Global Speakers

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Anthony Frangi

Managing Director

Pop Up Radio Australia

Anthony Frangi is an award-winning Media and Communications strategist with more than 30 years’ experience in media management, programming and presenting, journalism education and communication.He is currently Managing Director at Pop Up Radio Australia designed for the conference, trade

He is currently Managing Director at Pop Up Radio Australia designed for the conference, trade show, and event market. Anthony was General Manager and Content Director for the Fairfax Radio Network in Brisbane between 2012 and 2015 and a content director, broadcaster and trainer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) between 1988 and 2008. From 2009 to 2012 Anthony worked at The University of Queensland (UQ) as Director Learning, Engagement, Innovation & Development for the School of Journalism and Communication. He created the first 24/7 online radio station for UQ and coordinated World Press Freedom Day Radio for UNESCO in 2010. Anthony continues teaching in journalism and communication at UQ today.

Anthony is a regular speaker and trainer on media and natural disasters, including guest speaker at the 2015 UN Regional Workshop on Social Media & Disaster Risk in South Korea; UQ School of Public Health and at the Reimaging Resilience Speakers Series in Brisbane. He has conducted media and disaster workshops in India, Vanuatu, Tonga and the Solomon Islands. He also co-authored a disaster reporting teaching module for London-based Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (2012-2013).

Anthony is an author of three books, ‘Radio Toolbox – A guide to getting started in radio in the digital age’, published by AIBD in 2010 and Palgrave Macmillan in 2012; ‘So you want Media Coverage’, published by UQP and ‘Presentation Skills for Business and Job Interviews’, 2017. Anthony is highly regarded in the private and public sector as a speaker and trainer in media, communications and professional development.

His dedication to helping the community has earned Anthony state and national media awards.

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Kate Middleton

Chief Executive Officer

Censeo Engineers & Building Consultants

Kate is the CEO of Censeo Engineers & Building Consultants, a leading provider of disaster response services into the Insurance, Construction and Government sectors.

Censeo has provided on the ground assessment support after every major disaster across Australia and New Zealand for the past 11 years including Cyclone Debbie, Cyclone Yasi, the Black Saturday Bushfires and Christchurch Earthquakes.

At the age of 35 Kate privatized Censeo from the ASX, and under her leadership has partnered with the largest geosystems provider globally (Hexagon Group) to implement leading edge inspection technology; typically used within mining and aerospace; to disrupt the Loss Adjusting, Disaster Response & Insurance markets.

Prior to purchasing Censeo, Kate worked as a Senior Manager for Australia’s largest Insurers, gaining first-hand insight into the devastating impact that major weather events have on households and communities.

In 2016 Kate studied Strategic Leadership at Harvard, and her game-changing approach to disrupting traditional business models has resulted in being named 2016 Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year, 2017 Finalist – Channel 7 Business Person of the Year (Lord Mayors Business Awards), and was recently announced by Business News Australia as one of Brisbane’s Top 40 Under 40!

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Dr Anthony Walker PhD

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Bond University

Dr Anthony Walker (B.Ed, M.Ed, B.Sports Studies (Biomechanics), PhD) is a thermal physiologist and station officer with ACT Fire & Rescue, specializing in the occupational physiology of urban firefighters and other tactical personnel. His PhD, completed in 2015 was titled “Maximising the safety and performance of urban firefighters working in the heat.” With a growing international reputation as a leader in the field of occupational physiology, Dr Walker has extensive experience as both a firefighter and academic, with several peer-reviewed journal articles in international journals in addition to many presentations at national and international conferences. He is currently an adjunct researcher with both the University of Canberra Research Institute for Sport and Exercise and Bond University.

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A/Professor Brett Aimers CStJ

National Director

Australian Institute of Emergency Services

Brett is an Adjunct Associate Professor at James Cook University where he provides expert advice and education on disaster management systems and concepts.Through James Cook University, Brett was recently involved in a project, led by the World Health Organisation, exploring global best practice associated with public health Emergency Operations Centres.

Through James Cook University, Brett was recently involved in a project, led by the World Health Organisation, exploring global best practice associated with public health Emergency Operations Centres.

He has an extensive disaster management background coupled with experience at the State and National level which includes performing senior operational and leadership roles during the H1N1 pandemic and the 2011 Queensland floods. Brett also performed a significant role throughout the Victorian Black Saturday bushfires in Australia and was awarded the National Emergency Medal for his efforts in helping to lead the whole-of-health response.

Professor Aimers is the immediate past Deputy Chief Commissioner for St John Ambulance Australia; whilst in this significant national leadership role, he was responsible for clinical governance and the provision of influential and expert advice in relation to disaster management and training and development.

