Global Speakers

Anuraj Gambhir is an internationally recognized Strategic Business Advisor, Technology Visionary and Innovation Evangelist 

As an Innovation catalyst Anuraj assists organisations (from mentoring startups to consulting with mature entities) to spearhead their innovation agenda. He has over 25 years experience working across the mobile ecosystem spanning 5 continents.  A few prominent companies he has worked for include: NASA/JPL, Optus, Logica/Aethos, T-Mobile, Orange, GSM Association, Sharp, Siemens, Spice, Ericsson, MTS, Globacom.

Anuraj has worked from hands-on technical roles to senior executive management positions and is regarded by many as an industry visionary. He is a valued advisory board member of several organizations globally and also involved with teaching as adjunct faculty. He has spearheaded several innovations in the advanced as well as grass-root level mobile domain in mature and emerging markets. He focuses his efforts on value creation via strategic business development and nurturing breakthrough concepts leading to game-changing and disruptive/radical innovation.

A term he coined over a decade ago – ‘Simplexity’ is the essence of his work in curating relevant ecosystems, embracing digital disruption, designing compelling/novel solutions and delightful end-user experiences.

Some major areas of his focus have been in mobile content/media/entertainment (multimedia convergence), mEducation, mHealth, emerging smart devices, Internet of Everything, HNI (Human-Nature Interface) and seamless access as a part of the connected world.

Ben Wark has been involved in leading technology Sales and Marketing for the past 20years. From his beginnings in telecommunications where he had an extensive engagement in a large-scale data centre as a service and the early virtulisation. Ben then moved to Asia where he worked extensively across South East Asia and India. Throughout his 10years in Asia Ben worked in senior management roles with McAfee, Intel Security, and enterprise mobility startup Ivy Mobility and most recently Brightstar (a Softbank company).

Recently Ben has been working on APAC focussing on Digital and IoT service solutions that have seen extensive engagements with Softbank, Airtel, Telstra, Maxis, 2 degrees, JB HiFi and IoT startup ConnectedLife.

The need for robust and clever (smart is overused) digital journeys is imperative but the physical movement of devices and the always now generation create huge opportunities for companies to leverage the services of specialists.

Christian Hof is product manager within the Test & Measurement division of Rohde&Schwarz in Munich. He is responsible for the R&S®CMW500 wideband radio communication tester with focus on IP application testing e.g. IP-throughput testing, VoLTE/IMS testing, IP-Connection security analysis and others using cellular and non-cellular communication technologies. In addition, he is focusing on test solutions for the connected car like eCall/ERA-GLONASS using R&S®CMW500. Christian Hof studied electrical engineering at the University of Applied Science Munich, Germany where he graduated in 2004 and joined Rohde & Schwarz within the same year.

Chris Hose is the Executive Manager of the Spectrum Planning and Engineering Branch within the ACMA’s Communications Infrastructure Division.  His branch responsibilities cover both the radiocommunications and broadcasting aspects of spectrum planning and engineering that contribute to national spectrum management. 

Chris has a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Queensland, a Graduate Certificate in Public Administration from the University of Canberra, and a Masters of Engineering Science from the University of New South Wales.  He has been with the ACMA and its predecessor the Australian Communications Authority since 2000 and previously spent a short period working for a power system consultancy company in Queensland.

Mr. Althaus was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) in 2005.

AMTA is the peak industry organization representing Australia’s mobile telecommunications sector and operates programs covering all aspects of the mobile ecosystem such as – telecommunications policy, mobile network infrastructure, radiofrequency spectrum, health & safety, product stewardship/e-waste and recycling, national security, content regulation and consumer awareness & education.

Prior to joining AMTA Mr. Althaus held Chief Executive roles leading national industry associations representing the Australian road transport and logistics industry and the Australian forests and forest products sector.

Mr. Althaus has a Bachelor of Science from the Australian National University; Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of Canberra; and
Business Administration Diploma from Georgetown University, Washington, DC.

Easwaren Siva, General Manager, Technology Strategy at Vodafone Hutchison Australia, has more than 20 years’ experience working in the Australian telecommunications industry. Mr Siva has previously held senior positions at Vodafone, Orange and 3 Mobile delivering ‘first to market’ digital media and mobile data services. More recently, he has led the ‘transformation and growth’ technology strategy for Vodafone Australia and has played a key role in the re-farming of spectrum range to 4G, Network Functions Virtualisation, and the Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure. His current areas of focus include 5G, Public Safety Solutions, Mobile Edge Computing, Narrow Band-Internet of Things (Nb-IoT) and Smart cities.

