Official Event Speakers
Scott Alden
Partner
Holding Redlich
Scott advises private and public sector clients on major projects. He acts for owners, contractors and bidders in relation to all aspects of a project including advising on procurement and contracting methodologies and approaches to market, documenting the procurement process, drafting and negotiating the contract and also acting as probity advisor.
Scott has specific expertise in government infrastructure projects, general contractual and legislative advice and the tendering process (at all levels of government).
Scott is highly regarded in the sectors of water, social housing, ports and transport, government, and information technology requirements.
Coretta Bessi
Chief Procurement Officer
Ausgrid
Coretta is recognised as a leading procurement and business services executive. Her experience spans the mining, manufacturing, distribution, telecommunications and energy sectors. She has had consulting exposure to local, state and national public sector.
Now the Head of Procurement at Ausgrid, she leads their procurement transformation in the turnaround years. Her previous roles included the Chief Procurement Officer at NBN, and CPO and Head of Shared Services at BlueScope.
Coretta truly believes that to drive value across the supply chain, you need to build genuine and authentic relationships with internal stakeholders and external providers to the business.
She is absolutely passionate about supporting women in the profession and has co-founded a network called Ladies in Procurement that brings together women to learn and share in a no-sales environment.
Myla Bulaon
Engagement Manager (Procurement) / CPO (Acting) / Project Lead
Department of Finance, Services & Innovation
Myla is an outcomes-focused, project-driven procurement executive who leads teams to deliver innovation and measureable improvements in procurement practices. She’s a collaborative leader with over 15 years of experience in NSW Government procurement. She remains a strong advocate of social responsibility, supplier diversity and ethical supply chains.
Sally Carr
VP of Sales - Asia Pacific
Expert360
Sally Carr is a recognised thought leader in the talent & tech world. With a natural passion for people, she has gained a wealth of experience across the globe building strong partnerships with Enterprise organisations on workforce strategies, tech solutions and all things people. She is currently the VP Sales at one of Australia's fastest start up's - Expert360, an on-demand talent platform for the non-perm workforce.
Sally is an Executive Coach in her spare time and has won numerous accolades throughout her career for her leadership, including Hays APAC Manager of the Year - 2007, LinkedIn’s APAC Leadership Award (2015) & LinkedIn GLOBAL Coaching Award (2016). Sally is passionate about the future of work, and what this means in today's world.
Freya Dinshaw
Senior Lawyer
Human Rights Law Centre
Jonathan Dutton
Director
JD Consultancy
JD Consultancy was established in Australia in 2004 by seasoned general manager and business leader, Jonathan Dutton. With over 30 years’ experience across several industries and in a variety of senior roles across sales & marketing, procurement & supply and general management, Jonathan now works as an independent business consultant helping organisations achieve transformational change and growth through applying his core values of focus, insight, reality and speed.
Jonathan's skill set is particularly strong in sales & marketing, driving top-line growth & bottom-line improvement. He uses his deep understanding of the procurement industry and buyers' mindset to develop incisive customer propositions and successful sales & marketing programmes - primarily in the B2B marketplace. He also has a contact-list second to none in the procurement sector, including many top CPOs.
Well-known throughout the procurement industry, Jonathan is also available for professional speaking engagements, training workshops and facilitating strategy meetings & round-tables. He often talks from his experiences on 'both sides of the fence' in procurement or in sales & marketing.
Amanda Cech
Former General Manager, Logistics
Coca Cola Amatil
Bachelor of Business: Marketing & Administrative Management at University of South Australia.
Amanda joined Coca-Cola Amatil in 1997 after completing a Bachelor of Business majoring in Administrative Management and Marketing. Over the past 19 years Amanda has held a variety of sales roles within CCA and SPC Ardmona. The past 8 years Amanda has moved from sales, General Manager of the Woolworths Limited account to Supply Chain , General Manager Logistics, Warehouse & Planning, General Manager – SA & NT Supply Chain. The past 3 years Amanda has held the position of General Manager – Logistics with the key areas of responsibility as follows:
- National Safety responsibility for CCA Logistics network
- National operational responsibility for CCA logistics network
- Strategic direction to drive efficiency and safety
- Network Optimisation
- Major CI Project via Transformation platforms
- Business Excellence (BEx)
Dr Stefan Gassner
Associate Director, Procurement Practice Lead
Grosvenor Performance Group
Stefan is a driven procurement leader with ten years’ experience in supply chain, procurement and commercial management, including internationally. Leading Grosvenor’s Procurement Practice, Stefan loves delivering tangible results and has worked for more than 70 of the biggest organisation in Australia to transform their procurement functions, deliver high stakes sourcing projects and implement performance management processes.
