The Honourable Bob Carr Professor in International Relations, University of Technology Sydney
The Honourable Bob Carr is Professor in International Relations at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He is the Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI), the only Australian think tank devoted to illuminating the Australia-China relationship.
Professor Carr is a former Foreign Minister of Australia (2012-2013). He is also the longest continuously serving Premier in New South Wales history (1995-2005).
He received his Honours degree in History from the University of New South Wales.
He is an Honorary Professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University. He is recipient of the RSIS Distinguished Visiting Fellowship from Nanyang Technological University and the Fulbright Distinguished Fellow Award Scholarship. He has served as Honorary Scholar of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue.
Professor Carr is an active public speaker. He has been invited to give scholarly presentations at many universities including Nanyang Technological University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Shanghai University, Shanghai Jiaotong University.
He has been frequently interviewed by international media. His opinion pieces are published in the Australian Financial Review, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald and Nikkei Asian Review.
He is the author of Thoughtlines (Viking, 2002), What Australia Means to Me (Penguin, 2003), My Reading Life (Penguin, 2008) and Diary of a Foreign Minister (NewSouth Publishing, 2014).
Professor Carr’s research focuses on international relations, foreign policy, Chinese politics and economics, national defence and security.
Angeline Achariya CEO, Food Innovation Centre, Monash University
Angeline is a highly capable senior executive with extensive experience in commercialising innovation, strategy development and end to end R&D execution. Angeline’s leadership in fast moving consumer goods & food service retail in commercialising innovation across Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China and Thailand markets has resulted in a successful track record of over 800 innovations launched across grocery and quick service restaurants. Angeline’s career in the food industry has spanned from small business, consultancy to blue chip FMCG companies like Masterfoods Japan; Fonterra, Yum! Brands and Mondelez International and has delivered significant projects in innovation and change management initiatives over her career. She is a highly sought after innovation speaker at national and international innovation conferences/workshops on innovation leadership/management and export pathways to Asia. Angeline’s strong commercial and innovation skills have paved the way for her leading and establishing a world first innovation capability and services start-up, the Mondelez International Food Innovation Centre (FIC). The FIC has now transitioned to Monash University as a timeshare innovation services start up to support the growth and revitalisation of the Australian food manufacturing industry.
Victoria Anderson Chief Adviser of Foreign Investment Division, The Treasury
Victoria joined the Treasury in April 2017, and is currently Chief Adviser in the Foreign Investment Division. She is responsible for agricultural and health investment advice and building and enhancing Treasury’s approach to foreign investment compliance. Victoria is also the Australian National Contact Point (AusNCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises—a promotional and complaints handling role focusing on the responsible business conduct of Australian multinationals.
Prior to joining the Treasury, Victoria held a number of senior executive and other positions at the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources. She was the inaugural Chief Risk Officer for the department, and held other branch management roles including on drought reform, agricultural trade policy and industry assistance and adjustment.
Victoria has been involved in a Commission of Inquiry into a major animal disease outbreak, led international delegations to establish improved agricultural cooperation and legislative implementation roles. Earlier in her career, Victoria was a Departmental Liaison Officer to agriculture ministers and worked on program delivery (grants) and fisheries management issues, including combating illegal fishing.
Victoria has a Bachelor of Arts/Laws (Hons) from the University of Queensland and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Australian National University.
Qiaoliang Bao Associate Professor, Monash University
Dr. Qiaoliang Bao received his Bachelor (2000) and Master (2003) degree from School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, and Ph. D degree from Department of Physics, Wuhan University (2007), China. From 2006 to 2008, he studied at Nanyang Technological University as a visiting student and research associate. From 2008 to 2012, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Graphene Research Centre, National University of Singapore (NUS). He was awarded ARC Future Fellowship in 2016 and is now an Associate Professor at Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, Australia. He has authored or co-authored more than 170 refereed journal articles with more than 18,000 total citations and an H-index of 57 (Google Scholar).