Gaurav Patni is globally recognized as a Retail, Consumer Goods and Digital Innovation thought leader, speaker, and author.

He has over 20 years of executive leadership experience, developing winning strategies and technology focused innovation programs for global household name brand organizations like Walmart, Nordstrom, Best Buy, Procter & Gamble, Tesco, JCPenney, David Jones, Woolworths, etc.

He works with CXOs to define and plan for business and technology shifts required to support the digitization agenda for their organization; serves as an expert advisor to clients and leads advisory efforts to help clients innovate through the use of new technologies and ways of working.

Jakie’s experiences stems from the technology sector where for the last 18 years she has held regional management roles across Western & Eastern Europe and Asia and executive management roles in Australia. She has a rich background in international business with a particular focus in delivering solutions that encompass outsourced services and mobility.
Prior to joining G&D in January 2017 as Managing Director, she was Chief Operating Officer to Melbourne’s renown business entrepreneur Larry Kestelman and his diverse group of companies. As COO Jakie had responsibility for supporting the group’s growth strategy, overseeing the shared services of marketing, legal and finance and delivery of significant projects in property, basketball, and technology.

Prior to that, Jakie was Country Director of Oberthur Technologies Australia, one of the world’s largest providers of smart card & payment solutions to the financial, telecom and government sectors. Her 10 years at the helm had her working closely with our local and global retail banks, telecoms and government whilst developing strong operational expertise through the hands-on management of Oberthur’s Australian personalisation bureau.

Jakie has a wealth of business and technology experience locally and overseas. She has an inherent knowledge of how to interpret the needs of our customers and deliver above and beyond. Jakie provides dynamic leadership to the G+D Australasia team with a commitment to supporting G+D’s evolution into the digital marketplace.
Jakie was born and educated in Perth Western Australia and is a mother of 2 boys.

Josh has avidly followed the developments within the drone industry since the first military drones were introduced. This passion led him in 2015, to present at both the Asia Pacific Cities Summit, in Brisbane and the Audacious Ideas Festival in Toowoomba on “How to survive the upcoming drone invasion.”

It was after the second presentation that both Josh and David Masefield (co-founder) found they shared a mutual passion for drones and identified gaps in the industry. From this conversation, they have since founded the World Drone Challenge. The underlying theme of the event is for teams to deliver some form of humanitarian relief to what would be isolated remote or regional communities in a post-natural disaster scenario, taken directly from Josh’s experiences during the 2011 Floods impacting Toowoomba, Brisbane, and the greater Lockyer Valley.

Since creating the World Drone Challenge, Josh has been invited to present webinars to wide range of audiences (and mediums) including the beef and cattle industry, maths and science students at Flinders University and has recently been invited to present to the Australian Intelligent Transport Systems Summit. He has also written and contributed to a number of articles and has been interviewed on a number of occasions regarding his insights into the impact of drones on multiple industries.

Juan Romeo has devoted his professional activity to the launch and management of broadband products & services during the last 18 years. At Telefonica, the leading European and Latin American telecom operator, he was responsible, among other, for the fixed broadband portfolio of the Spanish operation; from the early times of xDSL in 1999 to the first commercialization of FTTP services in 2008 (with massive deployment in the following years), both at retail and wholesale levels. In 2013 he joined the, then just born, Qatar National Broadband Network Co. (Qnbn), the Qatari national initiative for the generalization of the ultra-broadband services. At Qnbn Juan boosted up the products, the customer agreements and a sustainable revenue generation. Currently, he is bringing his experience in managing commercial broadband initiatives to the development of Inster wireless solutions.

With over 18 years’ experience in telecommunications, Lynda is perfectly placed to identify the new opportunities for all Australians under 5G – using trials and real world outcomes to future-gaze into where technology can take us next. Being an agent for change means Lynda not only knows how to identify opportunities, but she can then also help you isolate where change will be most effective in your business and support implementation. We are all coming to grips with the pace of change in technology, and Lynda is a leader in the telecommunications space who can support your business into its future. Focused on business outcomes that are driven by technological change, Lynda knows how to build and accelerate growth, through sales excellence, diversity and optimising ‘go to’ channels. Where high paced growth is needed, she builds specialist teams who work cohesively under pressure to ensure that gaps in the market are leveraged. As a General Manager with Kordia for the Telstra account, Lynda is responsible for generating new business and building effective working relationships with major stakeholders by successfully negotiating contracts, managing project teams and ensuring that customer bid processes are managed to ensure they deliver high-quality results.

