Speakers

Tony Ballard
Group Manager Strategic Procurement and Property Services
Ergon Energy

After an extensive career with Australia Post in Retail and Logistics as a senior leader, in 2001 Tony pursued a career in procurement motivated by the strategic role and importance he considered procurement would play in the future commercial sustainability of organisations.  In 2005 Tony took up a senior position with Ergon Energy Corporation Limited as the Group Manager Procurement and Logistics, and with several iterations of corporate restructuring under his belt, Tony now has a singular portfolio that focuses solely on procurement for Ergon Energy Corporation Limited; a government owned utility that provides generation, transmission and distribution services to customers across regional Queensland.   Having worked in the Government Owned Corporation sector for most of his working life, and over the last 14 years in procurement including working closely with other utilities and Queensland Government, Tony has acquired a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the challenges that government agencies and corporations face on a daily basis in delivering delivery value for money procurement outcomes to the benefit of customers and community.


Roy Barton
President
Institute of Value Management Australia (IVMA)

Dr Roy Barton is a catalyst in purposeful decision-making.  He works as a facilitator, teacher, coach and mentor.  He helps groups and individuals arrive at purposeful decisions to take action. These decisions may be to do with achieving best value for money, minimising risks, choosing an option, developing a strategy, or, some aspect of personal development. He works on projects or systems at any stage of their development, but prefers to be involved at the very early stages, helping to  set purpose and direction, establish pathways and strategies to achieve best value for money and, achieve consensus amongst stakeholders.

His work includes Value Management, Risk Management and co-operative contracting on major infrastructure projects, as well as working with groups of people across all levels of organisations on problem-solving, strategic planning and change.  Value, values and value for money are core factors in all of this.

Roy was formerly an Associate Professor of Construction Management and Economics at the University of Canberra (UC) and Adjunct Professor of Asset Management at Queensland University of Technology (QUT).  He is now in full time private practice with the Australian Centre for Value Management Pty Ltd (ACVM).  He was chairperson of the Australian standards committee on Value Management that produced the current Australian Standard and is also President of the Institute of Value Management, Australia.


Laura Berry
Chief Executive Officer
Supply Nation

Laura was appointed CEO of Supply Nation in May 2015, having been involved with the organisation since its inception through her work with two founding member companies, Leighton Holdings and Qantas Airways.

Laura has two decades of experience in stakeholder management, risk mitigation and reputation management with a career that has spanned the private and public sectors, including Federal and State Politics, Public Affairs and roles with top ASX Listed companies

Laura joined Supply Nation following four years at Qantas where she led the Qantas Group’s Corporate Community Investment Program encompassing the Qantas Reconciliation Program, Qantas Foundation, Indigenous and Community Partnerships, Workplace Giving, National Arts Sponsorships and the Qantas Brand Ambassadors Program.

Laura is currently a Director of Indigenous Business Australia's Indigenous Tourism Asset Management Division, and formally the Chairperson of CareerTrackers Indigenous Internship Program and a director of Supply Nation and Engineering Aid Australia.  Laura holds a Graduate Certificate in Management from the University of Technology, Sydney and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

Laura proudly identifies with her Aboriginal and Italian heritage and was born and raised in Canberra.


Stephanie Black
Executive Director Government Procurement
WA Department of Finance

Stephanie is the Executive Director, Government Procurement in the WA Department of Finance. She has been working in WA Government since 2009 and led the successful commissioning of ICT at Perth’s new Fiona Stanley Hospital and the decommissioning of WA’s Shared Services. Prior to joining the WA public sector, Stephanie worked in the financial sector where roles held included Chief Executive Officer at United Credit Union.

Stephanie is a member of the Board of Activ Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation providing services to adults with intellectual disability.


