Conference program
The conference theme is: ‘A Thriving Intelligence Profession’. Within that theme, we will explore the sub-themes of Leadership, Transformation, and Empowerment – each factor represents what is needed to sustain and build the intelligence profession in Australia for the complex and challenging future.
Our highly interconnected world is being reshaped by strategic competition, with growing complexity arising at the national and local levels.
A thriving intelligence profession hinges on effective leadership, transformation, and empowerment to navigate the complexities of an ever-changing global landscape. Leadership provides the strategic vision and direction to guide teams through routine and unprecedented challenges, ensuring that intelligence operations remain agile and responsive. Transformation is equally crucial, as it involves embracing innovative technologies and methodologies to stay ahead of evolving threats and enhancing operational capabilities. Empowerment complements these elements by fostering a culture where intelligence professionals are encouraged to develop skills, contribute ideas, and take ownership of their roles. Together, these factors drive a dynamic and resilient intelligence community capable of addressing emerging issues with foresight and precision, ultimately supporting robust national security and informed decision-making.
The conference will represent the broad diversity of different domains of intelligence practice and the critical role and influence each domain has in securing our defence, security and well-being.
This program page has been designed to be explored using different filters. Use the checkboxes to select by Conference subtheme/s or topics (as many as you like!) to browse the most relevant sessions.
This program is under development, and we suggest bookmarking this page to stay updated.
Discussion on the size, scale and scope of planning for an Olympic Games, the history of challenges the Olympics have presented and the key challenges for leadership in intelligence.
Co-presented with Bianca Ramirez
Aggression and violence are integral and complex components of human behaviour. History has shown that displays of violence and aggression are inevitable when dealing with people in the private and public sector customer service industries, such as retail, banking and service providers. This paper will refer to violence against staff as customer aggression, which is generally managed in part, by threat intelligence teams. The concept of ‘Threat’ is predominantly relied on to tackle this issue through applying the traditional ‘Threat Assessment Process’ to anticipate and mitigate customer aggression.
In applying grounded theory to instances of customer aggression within Services Australia, this paper proposes a new approach to assess these threats. The new approach is called Residual/Impulsive Threat (RIT). It is proposed that RIT is more precise in anticipating, detecting, mitigating and preventing customer aggression than the traditional approach. It does this by applying the individuals’ characteristics, environment and circumstance to enhance the threat assessment picture. RIT is based on the components of, ‘Vulnerability’, ‘Opportunity’ and the presence of ‘Trigger/s’. This paper is constructed from a practitioner’s perspective, empowering a thriving intelligence profession through the application of research and the transformation of new knowledge to the emerging field of threat intelligence.
Human source intelligence is critical to the successful disruption of threat actors across a variety of intelligence topics. This remains true for sports integrity, with most of the high-impact cases arising from human source operations in one way or another. However, traditional human source operations are typically supported by extensive financial and human resources, as well as legislative frameworks to help shape the environment in favour of the human source operators.
The paper argues for greater professional understanding of the meaning and intent of intelligence as a function, and thus the various tradecraft underpinning the profession. For intelligence to become a fully-fledged profession, it needs a sense of the trade skills and craft. One's view on the various definitions of intelligence can confuse the skills we wish to exemplify and those that are seen in common practice. Hence, to understand the forms of tradecraft, the paper examines the weakness of narrowly defining intelligence as the product of analysis of information, which leads to a sense of tradecraft being related to analytical techniques.
Recent global examples of intelligence services acting to disrupt, subvert and destroy are used to highlight the limitations of the analytical tradecraft view. Some answers are examined from the counterintelligence perspective, which traditionally considers intelligence through the lens of espionage, sabotage, subversion and terrorism. The paper supports a more functional view of intelligence and aligns this view with the forms of tradecraft most applicable to security, enforcement, regulatory and commercial intelligence.
As the challenges of a complex and dynamic domestic and global environment continue to expand and intensify, a more robust and adaptable intelligence workforce is required. Effective and forward-looking intelligence leadership will be a critical enabler of intelligence capability, particularly at the intersection with evolving technologies, and intelligence leadership as a profession will require advancement.
The Leadership Trends in Intelligence study examined the current state of leadership practices, culture, and effectiveness within the intelligence sector. It aims to provide insights into how to professionalise the capabilities of intelligence leaders to meet current and future demands on the sector. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach, combining a documentary review with qualitative and quantitative findings.
The research identifies the strengths and weaknesses of leadership traits and skills, while also highlighting key leadership challenges. It provides evidence to support strategies for enhancing intelligence leadership at all levels, ensuring leaders can adapt to the evolving intelligence environment and strengthen the performance, adaptability, and culture of intelligence organisations. The findings will serve as a valuable guide for developing leadership skills programs targeted for the intelligence sector, promoting inclusive cultures, enhancing succession planning and talent retention, reinforcing accountability, and ensuring effective leadership to meet the sector’s evolving challenges.
The use of deception to achieve advantage in conflict and competition is as old as civilisation. But recent technological advances – particularly those relating to social media – have empowered deception-based stratagems to a historically unprecedented extent. The employment of deception by malign actors has societal-level consequences, impacting upon the work of many professions. But arguably the profession most impacted here is the intelligence analyst: whose core role is to separate falsehood from truth and to advise accordingly. It is therefore critical that intelligence analysts are appropriately prepared to recognise and counter deception in the contemporary era.
