Speakers at Women in Tech. Fest 2018
Monica is a strategist with exceptional global technology, sustainability and impact investment experience. She is a sought-after media commentator, Director, Advisor and facilitator who translates the changing world into compelling stories that create energy, understanding and action. Monica helps organisations transform and thrive in the new economy by creating game changing business models that are anchored in purpose, enabled by technology, designed with genuine market need and centred on human prosperity. Monica holds a number of board roles including B Lab Australia/NZ which is the global certification for social change through business. She has a genuine ambition to help grow globally significant impact ventures from Australia and undertakes an impressive portfolio of non-executive directorships, advisory roles and board level strategy advice that deliver on her purpose. Through her directorships and advisory roles, she facilitates implementable innovation, investment and technology strategy to corporates, government, not for profits and start-ups. Monica draws on her global network to connect the capital, technology, talent and customers which create sustainable ventures.
Debbie is an experienced IT Infrastructure executive with a demonstrated history of working in the retail, wholesale, oil & energy industry. Skilled in Business Process, Service Delivery, Negotiation, Enterprise Architecture, and ITIL. Strong operations professional with a Masters focused in Master of Business (maj Marketing) from Monash University.
Pragmatic Risk Management and Assurance Principal with industry and professional consulting experience across multiple industries including: financial services, government, and mining & resources. Demonstrated achievements across IT risk management, business intelligence, change management, outsourcing and technology enablement (cloud and on-prem) and project delivery. Passionate about enabling strategic goal success through smarter risk decision making.
Rhody Burton 
Head of Partnerships for Google Cloud
Google
With over 20 years’ experience in the High Tech industry Rhody Burton has developed strong expertise building and executing partnering strategies by working at start-up's, fast growth challenger companies to mature enterprise companies on their journey to cloud and more effective partnering.
Rhody has been appointed as head of partnerships for Google Cloud across Australia and New Zealand last December. In the role, Rhody oversees a varied and deep Google Cloud ecosystem, spanning independent software vendors (ISVs); system integrators (SIs); born-in-the-cloud players; developers; consultancy houses; managed service providers (MSPs); global system integrators (GSIs) and telecommunications firms.
Lucy Cameron
Strategic Insights
Data61, CSIRO
Digital economy policy expert working in the Data61|CSIRO Insights team. PhD in broadband and regional development, 10 years' policy development experience, Smithsonian fellow, worked on the role of government in the creation of innovation hot-spots.
Stephanie ChanBoard Member, Vic ICT for Women
Steph has enjoyed her career in technology, and has worked across many different industries including postal services, payments, financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing and retail. Steph is passionate about new technologies, and enjoys bringing people together to solve problems.
Throughout her career, Steph has actively engaged in programs that encourage diversity and the promotion and support of women in IT. Reflecting on her career in IT, Steph remembers all who gave her career opportunities and believed in her, and wants to create and provide the same opportunity for others. Now with a young family herself, Steph is passionate about reintegrating women re-entering the workforce after extended leave and in mentoring others.
Chief Executive Officer, ChairGMT People, VIC ICT for Women
I get my greatest satisfaction from helping others achieve - be they individuals or businesses. When I can combine that with my passion for promoting diversity inclusion, I know I am making a real difference. This drives my business agenda – striving for a more balanced and diverse IT workforce.
I am a passionate about equal opportunity having grown up in South Africa at a time when minority groups were privileged, and an overwhelming proportion of the population was discriminated against.
Having qualified as an Accountant I quickly recognised the importance of IT and having the right people is a business enabler. I have combined these two aspects throughout my work in both the Public and Private Sectors. Following 3 years in the US in Recruitment and Consulting and 5 years as CEO for an IT Managed Services provider in 2009 I returned to my passion - recruitment – matching people and IT requirements, nurturing candidates' careers and being part of an organisation’s business growth. I was appointed to the CEO role in GMT People in 2012 and subsequently purchased the business in November 2012.
