Speakers

Michael Pascoe is one of Australia’s most experienced and thoughtful finance and economics commentators with more than four decades in newspaper, broadcast and online journalism.

A regular commentator on Channel 7’s Sunrise and news programs, Pascoe is also a contributing editor for Fairfax Media’s BusinessDay, and websites including the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

He is a columnist for publications as varied as Mining Monthly and Yahoo7 and a highly-regarded conference speaker and facilitator, bringing perspective and rare humour to the “dismal science”.

Michael has four sons, a love of rugby union and happily describes himself as an “optimistic sceptic”.

 

Documents: Pascoe 150701 Bunbury (.ppt 5MB)

Gihan Perera is a futurist and an expert in helping leaders understand how the Internet has changed their world.

He has been using the internet since 1987, long before many people knew it existed. For the last 15 years, he has been a speaker, trainer, webinar presenter and mentor, helping thought leaders and business leaders with their e-marketing, e-learning and business strategies.

He is the author of “Fast, Flat and Free: How the Internet Has Changed Your Business”, “Out of Office: Using the Internet for Greater Freedom in Your Work Life”, “Webinar Smarts”, and seven other books.

 

Documents: GihanPereraFastFlatFree-Additional-Resources-South (.pdf 841KB)

Ron Tait came to the South West 17 years ago to act as the manager for the ABC, loved it and stayed. It was a circuitous route to get here.

He was brought up in the wheat-belt, drifted through 10 troubled years in Perth before starting a career in radio in the Northwest.

Following 10 years in commercial radio, the ABC took him on, sending him down to Albany, then to Karratha before heading to Bunbury via an 18 month stint in Perth.

Now enjoying retirement, he can be found either hacking up the Bunbury golf course or performing in local theatre.

Terry Redman first entered State Parliament in February 2005 after successfully contesting the seat of Stirling.

After a series of boundary re-alignments he now represents the electorate of Warren-Blackwood, which includes the towns of Denmark, Manjimup, Margaret River and Donnybrook.

Since entering Parliament, Terry has built a solid reputation as a staunch defender of regional interests.

Following the election of the Liberal-National government in 2008 Terry was appointed as the Minister for Agriculture and Food; Forestry and Minister Assisting the Minister for Education. Since then he has also held the portfolios of Corrective Services, Housing, Water, and Training and Workforce Development.

 

Documents: BLUEPRINT LAUNCH PRESENTATION (.pdf 3MB)

David Chalke is a strategy planner and consultant to Quantum Market Research’s Australia SCAN, the annual monitor of cultural change and lifestyles in Australia. He advises subscribers on the strategic effects of the shifting sands of the public mood.

A marketing and communications strategist with over 40 years experience in Australia and overseas, David is also a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and a regular social commentator, occasional writer and broadcaster.

During his presentations, David discusses the effects of recent social changes on Australians’ attitudes and behaviour and the implications of these on the formulation of effective marketing strategy and public policy.

Presentation notes for delegates only please. Acknowledgement goes to “AustraliaSCAN from Quantum Market Research”.

 

Nicole is a director in the management consulting team at KPMG in the areas of public sector and infrastructure. She is a member of the Infrastructure Australia Board, the Board of Tourism WA and a member of the Leadership WA Board.

Residing in the Pilbara for seven years until 2012, Nicole was chairman of the Pilbara Development Commission, a member of the WA Planning Commission, a director on the Horizon Power board and a councillor at the Shire of Roebourne. She was also the Shire President from 2009 to 2011.

Nicole is a lawyer having worked in private practice, at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and as the principal solicitor of the Pilbara Community Legal Service. She is passionate about government reform, regional and economic development and the creation of thriving communities.

Jessica is the destination marketing senior sales executive at TripAdvisor, covering the South Pacific region including Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. TripAdvisor® is the world’s largest travel site, enabling travellers to plan and book the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers advice from millions of travellers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools that check hundreds of websites to find the best hotel prices.

Hailing from Sydney, Australia, Jessica began her career in tourism as the events and industry development coordinator at the Australian Tourism Export Council, the peak industry body for the inbound tourism sector. In 2012, Jessica moved to Amsterdam, Netherlands to join the World Youth Student Educational Travel Confederation as the events coordinator, an association dedicated to promoting and developing opportunities for the youth, student and educational travel industry. Jessica was involved in assisting with the global portfolio of events in countries such as USA, Australia, UK, Ireland, Italy and Hungary.

With a passion for the promotion and development of the Pacific Asia Region, Jessica moved to Thailand and joined the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and began a role in marketing and communications. Within her time with PATA, Jessica was involved in project managing the ‘Tourism’s New Frontier’s’ theme during the G20 Brisbane Global Cafe, a component of the G20 Global Summit 2014. The G20 Cafe attracted over 85 thought leaders, 3000 guests and over 5000 online participants, over 100 media agencies, and generated $AUD2.3 million in local, national and international coverage.

Jessica’s role with TripAdvisor involves working directly with destinations to assist with marketing and promoting the amazing and vast array of destinations to the TripAdvisor audience of over 340 million unique monthly visitors.

Jessica is involved in tourism in a variety of ways, including her recent appointment on the Young ATEC committee.

 

Michael Carter has been appointed State Director, Western Australia with Austrade effective January 2015. He will be responsible for developing and promoting trade, investment, education and tourism between Western Australia and key International markets. He will also be actively engaged with Austrade’s key stakeholders including federal and Western Australian state Government agencies, Business Chambers & International organisations, Universities & think tanks and Professional Service Firms.

