CIO Day | Sydney
CIOs at the Edge of AI, Accountability, and a Broken Playbook
Hosted by Factor
- 145 attendees
- 6 hours
Overview
In mid-2025, the global tech landscape is splintering fast. U.S.–China tensions have escalated, AI regulation is lagging behind adoption, and digital sovereignty has shifted from policy buzzword to operational reality.
Australian CIOs are being forced to rethink their dependencies—on hyperscalers, global SaaS platforms, offshore development, and supply chains that no longer look dependable.
This event is a candid exploration of what it means to lead when the old playbooks—monocloud strategies, offshoring, centralisation—are now strategic liabilities.
From geopolitical instability to increased personal liability for outages and breaches, enterprise tech leaders must now decide: what to divest from, what to take control of, and what must be defended at all costs.
And as cyber threats continue to exploit internal sprawl and misconfiguration, lateral movement has become the default breach path—making containment, visibility, and segmentation critical to survival, not just security.
This event brings together Australia’s top CIOs and IT executives for an unfiltered conversation on resilience, autonomy, and reinvention in a world where control is everything and compromise is no longer optional.
What we will cover
- Customer Experience Exploring strategies to elevate customer interactions, personalisation, and engagement, ensuring competitive differentiation and loyalty.
- Operational Productivity Investigating ways to streamline processes and optimise internal operations, reducing inefficiencies and improving overall output.
- Enterprise Agility Focusing on building agility and resilience into business operations to quickly respond to market shifts, disruptions, and emerging opportunities.
- Digital Acceleration Exploring how to accelerate digital transformation efforts to drive growth and adapt to new market demands.
- Cybersecurity Priority Emphasising proactive approaches to cybersecurity, integrating security measures into projects from inception to minimise risk.
- Cloud Sovereignty Discussing the growing need for digital sovereignty, reducing reliance on U.S.-centric cloud platforms, and how Australian CIOs are balancing cost, control, and compliance in a fragmented tech landscape.
- Geopolitics & Supply Chains Addressing how shifting global power dynamics, tariffs, and trade tensions are reshaping the tech supply chain, and how CIOs can mitigate risks while ensuring operational continuity.
- ESG Goals Investigating how CIOs can support organisational sustainability efforts, aligning IT with environmental and social governance (ESG) metrics.
- Threat Containment Exploring how organisations are using microsegmentation to limit lateral movement, reduce breach impact, and strengthen zero trust security.
- Executive Partnerships Exploring the evolving role of CIOs as strategic partners within the executive team, driving cross-functional collaboration and innovation.
- Data Analytics Exploring how data-driven insights can guide strategic decisions and improve business outcomes across departments.
- AI & Productivity Exploring AI's role in optimising business processes, from predictive analytics to automating routine workflows.
Agenda
- Registration & Welcome Coffee(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session)
- Welcome Address & Introduction(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session)
- Fast-Tracking Transformation with the Digital Sprint and Insights by Factor(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, leading companies are accelerating their digital transformation efforts to maintain competitiveness and meet changing customer expectations. For instance, a mid-tier mining company in Australia invested in AI and machine learning to build digital twins for its milling operations, enhancing efficiency and reducing costs. However, many organisations have captured less value than expected from their digital initiatives, with only 31% of anticipated revenue lift and 25% of expected cost savings realised. Discussion Points: Balancing Speed and Stability in Digital Initiatives Understanding the Costs of Inaction in a Fast-Paced Tech Environment Identifying Common Pitfalls in Transformation Efforts and How to Avoid Them
- Enabling Australian CIO Influence with C-Level Stakeholders(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) Australian CIOs are expected to interpret the impacts of technology changes, and play a critical role in influencing C-Level stakeholders. All while organisations navigate financial constraints, increased cyber risks, and the rapid rise of AI-driven transformation. Factor’s local research reveals that 61% of Australian CIOs plan to increase digital transformation investment, with 84% of IT investments influenced by AI/ML initiatives. However, challenges persist—budget constraints (32%), integration complexity (28%), and talent shortages (18%) remain major barriers to success. The judicious use of AI as a force multiplier rather than a replacement for human intelligence, can assist in overcoming some of these hurdles. Organisations that embrace AI strategically are expected to see improved cybersecurity, greater operational efficiency and improved competitiveness. Recent AI developments have significantly disrupted the market and will potentially reduce the cost and increase efficiency of AI, however the overall competitive cost of inaction whilst waiting for this to eventuate is rising. Organisations that fail to adapt risk falling behind in an era where technology adoption drives competitive advantage. Discussion Points: What priorities are core to ICT Strategies? What technologies are influencing overall business and ICT Strategy? What factors are holding CIOs back in the race to avoid stagnation in a landscape where AI adoption is accelerating? What strategies can CIOs adopt to increase C-Level stakeholder influence in their organisation?
