‘Maintaining Australia’s Competitiveness in a Digital World’

Details

AIIA is excited to announce a special event: on Wednesday 13 April, David Thodey, Chair of CSIRO and former CEO of Telstra, will give an address entitled “Maintaining Australia’s Competitiveness in a Digital World”. Mr Thodey is one of Australia’s foremost business leaders with deep experience in the digital transformation of our economy.

The address will be followed by a panel of government and industry leaders including; Paul Fletcher, Minister for Major Projects, Territories and Local Government, Cathy Kovacs – Head of Business Development, Westpac Group Strategy and Sandy Plunkett – Founder, Innovation Clearinghouse, expertly moderated by Kristin Stubbins – Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers who will help to explore and debate the key elements of Mr Thodey’s presentation.

As a participant in this select event, you’ll have an opportunity to connect with the speakers and panellists, and join in discussion on topics including:

Global events impacting Australia’s competitiveness
Maintaining Australia’s capacity to grow
Australia’s ability to act quickly and take advantage of digital opportunities
The role of global science, research and innovation on Australia’s ranking in the global competitiveness list

Speakers:

David Thodey, Chair, CSIRO

David Thodey is Chairman of the CSIRO Board. He is an innovative Australian businessman and an experienced board chairman and senior executive who offers expertise in management, corporate and government relations, information and communications technology, and sales and marketing. Mr Thodey was the CEO of Telstra from May 2009 to April 2015, and prior to that had a 22-year career with IBM, working in senior marketing and sales positions, including CEO of IBM Australia/New Zealand. He is also on the Board of the GSM Association and has more than 20 years’ experience working in Asia. Former board memberships include co-chair of the Infrastructure and Investment Taskforce of the B20 leadership group, and Chairman of IBM ANZ, TelstraClear, Information Technology (IT) Skills Hub, Industry Groups and Basketball Australia. Term of appointment: 15.10.15 to 14.10.20.Paul Fletcher, Minister for Major Projects, Territories and Local Government

Paul Fletcher is the Minister for Major Projects, Territories, and Local Government.
He entered Parliament in December 2009 as the Member for Bradfield; was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications in September 2013; and was appointed to his present role in September 2015.
Before entering Parliament, Paul was Director, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, at Optus for eight years; established a consulting firm serving the communications sector; and in 2009 his book about broadband, Wired Brown Land was published by UNSW Press.
Earlier in his career Paul was Chief of Staff to the Minister for Communications in the Howard Government, Senator Richard Alston. He has dual first class honours degrees in law and economics from The University of Sydney and an MBA from Columbia University in New York where he was a Fulbright Scholar.
Paul has been a member of the Liberal Party since he was 16 and was active in student politics at Sydney University. He was a champion university debater, twice reaching the finals of the World Universities Debating Championship.
Paul lives in Roseville with his wife Manuela, step-son Gabriel and son Hugo.Cathy Kovacs, Head of Business Development, Westpac Group Strategy

Cathy is Head of Business Development for Westpac with responsibility for building the capacity to develop a portfolio of innovative and disruptive businesses in areas that are complementary to Westpac.Cathy has 25 years’ experience in financial services building innovative businesses and customer solutions for leading companies including Macquarie, Ellerston Capital and BT Financial Group.

Her current role allows her to collaborate with the FinTech community to meet the needs of Westpac customers and to help small companies accelerate their growth through direct partnerships or via Westpac’s VC fund capability, Reinventure.She is also a FinTech company director, sitting on the Board of equity crowd funding start up, Equitise.Sandy Plunkett, Founder, Innovation Clearinghouse

Sandy is a leading commentator and advisor specialising in innovation system policy and business practice. She has 25-plus years’ experience working in Australia, the US and Israel in venture capital and with a Silicon Valley technology startup that went public on NASDAQ. She is a contributing author to landmark global research on Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Growth Company Dynamics for the World Economic Forum and led by Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Sandy is a delegate to the upcoming Knowledge Nation Summit, which recognizes 100 Australians at the cutting edge of innovation in Australia and who are contributing to Australia’s transitioning culture and economy. (MC) Kristin Stubbins, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Kristin is the strategy and markets leader for PwC assurance. This role involves setting strategy and driving PwC’s market activity to further enhance our market leading position in assurance. A key focus for Kristin at the current time is the growth of risk services, including innovative new service offerings in response to technological developments and cyber threats and opportunities. Kristin is passionate about innovation and is leading an initiative with a number of capital markets participants to develop Sydney as a key innovation centre.
Kristin provides assurance and advisory services to many clients in both the private (ASX listed and private equity) and public sectors. She has been an adviser to some of Australia’s largest companies and government agencies and departments. Her main industry focuses are health and retail.
Kristin led PwC’s health consulting business, a national multi-disciplinary team focused on consulting to the health sector from 2010-2012. This business grew significantly in those 2 years.
Kristin has been a member of the editorial panel for the Australian Financial Review’s CFO Magazine. She was on the Board of Directors and was the Treasurer of YWCA NSW, a not for profit organisation supporting people when they are at their most vulnerable, for 6 years. In 2011, Kristin was appointed to the Expert Panel advising NSW Government on Coastal Erosion as a Financial Expert. In December 2012, Kristin was appointed to the Board of the South East Sydney Local Health District and was subsequently appointed Chair of the Finance and Performance Committee.

This event is proudly supported by