Mike Blanchard
Chief Procurement Officer
Sydney Trains

Mike , General Manager (CPO) heads up Procurement within Sydney Trains running the Strategic Procurement Group within the finance, IT and Corporate Services directorate. He is responsible for Managing the spend ($1.7BN AUD) through enabling valued business outcomes via cost effective supplier solutions. His Team of 66 delivers direct categories to all stakeholders and is also for managing the interface with Transport Shared Services who deliver the indirect categories for Sydney Trains in an outsourced model.

Mike is the Process Owner for Procurement for Transport NSW in the delivery of the new SAP environment and is a member of the Global Practice Advisory Board for Public Sector Procurement for CIPS.


Carmel Boyd
Acting Director, Strategic Procurement and Contracts
Australian Tax Office


Richard Bradbury
Head of Value Engineering, Asia Pacific Japan and Greater China
SAP Ariba


Paul Broadbridge
Chief Digital Supply Chain Officer
Australian Digital Health Agency

Paul is the Manager Supply Chain with NEHTA, responsible for leading the supply chain stream in the uptake of eHealth solutions that enhance healthcare by enabling access to the right information, for the right person, at the right time and place. This is being delivered through initiatives like the operationalisation of the National Product Catalogue, Locatenet and Recallnet and utilisation of NEHTA eProcurement solution. Paul specialises in the integration of technology, people and data to deliver business and healthcare outcomes acquired through over 10 years’ experience at a state, national and international level specialising in organisation reform, strategy development and change management within the public sector.

Paul has been responsible for developing procurement savings strategies, fleet optimisation initiatives and implementation of robust procurement governance models that contribute to providing cost savings, efficiency gains and improved service quality. Recently Paul led an integral team in the implementation of a centralised procurement model, focused on procure to pay system and process standardisation across all public health sites within South Australia, in addition to expansion and automation design of a centralised distribution centre to support the initiative.


John Browne
General Manager – Category Management
Broadspectrum

John has 25 years of experience in all facets of Supply Chain Management. He has implemented category management, strategic sourcing and supplier relationship management in multiple companies and delivered successful procurement transformations.
Hi supply chain journey started in the military as a logistician in the Royal Australian Navy. On leaving the Navy he joined the mining and refining industry with roles at Queensland Nickel, Mt Isa Mines and Western Mining Corporation. It was during his time in the mining industry that he became really fascinated with procurement.

In 2005 he moved from mining to manufacturing when he took up the position of Manager Group Procurement at OneSteel, a steel and steel extrusions manufacturer.
John moved into the Transport industry in 2009 when he joined RailCorp, Australia's largest rail infrastructure network. While at RailCorp he was promoted to Chief Procurement Officer. Staying within the transport industry, he move to Qantas in 2011.
John is currently the General Manager of Category Management at Transfield Services. 


Phil Cholewick
Strategic Partner Manager
Airservices Australia

A tertiary qualified supply-chain professional, Phil Cholewick has 25 years experience in producing and project managing multi-million dollar commercial solutions to business challenges, in a range of operating environments. Has successfully delivered major projects supporting business change programs in both Australia and the UK.

At Airservices Phil manages and delivers acquisition strategies to support Australian airways operations. Key areas of responsibility covers corporate information services, technical and facilities services.
Phil is an experienced project manager and contracts negotiator whose capability is underpinned with strategic sourcing knowledge across a number of domains. He has provided procurement consultancy services covering organisational design and risk management.

Prior to Airservices, Phil was head of supply chain management for the London 2012 Olympic Games; and Deputy Commercial Director, Major Projects and Strategic Procurements, at the Home Office.


Sebastian Chua
Head of Procurement
Singapore Ministry of Health

Sebastian Chua has accumulated many years of procurement experience within the Indirect Procurement & Project Sourcing domains and held several regional and country positions in Asia Pacific.

Sebastian started his procurement career with Agilent Technologies (a spin-off from Hewlett Packard) as their Country Manager for India, Singapore, Thailand & Philippines before he took on the portfolio as the Regional Procurement Manager. Sebastian then moved on to join Microsoft Corporation, Citibank & Alcatel Lucent to transform their procurement organization in Asia Pacific region.

