Speakers

Deepshikha currently serves as Principal Global People Technology team within Telstra. Her function is responsible for managing the HR Digital ecosystem within Telstra. She has extensive experience in leading complex digital transformation programs with strategic focus on building AI solutions in order to deliver signature experiences for Telstra’s workforce. These include (but are not limited to) Payroll transformation program, Learning / skills transformation program and Talent Acquisition programs of work. Her function has delivered cutting edge People Tech making Telstra market leaders in Asia Pacific for early adoption of these Tech solutions. These include Paradox AI platform, Workday NLU Assistant in Microsoft Teams, Workday Extend Apps, Gen AI models for HR Business Processes etc. She also had the opportunity to represent Telstra at Workday Rising Barcelona sharing the great work done across the People Tech landscape.

Shruti has been with Unilever ANZ for 10 years, taking the reigns as Head of HR for Australia and New Zealand in 2023 and in 2025, she took on the additional responsibility for the APAC cluster.

Shruti loves partnering with teams to help drive their strategic business agenda, redefining work, unlocking performance and productivity while also helping organisations build an inclusive culture where everyone belongs. This is deep rooted in her purpose to “Create Belonging for myself and others” by living her values of positivity, curiosity & connections.

Some of Shruti’s key achievements at Unilever include landing organization transformations, driving a change agenda, spearheading progressive policy changes like Gender affirmation leave, leave for pregnancy loss & fertility treatments while experimenting with new flexible working models.

Shruti has 20+ years of HR experience, in both developing and developed markets, across a variety of roles including Organization Transformation, Change Management, Learning, Talent Management, Wellbeing, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) and HR Business partnering.

On a personal front, Shruti gets her energy from spending time with her husband and daughter, reading, doing yoga, and staying connected with friends and family all over the world!

Stephen Smith is the Executive General Manager of Safety, Wellbeing and Sustainability at NBN Co, with over 20 years of experience across international markets in real assets and infrastructure. A senior executive and people leader, Stephen drives business outcomes, resilience, and organisational excellence across Health, Safety, Wellbeing, Environment, Quality, and Sustainability portfolios.

He is a professional Engineer, a Certified Environmental Practitioner (CEnvP), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). Stephen has held influential roles in global networks including the IOSH Global Business Leaders Forum, World Green Building Council Corporate Advisory Board, BCO ESG Committee, and UK Green Building Council Leaders Network. He was also a founding member of Building Responsibly, advocating for worker rights in engineering and construction.

Celina brings more than 20 years’ experience across the breadth of Human Resources spanning various sectors including financial services, oil, retail, construction and not-for-profit. Prior to joining Ausgrid in 2023, Celina’s most recent roles were with Life Without Barriers and John Holland, following 13 years at Caltex where she worked in various roles within and outside of HR.

Celina is passionate about building strong authentic relationships and shaping purpose aligned cultures which empower and energise people. Celina holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Human Resources & Industrial Relations from Western Sydney University.

Pauly Grant, Chief Talent Officer at Publicis Groupe ANZ & APAC, is an innovative and strategic HR leader with a more than 20-year career spanning marketing, communications and the fashion industry.

She has led the people and culture strategy for companies to deliver organisational transformation, new operating models, employee engagement, best practice L&D programs, safe and productive working environments, and holistic DE&I strategies.

Pauly is a creative problem solver who identifies and embraces new approaches to solve complex problems by leveraging data and insights. She believes that fostering an inclusive, enabling culture is a driver for exceptional business performance. As a leader, her focus is on making the shift from how to create a great Employee Experience (EX), to a great Life Experience (LX) for people. This is enabled through support frameworks that reflect a diverse workforce with varied lived experiences.

Belinda is the Chief Executive People, Legal and Corporate Services at Suncorp, 
overseeing People, Legal, Company Secretariat, Procurement, Real Estate and 
Partnering teams. With nearly 20 years of legal practice experience in Australia and 
South Africa, she has also led major organisational transitions, including Suncorp Bank’s sale to ANZ, and previously served as Group General Counsel.