- Leadership in Times of Uncertainty: Lessons from the National Stage(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) In an era marked by rapid technological disruption and intensifying global instability, CIOs are expected to lead far beyond the IT function. This keynote invites one of Australia’s most seasoned national leaders, The Hon. John Howard, to reflect on how to lead through profound uncertainty—drawing lessons from the national stage that are deeply relevant to enterprise leadership today. Mr. Howard will explore the global political dynamics reshaping the world, how these forces impact Australia’s strategic position, and what today’s corporate leaders can learn from decision-making at the highest levels of public life. Discussion Points: Geopolitical Volatility and the Return of Strategic Competition : How rising tensions between global powers—such as the US, China, Russia, and Iran—are redrawing alliances, shifting global norms, and challenging the stability of liberal democracies. Australia’s Strategic Position in an Uncertain World : What these global shifts mean for Australia’s national priorities: from economic resilience and defence, to data sovereignty and technological independence. Leadership Under Pressure: What National Decision-Making Can Teach CIOs : How to make clear, trusted decisions in the absence of certainty—balancing risk, trust, and long-term vision. What CIOs can take from political leadership during reform, crisis, and global change.
- Rebuilding the Digital Backbone: Agile, Secure, and AI-Ready(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) As boards demand transformation with zero tolerance for failure, the CIO's focus is shifting from strategy to execution. This session explores how Australia’s enterprise leaders are modernising core infrastructure to thrive in a volatile, AI-driven world—without compromising speed, control, or resilience. Discussion Points: Designing “containable” infrastructure to limit the impact of failures, breaches, or outages. Rethinking the network as a real-time control plane for smarter, faster decisions. Embedding automation, segmentation, and observability for quicker recovery and AI-enabled responses. Practical strategies for modernising infrastructure without full rip-and-replace overhauls.
- The Collective Enterprise: C-Suite Collaboration Amid Global Megatrends and Trade Disruption(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) Join a dynamic cross-functional C-Suite panel as they unpack how collaborative leadership is vital in responding to today’s global megatrends—and how external forces like tariffs are reshaping the landscape for Australian companies. Going beyond the buzzwords of fusion teams, this conversation will spotlight how partnerships among top executives can help organisations navigate geopolitical shifts, trade policy changes, and economic volatility. From tariffs impacting supply chains to regulatory uncertainty across markets, discover how integrated C-Suite strategies are key to building resilience, agility, and competitive strength. Discussion Points: Harnessing diverse executive insights to confront global disruptions and protectionist trade measures. Adapting business frameworks to navigate governance, technological, and economic shifts—including the impact of tariffs and trade barriers. Aligning cross-functional leadership to innovate, manage risk, and sustain growth in a shifting international market.
- Reduce risk and cut costs through simplification and standardisation—until Data and AI changed the game(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) As IT executives and practitioners, we've consistently pursued simplification through technology rationalisation—consolidating similar functionalities into fewer applications. We've also worked to streamline our strategic vendor and partner landscape to maximise value for our spend - fewer apps, fewer vendors. But with the rise of AI, are we now facing a shift that challenges this very strategic imperative? AI is transforming our personal lives in ways we couldn't have imagined just a few years ago. It's accelerating business innovation, enabling faster time to market, and delivering competitive advantages. But amid the rapid evolution and intense drive to adopt AI, what impact is it having on our underlying technology ecosystem? Is AI truly driving simplification—or is it introducing a new level of complexity we’ve never encountered before? Discussion Points: • How should we govern AI? Are traditional governance frameworks and guardrails still fit for purpose in today’s AI-driven landscape? • With no single, unified AI solution able to cover all use cases , are we inadvertently increasing complexity by adopting multiple AI tools and approaches? • Data, data, data —bad data in means bad outcomes out. How can we effectively manage and control the explosion of data now powering multiple AI models?