He is one of the 20 lead CIs of ARC COE FLEET. Within FLEET, Qiaoliang Bao investigates waveguide-coupled 2D semiconductors and plasmon-coupled 2D materials and devices, focusing on the effect of confined-space light-matter interactions on the transport of electrons or other quasi-particles such as polaritons. Qiaoliang is one of almost a hundred researchers at FLEET, all motivated by one grand challenge: to reduce the energy used in information and communication technology (ICT), which already accounts for at least 8% of global electricity use, and is doubling every decade. Recently, a global research project led by Qiaoliang Bao and his collaborators in Spain and China has contributed to a breakthrough discovery in quantum physics which can deliver new electronics and communications technology with ultra-low energy consumption. This new discovery was published in one of the world’s leading science journals Nature on 24 Oct 2018.
Jonathan Benney Lecturer, Monash University
Dr Jonathan Benney is a Lecturer in Chinese Studies in the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University.
Before coming to Monash, he was a lecturer at Macquarie University; a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for U.S.-China Issues at the University of Oklahoma; a visiting researcher on the LOEWE Research Focus project ‘Extrajudicial and Judicial Conflict Resolution’ at the Goethe University Frankfurt; and a research fellow at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore.
Jonathan was born and raised in Melbourne. Before starting his academic career, he studied and worked in Australia, China, and Taiwan. He received his PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2010. He has degrees in Arts and Law from the same university.
His first book, Defending Rights in Contemporary China, was published by Routledge in 2013.
Jonathan studies contentious politics and political communication in modern China. His research has concentrated on new media, aesthetics and design, activism, dispute resolution, the role of law and rights, and the history of ideas. He is also increasingly interested in how Chinese culture and society are taught and learnt at secondary schools and universities, as well as the welfare and culture of the Chinese international students who study in Australia.
Geoffrey Brooks Professor, Swinburne University
Professor Geoffrey Brooks is the Director of Swinburne’s Joint Research Centre with Shandong University in Weihai. He played a key role in developing the joint PhD program and industry links associated with the centre and he travels regularly to China to meet with students, researchers and industry partners. Professor Brooks has formerly been a Pro-Vice Chancellor, an Associate Dean of Research and a Departmental Head at Swinburne University of Technology, where he has worked for last 12 years. He was formerly an Associate Professor at McMaster University in Canada and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Wollongong. Professor Brooks has world standing in his own field of process metallurgy (the science of making metals) and he has published over 200 papers in that field and won major international awards for his work. He also active in the application of solar thermal energy to industry and the treatment of electronic waste. His PhD is from the University of Melbourne and he has undergraduate degrees in Engineering and Arts from RMIT and Swinburne.
Penny Burtt CEO, Asialink
Penny is the CEO of Asialink, Australia's leading center for the promotion of Asian countries and Australia's role in the region. She joined Asialink from global payments company, Visa Inc, where she served as Vice President Government Affairs, Asia Pacific. Prior to Visa, Penny lead External Relations and Client Service Risk for the Asia Pacific with McKinsey&Company. Penny is former senior diplomat. She represented Australia at a senior level in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and at the United Nations in Geneva and New York, and served as an Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. She is a passionate supporter of regional collaboration, and has served on the boards of the Singapore Institute for International Relations (SIIA), the U.S. National Center for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (NCAPEC) and the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, as well as the Singapore Committee of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).
Tracy Colgan President and Managing Director, China Operations
Tracy Colgan is President of KAI and Managing Director of KAI’s China Operations. In these capacities, she is responsible for the overall management and strategic direction of KAI, as well as overseeing the structuring and implementation of client engagements involving China and the Asia Pacific Region. Ms. Colgan joined KAI in 1993 as a consultant, later rising to the position of lead consultant and then managing director, and was appointed president in 2000.