Belinda’s HR leadership is centred on building future-fit capabilities with a performance edge, ensuring Suncorp’s sustainability and capacity to deliver for their customers. She is focused on investing in people, recognising their loyalty, and prioritising psychological and social safety across the organisation.

Rebecca Coombes is the Group Chief People Officer of The Disability Trust, with The Disability Trust being the foundational business in a large conglomerate, 6 key entities, operating within the social/community services sector, and employing 4500 employees across the country.

A seasoned professional with over 25-years of vast HR experience, Rebecca has demonstrated excellence at all levels through to the C-suite. As a member of the prestigious Chief HR Australia group, professional member (CAHRI) of The Australian Human Resources institute for almost 20-years, Rebecca leads as a vivacious and contemporary executive.

With experience working across a range of industries from telecommunications, manufacturing, media and higher education prior to joining the for-purpose sector, Rebecca balances solid commercial acumen with a person-centred approach to her discipline.

Holding a Bachelor of Commerce, Employment Relations, and a Master of Commerce, Human Resources Management (with Distinction), combined with 8-years of experience as an academic lecturer, Rebecca demonstrates commitment to the development of the future of HR.

Rebecca brings the rare balance of theory and practical application in the important space of workforce learning and development - Adult learning being one specialist area of her research and teachings in Academia, and L&D in her working remit for more than 2 decades.

With more than 20 years of experience across sales, marketing and people development, Thomas Bailey has worked with iconic organisations including Kimberly-Clark, Nestlé, Coca-Cola Amatil, Blackmores, Canon and Novartis, as well as NGOs in the UK, Hong Kong and Australia. Thomas currently serves at the Head of L&D at OFX.

Thomas is passionate about driving real performance through meaningful development, not simply training room exercises.

Thomas continues to operate his own coaching and consultancy practice. Leveraging deep expertise in leadership transformation and strategic development, he is committed to unlocking potential and achieving measurable results aligned to his clients’ personal and professional goals. He is an ICF‑accredited Associate Certified Coach (ACC).

Thomas is also the creator and host of the Rogue L&D podcast, one of Australia’s most popular HR podcasts. Through podcast episodes and short‑form video content, he showcases insights and inspiration from global L&D thought leaders.

Currently sitting on the AITD NSW council having previously served as AITD’s NSW President, Thomas has consistently advocated for L&D professionals, connecting the community, elevating the visibility of the profession, and championing Learning and Development as a critical driver of business success and performance through a vibrant calendar of events.

Lauren is the Chief People & Culture Officer at Australian Payments Network, a role she has held for the past six years. Lauren’s role prioritises developing and executing people focussed solutions in support of AusPayNet’s strategy. She has spent the last 15 years in Executive Human Resources, partnering with leaders to shape the people agenda.

When she is not solving complex people issues, Lauren is passionate about education. She holds a Master of Commerce, majoring in Human Resources & Industrial Relations, and has recently graduated from Macquarie University with her Bachelor of Medical Science, majoring in Neuroscience and Advanced Human Biology.

With 25 years of experience living and working across five continents, I’ve spent my career solving complex Global HR Technology and Data challenges. After 15 years building increasingly large and complex global HRIS systems, I became frustrated by the disconnect between the data HR was collecting and the business’s need to drive revenue, engagement, and performance.

That frustration led me to dedicate the past 11 years to People Analytics — creating solutions that help HR, business leaders, and employees make informed decisions based on accurate, relevant, and timely data. Whether developing a world leading Organisational Network Analytics product, leading Deloitte Australia's People Analytics capability or now at Rio Tinto, my focus has remained the same: enabling sustained and measurable business impact.

At Rio Tinto, I bring passionate HR professionals together with our super-smart analytics team, helping ideas spark and grow. What drives me is showing the real impact of that connection — turning energy and expertise into stories leaders can act on, and proving the value it creates for people and the business.