- Morning Tea & Networking(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session)
- Exploring how data-driven insights can guide strategic decisions and improve business outcomes across departments.(Data Analytics)
- Addressing the challenge of upskilling IT teams and attracting digital talent, focusing on leadership in a tech-driven world.(Talent Development)
- Investigating how CIOs can support organisational sustainability efforts, aligning IT with environmental and social governance (ESG) metrics.(ESG Goals)
- From Bottlenecks to Breakthroughs: How CIOs Are Using Workflow Automation to Unclog Ops Without Writing Code(Low Code & Organisational Agility)
- Reclaiming IT Capacity: How CIOs Are Automating the Mundane and Accelerate What Matters(AI & Productivity)
- Exploring the evolving role of CIOs as strategic partners within the executive team, driving cross-functional collaboration and innovation.(CIO Partnership)
- Contain the Blast Radius – Rethinking Lateral Movement and Segmentation in a Breach-Ready World(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) Modern attackers don’t break in — they log in, move laterally, and escalate quietly. This keynote explores how security leaders are shifting from perimeter defences to breach containment, using segmentation to reduce risk, improve visibility, and enforce Zero Trust principles at scale. Key Discussion Points Understanding and limiting lateral movement inside the enterprise Designing for containment rather than just prevention Operationalising Zero Trust with visibility and segmentation at the core
- Building a Digitally Fit Workforce in the Age of AI Agents(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) [Fireside Chat] At ANZ, Jo Hayes is helping lead one of the most ambitious AI and workforce transformation programs in the country. From deploying generative AI tools like Microsoft Copilot to launching immersive training for thousands of leaders, Jo is reshaping how teams work, learn, and innovate. In this session, she unpacks what it really takes to build a digitally fit workforce—from overcoming resistance and closing skills gaps to aligning AI adoption with trust, accountability, and real-world outcomes. Discussion Points: Culture Before Tools: Why mindset shifts are more important than tech deployment when scaling digital capability. Training That Sticks: Lessons from ANZ’s AI Immersion Centre and how to get leaders and teams genuinely AI-literate. Balancing Empowerment and Guardrails: How to give people the freedom to use AI without compromising risk or compliance. The CIO’s Role in Workforce Transformation: Why digital fitness isn’t just HR’s job—and what CIOs must lead directly.
- The Intelligent Future of Work: Powered by AI, Built on Trust(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) In a world of rapid transformation, the future of work hinges on intelligence, flexibility, and trust. This session explores how AI is no longer just a tool, but the engine powering smarter work. Learn how forward-thinking organisations are embracing AI-driven platforms to remove inefficiencies, automate workflows, and deliver real-time visibility across teams. But it's not just about smarter systems, it's about building a foundation that’s secure, scalable, and flexible enough to evolve with your business. Discover how a Collaborative Work Management (CWM) platform like Smartsheet can unify your ecosystem, foster transparency, and empower everyone, from frontline teams to the C-suite, with the insights and tools they need to succeed. Discussion points: How AI is transforming execution and decision-making Why integration and security are essential for scalable operations How democratising access to information drives performance at every level What it takes to future-proof your work platform for long-term growth Whether you're rethinking your tech stack or accelerating digital transformation, this session will help you understand the shifts needed to stay ahead and why the time to act is now.
- Transform Faster, Deliver Smarter and Realise Value Sooner with AI-Accelerated Delivery in Financial Services(Executive Round Table) In financial services, where resilience, compliance, and customer trust are paramount, technology leaders are under growing pressure to modernise systems and accelerate digital delivery—without increasing risk. This roundtable will explore how AI-accelerated delivery is enabling BFSI organisations to enhance operational efficiency, automate safely, and make smarter decisions—while maintaining human oversight and robust governance. We’ll examine real-world strategies for embedding AI in software and data delivery workflows—from intelligent automation and human-in-the-loop models to AI literacy and responsible adoption frameworks. Attendees will gain peer insights on building scalable, compliant delivery architectures, fostering AI-ready cultures, and unlocking measurable value—sooner. Key Discussion Points: Targeting the Right AI Use Cases for BFSI Delivery: Where AI adds the most value in code generation, testing, data processing, fraud detection, and compliance workflows, without losing human control. Governance, Risk, and Responsible AI Adoption: How to implement transparent, auditable, and secure AI practices, aligned with regulatory expectations and organisational risk appetite. Upskilling for AI: Building Literacy and Trust: Closing the knowledge gap across tech and business teams to ensure AI tools are understood, trusted, and used responsibly. Demonstrating ROI in a Risk-Conscious Environment : Balancing innovation and caution, measuring value in speed, cost, compliance, and customer impact, and making the case to regulators and the board.
