talented people. He is responsible for connecting local businesses with the best of globally available LHH solutions helping individuals and organisations reveal and harness their talent and providing tools to support a renewable workforce.
Prior to LLH, he gained extensive experience of in-house recruitment and RPO models across a range of industries and ASX100 companies. James has a degree in Psychology/ Psychophysiology and a Post Graduate qualification in Human Resources and Industrial Relations.
Solutions Director
LHH
Solutions Director
LHH
Nithya Ramaswamy is Solutions Director within the LHH Leadership Development practice, for Australia and New Zealand. Nithya brings over twenty years of experience in providing insights, consultancy, client engagement, leadership development design and delivery to leaders across a range of client organisations globally. Having led complex projects that span multiple levels of leadership and across various markets and functional areas, Nithya has a proven track record in partnering with stakeholders to co-create learning architectures and bring to life robust leadership development experiences.
Having a career background as both industry leader and consultant, Nithya is a credible and commercial learning professional who brings insightful, practical and innovative approaches in her work. Nithya has diverse global and industry experience spanning banking and financial services, insurance, infrastructure, agribusiness, professional services, telecommunications, public sector, education, and pharmaceuticals.
At the heart of psychologically safe workplaces are emotionally intelligent workplace behaviours. Behaviours that demonstrate self-awareness, and empathy and build an authentic culture of dialogue rather than one that’s overly polite or too pushy and tough. This session will feature practical tools and techniques based on Genos International’s highly awarded emotional intelligence model to help you build a culture where people:
CEO
Genos International
CEO
Genos International
Ben has a PhD in psychology in which he developed the first Australian model and measure of emotional intelligence. He has an extensive publication list in the area, has been invited to contribute chapters to books and guest edit special issues of journals on the topic.
Together with Swinburne University’s commercialisation arm, Ben founded Genos International in 2002 to bring his model and measure of emotional intelligence to the market. Genos, and the model and measure of emotional intelligence that forms its core business, is now a national and Australian export success story. Genos has operations in Australia and Europe and distribution partners servicing clients in the USA, India, China, South Africa, South East Asia, the UAE and New Zealand.
Dr Ben Palmer holds a BAppSci (Hons), PhD, and is Chief Executive Officer of Genos International.
Learn how to harness agility, adaptability and forward-thinking to navigate digital transformation effectively. This session aims to empower you to transform digital disruption into a competitive edge for your organisation, offering actionable insights for those at any stage of their digital transformation journey.
Director Enterprise Sales APAC
Udemy Business
Director Enterprise Sales APAC
Udemy Business
James has worked with technology and businesses for over 25 years. More recently partnering and collaborating with HR teams to improve their efficiency, and elevate the performance of their employees. Especially through the pandemic. He has a passion for leadership, and how anyone can and should be empowered to make a difference. Strongly believing that leadership is the key to unlocking the potential in individuals, teams and organisations; and the profound impact it can have.
Joining Udemy has felt like being where he is most needed. James is a self confessed ‘lifetime learner’ and is often looking for ways to get out of his comfort zone. Whether that be relocating to Singapore to take on a new challenging role, or taking up triathlons in his mid-forties.
Sponsored by
Founder
SL Human Resources Consulting
Founder
SL Human Resources Consulting
‘Human-to-Human at work’
Sonya’s passion is Wellbeing and Human Resources, for her, they both go hand in hand. By creating a Healthy Workplace where people can perform and reach their potential.
Her professional career in HR spans 25 years. Some of her highlights are being part of a Senior Leadership Team for Hitachi in the Mining Industry, she completed her MBA at Monash in 2018, and working internationally across USA, Europe and Asia.
What’s important to her now is chairing the HR Summit in Melbourne and Sydney each year, helping organisations in creating a high-performance team where people feel valued and supporting the leadership team.
In today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertain, chaotic and ambiguous) world of business, creating space for people to feel heard, seen and valued has become essential to optimise impactful inclusive and empowering cultures. Discover how transformational conversations can drive meaningful change, promote understanding and empower individuals to thrive. In this session you will:
Executive Leadership Coach & Chartered Business Psychologist
Wellbeing Face
Executive Leadership Coach & Chartered Business Psychologist
Wellbeing Face
Simi is a sought after Business Psychologist and Executive Leadership Coach and has been passionately working with founders and leaders globally for the last 20years to elevate their leadership impact. She is the owner and founder of Wellbeing Face, a thriving Psychology Coaching and Consulting practice which focuses on partnering with growth organisations to drive organisational performance through inclusion, wellbeing and productivity. All her work is underpinned by psychological science and commercial nous. She is a Forbes contributor, speaker, facilitator and podcast host.