In this paper we investigate the increased significance of deception in the contemporary era, and how to build analyst capacity and resilience to address it. The paper opens by describing the drivers that have increased the utility of deception in the contemporary era. The paper then discusses the success mechanisms of deception arising from cognitive psychology. The paper then uses three vignettes – drawn from the military, public health, and whole of nation security domains - to demonstrate the requirement for analysts to identify and counter deception. The paper then concludes with a discussion of how to foster increased analyst capability and resilience to detect deception.
The sovereign citizen movement continues to present a persistent and evolving threat to government organisations, intelligence agencies, and national security professionals. Rejecting legitimate governmental authority, these groups rely on pseudo-legal ideologies and engage in activities designed to disrupt administrative and legal processes. Their tactics range from frivolous litigation and financial misrepresentation to obstruction of government functions. In more extreme cases, their actions escalate to harassment of public officials and violent extremism. These behaviours generate complex operational risks that demand a proactive and coordinated governmental response.
This paper proposes that empowered and strategic leadership, combined with integrated intelligence, is critical to transforming governmental capabilities in addressing the sovereign citizen threat. Organisational transformation driven by strategic leadership enables government bodies to meet these challenges with greater coherence, agility, and resilience. A comprehensive intelligence strategy integrating Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), and Legal Intelligence (LEGINT) - enhances the capacity to identify networks, monitor emerging threats, and prevent disruption.
Beyond surveillance and legal mechanisms, strategic leadership is central to facilitating inter-agency collaboration, equipping personnel with specialised training, and cultivating agile, intelligence-informed responses grounded in critical reasoning. Leadership-led initiatives that promote organisational transformation also include public awareness campaigns aimed at countering misinformation and reducing ideological recruitment, thereby limiting the reach and impact of sovereign citizen movements.
Since 2004, regularly scheduled independent intelligence reviews have charted the course for the national intelligence community, providing a uniquely Australian preference for ‘check-ups’ over ‘postmortems’. The 2024 review by Heather Smith and Richard Maude, released publicly earlier this year, sets out a vision for an Australian intelligence that is better integrated into broader policy and decision-making, skilled and enabled – and better prepared for future disruption and conflict. But what does this mean for Australia’s intelligence agencies, the nation’s intelligence professionals, and the private sector whose capabilities and services underpin their work? Where are the vulnerabilities and pitfalls? What was missed? And what will Australian intelligence look like by the end of the decade?
Ethical leadership is fundamental to a thriving intelligence profession, particularly in intelligence collection, where leaders must balance operational effectiveness, legal constraints, and moral responsibility. With experience in military intelligence operations and leading the development of an intelligence collection team within the WA Department of Justice, I have directly navigated the complex ethical dilemmas, strategic decisions, and operational challenges inherent in intelligence work. This paper explores how ethical leadership ensures integrity, transparency, and adaptability in intelligence collection across law enforcement, corrections, and national security sectors.
The ethical complexities of intelligence collection are best illustrated through the evaluation of major Australian intelligence operations that have shaped the profession. Operation Ironside, Operation Morpheus, and Operation Subjugate highlight critical leadership challenges, including oversight in covert surveillance, intelligence-sharing boundaries, and the balance between national security and civil liberties. These cases are examined to understand how leaders make ethical decisions in intelligence collection, mitigate risks of operational overreach, and uphold public trust while maintaining security priorities.
As intelligence evolves with AI, digital surveillance, and predictive analytics, ethical leadership is essential to prevent misuse. This paper presents a leadership framework to guide Australian intelligence teams in navigating intelligence collection challenges in 2025 and beyond.
Enhancing cultural and historical knowledge of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders, Asian, and Pacific communities is critical for improving the accuracy and strategic relevance of Australian intelligence assessments. Given Australia’s geographic and socio-political connections to Asia and the Pacific, intelligence professionals must deepen their understanding of regional cultures, transnational dynamics, and security threats. Greater cultural competency fosters improved threat perception, regional awareness, and intelligence-gathering capabilities.
By incorporating Indigenous and minority perspectives, intelligence agencies can better assess emerging risks, such as geopolitical tensions, transnational crime, cyber threats, and foreign influence. Recognizing Indigenous knowledge systems, including holistic thinking and sustainability approaches, enriches intelligence methodologies and mitigates cognitive biases. Moreover, strengthening ties with diverse communities enhances cooperation, trust, and information-sharing, providing valuable insights into migration, economic trends, and security challenges.
As Australia deepens its engagement in the Indo-Pacific, intelligence professionals with expertise in regional cultures and political structures can offer nuanced assessments of international relations, trade security, and defence partnerships. Indigenous and Pacific perspectives on sovereignty, diplomacy, and environmental security contribute to strategic foresight. Integrating diverse viewpoints ultimately empowers intelligence professionals to provide more ethical, informed, and effective recommendations that strengthen national security and Australia’s role in the region.
This presentation examines the practical transformation of intelligence workflows through generative AI integration, drawing from leadership experience implementing Bard and Gemini tools across Google's Search Intelligence and Trust & Safety Intelligence Analysis teams. The session will explore how AI-powered workflows achieved efficiency gains at scale, focusing on successful integration strategies, operational challenges encountered, and lessons learned from both successes and failures in real-world deployment.