I have over 20 years in Recruitment with IT being my area of expertise. Because of my interest in gender diversity and the lack of female representation in IT roles I joined VIC ICT for Women in 2010 (becoming Chair soon after) so that I could make a difference, particularly given the present imbalance in the IT sector.
I am inspired by the outcomes GMT People achieves for our clients and our candidates with a business based on the values of equality, integrity and empathy. My role as Chairperson of VIC ICT for Women allows me to take these values and make a much larger impact on the gender diversity issue generally.
Salma Datenis
Managing Director - ANZ
Sourced Group
Salma is an inspirational example of the open opportunities for women within the cloud and IT arena. With over 10 years of experience, her innovation and diversity has allowed and encouraged her growth through multiple aspects of the IT industry. This drive and knowledge, along with her great personality and ability to build reliable relationships, is the reason behind her advancement to Managing Director of Sydney's Sourced Group business.
Katrina Donaghy
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
Civic Ledger
Katrina Donaghy is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Civic Ledger – a civic focused blockchain Australian company. We work with governments globally on the use of blockchain technologies to solve specific business problems where blockchain is advantaged over traditional legacy technologies.
Through her early years as a sociologist through to her interest in entrepreneurialism, she has extensive experience in public policy and early stage commercialisation. For more than 20 years, Katrina has worked in both public and not for profit sectors with a specific focus on business development, project delivery and revenue diversification with the view to building resilient and sustainable organisations.
In Australia, she organises the Brisbane Women in Blockchain Meetup and regularly speaks on the topic of why cities and governments should be exploring blockchain technologies. Katrina's interest in blockchain technologies is driven by her curiousity of its potential to replace government legacy systems to deliver efficiencies, stimulate innovation and build digital societies.
In mid-April 2018, Katrina was appointed to the Australian Digital Commerce Association Board.
Angela Goodsir
Chief Technology and Systems Operations Officer
Multi Channel Network
Angela Goodsir is a highly experienced executive with a proven track record in transformative industry and business change with a deep understanding of strategic and commercial drivers. She is a well-respected media technologist, operations executive and thought leader and is experienced across the core disciplines of marketing, sales, research, data, operations, technology and general management. Her domain knowledge extends across the media, data, technology and health sectors.
Angela brings a broad perspective to her current role as Chief Technology and Systems Operations Officer at Multi Channel Network and is a highly valued contributor to the executive team and trusted adviser to the board and CEO. She has delivered several large and complex business technology transformations to Multi Channel Network and the broader Australian media landscape. These initiatives have delivered powerful benefits to advertisers, huge operational efficiency, scalability, competitive advantage and revenue opportunities for MCN and its partners. Angela’s role sees her leading teams to manage digital disruption and operational complexity through harnessing and leveraging technology to drive business strategy and relentless innovation.
Angela has demonstrated leadership capability, a broad strategic mindset, resilience, inquisitiveness and agitates for change and thinking outside the box. She is passionate about leading business transformation towards a digital future.
Samantha Green
Director
RCL Insurance Services
Samantha is the owner/director or RCL Insurance Services, based in Melbourne. After several positions as an Insurance Broker and moving interstate from Queensland to Victoria, Sam decided it was time to take the leap, invest in herself and start her own business as an Authorised Representative with PSC Connect. With a Career spanning over 12 years in the insurance industry and successfully launching her own business, Sam has a desire to help other women break the status quo and give them the confidence to step outside their comfort zone to pursue their career dreams. Ask Sam what keeps her up at night!
Global Merces Absolute Return Fund
Founder of the Global Merces Group of companies. Holly was also the Founder of the Global Merces Absolute Return Fund. This has made her the first woman in Australia to start a 100% CFD hedge fund with a focus on currency as an asset class. Holly has a Diploma of Financial Planning, Specialist Foreign Exchange, Securities, Derivatives and Superannuation.
