Global Speakers

Forum Chairperson

Topic: Case Study: Why Adaptive Learning Will Maximize Knowledge Retention And Accelerate Individual Learning Progress

Danny Ginsberg is a passionate development consultant with a strong eye for organisational needs and workforce competencies. He has a successful background in the creation and execution of leadership and professional development programs, implementing creative solutions to meet business needs.

Danny has been lucky to work for amazing local and international organisations including, IKEA, Bunnings, Department of Sustainability & Environment, Performance Partners Consulting, Specsavers & The Arbinger Institute. Most recently Danny has ventured out on his own into consulting and worked with many large service, retail and franchise companies. He is also an accredited trainer across many different disciplines, such as DISC, TMS, Outward Mindset, Strength Finder and Emotional Intelligence.

Danny’s passion for learning and working towards a successful and dynamic organisational culture is reflected in all he does. He is dedicated to helping individuals grow and develop into inspirational and motivated leaders, which are highly committed to delivering on organisational strategies.

In the corporate world/ industry, Danny is constantly acknowledged for his innovation and creative solutions for learning and development, winning several industry awards over the last few years. He strongly believes in finding ways to challenge the status quo with exciting, original and effective programs.

Topic: How Data And Learning Analytics Are Accelerating Personalized Learning

Catherine Zhao is an educational psychologist by training. She has worked in the Higher Education sector with the focus on quality assurance of student experience, technology-enabled learning and teaching, and most recently on the emerging Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Her research interest is at the intersection of learning analytics and neuroscience for education, with the goal of improving design effectiveness to improve personalized learning experience.

Topic: L&D Strategy That Engages The Millennial

Luke has been a HR practitioner for over 4 years, advancing through the ranks to currently be Head of People & Culture at Corporate Technology Services focusing on the employee lifecycle, workforce planning, remuneration, WHS and cultural initiatives. Corporate Technology Services is a boutique audio visual managed services provider where Luke partners closely with the Onsite, Event Production, Video and Workplace Technology teams to ensure people and business strategies align.

Luke joined CTS with a background working in the sports and financial services, and holds a Bachelor of Business, Cert IV in Training & Assessment and is a current MAHRI member with the Australian HR Institute. He was recognised as a finalist in the Australian HR Awards Rising Star category in 2018, with the company a finalist in the Employer of Choice 1-99 employees (2017 & 2019) & Best Learning & Development Program (2019).

If you haven’t figured out already, Luke is a keen sports buff, especially when it comes to AFL, cricket and tennis where it can be argued he is a better spectator as opposed to participant. His other passion are teams and working together with and to help others achieve their potential.

Topic: A Chatbot Study – Creating Impact With Learning Transfer

Emma Weber’s firm belief is that the key aim of learning in the workplace is to create tangible business benefits. This is also the platform on which she has built her successful global business. Emma established Lever – Transfer of Learning to help organizations and their employees convert learning into effective action on the job. Under her guidance, Lever now delivers Turning Learning into Action™ with her team and chatbot Coach M.

A recognized authority on the transfer of learning, Emma has been a guest speaker at conferences in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and the USA. She shares her passion and expertise through her writing, and her first book, Turning Learning into Action: A Proven Methodology for Effective Transfer of Learning, was published in 2014 by Kogan Page. Her second book, Making Change Work: How to Create Behavioral Change in Organizations to Drive Impact and ROI, co-authored with Jack and Patti Phillips of the ROI Institute, was published in 2016 by Kogan Page.

Topic: Panel Discussion: Future-Proofing Your Workforce With Continuous And Self-Directed Learning (SDL)

A dynamic Senior HR professional, Natalie possess 10+ years’ experience steering national organisations within the commercial, government and NFP sectors, leading and delivering HR performance excellence across diverse and challenging Defence, Aviation, Media & telecommunications, Logistics & Government Industries. Natalie’s key strengths are Industrial Relations, performance management, leading large-scale transformational & Transition projects and strategic HR initiatives that focus on leadership capability & engagement.

Topic: AUB Case Study: Building Leadership Capability For The Future With Blended Learning Approach

Kate Stone is a senior people executive having over 15 years’ experience in major organisations across Australia including Rio Tinto, Insurance Australia Group (IAG) and currently Heads the People & Culture Function at AUB Group Limited.