- Lunch Break and Peer Connect(Lunch and Peer Connect)
- Powering AI Workloads Anywhere: Building Resilient, Scalable Infrastructure(Executive Round Table) Despite Australia’s reputation as a leader in technology adoption, AI readiness remains low, with only 4% of organisations fully prepared to leverage its potential. In this roundtable with David Siroky, AI Chief Technology Officer for Cisco Asia Pacific, Japan, and China , we’ll explore the critical infrastructure and operational strategies CIOs need to close this gap. This roundtable provides a focused discussion on how to build infrastructure capable of running AI workloads anywhere—whether on-premises, at the edge, or in the cloud. Join us and your peers as Craig Baty, VP Research & Advisory, Factor, moderates this highly interactive roundtable to exchange insights on achieving end-to-end observability, securing operations from ground to cloud, and creating scalable, resilient systems that meet the demands of today and tomorrow. What You'll Gain: Strategies for creating secure, AI-ready environments that enable experimentation and scale Guidance on aligning AI capabilities with business strategy, ethics, and operations Peer-driven perspectives on overcoming the barriers to AI readiness
- Blocking lateral movement with practical segmentation that actually works(Segmentation and breach containment)
- Emphasising proactive approaches to cybersecurity, integrating security measures into projects from inception to minimise risk.(Cybersecurity Priority)
- With perimeter defences no longer enough, security leaders are shifting focus to segmentation, visibility, and response. This session explores how to limit attacker movement, enforce Zero Trust, and reduce risk across hybrid environments.(Operational Productivity)
- Discussing the growing need for digital sovereignty, reducing reliance on U.S.-centric cloud platforms, and how Australian CIOs are balancing cost, control, and compliance in a fragmented tech landscape.(Tech & Cloud Sovereignty)
- Focusing on building agility and resilience into business operations to quickly respond to market shifts, disruptions, and emerging opportunities.(Enterprise Agility)
- Exploring strategies to elevate customer interactions, personalisation, and engagement, ensuring competitive differentiation and loyalty.(Customer Experience)
- Driving Smarter Enterprise Performance: Balancing Experience, Intelligence, and Efficiency(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) As enterprises face growing pressure to do more with less, leaders are being challenged to deliver exceptional customer experiences while keeping a firm grip on cost, visibility, and innovation. This panel explores how organisations are balancing these demands by leveraging smarter strategies across customer experience, data-driven decision making, AI adoption, observability, and cost optimisation. Discussion Points: Customer experience (CX) at scale Data-driven decision making across the enterprise Practical applications of AI and enterprise-scale adoption System and service observability for performance and reliability Cost optimisation and investment prioritisation
- Doing More with Less – How Tech Leaders Can Turn Constraints into Strategic Advantage(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) In today’s climate of economic pressure and heightened expectations, technology leaders are being asked to deliver more — more innovation, more resilience, more value — with fewer resources. But constraints don’t have to mean compromise. In this session, Tanya Trott will explore how technology executives can use constraint as a catalyst for sharper focus, smarter investment, and greater team alignment. Drawing on her experience leading strategic technology initiatives and operational transformation in large-scale, regulated environments, Tanya will share practical insights into how tech leaders can prioritise ruthlessly, scale intelligently, and keep their teams engaged and motivated — even when the runway is tight. Discussion Points: Invest Where It Matters Most: Connect every tech dollar to clear business outcomes — whether that’s boosting productivity, improving service resilience, strengthening cybersecurity, or enhancing the customer experience. Use Automation and AI Wisely: Cut through the noise by focusing AI and automation efforts on removing friction and freeing up human capacity — not chasing hype. Lead with Purpose: In times of constraint, people look for clarity. Setting direction and communicating why priorities are shifting keeps teams motivated and aligned.