Michael is a Chartered Professional Engineer and Fellow of Engineers Australia with over 20 years’ experience across industrial design, materials handling, manufacturing, food & beverage, mining, oil & gas, and has lead several international engineering teams and projects. He received a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) with First Class Honours in 1994 and a PhD in Mechatronics Engineering in 2002, both from the University of Queensland, and holds further qualifications in IT, Computer Graphics and Animation.

As a young engineer, Michael was Australian Young Professional Engineer of the Year in 1999, three times finalist in the Young Australian of the Year Awards and chaired the Young Engineers Australia National Committee in 2001 & 2002. In 2001 he was the Chair of the inaugural International Young Professionals Summit, with the summit proceedings going to both the United Nations and the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. He is the immediate past Chairman of the Board of the College of Mechanical Engineering and the Deputy Chair of the National Committee on Mechatronics Engineering.

Michael lives in Sydney and currently works for Woolworths Limited as Distribution Centre Design Manager within the Supply Chain Solutions business transformation team. He has previously been Group Engineering Manager with responsibility for Asia Pacific, North America and Europe for a fast growing listed Clean Energy technology company; Food, Beverage & Manufacturing Senior Consultant with a leading integrated systems company; and Asia Pacific Engineering Manager and manager of the Innovation Centre for the world’s largest equipment pooling company. Between these roles, Michael has also been the founder of several startups in areas as diverse as robotics, furniture manufacturing, and industrial visualisation.

Dr Nalin Asanka Gamagedara Arachchilage currently works as a Lecturer in Cyber Security in the Australian Centre for Cyber Security (ACCS) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy). He holds a Ph.D. in Usable Security entitled “Security Awareness of Computer Users: A Game-Based Learning Approach” from Brunel University London, the UK where he developed a game design framework to protect computer users against “phishing attacks”. Prior to undertaking his current position at UNSW Canberra, he worked as Research Fellow in Usable Security and Privacy in the Laboratory of Education and Research in Software Security Engineering (LERSSE) at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. Before moving to Vancouver, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher in Systems Security Engineering in the Cyber Security Centre, Department of Computer Science at Oxford University. He is a professional member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

As a Technology & Design enthusiast, Nizar comes from ICT & Telecom engineering background having contributed immensely to the knowledge sharing community, capability transfer, and industry consulting platforms. In his over 20 years career journey Nizar has developed from a hard-core technical expert into a business leader providing consulting and coaching to individuals and organizations on Leadership, Innovation, and Transformation. The outcome-based approach is achieved through a series of intensive engagements on Strategy Planning, Leadership Development, Problem solving, Solution Implementation, Business Transformation and Innovation readiness programs. Nizar is currently involved in diverse Leadership & Innovation forums and his passion for technology keeps growing with his techniques on how to Design & Implement Technology evolution solutions across diverse Platforms and cross-industries that intersects with the rising trends in Social innovations to promote “socio-tech” harmony and sustainable growth with responsible impact.

Prakash brings over 20 years of experience in product and engineering development of optical, mobile, IP/Ethernet and test networks to his role at Radisys. As part of the sales team, his primary focus is on enabling large Communication Service Providers (CSPs) to adopt and deploy cloud, SDN and NFV solutions using open source technologies. His earlier roles at Radisys included CTO/sales, product manager and lead architect for load balancers, SDN data planes and packet gateways targeted at LTE and wireline networks. Prior to joining Radisys, Prakash held management and engineering positions at HP/Agilent, Turin Networks/Dell, and Infinera. Prakash has a diverse background in software engineering that complements his current work to enable rapid deployment of virtualized and container-based cloud technologies at CSP scale. Prakash holds an MS Degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Texas (UTA).

Reiner Stuhlfauth is a technology marketing manager from the Market segment wireless within the Test & Measurement Division of Rohde & Schwarz in Munich. He is responsible for teaching and promoting wireless communication technologies. This includes cellular technologies from 2G to 5G but also non-cellular technologies like e.g. WLAN and Bluetooth. Reiner Stuhlfauth is an author of a technology book about HSPA. He is involved in some projects concerning 5G and beside technology marketing, he links development and sales organizations to coordinate implementation of technical features into R&S instruments.

