Speakers

Passionate leader, mentor and advisor with nearly 20 years of experience in the innovation ecosystem. Proven business and relationship development skills through national and international senior management and executive roles. Key professional interests: bridging the knowledge gap between industry and research; the importance of strategic investment in STEM to the future success of businesses, and the importance to researchers of an appreciation for commercial outcome and impact to support the success and significance of work in STEM; and people engagement and culture.

Strongly supportive of gender and cultural representation in senior leadership. Mentor interests: career transition and advancement, women in business, alternative career pathways for STEM disciplines.

Andrew Bills commenced as CS Energy’s Chief Executive Officer in October 2018. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the energy and infrastructure industry where he has worked in trading, retail, generation, LPG, solar, and renewables.

Prior to joining CS Energy, Andrew worked for Origin Energy as General Manager LPG and Health, Safety and Environment in the Energy Markets Division. In this role Andrew led the LPG arm of the business, a complex task that spans across 75 sites in nine countries, including four joint ventures in the Asia Pacific.

Prior to Origin, Andrew worked at Babcock & Brown Power where he was responsible for managing commercial operations undertaking several acquisitions and managing joint ventures. Before that he was a senior executive at Stanwell Corporation where he managed the trading and marketing functions.

Andrew has served as a director on multiple boards, including as Chairman of Gas Energy Australia, and an Industry Representative on the Advisory Council to the Energy and Water Ombudsman Queensland. He is currently a director on the board of the Australian Energy Council.

Luke Blincoe is Chief Executive of The Energy Collective. The Energy Collective creates and scales digital startup companies to disrupt global energy markets, and owns Electric Kiwi (NZ) and ReAmped Energy (Aus). Electric Kiwi has been the fastest growing electricity retailer in New Zealand for over 3 years, having just reached 50,000 customers.

In 2018 Electric Kiwi won the Deloitte fast 50 as the fastest-growing company in New Zealand and was NZ Energy Retailer of the year in 2018. ReAmped began trading in mid-2019 in Queensland and NSW and now has over 6000 customers.

Blincoe has previously held executive positions within New Zealand gentailers working across Residential, Industrial and Metering roles. Blincoe has been a vocal critic of many of the market rules in New Zealand.
He is a member of the Innovation and Participation Advisory Group (IPAG) of the New Zealand Energy Authority.

Dr Phil Blythe is an accomplished practitioner in technology commercialisation, as a research and development scientist and engineer, as a founder and entrepreneur, and as an experienced senior executive to build and grow technology companies in new and emerging markets.

Core interests and domain expertise in energy markets, electricity networks, energy and carbon policy, renewables, risk management, decision psychology and climate change adaptation.

Peter Brindley is VP of Business Development for Enbala, recognised as a global leader in both VPP and DERMS software by Guidehouse Insights. Enbala provides the tools for real time orchestration of distributed energy resources to balance energy flows and support grid stability. With diverse experience across renewable energy, manufacturing and services industries within Australia and New Zealand, Peter leads Enbala’s local operations and brings multi-dimensional insights into the challenges and potential solutions for the transition to a more sustainable electricity grid.

Jon Briskin joined Origin in 2010 and was appointed General Manager, Retail in May 2016.

Jon leads the teams responsible for energy sales, marketing, product development and service experience for Origin’s residential and SME customers.

Jon has held various roles at Origin leading customer operations, service transformation and customer experience.
Prior to Origin Jon worked as a management consultant across financial services, energy, technology and government sectors.  Jon holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Finance) from Monash University.

Paul is a highly respected CEO with over 30 years’ experience in leading some of Australia’s largest electricity, telecommunications and water organisations. During his executive career, he has championed the power of the market and successfully led major strategic reforms and restructures of the water and energy industries. He has a reputation for innovation and macroeconomic reforms, and has been pivotal in shaping Australia’s energy future.

Paul was appointed CEO and Managing Director of Snowy Hydro Limited in July 2013. He has led the Company through a period of sustained growth and strategic acquisitions which have strengthened its portfolio and doubled the size of its retail business. In 2017, Paul launched Snowy 2.0 - an ambitious expansion of the Snowy Scheme which will underpin the Australian economy’s transition to renewables. As one of the largest global pumped hydro projects, Snowy 2.0 will play a critical role in providing Australian businesses and households with reliable, stable and affordable energy for generations to come.
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Paul was previously the inaugural CEO of Infrastructure NSW, and CEO of AAPT, PowerTel, EnergyAustralia Sydney Water and Hunter Water. He was a former Chairman of the Hunter Development Corporation and Mandoe Media Ltd, and a Non-Executive Director of iiNet Ltd.

Yann is Head of Customer and Tech at DC Power Co a solar / battery focussed energy company and Australia's first crowd-funded energy company. He is responsible for delivering the customer experience and technologies that power DCP’s competitive advantage.

Prior to this, Yann was CEO and co-founder of Billcap, a software company that delivers actionable insights to energy customers while improving retention and revenue for retailers.

He has extensive international experience in the energy industry (UK & France) and as a technology consultant for Accenture and PwC.
He has a BSc from the University of Melbourne where he is currently an Honorary Fellow of the Melbourne School of Engineering.

Ben has been at the helm of epic and humiliating failures across six industries and three continents, in the midst of which he picked fights with bullies, lost (and then rediscovered) his faith in democracy, and occasionally got lucky in the all-consuming religion of start-up and early-stage growth.

Prior to taking the role of Member of the Team at Belong and Director of Telstra Energy, he ran a power company, a small investment bank and an ASX listed media company.

What makes Telstra excited about the role of renewables in its business?
“Combined with our standby energy fleet, renewables help us to manage our own energy costs, reduce the emissions intensity of the Australian grid, and curtail wholesale energy prices for the benefit of all Australian households.”

Dr Jill Cainey is General Manager Networks, at Energy Networks Australia, the national industry body representing Australia’s electricity transmission and distribution and gas distribution networks.
Jill works with electricity networks to transform Australia’s electricity system to accommodate new and innovative approaches to delivering sustainable energy.

Jill represented the interests of electricity storage in the UK and Europe and was appointed MBE for services to Energy Technology in 2017 for work in electricity policy and regulation.  Jill also has over 25 years of experience internationally in climate change and is very interested in the interaction of extreme weather and electricity systems and developing resilient network infrastructure for the future.

