AIIA NSW Financial Services Briefing: ‘Blockchain, Separate the hype from the reality’

Jason Millett

Master of Ceremonies
Former CIO, Westpac NZ and Director, MillSteet Consulting

Jason Millett is a Director of MillStreet Consulting Pty Ltd providing Executive level advice to organisations dealing with complex organisational transformation agendas enabled by IT. Current engagements include advising a technology vendor on go to market strategies and identifying opportunities for proactive engagement across businesses in need. He also provides coaching and mentoring services, assisting young executives to understand the challenges and opportunities ahead of them.

Over the past two years, Jason has held senior roles in the Westpac Group, more recently as the Infrastructure Transformation Director responsible for establishing a new strategic alliance with a major global technology vendor. Prior to this he was the Interim Chief Information Officer at Westpac NZ, responsible for the leadership, business direction and performance of the Technology group, He is also member of the Westpac NZ Executive Team. Prior to this he was a Group Executive at Billabong International responsible for technology, eCommerce and business transformation leading teams across multiple geographies.

Earlier in his career, he was a senior executive at Westpac Banking Corporation where he worked from May 2008 to July 2011, initially as General Manager Strategy in the Consumer Financial Services Division of the Group. During his time at Westpac, Jason held several senior positions including CIO for Product & Operations and Westpac Retail and Business Banking, General Manager Strategy, Execution and Transformation for the consumer and business products Division and more recently focussing on Productivity and Process Excellence for the Westpac Group.

Before joining Westpac, Jason spent 8 years at the Commonwealth Bank in various senior executive roles including: Executive General Manager, Execution for Enterprise IT, leading all major IT programmes and the IT transformation programme for the Bank.

Jason is a Board member of LIXI, a lending standards organisation and was PMI Australian Project Manager of the Year in 2006. Prior to working in the private sector, Jason spent 15 years as an Officer in the Royal Australian Navy and retired with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

Jason is married with 3 Children (G19, G18, B16). He has been an active Surf Life Saver and is a past President of Palm Beach SLSC. He is a passionate Rugby supporter, emerging Golfer and voracious reader.

Nagib Kassis

General Manager, Strategy and Transformation, Allianz

As the GM of Strategy & Transformation with Allianz Australia, Nagib is responsible for formulation of the company’s IT strategy and leads a team that creates the interface between the business and technology. Responsibility includes Enterprise Architecture, Digital Strategy, PMO, Business Intelligence and Strategic Program delivery.

Nagib is active in the Australian Fintech Startup community as a mentor to up and coming startups and is also an advisor to a venture capitalist company.

Nagib previously held the position of Global Head of Sourcing & Procurement for Allianz in Munich, transforming the Group’s procurement capabilities and establishing a centralised procurement function for global spend. Prior to this role, Nagib was heading up the Infrastructure & Operations team for Allianz Australia.

Laszlo Peter

Executive Manager, CommSec IT Strategy, CBA

Laszlo Peter is an executive manager at the Commonwealth Bank, most recently responsible for the CommSec IT Strategy. He is researching new and emerging technologies that can help CommSec consolidate its leading position as the premier full service retail broker. He also takes an active role in the bank’s innovation initiatives, running several experiments and proof of concepts.

Laszlo has extensive experience in financial markets and corporate banking, previously leading the banks’ Institutional Equities and Client Coverage, Corporate Digital Channels and Business Foreign Exchange IT departments.

Prior to joining CBA, Laszlo worked in Amsterdam as a capital markets consultant with investment and trading firms in The Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. He has degrees in mathematics and computer science, and management development studies from MIT. He is a passionate traveller and keen photographer, and author of several travel books.