In 2016, for his sustained service to St John Ambulance Australia, Brett was recently promoted to the rank of Commander within the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem.

Brett is also a National Director for the Australian Institute of Emergency Services.

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Chris Quin MDPR, CPPD

Director

Resilient Projects

Chris Quin is the Director of Resilient Projects.

Chris holds a Master’s degree in Disaster Preparedness and Reconstruction and is a Certified Practicing Project Director (CPPD) with the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM).

Chris has a keen interest in resilient infrastructure, and disaster preparedness and mitigation projects. He has extensive experience in successful projects for organizations such as the NSW Office of Emergency Services, Energy Queensland, and Queensland Fire & Emergency Services.

Chris has also worked in the response, recovery, and reconstruction effort to major natural disasters such as Cyclone Yasi, Cyclone Marcia, and Cyclone Debbie, and is an active member of the Queensland State Emergency Service.

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David Baker

Deputy Chief Officer Operations Capability

Victoria State Emergency Service

After 18 years with Local Government (undertaking various roles in finance, regulatory services, town planning, emergency management and community safety) David commenced with CFA in 2006 as Manager Community Safety for Southern Metro Region and has since undertaken various stints as Acting Regional Manager in Southern Metro and Eastern Metro Regions.

He was Regional Director for the CFA Eastern Metropolitan Region between December 2010 and October 2014 (leading a team of around 3000 volunteers and 120 staff supporting 46 Brigades). Following that, he was appointed an Executive Manager with the Fire & Emergency Management Team at CFA HQ leading the team developing CFA’s new Business Model and then seconded to Emergency Management Victoria as Program Director – Community Safety Infrastructure in 2015. In February 2016 he was appointed as Deputy Chief Officer – Capability with the Victoria State Emergency Service and is currently developing the VICSES Operational Capability Strategy. His portfolio responsibilities include IMT development within VICSES and our multi agency contribution.

In his capacity as Deputy Chief Officer with VICSES, he has undertaken duties as VICSES State Agency Commander and multi-agency State Response Controller, reporting to the Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner and was actively involved in the strategic operational management of the 2016 Victorian flood and storm campaign event. As a CFA officer, David performed the role of a team leader in the State Control Centre’s Strategic Risk & Consequence Team, supporting the Commissioner in the response to major incidents. He has also undertaken various roles in major incidents including the 2002/03 North East & Gippsland Fires, 2006/07 Great Divide Complex Fires, 2008 Cranbourne Methane Gas Incident, 2009 Victorian Black Saturday Fires and the 2010/11 Victorian Floods.

David also spent 3 years as a Volunteer Fire Fighter with Berwick Brigade and 28 years as a volunteer with VICSES (having performed duties as rescue crew leader, unit operations, and training officer and, until his appointment as a DCO, was an active member of the State Support Unit).

David’s formal qualifications consist of the following:

  • Graduate Diploma of Executive Leadership (Policing & Emergency Services)
  • Bachelor of Arts (Police Studies)
  • Graduate Certificate in Management
  • Advanced Diploma of Public Safety (Community Safety)
  • Advanced Diploma in Emergency Management
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Dean Hawkins

Managing Director

Risk & Emergency

Dean is an Industry Innovator, Influencer and Positive Disruptor – with unique solutions and prospective. Over 32 years of experience in all aspects of the industry via risk assessment, safety management systems, airport operations, fire emergency response and preparedness and airport operations and systems. Through applied experience, he also specializes in developing and applying solutions to training, personnel development, and processes of an organization’s staff and assets in preparation to standards.

His company, Risk&Emergency.com, has been supporting and preparing worldwide Mine Emergency Response Teams for Mine ERT competitions, audits of fire safety and Fire Providers for different industries and compliance all across the globe, assisted governments in policy developments, developed ERT training manuals, designed and implemented documentation for various clients and much more.

Some of Dean’s wide experiences also include:

  • Drone operator training in emergency services
  • Counseling and guide mining the resource industry and businesses in appreciating, recognizing and apportioning commercial prospects and placement with indigenous people
  • ERT & Fire Service Training Centre Design and Construction
  • Combatant Team Leadership Programs
  • Rail Grinding Operations Risk Assessment
  • Dean has conducted hundreds of workshops and training courses throughout Australia and the world
  • Instigator and innovator in providing worldwide fire and rescue eLearning

Dean was the inventor, originator, and instigator for the very first Australian Model `best practice, perfect fit` for LNG Coal Seam Gas response capability

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Donna Marshall

Director Communication and Stakeholder

Aurecon

Donna has over 20 years ‘hands-on’ expertise in community and stakeholder engagement, infrastructure, property, and resource sector project communication, and public and private sector project delivery. She has managed the community and stakeholder engagement requirements for more than 300 projects throughout her career, including numerous disaster management and recovery programs, most significantly the Black Saturday Bushfire Memorials project in Murrindindi Shire. She has also conducted reviews of emergency event management for local and state government entities, delivered communication programs for new flood model releases, reviewed and amended emergency management communication plans and conducted awareness-raising and education campaigns in disaster-prone communities.

