Speakers

John BradleyRe-Powering NSW event 2016 October Sydney
Chief Executive Officer
Energy Networks Association

John Bradley is an experienced chief executive with diverse experience in the electricity, gas, water and resources sectors. He has been a consultant to the IMF on State Owned Enterprise reform and served as the Director General of Queensland’s Department of Premier and Cabinet until 2012.  He was the Director General of the Department of Environment and Resource Management from 2009 to 2012 and the CEO of the Queensland Water Commission during the Millennium drought.  John led the restructure and economic regulation of the Western Australian electricity industry in 2006 and the South East Queensland Water industry in 2010. Earlier in his career, he undertook regulatory reforms in Queensland’s gas industry and led significant power and gas infrastructure projects.

John holds an MBA from QUT and BA from the University of Queensland. He serves as a non-executive Director of Greening Australia Limited.


Cheryl Cartwright
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Pipelines and Gas Association

Cheryl joined APGA in 2005 after being immersed in politics, media and government for three decades. As Chief Executive, Cheryl represents the interests of APGA’s more than 450 members involved in all aspects of the pipeline and gas industry which plays a major role in Australia’s national energy economy.

The industry is at the forefront of many of the most important debates impacting on Australia today, particularly natural gas and gas supply, as well as climate change, safety and environment. Cheryl has a keen interest in representing the membership’s interests in these debates, and in fostering the development of the next generation of pipeliners through the Young Pipeliners Forum which she instigated, and through pursuing opportunities for knowledge transfer, education and mentoring within the industry.

Through her position as a director of the Australian Gas Industry Trust, which is Australia’s representative in the International Gas Union, she was appointed to the IGU’s high-level executive committee.


Gloria Chan
Director, Corporate & Project Finance 
Clean Energy Finance Corporation

Gloria Chan is a Director in Corporate and Project Finance at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, where she is leading the CEFC’s $250m large-scale solar program in support of Australia’s growing renewable energy sector. Gloria was previously a Director at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, financing projects and corporates across a variety of business sectors, including renewables, utilities, mining and mining infrastructure, and oil and gas. Gloria is also a solicitor to the Supreme Court of New South Wales.


Tania Constable
Chief Executive Officer
CO2CRC Limited

Tania Constable commenced as CEO in January 2015. Ms Constable was previously chief advisor in the Personal and Retirement Income Division of Treasury, working on tax-related matters.

Prior to her work at Treasury, she held various senior resources and energy roles in the Department of Industry. Ms Constable was the Head of Resources for more than four years. She had responsibility for policy advice to the Minister for Industry on oil and gas regulation, exploration and development, and mining activities. During this time Ms Constable also had the privilege of being the Australian Joint Commissioner and Sunrise Commissioner for Australia and Timor Leste leading joint activities on the development of the Joint Petroleum Development Area and Greater Sunrise Project.

She was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2014 for outstanding public service in the development of Australia’s Liquefied Natural Gas and other resource and energy industries.


Kieran Donoghue
General Manager Policy
Australian Energy Council

Kieran manages the Australian Energy Council policy, research and analysis functions. Prior to this he was General Manager Policy at the Energy Supply Association of Australia (esaa). Before joining esaa in February 2010, Kieran spent three and a half years at Ofgem, the UK energy regulator, most recently as Head of Networks Financial Issues. He qualified as a chartered accountant with Deloitte in London and spent several years in a variety of finance roles at international companies.

Kieran holds Masters degrees from Oxford University and the University of London.


Charles Dowsett
Executive Director, Industry Investment & Export Support
NSW Department of Industry  Resources & Energy

Charles joined the Department in December 2012 and is the Executive Director of Industry Investment & Export Support. (II&ES)

The II&ES Branch works to attract local and offshore investment into the energy and resources sector. The Branch is a primary contact point for industry, to actively engage and liaise with Government. II&ES also assists companies navigate and negotiate with Government Departments to achieve positive development outcomes.

Charles has over 25 years’ experience in the resources and energy sector. Prior to joining the Department he worked in investment banking in Asia, Europe and Australia and was Head of Commodities for Asia Pacific and the Global Head of Precious Metals for both The Royal bank of Scotland and ABN AMRO Bank NV. Charles has also worked as a resources and energy banking specialist at Rothschild’s and Citibank.


Anthony Englund
Group Manager Investment Strategy & Solutions
TransGrid

Anthony Englund is Group Manager, Investment Strategy and Solutions at TransGrid, NSW’s electricity transmission service provider. In this role he leads TransGrid’s strategic decisions in for both network and non-network investments.

