Angie Abdilla
Founder and Director, Old Ways, New
Professor Angie Abdilla palawa is the founder and director of Old Ways, New. In her various roles as a strategic designer, creative practitioner, and consultant, Angie advocates for Indigenous peoples, knowledges, and knowledge systems as foundational to technology automation through design and cultural practice. Her published research interrogates the praxis of Indigenous deeptime technologies and Artificial Intelligence, which continue to be informed by the Indigenous Protocols and AI working group (IP//AI), which she co-founded. As a creative practitioner, she works across film and video installation as an exhibiting artist. She created the company’s strategic design methodology, Country Centered Design, leading projects for the public and private sectors over the past decade. Angie continues to advise on the cultural and ethical affordances of automated systems and technologies internationally and locally.
Jackie Coates
CEO, Telstra Foundation
Jackie Coates is a corporate community investment and social impact leader with a focus on the “youth and tech” space. Jackie leads Telstra’s philanthropic arm and Australian charity - the Telstra Foundation (inc Code Club Australia), is a Trustee on the Board of Telstra Foundation Philippines and also a Board Director of Phoenix Australia.
Passionate about supporting children and young people to be more included, connected and empowered, Jackie believes that all young people should have the same opportunity to thrive in a connected world. She advocates for young people to have their say in shaping the digital world and also encourages young people to create with, not just consume, tech. Feminist, mother, tech optimist, and grant-maker, Jackie juggles many balls and tries hard not to drop the glass ones.
Andrew Colvin
CEO, Australian Red Cross
Andrew Colvin AO APM brings to Australian Red Cross a deep understanding of crisis management and leadership capabilities that will play a critical role as the organisation responds to the evolving needs of communities across Australia and beyond.
With a career dedicated to public service, Andrew has played leadership roles during some of Australia’s most high profile incidents and events. This includes leading the National Bushfire Recovery Agency in coordinating recovery efforts following the 2019-2020 Black Summer, as a Partner at Deloitte Australia’s financial advisory area where he led multi-disciplinary teams to deliver advisory and support services, and his role as Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police where he drove a significant cultural and structural reform agenda with a specific interest in workforce health and wellbeing.
In his new role as Australian Red Cross CEO Andrew is looking forward to working with the organisation’s dedicated members, volunteers, and staff alongside corporate and government partners to further enhance Australian Red Cross’ response to emergencies, in building resilient communities and supporting those in need.
Ian Gray
Founder, Gray Dot Catalyst
Ian Gray is an author, speaker, and renowned expert on scaling innovations.
He is the founder of Gray Dot Catalyst, a strategy, innovation, and partnering consultancy that has advised, trained, and mentored close to 200 organisations across the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors on every continent. Gray Dot Catalyst runs commissioned Scale Accelerator programs for UN agencies, foundations, and innovation investors, with over 60 innovation teams being supported across five cohorts in 2024.
Ian’s recent book, Scaling Value, co-authored with Professor John Bessant, is an invaluable resource for those trying to scale innovations. In the humanitarian and development sectors, Ian is the lead author of the DIAL Business Model Sustainability Toolkit and the Elrha Humanitarian Innovation Guide. He has also authored and co-authored numerous humanitarian innovation papers.
Ian is a patented inventor, an RSA Fellow, and holds an M.A. (Hons), MSc (Econ), and MBA. He is currently researching for his PhD on disruptive innovation in the humanitarian sector.
Brendan Moon AM
Coordinator General, National Emergency Management Agency
Brendan Moon AM is a highly experienced leader in the Emergency Management sector and has extensive expertise across disaster response, recovery, preparedness and risk reduction.
Brendan was appointed as the first Coordinator-General of the National Emergency Management Agency in October 2022 to establish an all-hazards, end-to-end agency to lead and coordinate Australian Government support for emergency management across Australia.