At Microsoft, he was recognized for providing leadership in the category sourcing strategies & operational excellence that contributed to organizational indirect spend reduction, process efficiencies and supply base rationalization as well as launching a pioneer transformation initiative for outsourcing the operational finance & tactical procurement functions around Accounts Payable, Records, Payroll and Procurement transactional services.

At Alcatel-Lucent as their Senior Procurement Director for APAC region, Sebastian was recognized for providing innovative business solutions and achieving break-through strategies across a series of procurement transformation initiatives in the areas of People & Organization, Business Alignment & Supplier Partnership, Program & Process Excellence and Controls & Compliance.

In 2014, Sebastian Chua took on a new challenge to accept the opportunity to transform the public procurement practices at Health Promotion Board (HPB), a statutory board under the Ministry of Health. He reports to CEO, HPB in his current role as Head of Procurement. His Procurement Transformation Paper has been nominated at the 2016 World Procurement Congress in London for 2 award categories – Public Sector and Procurement Leader as well as the 7th International Public Procurement Conference.


Matthew Clyne
Commercial Director
VendorPanel


Alice Cope
Executive Manager
Global Compact Network Australia

Alice joined the Global Compact Network Australia as Executive Manager in May 2013.

Prior to joining the GCNA, Alice was a Policy and Sustainability Advisor at the UN Global Compact in New York, where she focused on business and human rights and supply chain sustainability. Alice was Lead Author of the UNGC’s Exposure Draft of the Business Reference Guide to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Alice also managed government relations for the UNGC for the Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum.

Alice has also consulted to the private sector on business and human rights and national and international corporate responsibility standards and frameworks. Before moving into corporate responsibility, Alice was a Senior Associate at law firm Allens, specialising in corporate advisory and M&A.

Alice has a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours), Bachelor of Finance, Bachelor of Economics and Master of Communication.

In June 2015, Alice was elected to represent the Oceania & South East Asia region on the UN Global Compact’s Local Networks Advisory Group.


John Crickmore
Managing Consultant
Commerce Decisions

John Crickmore is the Managing Consultant for Commerce Decisions in Australia. For over thirty years he has supported clients in a number of public sector organisations solving organisational and commercial problems, and more recently has been involved in supporting the evaluation for complex, strategic procurements. With Commerce Decisions, John has led the evaluation support for major public sector procurements in Australia, providing the benefit of his experience and that of other international consultants within Commerce Decisions for the benefit of those clients.

Prior to joining Commerce Decisions, John worked with clients in the ICT and Defence sectors, planning and delivering solutions to address complex and messy problems. He has developed a practical appreciation of what best practice looks like, through working on “both sides of the fence”, in terms of responding to requests, and evaluating requests for services and capability.


Jonathan Dutton
Managing Director
JD Consultancy

Jonathon Dutton was the founding Managing Director of CIPS Australasia for over eight years up until February 2013. He was responsible for all aspects of CIPS activities as the global peak body for professional procurement & supply management in the region. He represented the profession and its standards to the highest levels of business and government. As a former qualified procurement manager himself, as well as sales manager turned marketing director, Jonathan can easily draw on experiences from both sides of the negotiating table. Jonathan has worked in senior positions for British Airways, QANTAS, Regus & CHUBB, and is a fellow of four institutes covering procurement, marketing, management and the royal society of arts. He is also a graduate diploma member of the institute of company directors, and has a degree in economics with accountancy and business law.

Jonathan is married with two young children and lives in Melbourne, and can be reached easily through LINKEDIN or his website.

www.jdconsultancy.com.au


Greg Edmonds
Managing Director
Charles Kendall Australia

Greg Edmonds (MCIPS) possesses over 20 years’ experience in procurement, contract management, probity, change management, and training in the field of procurement and contract management. This experience has been gained through work with several high-profile organisations in various market sectors including retail, waste management, infrastructure, public service, and resources.

