Director’s Forum Speakers

Kate Alexander

Lead Coach and Leadership Specialist
PLUS UTS Business Futures, UTS Business School

Kate is a leadership coach and specialist who consults, facilitates, designs and manages leadership programs and provides strategic leadership advice at a system, team and individual level.

She has a proven track record as a strong people leader.  She is passionate about helping people discover the potential in themselves and others by cultivating skills such as conversation and listening, relatability, compassion and authenticity, unleashing and cultivating creative, adaptive thinking and adult development to help them meet the demands of complexity through vertical development.

Julian Arndt

Director
Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors

Julian is a Director at Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors, a workplace and employment law firm that only acts for employers and employer associations.

His expertise focuses on bargaining, union disputes and employee claims, and with his varied experience acting for peak employer associations he has been involved in large scale industrial test cases and, more recently, in consulting with Government regarding legislative change.

Over the past nine years, Julian has acted as the lead employer advocate in a range of prominent test cases including the Family and Domestic Violence Leave Test cases, the Family Friendly (s 65) award test case, the Paid Pandemic Leave case, the Childcare Industry case, the Retail Industry junior rates case, the casual and part-time test case and the Casual review 2021. Julian was also in the team involved in the well-known ‘penalty rates case’.

His experience ranges across a wide variety of industries including aged care, labour hire, horticulture, early childhood education and care, retail, health and transport.

In 2023 he co-authored the first book on Owner-Driver Law in Australia and has been recognized by Doyles as a Rising Star in Employment law.

Holly Barnes

Chief People Officer
Humanforce

Holly, a seasoned HR leader with over 15 years’ experience brings a wealth of experience across all facets of people and culture. Previously holding executive roles within the Technology and Human Capital Management sectors, Holly is dedicated to reshaping conventional people management approaches. Passionate about redefining traditional people management, Holly focuses on values, the employee value proposition, and leadership to introduce innovative approaches while driving business results.

Kerrie Challenor

Chief People and Service Officer
NTI

As NTI’s Chief People and Services Officer, Kerrie maintains the standard of excellence across NTI people, and customer experience. In this capacity, she leads NTI’s People & Capability team, two Australia-based national Customer Service Centres, and has corporate responsibility for NTI’s Environment, Social & Governance (ESG). 

Under Kerrie’s stewardship, NTI has been recognised year on year as one of the best places to work in Australia; this includes winner of HRD 5 Star Employer of Choice, Kincentric’s Best Employer Australia, and Australian HR Awards Employer of Choice.  

In her day-to-day Kerrie focuses on delivering NTI’s People Strategy, with an emphasis on culture, engagement, and talent development. She also manages NTI’s Customer Service operations which is dedicated to roadside assistance, claims, and policy support. More recently, Kerrie has taken on leadership of NTI initiatives to address the organisation’s key environmental and sustainability priorities. 

With over 40 years of experience in the insurance industry, and more than 20 years in leadership, Kerrie’s career has spanned a wide range of disciplines, including Human Resources, Risk and Compliance, Distribution, Corporate Strategy, Business Transformation, and Customer Experience. Her professional journey also includes an executive role within a respected not-for-profit organisation, where she applied HR leadership and expertise across international settings. 

Kerrie has a genuine passion for leading people through change, growing engagement, and achieving strategic and commercial outcomes through harnessing the richness of thought diversity. 

Kerrie holds formal qualifications in Management, Human Resources, and Training & Assessment. 

Steve Cottrell

Head of People Risk, Superannuation and Benefits
Commonwealth Bank

Steve’s career in HR spans 20 years across international and Australian organisations. He currently leads Employee Benefits and Superannuation at Commonwealth Bank, delivering modern, digital employee experiences and offerings.  His focus is on ensuring employees’ wellbeing is supported and increased through their career with the organisation. 

Laura Durkan

Chief People and Culture Officer
Harris Farm Markets

Laura Durkan is the Chief People and Culture Officer at Harris Farm Markets, where she leads with energy, values and a commitment to placing people at the heart of business success. A dynamic executive, Laura has earned a reputation for fostering high-performance cultures that become a key driver of competitive advantage. 

Before joining Harris Farm Markets, Laura served as Executive Director of People and Culture at the Foxtel Group, where she led cost transformation initiatives, improved employee engagement, and strengthened strategic business partnership capabilities. Prior to that, she spent seven years at Richard Crookes Construction, heading the People & Culture function alongside Corporate Strategy. During her tenure, the company received numerous accolades, including recognition as one of the top 10 Great Places to Work and achieving a top 5 ranking for employee engagement across ANZ. Earlier in her career, Laura held specialised HR roles at Campbell Arnott’s, refining her expertise in talent management and organisational development. 

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Laura is deeply committed to social causes and serves as a Board Director of the Sydney Breast Cancer Foundation. 