Fiona Habermehl
Executive Director
EY
Courtney Hall is excited to have been introduced to the STEM world at such a young age. She has had the significant privilege of understanding technology and feels the skills she has developed will drive her into her future career. Courtney believes that half of the careers of the future aren’t invented yet, but she knows for a fact they are going to involve STEM, and she is going to be a part of it! When Courtney isn’t at the beach with her instafamous dog, she is learning new coding skills. Seeing her code come to life on the computer screen gives her a feeling she doesn’t get anywhere else.
Natalie Harris
Year 4 MyPad Teacher
The Pacific Pines Tech Girls
Natalie Harris is an educator, a lover of the Performing Arts, a STEAM enthusiast and the proud coach of the Pacific Pines Primary School #TechGirl team. Inspiring her students into the world of technology drives her teaching practice. Her proudest moment was watching the SunFun team win the National Search for the Next Tech Girl Superhero competition.
Ruth Hatherley
Founder and CEO
Moneycatcha Pty Ltd
Moneycatcha Pty Ltd started its journey developing world-first technology to revolutionise how financial institutions assess risk and originate loans. Our digital platforms, Homechain and Regchain, use blockchain (DLT) technology to deliver improvements in speed, security and compliance for financial institutions and consumers. HSBC Australia was one of the first to embrace our risk review blockchain tool. We’re already winning awards for our technology - Compliance Innovator of the Year by Fintech Business and Startup Business of the Year by Business News to name a few in 2018. We’re also attracting global interest in Moneycatcha.Today, our patent-protected solutions hold exciting potential not only for banks, but for industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, retail and many more - we have developed an industry agnostic, platform agnostic answer to address pain points facing many of these businesses (of all sizes).
I regularly present at seminars to help educate the industry and share learnings about the exciting potential of these new technologies. Blockchain offers efficiency, security and trust - critical ingredients for compliance and competitive advantage in any business looking to succeed.
Sharon Hunnybell
Chief Executive Officer
Gold Coast Hub
I have a passion for technology, innovation and collaboration and a keen interest in promoting and increasing youth participation in startups and technology.
I am the General Manager overseeing community and export activities at Opmantek. Opmantek is a leading global provider of IT Infrastructure Management and Audit software and was named the Australian ICT Exporter of the year in 2014. Opmantek software is becoming increasingly popular in the fields of network automation, compliance management and hybrid cloud management and is used by over 130,000 organisations in 130 countries worldwide.
I am an active contributor to the Gold Coast startup community and in late 2013 I co-founded Startup Apprentice, an organisation that delivers action based entrepreneurial education programs that teach the ‘Silicon Valley’ lean approach to starting a business to high-school students. Over 1000 Gold Coast students have participated in a Startup Apprentice programs since formation.
My contributions to the startup community were recognised at the Westpac Community Leaders Awards, where I was one of three finalists in the Start-up Leader category. I was also named by the Queensland Government as an ‘Innovation Champion’ under the Innovation and Science Champions program.
Karen is a Board Member and Corporate Advisor, and presently holds the position President on the Australian Business Software Industry Association (ABSIA) Board. She works closely with both Australian Government and the private sector. Karen previously worked at Microsoft HQ in the USA as VP for delivering global software launches coordinating Marketing, Sales, Partners and Customer Service, and established Women in IT. She also served as the VP of Six Sigma and CIO for BHP Billiton Base Metals division where she implemented a world-wide Six Sigma Operational Excellence programme. As the CIO for Honeywell Asia-Pacific, she has worked across different cultures and geographies to successfully integrate the disparate IT organisations serving 14 different countries.
Karen has also consulted to various Government departments and SMEs. With over 35 years’ professional experience, Karen specialises in changing the culture of organisations and communities, and is an avid diversity champion on women’s challenges.
Isabelle Matthews loves working with her #techgirl team. Whether it is coding an app or writing a business plan, this girl can do it all. Her most memorable moment creating the SunFun app was when the team first tested the coding and it worked! "We were so excited, we were screaming, shouting and jumping up and down!" Creating the SunFun initiative has opened her eyes to the amazing world of STEM and inspired her to continue her journey towards a STEM based career.