Rob is the Founder and CEO of NNNCo, an Australian company building and operating a national narrowband network for IoT as an end-to-end scalable carrier service over a shared network. He has been an innovator and inventor in IoT in the area of machine-to-machine sensing, communications, wide area networking and enterprise software and has successfully leveraged those entrepreneurial skills as a leader in start-ups (Australia and USA), University-based commercialization and large global corporates.

Rob was President of Gridsense in the US where he drove the company’s M2M monitoring & control solutions into the Utility sector. He was the Asia Smart Grid leader for General Electric, including its range of Enterprise Software, Hardware and Services solutions and more recently EVP of Grid Net, a Silicon Valley M2M enterprise networking software startup. He has a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Rocky Scopelliti is Telstra’s global strategy and thought leader in financial technology services. He is also a non-executive director on the board of Community First Credit Union. Rocky has more than twenty years senior management experience in the Information Technology and Financial Services sectors.

A distinguished researcher, author and international speaker, Rocky has contributed to the World Economic Forum’s Disruptive Innovation in Financial Services Program, delivered key note addresses at events such as Mobile World Congress and published 12 thought leadership research reports on digital disruption that have become internationally recognised.

Educated in Australia and trained in the USA at Sydney and Stanford Universities respectively, he has a Graduate Diploma in Corporate Management and an MBA. He is also a graduate and member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

Robert Abbas received a Ph.D. degree- in Information Technology -Wireless Data in 1988 from Dresden Technical University, Germany and Master degree from the Polytechnic Institute of Odessa. Robert has long-term experience in Lecturing, Associate Professor at TU teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students, Master Degrees, PhD Degrees supervision in the field of Mobile communications and Computer Networking performance optimization, Wollongong University – Centre for Information Technology Research, network performance development, Antenna diversity project / Vodafone project, Consultant for cell planning and optimization RF Guidelines student Text Book for NSW TAFE, Consulting for major international companies in the field of Mobile Communication Technology LTE all IP Networks, 4G ,4.5G with USA, T-Mobile US ,AT&USA and Huawei Germany.

Robert’s recent work has been on Optimisation and Performance Management of Mobile Communication Networks LTE, 4G and 4.5G Mobile Networks with Major International Communications Companies Nokia USA, T-Mobile USA, AT&T USA and Huawei Germany 
And Currently working at Macquarie University as senior Lecture he is teaching:

• 5G Networks
• Software Defined Networking
• Telecommunication Networks, Performance Analysis

His research interests are in the areas of 5G, NFV, and SDN for 5G Networks.

Robert assumes the leadership responsibility for the overall Vertiv business in Australia and New Zealand.  He takes an active role in building the sales & operational capabilities required to drive Vertiv’s business transformation.

Roberts’s diverse experience in multiple countries and business sectors enables him to bring to life a leadership style that is naturally empowering, collaborative & encouraging. His fascination for all things digital enables him to easily translate technical complexity into relevant analogies using simple storytelling techniques.

Recently authored articles and blogs by Robert explore the growth & speed to connect users with applications and how the demand for things like big data, IoT, mobile, social & AI is driving data center requirements from organizations core data center right up to the edge of the network.

Based out of Sydney, Robert has worked at Vertiv (formerly Emerson Network Power) for the past 6 years. Prior to his appointment, Robert held senior positions working in USA, Europe, and Asia.  Robert has over two decades of experience across technology driven industries, including telecoms, electronic materials, and powder coating. In addition, Robert has previously held board positions with CEPE, Intellect UK, and EIPC.

More recently Robert is leading Vertiv business transformation into energy efficiency in the data center space.  Robert and his team are focused on aligning customers ICT and business strategies to reduce energy costs in sustainable and innovative ways.

Bob Sharon is a passionate “Disruptor” with over 30 years of commercial experience in the I.T., data centre, smart buildings and the IoT space. He is a recognized industry advisor and expert in energy and infrastructure. He is committed to innovation in the delivery of smart buildings and facilities leveraging new financial models, technologies, the cloud and the IoT. He is the Chief Innovation Officer for Blue IoT and iHome Energy.

Bob is now a member of the Executive Committee of the IoTAA where he hopes to make a worthwhile contribution to the industry.

Bob has been privileged to have conducted the world’s first NABERS (National Built Environment Rating System) energy for Data Centre Infrastructure rating back in 2013 which was for Fujitsu. Then in early 2016, he was privileged to have rated the first NABERS 4.5 star data centre, Australia’s most energy efficient data centre at the time, and since added two more. NABERS ratings are not a design rating, but rather an operational efficiency rating based on real results over a 12 month period.