Donna is also the Chair of the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) Australasia.

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Ian Carlton CEM

Operation Officer - Regional Office Emergency Management – South West Region

Victorian State Emergency Service

Ian is an Emergency Management professional with the Victorian State Emergency Service as a Regional Officer Emergency Management providing guidance and support to the communities, agencies and local governments in the South West Region of Victoria, an area covering from Geelong to the South Australian border.

Ian is one of only 14 International Association of Emergency Ian is one of only 14 International Association of Emergency Managers (iAEM) – Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) in Australia.

Ian is the current Chair of the Barwon South West Regional Emergency Management Training and Exercising Committee and has been involved in organizing and conducting the training of over 160 staff from various agencies as Emergency Management Liaison Officers (EMLO’s).

During his time as Chair of this committee he was on the organising committee and Exercise Director for the BSW Regional Exercise Red Alert, which was awarded the: 2016 IAEM-Global Partners in Preparedness Award and the 2016 IAEM-Oceania Partners in Preparedness Award was awarded to the Barwon South West Regional Emergency Management Training and Exercise Committee, for its development of Exercise Red Alert, an exercise involving more than 30 agencies in that region of Victoria, Australia. Exercise Red Alert involved all local governments, emergency services, and recovery agencies to assess their knowledge, preparation, response to and recovery from a period of extended heat.

Ian has been involved in many incidents throughout Victoria and interstate, which include the 2006 Alpine Fires, 2008 Floods in East Gippsland, 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires, 2010/11 Victorian Floods, 2010 Perth Hailstorm response, 2015 Christmas Day fires in the Otway Ranges and 2016 Floods and Landslides in Western Victoria.

Ian is also a member of the iAEM CEM Global Commission, serving in the position as Vice Chair for the Asia and Oceania Regions.

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Ian McLeod

Director Smart Energy & Global Head of Smart Cites COE

Enzen

  • Director Smart Energy & Global Head of Smart Cities
  • COE for Enzen, Global Ambassador Edison Electric Institute
  • Chairman Of Queensland Futures Institute Energy Committee
  • Member of 2026 Agenda Leadership Group (spatial industry) and Advisory Board member for Smart Wires (US), Energy Thought Summit (US), James Cook University, and Monash Energy Materials and Systems Institute
  • Former CEO of Ergon Energy with over 30 years industry experience
  • Associated Awards
    • 2015 Edison Electric Institute International Innovation Award (spatial)
    • Energy Supply Association Innovation Award (spatial)
    • EPRI Technology Transfer Award (smart grid)
    • Engineers Australia award for Innovation, Research, and Development (electrical storage)
    • 2015 Climate Alliance Business Leadership Awards for Business Innovator of the Year
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Jason T. Cameron

Principal Advisor & Director of Operations

Phoenix Resilience

Jason has over 20 years of crisis and disaster management. Working at all levels of government and commercially, he has managed and supported a range of events including major flood, fire, pandemic, oil spill, severe storm, major civic/international events, political unrest and counter terrorism. In the process, assisting a wide range of communities found in large metropolitan cities through to small townships and isolated regions. Internationally, he has led commercial, military and para-military operations in security, risk and emergency management in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

As the Principal Advisor and Director of Operations in Phoenix Resilience, Jason specialises in Crisis and Emergency Management, Security Operations, Capability Development, Business Continuity and Major event planning. He is the recipient of a number of military decorations and awards, military and policing commendations and, more recently, Lord Mayor of Brisbane Awards for excellence and outstanding performance and achievements beyond the call of duty.

Jason is a Fellow of the Centre for Emergency and Disaster Management, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Facilitator/Instructor in Emergency Management and Business Continuity at the National Centre for Emergency Management Studies (NCEMS) and a qualified international assessor for the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) in the United States.