Kate established the AUB Group Academy, leveraging the size and scale of AUB Group to bring development opportunities to its equity partners who are traditionally small business owners. The focus being the development of leadership resilience and emotional intelligence skills. Kate was a finalist in the 2018 ANZIIF Learning Program of the Year Award.

Kate is a member of PWC’s Skills for Australia Committee, and holds an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business.

Topic: Panel Discussion: Future-Proofing Your Workforce With Continuous And Self-Directed Learning (SDL)

Harriette Lawson is the Executive Manager, Leadership and People Development at IAG. Leading a trans-Tasman team to evolve and drive talent management, leadership development and learning for people across the organisation, she is passionate about readying IAG and its people for the future of work and fostering employee advocacy and self-learning.

A career largely focused on customer outcomes, project delivery, change management and people leadership, she has over 20 years’ experience working in financial services, the public sector, and running her own business. Having worked in London, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney she has led transformational change projects, HR projects to enable mergers and acquisitions, and constantly looks to leverage from other disciplines. Building on her undergraduate studies in business and psychology, and postgraduate studies in HR and Communications, she is always learning and looking for ways to bring human centred design, and Agile into L&D.

Topic: How HR Analytics Can Improve L&D And Knowledge Management In The Organisations

Shahram is a HR data manager at QBE Insurance. He is a dedicated and influential HR professional with over 20 years of demonstrated success in Human Resources across the Financial services, Telecommunications, Engineering and Manufacturing sectors. He will present some business improvement cases by utilising HR data analytics.

Topic: Understanding Microlearning And Its Application In Developing Behavioural Leadership, As An Example

Tanzil is a passionate HR practitioner specialising in Learning and Organisational Development.  Currently working for a national construction business; he is to design and implement people, culture and process development initiatives. Previously Tanzil had experience working in retail-convenience, pharmaceutical and education sector in similar roles. Other than multiple Diplomas and Certificates, he has a Bachelor in IT, an MBA and currently completing his PhD. His research area is behavioural psychology, learning theories and leadership development.

Topic: Panel: What Global Largest Companies Are Doing To Measure Success Of Online And Blended Learning

Sarah-Louise Herring is the Learning and Leadership Development Manager for Tiffany & Co. ANZ. With 15 years of Learning and Organisational Development experience, Sarah-Louise’s drive and passion within this sector is exemplified through her human-centered approach to developing others and self.

Sarah-Louise has experience working across multi-disciplinary industries on a global level and believes the key to unlocking human potential is to understand the fundamental needs of individuals, stimulate and discover innate motivational attributes through unlocking strengths and, create meaningful context. Sarah-Louise is currently completing a Masters Of Strategic Organisational Development and HR and has a passion for positive psychology and neuroscience.

Topic: Panel: What Global Largest Companies Are Doing To Measure Success Of Online And Blended Learning

Cara joined GWA Group Limited in 2017 as the Group General Manager, People and Performance. In her role she leads the HR function across the group with a focus on building capability and culture.

Cara has 20 years of broad-based and specialist HR experience across various industries. She spent a large part of her HR career working outside of US, especially in Asia where she has lived in both Singapore and Australia.

Cara started her career with United Technologies Corporation (UTC) in the US and spent eleven years managing regional and global HR functions in various businesses in the UTC Group. She then moved to RBS as the Regional Head of Organizational Effectiveness for Asia, was the Director of Talent and Leadership at AMP in Australia as well as the Vice President for Talent and Management Development for the Singtel Group based in Singapore. Prior to joining GWA, Cara was the Group Director, Human Resources for SAI Global based in Sydney.

Cara holds a Master of Science (Major in Human Resource Management) from the Krannert Graduate School of Management, Purdue University and a Bachelor of Arts (Major in Psychology) from the University of Denver.

Topic: Simulation And Gamification – When To Use It And How To Get Your Ideas Across The Line With Leaders

Brendan care about transforming performance and making a difference. He’s an explorer, risk-taker & life-long learner. One of his strengths is being able to take out-of-the-box concepts and make them a reality. Learning is more than an event, but an ongoing process. Brendan truly believe learning elevates potential when we put the learner in charge of the entire process. As a L&D professional with over 10 years’ experience in this highly challenging and rewarding area, Brendan have a passion for maximising developmental outcomes for individuals & aligning learning and development objectives in a creative, contemporary and effective way to meet the strategic needs of the broader business.