In addition to her executive and management responsibilities, Ms. Colgan remains heavily involved in strategy formulation and implementation for KAI’s clients. She is particularly well-known for her abilities in ensuring that clients achieve their direct investment goals in China, blending her expertise in China-specific issues and cultural sensitivities with a keen understanding of business fundamentals. Ms. Colgan was responsible for negotiating China’s first major overseas acquisition in 1993 and remains at the forefront of cross-border M&A.
An Australian citizen, Ms. Colgan holds Bachelor of Arts (Honors) and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from the University of Melbourne, Australia’s top-ranked university. Following university, she was awarded a private corporate scholarship by Qantas to study Mandarin at the Beijing Languages Institute. She was then awarded a two-year scholarship from the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, under which she completed post-graduate study at Wuhan University and in Beijing at People’s University. Ms. Colgan is a member of the Board of Directors of AustCham Beijing.
Fergus Hanson Head, International Cyber Policy Centre
Fergus Hanson is the Head of the International Cyber Policy Centre.
He is the author of Internet Wars and has published widely on a range of cyber and foreign policy topics.
He was a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Professional Fulbright Scholar based at Georgetown University working on the uptake of new technologies by the US government.
He has worked for the UN, as a Program Director at the Lowy Institute and served as a diplomat at the Australian Embassy in The Hague.
Isaac Huang Executive Manager, H&H Group
Mr Huang heads Baby Nutrition Care business in H&H Group in Australia and New Zealand and he is a Chinese-Australian relationship specialist. Prior to this role, Isaac was the Sales & Marketing Channel Head for Swisse Cross Border business in Melbourne.
He is a highly experienced, versatile, strategic focused specialist, with China-focused commercial capabilities underpinned by his deep understanding of the China-Australia industry and economic environment, Chinese and Australia Government policies and initiatives relating to international trade, investment and industry development.
Prior to Swisse, Isaac held senior role in an international leading consulting firm with 8 years’ experience specialising in Chinese outbound investment and strategy. Isaac has advised and assisted a number of Chinese businesses successfully investing in Australia.
Leah Jing Founder, Liminal Magazine
Leah Jing McIntosh is passionate about exploring and celebrating the Asian-Australian experience and driving greater diversity in the Australian media landscape.
In response to the lack of representation of Asian-Australians in the media, she created Liminal Magazine, which highlights the achievements of extraordinary Asian-Australians through long-form interviews and portraits.
The recipient of several creative grants and awards, including a Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship and a Creative Victoria grant, Leah has also collaborated with the New York Times, spoken at the National Gallery of Victoria, and had her work archived by the National Library of Australia.
In 2018, Leah also co-founded Comic Sans, a serialised comics anthology that provides a platform to artists from under-represented communities. As part of the Footscray Community Arts Centre Emerging Culture Leaders Program, Leah continues to inspire and represent the Asian-Australian arts community and promote greater diversity in Australia’s media.
Phillip Kingston Entrepreneur and Investor
Phillip Kingston is an entrepreneur and investor, having founded, grown and exited companies in a number of industries. He is the Founder and Managing Director of Trimantium GrowthOps Ltd, an Australian Securities Exchange listed company (ASX: TGO), the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Sargon, Founder and Managing Director of Trimantium Capital, and a partner at Dragonfire.
Phillip founded KDIS, which has since been acquired by Trimantium GrowthOps Ltd (ASX: TGO). He also founded and served as President of the B-Corp Certified Henley Club, and co-founded Good Super. Phillip was a Non-Executive Director of the Centre for Sustainability Leadership for over six years, a Director of The New Palm Court Orchestra for nearly two years, and a Director of LaunchVic, the Victorian Government’s company building the state’s entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem.
Phillip is the Founder and Chairman of the International Technology Fund, which addresses the effectiveness and efficiency of technology within international NGOs such as the United Nations. He was named as a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum in 2013 and received the Australian Davos Connection’s Australian Leadership Award in 2011.
Phillip has a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Commerce, both from the University of Melbourne.