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Jelenko Dragisic

General Manager

Greening Australia

Jelenko has a strong passion and longstanding interest in resilience to disruptions that occur in many forms. He believes that strategic collaboration is one of the major features of resilient cities, communities, and systems and that integration of social, economic, technological and environmental factors into resilience planning is in equal measure challenging, rewarding and necessary for truly resilient cities. While CEO of Volunteering Qld, Jelenko designed and implemented Step Up, one of the largest disaster resilience programs in Australia. This award-winning program is based on large-scale collaboration, bringing together various levels of government, community organizations, universities and the corporate sector. A significant part of the program was dedicated to Australia’s first resilience building initiative for the business sector.

As General Manager, Greening Australia, Queensland, Jelenko currently manages a large-scale collaboration, focusing on building environmental and social resilience in the Great Barrier Reef catchment. He is the founder/curator of ResilienceReporter.com, an aggregate website dedicated to all things resilience, and has also authored a book on strategic collaboration (The Collaboration Instinct), and a monograph which reflects on the development of disaster resilience following North Queensland’s Cyclone Larry in 2006 (When We Stopped Eating Bananas). Jelenko currently serves as a member of the Inclusive Brisbane Board, and the City Security and Resilience Network Australia (CSARN).

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Josh Keegan

Director & CEO

World Drone Challenge

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.

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Kate Brady

National Recovery Adviser Emergency Services

Australia Red Cross

Kate Brady is the National Recovery Adviser for Australian Red Cross Emergency Services, where she is responsible for coordinating the development of all recovery services and activities undertaken around the country. In this role, Kate has also worked on disaster recovery efforts in every state and territory in Australia, and with the New Zealand Red Cross to support the Canterbury earthquake recovery efforts.

Kate is also currently undertaking a Ph.D. at the University of Melbourne looking at the things that help most during recovery from emergency affected people’s perspectives.

Prior to her role in the national team, Kate headed up the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Recovery team, which was developed to support community recovery following the 2009 Victorian bushfires.

In 2010, Kate was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to look at long term recovery in the USA, UK, and China.

Prior to joining Red Cross, Kate has worked with young people in protective care and in various roles for the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance and the UN International Labour Organisation in Geneva.

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Lisa Cameron de Vries

Technical Director

Phoenix Resilience

Lisa Cameron de Vries has an MSc in Industrial Engineering and 14 years of relevant experience in the design, implementation and verification of resilience programs (business continuity, risk, security, QHSE and emergency management) for organisations based in Europe, Middle East, East Asia and Australia in a large variety of industries including: logistics, airport operations, private security, construction, facilities management, waste management, manufacturing, fuel handling and laboratory management.

She spent four years doing this work in the most austere and war-torn environments in the world. During this time, she dealt with the emergency response and recovery activities for major incidents including aircraft (rotary and fixed wing) crashes, fuel storage facility fires and multi casualty terrorist attacks.

Lisa’s expertise is globally recognised. She has presented at technical meetings and conferences led by US Department of Defense (US DoD), UK Ministry of Defence (UK MoD), North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), US Central Command (CENTCOM), Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Six years ago Lisa moved to Australia where she founded Phoenix Resilience. Phoenix Resilience projects have facilitated the design and implementation of a Business Continuity Management System in compliance with the Standards ISO 22301:2012 and AS 3745-2010 for a major commercial property in the Brisbane CBD. This assignment included running multi-agency exercises for the Eagle Street precinct in preparation for the G20 in November 2014.

Other projects include a full review of the Business Continuity Framework and Crisis Management arrangements for a Queensland Government Agency; design of a resilience program for a Foundation, Investment Fund and software developer; managing the exercise program for a Local Council; cyber resilience assessments and counterterrorism planning for commercial clients.

In the last years, Lisa has designed several innovative organizational resilience concepts based on her extraordinary experiences. Their purpose is to significantly reduce the complexity of resilience programs and increase the efficiency and effectiveness. She presents these concepts at various forums and conferences including the Business Continuity Institute Australasia Summit (Sydney 2016) and Australia New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference (Gold Coast 2016, 2017).

Lisa volunteers her time to contribute to improving the resilience of organisations by facilitating educational business continuity events on behalf of the Business Continuity Institute (BCI), contributing to the Risk Management Institution of Australasia (RMIA) Special Interest Group that is doing research on Organisational Resilience and writing for The Strategic CFO Magazine.