In 2006 Greg established Project Procure Pty Ltd. The company has since grown substantially and enjoyed international success delivering services to provide procurement and contract management support as well as develop procurement capability in both public and private sectors.

Recently Greg has made a substantial commitment to the Government of Indonesia, driving the Procurement Modernization Project on behalf of USA’s Millennium Challenge Corporation. The multi-million dollar Procurement Modernization Project is intended to institutionalise procurement professionals’ roles, facilitate good practice, and strengthen controls such as procurement and financial audits to ensure improved performance of the public procurement function.


Marea Getsios
Coordinator Procurement
Kogarah City Council

Marea Getsios is a high-achieving procurement professional, who is experienced in implementing procurement processes. Her procurement background coupled with her sales and marketing background make her highly creative, intuitive and innovative. Having worked with both Local & State government departments over the last 20 years, Marea has successfully developed a high level understanding of client and supplier expectations and a high level ability to form and maintain positive relationships in business, which she sees as key for developing a strong supply chain. In  her most recent role Marea has proven to be a forward-thinking leader who mentors and motivates teams to achieve a common procurement strategy across the organisation.


Peter Hadfield
Chief Finance Officer
Independent Hospital Pricing Authority

Before joining the public sector, Peter was CEO of Systems Union.  This 200 consultant organisation was responsible for implementing over 1,000 Financial Management Information Systems into public and private sector organisations.  In the public sector he managed a $500 million per annum budget for Defence’s Explosive Ordnance and was responsible for Defence’s Treasury functions that provisioned over $27 billion of cash per annum.  More recently he has been Chief Operating Officer of the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority.  This small agency in the Health portfolio manages highly sensitive data that is used to cost public hospital services. 

Peter applies risk management techniques to identify, manage and accept business risks in a way that allows the agency to take lightening quick decisions that deliver optimised business outcomes.


Kate Harris
Chief Executive Officer
GECA

Ms Harris has an extensive background in leadership, capacity building and education aimed at finding sustainable solutions for the future. 
Ms Harris joins GECA after six years at the Centre for Sustainability Leadership, including the last two years as CEO, and is also the founder of consulting firm Future Ready. 

In both roles she has led organisations that coach individuals, businesses and communities towards improved sustainability leadership.


Molly Harriss Olson
Chief Executive Officer
FairTrade

Molly Harriss Olson is the CEO of Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand. She served nearly six years on the Board of Fairtrade International and as Chair for the final two. Recognised for her leadership on sustainable business and development for more than three decades, Ms Olson has convened, led and been a member of numerous boards, business leadership and sustainability initiatives, including The World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders of Tomorrow. In 2014 she won The Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Award. Ms Olson worked at the White House as the founding Executive Director of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, appointed by President Clinton in 1993.


Deanne Hawkswood 
Chief Procurement Officer
QLD Department of Transport & Main Roads

Deanne is Chief Procurement Officer with nearly 30 years’ experience in the procurement field across a number of Queensland Government agencies. She is a passionate and committed leader with a vision of establishing TMR as the leading benchmark procurement organisation.
In her current role, Deanne has overseen a significant program of procurement reform which has seen TMR regarded as a clear leader within Queensland Government.
Under her leadership, TMR procurement continues to shift to become a business enabler, moving from reactive to proactive, from internal facing to market facing, from operational to strategic, from disparate to consolidated. Deanne is committed to developing a commercial focus, effectively managing suppliers and stakeholders, improving data quality, reporting and performance management, while delivering value for money outcomes.


Hubert Hehl
Category Director Medical Services, Strategic Procurement & Supply
Health Support Queensland

As Category Director for Medical Services at Health Support Queensland, Hubert leads a team of strategically minded procurement experts that influences direct services spend across multiple hospitals and health services. His career spans over 20 years working in health, manufacturing and chemical organisations, both in private and public sectors. In his current role, Hubert supports the transformational change of Procurement to be a trusted partner of healthcare providers and is always seeking to show the true value of Procurement within the organisation.