Anthony has nearly twenty years’ experience in energy regulation, policy and strategy and has worked both for and with industry, governments, policy makers, regulators, market operators and other key stakeholder groups. He has undertaken similar work in the telecommunications, rail and ports industries, served as Strategic Energy Advisor to the NSW Minister for Energy and Resources and was awarded the Energy Networks Associations’ Industry Contribution Award in 2013 in recognition of his ongoing commitment to the industry.


Greg Evans
Executive Director, Coal
Minerals Council of Australia

Mr Greg Evans was appointed to the position of Executive Director, Coal at the Minerals Council of Australia and CEO, Australian Coal Association Low Emission Technology (ACALET) in July 2014.
Prior to this position he was most recently the Deputy Chief Executive of Universities Australia, which represents Australia’s 39 universities. Before that Mr Evans was the Chief Economist at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), where he was employed for nine years.
Mr Evans has experience as a ministerial chief of staff in the Howard government, an official in the Commonwealth Treasury and Department of Finance, and working for industry bodies in the energy and farm sector, including a period as chief executive of the Wool Council of Australia for three years.
He commenced his career in the banking sector as a financial analyst dealing with the funding of infrastructure, mining, and oil and gas projects.


Rick Fowler 
Program Director, Coal Innovation NSW 
NSW Government

Mr Rick Fowler oversees a variety of low-emission coal technology initiatives for Coal Innovation NSW, including the Delta CCS Demonstration Project, NSW CO2 Storage Assessment Program, and a wide range of R&D projects.

When Mr Fowler joined the Department in 2005, one of his initial appointments was Policy Manager (Climate Change). He took up his current position in March 2009.
Mr Fowler has a Master of Arts (Political Science and International Affairs), for which he wrote a political review of the 2nd IPCC Assessment Report: Climate Change. He also has a Graduate Certificate in Environment Management.


Ivor Frischknecht
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) 

Ivor Frischknecht is ARENA’s inaugural CEO. Since his appointment Ivor has been responsible for the provision of funding to renewable energy projects with the aim of hastening renewable energy commercialisation and further deployment across the nation.
To date, the ARENA portfolio comprises more than 150 solar projects plus a number of enabling projects like storage.

Before joining ARENA Ivor was responsible for clean technology investments at venture capital firm Starfish Ventures. Ivor was previously Director of New Ventures at Idealab, a company involved in developing and investing in renewable energy technology start-up companies. Before focusing on investments Ivor was a senior executive at a number entrepreneurial and clean energy companies.

Ivor holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Econsomics with Honours from the University of Sydney and a Master of Business Administration and Public Management Certificate from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.


Ross Garnaut
Distinguished Research Fellow, Faculty of Business & Economics
University of Melbourne

Professor Ross Garnaut AO is a Professorial Research Fellow in Economics at the University of Melbourne (since 2008). Earlier at the Australian National University he was Distinguished Professor of Economics (2007-2013) and before that longstanding Head of the Division of Economics in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies.
He has been awarded the degrees honoris causa of Doctor of Letters from the Australian National University and Doctor of Science from the University of Sydney. He is an Honorary Professor of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and of Renmin University, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, a Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Economics Society and a Distinguished Life Member of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.

Professor Garnaut is the author of numerous books, monographs and articles in scholarly journals on international economics, public finance and economic development, particularly in relation to East Asia and the Southwest Pacific. Recent books include The Great Crash of 2008 (with David Llewellyn-Smith, Melbourne University Publishing 2009) and Dog Days: Australia After the Boom (BlackInc 2013). He is the author of a number of influential reports to Government, including Australia and the Northeast Asian Ascendancy (Australian Government Publishing 1989), The Garnaut Climate Change Review (Cambridge University Press 2008) and The Garnaut Review 2011: Australia and the Global Response to Climate Change (Cambridge University Press 2011).

Professor Garnaut was the senior economic policy official in Papua New Guinea’s Department of Finance in the years straddling Independence in 1975, principal economic adviser to Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke 1983-1985, and Australian Ambassador to China 1985-1988.

Professor Garnaut has chaired the boards of major Australian and international companies since 1988, including Lihir Gold Ltd (1995-2010); Bank of Western Australia Ltd (1988-1995); Primary Industry Bank of Australia Ltd (1989-1994); Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Limited Pty Ltd (2002-2012) and its subsidiary Ok Tedi Mining Ltd; Lonely Planet Pty Ltd; and Aluminium Smelters of Victoria Ltd. Professor Garnaut was Chairman of the Australian Centre for International Economic Research (1994-2000) and Trustee (2003-2006) and Chairman (2006-2010) of the International Food Policy Research Institute. In 2015 Professor Garnaut became Chairman of ZEN Energy Technologies Pty Ltd. ZEN Energy is a company seeking to integrate optimal combinations of renewable energy and storage to minimise cost of supplying zero carbon electricity to Australian users.