Gary Lee International Education Project Coordinator, City of Melbourne
Dynamic, creative and visionary, Gary Lee has over 15 years’ experience in the international education sector; specialising in the areas of high level strategic planning and design; policy development and advice; and the design and delivery of complex projects including festivals and arts programming, student wellbeing programs, community grants and youth consultation.
He is an advocate and champion of cultural diversity, particularly issues relating to international students. Through partnerships and collaborations, he has championed numerous award-winning projects and programs including the Lord Mayor's Student Welcome, the ‘Act of Translation’ theatre project, the EDGE International Student Leaders’ Program and the Essendon Football Club GLoBALL Program.
He is also an Ambassador for Bully Zero Australia Foundation, the AFL Multicultural Community Program, Melbourne Victory; Welcome to Australia and is an alumni member of the Asialink Leaders Program.
In January 2016, Gary was presented with the ‘New Australian of the Year’ award by the Australia Day Council.
Wei Li Lecturer, University of Sydney
Wei Li has worked as a researcher on water conservation and renewable energy for the World Bank, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection and Renmin University of China.
She joined the University of Sydney China Studies Centre and Business School in 2011 and held the Australian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industries research fellowship before being appointed to a lectureship in International Business.
She is a core member of the KPMG/Business School research team and leads the Chinese outbound investors' survey project. She co-developed the KPMG/University of Sydney database on Chinese outbound direct investment in Australia.
Her research interests are the globalisation of Chinese enterprises and sustainable development. She is particularly interested in the transformation of state owned and private enterprises and the role of the state as promoter of international business activity. She is currently involved in research projects on enterprise finance, woman entrepreneurship and the internationalisation of the renewable energy sector.
She has published articles on green innovation and solar energy, environmental impact assessment, governance of water resources, small and medium enterprise finance, and Chinese investment in Australia.
Feifei Liao Student Representative
Feifei Liao believes in the human value, human potential, and community development. She is devoting herself to seek practical and innovative ways to help people maximize their values and make a social impact. Since she is always eager to learn and improve, she has become an impressive versatile person who is excellent in wielding new skills, knowledge, and technology to devise strategies, build teams, lead human-centered projects, and has made a range of initiatives. As a student representative in universities and national student organizations, such as Monash Postgraduate Association, University of Melbourne Student Union, and National Union Student, she proactively advocates for students, organizes events and campaigns, and solves students' issues. She works as a project manager in the Be You Be Scene and the Act of Translation to manage to bring a change of narratives about international students across communities. She also works with Elva Zhang in Peace Lab and the Project AI to promote positive mindset and self-loving relationship. She loves challenges and always stays positive to make positive changes for people who are and work with her.
Kieran Lilley International Relations Manager, Football Federation Australia
Kieran is the International Relations Manager at Football Federation Australia, and is responsible for using football to build Australia’s relationships with the 47 member countries of the Asian Football Confederation and facilitate Australia's contributions to raising the level of football across Asia.
This work has seen football partner with a number of government departments, including the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Austrade and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, to deliver programs and events that have involved more than 20 countries, including China.
Kieran holds a Bachelor of Arts (Government and International Relations) from the University of Sydney and a Football Administration Certificate from the Asian Football Confederation & World Academy of Sport.
Based in Sydney, Kieran also spends a portion of each year working across Asia and the Middle East. He serves as one of Australia’s Local General Coordinators for the AFC Champions League and has spoken internationally about the role football plays in Australian diplomacy.
Outside of football and diplomacy, Kieran is an avid mountaineer and is working on climbing the Seven Summits.
Sarah Loh CEO, South Metro Junior Football League
Sarah migrated to Australia as a child from Malaysia and grew up with her Chinese parents and two older brothers. Her two brothers loved playing all sports and ensured, in summer they played cricket; and in winter, it was Aussie Rules Football. Sarah learned how to play football in her first year in Australia and started to support St Kilda Football Club. Sarah also attended nearly every St Kilda football match and fell in love with the game. This early exposure to sport and AFL influenced Sarah's decision to work in the industry.