Milla McCashney comes from a performing background and is happiest when she’s dancing. Before developing her first app, SunFun, with her co-creators she had not considered a possible career in STEM. Learning so many new skills has encouraged this budding entrepreneur to consider this career path in the future.
Chief Digital OfficerIn this role Sam is responsible for the overall digital transformation strategy across the group, including devising new business models, taking a business-driven approach to generating competitive differentiation that will lead to revenue growth and increased profitability, providing the technological groundwork for new digital business models through technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), mobility, RPA, social media, AI/ML and advanced analytics, while improving efficiencies and enabling sustainable growth. Sam also leads and champions the internal organisational and cultural change management process.
Sam has held several key roles at CCA over the years covering Finance, Supply Chain Commercial, IT Solution Delivery, Business Transformation & Change Management, Sales Strategy & Execution as well as most recently the General Manager of Digital Transformation, Route to Market and the National Sales (Call) Centre for the Australian Beverages division.
Sam has a practical understanding of core business disciplines including process design and governance, program management, IT execution/implementation, business benchmarking, strategy development and transformation. She has a history of success with an unrelenting focus on delivering customer and business value.
Sam is an energetic and passionate leader with combined small business, corporate, and entrepreneurial experience in senior roles within Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, with over 15 years’ experience in leadership at CCA and ~22 years’ experience within her career.
Sam is a self-driven and innovative courageous professional with a track record of instilling a high-performance culture to deliver on strategic and operational goals. She is a results orientated leader, who has the proven ability to deliver and execute against agreed KPI’s and beyond.
Sam’s Specialties:
- Strategy Development and Execution - leading the business & change transformation to implementation for today and tomorrow
- People leadership and team development – ability to develop a high performing and engaged team with a focus on innovation for tomorrow as well as delivering for today
- Business Transformation - Organisational Design, RTM, Development and implementation
- Process and systems design / re-engineering
- Talent Management/Leadership coaching
- Business and Commercial acumen
- Technology and eCommerce enablement - Digital Transformation, build and implementation
Ayten Ozenc
Executive General Manager, Global Head of Engineering
Vic ICT for Women, Toll Group
An innovative leader who focuses on culture to deliover enduring business results. Ayten works collaboratively to build high performance teams, pioneer new ways of working and turn around problem areas. She partners with businesses to shape and deliver solutions that realise business strategy.
Ayten is passionate about people, technology and change. Excited about driving impact at scale, solving problems, taking the less trodden path and bringing out the best in people. She challenges traditional thinking in organisations and believes that the most successful organisations will be those that learn how to continuously evolve and adpapt and are effective at connecting with the creative and innovative potential of thier people.
Passionate about people, technology and change. Excited about driving impact at scale, solving big problems and bringing out the best in people.
Ayten has experience across government, sport, entertainment, finance, utilities and mining sectors, having worked with Australian Post, Tabcorp, IAG, Victorian Government, Powercor and BHP.
Specialties: Digital, Agile, SAFe, Scaled Agile, Lean, Adaptive and Responsive Leadership, Business Partnership, Collaboration, Offshore Delivery, Technology Delivery, Program Recovery, Portfolio Managment, CIO.
Madeline Price
National Director & Founder
One Woman Project
Madeline has just completed her Bachelor of Arts/Laws (Honours) at the University of Queensland, majoring in Sociology and Journalism. In addition to working full-time at The University of Queensland, she is the National Director and Founder of the One Woman Project, one of Australia's fastest growing, youth-led, non-for-profit organisations. Founded in 2013, the One Woman Project consists of a team of 40 volunteers across three states (Queensland, South Australia and Victoria), a National Team and two international bases (India and Tanzania) who provide quality educational seminars to young people, biannual conferences/festivals, public seminars, engagement events and state-wide campaigns, covering various topics of global gender inequality.