Miles GeorgeRe-Powering NSW event 2016 October Sydney
Managing Director
Infigen Energy

Miles is the Managing Director of Infigen Energy and has over 20 years’ experience in business development, investment, financing and management roles in the infrastructure and energy sectors in Australia, the US and Europe.

Over the past 15 years Miles has been focused on development, investment, financing and management in the renewable energy industry.

Miles undertook a leading role in the development of Infigen’s first wind farm project at Lake Bonney in South Australia, commencing in 2000. In 2003 Miles jointly led the team which established the renewable energy business now known as Infigen Energy. In 2005 Miles jointly led the Initial Public Offer and listing of Infigen’s business on the ASX.

Following listing, Miles continued to work on the development, financing and management of Infigen’s wind farm investments in Australia, the US and Europe. He was appointed as Managing Director of Infigen Energy in 2009.
Miles was elected Chairman of the Board of the Clean Energy Council in December 2013.

Miles holds degrees of Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Business Administration (Distinction) from the University of Melbourne.


Lisa Gooding
Government and Policy Leader
EnergyAustralia

Lisa Gooding joined Energy Australia in 2015 as Government and Policy Leader. Lisa is responsible for the development of EnergyAustralia’s energy and climate change policy and government advocacy.

Previously she was the Director of Energy Policy at the Business Council of Australia and the Senior Energy Adviser to the Federal Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson. In these roles she has contributed to the strategic development of Australia’s energy and climate change policy and the national energy market reform agenda.

Prior to working in the minister’s office, Lisa worked as a policy adviser across a range of fields in the Australian Public Service including in energy, climate change and industry policy.


Lance Hoch
Executive Director and Chairman
Oakley Greenwood

Lance has over 25 years of experience in policy, regulation and business strategy as it applies to electricity and gas distribution and retail businesses. He most recently served as Vice President with CRA International. In Australia he has advised policy makers, regulatory authorities and deregulated electricity and gas businesses in a number of areas including regulatory strategy, tariff design, improving the commercial basis on which internal utility operations are undertaken, demand management and energy efficiency for improved financial and technical operation, business strategy development and implementation, and customer interactions.
Lance also advises corporate clients on asset acquisition investment decisions involving the electricity and natural gas markets in the Asia Pacific region.

In this role, he has developed considerable expertise in conducting energy retail asset valuations, feasibility studies, competition analyses, and customer segmentation studies.
Lance has significant experience in the wider Asia Pacific region, having led major project assignments in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Thailand, the People's Republic of China, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.

Most of his work in these countries has focused on energy efficiency and integrated resource planning as means for ensuring the reliability and adequacy of supply, and reducing customer's costs for electricity while also reducing costs for the utility company. He has also been part of major assignments in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates focused on the reorganisation of those countries' national utilities and improving their commercial operations.


Tony Irwin
Technical Director
SMR Nuclear Technology

Tony Irwin is a chartered engineer who brings over 40 years technical experience with nuclear reactors to the Board of SMR Nuclear Technology.

Tony commissioned and operated eight nuclear power reactors for British Energy (formerly the Central Electricity Generating Board) in the UK. He was Reactor Manager at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) during the commissioning and early operation of the new OPAL research reactor.

His experience with the nuclear fuel cycle also includes managing fuel strategies for ANSTO and representing Australia at international meetings. Following the Chernobyl accident, Tony was a member of a World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) team who worked with Russian engineers to improve their safety culture. He is a currently a visiting lecturer for the Master of Nuclear Science course at the Australian National University.

Tony is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and a Member of the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology. He is currently Chairman of Engineers Australia Sydney Division Nuclear Engineering Panel.


Paul ItalianoRe-Powering NSW event 2016 October Sydney
Chief Executive Officer
TransGrid

Mr Paul Italiano has been Chief Executive Officer of TransGrid since 2 May 2016. He comes to the role after being the Chief Executive Officer of Western Power since August 2012. Paul has previously worked at Wesfarmers General Insurance as General Manager Business Services; at HBF Health Funds as General Manager Financial Services and Strategic Development; at Ernst & Young as Senior Manager Corporate Finance; and at the RAC as Chief Financial Officer.

Paul is a CPA and has a Bachelor of Business and an MBA. He is also a Fellow of CPA Australia, Leadership WA and the Australian Institute of Management.


Frank Jotzo
Director of the Centre for Climate Economics and Policy
Australian National University

Frank Jotzo is Associate Professor at and Deputy Director of ANU Crawford School of Public Policy, Director of the Centre for Climate Economics and Policy, and an ANU Public Policy Fellow.