Dr Amantha Imber is an organisational psychologist and founder of the award-winning behaviour change training consultancy Inventium. She has worked with companies such as Google, Apple, Disney, LEGO, and Microsoft to help boost productivity, innovation and wellbeing.

In 2021, Amantha was the first Australian to win the Thinkers50 Innovation Award (described by the Financial Times as the 'Oscars for Management Thinking'). She is also the host of the number one ranking business podcast How I Work, which has had over 6 million downloads.

Amantha's thoughts have appeared in Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, and Forbes, and she is the author of four bestselling books, including international bestseller Time Wise and her most recent book, The Health Habit.

Julian is a leading employment and industrial relations specialist with over a decade of experience advising employers across Australia. He is an expert in the Fair Work Act, enterprise bargaining strategy and complex workplace disputes and investigations. Julian has acted in high-profile test cases, including in the childcare industry, pandemic leave, penalty rates, and casual and part-time test case to name a few. He regularly represents employers before the Fair Work Commission. A sought-after speaker, he delivers practical insights on workplace law, compliance and negotiation strategies that help employers manage their workforce lawfully and compliantly.

Kate Jolly is the Global Head of Talent & Enablement at Employment Hero. Kate has over 10 years experience hiring on a global scale for both start-ups and FTSE100 businesses. She's worked with candidates from graduate level through to senior leadership and is passionate about building high-performing, high-velocity recruitment teams.     

Rob Lamb is a global talent executive and currently Executive General Manager, Talent Experience at Xero. He has led large-scale talent transformation across high-growth technology companies including Careem and Uber, building data-driven, AI-enabled hiring engines that power global expansion.

Rob is passionate about the intersection of leadership, technology, and human potential - and how organisations can design talent systems that are both high-performance and deeply human. He brings a practical, operator’s perspective on scaling teams, raising the hiring bar, and building resilient organisations in times of rapid change.  

Meredith is a People & Culture executive specializing in growth and transformation, global operations, and organisation effectiveness.

As Senior VP, Global People & Culture at Telix Pharmaceuticals, she leads a global team with focus on talent management and organisation design, and building flexible and future-proofed People & Culture practises that can scale with a business. Telix is an ASX100 and Nasdaq listed, fast growing and highly innovative radiopharmaceutical company with employees in 12 countries across APAC, EMEA and AMER.

Meredith has worked in Healthcare and BioTech for most of her career, and excels in high-stakes, purpose-driven environments. She have a keen curiosity for all things people, particularly in how the systems and networks in the workplace influence capacity for accountability, communication, empathy, and self-awareness.

Lindsay has been the Chief People and Culture Officer at SGFleet since March 2022. She is responsible for all people-related matters including talent, engagement, leadership development, change, remuneration and recruitment.
Before joining SGFleet, Lindsay worked for FWD Insurance in Singapore. As Group Head of Talent and Organisational Development, she was responsible for all strategic HR Leadership, Employee Engagement, Change, Talent Management and OD initiatives. During her 3 years at FWD, the company headcount doubled to 9000 employees.

Neha Patel is the Manager of Performance, Recognition and Benefits at Suncorp, based in Sydney. With more than 15 years of global experience across leading organisations, Neha is at the forefront of shaping a contemporary, benefits-led employee value proposition for over 12,000 employees across Australia and New Zealand. She doesn’t see benefits as programs — she sees them as powerful levers of engagement, performance and culture. At Suncorp, Neha champions a holistic benefits framework that connects performance, reward and recognition into one cohesive strategy. Her work ensures benefits are not just competitive, but meaningful, equitable and aligned to business outcomes. By embedding fairness, consistency and commercial impact into the design of benefits, she helps bring Suncorp’s purpose — building futures and protecting what matters — to life for its people every day.