The philosophy of the One Woman Project – and a burning passion of Madeline's – is that education about global gender inequalities can empower our youth to create active change in their local communities and lead to a more equal society and world. For her work with the One Woman Project, she was lucky enough to be nominated and shortlisted as one of five finalists for the 2016 Young People’s Human Rights Medal awarded by the Human Rights Commission, shortlisted as one of four finalists for the 2015 Queensland Young Australian of the Year Award, awarded the triple J Annual's 2015 25 Under 25 award, and present a talk for TEDxUQ on workplace gender certification.
Her experience in the non-for-profit industry spans more than nine years of management, activism and social movement building. Her earliest experience in the non-for-profit sector was the founding and directorship of the Alternative to Schoolies Project in early 2009, at age 16.
Lynne PayneMonash University
A passionate Marketing Communications and Public Relations specialist Lynne connects industry and community and academia for a smarter future. Building on a long consulting career Lynne works with the Faculty of IT, Monash University as Industry Portfolio Manager. Lynne connects industry partners with the talent, innovation, creativity and smarts the Faculty has to offer. From research programs to student projects Lynne enjoys facilitating the collaboration opportunities that really can change and impact the way we live and contribute to our world. From Cybersecurity, Data Science, Computer Human Interaction and Creativity, and Organisational Social Informatics Lynne connects talent, capability and industry requirements to solve problems and drive change.
Gaayathri Periasami
Risk and Compliance Manager - Wealth Investment Products
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank
Gaayathri Periasami is a risk and compliance manager for wealth investment products at the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited. She works in a highly dynamic environment with daily responsibilities including managing and monitoring the compliance framework for superannuation, assisting the business unit with its compliance obligations, and assessment of operational risk events. She is also a professional lawyer admitted to practise in Victoria and has held a number of diverse roles including a stint in politics where she was a legal research adviser for the Hon. Senator Bridget McKenzie, currently the Minister for Sport, Rural Health and Regional Communications and a media adviser for Dr. Sharman Stone, the former member for Murray. Gaayathri is very passionate about serving the communities she works with and has a special interest in projects and programmes affecting regional and rural communities and affairs. Gaayathri’s presentation will be thought-provoking and will provide a granular insight into the future of compliance and risk management in the digital era.
Emi Reed is a proud #TechGirl and member of the SunFun development team. Representing her country is no stranger to her. In 2018 she represented her country at the Global Technovation in San Francisco. In 2017 she competed in the GKR a Karate World Cup and placed 10th in her division in the world! Emi loves music, she plays alto sax and violin, and when she’s not kicking goals and creating tunes she is smashing out code as a #TechGirl. To make her life complete there is nothing more Emi wants more than good friends laughter, happy songs and a kitten for her next birthday.
Dr Mahsa Salehi
Lecturer and Researcher, Faculty of Information Technology
Monash University
Mahsa’s main research area is big data analysis and data stream mining. She was a postdoctoral researcher at IBM Research Australia before she joined Monash University. She received her PhD in Computer Science from the Department of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne in collaboration with the Machine Learning research group in NICTA (2012-2016). She received her BSc double degree in Software Engineering and Information Technology in 2006 and 2008, and her Master’s degree in Software Engineering in 2009, all of which were completed at Tehran Polytechnique University, Iran.
In 2016 Mahsa was selected as the 'Top 200 Most Qualified Young Researchers in Computer Science and Mathematics' by the Scientific Committee of the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation (HLFF). She is also the winner of multiple awards, such as winning the 'Australian 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup final', receiving the 'Excellence in Teaching award' from the CIS Department, and also the 'Staff Award for Teaching Excellence' from MSE at the University of Melbourne.
Research interests
Mahsa’s current research interests include anomaly detection in multi-dimensional time series, spatio-temporal data analysis and data stream mining.
EMOTIV - A research collaboration with Monash Faculty of IT
EMOTIV is a bioinformatics company advancing understanding of the human brain using electroencephalography (EEG). EMOTIV has created “BrainWear”, whole brain measuring technology headsets to accelerate brain research globally.
Using these headsets, the IT Faculty partners with EMOTIV to monitor the human brain to detect distraction patterns, through the use of EEG signals collected by a wireless headset or “BrainWear”.
