Speakers
Dr Carolyn Bull
Executive Director
RAND Australasia
Keynote
Dr Carolyn Bull is the Executive Director of RAND Australasia - the Indo-Pacific arm of the world's largest policy research organisation, RAND. She leads research and analysis on security, national resilience and socio-economic policy and collaborates with RAND’s offices in Europe and the US to strengthen Australia’s voice in global policy research. Carolyn is also a Distinguished Advisor at the ANU National Security College. She previously served as NSC's Deputy Head, where she led policy...
Dennis Richardson AC
Former Secretary
Department of Defence
Keynote
Dennis James Richardson, AC (born 14 May 1947) is an Australian retired public servant and diplomat. His last appointment was Secretary of the Department of Defence (2012–17). In 1969 Dennis Richardson commenced what would prove to be an outstanding career in the Australian Public Service. Between 1969 and 1986, he had various positions in the Department of Foreign Affairs, including postings to Kenya, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. In 1986 he was appointed Head of the Refugee and...
Mr Michael Barnes commenced as the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) on 7 April 2026. Prior to his appointment, from 2020 Mr Barnes served as the NSW Crime Commissioner where he was responsible for leading a multidisciplinary team to investigate matters relating to criminal activity or serious crime within NSW. From 2017 to 2020 Michael served as the NSW Ombudsman where he oversaw the restructure of the organisation, the appointment of a new executive, and the launch of a...
Zoe is a rare blend of being both a respected academic and a practical operational achiever. Zoe uses her background as a biologist to challenge thinking on how we perform and how we need to adapt, and balances this with her wealth of experience in the workplace as a senior police investigator. With a doctorate in biology, Zoe has a vast amount of knowledge around the physical and biological aspects of chronic stress and well-being. Zoe is passionate about helping people to feel their best...
John Kilburn is the Regional Industry Leader for Law Enforcement and Public Safety across Asia Pacific at SAS. In this role, he provides strategic industry leadership across ANZ, ASEAN, North Asia, India, and previously META, guiding the positioning and growth of SAS solutions within policing, national security, integrity agencies, corrections and border environments. He works closely with agencies to enhance their Intelligence capabilities in line with real world operational challenges....
Carl McLennan
Chief Executive Officer
Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA)
Plenary
Carl McLennan is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA). As CEO of ANZPAA, Carl leads the effective delivery of the ANZPAA Strategy and Annual Plans and oversees the teams delivering cross-jurisdictional policy development, advice, products, and insights to help achieve excellence in Australia and New Zealand Policing. With extensive leadership experience across the New Zealand Police and the Pacific region, Carl has held senior roles...
Mark is an experienced senior public sector leader who served across The UK as a police officer to the rank of assistant chief constable. Mark is passionate about effective leadership and focused delivery. He has a proven record of operational success in high-pressure environments and effective organisational change management. Mark thrives in challenging work environments in which clarity of thought and support is required to assist others to make informed decisions and developing themselves...
Michael is founder and director of Strategic Analysis Australia. From 2018 until September 2022, he was the Director of the Defence, Strategy and National Security Program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) in Canberra. Before the think tank world, Michael was a deputy in two Australian intelligence agencies – the Australian Signals Directorate and the Defence Intelligence Organisation. He has worked in two Australian Federal Government ministers’ offices. As the First...
Katherine Hibbs Pherson, Chief Executive Officer of Globalytica and the VEXAS Global Foundation, teaches advanced analytic techniques and critical thinking skills to analysts in government, academia, and the private sector and consults to the government on planning, security, and analysis projects. She and the late Randy Pherson are co-authors of Critical Thinking for Strategic Intelligence, 3rd ed. (2021). Ms. Pherson currently serves as the Vice President of the International Association...
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 policing, justice, public safety and intelligence consulting and advisory business. He is currently involved in a number of projects across Australian policing. In 2019 Mark was the NZ Police executive intelligence lead in response to the 15th March Mosque attacks in Christchurch, and the...
Phil is one of Australia's preeminent thought leaders in law enforcement, intelligence and national security. For over 34 years in the Australian Federal Police, he played a key role in many of Australia's most important law enforcement programs and initiatives. He established multiagency intelligence capabilities in Australia's major airports; designed arrangements to set and manage Australia's counter terrorism priorities in the Counter Terrorism Control Centre; was instrumental in...
Brett is the Managing Director of Intelligent Futures Pty Ltd (www.ifutures.com.au) – a specialist management consultancy providing intelligence-led approaches for strategic planning. Brett has over 45 years’ experience as a professional intelligence officer, including appointments across multiple domains of intelligence practice in Australia and overseas. Brett has made a significant contribution as a thought leader in intelligence studies, developing scholarly articles and addressing...
Dr Samantha Rush is a cognitive decision-making specialist who works with leaders operating in complex, high-stakes environments where judgement, risk, and accountability matter. Her work focuses on how decisions are actually made under pressure, and how leaders can design decision environments that support clarity, rigour, and follow-through. Drawing on psychology, neuroscience, and structured analytic techniques, she helps leaders make decisions they can explain, defend, and execute. With...