- Digital Transformation Built on Alignment and Driven by Accountability(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) In an enterprise where 80% of revenue is digital and operations span 12 international markets, digital transformation is more than just a technology shift—it’s a structural and cultural overhaul. In this session, Matthias Hansen, Group CTO at Domino’s Pizza Enterprises, will explore how a globally distributed business can drive consistent transformation while navigating diverse governance frameworks like GDPR, aligning business units across regions, and ensuring adoption of next-gen platforms like Atlassian, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and AI-powered development. Discussion Points: How Domino’s balances innovation and risk across Asia-Pacific and Europe Lessons on embedding AI into enterprise platforms and processes—without losing sight of real business impact Overcoming regional adoption challenges and encouraging experimentation across non-tech functions Why global governance, especially around data sovereignty, needs to be at the core of digital strategy
- Winning Practices to Transform Legacy IT Organisations(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session) As organisations race to stay competitive in the digital age, many are struggling to modernise their legacy IT systems and processes. Join Mirco Hering, author of "DevOps for the Modern Enterprise: Winning Practices to Transform Legacy IT Organisations", as he will dive deep into the strategies that can help CIOs and IT leaders overcome the obstacles of legacy infrastructure and accelerate their transformation journey. Drawing on his extensive experience and insights from his book, Mirco will cover: The Legacy IT Dilemma: Understanding why traditional approaches to IT management—modelled after outdated manufacturing practices—are failing in today’s fast-paced, innovation-driven tech environment. Creating a People-Centric Ecosystem: How to empower teams, foster collaboration, and put creativity at the heart of IT delivery, shifting from a process-driven culture to a performance-driven one. The Role of Agile, Lean, and DevOps: How combining these methodologies can drive real change, improve collaboration, and deliver high-quality outcomes at scale. The Hidden Power of Cultural Change: Practical insights on how to break through the cultural barriers that hinder transformation, with real-world examples of how large enterprises have successfully navigated this challenge. Technology as an Enabler, Not a Saviour: Why the right tools alone won’t guarantee success, and how to ensure technology is used to drive meaningful change, not just automate existing processes.
- Closing Remarks(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session)
- Networking Drinks & End of Day(CIO Day Sydney - Plenary Session)
Speakers
Matthias Hansen · Group CTO, Domino's A business and technology leader with the intellect to tackle complex problems, the discipline to deliver commercial results, and the personality to quickly build enterprise-wide relationships to enable better whole of business outcomes.
Ashley Diffey · Vice President, ANZ, Ping Identity Ashley Diffey is a passionate leader with over 20 years of experience in B2B Sales, Key Account Management and Business Development in both Finance and ICT/Telecommunications industries, specialising in security, data, communications, SaaS and hosted software. As VP of Australia and New Zealand for Ping Identity, Ashley is responsible for accelerating sales and bolstering customer support and services to continue driving the increasing demand for Ping Identity’s solutions in the region. He is working with organisations to achieve Zero Trust identity-defined security and more personalised, streamlined user experiences. Ash works closely with customers to provide flexible identity solutions that accelerate digital business initiatives, delight customers, and secure the enterprise through multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, access management, intelligent API security, directory, and data governance capabilities. Prior to joining Ping Identity, Ashley worked at leading ICT/Telecommunication companies such as F5 Networks, Commvault and Telstra. During his tenure at F5 Networks he oversaw the organisation’s southern regional channel, the Telstra partnership and was Director for Channel Sales Australia and New Zealand at Commvault.
Mirco Hering · Global Lead Experience and Platform Engineering, Accenture With over 20 years at Accenture, Mirco Hering is a Managing Director leading the global DevOps practice and APAC Agile practice. Renowned for his expertise in Agile and DevOps transformations, he has supported major public and private sector organisations across Australia and globally, driving innovation in software delivery and IT efficiency. Mirco’s pragmatic approach focuses on blending methodologies to deliver tangible outcomes, whether setting up large-scale transformations or course-correcting projects that veer off track. Mirco is the author of the award-winning DevOps for the Modern Enterprise and a sought-after speaker at conferences worldwide, sharing insights on IT delivery, Agile practices, and DevOps strategies. Through his blog, Not A Factory Anymore, he continues to inspire IT leaders to overcome legacy challenges and embrace modern engineering practices. His passion for fostering high-performing developer communities underscores his leadership in Accenture’s mission to redefine IT delivery excellence.