The research has many applications in the fields of Workplace and Road Safety.
Tracey Smith 
Health and Wellness Consultant
Energise You
Fuelled with a passion for people, happiness and wellbeing Tracey is driven by her own personal mission to Inspire, Connect and Empower, bringing an energy that simply radiates vitality and positivity; her commitment to others guiding each and everyone towards being the best version of themselves.
Empowering from within Tracey works with her clients to connect through trust, from a place of heart and vulnerability, allowing and facilitating change. Best performance is achieved by driving massive action that is consistent, focused and sustainable.
Tracey works with business owners who want to improve their life; gain a deeper and clearer understanding of themselves, and what may be holding them back from being the BEST version of them; and in turn holding back their business.
Having someone by your side to guide you, raise your energy to its highest levels and cheer you on Tracey will work with you to bring ultimate success to your business. Identifying and aligning your purpose with your passion, developing structures and systems to streamline your business and implementing these in a way that is inclusive to all stakeholders.
Tracey teaches regular BodyBalance classes (Yoga/Thai Chi/Pilates) at CityFit gym, is a certified instructor for Les Mills fantastic Dance Workout, Sh’bam and is completing her Cert IV in Fitness. She is continuing her studies as an Accredited Professional Coach through The Coaching Institute, Melbourne and is a certified Meta Dynamics PractitionerTM.
As a mum to three beautiful children, five, three and two years old Tracey knows the importance of organisation, routine and self-love. Life can be a crazy, hectic whirlwind at times and it is how we turn up, acknowledge and respond to these and other life situations that set us up for success.
Karen Taylor-Brown
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Refraction Media
Karen is the co-founder and CEO of award-winning, STEM-specialist media company, Refraction Media. Publications and platforms produced under Refraction Media include Careers with STEM, a multimedia platform that seeks to inspire young Australians to pursue courses and careers in STEM and Science Meets Business, online news at the nexus of research and industry.
Two decades of experience in print, broadcast and digital media has helped Karen to apply a large-scale vision to developing strategic communications platforms as well as a host of custom solutions for clients.
With a focus on collective impact, Karen has brought together over two hundred champions of STEM, from industry, government and education, who share the Refraction vision: to inspire a smarter future.
In 2016 Karen was a finalist for Publishing Executive of the Year and in 2015 a finalist in the Telstra Business Women’s Awards.
Claudia Warwar
Digital Trust and Cyber Security Director
PwC
Claudia is an experienced Cyber Security Professional with extensive Security Consulting Services experience across large corporate environment. Recognised for leadership in driving large complex solutions across industries, overcoming challenges and solving problems with a consultative approach.
The eSydney Morning Herald named Ally Watson one of Australia’s nine most influential female entrepreneurs of 2017. After spending seven years working as a .NET developer across the UK and Australia her unique and refreshing insights into the life of a woman in a male-dominated industry led her to co-found the highly acclaimed ‘Code Like a Girl’ in 2015. Code Like a Girl is a social enterprise providing girls and women with the confidence, tools, knowledge and support to enter and flourish, in the world of coding.
Ally is a values-led entrepreneur and at the heart of her work is a passion to create innovative and accessible learning pathways into technology where every girl, from any background, feels included, inspired and capable. Code Like a Girl's efforts in addressing the gender gap in tech has been commended numerously; receiving a Gold Disruptor award at 2016’s Australian Computer Society Awards, 2016’s B&T Women in Media Award for Technology and taking home an Education merit award at the City of Melbourne's 2017 & 2016 #TechDiversity Awards.
Speaking opportunities are still available for the Women in Tech. Fest 2018
The Women in a Tech. Fest is a unique opportunity to showcase new products and services, establish brand leadership and meet decision-makers. Sponsorship packages can be tailored to meet your specific objectives, whether that is thought leadership, profile, leads or sales.
For sponsorship opportunities at the Women in Tech. Fest 2018, please contact, Kanika Upadhyay on +61 (0)2 8188 7543 or email kanikau@questevents.com.au