Simon Camroux has been working for twenty years to achieve the end goal of a more reliable, efficient and lower-emissions energy sector that provides the lowest possible cost to all consumers.

The energy industry is a fascinating space with multiple, competing objectives that span engineering, physics, politics, economics and the environment. Tip the balance, and issues pop up like fairground wack-a-mole. For example, small and large renewable investments have outgrown the market’s ability to deal with them, while baseload coal assets are closing without ready replacements in place.

These are the kind of issues Simon has come to be involved in. His successes have been brought about by a combination of influencing stakeholders, market knowledge, and a passion for change. He has introduced market-wide rule changes, unlocked government investment, represented the Victorian Government at the United Nations Conference of Parties 15, and authored green and white papers outlining options and providing recommendations on actions to reduce emissions.

John Chambers leads AGL’s technology, data and business innovation teams. He completed a Bachelor of Economics at Macquarie University in 1994, and has enjoyed an executive career in product, technology and innovation across the telco and energy sectors. John started Fresh Ventures, an innovation consultancy, in 2018 and sold it and its intellectual property to a larger digital consultancy IE only 12 months later. John also founded Moorup, a circular economy platform business, which is currently experiencing 100%+ ARR growth.

Gloria Chan is an Executive Director and Head of Future Grid in the Clean Futures Team at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. She previously co-led the large-scale solar business at the CEFC in support of Australia’s growing renewable energy sector. Gloria has 15 years of institutional banking experience, spanning project and corporate finance as well as credit. Gloria was previously a Director at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, financing projects and corporates across a variety of industries, including renewables, utilities, mining and mining infrastructure, and oil and gas.

Gloria has a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance)/ Bachelor of Law (BCom/ LLB) from the University of New South Wales and is also admitted as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

John Cole is the Founder and Chief Executive of Edify Energy, leading Australian renewable energy and storage company. He also co-founded leading international renewable energy company, Low Carbon in London in 2010.

Edify has originated, financed and has under its asset management 773 MWp of utility scale solar. In addition Edify has developed, financed and brought into operation, the Gannawarra Energy Storage System - a 25 MW / 50 MWh lithium ion battery integrated with the 60 WMp Gannawarra Solar Farm, making it one of the largest integrated solar PV and storage facilities in the world.

Ms Collyer has been advising clients in the energy industry for more than 20 years and has overseen significant projects in energy sector reform.

She comes to the AEMC from her position as Partner and Head of Innovation at Allens law firm, where she has also focussed on adapting legal services to meet the challenges associated with technological change and digital disruption.

Ms Collyer has advised governments, market institutions, industry participants and large energy users on a wide range of matters, including industry reform, renewable energy projects, power purchase agreements and privatisations. She has advised on introducing retail competition in electricity and gas in Victoria and worked on developing the national framework for electricity and gas retail and distribution.

Christine joined AGL in July 2019. Prior to joining AGL, Christine built a career at Australia Post spanning almost three decades, where she held several leadership roles, including two years as Chief Customer Officer, responsible for group channel operations, marketing, digital and customer experience. She also held the role of Interim Chief Executive Officer at Australia Post prior to joining PwC in 2018 as a Special Advisor consulting for a range of clients in the customer and integrated solution space.

Christine holds a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Business (Comm) from the Queensland University of Technology, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Stanford Graduate School of Business’ Executive Program.

Libby Dale is a digital professional passionate about all things related to customer experience and customer success. Having worked in technology for 25+ years, Libby became frustrated with the lack of solutions to solve the problem of customer churn. She left corporate life to co-create the ground breaking churn prediction and treatment software SmartMeasures, enabling large customer centric organisations to predict and control customer churn. Libby is passionate about keeping customers happy though clever technology. She believes customer churn can be avoided in a way that delivers both happy customers and improves the business bottom line.

Steve Davies is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Pipeline and Gas Association. September 2017. Issues on Steve’s mind this year include: the future of gas in Australia, competition and economic regulation of transmission pipelines, stakeholder engagement and pipeline safety.

Prior to being CEO, he was APGA’s National Policy Manager with responsibility for government relations and policy development for the gas transmission industry. After training as an engineer, Steve took a different path and has held a range of policy and regulatory roles related to infrastructure and resources in industry associations and the Federal Government. Having spent the majority of his career in industry associations, Steve especially enjoys the opportunities and challenges of working in small teams delivering a wide range of service to members.

Greg is responsible and accountable for the strategic direction, leadership, management and performance of the AEF. Critical to achieving the strategy is establishing and maintaining strong relationships across all sectors, collaborating with partners and developing new business models and solutions to community and customer needs. He is focused upon working with partners to grow the positive impact of the AEF to progress Australia towards an equitable zero carbon society.

Greg is also focused upon leveraging the AEF’s experience and expertise to provide valuable thought leadership and to ensure outstanding delivery of projects, programs and outcomes to customer and community benefit and expectations.

Greg is an accomplished executive leader with 30 years’ experience in defining, leading and managing complex change across the public and private sectors. He completed engineering at the Australian Defence Force Academy and served as an Air Force Officer focused on systems engineering – the alignment of people, processes and systems with objectives – on large complex projects.

Greg brings inclusive leadership, deep insight into the energy sector, strong ability to rapidly understand, assimilate knowledge, manage complex problems and navigate complex stakeholder relations. He has co-founded two successful businesses which apply systems thinking to lead large complex organisations through transformational change. He has over 10 years of experience in the energy sector, as well as working across infrastructure, banking and finance, telecommunications, defence, aviation and emergency services.

Craig is currently responsible for managing corporate strategy and regulation at Australian Gas Infrastructure Group.  He has over 20 years of industry experience, including working with Australian Gas Networks and Envestra. He holds a Master of Economics.

Royce De Sousa (BE Hons IIA / LLB) is currently Director, poweRD Consulting – a small consultancy aimed at identifying and delivering opportunities in energy for corporates with a particular focus on Commercial and Industrials energy users.