Apart from the University of Life, Bob has completed his Master of Management – International Business at Monash University. Bob is also looking for people to join in the establishment of a new organization called Entrepreneur’s Angels that will help entrepreneurs who get into trouble.

Rodrigo has been involved in the design and deployment of telecommunications systems in the railway sector of Australia, the UK, and Europe for over fourteen years. His comprehensive experience extends to both wireless (radio) and fixed communications systems, as well as the integration of advanced railway signaling systems and mission critical applications with those communications systems.

In addition to his engineering expertise, Rodrigo is a well-rounded professional with excellent communication skills, capable of engaging stakeholders and helping them achieve their objectives. He is also a keen team player, and he excels in proactively encouraging and leading others to achieve their goals and fulfill their potential.

Dr. Stephanie Fahey is the Chief Executive Officer of Austrade, the Australian Government agency responsible for promoting trade, investment and international education, and tourism policy, programs, and research. Stephanie has over 30 years’ experience both as an academic and executive working in Australia and overseas.

Previously she was EY’s lead partner for education in the Oceania region, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement) at Monash University and Director of the University of Sydney’s Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific. Dr. Fahey brings an international perspective to her work and a wealth of experience across business and academia.

Austrade’s first female chief executive, Dr. Fahey has also served on the Australia China Business Council, the Australia China Council, the NSW International Education Advisory Board, the European Australian Business Council, the Board of Canberra Institute of Technology, the Foreign Affairs Council and the Australia Korean Foundation.

Stephanie holds a Ph.D. from the Australian National University and BA (Hons) from the University of Sydney. She speaks Melanesian Pidgin. She was inducted as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2012.

Dr. Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay (M’97, SM’02, F’11) graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India with a Gold medal and received the Master of Electrical Engineering degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He has PhD (Eng.) degree from Jadavpur University, India and Doctor of Engineering degree from Kanazawa University, Japan.

Currently he is working as a Professor of Mechanical/Electronics Engineering with the Department of Engineering, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia. He is the Programme Leader of the Mechatronics Engineering Degree Programme. He has over 26 years of teaching and research experiences.
His fields of interest include Smart Sensors and Sensing Technology, Wireless Sensor Networks, Instrumentation and Measurements, Internet of Things, Environmental Measurements, Electromagnetics, Control Engineering, Mechatronics, Magnetic Bearing, Fault Current Limiter, Electrical Machines and numerical field calculation etc.

He has authored/co-authored over 400 papers in different international journals, conferences and book chapter. He has edited fifteen conference proceedings. He has also edited seventeen special issues of international journals as lead guest editor and thirty books with Springer-Verlag.
He was awarded numerous awards throughout his career and attracted over US$3.0 M on different research projects.

He has delivered 296 seminars including keynote, tutorial, invited and special seminars.

He is a Fellow of IEEE (USA), a Fellow of IET (UK) and a Fellow of IETE (India). He is a Topical Editor of IEEE Sensors Journal, and an Associate Editor IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurements. He is in the editorial board of e-Journal on Non-Destructive Testing, Sensors and Transducers, Transactions on Systems, Signals and Devices (TSSD). He is the co-Editor-in-chief of the International Journal on Smart Sensing and Intelligent Systems (www.s2is.org). He was the Technical Programme Chair of ICARA 2004, ICARA 2006 and ICARA 2009. He was the General chair/co-chair of ICST 2005, ICST 2007, IEEE ROSE 2007, IEEE EPSA 2008, ICST 2008, IEEE Sensors 2008, ICST 2010, IEEE Sensors 2010, ICST 2011, ICST 2012, ICST 2013, ICST 2014, ICST 2015 and ICST 2016. He has organized the IEEE Sensors conference 2009 at Christchurch, New Zealand during October 25 to 28, 2009 as General Chair. He is currently organizing the 11th ICST in Sydney, Australia during December 4-6, 2017,

Tak has over 20 years experience in the test industry. he has been working at Ixia for the past 5 years, managing wireless solution business development and carrier business. Before joining Ixia he worked at Artiza Networks, built platform development team, led the team and developed ISDN, PDC, ATM, LTE etc. products, later he moved to the sales team in charge of global sales. Tak started his career teaching at the university he graduated from. He holds a master degree in Engineering.