Geoffrey Holden
Director Procurement Strategy
WA Department of Training and Workforce Development

Geoff Holden is the Director of Procurement Strategy at the Western Australian Department of Training and Workforce Development.  His experience includes a wide range of procurements spanning training delivery, disability services, consultancies, IT projects, and across government initiatives.

Prior to joining the Department, Geoff was a senior procurement manager with the Disability Services Commission, where he was instrumental in developing new procurement solutions that gave the citizen more control over their supports.  He was also instrumental in market development initiatives such as the creation of the inaugural Disability Industry Plan which was a finalist for the Premier's Award and blueprint for other states and sectors.


Paul Howard
Director Commercial Services
New Zealand Department of Defence

Paul started work for the UK Civil Service in 1982 and spent the early part of his career administering benefits in the Benefits Agency.  He also worked for the Child Support Agency before moving into more project orientated roles.

In 1995, Paul joined the procurement organisation of the Benefits Agency and worked on a national catering outsourcing initiative before delivering a transformational change programme for the procurement function.

Since then, Paul has led many large strategic procurements, programmes and projects securing efficiencies of over $200m in total including delivering the award winning UK Schools Recruitment Service, the 1st World War One Commemoration event in Belgium and the TFM contract for NZ Immigration’s brand new refugee resettlement centre which is due to open in July 2016.

Paul has also been a key advocate of the use of eProcurement systems and was a key player in the development and use of eAuctions and eSourcing systems across the whole of the UK public Sector. Paul has worked for HM Revenue & Customs, OGC, UK Police, UK Department for Education and was Head of Procurement for the UK Department for Culture Media and Sport before emmigrating to New Zealand in early 2015.

Paul was awarded CIPS Fellowship in early 2013 and is committed to both his own development and development of the procurement and supply community.

Paul became Director, Commercial Services for the New Zealand Defence Force in November 2015 and leads a team of over 100 people providing centralised commercial services across the NZDF.


Andrew Jacopino
Executive Director Contracting
Defence Materiel Organisation

Andrew is the Executive Director of Performance Based Contracting (PBC).  As the ED for PBC Andrew now leads the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group’s PBC Centre of Excellence which is responsible for a range of performance related documents and activities that supports the safe, effective, efficient and affordable sustainment of Defence materiel such as ships, vehicles, helicopters and aircraft. Prior to joining CASG Andrew has spent the last 6 and half years in commercial consulting having applied PBC from both a buyer and seller perspective.  During this time he has worked on a range of projects both domestically and internationally including in Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia.  As a former Royal Australian Air Force engineering officer with almost 20 years of logistics and engineering experience he has spent time in various operational and sustainment organisations.  As part of this career he lead of the Aerospace Systems Division (ASD) Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) cell which lead to his involvement in the initial development of PBC within ASD resulting in the ASD PBC Handbook in September 2005.


Siju Johny
Chief Procurement Officer
NSW Trains for Transport for NSW

Siju Johny is the Head of Procurement and Contracts for NSW Trains and got the full responsibility for Sourcing, contract management, supplier relationship management, Probity and governance. He joined NSW Trains in 2013. Under his leadership NSW Trains was awarded as the first Public organisation in Australasia to be certified for Ethical Procurement by CIPS.

Prior to joining NSW Trains Siju was the Group Strategic sourcing manager in Optus and have also led the successful implementation of SAP contract management module for Optus. He has also held various senior procurement executive roles in Westpac, Veolia, Portland Group and Caltex.

Siju holds a master’s degree in Business Administration and is a qualified Charted Accountant. He is also a member of Charted Institute of Procurement and Supply(CIPS). In recent years Siju’s efforts in Procurement was recognised through Best Procurement Initiative in Australia award by CIPS and Most Successful SAP Implementation Project 2013 by SAP.