Topic: Cotton On Case Study: Why Micro-Learning Drives Better Learning Experience And Knowledge Retention

Throughout a 10 year career as an HR generalist, Tani found her passion for developing others and in 2015, made the move into a specialised career in Learning. Since joining ‘COG Uni’ in its early stages, she has been at the heart of building and embedding Cotton On Group’s learning culture, which like all things at COG is deliberately different.

Tani and the diversely talented Uni team empower COG people in stores, distribution centres and support centres across seven brands in 17 countries to integrate learning into everything they do.

Some say knowledge is power. We believe knowledge empowers performance. Tani is passionate about enabling people to be at their best in their whole life by developing skills and behaviours that unlock potential and deliver results.

Topic: Nurturing Learning Ecosystems To Create Agility In Teams

Shawna is a supporter of teams, automation and having honest failures. After 20 years’ in Learning and Organisation Development, University lecturing and being a tour guide for 18-35-year old’s (yes, there’s a few stories), she is still an advocate and curious about learning agility.

She is happy to share stories of teamwork, human centred design, and using technology to make life easier for people of varied abilities within organisations. Empowering people to try their ideas, and lead their own learning is always at the forefront of her craft.

Having led teams in London, Dublin and across Europe, she’s gladly based back in Sydney. You can find her Winter swimming at Bondi Icebergs club, guiding visually impaired runners with Achilles International and trying out city eateries (always happy to give recommendations).

Topic: Design Thinking For Learning And Design In The Social Age

Nick is IMC’s Digital Learning Team Lead, APAC. He sits right at the intersection of UX, learning and production and has worked extensively across many creative and technical industries including print, web, animation and feature film VFX. Within the learning landscape, he has worked with multiple top tier clients such as Bupa, SEEK, TABCORP, Leidos, QBE, T2 and Australia Post. Across these clients, Nick has delivered a spectrum of learning and communications; from global on-boarding, compliance and leadership to mental health, technical training and storytelling. Extremely passionate about learning, he brings a unique blend of creative design and learning science for 21st century learning. He currently holds a Graduate Certificate in eLearning, Advanced Diplomas in Screen and Media and several qualifications within the UX and Human Centred Design arena.

Topic: Keynote: Global Best Practices In Maximizing Learning Outcomes With Experiential And Blended Learning

Ingrid Massey leads the Learning and Development function for CBRE across Pacific, working within a global organisation to ensure learning strategy and transformation programs translate to business outcomes. Ingrid is responsible for designing and delivering blended learning programs that build leadership and sales capability, enable high performance, retain and develop talent at all levels within the organisation. Ingrid has a solid understanding of how Human Resources and Learning and Development can partner effectively to help enable achievement of both operational and strategic business outcomes. Her passion is developing leadership capability and coaching others, helping drive cultural change within organisations and enabling career development. Prior to joining CBRE in 2017, Ingrid has spent twenty years in various learning and development roles within the airline industry, financial services and FMCG.

Topic: The Disruption, Transformation And Reinvention Of First Aid Training: A Case Study In Applying Leading Edge Technology In The AR /VR Space To Activate Learner Engagement And Improve Confidence In Application

In 2001 David was a passenger in a serious life threatening car accident which had a significant and longstanding impact on several levels. He witnessed first-hand the vital lifesaving skills trained by organisations like St John and has fulfilled a career ambition to join the Not For Profit to make a difference in the field of healthcare training. St John Ambulance has over 130 years of experience as the leading provider of first aid training in Australia with 500,000 students trained annually. At St John, we believe every qualified first aider should not only exit their first aid class with a Nationally accredited certificate but also with the confidence to act decisively when confronted with a real life emergency situation.

It is with this in mind that David Loiacono leads training at St John Ambulance in Victoria and is spearheading learning innovations on behalf of the organisation in the Virtual Reality and Immersive Technology space. He is an experienced commercial leader and proven innovator having successfully launched a variety of compelling learning solutions in 100+ countries with leading multinational organisations such as Nestlé, Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser. David holds a Masters in Training and Development from Melbourne University that provides the underpinning knowledge from which to develop new and compelling areas of learning practice.

Topic: Case Study – ICC Sydney, My Extraordinary Learning Journey, Designing for an Individualized Learning Experience

Mathew Paine is the Director of Human Resources at International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) and also holds Non-Executive Director board positions at the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation and Definitiv (and its subsidiaries, Proactiv Payroll Australia Pty Ltd and Definitiv International Pty Ltd).