Royce is also Director, Eastern Energy Buyers Group (EEBG) – a buying group of a range of Commercial, Industrial and Agricultural energy users which leverages group expertise and consolidated buying power to achieve lower procured price of Electricity and Natural Gas.

Prior to establishing poweRD Consulting, Royce was General Manager – Energy & Sustainability for Visy Industries Australia – Australia’s largest packaging and recycling company. Royce’s two decade-long focus on Energy at Visy included procurement and supply of energy to Visy’s facilities, Visy’s alternative and renewable energy generation, as well as driving Visy’s carbon strategy and energy efficiency programmes.
Royce was a Discretionary Member of the Australian Energy Markets Commission (AEMC) Reliability Panel which focuses on improving the security and reliability of Australia’s energy supply and infrastructure. Royce represented Large User interests on the Panel between 2015 and 2018.

Prior to working in energy, Royce was a process, project and maintenance engineer in Visy’s Paper Mills.
 

Andrew Dillon is an experienced energy sector executive, most recently as the General Manager Corporate Affairs at AusNet Services, owners of electricity transmission and both gas and electricity distribution networks in Victoria. Prior to AusNet, Andrew was General Manager Corporate Affairs at Energy Supply Association of Australia, worked in Corporate and Government Affairs at TRUenergy (now Energy Australia) and was a Senior Ministerial Adviser. He is also a Director of Goulburn Valley Water.

Over two decades Andrew has worked in many parts of the energy industry as well as in government and consulting. He was appointed the Interim Chief Executive Officer of Energy Networks Australia on 1 September 2017.

Mr Dillon qualified as a chartered accountant and spent time in banking and energy roles in the United Kingdom.

Gavin is currently employed as the manager of policy and research at St Vincent de Paul Society, Victoria.

Gavin’s has been as a consumer representative in the energy sector for over 25 years, He has undertaken research into electricity disconnections, documented changes in energy pricing, and its impacts on households and has  been involved the development of the energy consumer protection and concession frameworks.

Gavin is currently a representative of a number of industry and government committees including;  gas and electricity distribution companies customer consultative committees,  AEMC's reliability panel, AGL’s national customer council, the AER customer consultative group and  board member of  Energy Consumers Australia and Energy and water Ombudsman scheme Victoria.
 

Rod Duke commenced as Chief Executive Officer of Energy Queensland Limited on 1 April 2020. Prior to this he was CEO of the Gladstone LNG project operating company for Santos and its partners.

Energy Queensland is Australia’s largest electricity distributor with an asset base in excess of A$26 billon and 7,300 staff of its Energex and Ergon subsidiaries serving over 2.3 million connected consumers across the state, as well as selling electricity to almost 740,000 retail customers in regional areas.

Rod has extensive leadership and energy industry experience having worked in other senior roles with Woodside, in regulation at Singapore’s Energy Market Authority, and as an executive with Singapore LNG Corporation.
He has a strong commercial and safety focus with more than 34 years professional international experience in operations, commercial, marketing, trading, development, projects, engineering, construction and commissioning areas of the natural gas industry, as well as leading transformational projects.

Rod holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) with Honours and a Graduate Diploma of Management. He is a member of the University of Queensland School of Chemical Engineering Industry Advisory Board and a board director of the LNG Marine Fuels Institute.

Lily D’Ambrosio is a member of the Australian Labor Party and has represented the electorate of Mill Park in the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2002. In 2016 she became Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change and Minister for Suburban Development, and on the recent return of the Andrews Labor Government she was appointed Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change and Minister for Solar Homes.

Minister D’Ambrosio is a leader in action on climate change, renewable energy and energy efficiency in Australia.  She oversaw the passage of the Climate Change Act, Victoria's landmark climate legislation which saw it become the first Australian state to legislate in line with the Paris Agreement for net zero emissions by 2050. The Minister has also overseen an overhaul of the Environmental Protection Act 1970, refocussing the regulatory body to focus on the prevention of harm to human and environmental health.

She is a leading advocate for a modernised Australian energy

David is the Digital Strategy and Innovation Manager at Horizon Power working in the Technology and Digital Transformation division – solving problems in a risk-averse environment.

Over the last ten years, David has focused on the development and execution of complex projects that pioneer innovation and discovery. He has adopted a ‘problem led’ leadership approach where he focuses on the problem(s) at hand and seeking a solution he creates an opportunity for learning, research and development. He leads by delivering solutions to Horizon Power and is most comfortable at the intersection of technology and customers.

He’s interested in being provoked to act creatively and looks for an opportunity to react to the provocation. As Innovation Manager, he moves across multiple disciplines and contributes to strategy by looking ahead to future scenarios, seeing possibilities and assembling talent. He seizes on an intriguing, inspiring, barely-solvable problem, and frames it in a way that draws other smart and skilled people toward it and inspiring them to develop a solution.

As Executive Markets - Ross leads a talented team that trade in electricity, gas, coal, and renewable energy to provide competitive priced energy for EnergyAustralia’s customers and optimise the value of the portfolio of energy assets.

Ross has worked at EnergyAustralia for over 16 years in roles covering Strategy, Business development, wholesale market operations and trading. He has held board positions on a range of renewable development companies and is currently on the board of the Australian Financial Markets Association.

Prior to joining EnergyAustralia, Ross worked for management consulting firm A.T. Kearney on a range of commercial engagements.

Eva Feenstra is a Director in the Sydney office and an expert in the energy industry.

She joined Simon-Kucher in the beginning of 2017. In the last years she has focused on establishing revenue growth by developing smart product and pricing strategies. Eva supports clients across industries, but focuses on Tech and Energy.

Before Eva moved to Australia, she worked 7 years for one of the biggest energy companies in Europe. She led projects on product and portfolio design, commercialisation in innovation and boosting loyalty/retention.

Lynne is an economist/econometrician by qualification and has substantial experience in economic modelling and policy reform processes, including working with the Council of Australian Governments, and in strategic issues management in the corporate sector. Her career has seen her spend 15 years in a technical environment, followed by 12 years in practice and as an adviser. Prior to her appointment as ECA's Director of Research, Lynne was Executive Director, Industry Development at Energy Networks Australia. Lynne brings to ECA strong insights, a strategic focus and a consumer advocacy perspective which has been honed from her work with network businesses, retailers and regulators.