Attendees will gain actionable insights into practical AI transformation strategies, common implementation pitfalls to avoid, and proven approaches for enhancing intelligence workflows. The presentation will conclude with a brief look at emerging autonomous intelligence capabilities that represent the next opportunity for the profession.
How empowered individuals and teams elevate intelligence capability, resilience, and mission readiness in an unpredictable world.
In an era of accelerating complexity, where high-stakes decisions are made with high level uncertainty and risk, empowered human potential is the intelligence community’s greatest force multiplier. Yet, traditional leadership models and cultural norms can inadvertently suppress the very adaptability and innovation needed today. The Empowerment Code unpacks how intelligence leaders can create the conditions where critical thinking, accountability, and discretionary effort thrive. You’ll leave with actionable strategies to unlock empowered performance in yourself, your teams, and your wider organisation without sacrificing security or precision.
Key Takeaways:
Understand the link between empowerment, agility, and mission success in intelligence environments.
Understand the link between authentic psychological safety and empowered performance.
Apply practical leadership strategies to cultivate empowered thinking, resilience, and innovation across all levels of your intelligence organisation.
Change is no longer a disruption—it’s a constant. In today’s evolving environment, knowing how to do transformation is critical.
Doing transformation starts with a recognition that things can, and should, be done better. But turning that aspiration into outcomes requires more than intent; it demands a series of interdependent efforts, executed with clarity, capability, and courage.
In just 30 minutes, we’ll explore:
How to unpack your current state to extract real insight
Ways to enable your environment for a successful transition
Implementing change with one foot already on the pedal of reinforcement
Along the way, you’ll gain practical tools for:
Demonstrating strategic leadership
Applying influence styles that drive change
Steering people away from dysfunction
And learning to love the governance wedge
You can’t master transformation in one session—but you can build confidence through exposure to core concepts, critical skills and application examples that translate directly into action.
This paper will critically examine the relationship between government intelligence organisations and social media platforms, exploring whether this digital engagement represents a transformation of the intelligence profession or fosters increased public scepticism and distrust.
Beginning with the emergence of governmental presence on social platforms, this paper will trace how state intelligence agencies have since embraced social media to engage with the public, promote recruitment, and disseminate curated information. The presence of verified government intelligence accounts (e.g., MI5, CIA, ASIO) on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) raises important questions regarding transparency, trust, and the deliberate framing of intelligence work in the digital age, specifically the last five years.
Beyond state actors, the paper explores the parallel rise of private intelligence firms and anonymous users disseminating intelligence-related content online - some with professional backgrounds, others unverifiable. This paper will question the ethical implications of this dynamic and content, assessing how credibility like verification badges, and how audiences (both part of the intelligence profession and outside) can interpret this information.
Human source intelligence is critical to the successful disruption of threat actors across a variety of intelligence topics. This remains true for sports integrity, with most of the high-impact cases arising from human source operations in one way or another. However, traditional human source operations are typically supported by extensive financial and human resources, as well as legislative frameworks to help shape the environment in favour of the human source operators.
In sports integrity, an industry without the traditional intelligence structures and financial support, developing human source networks presents a unique challenge to intelligence practitioners. This is further complicated by the personalities and motivations of potential human source candidates within sports.
Join us as we explore the challenges of human source work in sports integrity, and dive into the innovative approaches being used by agencies to adapt traditional intelligence techniques to a non-traditional industry.
Australia’s 2024 Independent Intelligence Review outlines the ways generative artificial intelligence (AI) could enhance the intelligence cycle. But in open-source intelligence (OSINT), that future is already here. As the most broadly accessible of all the INTs, OSINT practitioners are already incorporating AI into workflows - streamlining collection, accelerating processing, and enriching analysis. These capabilities are reshaping how intelligence is produced and used by decision-makers, whether for national security, law enforcement, or business purposes.
Although not a replacement for the analyst, AI is rapidly evolving from a force multiplier into an indispensable asset in intelligence-led decision-making. In this context, many leaders now face a new kind of risk - not a lack of capability, but a lack of visibility into the assumptions, automation, and analytical shortcuts shaping their decisions.
This paper explores the leadership blind spots that emerge when AI-augmented intelligence products are trusted without interrogating the processes behind them. Absent active leadership enquiry, AI can undermine intelligence-led decisions, obscuring judgement, reinforcing bias, and eroding trust. Insights from the paper include practical resources – most notably, a critical question framework for intelligent decision-making in the AI age.
The question isn’t whether AI is here - it’s whether we’re ready to lead through it - and thrive.
Phil is an experienced leader, facilitator, and coach passionate about helping individuals and teams unlock their true potential. During his 26-year career with Victoria Police, Phil worked in uniform and plain clothes, including eight years as a homicide detective and performing various management roles.
He was vitally involved in establishing the Victoria Police Airlie Leadership Development Centre before moving to the Australian Federal Police as the Director of Leadership at the Australian Institute of Police Management, where he was responsible for developing and delivering a range of leadership programs for senior police and emergency services.
Since 2018, Phil has been a consultant with organisations, teams, and individuals, designing and delivering innovative and transformative leadership development programs, bespoke workshops, and forums.