As girls weren’t allowed to play football then, Sarah pursued other sports. Sarah began working in the sports industry at the age of 18 to pursue her professional career. In August 2016, Sarah was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the South Metro Junior Football League (SMJFL) as the first female CEO to be employed in football. Sarah has worked in a wide sector f the sports, recreation and fitness industry. She commenced her career managing fitness centre's before working at various Local Government Councils in management designing and building leisure centres and sports fields/pavillions. Sarah has also been the CEO of two State Sporting Organisations for Dragon Boat Victoria and Ice Hockey Victoria prior to her current role.
Sarah holds a Master of Sport Business from Victoria University where she later lectured in the undergraduate courses in sport and recreation management and then onto the Sports Masters programs.
Sarah now spends her spare time playing in the inaugural women’s Masters football competition as well as being a football coach and recently appointed the Head coach for the Victorian Womens Team competing in this years Australian Masters competition in Coffs Harbour. Sarah is also an AFL Multicultural Community Ambassador, spending her weekends taking newcomers to AFL matches and teaching them about the game. Sarah is truly living her dream of being involved full time in the football industry.
Tom Parker Partner, Bastion China
As an intercultural specialist with a focus on Chinese media, marketing, international trade and stakeholder management for over 20 years, Tom Parker has been providing a range of advisory services to both the private and public sector organisations, including: tourism, higher education, agribusiness, financial services, local government, sports and recreation. Tom is Vice President of the Australia China Business Council (Victoria) and provides a range of services across the strategic communications and trade and investment disciplines.
Jamie Pi Practice Principal, Vigeo Financial Solutions
Jamie is the Practice Principal of Vigeo Financial Solutions based in Melbourne’s South East.
Jamie is passionate footy lover and a pioneer in connecting AFL with the Chinese community.
Currently Jamie is a Level 2 AFL coach and serve as the Development Coach at St Kilda VFL Women’s team.
Lisa Roet Artist
Lisa Roet is an Australian artist based in Melbourne who in recent years has been working on large art projects in China. Her latest project, a collaboration with Chinese artist Shen Shaomin was shown in Frankfurt at Art International in an exhibition titled CAPITAL.
For over three decades, just what it is to be human has been the central driving force behind Lisa Roet’s art practice. She is committed to exploring environmental issues and genetic discoveries through an interdisciplinary approach to her work, collaborating with the arts, design and science communities worldwide including research at zoos, working with environmental groups and exploring through museum archives to develop her art using a wide range of mediums and materials.
Lisa responds to the image of the ape and monkey as humans closest animal relative and as a mirror and social commentary to remind us of the necessity to re-evaluate humanities position within this increasingly urbanised and global world. Roet believes that creativity has the ability to present pertinent and powerful messages within our communities and while sculpture forms the basis of her practice, public art is a new domain in which Roet has been exploring ideas developed through her studio practice and Museum/Gallery presentations. With two large public art projects successfully completed in Beijing, Roet will be working in Holland and in Indonesia over the next year on several new public art projects.
Dan Ryan Board Member, Australia-China Council
Dan Ryan is a commercial and technology lawyer and investor with over 15 years’ high-level advisory and transactional experience in Asia with particular expertise in Greater China. He has worked in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
He began his career working for leading international law firms (Baker & McKenzie, Freshfields) in their corporate, intellectual property and technology groups. He has since served as legal advisor and board director to a range of companies in the finance, technology and commodities/resources sectors.
He was for many years a director of Hong Kong’s leading free market think tank, The Lion Rock Institute, and has been involved in public policy matters throughout his career. He has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Australian, The South China Morning Post, The Australian Financial Review, The Spectator, amongst others.
He is a board member of the Australia-China Council, the peak independent body advising the Australian Government on commercial and strategic issues relating to the China relationship.
He speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese to a very high professional level.
Gönül Serbest Deputy Secretary, Trade Victoria
Gönül Serbest is the Deputy Secretary for Trade in the State Government of Victoria. In this role, she is responsible for managing the Government’s international network of 22 offices and leads a team that drives economic growth in Victoria by facilitating exports through the development of trade strategies to key markets across the Government’s priority industry sectors.
Over recent years, Ms Serbest has been instrumental in the development and implementation of the largest Trade Missions to leave Australia into emerging markets and the largest inbound trade delegations to visit Victoria. During her time in State Government, Ms Serbest has held a number of senior positions across the Department and was specifically charged with developing dedicated Trade Engagement Programs for key international markets which have resulted in a number of significant collaborations and billions of dollars worth of additional exports for the State.
She has also acted as the Executive Director, International Coordination Office and has served as Senior Adviser to previous departmental Secretaries. In 2016, she also completed an Executive secondment, heading the Design and Screen Industry Development Unit within Creative Victoria, the government body dedicated to championing, growing and supporting Victoria's creative industries.
Ms Serbest has previously served on the Board of Radio 3ZZZ, Australia’s largest ethic community radio station, working with over 60 ethnic groups across multicultural Melbourne. Ms Serbest has a Bachelor in Social Science (Hons) from RMIT University, and has completed a Harvard Business School Executive Education Course in India on Building Global Enterprise. She has also completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors Course.
She has a passion for international engagement and supporting platforms and initiatives that empower young leaders and women to actively engage in areas of trade, culture and politics. In May 2014, Gönül was selected as one of 19 young leaders across all South East Asia nations and Australia to participate in the Australia-ASEAN Emerging Leaders Program held in Malaysia designed to build long term, productive linkages with each other and with the region's leading thinkers and specialists. Gönül was also chosen as one of 15 young leaders to represent Australia in a similar initiative for the Australia India Youth Dialogue.
In March 2018, Gonul made Smart Company’s Honour Roll for the Top 100 Australian female business leaders and most recently in August 2018, was awarded in the Top 50 Victorian Women in the Public Service.
Kym Shilton Advisory Partner, Deloitte
Kym is a Deloitte Infrastructure Advisory partner and National lead partner Social and Cultural Infrastructure.
Kym is renowned for her feasibility and business planning for sports, leisure, tourism and entertainment integrated precincts and facilities. For over 20 years, Kym has successfully delivered commercial advisory services, including strategic and infrastructure master planning, feasibility and business cases and delivery strategy for public and private sector clients. Kym has worked on projects ranging from local to national and international scale venues and places in Australia, South East Asia and the Middle East.
Kym is currently working with a range of private sector clients to develop town and precinct master plans, that are attempting to overcome the issues of hyper urbanism, and deliver great places for residents to live, work and play, as well as deliver viable and sustainable commercial and public sector outcomes.
Prior to joining Deloitte, Kym spent 10 years in Local, Regional and State government, in senior operational, strategic and economic development roles, 2 years in Commonwealth-State Government Relations, and 10 years in boutique consultancies. Kym has a keen interest in sustainability, having worked in parks, open space and natural resource management in her early career and more recently developing sustainability benchmarking for the social and cultural infrastructure sectors.
Catherine Simmonds Artistic Director
Catherine Simmonds is one of Australia’s leading community cultural development theatre makers. As an artistic director, her focus is the space between the ‘lived experiences’ of communities and the language of art. As the founding director of the Brunswick Women’s Theatre, cultural diversity was integral to her ‘modus operandi’. For more than two and half decades she’s provided marginalized people with a creative space in which to ‘discover the need to speak and to speak the unspoken’. The community, become the actors, the devisors, the consultants and protagonists of their own and each other’s stories.