During his PhD, Stefan developed a framework to support the decision as to what services should be kept in-house and which ones are best outsourced, which has been published as a book in Germany. A visible expert, Stefan is regularly engaged to present at procurement conferences and seminars and regularly contributes to thought leadership pieces.
Jennifer Goddard
Director, Member Services (APAC)
International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM)
Jennifer is an experienced Master Instructor with a demonstrated history of working in the professional training & coaching industry. Skilled in Executive Development, Career Development, Coaching, Business Coaching, and Entrepreneurship. Strong business development professional with a Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation focused in 2005 from Swinburne University of Technology.
Jeremy Goodman
Director, Supply Chain
Carnival Australia
Prior to joining Carnival Australia, Jeremy was the Group Procurement Manager at Ardent Leisure Group and has held Procurement & Senior Management roles at Mummu Media, Quest Serviced Apartments and AccorHotels.
Jeremy is a Supply Chain & Strategic Sourcing Specialist with over 12 years’ experience primarily in the hospitality industry, and has a keen focus on maximizing value through partnerships, and maintaining close alignment to internal & external customers to ensure that the end result delivers holistic benefit to the business. Jeremy’s key areas of speciality include the strategic sourcing of Food & Beverage, IT&T, Consumables & Travel.
Victoria Gordon
Partner
Holding Redlich
Victoria is a senior projects and procurement lawyer acting for all levels of government and private sector clients in relation to procurement, projects, probity and commercial advising.
She has extensive experience advising on all stages of the procurement process including drafting and advising on a range of standard and bespoke construction contracts and commercial agreements.
Giovanni holds a Master Degree in Marketing & Communication Management and a Bachelor Degree in Business Management from Bocconi University in Milan. He is passionate about change management and team building dynamics and has a strong interest in the field of consumer behaviour and psychology of buying.
On behalf of CIPS, Giovanni has been deeply involved with the developments of the Australian Modern Slavery Act from early consultation stages to the Act becoming law last November, contributing – alongside other business leaders – to the shaping and review of the legislation. He has recently ran a number of initiatives aimed at increasing awareness around Modern Slavery and providing guidance to organisations on how to prepare for the new requirements imposed by the Act.
Before joining CIPS, Giovanni has worked as Account Manager at Daronet, a cutting-edge web solution company, and was in charge of client management as well as overseeing project operations to ensure high quality and on-time delivery. Prior to this, Giovanni has held a number of sales management positions at marketing and advertising agencies – ASAP Direct & Aida International in Australia; Sistema Innovazione in Italy – respectively leading sales teams to deliver on KPIs, running performance and motivational training and managing production of specialist online content. Outside work, he enjoys sport – tennis (which he played for over 20 years) running and, as a good Italian, football. He is also a food enthusiast, loves cooking, and fancies travelling and being social.
Tanya Harris
Global Manager Procurement
The Fred Hollows Foundation
Tanya is a sustainable Procurement ISO 20400 Australian technical committee member and international contributor, representing the Australian Council for International Development. He is also a UN 10YFP listed Sustainable Public Procurement expert. Previously a contributor to the international stakeholder group for the draft GHG Protocol and ICT Sector supplement, she attended the UNFCCC COP 15 (‘09) in Copenhagen as an Australian telecommunications business representative.
She brings proven track record in leading complex negotiations, with well-developed skills in strategy, policy and process development, handling conflict, issues and opportunities locally (Australia) and internationally.
Tanya has extensive private sector experience, now enjoying applying business methodologies in the international development sector, advising and implementing best practice sustainable procurement approaches across public and NGO sectors.