His research focuses on policy relevant aspects of climate change, energy, and broader issues of environment, development and economic reform. He is a frequent contributor to Australian and international policy debates. Frank Jotzo is a Lead Author of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 5th Assessment Report, and is Associate Editor of the journals Climate Policy and Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. He has been involved in a number of policy research and advisory exercises, including as senior advisor to Australia’s Garnaut Climate Change Review, advisor to Indonesia‘s Minister of Finance and the World Bank.

He currently leads a collaborative research program on market mechanisms for China’s climate and energy policy and is a member of advisory bodies on climate change to the governments of South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. He teaches the courses Domestic Climate Change Policy and Economics and Research in Climate Change Economics and Policy, and co-convenes the Master of Climate Change degree.


Andy Lloyd
Chair
Energy Policy Institute of Australia

Andy has over 30 years experience in the resources industry. He retired from Rio Tinto in July 2013, having held a number of commercial positions with the Rio Tinto group in Papua New Guinea, Australia, and the UK within the copper, aluminium and energy businesses. Andy is currently a member of the Federal Government's Emission Reduction Assurance Committee which oversees the methodologies for the creation of carbon credits required for the operation of the Emission Reduction Fund.

Until 2012 he was a member of the Federal Governments' advisory group for the Energy White Paper. He played a leading role in the development of Rio Tinto's response to climate change, and the development of low emission coal technologies.
Andy was a founding director of Global Coal Ltd, a successful on-line coal exchange developed in 2001 by the coal industry. He has served on the Boards of the World Coal Institute and Australian Coal Association.

He is currently a Director of Developing East Arnhem Ltd, which has recently been created by the Northern Territory Government and Rio Tinto Alcan to promote economic development of the East Arnhem region in the light of the curtailment of the alumina refinery in Gove. Andy's past directorships include ASX listed Coal and Allied Industries (CNA), and Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), and in Namibia of Rössin Uranium Ltd.
Andy holds a degree in Business Administration and Natural Resource Management, and is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.


Tony Maher
National President
CFMEU Mining and Energy Division

Tony Maher first joined the union in 1979 at Rio Tinto’s Zinc Mine in Broken Hill. He was elected General President of the Mining and Energy Division in August 1998.

In 2004, Tony was elected to the position of CFMEU National President which extended his responsibilities to Construction and Forestry.
Since 2006 Tony has led the Union's work on Climate Change. In 2008 he was appointed Chair of the ACTU Climate Group. He was appointed to the Commonwealth Government's Carbon Capture and Storage Taskforce and the Prime Minister's Energy Efficiency Advisory Group. In 2010 he was appointed to represent unions on the Federal Government Roundtable on Climate Change.

Since 2012 Tony has been an Executive member of IndustriALL Global Union representing 55 million workers in 180 countries, leading global union work on Just Transition.


Peter Mayfield
Director Energy Flagship
CSIRO

Dr Mayfield has worked in research and development in the resources industry for over 20years. He has qualifications in Chemical Engineering, graduating from the University of Queensland, where he also undertook his PhD studies into Gas Separations using Adsorption Technology.

On completion of his PhD, Dr Mayfield moved to the Hunter and joined the BHP Central Research Laboratories as a Research Engineer supporting the ironmaking Blast Furnace operations of the three BHP Steel works.
Subsequent roles involved undertaking and leading laboratory, pilot scale and plant based research into new pyrometallurgical processing options for materials such as manganese, magnesium and ilmenite as well as addressing technical risk issues related to processing of iron ores in the Hot Briquetted Iron
developments in Western Australia and Venezuela This led to a secondment to Port Hedland to support the plant commissioning in which a novel process solution was devised and successfully implemented to address serious processing issues.

In 2001, just after the merger he took on responsibility for the management of the BHP Billiton Newcastle Technology Centre. This role continued until June 2010 when BHP Billiton moved to a decentralised Technology model.
Most recently he took on the role as Director, Energy Flagship in July 2014.

In September 2010 he took on the role of Chief of CSIRO Energy Technology. In this role he is responsible for managing and developing the science capability relating to energy research in CSIRO. This spans from developing technologies for more greenhouse effective ways to use fossil fuels such as coal to the development and integration of renewable technologies such as solar and wind as well as finding more efficient ways to generate, distribute and use energy.


Iain MacGill
Director, Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets 
UNSW

Dr Iain MacGill is an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications at the University of New South Wales, and Joint Director (Engineering) for the University’s Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets (CEEM). He leads work in two of CEEM’s three research areas -  Sustainable Energy Transformation  including energy technology assessment and renewable energy integration, and Distributed energy systems including ‘smart grids’ and ‘smart’ homes, distributed generation and demand-side participation.