Lieutenant General Susan Coyle enlisted as a soldier in the Army Reserves in 1987 before completing a Science degree at the Australian Defence Force Academy and graduating from the Royal Military College in 1992 into the Royal Australian Corps of Signals. She was appointed to Chief of Joint Capabilities Group in July 2024, becoming the first female to lead a warfighting and operational domain.
Lieutenant General Coyle has worked at the tactical, operational and strategic level in a variety of command and staff appointments. She has commanded at every rank, including Commander Forces Command, Commander Joint Task Force 633 (CJTF633), Commander 6th Brigade, Commander Task Group Afghanistan and Commanding Officer 17th Signal Regiment. She has seen operational service as the J6 Communications on Operation CITADEL, and Officer Commanding 104th Signal Squadron on Operation ANODE, Deputy Commander – Afghanistan, transitioning into Deputy Commander JTF 636 on Operation SLIPPER / Task Group Afghanistan on Operation HIGHROAD, and CJTF633 on Operation ACCORDION. Key staff appointments include Head Information Warfare, Director Workforce and Behaviours - First Principles Review, Director Soldier Career Management – Army, Director of Studies Land at the Australian Command and Staff College, Military Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Army and Aide-de-camp to Commander Australian Theatre.
Lieutenant General Coyle holds post-graduate qualifications in a Master of Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College, a Master in Organisational Development and Strategic Human Resource Management from the University of New England, and a Master of Management in Defence Studies from the University of Canberra. She is an alumnus of the Harvard Advanced Management Program.
Lieutenant General Coyle was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for Commander Joint Task Force 633, a Distinguished Service Medal as Deputy Commander JTF 636 / Commander Task Group Afghanistan on Operation SLIPPER / HIGHROAD, and a Conspicuous Service Cross as Commanding Officer 17th Signal Regiment. She has also received a Chief of Joint Operations Command Commendation as Officer Commanding 104th Signal Squadron on Operation ANODE, and a Commander Australian Theatre Commendation as Staff Officer to the Commander Australian Theatre Joint Intelligence Centre. Whilst posted to the United States, she received the U.S. Army Commendation Medal as the 11th Signal Brigade Satellite Engineer.
Susan is married to Mark, an Engineer in the Army, and together they have three wonderful and mostly charming millennials – Jessica, Susie, and Jack. Her hobbies include attending musical theatre, reading anything and travelling anywhere.
Tracy is a former Deputy Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service (QPS). During her six years as a Deputy Commissioner, she held executive responsibility for the Crime, Counter Terrorism & Specialist Operations portfolio. In this role she was responsible for the delivery of expert specialist & investigative support, & strategy direction in the areas of organised crime, counter-terrorism, youth justice, ethical standards, intelligence & specialist operations. Prior to this she was the Deputy Commissioner overseeing the Strategy, Policy and Performance portfolio. In this role she oversaw a budget of over 2 billion dollars.
She has a combined experience of over 39 years in both the Victorian Police & the QPS. During her 31 years in Victoria Police, she worked on a number of state-wide projects. Highlights include - the introduction of a Victoria Police Intelligence Model, & the formation & implementation of the Major Crime Management Model, brought about following a series of gangland murders.
As a Deputy Commissioner she has performed key governance roles on Boards & Committees including the QPS Board of Management. She chaired the Demand & Capability Committee, the Senior Women's Collective; & was the organisation’s Chief Security Officer. She was the QPS representative on a range of national committees, including the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee, Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, Australian Transnational, Serious & Organised Crime Committee, & the National Criminal Intelligence System. She spent 2 years on the Women’s Safety Justice Taskforce and The Domestic & Family Violence Prevention Council. Tracy also represented the QPS on several intergovernmental committees.
Tracy holds a Bachelor of Business Management Degree & an Executive Masters Degree in Public Administration. She is a graduate of the Leadership Victoria Program, the international Leadership in Counter Terrorism Program, ANZSOG Executive Fellows Program, & has completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors Course. In 2009 she won an outstanding leadership award from ACWAP for driving cultural change. She was awarded an APM in the Australia Day Honours in 2014, an Exemplary Leadership medal in 2019 and Meritorious Service medal in 2023.
Mark Evans was the first Director of National Intelligence for NZ Police (2008) and retired from the New Zealand Police Executive in December 2024 having held a wide range of portfolios. He now runs his own public safety and intelligence consulting and advisory business.
In 2019 Mark was the NZ Police executive intelligence lead in response to the 15th March Mosque attacks in Christchurch, and the subsequent Royal Commission of Enquiry.
Mark has been an Honorary Professor within the Department of Security and Crime Science at University College London since 2008 and teaches annually on an MSc programme focused on Countering Extremism, Terrorism and Organised Crime. He is also a Senior Associate Fellow with the UK Police Foundation, a Visiting Senior Fellow at AIPM and a Capacity Building Advisor with the United Nations in Nepal.
Mark has been inducted into the Evidence-Based Policing Hall of Fame at George Mason University, USA, he is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Intelligence Professionals and an Ambassador for the AIPIO.
Prior to moving to New Zealand, Mark was made an OBE by HM the Queen for services to policing in Northern Ireland where he served with the NIO, RUC and PSNI from 1993 – 2007.
Following 42 years of service as a Police Officer, Graham was appointed in 2023 as Executive Director and heads the Queensland Police Service (QPS) planning for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games (B2032).