David Irecki · Chief Technical Officer, APJ, Boomi David Irecki is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Asia Pacific / Japan (APJ) at Boomi, a category-leading, global software as a service (SaaS) company with more than 20,000 global customers and a worldwide network of 800 partners. As CTO, David leads the region’s efforts in advocating and evangelizing the future of artificial intelligence (AI) in business with intelligent integration and automation. He is instrumental in helping organizations across the APJ region thrive in the digital age and on their AI journeys. David leads a team of pre-sales professionals across APJ. Under his leadership, his team helps customers transform their business by solving integration and data management challenges. David is an IT veteran with over 20 years of experience in the enterprise integration and embedded computing markets. David joined Boomi in June 2015 as the first Solutions Consultant in APJ. Prior to Boomi, David worked for MuleSoft, where he led the APJ Solutions Consulting team. David is a graduate of New Zealand’s Massey University, majoring in Information Engineering.
Madeline Palmer · Head - Content, Research & Editorial, Factor Madeline Palmer is a seasoned media and communications professional with extensive experience across journalism, broadcasting, and content creation. Before joining Factor, Madeline worked as a broadcast journalist in a number of major newsrooms across the country. During this time, Madeline covered breaking national and international news, including the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Medibank and Optus data breaches, several State and Federal Elections, the historical AUKUS Agreement, and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, among other stories.
Tom Richardson · CIO - EGM Bank Transition & Corporate, Suncorp Group Experienced CIO with history of leading transformational change. Strategic thinker coupled with deep execution skills. Builder of high performance technology teams in retail banking, wealth management, IT procurement, and mergers & acquisitions (M&A).
Tanya Trott · Chief Technology Officer, Transurban A versatile and widely experienced senior Technology professional with a history of planning and implementing technology initiatives to generate improved productivity and deliver capability uplifts and strategic value. I enjoy interacting with people and re-focusing teams to deliver excellent service and successful programs of work. Specialties: Specialised skills in technology roadmaps and adoption, technology selection and business case development, contract negotiation and cost reduction identification and execution, and service and operational management and general business management skills. The ability to translate technical drivers to business initiatives and vice-versa.
Craig Baty · Vice President - Research & Advisory, Factor With over 30 years of C-level experience in ICT, HR, marketing, sales, operations, research, leadership, and international business, Craig is a notable tech industry leader.
Jarrod Kinchington · Regional Vice President, ANZ Sales - Smartsheet, Smartsheet Jarrod is a strategic and creative leader with over 20 years of experience driving performance through innovation, strategic planning, and change management. He has held senior roles at leading organisations including Telstra, Oracle, DXC Technology, Infor, and Ivanti, and now brings his expertise to Smartsheet. Jarrod has worked across a wide range of industries from Telecommunications and Utilities to Transportation, Financial Services, and the Public Sector, partnering with Business and IT stakeholders to deliver measurable outcomes. With deep expertise in Enterprise Applications, Integration, and Managed Services, he specialises in modernising legacy systems and leading cloud transformation initiatives. Passionate about aligning innovation, culture, and strategy, Jarrod excels at building high-performing teams and enabling organisations to thrive in an era of rapid change.
Goran Stefkovski · Chief Technology Officer, Kogan Goran Stefkovski is the Chief Technology Officer of Kogan.com. Before joining Kogan.com, Goran worked at companies such as Rio Tinto, Coffey International, and as a solicitor at HWL Ebsworth Lawyers. His valuable years of experience in technology and e-commerce has secured him seats at ZDNet's TechBuzz series in 2013, Keynote speaker at Rackspace Solve (2015), SydStart (2015), AWS ReInvent (2016), Dropbox Melbourne Business event (2016) as well as numerous other panellist and speaker roles. A firm believer of personalisation and data analysis to improve shoppers' experience, Goran ensured technological excellence and innovation in Kogan across all business lines and received the CIO of the Year award in the Consumer sector for the Kogan development team's achievements in 2017.