He also has research interests in energy and climate policy. He has run industry short courses and consulted to industry and government clients in these areas here in Australia and internationally. He is the Responsible Australian Expert on the International Energy Agency’s PV Power Systems Task 14 on high PV penetrations in the electricity grid and an invited expert for the technical reference groups of the Federal Government’s Australian Energy Technology Assessment, the Australian Energy Market Operator’s future energy scenarios planning process and, previously, the Australian Energy Market Commission’s Demand-Side Participation Review.

Iain has a PhD (Electrical Engineering) from UNSW, and a M.Eng.Sc. (Biomedical) and B.E. from the University of Melbourne. Former roles include ‘smart control systems’ consulting in the Australian Mining and Mineral Processing industry, and several years in Washington DC as a senior policy analyst in the environmental NGO sector. CEEM itself undertakes interdisciplinary research in the analysis and design of energy and environmental markets and their associated policy frameworks. It brings together researchers from five UNSW Faculties with project funding from partners including the Australian Federal Government, CSIRO, State Governments and industry.


Tim NelsonRe-Powering NSW event 2016 October Sydney
Head of Economics, Policy and Sustainability
AGL Energy

Tim is the Head of Economics, Policy and Sustainability at AGL Energy. In this role, Tim is responsible for:  AGL’s sustainability strategy; greenhouse accounting and reporting; AGL’s energy and greenhouse research; AGL’s corporate citizenship program, Energy for Life; and energy and greenhouse policy.

Tim is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Griffith University and has had several papers published in Australian and international peer-reviewed journals. He has presented at conferences in Australia and throughout Asia and Europe. Tim holds a first class honours degree in economics and is a chartered secretary.


Keith Orchison
Director
Coolibah Pty Ltd

Keith has been involved in Australian resources and industry policy issues management and communications for 34 years. He has been a communicator for 55 years, starting as a journalist in South Africa in 1959 and emigrating to Australia in 1970. He served for four years in the 1970s as public affairs manager of Associated Pulp & Paper Mills Limited and for three years as head of public relations at La Trobe University, Melbourne.

He was chief executive of what is now APPEA for 11 years and of the Electricity Supply Association of Australia for 12 years.  From 2003 to 2007 he chaired the energy committee of the Critical Infrastructure Advisory Council for the Howard government.

He has also been chairman of the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network and of the CSIRO Energy Technology Advisory Committee. Today he runs his own energy advisory business as Coolibah Pty Ltd and is publisher of the blog “This is Power” and of the Coolibah monthly newsletter.

He is also the editor of the “OnPower” website and yearbook and he contributes a commentary on energy issues regularly to “Business Spectator.” He was editor of the “Powering Australia” yearbook from 2007 to 2012.  Keith is also engaged in the organisation and chairing of a series of energy outlook conferences.

He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2004 and in 2012 was recipient of AusIMM’s Sir Willis Connolly Memorial Medal for outstanding communication about the mining and resources sectors.


Paul OrtonRe-Powering NSW event 2016 October Sydney
Director, Policy & Advocacy
NSW Business Chamber

Paul is Director, Policy and Advocacy at NSW Business Chamber.

He leads teams responsible for defining and representing to all levels of government NSW Business Chamber’s public policy positions aimed at maximising business competitiveness for its members. Also reporting to Paul are teams providing workplace advice to members and specialist advocacy/business development services to defence industry members.

Prior to joining NSW Business Chamber, Paul worked in roles within the NSW Government, including leading a communications team and providing policy advice at the then Department of Business and Consumer Affairs. While with the Department, he spent 12 months as a business development manager with a major bank.

He has also worked as Private Secretary, including providing policy advice to a NSW Government Minister and provided policy advice in the NSW Cabinet Office, and as an assistant private secretary within the office of the then Premier.

Paul has economics and accounting qualifications.


Hugh Outhred
Managing Director, Ipen Pty Ltd
Senior Visiting Fellow, Australian Energy Research Institute, UNSW

Hugh Outhred has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Sydney and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy. He is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales having retired in 2007 from the positions of Presiding Director, Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets and Associate Professor and Head, Energy Systems Research Group in the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications following a 35 year career at UNSW.

He is also Managing Director of Ipen Pty Ltd, a small private company that provides educational and advisory services on energy and its relationship to society and the environment. Hugh has provided advisory and educational services for governments, non-government organisations, the electricity supply industry and private industry in Australia, Canada, China Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, the UK and the USA.