Roger Knowles
Supply Services Group Manager
Department of the Environment and Energy - Australian Antarctic Division

Roger has over 35 years of supply chain management experience in the public, private and military sectors and, after 14 years with the Australian Antarctic Division as the Supply Chain Manager, has recently taken on the specialist role of ‘Supply Chain Strategist’ for the same organisation. As part of his roles within the Australian Antarctic program, Roger frequently endures working on the Antarctic continent and in the sub Antarctic for periods of time. Despite this hardship Roger is excited about his new role and introducing supply chain reform initiative and driving change within the Antarctic Division.

Prior to working for the Australian Antarctic Division Roger spent 21 years in the Royal Australian Air Force in a variety of operational and logistics management roles, before joining BAE Systems as the Supply Manager for the Lead-In Fighter Project.


Andrew Laing
Project Manager – Amphibious Ships Supply Chain
BAE Systems Australia

Andrew has over 20 years’ experience in project management across Defence, Engineering and IT sectors, including end-to-end projects and managed services.

Andrew managed several multi-million dollar projects for BAE Systems Australia between 2004 and 2012, including an on-site contract to deliver IT, software and data management projects and services to Geoscience Australia, services supporting Navy’s Minehunter Coastal project, and international R&D projects to examine key Defence technical and operational issues in the use of future deployable underwater autonomous system technologies. Andrew then managed a variety of IT and consultancy projects as Professional Services Manager for the NSW office of ESRI Australia between 2012 and 2015.

Andrew currently leads BAE Systems’ Integrated Materiel Support (IMS) component of the FFG Enterprise at Garden Island, NSW. This comprises teams providing Engineering, Maintenance and Supply Support services to support the Navy’s mission of providing materially seaworthy FFGs on time, every time. The FFG Enterprise team is now internationally recognised as a leading example of successful relational contracting.
Andrew is adept at managing and leading teams and in working closely with customers and stakeholders at all levels to deliver successful outcomes.
Andrew holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and a Graduate Diploma in Data Management from RMIT University, and a Master in Business Administration from Western Sydney University. Andrew is a Certified Practising Project Director with the Australian Institute of Project Management.


Shane Lamont
Head of Procurement and Supply Chain
Sydney Water

Currently the Head of Procurement “CPO” at Sydney Water accountable for leading the Procurement function and for the strategy architecture and delivery of Sydney Water’s  procurement transformation program.   Having worked in senior positions for leading private and public sector organizations Shane brings a demonstrated practical in aligning procurement vision with organisation strategy as well as developing and embedding leading procurement capabilities with the purpose of partnering with the businesses to determine how to best optimise supply chain value that deliver greater returns.

Prior to working at Sydney Water Shane has worked for various leading ASX organisations including Asciano, Caltex Australia, BlueScope Steel and BHP Billiton in leading major programs that enhances stakeholder value. Shane’s contribution as an industry Procurement Leader is also prominent in the way of his commitment in speaking at various procurement / supply chain or industry conferences.


James Norfor
Partner
SimPPly


Kishwar Rahman
Commonwealth Government Digital Procurement Expert

Kishwar is a Digital Transformation Lawyer with extensive Commonwealth Government experience having worked with Defence, ATO, Department of Human Services and Department of Finance in various roles as a public servant, as a senior lawyer in a  tier one firm, and as a management consultant.

Her experience in procurement includes designing complex procurement arrangements, visualisation of contractual arrangements, dispute resolution and advising on ICT procurement policy reform.  Most recently she has assisted the Digital Transformation Agency with the launch of their Digital Marketplace which has included implementation of click-wrap work orders and digitisation of the procurement process.

She loves her work and is curious and excited about the endless possibilities of transforming transactional exchanges between government, businesses and citizens to make them more affordable, efficient, and accessible.