During Grahams policing career, he performed key roles in leading the planning and delivery of security operations for the 2014 G20 events held in Queensland and the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Graham also led the Security and Counter Terrorism Command’s Prepare Prevent Protect Group for five years. The group’s purpose was to prepare for, prevent, disrupt, protect from, and respond to security threats and terrorism in Queensland. His responsibilities included expert specialist, technical and logistical support, advice, and direction in all areas of security and counter-terrorism risk mitigation, particularly for the planning and delivery of major events within Queensland.
Graham has trained at the UK College of Policing and is a certified Counter Terrorism Security Coordinator and his expertise is acknowledged by his work with numerous international policing organisations in the planning of major events including the Federal Police of Argentina (G20 Summit 2018), Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (APEC 2018), New Zealand Police (APEC 2021) and West Midlands Police (Commonwealth Games 2022).
Graham currently leads a dedicated team planning for B2032 and is responsible for advising the Queensland Government on protective security for the Games. Graham’s experience and knowledge will drive the development and growth of the QPS Olympic and Paralympic Games Group to ensure the QPS, with key partners, delivers a safe and secure environment for the Games.
Dr David Gawel APM, retired from the NSW Police Force as a Detective Chief Inspector after 35 years of service. He spent 32 years engaged in the investigation of major crime, with the last 20 years of his service specialising in counter-terrorism.
During this time, he held numerous positions, including being the first State member (nationally) of the Joint Counter-Terrorism Teams, Director of the Counter-Terrorism Team Office for Police NSW Government, National ANZCTC capability advisor for covert online engagement and the Commander of the NSW Terrorism High-Risk Offenders Unit.
He established and was the Principal Director of the NSW Police Terrorism Investigations Course and was a member of the directing staff for the ANZCTC Counter-Terrorism Senior Investigators Course.
He has a Master of Arts and Doctorate in Counter-Terrorism from Charles Sturt University. After retirement he was the Director of the Investigations Liaison Team Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide and is currently the Assistant Director of the Customer Aggression Response Team (CART), Security Intelligence Section, Services Australia.
Andrew commenced his professional career with the NSW Police in 1994 and received his designation as a Detective in 1999.
Andrew worked as a detective in Sydney’s Inner West before specialising in Armed Robbery investigations prior to joining the Counter Terrorism Command in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
While attached to the Counter Terrorism Command Andrew was seconded to a multi-agency task force which was tasked with investigating the manufacturing and use of high quality counterfeit identification documents. This led Andrew into Financial Crime investigations where he remained for the rest of his Police career, concluding in 2018 at the State Crime Command Fraud and Cybercrime Squad.
The final Task Force Andrew ran was Strike Force Ravens. ‘Ravens’ was involved in the investigation of systemic fraud in the NSW CTP Insurance scheme. ‘Ravens’ coordinated the efforts of insurers, law enforcement and regulators and resulted in $400 million dollars’ worth of claims being eliminated from the scheme resulting in significant decreases in costs for consumers.
After leaving law enforcement Andrew worked in business consulting, before commencing as the inaugural CEO of the Counter Fraud function at the ICA in June of 2024.
Andrew aims to coordinate the extensive intelligence capacities across the Insurance Industry to identify organised and systemic fraud, then work with law enforcement and regulatory bodies to identify strategic enforcement targets with a goal to drive down the incidence of fraud for the benefit of consumers.
Neil’s career extends across 21 years in military intelligence, five years in law enforcement and fifteen years leading three government regulators in the sectors of: health services, human/social services, and workplace safety. This included statutory appointment as the NSW Registrar of Community Housing assessing the suitability and performance of companies to manage risks associated with the provision of shelter to our most disadvantaged. Neil is currently appointed to the Advisory Council for the Australian Skills and Quality Commission and is the Chief Executive of Intelligence Rising – a consulting and online training company for intelligence and compliance professionals.
Neil has lived experience in building better-practice regulatory outcomes, has independently reviewed regulators’ performance, and has provided international consulting services for many organisations seeking to improve their intelligence and decision-making capability. He has also published two authoritative texts on intelligence and regulation. His company provides skills based and introductory courses for intelligence, regulation, compliance, and enforcement officers and managers.
Dr Susan McGinty is the CEO and Founder of Aya Leadership. An award-winning scientist and global STEM & Security leadership development expert, speaker and author, she is inspired to transform the profile of leadership in STEM and Security to foster leadership excellence, diversity and inclusion; uplift women into leadership roles; and promote innovation sustainability. Susan was awarded the 2025 Women Leading Tech Champion of Change Award (Highly Commended) and 2023 Women in STEM Leadership Leader of the Year Award for her work supporting the leadership development of women in STEM globally.
Susan helps organisations across STEM, intelligence, national security and cyber security to develop diverse leadership pipelines as a foundation for business growth and innovation. She works with leaders globally to strengthen leadership skills and develop resilient, high-performing teams. Her thought leadership and tailored leadership programs have global impact.
Aya Leadership is a training partner of AIPIO and the Australian Women in Security Network. Aya Leadership won the 2024 Women in Security Award for Best Industry Initiative Supporting Diversity, Inclusion and Equity for the Women in Security Emerging Leaders Program. Susan has a PhD in Medicinal & Organic Chemistry, a Master of Leadership, and 25 years’ experience in STEM, Defence, Intelligence and National Security, and STEM/Security leadership development.