Sanjeev Gupta is the Executive Chairman of GFG Alliance, a collection of global businesses and investment owned Sanjeev and his family. GFG Alliance has three core industry brands; LIBERTY Steel Group, ALVANCE Aluminium Group and SIMEC Energy Group.

Besides its industry brands GFG Alliance holds investments in financial services and property held within a Family Office. Sanjeev and his wife Nicola are also the founders of the GFG Foundation – a registered charity that aims to develop industrial skills among young people. GFG Alliance has revenues of $20bn and employees 36,000 people across 30 countries.

Eva Hanly is the Executive responsible for Future Energy, Strategy, Public Policy and Innovation and Technology at TransGrid, the operator and manager of the NSW high voltage transmission network. This role is looking at the evolving energy system and the role TransGrid plays in that, including incubating and commercialising new products and services.

Eva has an honours degree in Engineering and Arts (international relations) from UNSW and a Masters in Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Management. Prior to joining TransGrid, Eva held a number of General Management positions at Transurban including General Manager NSW responsible for the operations and performance of the NSW Business and was also part of the leadership of the successful WestConnex acquisition. Previously, Eva was General Manager Commercial at Origin Energy responsible for Origin's investment in the Australian Pacific LNG (APLNG) project, management of APLG's JV arrangements and non-operated assets, as well as establishing and leading the gas operations and marketing business.  Eva originally started as an engineer with Thiess on site in underground coal mining and went on to move into senior roles across operations, project management, commercial and strategy functions.  Eva sits on the Deans Advisory Council for the Faculty of Engineering at UNSW.

James Harman was appointed CEO of EDL in October 2016. He is keenly focused on safety, growth, and diversification into new markets as EDL strives to be the leading global producer of sustainable distributed energy.

For nearly two decades before joining EDL, James held senior executive positions with top tier mining companies in Europe and Australia. Most recently he was Group Head of Business Development at Anglo American in London where he was responsible for leading global growth and strategic relationships, with a focus on China and Japan.

James holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Master of Laws degree.

Christiaan has worked almost exclusively with resource companies and heavy industries over the past decade on both strategic and operational issues. He is particularly motivated by the intersection of strategy and operations—for example, implementing concrete ways to reduce the cost of big capital projects, flowing from a strategic assessment of why and where Australia’s costs are different from other regions.

Building on his physics degree and his pre-McKinsey experience of founding an Internet company, Christiaan is increasingly active in supporting clients to capture the benefits that automation, or big data, can bring to the sector.

Darren Hill is the General Manager for Commercial & Business Development with Horizon Power. He is tasked with delivering clean, innovative energy solutions that meet customer needs and ensure business sustainability through growth in our regional communities. These goals are delivered through a strong framework for planning, asset investment and project delivery.

With qualifications in Information Technology and Electronic Engineering he has extensive experience in strategic leadership across telecommunications, gas and electricity utilities.

Darren is also a Director on the Board for the International Microgrids Association and Boundary Power, a company that delivers renewable energy solutions and asset management services

Lance Hoch has 40 years of experience as a consultant to the electricity industry and the government and regulatory agencies that are involved with it.  He specialises in utility/customer interface issues and has particular expertise in demand management; energy efficiency; renewable energy; and pricing, regulation and policy matters in the distribution and retail portions of the electricity supply chain. 

He has worked on projects in these areas in Australia, the US, the UK, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, Hong Kong, the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.  He has been involved in Demand Response (DR) throughout his career, having designed more than 50 demand-side management and DR programs for electricity utilities in the US, Australia and southeast Asia, and has in-depth expertise in the economic rationale for, and the design and implementation of DR programs in both regulated and deregulated markets.

Shannon was appointed CEO in 2018 and has been with the Simply Energy business since 2010 leading General Management functions in both Operations and Sales & Marketing.

He has led significant operational efficiency and transformation programs for Simply Energy, helping it to become one of Australia’s fastest growing energy companies, with a presence in east coast markets and Western Australia.

Prior to this, Shannon held senior analytics and operations roles with Telstra and Stellar Asia Pacific, where he introduced data-driven modelling tools and drove customer service improvement programs.

Paul Italiano is the Chief Executive Officer of TransGrid, the operator and manager of the NSW high voltage transmission network.

Paul joined TransGrid in May 2016 after serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Western Power since 2012. Paul’s career includes executive roles at Wesfarmers General Insurance; HBF Health Funds and the RAC. Paul is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Business and an MBA. He is also a Fellow of CPA Australia, Leadership WA and the Australian Institute of Management.

Paul is a visionary leader focused on transforming TransGrid from a state owned corporation into a dynamic, customer focused, fully-privatised energy company. He has been working closely with the Board and Leadership team on a reinvigorated strategic direction, delivering the energy solutions of today and creating the new energy future.

Kevin is an experienced senior executive with more than 30 years’ experience in the electricity industry. An electrical engineer by profession, Kevin has worked in all facets of distribution and transmission in the energy industry, supporting Boards and Executive teams to create the vision and strategy for business success.

Kevin joined Powerlink in early 2017 as Executive General Manager Strategy and Business Development, leading Powerlink’s strategy, business planning, network regulation, business development, network portfolio and business resilience functions. 

Kevin holds Bachelor of Computer and Electrical Engineering (Hons) and a Graduate Certificate in Electricity Supply Engineering, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Peter brings to his role more than 25-years of high-level policy and consulting advice including for the Reserve Bank of Australia, the International Monetary Fund and the Public Utilities Office. He has also spent time as a senior journalist including as WA Bureau Chief for the Australian Financial Review and has an extensive network in business, media and government.

Peter holds a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) from the University of Western Australia and is actively involved with St Bartholomew’s House homelessness service.  

Since joining Western Power in 2014, Peter has separately been the Head of Government Relations and the Head of Stakeholders & Communications. On occasion he is also the Corporate Mascot, Lochie.

Melanie is a Principal at CutlerMerz with over 15 years’ experience in the energy sector. She has a particular area of expertise in the impact of consumer driven transformation on electricity infrastructure and markets. Her bodies of work have a focus on the formulation of the strategic response required by the sector to ensure long term sustainability of the system and delivery of long term benefits to consumers.