Ian Rudgley
Chief Procurement Officer
City of Sydney

Ian Rudgley is currently the Procurement Manager of the City of Sydney, a role which he took over in January 2005. Prior to his role with the City of Sydney Ian has held a number of senior procurement roles in the manufacturing, health and retail fields. Ian has over 30 years’ experience in procurement and is tertiary qualified, Ian is committed to elevating the stature and importance of procurement in local Government and feels that the sharing of knowledge is paramount to achieving this. Ian is in constant demand to speak regarding his experiences and the procurement journey that the City of Sydney has taken.


Kath Russell
Principal Procurement & Contracts Officer (ICT)
Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service

Kath has been working in the Procurement field for several years. 

Her first foray into the world of Procurement was a request from the Queensland Museum to source dead animals, with the express condition that they must not be road kill.  Of course, there was nothing malicious with this request.  The Queensland Museum is renowned for its taxidermy and use of real animals in its exhibits. 
Kath has undertaken many and varied procurement roles since that auspicious introduction to the world of Procurement, and has worked for various Queensland Government departments to set up and lead Procurement units, centralised, centre-led and decentralised; preparing methodologies and building procurement frameworks, and delivering value for money purchases generally. 

Kath is currently working as the sole ICT Procurement Consultant at the new Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane to implement a best practice and contemporary ICT procurement framework for the state-wide Children’s Health Service.


Adam Ryan
Founder & CEO
think


Charles Salinas
Director
Procure Services

Charles Salinas, is the Director of Procure Services. An experienced self-managed and result-oriented Procurement Contractor/Project Manager. Traditional procurement and supply chain can be costly, time consuming and questionable when it comes to cost/benefit. It's also been a sore spot for vendors,business units business leaders alike. With 10+ years experience with Australian Government and Enterprise, Charles has developed a process to bring in the vendor (where innovation lies) and the business units and leaders (internal clients) to create FLOW in the acquisition process. The outcome is a faster, transparent and effective buying process that saves time and cost while producing real and desired outcomes for his clients and meets or exceeds probity requirements without dismantling the existing procurement framework.


Murray Saylor
Managing Director
Tagai Management Consultants

Tagai Management Consultants Managing Director, Murray Saylor is of Torres Strait Islander descent whose family originates from Darnley Island (Erub) located in the Eastern cluster of the Torres Strait. Murray realised at a young age he wanted to challenge negative stereotypes about Indigenous Australians and create his own destiny.

The next phase of Murray’s journey is to share knowledge with others, and facilitate empowering partnerships with people, communities and businesses creating their own destiny.
Murray has worked for over 15 years within strategic and operational roles within the public and private sector.

Murray has worked on State and Federal Government strategic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy and program initiatives, including working hand in hand with remote Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities. Murray was presented with an award in recognition of excellence in Community Engagement by the Queensland Department of Housing Director-General.


Phill Scott
Manager-Tendering & Contracting
Local Government Procurement

Phill has a background in Tendering and Contracting in both the private and Local Government sectors.  He is currently Manager-Tendering & Contracting for Local Government Procurement in New South Wales and lectures part-time at TAFE in the areas of Purchasing, Warehousing and Logistics.  He has been involved in drafting, evaluation and governance of an estimated 150 tenders and contracts for goods, services, consultancies and constructions over nearly 20 years.

Phill was awarded lifetime Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M.) accreditation from Victoria University in association with the Institute for Supply Management (U.S.A.).  He was recognised as a ‘Fellow’ of the Australian Association of Procurement and Contract Management Pty Ltd in 2010.  Phill is a member of Resolution Institute and is accredited as a probity adviser by that organisation.

Phill is a contributing author to the book "Supply Chain Management – A Procurement Perspective" and has written articles published in a number of professional magazines.  He has spoken at number of professional conferences in recent years.

Prior to working in Local Government, Phill gained experience in a diverse range of industries including industrial coatings, aircraft fabrication, commercial air-conditioning, horticultural, chemical and electronics industries.  He also gained experience working for short periods in the U.S.A and China.