Megan Fox

People & Culture Partner
Humanforce

Megan has over 7 years’ experience working within HR departments in both Europe and Australia. She held a number of positions at PwC Ireland, including Senior Associate – People & Organisational Consulting, where she partnered with client organisations to enhance their human resources capabilities and achieve strategic objectives. She was also the HR Manager at a civil engineering firm here in Sydney, and is currently the People & Culture Partner at Humanforce where she is a Senior HR Business Partner driving HR initiatives that support the strategic direction and growth while ensuring operational excellence across the business. Megan is committed to fostering inclusive and thriving work environments. She is dedicated to promoting employee well-being and advancing organisational success by adeptly navigating the complexities of the modern workplace and adapting to the evolving needs of employee.

Tracey Garavan

Director
Unyoke Executive Consulting

Tracey is a Director of Unyoke, an organisation that provides in-depth coaching to senior leaders to maximise their impact. She specialises in bringing teams together in a way that allows them to tap into their latent potential, a characteristic of high-performance teams. Her experience across strategy & business planning, transformation, culture, succession management, and deep leadership experience adds a pragmatic lens to the coaching experience. Tracey works across a broad range of organisations (Global, ASX listed, Joint Ventures, Start-ups and Government), and industries (including Healthcare, Manufacturing, Global Sales, Retail, Mining, For Purpose, Universities and Telecommunications).

Prior to starting Unyoke in 2016, Tracey was the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) for Telstra and was instrumental in accelerating the cultural transformation and alignment of the organisation around customer-centricity. Tracey has worked with Boards and was on the Board of Telstra Superannuation for several years.

Tracey is an innovative and strategic thought leader with a track record of achieving complex sustainable change across global arenas, and a career that spans start-ups, turnarounds, MA & I’s, and complex transformations for blue chip organisations.

Her passion has been working with leaders and their teams to unleash potential. Tracey takes a “strengths” and evidence-based approach to coaching, teamwork and consulting, with the mindset one plus one can equal three. Her skill lies in providing executives with a confidential sounding board to explore strategic and tactical issues, build their awareness of their impact and assumptions and ultimately support them in creating unique and sustainable solutions for any scenario.

Sharon Gray

Head of People and Culture
OzHarvest

Sharon started her working life in hospitality. She was a waitress, events planner and even a trivia host. 30 years later, she uses all of the skills from those roles, plus more, in her current dream job as Head of People and Culture at OzHarvest. 

Sharon has spent her career in the pursuit of joy at work. Whether that is through recruiting people into their perfect roles, creating remarkable employee experiences, nurturing workplaces of belonging or developing people to be their very best, Sharon is proud to be part of the world of people and culture. 

She worked in retail, clinical, hospitality and pharmaceutical businesses before moving into Not for Profit work, firstly in children’s disability and now in food insecurity at OzHarvest. Sharon feels that 2025 is full of opportunity for the world of work and knows that the people in this room will be instrumental in shaping what it will be. 

Caroline Henshaw

Chief People Officer
Mantel Group

Caroline Henshaw is the Chief People Officer with Mantel Group, an Australian owned, technology-led consulting business founded in Melbourne in 2017. Caroline joined Mantel Group in 2018 to design and build the strongest culture and employee experience in Australia and New Zealand, focusing Mantel’s people strategy on individual employee experiences and creating a principle-based culture. Caroline is an experienced People and Culture executive, having previously created and implemented people strategies across consulting businesses and public institutions. Her experience includes large scale culture transformation, driving sustainable change across businesses, engaging and building on employee potential. She is passionate about creating great workplaces which genuinely make life better for their team, community and clients.
 

Mary Hogg

Senior Director of Human Resources, Australasia
Hilton

Mary Hogg is the Senior Regional Human Resources Director for Australasia at Hilton. Based in Sydney, she supports a diverse portfolio of 34 hotels with 14 hotels in the pipeline across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. With 24 years of international HR experience, Mary has worked across a number of service orientated sectors, finding her home with Hilton three years ago. Away from work she is a keen runner, child wrangler and exploiter of Hilton hotel discounts. 

Luis Izzo

Managing Director
Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors

Luis oversees ABLA’s Sydney and Melbourne Workplace Relations teams and has over 15 years’ experience practicing as a specialist employment and industrial relations lawyer.

Acting only for employers or employer associations, he is well regarded in the industry for providing comprehensive and practical legal services for complex matters. This has included the conduct of investigations involving numerous allegations from multiple complainants; handing of workforce-wide underpayment claims; a judicial review application before the Full Court of the Federal Court; and being a lead employer advocate in test case proceedings relating to annual leave provisions and penalty rate provisions in over 100 modern awards.

In the public sector, Luis has previously been the principal legal advisor on department-wide enterprise agreement negotiations for the AFP and ATO.