In this capacity, she has provided critical input to high profile industry projects culminating in landmark public reports including the CSIRO/Energy Networks Australia (ENA) Electricity Network Transformation Roadmap and the 2020 Energy Security Board Governance of DER Standards report.

Rainer is an Energy Industry Executive with over 30 years of experience in the electricity industry.

Rainer is responsible for a range of strategic asset management, power system planning, customer connection, regulation, regulated investment planning, and government and stakeholder relations functions, along with leading key ElectraNet energy transformation initiatives in South Australia.

He has extensive experience within the policy, market and regulatory frameworks of the Australian National Electricity Market and has led business change towards a stronger focus on customer engagement and best practice asset management.

Ian Learmonth joined the CEFC as Chief Executive Officer in May 2017. Mr Learmonth had previously served as an independent member of the CEFC Executive Investment Committee. Mr Learmonth has more than 30 years' experience as a financier and investor, working across clean energy and major infrastructure projects, as well as social impact investments. He joined Social Ventures Australia (SVA) in 2011 to establish its Impact Investing business and launched Australia's first Social Impact Bond in 2013.

Previously an Executive Director of Macquarie Group for 12 years, Mr Learmonth has investment banking experience in Sydney, Hong Kong and London. He established and led various businesses, notably European renewable energy and carbon credit investments, as well a cross-border structured finance and asset financing in Asia and Europe.

With a background in engineering and many years of experience in the energy sector, Duncan focus is on reducing the cost of energy for businesses. Duncan’s former measurement and verification experience allows a data focused approach for energy efficiency and generation cost reduction.

Jamie Lowe is Head of Regulation for ENGIE in Australia & New Zealand and has 20 years’ experience in economic, strategy, and policy roles for State and Commonwealth governments, and in the energy sector (formerly with Alinta Energy and LYMMCo).

In his current role, Jamie is responsible for managing company positioning on government policy and regulatory risk, influencing and responding to market developments, and representing the company externally.  Current projects include developing the Hazelwood Rehabilitation Project in Victoria and the Energy Security Board NEM 2025 market review.

Jamie has bachelors’ degrees in Arts (Hons 1) and Industrial Relations from the University of Adelaide; a Bachelor of Management (Commerce) from the University of South Australia; a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from Finsia (SIA); and, an Executive Masters of Public Administration from the University of Melbourne

Bob Mac Smith is a 5th generation farmer, a Director and Co-Founder of MSM Milling: a 100% Australian owned and operated fully integrated oilseed processing business producing Non-GM Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Canola Meal and Stockfeeds in the Central West of NSW. MSM started nearly 30 years ago and has grown into a world class, value-added oilseed operation which directly employs 80 people. MSM Milling buys canola seed directly from more than 1,000 farmers and sells Canola Oil and Meal-based products across Australia and around the world.

Bob has project managed all the capital works the company has undertaken, including the most recent project: the establishment of a $5.5-million 5MW biomass fuelled boiler to replace 3 smaller LPG-fuelled boilers. The development was awarded a $2-million grant under ARENA's Advancing Renewables Program, and will save more than 80,000tCO2-e over the life of the project. The boiler uses locally sourced timber residues as a fuel source and began operating in January 2019.

Stuart Mathews is an international mining professional with over 28 years’ experience having worked in Australia (Queensland, NSW, WA), Mexico and New Zealand.

Stuart has a Master of Science (Geology) from University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He has progressed through geology ranks to Geology Manager level and in the last 15 years worked in project development and general operations management (+10 years) and COO level (5 years).

Stuart joined Gold Fields in mid-2013 initially at St Ives, then General Manager at Granny Smith Mine then Vice President Operations: Australia. From 1st February 2017 Stuart took over the position of Executive Vice President: Australasia. Managing regional portfolio of mines that deliver +950,000ozs of gold per annum and strategic growth in Australia and greater Gold Fields globally. On the executive committee of Gold Fields International.

Catriona is responsible for coordinating all aspects of financing ESCO Pacific’s project pipeline and for strategic investments. During her career she has brought more than 30 utility-scale renewable energy projects to financial close as lead equity representative and has supported many additional transactions.

Sarah McNamara was appointed as Chief Executive of the Australian Energy Council in July 2018.

Sarah joined the Energy Council as General Manager of Corporate Affairs in January 2016. She is an industry leader with more than a decade of experience working with policy and regulatory frameworks across the resources and energy sectors.

Prior to the Energy Council, Sarah was Chief of Staff to the then Minister for Industry, the Hon Ian Macfarlane, and has also worked as a senior policy adviser to the Prime Minister.

Between 2008 and 2013 Sarah worked in AGL’s Corporate Affairs team as Head of Government Affairs and Community Engagement. Sarah began her career as a corporate lawyer, and has a Bachelor of Arts/Law from the University of Melbourne.

Darren Miller commenced as ARENA’s CEO on 27 August 2018. He has more than 25 years’ experience across a range of sectors including renewable energy, electricity retail, technology, finance, media and entertainment.
Darren was co-founder and CEO of Mojo Power, an innovative electricity retailer, from 2015 until July 2018. He was previously the Director of Asset Finance at Sungevity Australia in 2014, and co-founder and CEO of Sumwise, a technology and services company from 2007 to 2013.

Darren’s previous experience includes a position as investment manager for Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) and Consolidated Press Holdings (CPH) and roles at New Zealand Natural and Ernst & Young.
Darren is a Chartered Accountant with a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of New South Wales.

As an aerospace engineer with a background in wind farm design, operation and maintenance in Australia and North America, Thomas’ focus is on the development and implementation of technical solutions to make renewable energy the logical choice for all applications.

Lucy Moon is Head of Regulation at Energy Networks Australia. She previously lead the pricing and regulation team for Power and Water Corporation’s electricity networks as responsibility for economic regulation was moved to the Australian Energy Regulator. Lucy holds post graduate qualifications in Economics from the University of Sydney.

Since Aidan Mullan joined Interface 9 years ago, there have been fundamental shifts in the business models and processes, conversations led by the market as well as the culture of the organisation, all contributing to the Interface sustainability journey. A milestone achievement was the announcement in 2018 that all of the flooring products sold - carpet tile, LVT and rubber – are carbon neutral, across the entire product life cycle.