Elissa Scott is the Chief Executive Officer of Blue Light Victoria, a leading charity focused on early intervention and prevention programs for young people aged 10–21. With a background in both law and social work, she brings over 30 years of leadership experience across the education, community and legal sectors, with a strong focus on improving outcomes for young people. Prior to her appointment as CEO in 2021, Elissa held senior executive roles, including CEO and Executive Director...
John Harms is a seasoned leader in government technology and advanced analytics, with over a decade of experience supporting global public sector organizations. He currently serves in an international role at Quantexa, where he leads efforts to help law enforcement, intelligence, and national security agencies worldwide. John joined Quantexa five years ago and was instrumental in establishing its North American government practice, beginning with foundational engagements Federal Law...
Arran Hassell is a transformational and collaborative executive, leader and coach with a proven track record in organisational leadership, training facilitation and strategy development. He is the Board Chair and Principal Consultant of Protegas Australia, where he has directly supported Commonwealth and State Government organisations. Arran is also a former full-time Australian Defence Force senior officer, with over 30 years of experience in the national security sector.
Paul Maddison is the Australia Country Manager at Strider Technologies, where he is responsible for leading Strider’s market expansion and strategic partnerships with Australian universities, corporations, and governments. Prior to joining Strider, Paul worked at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and Canberra as Director of the UNSW Defence Research Institute. This was preceded by a four-year appointment as Canada’s High Commissioner for Australia. Paul also spent over 35 years in...
Julie Manalo is Mattermost's APAC Partner Lead and Commercial Account Manager, bringing years of sales and partnership experience across enterprise software with GitLab and Perforce.
Nick Slater
VP for Australia and New Zealand
Quantexa
Conference Dinner Address
Nick Slater is the Vice President for Australia and New Zealand at Quantexa, a global leader in Contextual Decision Intelligence. He leads the company's engagement with key public and private sector organizations, including government agencies and major financial institutions. Nick's work focuses on applying advanced AI and analytics to help solve complex data challenges, from enhancing national security and public services to combating financial crime and managing risk. By turning vast...
Ensley Tan is the Public Sector Lead for Industry Consulting (Asia Pacific). He brings over 21 years of experience, primarily in national security at the Singapore Ministry of Defence and Prime Minster’s Office. Ensley also worked for a while as a fraud investigator and consultant in the private sector, during which he conducted hundreds of corporate investigations throughout the Asia Pacific. Ensley has worked with ground-level officers, agency leads as well as Ministers and C-suite...
Ryota Akiba is an independent researcher focusing on Special Operations, Low-Intensity Conflict, and contemporary intelligence practice. He holds a Master’s degree in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. His research background includes work on Special Operations at the U.S. Department of Defense’s Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, as well as prior service with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force...
Shannon Armstrong is a leading authority on intelligence tradecraft with 3 decades of experience spanning law enforcement, national security, and defence. As the Director of Intelo Training Solutions, he delivers cutting-edge leadership and tradecraft training to agencies across Australia and internationally. Shannon has shaped Australia’s national intelligence capability by advising the Australian and New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee and training a generation of intelligence...
Darlene brings a wealth of experience to the field of law enforcement, with a career spanning four decades. Over the past 20 years, she has worked in a range of intelligence functions, covering both specialist and criminal areas. Her expertise extends across tactical, operational and strategic intelligence operations. She currently serves as a trainer for covert human intelligence programs, sharing her knowledge and practical skills with others in the field. Her role as a trainer demonstrates...
Cameron Hall is the Principal Consultant at Red Hornet, with extensive experience in cyber security across threat intelligence, offensive security, and strategic advisory. He has led cyber threat intelligence teams in financial services and worked as a penetration tester. His background also includes academia, where he taught and developed university material on cyber threat intelligence and ethical hacking. Cameron is now focused on the use cases and implications of AI for attackers and...
Alex Harper
Managing Director
KINSHIP Digital
Lightning Talks
Alex Harper is the Managing Director of KINSHIP Digital, where he leads with a passion for solution innovation and solving complex problems through data. With nearly a decade of experience working across government and enterprise, Alex combines divergent thinking with strong commercial acumen and a deep understanding of IT and digital strategy. He is known for building high-performing teams, driving strategic alignment, and helping organisations use technology to achieve meaningful societal...
Dr Bronson Harry is a Senior Data and Strategic Intelligence Analyst at the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission. He was awarded a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience in 2011, during which he developed expertise in applying artificial intelligence techniques to the analysis of brain imaging data. Since leaving academia, Dr Harry has held senior strategic data science roles across both the private and public sectors, including the NSW Cancer Institute and the NSW Education Department....
Intelligence Specialist. Indigenous Strategist. Systems Thinker. Dr Gareth Jones is an Indigenous scholar–practitioner from Aotearoa New Zealand whose work focuses on the role of relationships as a strategic capability in intelligence practice across the Indo-Pacific. He holds a PhD examining how Māori values shape international partnerships and is currently undertaking a second PhD at the Australian National University School of Cybernetics, exploring whether artificial intelligence can...