David Siroky · AI Chief Technology Officer, Cisco Asia Pacific, Japan, and China, Cisco David Siroky is the AI Architecture Lead at Cisco, having held various leadership roles across the Asia Pacific. He focuses on solution architecture, collaborating with data scientists to support organisations in delivering their AI projects. His work spans diverse customers in the Asia Pacific & Japan region. Prior to Cisco, David worked at Dell Technologies and Microsoft in Seattle, contributing to software development projects. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in computer science and business, blending technical and strategic expertise. David is a proud father of a 17-year-old girl, an avid reader, fitness enthusiast, skier and passionate about diversity & STEM.
Claire Smith · Chief Digital & Data Officer, Endeavour Group Claire Smith is the Chief Digital & Data Officer at Endeavour Group, Australia's leading retail drinks and hospitality business. With over 25 years of experience in digital, technology, and transformation roles across the retail and FMCG sectors in Australia and New Zealand, Claire has been instrumental in driving Endeavour Group's technology strategy. She joined the company in 2012 as Head of Online for Dan Murphy’s and has since held several key positions, including Director of endeavourX, the company's digital innovation arm. Appointed CIO in 2023, Claire continues to lead Endeavour Group's multi-year technology transformation, focusing on enhancing customer experiences and operational excellence.
Craig Magee · ANZ Chief Technology Officer, Splunk Craig Magee serves as the Chief Technology Officer for ANZ at Splunk, bringing over 25 years of experience in technology and business leadership. In his role, Craig partners with customers to align Splunk’s capabilities with their strategic goals—helping reduce IT costs, enhance operational and IT resilience, and strengthen cybersecurity to mitigate organisational risk. Craig’s expertise spans a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, consulting, resources and mining, financial services, government, and retail. This breadth of experience gives him valuable cross-sector insights and a versatile skill set, enabling him to drive impactful outcomes across diverse business environments.
Rajkumar Mathiravedu · Group Executive & President Asia, Orica Rajkumar Mathiravedu is an experienced global senior executive and Non-Executive Director with a proven track record in creating and executing enterprise-level business transformation programs. He specialises in value-driven digital acceleration that enables firms in the energy and resources industry to reach their full potential. Rajkumar has strategic and end-to-end P&L accountability across integrated asset lifecycle management, covering both direct customer-led and ecosystem partnership sales channels from ideation to distribution. He is a results-driven visionary leader with hands-on experience across a diverse functional portfolio, thriving in multi-cultural global environments. Rajkumar is recognised for his ability to harness talent and develop high-performance teams. Known as a savvy leader, he excels at driving consensus across diverse organisations and making strategic business decisions that deliver measurable results. He has a strong history of building and scaling new businesses, including leading native digital transformations within legacy industrial sectors, thereby delivering significant enterprise value to stakeholders.
Stevie-ann Dovico · Group Executive Technology | Chief Information Officer, Beyond Bank Stevie is a technologist, a strategist, an innovator, and a leader. She has a larger-than-life energy and a passion for developing people and teams. Stevie started her career in consulting working for EY and KPMG and has spent almost 20 years in banking and financial services at both Westpac and NAB running critical technology platforms that support some of the largest businesses in Australia. Throughout her career she has led global teams and large-scale delivery and transformed digital capabilities. She is currently the CIO of Beyond Bank, one of the largest customer owned banks in Australia and one of the best BCORPs in the country. In 2022 Stevie was awarded Executive Leader of the Year by Women in Digital and in 2024 was recognised as one of Australia’s top 50 CIOs in CIO50.
Partners
- Equal Experts · Gold
- Creatio · Bronze Creatio is a global vendor of an AI-native platform to automate CRM and workflows with no-code. Millions of workflows are launched on our platform daily in 100 countries by thousands of clients. Genuine care for our clients and partners is a defining part of Creatio DNA. Creatio offerings include a no-code platform (Studio Creatio), CRM applications (marketing, sales, and service), industry workflows for 20 verticals, and marketplace add-ons. Creatio is recognized as a Leader and Strong Performer in multiple Gartner and Forrester reports. Creatio products receive raving end-user reviews on peer-to-peer portals. Our customers enjoy the freedom to own their automation. Freedom is provided through unlimited customization, the ability to build apps without a line of code, and a universe of ready-to-use templates and connectors. Creatio is headquartered in Boston, MA. We have 700 employees in six offices and a local presence in 25 countries. Creatio has long-lasting relationships with thousands of customers and partners with 700 GSIs and local integrators worldwide.