This begins with raw materials and continues through manufacturing, transportation, maintenance and ultimately end-of-life product takeback and recycling through ReEntry®. Interface’s aim is to be a carbon negative company by 2040. Twenty-five years ago, Interface set out to eliminate any harm they may have on the environment by 2020. Today Interface are almost at the summit and are now focused on the future and being restorative.

2020 will mark 60 years since I began work as a journalist in South Africa and almost 50 years since I arrived in Australia after migrating from the apartheid society. It will also mark 40 years since I began engagement with the energy sector as executive director of the upstream petroleum industry lobbying body, 29 years since I became MD of the Electricity Supply Association and 15 years since I launched my Coolibah website (with its "This is Power" blog) - see www.coolibahconsulting.com.au.

In 2004, I was made a Member of the Order of Australia. I'm lucky at 77 to be able to keep busy with so much writing and to be engaged with high level discussion of energy issues and developments through the Quest Events "Energy Outlook" series (www.questevents.com.au) series, which has turned "Australian Domestic Gas Outlook" and "Australian Energy Week" in to major national conferences.

My wish these days for the governments of Australia to make good on efficiently integrating energy supply and carbon abatement policies, which should be one of Australia's 10 national imperatives.

David Parker was appointed Chair of the Clean Energy Regulator on 3 July 2017.

David was previously a Deputy Secretary in the Departments of Agriculture and Water Resources, the Department of the Environment and the Commonwealth Treasury.
David has qualifications in economics and law. With a career spanning more than 25 years with Treasury, David has worked on financial sector liberalisation, tax reform, macroeconomic forecasting and policy,
competition policy, energy policy and international economic issues.

More recently he also oversaw Water, Antarctica and National Parks, elements of Climate Change policy, trade negotiations and export market regulation. From 1997 to 2002 David worked at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.

David was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2012.

Mark Paterson is Chief Strategy Officer and Managing Director of the Strategen Australia / Pacific practice based in Australia. Paterson is an influential thought-leader in whole-system grid transformation and has played an integral role in Australia as it navigates to become one of the world’s most deeply decentralized electricity systems. 
Most recently, Paterson served as General Manager of the Consumer Energy division at Horizon Power, a Western Australia utility responsible for providing electricity across the most remote one third of the Australian continent. Prior to that, Paterson led the Electricity Grids & Renewable Energy Integration team at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency.

Lillian is the Clean Energy Council’s Director of Energy Transformation, where she is responsible for through leading the development and implementation of the CEC’s electricity market and network policy and advocacy work. She joined the CEC from Origin Energy, where she managed regulation and policy development on wholesale and retail electricity and gas market issues. She has also worked in the areas of power markets at the International Energy Agency in France and energy security in the Federal Government.

Lillian holds a Master in Green Management and Energy from Bocconi University in Italy and a Bachelor of Business (1st Class Honours in Economics) and Bachelor of International Studies from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Anne oversees EnergyAustralia’s operations as they relate to government and policy, industry regulation, communications and media relations, community engagement, social investment and brand and sponsorship.
A former lawyer, Ms Pearson has cemented a strong reputation in the energy sector.

She has held senior positions, including Senior Director and subsequently Chief Executive at the Australian Energy Market Commission, and was recently Acting Executive Manager at WaterNSW.

Melissa Perrow is the General Manager Energy at Brickworks Limited. Brickworks is a domestic manufacturer and large consumer of natural gas and electricity on the East Coast of Australia and in Western Australia. Melissa has transformed Brickwork’s East Coast gas strategy; transitioning the business to be a wholesale gas buyer from 2020.

She also established demand response at the Austral Bricks Golden Grove plant located in Adelaide which provides frequency control services and responds to high wholesale electricity prices. Prior to Brickworks, Melissa worked for Origin Energy for 14 years and has over 18 years wholesale energy trading experience gained across electricity, gas, carbon and green markets and specializing in complex non-standard large customer contracting.

She has a Bachelor in Applied Science, a Bachelor in Business, a Graduate Diploma in Technology and a Post Graduate Certificate in Applied Finance.

Danny Price is a founder and Managing Director of Frontier Economics.  Danny is a leading expert in energy economics, with extensive experience advising governments, regulators, private utility companies and investment firms.

He specialises in power sector modelling, power trading and hedging, performance assessments, industry reform, regulation, asset sales and acquisitions, and greenhouse policy. He has led major projects on energy industry regulation and reform in Australia and internationally.

In addition, he has acted as an expert witness in economics in the Federal Court and the Australian Competition Tribunal.

Peter Price was appointed to the Energy Queensland Executive in November 2016 and is responsible for leading the Group’s engineering and asset management strategies, which includes the safe and efficient management of the Group’s electricity distribution networks.

Prior to joining Energy Queensland, Peter was a member of Energex’s executive management team for ten years. His career with Energex included managing and leading capital planning and program delivery, asset management, procurement, regulatory issues and the growth of new commercial businesses.

Peter holds both a bachelor (honours) degree and a masters degree in Engineering at the University of Queensland, and is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Peter is also Chair of Energy Skills Queensland and sits on the Board of Redback Technologies.

David Prins is a highly accomplished consultant and project manager, with extensive international consulting experience and expertise in strategic, regulatory and commercial issues.  He has a keen understanding and thirty years of practical experience spanning four continents, specialising in the application of effective regulation and competition in electricity and gas industries.  David thrives on understanding how regulation and competition inter-relate in energy markets, and helping his clients to navigate the often difficult environments in which they have to participate and engage.

David has provided advice to public and private sector clients – industry participants, governments, regulators and consumer organisations and vendors who would like to improve their understanding of energy and utility markets – throughout Australia and New Zealand, as well as in Europe, Asia, and North America.

Much of David’s recent work has focused on advice on consumer facing issues in energy and water industries, including regulatory proposals of energy network businesses, smart metering in energy and water industries, and energy pricing and margins.  Within Australia, he has worked extensively on national energy market and regulatory arrangements, and also jurisdictionally in all of Australia’s states and territories.  He is a recognised international expert in the areas of cost-benefit analysis, the regulatory and commercial challenges of the rollout of smart meters, consumer engagement, and benefits realisation for consumers.

