Dr Susan Carland is an academic, writer, and social commentator and her research interests are feminism, sexism, discrimination, prejudice, social cohesion, Islam and Muslims in Australia. Susan’s writing has appeared in local and international newspapers, academic journals, books, magazines, websites including Melbourne University Publishing in 2017, The Research Process (6th Edition), and 2016 by Oxford University Press to name a few. Susan is currently a columnist for Sunday Life in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age; a host of the podcast “What Happens Next?”, and the SBS documentary series Child Genius. Susan was awarded several awards including a Churchill Fellowship for 2020 and was recognised as one of “500 Most Influential Muslims in the World”.

With a career ranging from diplomat to business leader to entrepreneur across New Zealand and Asia, Ziena is a staunch advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion. Ziena assumed leadership roles from a remarkably young age and has helped some of New Zealand’s largest businesses to build their reputation and revenue, advised Ministers, and supported the growth of Maori and Pacific young people in professional careers. Most recently Ziena was appointed to the Board of Education New Zealand, became a finalist for New Zealand Women of Influence awards, and was also recognised by Campaign Asia Pacific as part of its 2020 Women to Watch.

Judy O’Brien leads the Culture, Diversity & Inclusion team at New Zealand Rugby to create great environments. This includes the implementation of NZR's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategy, and oversight of associated work programmes (Pasifika Engagement, Harm Prevention). She has 16 years of experience as an educator, entertainer and consultant working at the intersections of diversity, inclusion, primary prevention of interpersonal harm, and belonging.

Read more about Judy.

Karen is a People and Transformation leader with over 25 years’ of experience strengthening; culture, capability and performance in the; Property, Retail and Transportation sectors across; Australia, Asia, USA and Europe. She has built a strong reputation for; supporting ASX Listed Boards and CEOs on People and Culture Strategy, Diversity, Executive Reward, Succession, Risk and Governance issues and leading transformation in complex, competitive and highly scrutinised environments. Karen joined Stockland in early 2019 and is a member of the Executive Committee and leads the People and Culture team.

Helen joined Laing O’Rourke in May 2018 as General Manager of People. Helen has an extensive background in senior human resources roles stretching over more than 25 years across a number of industries. This includes 15 years in various roles at AECOM including Director of Human Resources, with responsibility for the function across Australia and New Zealand. 

Whilst with Laing O’Rourke, Helen has led a significant organisation restructure, has introduced a Gender Diversity Action Plan, a Flexible Working toolkit and has been focusing on productivity through using our HR technology to its potential. Helen also leads our Hub Executive Development Program. Helen is a key leader in increasing capacity and wellness of the people in Laing O’Rourke through implementation of the energy principles in collaboration with the Energy Project.

Tanya is an experienced Consulting and HR Professional.  She has a proven track record of helping organisations build the culture and capability required to deliver business strategy.

Her experience spans the full breath of organisational effectiveness – including strategic workforce planning, culture change, leadership assessment and development, executive coaching, talent management and succession, top team effectiveness, performance management and remuneration. She has worked in consulting roles, including GM and COO roles at Hay Group and Accenture in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the U.K.

Colonel Johnstone is a dynamic and highly experienced Senior Human Resource Executive and has led a distinguished career within Army for over 32 years. Her career has included logistics management, operational deployments, and a broad range of senior appointments within the Human Resource domain across the Defence sector. Colonel Johnstone has also contributed to the development and implementation of a number of complex human resource information systems for Defence and, more recently, she joined the Defence ERP Program in August 2021. She leads a team responsible for supporting the implementation of SAP S4/HANA and SuccessFactors for Human Resources across Defence and ensuring Defence is well engaged and supported for transformation to the new system.

Clementine provides strategic HR technology direction and leadership for People & Culture at Transport for NSW. She and her team advise and work closely with IT on the right digital solutions for P&C and Transport’s People Strategy and have recently delivered the Transport People Technology Strategy and Roadmap covering a 3–5-year horizon. With over 20 years' experience in enterprise HR systems / HRIS, Clementine has had various roles throughout her career as implementation consultant, solution architect, project/program manager and advisory consultant for large, complex organisations in both private and public sector. Clementine has deep experience in digital transformation of HR, HR/people technology selection, solutions, deployment and HRIS strategy. She believes that genuinely human centred HR digital solutions will transform the way we work, deliver tangible business benefits, operational effectiveness, and sustainability across the entire people management value chain.

Karin Hawkins is a Lead Consultant at the NeuroLeadership Institute in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. She partners with leading-edge organisations to shift the way they think about the challenges of leadership by understanding how the brain works. Karin blends a deep understanding of neuroscience research with expertise in strategy and learning design to transform behaviours and processes around performance management, diversity and inclusion, leadership development and change agility. The impact goes beyond the transitory changes that can often accompany the latest fads in management philosophy, to build strong leadership values and habits that are embedded in an organisation’s DNA. Karin brings to her role over 20 years of experience in the financial services sector and a proven track record as a strategic executive having delivered strong results in multifaceted and fast-paced environments.

Steve is the Head of EX Strategy and Solutions for Qualtrics in APJ, leading a team of specialists in guiding organisations to optimise the Employee Experience at every point in the employee lifecycle. He is one of the region’s most experienced EX specialists having played a crucial role in launching and developing the XM category in APJ. Steve specialises in EX and human-centred technologies. As businesses and governments rethink the ways they work for a post-pandemic world, Steve brings 20 years’ of experience as a qualified business psychologist helping organisations design and improve their employee experiences.

Leah Brown is a Partner in Deloitte’s Workplace Integrity practice. Leah has over 20 years’ experience in workplace relations roles in financial services, transport and logistics, employer associations and in government, and has extensive experience in enterprise bargaining, organisational change, industrial conflict resolution and stakeholder engagement and communications.

Leah cuts through technical complexity to provide commercial and pragmatic advice to clients about compliance with their workplace obligations, and is passionate about supporting clients develop workplace relations strategies that align to broader people and organisational strategy. 

David Ludlow leads a team focused on the identification of market trends and the development of solution strategies and priorities that span the SAP SuccessFactors’ Human Experience Management (HXM) suite of solutions.  His team works with customers, partners, industry analysts, and development to ensure SAP is delivering the best HXM solutions for its customers.  David has been with SAP for over 20 years and has more than 25 years of experience in the HR solution space.  David was named one of the Top 100 Tech Influencers by HRE and the HR Technology Conference in 2019.