Neha is passionate about repositioning benefits from an operational function to a strategic driver of organisational success. Through strong cross-functional collaboration and future-focused thinking, she enables leaders to use benefits and recognition as tools to attract, retain and energise talent in an evolving workforce landscape. At a time when employee expectations are rapidly shifting, Neha’s work demonstrates how a well-designed benefits strategy can become a defining advantage

Janet is passionate about growing organisations and the people who work in them. After successfully navigating her way through careers in Finance and IT, Janet became fascinated with how individuals and organisations change. Consequently, she obtained her Masters in Organisational Coaching and ran an organisational change consultancy for 5 years. Janet has come to believe that through skilled leadership, it is possible to change our work environments so that they increase both employee well-being and business performance. That is why, since 2013, she has been working with leaders to strengthen leadership potential in them and the people around them. 

Janet’s style is part coaching, part facilitating, but always challenging and engaging. She believes that growth is best explored through curiosity and openness. Janet has over 20 years of business and management experience, including 10 years in executive positions. 

Her Industry experience spans across IT, Financial Services, Government, Professional Services, and SME and includes work in the US, Australia and across Asia

Tamsin Bate is an enterprise organisational development and talent executive with more than 20 years’ experience helping organisations build stronger leadership, high-performing cultures, and future-ready workforces. She works closely with CEOs and executive teams to shape people strategy, employee experience, and organisational design in ways that strengthen performance and enable sustainable transformation. 

Her expertise spans leadership development, talent and succession, performance, and enterprise capability building across the full employee lifecycle. Tamsin is particularly interested in how organisations can redesign work, leadership, and culture for a future shaped by AI, changing workforce expectations, and new models of performance — turning strategy into practical action that delivers measurable impact.

Emma Walsh is the CEO of Parents At Work and Founder of Family Friendly Workplaces, and a globally recognised pioneer in family-inclusive workplace policy. With more than two decades of experience, she has championed the social, economic and business case for inclusive workplaces, advocating for policies that advance gender equality and improve outcomes for families. Central to this work was Emma leading the development of the National Work + Family Standards - establishing Australia’s first clear benchmark for family-friendly workplace culture, and spearheading the launch of the Family Friendly Workplaces Certification program to recognise employers driving meaningful change. Regarded as one of Australia’s leading experts in return to work and parental leave transition, Emma delivers coaching and training programs that equip organisations and working parents to thrive. Her corporate background spans HR, training, recruitment and career mentoring roles with KPMG, Zurich and JP Morgan across Australia and the UK.

Matthew Kane is Vice President of Solution Advisory, APJ at Dayforce where he leads a cross-functional presales team across the Asia-Pacific and Japan region. With deep expertise in Human Capital Management software, he is passionate about helping organisations transform how they engage and empower their people. An AI enthusiast in both his professional and personal lives, Matthew actively explores how artificial intelligence can elevate decision making, enhance employee experiences, and shape the future of work. 

Anat Hassner is a senior executive in strategy, people and enterprise transformation, currently serving as Global Chief Operating Officer at OneSchool Global. She brings extensive experience across EMEA and APAC, with a career spanning consulting, technology, retail, transport, agriculture, property, construction and government. A trusted advisor to CEOs and executive leadership teams, Anat has led large‑scale strategy and transformation initiatives across complex, fast‑paced organisations, with expertise in organisational design, strategic workforce planning, HR operations and change management.

She holds a PhD in Change Management and a Master of Organisational Psychology and is a published author and international conference presenter.

Ali Adey is the Founder and CEO of She Mentors, an on-demand mentoring platform that makes mentoring accessible, flexible and relevant for women at every stage of their careers, partnering with organisations across Australia and New Zealand to support women to stay, progress and lead at work. 

With 15+ years in digital and ecommerce, Ali has worked with global women’s lifestyle brands including Elle Macpherson Body, Kayser Lingerie and Women’s Health & Fitness, bringing international perspective on brand, audience growth and community building. 

