Official Event Advisory Panel for the Australian Business Productivity and Innovation Summit 2015

Quest Events would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the panel members below who are contributing their valuable time and expertise to ensure the conference agenda is timely and relevant for all stakeholders looking to increase the productivity and competitiveness of their organisations.

julie toth australian productivity and competitiveness conference 2015Julie Toth
Chief Economist
Australian Industry Group

Julie heads the Australian Industry Group’s economics research team, producing economics research, comment and policy for Ai Group and its members. This includes Ai Group’s highly regarded monthly performance of industry surveys, annual industry outlooks and more detailed, topical work. Julie is also a frequent speaker at Ai Group conferences and at other industry and economics events. Julie is based in Melbourne, but is frequently on the road, working with Ai Group’s members, businesses and industries across Australia.

Julie has over two decades of experience in Australian public policy and microeconomics research, working across the public and private sectors. Prior to joining the Australian Industry Group in 2012, Julie was a Senior Economist at the ANZ Banking Group, a Research Manager at the Productivity Commission and an Economist at other Federal Government research agencies, including the Industry Commission and the Bureau of Immigration and Population Research.

Julie holds a Master of Industrial Relations and Labour Economics (Monash University), a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) (University of Melbourne) and a Bachelor of Arts (University of Melbourne).

australian productivity and competitiveness conference 2015 sydneyKhali Young 
Lean and Agile Organisational Development Lead
Vodafone

Khali Young works as an Agile and Lean organisational change agent with the digital team at Vodafone Australia. He started his career as a technologist learning what high functioning teams look like as an Agile software developer, business analyst, project manager, product manager, coach and consultant. This led to a passion building organisational learning cultures and processes that are highly productive and fun and rewarding to work in. Khali is a specialist in organisational learning, innovation, process excellence, authentic communication, coaching and strategic intervention.

australian productivity and competitiveness conference 2015 sydneyXiangyu Wang
Professor for Oil, Gas & LNG Construction and Project Management & Co-Director
Curtin-Woodside

Prof. Xiangyu Wang holds the position of Curtin-Woodside Chair Professor for Oil, Gas & LNG Construction and Project Management, and is the Co-Director of the Australasian Joint Research Centre for Building Information Modelling (BIM). Professor Wang is an internationally recognised leading researcher in the field of Construction IT, BIM, Lean, Visualisation Technologies, Project Management, and Training, having obtained over AUD $5 million in research funds and published over 300 peer-reviewed technical papers. He is the Chair of the Australian National Committee of the International Society in Computing in Civil and Building Engineering. He has presented over 20 keynote speeches at international and industrial conferences on BIM, construction and project management, VR and AR research and practice. He is Editor-in-Chief of Visualization in Engineering which is an international research journal hosted by Springer-Verlag. His work with Woodside Energy Ltd. and other industries wins numerous awards including Runner-Up of the 2012 Curtin Commercial Innovation Award.

australian productivity and competitiveness conference 2015 sydneyKerry London
Acting Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor Teaching and Learning and Professor of Construction Management
RMIT University

Professor London is the Professor of Construction Management in the School of Property, Construction and Project Management at RMIT University. She is Director of the Centre for Integrated Project Solutions and the Deputy Head of School Research. She entered academia full time in 2002.  She has recently been invited to be a member of the Australian Research Council National College of Expert. She is the first academic to be invited in the history of the ARC from her discipline.

She received her PhD from University of Melbourne and is also a graduate of the University of Newcastle where she received three degrees MBld, BArch and BSc(Arch). She was the first female Chair of Construction Management in Australia. Prior to that she was the inaugural Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Built Environment Research (CIBER) at the University of Newcastle- the first interdisciplinary centre for the built environment in Australia. She has held numerous senior academic positions including Deputy PVC Learning and Teaching, Assistant Dean Research, Chair University Academic Appeals, Node Director Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation and Assistant Dean Community and Partnerships.  She was also invited by the Minister to be a member of the Built Environment Industry Innovation Council and was on the National Working Party for Building Information Modelling Implementation.

She has diverse industry experience having been employed by the Northern Territory Department of Infrastructure as Project Manager and Policy Manager, as a registered architect by EJE Architects and Suters Architects Snell as well as various Universities. She has always been well connected to industry – she was the immediate past President of the Chartered Institute of Building Australasia (CIOB), an international organisation of more than 50,000 members with a presence in more than 20 countries and 12 Regional Councils. She is a Fellow of the CIOB. She was invited by the Federal Minister to be a member of the Built Environment Industry Innovation Council and was also a member of the BEIIC National Working Party for Building Information Modelling Implementation. She was a member of the NSW Architects Registration Board. She initiated the Australian Housing Supply Chain Alliance; a group of leading stakeholders of the housing sector who seek to conduct research and development on projects that will ultimately will trigger transformation of the industry.

australian productivity and competitiveness conference 2015 sydneySue Anderson
Director of Programs
Australian Retailers Association (ARA) Retail Institute

Sue has over 20 years experience working with leading Australian retail brands and property groups. Having held senior management roles within a number of organisations in Visual Merchandising, Operations, Buying and Marketing, and currently working broadly in the retail industry as a Consultant, Sue specialises in guiding retailers in the areas that impact on a customer’s perception. Sue is specifically skilled to develop strategy in Customer Experience encompassing Range Selection, Visual Execution, Marketing and Service Culture. With significant practical industry experience of both international and local markets, Sue adds value and currency to an expansive base of retail clients in facilitation of education and consulting. Sue specialises in the developing of learning platforms and resources specific for the retail industry.