Her specialities incorporate Sustainable Procurement, Sustainable Sourcing, Capacity Building, Knowledge Sharing, Corporate Responsibility, Organisational Strategy, Policy Development, Negotiation, Vendor and Contract Management, Carbon Management; Energy Efficiency, and Procurement Process Improvement
Shae Howard
Director, Technology Advisory
Ernst & Young
Shae is a business professional with over 20 years’ ICT experience specialising in strategic relationship management, spend optimisation, service delivery and process improvement. She recently completed her MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management with a focus on Leadership and Strategy.
She has held a variety of global and local roles with Cisco, Gateway Computers and most recently with the Department of Finance, Services & Innovation in NSW Government. Shae has played a leading role in the creation of a diversity resource groups to attract, develop and retain female employees in STEM. In 2014, Shae was shortlisted for the ARN Women in IT Award for her work in developing female mentoring programs
Gwen Inglis
Chief Procurement Officer
Veolia Australia and New Zealand
Utilising her Engineering background, Gwen has over 15 years of Procurement and Contract Management experience working in heavy industry, manufacturing and mining support. She has a diverse commercial background collated through exposure to both the supply and customer landscape at Wesfarmers, BIS Industries and earlier at CSR Readymix. With in an interest in transformation Gwen's successes are developing or updating strategic supply relationships, embedding operational efficiency and creating value across all elements of the S2P chain. Gwen enjoys building high performance teams and supporting team members to realise their potential.
Gwen's current role is GM Procurement for Veolia Australia and New Zealand and she is responsible for the procurement function and the digitization of purchasing across Veolia's national Waste, Water and Energy businesses.
Bill Jarrard
Co-Founder and Innovation Facilitator
Mindwerx International
Bill is a thought leader in helping others understand, interpret and apply the vast amount of information available on creativity and innovation. His focus role is in Innovation Facilitation, and he works with Boards and Executive teams facilitating strategic thinking and innovation planning globally.
Bill is supporting the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM) a Not-For-Profit global association, in a Business Development & Member Advocacy role.
The IACCM is a research and advisory organisation whose mission is to raise the professionalism and profile of Contract and Commercial Managers. He is a Director of IACCM Pty Ltd.
He is the Regional Advocate for The Institute for Learning Professionals (Victoria). In this role he plans and facilitates member events, supports emerging learning professionals, and contributes to the professionalism of the learning and development industry.
A Master of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Bill addresses audiences throughout Australia and overseas. Intent on helping organisations creatively address today’s pressing business issues, Bill advises leaders on innovation.
Chontelle Kelly
Procurement Excellence Expert
Nestle
Chontelle is a tech-savvy millennial with a severe enthusiasm for promoting supply chain and procurement as careers of choice to the younger generations. After falling into procurement straight out of high school, Chontelle has spent the last six years in eight different supply chain & procurement roles including strategic sourcing, property, logistics, operations, supply chain customer service and most recently in the Oceania Procurement Excellence team at Nestle. In 2018, Chontelle was a finalist for the CIPS Young procurement and Supply Professional of the Year and presented at many forums to senior leaders on the importance of nurturing a younger workforce to become the future leaders of the procurement profession.
Melissa Kirk
Assistant Director Business Engagement, Contracting & Aid Management Division
Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade
Melissa has over 28 years’ experience, having worked in public and private sectors including policing, defence, marketing, telecommunications, education, mining and legal. She has extensive experience in project management, procurement and contract management and the ability to manage contract negotiations.
She is the supplier engagement specialist with the Aid Business Engagement team within DFAT. She is responsible for the management of the Indigenous Procurement Enhancement Plan within the Aid Program. She is also responsible for the facilitation of supplier engagement programs and activities.
Mark Lamb
General Manager
CIPS Australasia
Mark is an executive manager who thrives when working in a team environment. He has worked across various industries for more than 25 years in various management roles, both locally and globally, with a range of experiences in different environments – including procurement.
Originally in banking, he transitioned to more broadly-based financial services focusing initially on insurance and risk management. He has held a number of strategy and consulting roles, especially in relation to key areas such as leadership and team building, with proven business, strategy and operation skills. He has assisted many organisations to transition into new strategies and methodologies.