Andrew Pickering
Chairman
Infrastructure Capital Group

Andrew has 30 years of experience in the energy and infrastructure sectors in Australia and Asia, commencing his professional life as a lawyer before joining a US utility in Melbourne in 1999 in project development. In 2001, he moved to Hong Kong to join China Light & Power and head up Business Development in Asia (ex-China) and Australia. He returned to Melbourne in 2004 as head of Yallourn Energy and subsequently, Managing Director of TRUenergy, the energy retailer now known as Energy Australia.

Over the years, Andrew has worked on many of Australia’s major energy privatisation projects and has an extensive knowledge of the gas and electricity industries.
Since joining Infrastructure Capital Group in 2006, Andrew has been responsible for many of the firm’s generation projects and is a senior spokesman in the Australian energy industry. He was appointed CIO in 2009 and in 2014 he took over as Chairman from Mike Fitzpatrick.

Andrew is also a trustee director and chairs the Investment Committee of Equipsuper, a $7bn superannuation fund with over 50,000 members.


John Pierce
Chair
Australian Energy Market Commission

Commissioner Pierce was appointed AEMC Chairman in June 2010. His commitment to industry and regulatory reform has underpinned his contribution to national energy reform through a number of senior roles including his tenure as Secretary of the Federal Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism which followed 12 years of service as Secretary of the New South Wales (NSW) Treasury. He was a key adviser to Government and Chairman of the NSW Treasury Corporation.

Prior to his time at NSW Treasury he was Pacific Power Chief Economist. John holds a BCom (Hons) (UNSW). He was a Visiting Scholar at Boston University during 2004-2005 working on public sector performance management.


Brett Redman
Chief Financial Officer
AGL Energy

Brett has over twenty years’ experience in senior finance roles in large blue chip industrial companies both in Australia and overseas. He joined AGL Energy Limited (AGL) in 2007 and was appointed CFO in 2012. At AGL Brett has lead the acquisition of power stations Loy Yang A and Macquarie, as well as the development of large renewable energy projects including the recently announced Powering Australian Renewables Fund. His responsibilities at AGL include reporting, shared services, tax, treasury, investor relations, corporate development and IT.

Prior to AGL Brett held senior finance roles at BOC, Email and CSR after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte.


Malcolm RobertsRe-Powering NSW event 2016 October Sydney
Chief Executive
APPEA

Before joining APPEA in June 2015, Malcolm Roberts was Chairman of the Queensland Competition Authority.

He has considerable experience in industry associations, having held leadership roles with the Energy Networks Association, The National Generators’ Forum, the Australian National Retailers Association and the Housing Industry Association.

Dr Roberts has also worked in government as a policy adviser to ministers and in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.  He was an adviser and then chief of staff to Ian Macfarlane in 2001-04 and 2006-07.


Jim Snow
Executive Director
Oakley Greenwood

Jim spent 12 years in the Natural Gas Industry (AGL) holding several senior executive positions involved with the technical end use of energy, regulations and tariffs, contract pricing, analysis of energy projects investment, strategy, mergers and acquisitions and the promotion and marketing of energy.

Jim has senior executive experience running a major Development and Construction business for listed entity Energy Developments Ltd. This encompassed power station developments and CNG and LNG facility developments in Australia. Jim has also been the CEO of a major electrical power systems contracting company specialising in the design and construction of overhead power lines and electrical contracting.
Jim also has some 20 years experience in consulting to the energy industry, industrial energy consumers and the water industry in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Middle East. This has involved him in the development of consulting businesses including the founding of two leading practices (Energetics and CRA International) and several smaller undertakings in that time.

Areas of expertise cover full senior management and leadership capability, advising on and implementing utility strategy and restructuring internationally, corporate management and governance, detailed economic regulation, greenhouse gas mitigation and policy, modeling of complex matters, regulatory undertakings and regulatory affairs and pricing, detailed contractual matters, market development, gas supply and pricing, and JV development and management.


Karen Stenner
Behavioural Economist 

Dr Karen Stenner specialises in designing and testing real-world behavioural interventions intended to shift consumer behaviour in the public interest. Across the past five years she brought her unique expertise and experience to bear as Senior Research Scientist and leader of CSIRO’s Behavioural Economics Team, including serving as principal author of the CSIRO’s highly acclaimed report on “Australian Consumers’ Likely Response to Cost-Reflective Electricity Pricing”.

Under Dr Stenner’s leadership these past years, the CSIRO Behavioural Economics Team designed, conducted and evaluated the relative impact of dozens of alternative behaviour change interventions, intended to secure improvements in both consumer energy behaviour (including facilitating energy efficiency, peak demand management, and uptake and usage of cost-reflective pricing) as well as efficient and effective government service delivery (especially by promoting citizen compliance, digital uptake and channel optimisation).
Dr Stenner relies upon the ‘gold standard’ methodology of Randomised Controlled Trials to design and empirically test high-impact, mass scalable, cost effective and durable solutions to problems of efficiency, productivity and sustainability. Mostly this involves real-world field trials, conducted at scale within normal business processes, in which Dr Stenner embeds messaging, framing, incentives, facilities and attentional cues designed to shift consumer behaviour in the public interest, and minimise waste and inefficiency.