John Sheridan
Australian Government Procurement Coordinator
Department of Finance

John Sheridan joined the APS Senior Executive Service in 2002, after 22 years in the Australian Army and three in the Defence Science and Technology Organisation. In Defence, he was the lead IT architect and, later, responsible for the design and development of IT systems. 

In the Australian Government Information Management Office, John negotiated the Microsoft Volume Sourcing Agreement, managed major ICT budget reductions, and led whole of government matters such as australia.gov.au, data centre strategy, coordinated procurement, industry engagement, and telecommunications services.


Gavin Shepheard
Global Sales Director
Commerce Decisions

Gavin Shepheard is the Global Sales Director for Commerce Decisions. Starting out in the telecoms software industry in the US in 2001, Gavin has a comprehensive background in software delivery and sales.  Since 2004, he has built up a wealth of experience with Commerce Decisions, primarily with the UK public sector.

Appointed as Sales Director at the end of 2012, Gavin is focusing on retaining and growing existing core markets as well as leading on international business and partnering.  During his time with Commerce Decisions, Gavin has acquired extensive experience and knowledge of the procurement industry globally.


Commander Brad Smith
Sustainment Manager, FFGSPO
Department of Defence

Commander Brad Smith joined the RAN in 1997 as an Undergraduate Engineer completing his degree at the University of NSW in 1999. He has completed various sea postings in HMAS Manoora, Success, Arunta, and Darwin involving numerous Operation RELEX and South East Asian deployments. Highlights included deployment to Christmas Island for the MV Tampa incident, and his two postings as the Marine Engineering Officer on HMAS Arunta and HMAS Darwin.

Commander Smith shore postings include maintenance, configuration and systems engineering manager within the Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving System Program Office (2003-2004) achieving the first operational deployment of Mine Hunter Coastal (MHC) vessels to the Solomon Islands, and delivery of the final two MHCs from acquisition into RAN service.

Commander Smith completed the Australian Technical Staff Officer Course (ATSOC) in 2007, followed by a posting to the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) as a Squadron OC in 2008 prior to returning to sea on HMAS Darwin in 2009 completing the final acceptance into Navy for the upgraded FFG operational capability.

Commander Smith served on exchange with the United States Navy from 2011-2013 as the Project Officer surface ships San Diego where he was responsible for the planning, development, integration and execution of major modernisation projects for Pacific Fleet ships. Highlights included the first successful US Navy installation of AEGIS Baseline 9 combat system and the first test firing of SM-6 missiles from a US Navy platform. Other roles included the re-design and modification of the USS Makin Island (LHD-8). For his role in these activities he was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal and a Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation.


Rod Treadwell
Director Procurement
NSW Healthshare

Having begun his career as a commercial lawyer, Rod started with HealthShare NSW in November 2014. He brings 28 years of experience in commerce and government, in both procurement and commercial management roles, rising most recently to the position of Chief Procurement Officer for the NSW Office of Finance and Services and overseeing a spend of over $700 million. Prior to this Rod worked in procurement for Qantas Airways, Telecom New Zealand and Meridian Energy.

Rod’s role at HealthShare NSW has been created due to a recent structural change involving procurement, warehousing and logistics. This will lay the foundations for continued development by bringing a greater focus to building stronger internal relationships and knowledge-sharing that will support further improvements to service delivery to our customers.


Jennie Vickers
Director Australia and New Zealand
International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM)

Jennie is IACCM's Director for Australia and New Zealand. She is responsible for corporate and individual members in the region including membership, learning, certification, research and advisory services. Jennie has a degree in law, is qualified as a lawyer in New Zealand, England and Wales and Australia and has over 25 years legal and business experience in corporate as well as 'Big Law' firms in the UK, NZ and Australia. Jennie has a wealth of experience in contract and commercial management in both sales and procurement. Jennie's commitment to building stable, respectful, long-term contract relationships delivering value to all concerned has been a feature throughout her career.


Steve Walley
Process Application Lead
Transport for NSW

 

Reference: 
Government Procurement 2016