Qing Liu is a senior risk and data leader with over 16 years of experience in regulatory intelligence, third-party risk, and data-driven risk strategy across APAC and the Middle East, with deep expertise supporting government agencies and public sector organisations. She currently leads the Industry Practice Leads and Solution Specialist team across APAC and the Middle East, partnering with government agencies, intelligence bodies, and regulators to strengthen national security, supply chain...
Sohan is a Senior Analyst in PwC’s Threat Intelligence team and the North Korea-based threats lead. He is a technical Cyber Threat Intelligence analyst focused on cyber crime and North Korea-based threat actors, with experience across deep and dark web intelligence, threat actor tracking, cyber criminal activity, and strategic intelligence reporting. In his role, Sohan focuses on understanding North Korea-based threats, including how threat actors operate, target organisations, and support...
Nikolas is a Commonwealth public servant experienced in policy development across national security and economic domains. He holds a Bachelor of Economics from the Australian National University and is currently studying with the Law Extension Committee at the University of Sydney. Nikolas has research interests in economic security, intersections with social issues, and the regulatory systems underpinning a resilient economy.
Tina Macaire is a Senior Intelligence Analyst in PwC’s Global Threat Intelligence team and PwC’s Crime Strategic Lead. In her current role, Tina drives strategic cyber crime reporting by drawing on dark web, open-source and other intelligence sources to assess developments across the cyber criminal ecosystem. Her reporting examines how threat actors operate, organise, enable and monetise cyber crime, turning complex and often opaque activity into practical insights for organisations. Tina...
Cameron is a security and intelligence professional with more than 25 years’ experience across the Australian Intelligence Community, Defence and critical infrastructure sectors. He currently leads enterprise protective security policy and assurance for a national critical infrastructure provider, strengthening security capability and enabling risk-informed decision-making across a complex operating environment. He is particularly interested in the practical application of intelligence to...
Russell Metge is the Senior Manager Intelligence at Triple Zero Victoria, and a recognised leader in building complex inter-agency strategic and operational intelligence capability, with a focus on strategic intelligence and geopolitical risk across government and industry. Through senior intelligence roles within the New Zealand Defence Force, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence and Sky Group UK, Russell has led and contributed to teams delivering strategic foresight, operational...
Katina Michael is the inaugural program director of the MBA (Technology and Digital Strategy) at The University of Sydney Business School. She is professor of Strategy, Innovation and Technology. She is a transdisciplinary scholar who connects technical, policy, and public audiences, raising awareness of socio-technical challenges and how to address them through human-centered design. In 2008, Katina commenced a Master of Transnational Crime Prevention at the University of Wollongong,...
Dr Charles Moschoudis is an Adjunct Professor at the Australian Graduate School of Leadership at Torrens University Australia, where he teaches critical reasoning and ethics, whilst also supervising the research work of doctoral candidates. He lectures in Competition and Consumer Law at the University of Sydney, Department of Law, Law Extension Committee, in areas such as cartels, misuse of market power, consumer protection, and mergers and acquisitions. He was called to the NSW Bar in 2000,...
Dan drives business development and leads the professional services, sales, and customer success teams. With a robust background in project leadership and graph development, he's passionate about creating graph-based criminal intelligence solutions.Dan’s "customer-first" approach ensures that both new and potential customers achieve success by prioritising their needs at every stage. His dedication to customer success and expertise in graph technology have established him as a trusted advisor...
Jonno Newman
Head of Deployment Strategy, APAC
TRM Labs
Concurrent
Jonno Newman is Head of Deployment Strategy, APAC, at TRM Labs, the world's leading blockchain intelligence platform, used by over 300 law enforcement agencies and financial institutions globally. Jonno brings a rare combination of hands-on law enforcement experience and private sector crypto expertise. He spent 13 years as a detective with South Australia Police, where he ultimately led the Cybercrime Training and Prevention unit, building the capability of Australian investigators to tackle...
Daniel Pearce is a leading global voice at the intersection of technology and public safety. As Dataminr's Vice President of Public Sector for EMEA, he drives the application of real-time AI to solve the complex challenges facing governments, police forces, and national security organisations. Before joining Dataminr, Dan dedicated 20 years to UK law enforcement, where he became a foundational figure in the development of analysis and digital intelligence. His forward-thinking approach,...
Professor Ganna Pogrebna is the David Trimble Chair in Leadership and Organisational Transformation at Queen’s University Belfast and a Senior Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. She is an award-winning academic leader working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, behavioural science, cybersecurity, leadership, and operations research. Her expertise spans cyber risk governance, human-centred security, AI-enabled threat modelling, behavioural and quantum digital...
Mark Powell serves as the Senior Vice President for International Operations, in this role he leads a global team responsible for revenue operations outside of the Continental United States. Mark joined Babel Street in September 2019 after 15 years working in the UK Government in a range of Operational CT roles. Prior to that Mark also served in the British Army for 11 years.
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