Mark has extensive experience in the distribution methodologies across different channels, including traditional and emerging distribution systems. His roles have covered most areas of organisational management, including: marketing and distribution including human resources, recruitment, selection, training and procurement. He has been responsible for operations in Australia and also across Asia Pacific.
He has global experience and expertise in training and has conducted courses around the world. In his management roles, he has had responsibility for training and has implemented best practice methodologies in many companies. Mark is a highly rated lecturer, trainer and facilitator and is experienced in behavioural change management. He has spent many years in senior management roles of some of the largest institutions, both in Australia and internationally - successfully growing company operations.
Kylie Lloyd
Director
Zoic Environmental
Kylie is a Principal Environmental Scientist with over 20 years’ international experience. Kylie holds Post-Graduate qualifications in Environmental Health and Medical Sciences and is a leading specialist in contaminated site audit, assessment, monitoring and remediation.
An accomplished business leader, Kylie thrives on attracting and developing high performance teams and is passionate about building strong and enduring client relationships. An excellent communicator with an open and approachable style, she is sought as a mentor and advisor within the business community.
Sapphire Loebler
Procurement Sustainability Specialist
Ausgrid
Sapphire is deeply passionate about sustainable practice, Sapphire strongly believes that businesses, specifically Procurement and its role in managing spend and partner relationships, are the most effective vehicle to leverage real positive sustainable change locally and globally.
Currently working as a Procurement Sustainability Specialist at Ausgrid, Australia's largest energy infrastructure organisation, Sapphire is responsible for balancing social and environmental impacts against economic outcomes within an effective governance framework.
Over the past 12 months Sapphire has deployed a Sustainable Procurement Policy, an External Partner Code of Conduct, established Sustainability targets and drives ongoing change management to ensure that Ausgrid’s energy solutions in NSW are not only affordable and reliable but also sustainable. In her spare time, Sapphire also works as a Business Consultant for a social enterprise in Cambodia, to develop human centred solutions that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals
April Palmerlee
Chief Executive Officer
American Chamber of Commerce in Australia
April is Chief Executive Officer of the American Chamber of Commerce. Previously she was a senior executive at the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.
Palmerlee has also been a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) and a consultant. In the US, she was Senior Coordinator of International Women’s Issues (now called Ambassador-at-Large, equivalent to Assistant Secretary of State). She and her team coordinated, funded and implemented US policy concerning women worldwide. The creation of this position in the US was a model for the creation of the equivalent position in Australia, Ambassador for Women and Girls. Prior to her political appointment, she worked at the Council on Foreign Relations, America’s largest foreign policy think tank.
She has also worked for couturier Oscar de la Renta, financial publisher The Bank Credit Analyst, and The Spanish Institute. Palmeree has been listed by Who’s Who and been an invited participant at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Ditchley Foundation in Oxfordshire, and Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Business conference at the NYSE. She also led/co-chaired US delegations to international meetings and ministerials, such as APEC, OAS, and the UN.
Palmerlee is on the Centennial Park CCC and the Selection Board for the Fulbright scholarship in NSW. She has been race director for the Centennial Park Ultra, the Six Foot Track Marathon, and the Southern Highlands Challenge as well as VP of Sydney Striders, Australia's largest running club.
She received a BS from Georgetown and a Master’s from Columbia. She is a dual citizen and lives with her husband and four school-aged children in Sydney. She speaks Spanish, French, Portuguese, Swedish, and Italian. Her Australian is also pretty good.
Charlotte Payne
Head of Professional Body
CIPS Australasia
Charlotte Payne is the Head of Professional Body for the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) for Australasia and her role is to head up the Institute’s Professional Body located in Australia responsible for promoting accessibility to CIPS professional recognition globally.
She has worked for the CIPS Group since 2004 and recently held the position of Head of Education Partnerships before re-locating to the CIPS Melbourne office in 2019.
Charlotte’s current role also includes raising the profile of the procurement and supply management profession in Australasia, and collaborating with employers and education stakeholders to enhance accessibility to quality provision of procurement and supply qualifications.
She has attained the Master of Business Administration from the University of Birmingham and has extensive experience in stakeholder consultation and engagement, project management, people leadership and development, operations management and delivery, particularly in the education/assessment services environment.