A HR practitioner with over 19 years of senior HR experience across Australia, New Zealand and the U.K, Mathew’s HR leadership has resulted in multiple industry awards including the highly coveted Australian HR Team of the Year, Best Recruitment Campaign, AHRI Inclusive Workplace and NSW Training Awards Large Employer of the Year as well as finalist places in the HR Technology, HR Innovation and HR Director of the Year awards.

Topic: Reece Case Study:  A Collaborative Approach To Learning And Leadership

Gareth heads up learning at Reece Group.  Passionate about supporting the learning and growth needs of real people in tangible, practical and purposeful ways. One of the principal questions the team at Reece wrestles with is “How can we support our people to perform at their best, when jobs, roles, markets, technologies and knowledge requirements are constantly changing?”

Topic: Enhancing Corporate Learning with AI and Data Mining

Karl has over 22 years HR experience, 20 years at executive levels, and the last 15 years specialising in HR metrics, workforce analytics and planning.

Since 2011 Karl has guided the journey of the corporate ATO Workforce Analytics function from basic spreadsheet reporting to the streamlined, integrated and contemporary data-driven practice it is today. This has involved investing in developing internal capability to enhance the user-experience of workforce analytics products and services – manifested in contemporary on-line metrics dashboards, interactive forecasting, predictive and scenario modelling applications. Continual enhancement of these products is narrowing the previous chasm between client experience and client expectations of what digital HR can deliver. Karl has demonstrated that putting insightful HR analytics into the hands of decision-makers at all levels creates great business value through efficiencies and better, more informed operational decisions and strategic planning.

Topic: Strategic Learning Transformation Roundtable Discussions: Blended Learning Innovations

Learning and development has been the core of Suzanne’s focus throughout her career. She has experience within a wide range of industries from Pharma to Telco and Media. Her focus is on the employee experience and how different methods of delivery can achieve outstanding results.

Topic: Panel Discussion: Future-Proofing Your Workforce With Continuous And Self-Directed Learning (SDL)

Chloye is currently the Head of People & Culture for Transgrid and she is an experienced commercial leader with broad strategic HR and operational experience across a range of dynamic and changing industry sectors and challenging environments. Highly successful in delivering results, building team cohesion and commitment during periods of intense organisational and market change. A commercial and practical influencer to drive business improvement initiatives and deliver improved profitability. Her contribution to the HR field has earned her as the winner of 2013 Emerging HR Leader of the Year Award by HR Institute New Zealand (HRINZ) as well as nominated as the HR Business Contribution (Large) Award Distinction Finalist and Wellness Award Finalist.

Topic: Simulation And Gamification For More Engaging Corporate Learning

Gill has extensive commercial and education experience in building high performance teams in the pharmaceutical, accounting and governance arenas. Gill is a passionate advocate for improving business performance through the delivery of highly interactive, application based education. She joined Blackmores Institute to lead the transition to digital education leveraging multiple technologies. Under Gill’s leadership the Blackmores Institute Education team has developed award winning, blended learning programs for the Australian and Asian markets translated into five languages for the Consumer, Retail and HCP sectors.

Topic: Dementia Australia Case Study: Using VR To Engage In Dementia Care And Train Its Next Generation Of Caregivers 

Dr Tanya Petrovich is Business Innovation Manager, Centre for Dementia Learning, Dementia Australia.

Tanya leads the team in applying innovations in technology throughout dementia care education. This includes the Virtual Dementia Experience, an immersive sensory environment at the Perc Walkley Dementia Learning Centre which won the 2014 Victorian iAward, National iAward for Education and APICTA award for E-learning, 2015 Victorian Public Health Award-Gold Winner. The Virtual Dementia Experience gives participants an understanding of what it might be like to have dementia and also how the built environment impacts on the person living with dementia.

More recently in 2016 EDIE- Educational Dementia Immersive Experience was released for use on the Samsung – Oculus Gear VR. This mobile technology has opened the opportunity to have these virtual experiences available to people not only in Australia but worldwide. The EDIE project was awarded the project Innovation Award for projects less than$2.5Mil from the Simulation Australasia Innovation Awards 2017 and also the Best Aged Care Software Development and Deployment Award at the Information Technology in Aged Care awards (ITAC) 2017.

Her team is currently working on a project to create an artificially intelligent Avatar living with dementia.