Luis is regularly recognised by peers and clients as an expert in this field and was named a leading practitioner in employment law for the 2023 Doyles’ Guide.

Anitta Krishan

Chief Culture Officer
Hoogly AI; Former TikTok

Anitta Krishan is a globally recognised leader and culture strategist, currently serving as Chief Culture Officer at Hoogly AI, a B2B SaaS platform harnessing AI to transform employee engagement. 

Renowned for her people-first philosophy, Anitta has successfully scaled organisations ranging from early-stage startups to publicly listed unicorns by spearheading bold, innovative global people strategies. She has collaborated with senior leaders across industries—from fast-growth disruptors to Fortune 500 giants—to build cultures that empower talent at every level. 

With multiple CEO awards at trivago, Grab, and TikTok, Anitta is celebrated for her entrepreneurial drive and her ability to harness emerging technologies to foster meaningful organisational change. Living intentionally in Bali, she’s a certified Breathwork Coach and is passionate about shaping human-centric workplaces that champion employee wellbeing. 

Chau Le

General Manager, eMobility
Origin Energy

Chau leads the eMobility team at Origin 360 EV, helping Australians transition to electric vehicles (EVs) with solutions like flexible leasing, carsharing, subscriptions, charging infrastructure, smart charging, and energy services. Chau is also Chair of the Electric Vehicle Council, who advocates for supportive government policies to accelerate the EV industry development in Australia. 

Bo Manamperi

VP People Enablement ANZ
SUEZ

Bo is currently the VP People Enablement for SUEZ in ANZ. Bo has over 15 years experience in complex global organisations. Bo has been with SUEZ for 6 years and leads a team of HR and IT professionals across Australia and New Zealand.

During his time at SUEZ, Bo has supported the growth of the business and led through periods of significant change.

Prior to joining SUEZ, Bo has worked across Australia and the Pacific regions as well as roles in the United Kingdom and Central Europe.

James McIlvena

Managing Director ANZ + SG
LHH

James is the MD of LHH Australia and New Zealand and the Executive Sponsor of LHH partnerships with large customers. James is passionate about helping build better careers, better leaders and better businesses. His strength is in developing solutions to complex problems and addressing these through mobilising and managing talented people. He is responsible for connecting local businesses with the best of globally available LHH solutions helping individuals and organisations reveal and harness their talent and providing tools to support a renewable workforce.

Prior to LLH, he gained extensive experience of in-house recruitment and RPO models across a range of industries and ASX100 companies. James has a degree in Psychology/ Psychophysiology and a Post Graduate qualification in Human Resources and Industrial Relations.

Natalia Nikolova

Director
PLUS UTS Business Futures, UTS Business School

Dr. Natalia Nikolova is Professor in Organisation Studies and the Director of PLUS UTS Business Futures, the UTS Business School Enterprise Learning Unit. Natalia has extensive experience as an innovative educator and facilitator in leadership, strategy, innovation, and problem solving. She has worked with leaders across the public and private sectors, curating and developing enterprise learning programs focusing on creating long-term impact for leaders and their organisations.

Natalia has led the design and delivery of leadership upskilling programs to a range of clients including: Acciona, NSW Public Service Commission Leadership Academy, John Holland Group, Reserve Bank of Australia, Lion Nathan, UTS, NSW Department of Planning and Environment, NSW Health, NSW Telco Authority, NSW Department of Customer Service, ASIC and others.

Ida Pulic

VP, Human Resources, Toll Global Forwarding ANZ
Toll Group

Ida Pulic is an experienced HR professional with over 10 years of expertise in strategic human resources management. With a passion for fostering organizational culture and optimizing talent development, Ida has led HR initiatives in predominately the logistics industry. She specializes in driving employee engagement, performance management, and leadership development, while ensuring alignment between business goals and HR strategies. Known for her collaborative leadership style, Ida excels in building strong, inclusive teams and implementing HR solutions that promote growth, innovation, and employee well-being. 

Vanessa Porter

Executive Facilitator
LHH

Vanessa Porter is a Leadership Development Facilitator at LHH, bringing a wealth of experience in people and culture strategy. With a passion for helping organisations create space to focus on what truly matters—their people and stakeholders—Vanessa has built a strong reputation for developing talent and cultivating positive workplace cultures.

Previously, as General Manager – People & Culture for the National Rugby League (NRL), Vanessa led the organisation through significant cultural change, setting it up for long-term success as a modern professional sport. She made history as the first woman to hold this role. Vanessa has also served as Co-Chairperson of the Australian Women’s Leadership Network (AWLN) for McDonald’s, further demonstrating her commitment to fostering leadership and inclusivity.