Recent clients during her tenure at the CSIRO include Energy Consumers Australia (testing consumer response to cost-reflective electricity pricing); EnergyAustralia (re-designing messages and materials to help customers achieve greater energy efficiency); Aurora (promoting customer acceptance of hot water load control); the Department of Human Services (increasing self-service via digital channels vs. costly face-to-face service); the ATO (boosting debt collection by increasing compliance with payment plans); the Australian Bureau of Statistics (inducing online self-completion of Census 2016 with minimal reminders and field staff follow-up); and the Office of State Revenue, Queensland Treasury (increasing on-time and digital payment of land tax).
Dr Stenner previously worked in U.S. academia, where she taught statistics and research methodology, experimental design, policy analysis and program evaluation on the faculties of Princeton University (1998-2005) and Duke University (1996-1998), after completing a PhD in Political Psychology at the State University of New York (Stony Brook).


Andrew Stock
Councillor
Climate Council

Andrew Stock is a Non Executive Director of several ASX listed and unlisted companies in the energy sector, ranging from traditional energy suppliers to emerging energy technology companies. He is also a Director of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and a member of a number of engineering, resources and energy faculty Advisory Boards at the University of Adelaide and University of Melbourne.

He was also the founding National President of the Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy (now Clean Energy Council) and has served on CSIRO's Energy & Transport Sector Advisory Committee as well as other research and energy government advisory committees in South Australia.

He has a Chemical Engineering Degree (Honours) from the University of Adelaide and has completed postgraduate courses at IMD Lausanne, Switzerland, and the University of Western Australia. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia, and a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.


Greg Thorpe
Executive Director
Oakley Greenwood

Greg has 35 years experience in the electricity sector and also in gas.

He has worked with businesses and market authorities operating under a range of different industry structures and market designs used in Australia and internationally. He is trained in engineering, business and Arbitration & Mediation and has led multi disciplinary teams providing expert advice on a wide range economic, technical and governance questions the utility energy sector.

He has particular expertise in wholesale energy market and transmission design and analysis, asset valuations, governance and dispute resolution in electricity and gas. He has provided expert statements and sat on Panels hearing disputes under market rules in electricity and gas.
He was previously head of CRA International's energy practice in Australia and New Zealand. He has also worked in industry and regulatory positions. He was an Associate Director at the previous National Electricity Code Administrator and also Manager Codes and Rules for the Victorian state electricity market prior to launch of the national market: his responsibilities have included as executive officer to the Reliability Panel for the Australian electricity market, establishing the initial monitoring and surveillance regime for the electricity market and managing and developing rule amendments and he continues to provide consulting advice on these and other areas. He came to market and sector reform with 15 years experience as a power system engineer working in system operations, generation and fuel management, interstate energy transactions and transmission network design and regularly applies the experience learnt there in advising clients.


Louis Wibberley
Leader, DICE Development Program
CSIRO

Dr Wibberley has over 30 years of industrial research experience in combustion, environmental control, metallurgical processing, and power generation.  Areas of expertise include energy technologies both fossil and renewables, life cycle analysis (LCA) and sustainability in energy industries.

Dr Wibberley joined CSIRO Energy Technology in 2004, having spent 18 years in BHP Research, preceded by 6 years at the University of Newcastle as an industry consultant.  He is the Leader of the Direct Injection Carbon Engine (DICE) Development Program in CSIRO Energy Technology, with responsibility for the rapidly expanding Advanced Carbon Power area, which includes the bioenergy, black and brown coals, and with an associated program on the direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC).  This work is aimed at developing an alternative pathway to high efficiency low emissions electricity using coal - achieved by using less coal, by using coal more efficiently and underpinning a higher penetration of renewables.

In the early 1990s, he initiated early LCA studies for the Australian steel industry, work that resulted in BHP developing a leading capability in LCA and it helped shaped the activities of the International Iron and Steel Institute Sustainability Program.   This included a substantial program on the large scale use of biomass for iron and steelmaking carried out in collaboration with NSW Forests.