EI directly relates to an individual’s effectiveness and performance at work, which can be measured and developed. Through our hands-on workshop, you will learn how to measure and cultivate emotional intelligence, empowering yourself and your team to thrive. This workshop will include:
Senior Consultant
Talogy
Senior Consultant
Talogy
Saloni has over 8 years of experience in Consulting and Internal Organizational Development roles, having worked in India, UK, and Australia. She’s a master’s graduate in Business Psychology and holds accreditation as a Test User from the British Psychological Society. Saloni excels in designing, developing, and leading various development programs and workshops. She’s skilled in facilitating a wide range of programs, including personality and emotional intelligence workshops, psychometric training accreditations, and leadership development programs for leaders at all levels. Saloni has also conducted team exploration and trust-building workshops, helping teams understand their working styles and improve collaboration.
Earlier this year the Flexiworks Snapshot Survey found that 4 in 5 Australians wouldn’t work for an employer without a formal flexible working policy, and yet only one third of employers have one. What does the future of flexible working look like, and what are the benefits to productivity, talent retention and collaboration when we get it right? This session will discuss:
Futurist
Futurist
Dr Ben Hamer is one of the leading voices on the future of work. He is a Doctor of Public Administration, which included time spent as a Visiting Scholar at Yale University, and is an Adjunct Fellow for Swinburne University’s Centre for the New Workforce. Ben leads the future of work market for PwC Australia and is on the Board of the Australian HR Institute (AHRI), where he was appointed as the youngest non-executive director in the history of the organisation. Ben is a media commentator, podcast host, keynote speaker, and author of The Kickass Career.
The Federal Government’s introduction of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 brings significant changes to enterprise bargaining, pay secrecy and fixed term contracting. The changes continue with a focus on redefining casual employment, introducing a national labour hire scheme, a federal form of wage theft, and the controversial ‘same job, same pay’ policy. Ensure you are up to date on what you need to know by attending this session which will cover:
General Manager, Workplace Relations and Wellbeing
Victorian Chamber of Commerce & Industry
General Manager, Workplace Relations and Wellbeing
Victorian Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Amy is a dual qualified solicitor and barrister with over 15 years’ experience in private legal practice specialising in litigation and employment law. Amy has practised in England and represented clients in a variety of jurisdiction including Germany, Spain, the USA, and here in Australia. After leaving private practice, Amy acted as in-house counsel advising on high-risk, high-profile cases at an international ASX20 listed company. Amy joined the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry as a Workplace Relations Consultant in 2015 and now has the pleasure of leading a team of 20 impressive workplace relations and wellbeing advisors and consultants.
As HR directors you are often wearing multiple hats and it’s sometimes hard to stay focused on the task at hand without constantly being hijacked by other people’s demands. This session will look at ways to stay focused on the things that matter and how to work proactively – not reactively. It will also explore different modes of working to maximise your daily workflow, as well as techniques to train your attention and improve your focus and mental clarity. In this session, we will explore:
Mindfulness and High Performance Coach
Mindfulness and High Performance Coach
As a certified mindfulness and performance coach, Melo has the unique ability to bring the best out of the people, and the companies, he works with. With over 25 years experience, his results-based work is grounded in neuroscience, mindfulness, human behaviour, leadership training and other unique tools to help his clients find self-awareness, clarity, focus and ultimately success.
Melo learned to manage highly challenging and stressful situations, build mental endurance and rise above adversity from his life lessons on the road where he cycled, trekked and travelled over 30,000km’s around the planet on his mountain bike. He traversed Africa, Asia, India, Nepal, Europe and North America, along the way he had to overcome many obstacles and demanding encounters, including near-death experiences.
He now shares that deep experience working with many global Fortune 500 companies, CEO’s, managers and directors, and corporate executives, as well as sporting professionals, actors, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and individuals that want to be the absolute best at their craft. Recently, Melo has had the unique opportunity to coach an Olympic athlete to reach their life-long goals.
During the pandemic Melo has supported over 75,000 people globally in his seminars and coaching programs.
His work has been described as ‘truly transformational’!