Mr Quilter joined Stanwell in February 2012 as Swanbank Power Station Manager and was appointed General Manager of Stanwell’s gas and hydro generation portfolio in May 2013.

In a career spanning more than 20 years in the energy industry both in Queensland and New South Wales, Mr Quilter has worked in various operational roles including senior engineering and management positions. Mr Quilter was appointed Executive General Manager Energy Trading and Commercial Strategy at Stanwell in July 2016. In this role, he is responsible for the trading of Stanwell’s generation in the National Electricity Market.

He also oversees the development of commercial strategies targeted at diversifying revenue streams and creating value from Stanwell’s various fuel resources.

Leonard Quong is the Head of Australian Research at BloombergNEF where he leads a team of experts to examine the future of energy, transport and industry in the Australian market. Leonard joined BloombergNEF in 2013 where he has since published over 50 research papers covering technology, investment, economics and policy. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree with First Class Honours in photovoltaic and solar energy engineering from the University of New South Wales.

Tennant Reed manages Climate, Energy and Environment Policy at the Australian Industry Group.  Since 2008 he has been deeply involved in Australian climate and energy issues, advising Ai Group’s Leaders’ Group on Energy and Climate Policy, coordinating joint research and advocacy with wider energy stakeholders, facilitating the Australian Climate Roundtable and developing reports on energy prices, natural gas supply and business energy use. 

He has also advised Ai Group on a range of issues related to manufacturing and innovation.  Previously he was an adviser in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, working on fiscal policy, stimulus and infrastructure.  Tennant lives in Melbourne.

Andrew has over 30 years of energy industry and infrastructure development experience having held a variety of senior management roles in the areas of sales and marketing, public and stakeholder relations, media and communication, strategic planning, policy development, stakeholder engagement and political advocacy.

For the last 3 years he has been Chief Executive Officer of the Energy Users Association of Australia (EUAA). Under his leadership the EUAA has positioned itself as a highly respected thought leader and advisor to energy industry players, regulators and governments and is recognized by these stakeholders as a strong advocate for energy users.

Andrew continues to play a key role in a range of forums including the AEMO Expert Panel, the Federal Government Energy Industry Roundtable, the AER Value of Customer Reliability Consultative Committee and the recently formed National Hydrogen Strategy Taskforce Stakeholder Advisory Panel.

Andrew is also deeply involved in ongoing engagement on behalf of energy users with the ACCC, AEMC, ESB, COAG Energy Council, AER and via numerous industry related customer reference groups.

Kerry Schott is Chair of the Energy Security Board and a Director of NBN.  She is also a member of the Advisory Board for City and SouthEast Light Rail.

Kerry was Managing Director and CEO of Sydney Water from 2006 to 2011. Before that Kerry spent 15 years as an investment banker, including as Managing Director of Deutsche Bank and Executive Vice President of Bankers Trust Australia.  During this time she specialised in privatisation, restructuring, and infrastructure provision.  Prior to becoming an investment banker Kerry was a public servant and an academic. 

Kerry holds a doctorate from Oxford University, a Masters of Arts from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and a Bachelor of Arts (first class Honours) from the University of New England.  She was recently awarded an Order of Australia and Honorary Doctorates from the University of Sydney, the University of Western Sydney and the University of New England.

Tarandeep Singh Ahuja is a Partner at McKinsey & Company's Melbourne Office. He leads McKinsey's Procurement practice across Asia Pacific, and the Energy practice in Australia/New Zealand. He serves clients in Energy, Resources and Industrial companies on a wide range of topics - Strategy, Operations, Procurement, Supply Chain Management, Mergers and Acquisitions, and large scale performance transformations.

Lauren was appointed Chief Executive Officer to establish the Consumer Policy Research Centre in May 2017. She has worked in a range of policy roles across the corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors for over a decade, including senior policy roles in the New South Wales Government.

Lauren holds a Bachelor of Resource Economics (Hons) from the University of Sydney. Graduate Diploma in Psychology at Monash University and has undertaken further study in behavioural economics at the London School of Economics, the Executive Program for Non-profit Leaders at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership.

Passionate about the people side of markets, Lauren supports cross-sectoral collaboration, interdisciplinary research and diversity of thought and experience when tackling complex policy issues. Lauren advises policymakers on consumer data and technology via: National Data Advisory Council, Consumer Data Right Data Standards Body Advisory Committee.

Doug Spencer-Roy has managed the marketing of Melbourne’s privately owned EastLink tollway since 2006, adding the corporate affairs portfolio from 2015 and becoming the company spokesperson. In 2019, Doug created and now also runs the office of the EastLink Customer Advocate, which assists customers who have unresolved complaints.

Prior to EastLink, Doug held marketing and product management roles at Transurban and Telstra. He was a technology consultant for Logica in the UK, USA and Australia, in the aerospace and telecoms segments.

Doug serves on the Frankston Arts Board, which is an advisory board to the City Council, providing advice on Frankston Arts Centre and Libraries, public artworks and community events.

Jeremy is a Non-Executive Director, global executive and advisor with over 30 years of experience leading businesses and in the delivery of major infrastructure projects. He has held a variety of positions, including Regional Director for Asia/Middle East and Group Manager of Innovation & Digital. He lived and worked in Asia and the UK for 14 years and has also delivered projects in the US, Middle East, Australia and China. He is a Director of the Australian subsidiary of J-Power, one of Japan's largest utility companies and part of the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) consortia.

Jamie has multi-faceted experience gained from senior management positions at TXU, Energy Australia, Barclays Capital and, prior to 1414 Degrees, at Swiss Re, where he was responsible for Swiss Re’s weather and energy business across Asia Pacific. He has an in-depth understanding of the challenges and opportunities for companies in today’s volatile economic climate.

His diverse range of skills in people management, strategy, energy trading, business development, and M&A enhances 1414 Degrees’ technical and commercial future while his experience with renewable energy joint-ventures, connection agreements and network risk modelling benefit the Aurora Solar Energy Project.

Bianca Sylvester is an Associate Director in the Government and Stakeholder Relations team at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, leading the CEFC’s relationship with the New South Wales, Victorian and Tasmanian State Governments, as well as international stakeholders. Bianca has 10 years’ experience in clean energy and climate change, across 20 countries.