Ed WillettRe-Powering NSW event 2016 October Sydney
Tribunal Member
IPART Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal

Mr Willett has 25 years' experience in competition policy and economic regulation, with a particular focus on the economic regulation of utility services.  He was a commissioner with the ACCC until 2013 with particular responsibilities for communications, chairing the Communications Committee and the inter-jurisdictional Utility Regulator’s Forum for 10 years, and was also a member of the Regulation and Prices Monitoring and Adjudication Committees.  He also chaired the ACCC’s Energy Committee until 2005, when he was appointed an inaugural member of the Australian Energy Regulator.  Prior to his time at the ACCC, Mr Willett was the inaugural Executive Director of the National Competition Council, and specialised in competition law and economic regulation at the Productivity Commission, where he he was the  primary author of submissions to the National Competition Policy Review.


Innes WilloxRe-Powering NSW event 2016 October Sydney
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Industry Group

Innes Willox is Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group, a leading industry organisation representing businesses in a broad range of sectors including manufacturing, defence, ICT and labour hire.

His current appointments include:

  • Director of Australian Super
  • Board Member of National Industry Capability Network
  • Board Member of Migration Council of Australia

Innes served as the Australian Consul General to Los Angeles from 2006 to 2008, where he represented wide-ranging Australian interests on the west coast of the United States, including in the areas of trade, finance, culture, bio-technology, environment and energy sectors. He was Chief of Staff to the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, from 2004 to 2006.

Earlier, Innes held a number of private sector and government positions including Manager of Global Public Affairs for Singapore Airlines based in Singapore (2000-04).  Innes began his working career as a journalist.  His positions included Chief of Staff at The Age newspaper in Melbourne and Chief Political Correspondent for The Age in the Canberra Parliamentary Press Gallery. 

Innes was educated at Melbourne High School; Monash University (BA History and Politics); and Edinburgh Business School.   He is on the Board of Windermere – Victoria’s oldest family and child services agency.  He is based in Melbourne and is a lifetime supporter of the Collingwood Football Club.


Gordon Wymer
Chief Financial Officer
Snowy Hydro

Gordon began his career as a product development actuary at Westpac Life, before moving to investment bank, Fay, Richwhite in 1995 to focus on energy M&A and cost of capital and capital structuring mandates. His involvement in the energy industry extends from advisory work to NSW Treasury on vesting contracts, through gas pipeline acquisitions and a takeover defense of a listed oil producer in 1999.

A common thread that runs through his career is advising the shareholders of Snowy Hydro, an engagement that he carried from Fay Richwhite through five years at UBS, where he again focused on energy M&A before joining Snowy Hydro in 2003. He has been CFO since July 2006 and has played a leading role in the development of Snowy Hydro's risk management framework and the company's evolution from generator to market risk manager and, since the acquisitions of 2015, to its position as the fourth pillar in the NEM.


Alex Zapantis
General Manager Asia Pacific
Global CCS Institute

Alex has a Degree in Applied Science with a major in Physics, a Graduate Diploma in Health & Medical Physics and an MBA. After completing his degree, Alex worked as a physicist for the Queensland Government regulating the use of ionising radiation. From there, he moved to the Queensland University of Technology as the University Radiation Safety Officer before being appointed, in 1996, as the Health Physicist in the Office of the Supervising Scientist (OSS), part of the Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage. In 2000 Alex was promoted to Assistant Secretary of the OSS where he was accountable for delivering the Commonwealth Government’s environmental audit, inspection and oversight programmes of uranium mining and exploration activities in the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory, and for advising the Minister for the Environment and Heritage on uranium mining and nuclear fuel cycle policy issues. In 2004, Alex joined Energy Resources of Australia as the Environment Safety & Health Manager for the Ranger Uranium Mine and was transferred to Rio Tinto Australia’s head office in Melbourne in 2006 as Manager Energy and Sustainable Development for the Rio Tinto Energy Group.

Between 2006 and 2016, Alex held a number of roles in Rio Tinto Energy and Rio Tinto Coal Australia with a focus on energy and climate policy, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas management and product stewardship as applied to coal and uranium. During his time at Rio Tinto Alex developed and led the implementation of Rio Tinto Energy’s Product Stewardship Strategy and served on the boards of the Energy Policy Institute of Australia, Australian Coal Association Low Emissions Technology Ltd, the World Coal Association, and the Coal Industry Advisory Board to the International Energy Agency.

Alex Joined the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute as General Manager -Asia Pacific in 2016.


Speaking opportunities are available - join this high level panel of experts

Present your company, showcase your expertise and demonstrate how you can help by speaking to this gathering of senior level energy stakeholders across NSW.

Use this unique forum to voice your opinions on the most important issues facing the energy sector today. Speakers will assert themselves as voices of guidance and expertise in a fast-paced energy landscape.

Contact Deen Haniff on +61 (0)2 8188 7501 or e-mail deenh@questevents.com.au to find out how we can put you in front of a highly engaged and receptive audience.

Reference: 
Re-Powering NSW 2016