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Dr. Mahesh Prakash

Head of Group & Senior Principal Research Scientist Computational Modelling

CSIRO Data61

Dr. Mahesh Prakash is a Senior Principal Research Scientist and Head of Group at CSIRO Data61. He leads a team of 40 Scientists, Engineers and Software Professionals developing and applying scalable Computational Modelling and Data Analytics capabilities for a range Environmental and Industrial Systems. He has more than fifteen years of experience in developing, integrating and applying computational models and analytics in the environmental, disaster and emergency management and sustainability domains including areas as diverse as climate extremes and adaptation, bushfires, flood inundation, air pollution modelling and monitoring analytics, urban heat island analytics and land use infrastructure planning. His passion is in developing integrated data, modelling and analytics strategies that can be applied at scale. To this end, he has developed strong client linkages with the industry and government at various levels both in Australia and overseas.

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Pradeep Navalkar

Principal Advisor ICT Service Continuity Management

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, NZ

Pradeep Navalkar is the Principal Advisor ICT Service Continuity Management for Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, in Wellington, New Zealand. He has 20+ years of experience in a variety of roles in both public and private sectors, including risk management, assurance, ICT and Information management, consulting, organizational resilience, and people leadership.

His present role is about improving resilience and recovery capability of organization’s IT Services. He takes a continuous improvement approach to the IT Service Continuity / Disaster Recovery planning and execution, while at the same time taking a pragmatic view of risks. In one of his previous roles, Pradeep has set up and managed an IT Recovery Facility for 24 x 7 electricity market information systems. Since then, he has provided assurance and advice to Business Continuity Management and IT Disaster Recovery planning and operations.

As part of his present role, Pradeep has set up a community of practice forum in the NZ Government Sector to share and improve the capability of IT Disaster Recovery.

Pradeep is a Bachelor of Computer Science Engineering and holds CISSP, CISM, CISA and ITIL qualifications. He began his career as an IT professional and has been a member of ISACA, IIA, itSMF, IITP, and RiskNZ.

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Shaun Whitmore

MICA Paramedic

Air Ambulance Victoria

Shaun began his health industry experience as a registered nurse in 1986. Since then he has predominantly worked in the ambulance industry in Victoria. He currently works at Air Ambulance Victoria as as Intensive Care Flight Paramedic, and for Monash University as a Unit Coordinator for 2 Post Graduate subjects.

Shaun’s involvement in the disaster realm began in 2005 when he completed his category 2 Urban Search and Rescue qualification with the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. This led to deployment to the Black Saturday Bushfires in Victoria in 2009 to assist Disaster Victim Identification Teams from Australia and New Zealand as a USAR Operator/Paramedic. Shaun was awarded the National Emergency Medal for his work at this time.

Later that year Shaun was again deployed as a Medical Team Leader/USAR Paramedic to Samoa following the tsunami which devastated the south coast area of Samoa. He has also been deployed locally in a USAR role in his work with Ambulance Victoria.

In 2012 he gained his qualification as a Team Leader with the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, and was deployed to Fiji last year as part of the initial 6 person AusMAT response, working with local teams in the north of the country.
Shaun also has a keen interest in remote area and wilderness medicine and travel, and is a Facilitator for the Advanced Wilderness Life Support course program.

Shaun’s observations as an active member of disaster response teams, and insights into community response in different countries following disaster are the aims of his contribution to the conference.

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Tegwen Howell

Manager, Research Support Network

Emergency Medicine Foundation

Tegwen commenced as Manager, Research Support Network (RSN), Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF), in July 2014 and is responsible for a team whose role is to expand emergency medicine research.

Tegwen has over twenty years health research experience in Australia and Canada. She has worked across the health spectrum, including public health, health economics, health policy, health technology assessment and clinical research. She also has experience in disaster management and recovery in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, including the short and long-term mental health impact of natural disasters.

Through her experiences, Tegwen has fostered relations with people involved in all aspects of health research as well as establishing connections across disaster management and planning in Australia and overseas. She is passionate about the long-term effects of natural disasters, particularly on children and adolescents.

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Dr Mark Harvey

Detective Inspector

Queensland Police Service

Dr Mark Harvey is an Organisational Leader and Management Consultant with internationally recognised expertise in the creation and review of ethics, integrity and corporate governance programs for organisations across the globe. Mark has delivered strategic and operational outcomes for many organisations in the fields of business development, innovation and value for money reviews including IT solutions. Mark is a renowned speaker and adult educator, known for skilling leaders to actively promote ethics and integrity within their organisations. Mark lectures on the QUT Executive MBA Program regarding corporate ethics and he is a Detective Inspector in a law enforcement agency where he leads teams undertaking internal investigations regarding suspected misconduct and criminal activity. Mark has over twenty-five years leadership and front-line experience in Disaster & Crisis Management, Emergency Response, Legislation Development and Operational Command of law enforcement agency specialist response teams. In addition, Mark recently designed and led change programs which have assisted large government agencies to adapt to and operate within highly complex dynamic environments.