Taylor Pearce
Procurement Analyst
Ausgrid
Taylor is not your Average Millennial. Does not live with her parents. Has purchased her own home. Holds a relevant commerce degree in Supply Chain Management. Doesn’t like strong organic lattes and is not a fan of smashed avo!
Then again, is she your Average Millennial? Not from the floppy disk era. Is a tech savvy, self-learner. A feedback driven, avid problem solver who is enthusiastic about making a difference. Serial entrepreneur.
Currently a Procurement Analyst at Ausgrid, Taylor is passionate about SRM, most recently working on the development and rollout of an organisational-wide partner and contract management framework. Taylor has coordinated many external partner events at Ausgrid stemming from her experience in the establishment of several startup businesses in the Events industry and all this crammed into the first 6 years of her promising career.
Lynn Penny
Group General Manager, Procurement
Mirvac
Lynn is currently the Group General Manager of Procurement and Premises at Mirvac. In the GGM role, she is accountable for procurement strategy across the group, and ensuring Mirvac’s own premises are maintained with two key focus areas in 2017.
This focus involves refining the supplier relationship management strategy, and ensuring innovation is at the hub especially in the area of automation. The other focus is enhancing employee experience in the workplace, and enhancing behavioural change within a changing built environment.
Molley Qi
Procurement Director, Strategic Procurement and Contracts / ATO Finance
Australian Taxation Office
Molley started in the role of procurement Director for the Australian Taxation office in January 2017. Her focus within ATO over the year has been building category management capability to address all elements and functions and to enhance procurement performance at both strategic and operational levels.
Previously the Head of Procurement at City of Melbourne, Molley was accountable for leading the Procurement function and for the strategy architecture and delivery of one of largest scale procurement transformation programs.
Having worked in senior positions for leading private and public sector organisations she brings a strategic yet practical approach to change and value delivery
Michelle Robinson
Manager, Contracts and Supplier Relationships
Department of Justice (NSW)
Michelle is an expert in developing and monitoring complex procurement and governance frameworks, increasing procurement capabilities across NSW Government and implementing partnerships and systems that enable improved service delivery across NSW Government.
As a senior commercial and financial specialist who has worked in finance and public administration for over 8 years, Michelle provides expertise in developing, governing and executing tailored Procurement policy and governance, working in Agencies to establish Procurement as a strategic business partner as well as increasing Procurement capabilities across the private and government sectors.
In recognition of her contributions to the Department of Justice, Michelle was elected by her peers as the recipient of the Department of Justice Staff Excellence Award for Demonstrating Excellence in Leadership in 2016.
Most recently, she was involved in the CASME Australasia Roundtable for procurement organisation and infrastructure as the NSW Government delegate. She was a keynote speaker at the Indonesia Government Procurement Conference speaking on Fraud Prevention Techniques and Technology and has been a panel member on several forums on Sustainability in Procurement.
Teresa Scott
Executive Director
Australasian Procurement & Construction Council
Teresa is Executive Director of the Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC). Her responsibilities include working with the Council of Chief Executives to set the strategic direction of the APCC, and expanding the APCC’s role as Australasia’s leading public sector procurement and construction forum
Jane Cole
Global Product Head
Westpac Institutional Bank
Tania Seary
Founding Chairman
Procurious I The Faculty I The Source
Entrepreneur. CEO. Mother. Marketer. Wife. Philanthropist. Public Speaker. There are many words to describe Tania, but one that comes up over and over is networker.
In 2016, Tania was recognized by IBM as a #NewWaytoEngage Futurist and named “Influencer of the Year” by Supply Chain Dive. She hosts regular procurement webinars, and presents at high-profile events around the world.
A true procurement entrepreneur, Tania is the Founding Chairman of Procurious, The Faculty and The Source. Throughout her career, Tania has been wholly committed to raising the profile of the procurement profession and connecting its leaders.
Sarah Sannen
Operations & Finance Manager
GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL CHOICE AUSTRALIA (GECA)
Sarah is passionate about resilience and capability building in businesses doing things differently.
Having studied Economics and Arts, her background allows her to explore the relationships between sustainability and the economy and how this can be used to improve outcomes on all levels.