Alexandra Ayton is a strategic policy advisor with expertise spanning policy development, program delivery and evaluation across complex health, government and defence portfolios across the Western Australian public sector.
She holds a Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine) and a Master of Public Health from the University of Western Australia, alongside five+ years of experience working in State Government departments.
She has supported and led major projects and initiatives such as AUKUS readiness and STEM engagement in defence industry, Western Australia’s 10 Year Science and Technology Plan, Virtual Emergency Medicine (later the Western Australian Virtual Emergency Department) at the Kaartdijin Innovation Centre and the North Metropolitan Health Service COVID-19 Vaccination Program.
With a systems-thinking mindset and a strong focus on stakeholder engagement, Alexandra is passionate about aligning policy with delivery to build national resilience in both public health and defence.
Dr Charles Moschoudis is an Adjunct Professor at Torrens University Australia (AGSL), where he teaches critical reasoning and ethics, whilst also supervising doctoral candidates. He lectures in Competition and Consumer Law at the University of Sydney, Department of Law, Law Extension Committee, covering areas such as cartels, misuse of market power, and mergers and acquisitions.
A practising barrister since 2000. He has over two decades of experience in commercial, administrative, and criminal law. Having appeared in complex and serious crime, including homicides, transnational narcotics trafficking, domestic manufacturing and supply of narcotics, illicit automatic weapons manufacturing and supply, extortion, kidnapping, transnational theft, money laundering, and serious organised crime. He advises government in NSW, Victoria, and Queensland on the recovery of government imposts (taxes), realisation/seizure of assets, litigation, legislative reform, policy development, and operational procedures.
As part of his doctoral research, he developed the Strategic Objective Analysis and Implementation Model (SOAIM), an intelligence analysis and decision-making tool, successfully applied in public and private sector contexts. He is part of the AIPIO Thought Leadership Team, and is on the board of the ACNR Foundation, a research facilitator, funding international research, in developing treatments for rare genetic disorders (CASK).
Prior to practising law, Dr Moschoudis served in the NSWPF as a covert operative (UC), being seconded to the Major Crime Squad (Sth), and later the D.E.A (Special Forces) (NSWPF), before taking up a full time role with the Special Operations Group (suth). He has worked jointly with ADF (UCO), and provided operational support to ASIO operatives, and Special Branch (NSWPF), as it was then known. He was later designated a prosecutor (NSWPF), appearing on behalf of police informants, the NSW Commissioner of Police, DPP, and other government agencies.
Ross brings with him 20 years’ experience in International Defence, National Security and Intelligence within the Federal Government, focused on Intelligence production and information assurance activities. As a Senior Threat Intelligence Consultant, Ross supports Government Departments to achieve their priority intelligence goals accurately and efficiently. With a background in projects of national significance, Ross has a keen understanding of how technology underpins Information Operations. His work as a Reservist focuses on activity within the Information Domain, and solving the challenges posed by regional influence operations. Ross holds a Master’s degree in International Liaison and Communication.
Recognised as a Master Neuroplastician and a Certified Speaking Professional, Samantha Rush helps individuals, teams, and organisations cut through complexity and make decisions that drive real-world impact. With a career spanning Business Intelligence, Corporate Executive leadership, Company Directorship, and Strategic Consulting across diverse industries, Samantha brings a deep well of experience and stories to her work. She holds qualifications in HR, Psychology, International Business, and an MBA, and is currently undertaking a PhD in Decision Making.
As Vice President of AIPIO, she is passionate about advancing the profession of intelligence and building adaptive, future-fit capability.
When she’s not helping others think better, Samantha is lifting weights, making cheese, sipping champagne, crafting short films, or enjoying the company of her cats.
Chris Taylor is the head of the Statecraft & Intelligence Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) where his research focuses on emergent and emerging issues facing intelligence services internationally and in Australia, the place of intelligence agencies in democracies, and role of intelligence in the conduct of statecraft.
Chris’ more than twenty years as a senior national security official in the Australian Government included leadership of functions such as intelligence policy and coordination; protective security; enterprise capability; governance and oversight; and strategic futures.
In 2019-2020 Chris was a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs.
Roseleen Woodman is a seasoned intelligence professional with over 15 years of experience spanning the Australian Army, the justice sector, and now the private sector. Her military career involved supporting strategic and operational intelligence in high-tempo tactical environments. Transitioning to the WA Department of Justice, she advanced intelligence-led decision-making by developing intelligence collection capabilities across the custodial estate.
Now working in the private sector, Roseleen continues to drive change across complex global settings, focusing on intelligence governance, security strategy, and risk-informed decision-making. She holds a Master’s in Intelligence Studies and postgraduate qualifications in Leadership, equipping her to lead in ethically challenging and high-risk environments.
Roseleen is currently undertaking PhD research on the application of Social Network Analysis to disrupt criminal networks within prison systems. Her work is grounded in ethical intelligence leadership, with a strong focus on balancing operational effectiveness, transparency, and institutional accountability.
Gareth Jones is an Indigenous commentator, advisor, and academic working at the intersection of online harms, intelligence, and violent extremism. He brings critical Indigenous perspectives to global security challenges, with a focus on how digital systems—such as algorithms, mis/disinformation, and surveillance—impact Indigenous communities.