Rebecca Roberts

Chief People and Culture Officer
St. Vincent's Health

Rebecca is a versatile executive with an extensive background in People and Culture and law who has led organisational change to ensure operations are strategic, optimised and service focused. After a career in law both within Australia and internationally, Rebecca joined St Vincent’s as Executive Director Legal and Commercial Services in 2014 at St Vincent’s Public Hospital Melbourne. In 2018, Rebecca was appointed to lead the People and Culture and Corporate Services and 2021, Rebecca took up the same role at St Vincent’s Public Health Network Sydney. Rebecca commenced her role as Chief People & Culture Officer at St Vincent’s in early 2023 where she now proudly leads our 30,000 people who deliver incredible care to those we serve.

Lewis Roper

Senior Associate
Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors

Lewis has over 10 years’ experience as an employment relations specialist, having previously worked in consultancy, and for a peak employer organisation. Throughout his career, Lewis has advised clients across all facets of the employment life cycle, with particular experience in wage compliance, award/agreement interpretation and enterprise bargaining.

He has experience working across a range of sectors including social and community services (welfare), aged care, early childhood and school education, health, construction materials manufacturing, transport and retail/hospitality. 

Michael Trafford

Head of People & Culture
Nine

With over 20 years industry experience, Michael has held L&D, ER, Business Partnering and HR Leadership roles across the Tourism and Media sectors.  Supported by a Masters in HRM, he has built a reputation for developing commercially savvy people solutions and using business acumen to achieve results.

Michael has developed a wealth of experience from leading large-scale changes, implementing custom HR programs, advising on M&A projects and leading EBA negotiations.

As Head of People & Culture, Digital & Publishing at Nine, Michael has walked the tightrope of delivering HR transformation programs under the spotlight of the Australian media industry.

Pritho Saxena

Director HR – China, Australia & South East Asia
Amazon

Pritho currently leads HR for Amazon’s consumer businesses and corporate teams based in Australia, China, Singapore and Philippines. He has helped build and run billion dollar businesses across a number of countries (India, China, Singapore and Australia) and industries (Devices, Digital Content, Publishing & Consumer Retail) He has over 20 years of experience in enabling business strategy execution through people as well as leading diverse teams across geographies. Prior to Amazon, he was at IBM where he led large scale programs focused on workforce research, diversity, rewards, education assistance and case management. He is an alumni of IBM’s prestigious Corporate Service Corps. Pritho is passionate about helping people unblock their potential and simplifying things 

Gaya Srikumar

Senior Director People Experience, EM & Developed Asia
Pfizer

She has been with Pfizer for 19 years, having led teams and operations in many international markets. In her present role she is responsible for the Asia Pacific region.  
Gaya’s early career began as an Industrial Chemist in Pharmaceuticals and has since worked in consulting, training, commercial and manufacturing operations in healthcare.  
Gaya has a Bachelor of Science majoring in Applied Chemistry and post graduate qualifications in organisational development.  
Gaya is an HR practitioner that is passionate about maximising the potential of talents and culture of organisations to maximise business outcomes. 

Erika Takahashi

People & Culture Regional Director
The Iconic

Erika Takahashi is the Regional People & Culture Director at THE ICONIC, a role she has held since January 2024. With over 20 years of experience in global HR, Erika possesses a wealth of knowledge and expertise in Organizational Design, Leadership and Talent Development, Driving High-Performing organizations, and Employee Experience. Her responsibilities at THE ICONIC encompass Employee Relations, Talent Attraction, Health, Safety & Wellbeing, P&C Business Partnering, Organizational Development, Change Management, People Operations, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging, Compensation & Benefits, and Internal Communications, ensuring a comprehensive approach to people and culture within the organization. Before joining THE ICONIC, Erika held prominent HR leadership positions at several renowned organizations. Most recently, she served as the Global Senior Human Resources Director at Fiskars Group. She has also held Director and Vice President roles at Mastercard, covering Australia, New Zealand, and South America. During her tenure at Mastercard Brazil, the company was recognized as one of the best places to work for women, highlighting her commitment to fostering inclusive and supportive work environments. Additionally, Erika was the Latam HR Director for GUCCI, based in Brazil, and held senior positions at General Electric, further solidifying her expertise in managing diverse teams and driving business growth through strategic HR initiatives. Erika’s exceptional contributions to the field of HR have been recognized with several prestigious awards. In January 2022, she was featured on the HRD 2022 HR Hot List by HRD Magazine, which identified the most influential leaders in the Australian HR sector for their leadership, innovation, and industry contributions. This recognition followed independent research conducted by the HRD Australia team, which highlighted her significant contributions to the industry over the previous 12 months. Additionally, in 2022, she was honored as one of the Global Best in HR by HRD Magazine, acknowledging her outstanding leadership and impact in the industry. In 2023, she was nominated as one of the top 10 best HR professionals in APAC by Manage HR magazine, highlighting her influence and leadership in shaping the future of human resources.