Ali is a passionate advocate for women in leadership and is known for creating spaces where ambitious women can connect, make confident decisions and lead with impact. 

Nidhi Chopra is a passionate and strategic HR leader with over a decade of experience, including fifteen years at Adobe. Throughout her career, she has excelled in diverse HR roles including business partnering, organisational design, employee relations, and leadership coaching.

Currently, Nidhi leads the HR Business Partnership Center of Excellence across APAC, where she is known for her thoughtful risk-taking, collaborative spirit, and commitment to delivering impactful outcomes.

Outside of work, Nidhi co-authored a children's e-book series and is a certified Leadership and Life Coach. Recognised as an Excellence Awardee for Australian HR Director of the Year 2024, Nidhi is dedicated to elevating capability and maximising outcomes for those around her. 

Genaea has strong experience within a diverse range of roles across manufacturing, mining, energy automotive and technology throughout Asia Pacific and the Middle East. 

Her background includes strategic and operational HR, business transformation, talent and capability, organisational effectiveness, learning and development, workforce design, project management and leadership. 

Currently she is focused on supporting operations by building leadership capability within Amazon leading delivery across APAC. Genaea is incredibly passionate about building the skills of the future and is excited to be speaking at the HR Summit Melbourne.

Vanessa Trower is a Learning, Capability and Transformation Partner at Nexperk, a Sydney-based learning consultancy that helps organisations turn learning into measurable workplace impact. She works with organisations across Australia to design capability, leadership and transformation initiatives that strengthen performance, culture and organisational readiness for change. Vanessa is a regular conference speaker and experienced panel moderator, known for facilitating engaging conversations that connect big ideas with real-world application.

Tiffany Leone is a passionate and values-driven leader in Learning and Organisational Development, dedicated to cultivating environments where individuals and teams thrive. She believes that a company's people are its greatest asset and focuses on building cultures that champion growth and innovation. 
  
As a leader in Organisational Development, Learning and DEIB, she has successfully led the end-to-end design and implementation of global strategies across diverse industries, including Telecommunications, Media, Engineering, Technology, and currently as the Director of Learning & Development at the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC). Her work has spanned Australia, the USA, and the UK, and has been instrumental in creating deeper engagement and fostering vibrant cultures. 
  
At the AEMC, Tiffany is particularly focused on enhancing an inclusive, growth-oriented culture. She achieves this through comprehensive people development strategies, including impactful leadership solutions and sustainable DEIB initiatives that empower every individual to reach their full potential.

Hassanah Rudd is a high energy People Leader with a career built on big thinking, bold moves, and brilliant execution. Describes herself as an Accidental Fractional People Operator.

Currently supporting in that capacity as Head of People for Preacta a Talent Solutions and Tech Recruitment company. 
Hassanah is an ex Canva talent leader; she brings deep expertise across global talent acquisition, people, workforce planning and strategic transformation.  

A champion for purpose led work and inclusive leadership, Hassanah is also a passionate mentor, speaker, and advisor across the HR and startup ecosystem. She is a long standing Mentor for the Blackbird VC Giants program and past mentor for LaunchVic 30x30 and Sydney Techstars.

A seasoned ASX C Suite executive and Chief People Officer, Gillian Davie brings deep expertise in guiding organisations through disruption, transformation, growth, and divestment. With extensive leadership experience across domestic and international markets—including start ups, acquisitions, accelerated growth environments, strategic restructuring and post merger integration. Known for remaining calm, decisive and outcome focused under pressure.   Woolworths Group, AMP, NetComm Wireless, Bravura Solutions and MLC/IOOF are some of the organisations Gillian has contributed to.  

Gillian draws on GAICD and FGIA qualifications with her broad board experience spanning listed, private and not for profit organisations including Scouts Australia, Yarno, and currently Vice Chair Ronald McDonald House Greater Western Sydney.  

Gillian was recognised for her HR experience and impact, being named in the HRD Global 100 in 2023 and HRD HR Hotlist in 2024.