Gareth is a member of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network (CCAN), contributes to the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) Youth Radicalisation and Mobilisation working group, and is affiliated with the New Zealand Institute of Intelligence Professionals. His work advocates for culturally responsive and ethically grounded approaches to intelligence and national security.
A frequent speaker at international conferences, Gareth’s research and commentary inform policy, tech sector practice, and security frameworks. He is committed to amplifying Indigenous voices in global discourse and advancing strategies that uphold digital safety, equity, and self-determination.
He recently completed his PhD, with graduation scheduled for 2025.
Clint specializes in global technology challenges with a deep understanding of regional dynamics. At Google, he led the Search Intelligence team and later the Trust and Safety Intelligence Emerging Trends team. His broader experience includes roles at Sonder, the NSW Police Force, and the Australian Defence Force. Clint currently advises organisations on technology risks and trends, with a particular focus on Generative AI.
Kylee Leota is the founder and Chief Vision Officer of Elements 4 Success, an international organisation delivering transformational experiences for individuals, teams, and organisations seeking alignment, clarity, and growth.
With over 25 years of experience in education, leadership, and behaviour change, Kylee empowers people of all ages to develop the mindset, confidence, and tools needed to live a life by design. Guided by Earl Nightingale’s idea that success is “the progressive realisation of a worthy goal or ideal,” she helps individuals tap into their inner wisdom and turn potential into purpose.
Kylee has taught across all stages of learning, led within the school system, and lectured at the tertiary level. She integrates neuroscience, leadership strategy, and behavioural insight in her coaching work, collaborating with Psychologists, Psychiatrists, and other professionals to drive meaningful and lasting change.
Working with clients in high-stakes environments, Kylee supports values-based leadership, vision clarity, and sustainable impact.
“I’m here to walk beside you, offering guidance, encouragement, and tools as you move toward your most meaningful goals,” she says.
Kylee is also the author of INFINITE Leadership and a passionate advocate for conscious leadership that ripples across lives, teams, and communities.
Hayley Van Loon is Deputy CEO of Crime Stoppers International and Managing Partner, Asia Pacific at Harod, a global investigative and intelligence advisory firm. She began her career in the Australian Intelligence Community and has since advised governments, Fortune 500s, and multilaterals on transnational threats, insider risk, and national security strategy. Hayley spent nearly a decade in the US working at the intersection of global security, technology, and intelligence, before returning to Australia in 2023. She serves on several international coalitions, including the World Economic Forum’s Coalition for Digital Safety and the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime, is an ambassador for CI-ISAC Australia, and sits on RMIT’s Cyber Research and Innovation Industry Advisory Board. Hayley is committed to advancing sovereign capability and supporting those on the frontlines of intelligence and law enforcement.
Assistant Commissioner Alison Wegg leads the AFP’s Intelligence & Covert Services Command, which oversees the collection, analysis and assessment of highly sensitive criminal intelligence information.
Alison Wegg joined the AFP in 1990. With over 30 years policing experience, Alison has been responsible for criminal investigations and intelligence operations in combatting organised crime, money laundering, organised fraud, human trafficking, child sex offences, people smuggling and overseeing specialist policing capabilities.
Alison has undertaken roles nationally and internationally with the AFP and collaborated with International, State and Terrority and Commonwealth partners to investigate and disrupt crime impacting Australia and partner country communities.
Alison has deployed into the AFPs International Network on two occasions. In 2002, Alison deployed to Bali where she undertook a feasibility on the establishment of an AFP office there. In 2006, Alison commenced work in the AFP's Bangkok office, working closely with Royal Thai Police and foreign law enforcement agencies, with a role focused on combatting travelling child sex offenders and human trafficking.
In 2020, Alison led the development and implementation of the AFP's specialist training faculty, focusing on the provision of foundational enterprise protection capabilities that remain a keystone in the provision of policing capabilities to our Pacific partners. Alison brought focus to sustaining operational readiness through specialist capability development, national exercising and sustainment. Most recently in her role as Assistant Commissioner Specialist Protective Command, Alison led the development of the armed protection capability in the AUKUS protective security model.
Lauren Callaway, a former journalist, and published writer has over 31 years of experience in policing, creating innovative solutions to forensic intelligence, post sentence management, women’s barriers to success, and strategic planning in education. Lauren is currently the Assistant Commissioner of the Family Violence Command, leading family violence, sexual assault, and child abuse responses for Victoria Police.
Laura Whitfield is an experienced professional with over a decade in business, compliance, and contracts across the logistics, transport, and mining sectors. Her career began as an Intelligence Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), later returning to intelligence work in 2022 with an independent regulator, where she further developed her analytical and decision-making skills. Laura’s interest in aviation and national security was shaped early by family ties and formative international experiences, including a school exchange in Hong Kong and time in Timor Leste. She went on to study International Politics, Law, and Languages, and has since travelled through the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the United Kingdom—building a strong global perspective. Now based in Central Queensland, Laura is Coordinator – Compliance and Assurance at Glencore. She applies her intelligence background to her everyday work and is furthering her expertise through ongoing study in compliance and risk management.