Yifan Wang Student, University of Melbourne
Featured in the Lowy Institute and People's Daily, Yifan's international education experience has been transformative. She brushed up on her oral English by volunteering extensively in the community, while studying for a joint Bachelor's degree at the University of Newcastle (UoN). Meanwhile, she found her passion in strengthening Australia-China youth engagement. Her community achievement was recognized by UoN as 2016 Global Citizen Award Winner. In 2018, she was elected as the National Treasurer for the Australia-China Youth Association (ACYA) as the first international student senior executive.
Yifan is a strong advocate for gender equality, cultural diversity and education exchange. Seeing herself as the beneficiary of international education, she aspires to support more female students to develop their skills and raise their voice. This motivated her to co-found the ACYA Women’s Network, a launching pad for women to grow, lead and empower each other. As a Social Innovation Education Fellow, she coordinated the Exploring Social Innovation Program with a diverse team in San Francisco in Summer 2018.
Yifan is currently studying a Master of Management (Accounting and Finance) degree at the University of Melbourne, whilst completing her Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. In her spare time, she enjoys watching TED talks and jogging as her way for self reflection.
Tim Watts Federal Member, Australian Parliament
Tim was elected to the Australian Parliament in 2013 as the Federal Member for Gellibrand in Melbourne’s West.
Gellibrand is home to around 150,000 residents and is one of the most multicultural communities in Australia. Almost half of Gellibrand’s residents speaking a language other than English at home and nearly two thirds of residents are born overseas or have a parent overseas. Tim believes our community is better off with strong multicultural ties and is proud to represent such a diverse electorate.
During his time in Parliament, Tim has been an outspoken advocate of international aid and the importance of maintaining a strong Australian Aid program.
He has also been a vocal opponent of family violence and as convener of the Parliamentarians Against Family Violence group, worked to provide a platform for family violence advocates and service providers to speak directly with Members of Parliament from all sides of politics.
Before entering Parliament Tim worked in leadership roles in the IT and telecommunications sector for the better part of a decade across government, Australia’s largest telcommunications company and in international law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques (now King and Wood Mallesons). He remains passionate about the potential of technological change.
Tim holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from Bond University, a Master of Public Policy from Monash University and Master of Politics and Communication from the London School of Economics.
Kee Wong Founder, e-Centric Innovations
Kee Wong is the founder and the Managing Director of e-Centric Innovations, a management and technology consulting company that provides strategic advice and systems integration services in e-business and IT for large enterprises and government in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and SE Asia.
Kee is currently the Chairman of the AIIA Board. He also sits on the Board of Directors of Asialink, Australian Services Roundtable (ASR), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and the Advisory Board of the Australia-Malaysia Institute (AMI).
Terry Zhang Associate General Manager, DiDi ANZ
Terry Zhang is the Associate General Manager of DiDi ANZ, a world’s leading mobile transportation platform helping 550 millon users move around with diversified app-based transportation options. Through his three and half years with DiDi, he has been taking essential roles in operations across different business units, including Hitch, Bus, Mini Bus, Express and national driver operations.
Prior to ride-sharing industry, Terry has served as strategy consultant and business development professional for 3 years and high-tech start-up entrepreneur for a year. In his 8-year professional experience, he keeps moving toward becoming a strategic thinker and problem solver. He believes that the best business should make positive social impact while generating profit.
He holds a M.S. in Operations Management and Logistics from Eindhoven University of Technology and B. Eng. in Industrial Engineering from Tsinghua University.
Chris Zhong Digital Blockchain Lead, Accenture
Chris Zhong, Accenture Digital Blockchain Lead and founder & president of Blockchain Philanthropy Foundation, a non-profit organisation focus on promoting Blockchain technology for humanitarian causes. Prior to joining Accenture, she worked as the Lead Cloud Architect in Microsoft Australia.
She is an innovative leader in tech industry with a track record of driving business growth and develop new revenue stream through technology. She is also a strong advocate for technology making social impact. She speaks frequently in conferences.
She holds a master degree in IT from Melbourne University and is currently doing an Executive MBA in AGSM.