Prior to this national role, he spent 10 years with the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA), starting as the General Manager, Operations in 2011 until his appointment as Chief Executive Officer in 2016. While with QRA, Brendan led recovery operations and state-wide reconstruction and recovery efforts for all significant natural disasters in Queensland since late 2015 until 2022.
Brendan is a regular contributor to national and international dialogues on disaster risk and resilience; addressing forums including the United Nations Office of Disaster Risk Reduction’s Asian Ministerial Conference, Pacific Regional Disaster Managers and the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.
He is a passionate advocate for cooperation and collaboration across international, national, state and local agencies for disaster preparedness, response and recovery.
Brendan is a graduate of the University of Queensland and represented Australia in rugby internationally as a member of the Australian Wallabies. Brendan’s Order of Australia recognises his contribution to public administration and Australian Rugby Union.
Mike Lake
President & CEO, Leading Cities
Michael E. Lake is the President and CEO of Leading Cities, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Leading Cities’ mission is to drive global resiliency and sustainability through cities. Michael establishes and develops relationships with municipal governments, businesses, non-profit organizations and universities around the world, creating a global network dedicated to implementing Smart and Resilient City solutions.
AcceliCITY, a signature program, has become among the largest smart and resilient city focused accelerators in the world—providing pilot projects, startup funding and curriculum to entrepreneurs globally. Leading Cities globally sources, expert-vets, and ultimately connects municipal leaders with the solutions, best practices, and expertise needed to develop Smart Communities.
Mike has also co-chaired the Cyber Resilience Task for the World Economic Forum and G20 Global Smart City Alliance and established LaunchPad 11, the world’s first virtual incubator for sustainability and resiliency. Michael’s career in public service spans from serving three United States Presidents as Special Assistant for White House Operations and Presidential Advance to serving the former Prime Minister of Ireland as a policy research analyst.
Eytan Lenko
CEO, Boundless
Eytan Lenko is a technology entrepreneur, philanthropist and investor focused on climate solutions. Prior to joining Boundless Earth, Eytan was Chair of the internationally-recognised think-tank Beyond Zero Emissions. Eytan started his career in tech, including as Co-founder and CEO of Outware Mobile, growing Outware to become the recognised Australian leader in mobile software development.
Eytan is a director of funds management firm, Infrastructure Asset Managers, and investor and advisor to a number of ambitious clean-tech companies. He is a director of the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Networks and the Lord Mayors Charitable Foundation and recently chaired the development of the Climate Change Funding Framework, an influential framework that helps large funders strategically direct their giving on climate. Eytan was also a member of the 2020 Northern Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission to advise the Chief Minister on growth pathways for the NT economy.
Anthony McCosker
Professor of Media and Communication, Swinburne University
Anthony McCosker is Professor of Media and Communication at Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia. He is Director of Swinburne's Social Innovation Research Institute, and Node Lead and Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society.
Anthony's research addresses digital inclusion and participation in new technology adoption, particularly in relation to health and social inclusion. As a Chief Investigator in the ADM+S Centre, Anthony is working with industry partners, government and not-for-profits to improve digital and data capabilities for our increasingly automated societies. He has received two Vice Chancellor’s Awards for industry-engaged research impact. His latest co-authored books are Everyday Data Cultures (2022, Polity), Data for Social Good: Non-Profit Sector Data Projects (2023, Palgrave) and Automating Vision: The Social Impact of the New Camera Consciousness (2020, Routledge).
Margaret O’Brien
CEO & Co-founder, Young Change Agents
As an advocate for education, social impact, and technology-for-good, Margaret O’Brien has dedicated the last 12 years of her career to social entrepreneurship with a focus on youth agency.
Margaret designed her first social entrepreneurship program whilst volunteering in Colombia. She has been a Social Enterprise Advisor for Social Traders and Seventh Street Ventures and is the CoFounder and CEO of national social enterprise Young Change Agents. Since 2016, over 1560 schools and 165,000+ youth across Australia have accessed Young Change Agents programs, resources and technology.