For the last eight years Michael has been working with Austrade in India.His previous posting from 2011 to 2014 he was Trade Commissioner for South India and Sri –Lanka based in Chennai for 4 years where he had been responsible for promoting trade, investment and educational linkages

between Australia and Southern India, Sri Lanka, Maldives & Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Prior to his posting to Chennai Michael was Trade Commissioner, New Delhi for four years from 2007 to 2010 where he managed Austrade’s trade & investment activities for northern India and Nepal. During the eight years Michael has worked in India he has also been managing Austrade’s South Asia’s industry team Food and beverages and agribusiness across India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh & Pakistan, Michael joined Austrade in 2003 in Perth, Western Australia where he held positions of Senior Export Advisor and State Network Manager before his posting to New Delhi.

He has also had a short term secondment to KL, Malaysia in 2005.Michael has a solid private sector background spanning + 20 years in various senior & middle management export, sales & marketing positions in Australia and the United Kingdom within commercial banking and the food sectors; seafood, dairy & meat.

Michael has a Bachelor of Business degree majoring in Marketing and Management from Curtin University, Western Australia.

Hugh Bradlow is chief scientist at Telstra Corporation in which capacity he acts as advisor to the CEO and the Board and other parts of the business on longer term technology directions and technology disruption.

Prior to becoming chief scientist he was chief technology officer and head of innovation, responsible for investigating the future technologies that will impact Telstra’s business.

Before joining Telstra in September 1995, Professor Bradlow was professor of computer engineering at the University of Wollongong in Australia and professor of electrical engineering (digital systems) at the University of Cape Town.

Professor Bradlow is a graduate in electrical engineering from the University of Cape Town in 1973 and received the D.Phil. degree for research in experimental nuclear physics from the University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of and on the Board of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, an Emeritus Professor of the University of Wollongong, a Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne, and a recipient of a Centenary Medal from the Commonwealth of Australia. He was elected as the joint 2009 Australian Telecommunications Ambassador of the Year. He was listed in the 2010 and 2011 Global Telecom Business Power 100 rankings and was named by Smart Company as one of the 12 most influential people in Australian ICT.

 

John Grohovaz (GCMA) joined Deloitte as an Account Director in R&D and Government Incentives in July 2013 bringing with him specialised experience at another big four firm. John has broad industry experience specifically in, engineering services, technology, motor manufacturing, financial services and advertising.

John utilises R&D and Government Incentives to identify opportunities and provide tactical business solutions for multi-site, national and internationally based operations to enhance bottom line performance and company growth.

John has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Cape Town, Advanced Tax certificate (Tax) from the University of South Africa and is registered with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Don has extensive experience working throughout regional Western Australia on many infrastructure projects and has special expertise in community and economic planning, trade facilitation, internet marketing and online education, and community relations.

He was recently awarded honorary citizenship of the City of Jiaxing in Southern China for services to trade and economic development.

The Department of Industry and Science is tasked by the Australian government to enable growth and productivity for globally competitive industries. The Department’s objectives are: supporting science and commercialisation, growing business investment and improving business capability, streamlining regulation and building a high performance organisation.

 

Peter Youngs, Managing Director CalEnergy Group of Companies biography:

Peter has been in this position with CalEnergy since 1994 and before that in a leadership role at Neste Oy’s upstream group. Peter started his career at Amoco in 1973 and worked in both geophysical and geological subsurface roles prior to taking on general management responsibilities in the mid-1980s.

During his career Peter has led several cycles of successful asset value attribution involving a combination of acquisition and divestment programs, farm ins and farm outs and greenfield exploration for both CalEnergy and Neste Oy.

Peter’s management responsibilities have included managing an operating entity with both gas development and production and exploration drilling. He has extensive experience in opportunity evaluation, investment analysis, debt financing and co-ordination, and transaction negotiation and innovative structuring. Peter holds a Bachelor of Science (geology) First Class Honours from the University of London and has completed various finance and business modules at the London Business School and the International Management Institute in Geneva.

Travis Enman, Director and Business Unit Manager, CalEnergy Resources (Australia) Limited biography:

Travis joined CalEnergy as Business Manager for the Australian Business Unit in 2011 and is responsible for the stewardship of the Australian business and its performance (EHS, technical, commercial and financial).

Prior to his role at CalEnergy, Travis worked in a variety of geotechnical, corporate and strategic roles in both operated and non-operated joint ventures at Woodside, Cooper Energy and Shell. Travis has been successful in identifying and securing new business opportunities, maturing discovered assets through intensive appraisal campaigns in support of final investment decisions both domestically and internationally.

Travis holds a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in geology from Flinders University, an Honours degree in petroleum geology and geophysics from the University of Adelaide and a Postgraduate Diploma in oil and gas engineering from the University of Western Australia and has commenced an MBA in international business.

Neil Guise works for the Department of Agriculture and Food, WA as the Regional Director for the Southern Region, which stretches from Perth to east of Albany and includes all of the South West. He is based in the Regional Office in Bunbury.

During an extensive career with the department, Neil has worked in a range of fields including: salinity and hydrology research, agronomy, catchment management, land-use planning, facilitation and extension. Neil then progressed into leadership, management, Emergency Response and agrifood industry development.