Renece Brewster
Chief Executive Officer | Co-Managing Director
Visual Domain | Girls in Tech Australia
08:15
Registration and welcome coffee
08:50
Opening remarks from the Chair
09:00
Strengthening Australia’s tech workforce: challenges, opportunities and changing the status quo
- Investigating Australia’s tech workforce – statistics, characteristics & trends
- Solving workforce challenges – skill shortages and gender diversity
- Strengthening the industry & diversity now & into the future
Kate Pounder
Chief Executive Officer
Tech Council of Australia
BUILDING YOUR TECHNICAL & LEADERSHIP SKILLS
09:30
PANEL DISCUSSION: What do you need to become an effective leader in tech?
- How can you create a culture of continuous learning and improvement in your organisation?
- What are effective strategies to ensure collaboration within teams and between departments?
- How can you manage expectations, contradictory priorities & conflict when leading a team?
- How do you demonstrate the benefits of a diverse team while fostering diversity and inclusion?
Moderator:
Amanda Bennie
General Manager, Technology
HESTA
Panellists:
Leeanne Chau
Head of Strategy, Transformation and Analytics
APA Group
Zoë Condliffe
Chief Executive Officer and Founder
She's a Crowd
Merissa Hargreaves
General Manager, Team Technology
Endeavour Group
Mirella Robinson
Chief Information Technology Officer
Cbus Super Fund
Jo Hayes
Divisional Chief Information Officer, Group Services
ANZ
10:10
SKILLS SPOTLIGHT: Leading through technical expertise: balancing technical proficiency with leadership skills
- Building effective leadership behaviours to increase the performance and well-being of your team and organisation
- Inspiring creativity, innovation & technical proficiency
- Bridging the gap between creating leaders and technical experts
Leigh Gibson
Group Owner, Employee Services Engineering
Telstra
10:40
Morning tea
NAVIGATING THE TECH WORKPLACE OF THE FUTURE
11:20
CASE STUDY: Developing new skills, strategies & flexibility to manage the impact of AI and automation on the tech workforce
- Investigating the future of AI, automation & what the tech workforce will look like over the next few years
- Preparing for how AI & automation will affect the tech job market
- Evolving with the shifting landscape by building new skills & agility to grow your career alongside the reshaping of roles and responsibilities
Mary-Anne Williams
Michael J Crouch Chair in Innovation; Director – Business AI Lab; Deputy Director – AI Institute
University of New South Wales Business School
11:50
PANEL DISCUSSION: How can you maximise tech in the workplace while navigating the disruption and risk?
- How do you envision the balance between humans and tech in the coming years?
- How can we prepare for job functions that are augmented or replaced?
- How can companies upskill and reskill employees to adapt to new tech?
- What opportunities will arise from new technologies in the workplace?
Moderator:
Hind Benbya
Professor, Head of IS & Business Analytics, & Founding Director of the Centre for AI and the Future of Business
Deakin University
Panellists:
Colleen Pender
Head of Technology, Technology Services
National Australia Bank
Nicole Pelchen
Chief Technology Officer
Link Group
Georgia Patin
Head of Technology Strategy and Governance
Coles Group
Susanne Novak
Head of Workspace Technology
Transurban
12:30
Networking Lunch
UNLEASHING THE BENEFITS OF DIVERSITY
13:30
3 paths to a diverse and more productive workplace: leadership, policies & collaboration
- Harnessing diversity and inclusion to create and nurture leaders with new perspectives and skillsets who will improve an organisation’s effectiveness
- Promoting inclusive policies & practices to create equity, work-life balance, and satisfied, motivated, loyal employees who will thrive
- Utilising the strengths of DEI to promote collaboration between employees, teams and other organisations to create a more productive environment
Miranda Ratajski
Chief Information Officer – Group Business Units
Westpac
14:00
PANEL DISCUSSION: How can we create a more inclusive, fair and functional workplace?
- What challenges or barriers exist when it comes to achieving a diverse and inclusive workforce?
- What steps can we take to address and mitigate systemic barriers that exist within the tech industry?
- How do we ensure that underrepresented voices are heard and valued in decision-making processes?
- What needs to be done to address the gender pay and promotion gaps?
Moderator:
Marguerite Evans-Galea AM
Director, Cell and Gene Catalyst
AusBiotech
Panellists:
Sandhya Iyer
General Manager, Data Science
Sportsbet
Stephanie Zuniga-Maher
Diversity and Inclusion Partner
Canva
Jane Adams
Executive General Manager, Human Resources, Technology and Operations
Commonwealth Bank
Alex Shougarevskaya
Senior Experience Design Manager, Jira Software | Board Member
Atlassian | Australian Web Industry Association
Kristina Chaston
General Manager | Board Member
Jonas Software | Girls in Tech Australia
14:40
Partner presentation
15:00
Afternoon tea
INTERACTIVE CHAMPAGNE ROUNDTABLES
15:30
Discuss ideas, gain practical tips, and work through challenges faced by women from multiple industries across the tech landscape. You’ll have the invaluable opportunity to meet leaders across several sectors to learn how you can improve your skills while progressing your career path. This is a unique opportunity to have all your questions answered while you network and build relationships with people you otherwise may not have access to. You will be able to choose three of the below to attend with each roundtable running concurrently over three time slots:
- 1st round: 15:30 – 16:00
- 2nd round: 16:00 – 16:30
- 3rd round: 16:30 – 17:00
ROUNDTABLE 1: Finding your career path: How I went from accountant to CIO
Facilitator:
Angela Ryan
Chief Information Officer
Auto and General
ROUNDTABLE 2: Improving your problem solving and analytical thinking skills
Facilitator: This is a reserved session for a subject matter expert. If you wish to sponsor this session, please contact Milad Etemadi on milade@questevents.com.au
ROUNDTABLE 3: Nurturing confidence, resilience and tenacity in yourself and in your teams
Facilitator:
Hannah Russel
Head of Engineering
SEEK
ROUNDTABLE 4: Cultivating a diverse and inclusive workplace culture: strategies for success
Facilitator: This is a reserved session for a subject matter expert. If you wish to sponsor this session, please contact Milad Etemadi on milade@questevents.com.au
ROUNDTABLE 5: Building effective cyber security measures
Facilitator:
Christie Wilson
Cyber Resilience Manager
UniSuper
ROUNDTABLE 6: Successfully implementing technology in your business – getting buy-in and managing risk
Facilitator:
Dominique Barker
Chief Information Officer
Australian Institute of Family Studies
17:00
Closing remarks from the Chair
17:05
End of Women in Tech Fest Day 1
17:05
Networking Drinks
18:30
Official Event Dinner