Her keen interest in economics, governance and risk have helped her current organisation, GECA, achieve Best for the World in Governance two years in a row and allowed her to secure a role as Non-Executive Director and Company Secretary on the board of the Welcome Dinner Project.
Her vision for the future is one of collaboration and adventure, where all people are able to share their passion and expertise with a truly connected, regenerative and global community.
Jessica Symes, MSc (CoachPsyc)
CEO/ Founder
Symes Group
Jessica is an executive coach, leadership consultant, facilitator and keynote speaker. She is a passionate thought leader with a focus on creativity, collaboration, career confidence and the science of building confidence, positive psychology, personality and the hard skills of human behaviour to drive innovation.
With 15 years of working with clients across the Asia Pacific region in financial services, technology, health, media, engineering, law, accounting and telecommunications. Jessica is dedicated to supporting clients to thrive in an ever-changing business landscape
Gigi Tam
Head of Procurement
Roche Pharmaceuticals
Gigi is a results-focused procurement leader with a proven track record of driving value, delivering benefits and improving procurement processes. She has led high-performing teams to deliver procurement benefits across the organisation.
She remains a trusted procurement business partner across all divisions in the business including senior executives. She has extensive category management experience across various indirect categories.
Gigi is a solid achiever in commercial and contract negotiations with external providers, with extensive experience in leading and driving project outcomes.
Rosita Van Vuuren
Merchandise Operations Manager, Head of Quality & Sourcing
Best and Less
Rosita is a business professional who has worked in the Apparel and Footwear Industry for 25 years. From running her own Apparel Manufacturing Company through the 90’s she entered Corporate Business in 2001 in the areas of Operations, Production, Quality, Supply Chain and Sourcing.
She currently works for Best and Less, an Australian National Discount Retailer, as Merchandising Operations Manager and Heads Sourcing and Quality. Her previous role was as VP of Operations with Bloch International, which she held for 5 years.
Rosita emigrated from South Africa in 1987 and holds an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business.
Thomai Veginis
Chief Procurement Officer
Telstra
Thomai has been a Procurement professional for the past 17 years. During that time she has managed diverse procurement teams across Asia and Australia and has worked in Procurement Business Transformation Outsourcing projects.
In February 2012 Thomai joined Telstra in the Procurement team as Director Infrastructure, Equipment and Services. In this role she managed a team of 60 who look after all the supplier contracts and relationships in the Network and IT environments at Telstra.
In September 2013 Thomai took responsibility for the Sourcing and Vendor Management functions of the broader Procurement team with $10B spend under management. Together with her team, she is continuing to strengthen relationships both internally and with Telstra’s strategic suppliers and partners.
Prior to this role, Thomai was Chief Procurement Officer at National Australia Bank (2008 – 2012) where she managed the end to end procurement and accounts payable process with a team of 60 onshore (80 offshore) and a spend profile of $2.4B.
Thomai started her career IBM Australia in 1989 as a graduate hire and spent the next 19 years performing many different roles. She moved into the IBM Global Procurement team in 1997 when IBM was appointed the IT Strategic Outsourcing (SO) partner for Telstra. In her role she worked to transition critical vendor contracts from Telstra to IBM and other Procurement related activities.
She held various procurement roles when in 2001 she moved into the role of Chief Procurement Officer for IBM Australia/NZ. She managed a team of 125 staff and spend of US$ 700M. During this period, IBM underwent significant transformation in the procurement function. The first Procurement Operations Centre for IBM Asia Pacific was implemented in Melbourne and then moved offshore to Shanghai and Bangalore
Jane Weatherill
Head of Supplier Governance, & Supply Chain, Global Business Services
Telstra
Jane has over 20 years' experience in supply chain and suppliers across FMCG, Financial Services, Public Service, and Telecommunications. She is an experienced risk professional, specialising in building operational and compliance risk frameworks to meet Australian and International regulatory standards.
Currently she is the Head of Supplier Governance at Telstra, focusing on improving third party risk management within Telstra's supply chain and global supplier base. She is Telstra's representative on global telecommunications initiatives such as the Joint Audit Cooperation and GeSI working groups, to improve supply chain sustainability within the global ICT industry.