Boomi · Gold Boomi aims to make the world a better place by connecting everyone to everything, anywhere. The pioneer of cloud-based integration platform as a service (iPaaS), and now a category-leading, global software as a service (SaaS) company, Boomi touts the largest customer base among integration platform vendors and a worldwide network of approximately 800 partners – including Accenture, Capgemini, Deloitte, SAP, and Snowflake. Global organisations turn to Boomi’s award-winning platform to discover, manage, and orchestrate data, while connecting applications, processes, and people for better, faster outcomes. For more information, visit http://www.boomi.com.
OutSystems · Silver- Cisco · Diamond Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) enables people to make powerful connections--whether in business, education, philanthropy, or creativity. Cisco hardware, software, and service offerings are used to create the Internet solutions that make networks possible--providing easy access to information anywhere, at any time. Cisco was founded in 1984 by a small group of computer scientists from Stanford University. Since the company's inception, Cisco engineers have been leaders in the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies. Today, with more than 71,000 employees worldwide, this tradition of innovation continues with industry-leading products and solutions in the company's core development areas of routing and switching, as well as in advanced technologies such as home networking, IP telephony, optical networking, security, storage area networking, and wireless technology. In addition to its products, Cisco provides a broad range of service offerings, including technical support and advanced services. Cisco sells its products and services, both directly through its own sales force as well as through its channel partners, to large enterprises, commercial businesses, service providers, and consumers.
Kong Inc. · Bronze APIs run everything. They enable AI. They’re at the heart of modern applications and customer experiences. But the explosion of APIs and services creates challenges around complexity, scale, compliance, and security. Kong simplifies things. It is the foundation that enables any company to securely adopt AI and become an API-first company — speeding up time to market, creating new business opportunities, and delivering superior products and services. Kong helps organizations globally — from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises — unleash developer productivity, build securely and accelerate time to market. For more information about Kong, please visit www.konghq.com or follow us on X @thekonginc.- Smartsheet · Gold
- Kaseya · Bronze
Splunk · Platinum Splunk helps make organizations more digitally resilient. Leading organizations use our unified security and observability platform to keep their digital systems secure and reliable. Organizations trust Splunk to prevent infrastructure, application and security incidents from becoming major issues, remediate threats and disruptions faster, and adapt quickly to new opportunities. Splunk helps SecOps, ITOps and engineering teams deliver these outcomes with comprehensive visibility, rapid detection and investigation, and optimized response, all accelerated by AI and at the scale necessary for the world's largest organizations.- TPG Telecom · Gold TPG Telecom is one of Australia’s largest telecommunication companies and operates a number of leading mobile and internet brands including Vodafone, TPG, iiNet, Internode, Lebara, AAPT and felix. As a full-service telecommunications provider, TPG Telecom provides mobile, internet, business and fixed network solutions. We serve consumers, small and medium businesses, government, corporate enterprises and wholesale customers offering a comprehensive portfolio of fixed and mobile products in the Australian telecommunications market. We operate a leading mobile network with over 5,600 sites covering more than 23 million Australians, and Australia’s second-largest fixed voice and data network, with more than 27,000km of inter-capital and metropolitan fibre networks as well as international transit capacity, and a 5G mobile network that is currently being rolled out. TPG Telecom is an ASX-listed company, employing more than 3,000 people offering a flexible, diverse and inclusive workplace. At TPG Telecom, we are committed to connecting Australia for the better.
- Nintex · Platinum Nintex is the global standard for process intelligence and automation. Today more than 10,000 public and private sector organisations across 90 countries turn to the Nintex Platform to accelerate progress on their digital transformation journeys by quickly and easily managing, automating and optimising business processes. Learn more by visiting www.nintex.com and experience how Nintex and its global partner network are shaping the future of Intelligent Process Automation (IPA).
- Panelist · Bronze Panelist is the vision for easy connections. We are a movement that exits to eliminate the complexity in professional interactions and give individuals a sense of clarity behind every conversation. And we do that by giving you the power to swift through to the right conversations and opportunities. Founded in 2021, we have had exponential growth, with members and senior executives from organisations across the globe including the Fortune 500. Panelist services include: Social networking Virtual events platform Audio chat rooms Company community centers We grow rapidly and we're always on the look out for talent across engineering, product management, design, research, analytics, technical program management, operations, and more.
Ping Identity · Gold- Whatfix · Bronze
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