Michael King is the Head of Intelligence and Investigations at the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of World Athletics. The intelligence and investigations work that Michael leads covers the range of integrity threats to international athletics, including doping, competition manipulation, age manipulation, safeguarding, illegal betting, technical cheating and others.
Prior to joining the AIU, Michael played a lead role in establishing and building the Intelligence and Investigations Department of the International Testing Agency, and was responsible for the successful delivery of the anti-doping intelligence and investigations response to the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
Michael’s career began as a counter-terrorism intelligence officer with the Australian Government, where he specialised in joint intelligence operations with local and foreign partners, leading teams that contributed to preventing terrorist attacks in Australia and overseas, including several high-profile prosecution cases.
Michael has also led corporate intelligence and investigations operations, influencing sensitive business decisions and transactions throughout Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, along with time as a Senior Investigations Manager at Amazon.
Michael’s success across several different industries has been based on his ability to build and enhance relationships across language and cultural barriers, as well as adapting traditional intelligence and investigations approaches to a variety of topics, audiences and situations.
Jane van Tienen is the Chief Intelligence Officer at OSINT Combine, where she leads intelligence strategy, strategic communications, and thought leadership at the forefront of open-source intelligence. With over two decades of experience in global security and intelligence, including national security, international diplomacy, and executive leadership, Jane has built a career helping governments, private sector organisations, and mission-driven teams make sense of complexity.
Before entering the private sector, Jane held senior roles in Australia’s national intelligence community. Today, she brings that operational depth to OSINT Combine’s work, which is focused on building enduring OSINT capability within strategically aligned organisations. She maintains a keen eye on the need to bridge human expertise with evolving technologies to shape the future of intelligence tradecraft.
Jane is also a co-host on Open Secret, a podcast exploring the real-world power of open-source intelligence—from cultural heritage crimes to AI ethics—where she indulges her love of story, nuance, and a good question.
She believes that leadership is a team sport, that tradecraft must evolve without losing its soul, and that building enduring capability starts with people. A proud Australian now living in the United States, Jane regularly crosses hemispheres - but always comes back to two constants: the importance of purpose, and decent coffee.
Dr Elissa Farrow is a futurist, author, speaker, coach and strategist. As a highly skilled and experienced consultant, Elissa Farrow is dedicated to helping organisations navigate the complex landscape of strategy development, futures and foresight, and Artificial Intelligence. She has over 25 years experience in user centred research, organisational innovation, change design and facilitation. Elissa facilitates organisational capacity to define positive futures and transform bringing lasting value. She is an experienced executive board director and an Adjunct Fellow at the University of the Sunshine Coast. She was a former Global Board member of the Change Management Institute and past Chair of DV Connect an organisation committed to ending domestic and family violence. Her doctoral research explored organisations of the future and the implications of artificial intelligence for leaders, teams and the adaptation approach. For fun and giving back to community, you will find Elissa on the beach at Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) as a volunteer patrolling surf life saver at the Point Lookout Surf Lifesaving Club.
Kathleen Donohoe is a nationally recognised transformation leader with a distinguished career delivering major digital, infrastructure and policy innovations across the education and not-for-profit sectors. As CEO of A Start in Life, Kathleen brings her passion for educational equity and her commitment to empowering young Australians to achieve their full potential through access to quality education and holistic support.
With extensive experience leading large-scale initiatives for government and independent organisations – including managing over $1 billion in infrastructure assets – Kathleen is known for her strategic vision, collaborative leadership and evidence-based approach to driving sustainable change. Her award-winning leadership has been acknowledged through multiple recognitions as one of Australia’s Most Influential Educators (2021-2023) and as a finalist in national leadership awards.
Kathleen holds degrees from the Australian Catholic University and the University of Ulster, along with accreditations in coaching, learning environment planning and digital innovation. Her work is grounded in research and a deep belief that every young person deserves the opportunity to unlock their potential and build a brighter future. At A Start in Life, Kathleen is dedicated to advancing the organisation’s century-long mission of supporting students in need, ensuring that education remains a powerful force for social change and lifelong success.
“The future belongs to those who prepare for it.” – Malcolm X
Mr Brendan Thomas commenced his 5-year appointment as AUSTRAC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on 29 January 2024.
As AUSTRAC CEO, Brendan leads Australia’s financial intelligence unit and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regulator.
AUSTRAC’s regulation hardens the financial sector against criminal exploitation and its intelligence provides crucial information to its national security, domestic and international law enforcement partners.
Brendan is AUSTRAC’s representative on the ACIC Board, the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce CEO Board, and the Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Forum. In view of AUSTRAC’s role as a member of the National Intelligence Community (NIC), Brendan is also responsible for agency head-level engagement with the Office of National Intelligence and other NIC members.
Brendan is a Wiradjuri man, with significant experience in leading, designing and delivering major public services, especially in the criminal and civil justice systems in NSW, and in leading organisational reform.
Ahead of his commencement with AUSTRAC, Brendan served as a Deputy Secretary at the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, with responsibility for implementing major changes to reduce the over-representation of the Indigenous population in the NSW criminal and child protection systems. Prior to this, Brendan was the CEO of Legal Aid NSW and was formerly the Deputy Secretary at the NSW Department of Justice.
Brendan has a Bachelor of Arts from Macquarie University and is a fellow of the Australian and New Zealand School of Government.