Prior to joining the CEFC, she spent six years as a climate change/energy specialist at the World Bank based in Washington DC, and three years as a trader in J.P. Morgan’s commodities sales and trading team based in Singapore and Sydney. Most recently, she was General Manager for the Carbon Market Institute in Melbourne. Bianca holds a Masters of Government from the Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC.

Angus entered politics in 2013 when he was elected as the Liberal Federal Member for Hume in New South Wales.

Building on his background in economics, Angus was appointed to parliamentary committees on employment, trade and investment, and public accounts. He was also chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties.

Angus was promoted to Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister with special responsibility for Cities and Digital Transformation in February 2016. He was reappointed to the frontbench after the 2016 Federal election and became Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security in December 2017.

Angus was promoted to Cabinet as the Minister for Energy in August 2018, and reappointed as the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction in May 2019.

With a passion for cutting edge technology and the benefits for citizens of the digital age, Angus authored an essay The Promise of Digital Government which was published by the Menzies Research Centre in 2016. 

He has gained a reputation amongst his constituents as a keen problem solver, focusing in his electorate on growth opportunities for regional communities and improving telecommunications.

Prior to entering parliament in 2013 Angus was a Director at Port Jackson Partners where he was a strategy and business advisor on the resources, agriculture, energy and infrastructure sectors. Prior to this he was a partner at global consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

Angus has a Bachelor of Economics (First Class Honours and University Medal) and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Sydney. He also has a Master of Philosophy in Economics from Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. His thesis was in the field of competition policy.

In his private capacity Angus has founded or advised a number of small, fast growing start-up businesses, particularly in the agriculture sector.

He lives at Goulburn with his wife Louise and their four children.

Michelle Taylor is the manager for Intelligent Grid New Technology in Energy Queensland. She has been responsible for new technology enablement and research and development in the organisation over the past 13 years; having a long background in renewable and energy storage technologies and research. She is passionate about enabling new technologies that can provide customers with safe, reliable and sustainable electricity supply.

As such Michelle is actively involved in new technology safety having worked for many years as part of one of the Standards Australia committees developing new technology standards and as part of the Queensland Electrical Safety Office Electrical Equipment Advisory board.

Kiya Taylor is the Chief Marketing Officer at UPowr, an energy start-up transforming the design and installation of solar and batteries. As CMO, Kiya is responsible for customer experience, marketing, partnerships and works within the founding team on product development.

Previously, Kiya held roles leading ARENA’s distributed energy knowledge sharing portfolio and the establishment of the ARENA Insights initiative, as well as leading the marketing and communications for a Fortune 500 engineering firm. Kiya has extensive experience in marketing, communications and stakeholder engagement in fields including energy, defence and technology.

Amber Electric is kickstarting a smart energy revolution by empowering customers with direct access to wholesale electricity prices, as well as enabling them to shift their energy use to times when cheap wind and solar energy are generating. Where traditional energy companies sell electricity at a fixed rate with a retail markup, Amber passes on real-time wholesale prices for just $10/month. The result is customers save hundreds of dollars each year, while also building demand for more renewables.

Chris is the Co-founder and Co-CEO of Amber Electric. Chris is deeply motivated by opportunities to leverage business and technology to improve people's lives. Prior to founding Amber, Chris spent 2 years in Iran as Managing Director of Bamilo - Iran's largest online marketplace - helping build Bamilo to over 400 employees. Before moving to Iran, Chris started his career at Boston Consulting Group - consulting to businesses across Australia and SE-Asia.

Kane Thornton is Chief Executive of the Clean Energy Council, the peak body for the renewable energy and energy storage industry in Australia.

Kane has more than a decade's experience in energy policy and leadership in the development of the renewable energy industry. Kane has advocated for and helped design the policies that have been critical to the renewable energy industry's growth, and continues to be an active political advocate, public presenter and media spokesperson.

His previous roles include senior manager and advisor for Hydro Tasmania and executive officer of Renewable Energy Generators Australia.

Oliver leads McKinsey’s offices in the Asia-Pacific region and is a core leader of McKinsey’s Digital Capability Centre in Singapore – an Industry 4.0–focused model factory that drives digital transformation of companies in Southeast Asia. He was previously a global leader of McKinsey’s ‘All-In’ initiative, which develops and shares innovative ways of working that promote gender inclusivity and women’s leadership.

At McKinsey, Oliver works across multiple industries, including energy and materials, industrials, private equity and technology. He has worked alongside clients on large-scale, integrated transformation and growth—including internationalisation, organisational development, leadership development, operational improvement, strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions. Oliver also has deep expertise in Southeast Asian markets, having served governments, government-linked agencies, and some of the region’s largest companies.

In addition to serving clients, Oliver has a significant interest in developing local companies into regional and global champions. He is passionate about Asian companies succeeding as entrants to the global marketplace and has spoken widely to business councils and in major regional conferences on these issues, including the World Economic Forum on ASEAN and the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit. Oliver is also a frequent commentator on regional growth, having authored the McKinsey Global Institute report, Southeast Asia at the crossroads: Three paths to prosperity. Oliver is one of the authors of Future of Asia, the firm’s multi-phase research project deciphering the world’s largest regional economy and its potential to fuel and shape the next phase of globalisation.

Oliver holds several leadership and advisory roles. He is a member of Singapore’s Future Economy Council, which is chaired by Singapore’s finance minister and comprises members from government, industry, union and educational and training institutions.

Frank has more than 30 years’ experience in the international oil, gas, and power industries having held various senior executive roles across the sector throughout his career. Before joining Jemena Frank was CEO at Horizon Power – Australia’s only vertically-integrated electricity utility which provides energy services to customers across regional Western Australia.

Frank holds first class degrees in engineering, economics, and business administration from Curtin University (WA), the London School of Economics (UK) and AGSM (the University of NSW). He has also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School and lectured in oil and gas economics and legal frameworks at the University of Western Australia.

Frank also serves on the Expert Advisory Panel with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), is a Board member of Energy Networks Australia (and is Chair of its Asset Management Committee), and is also a former member of the Federal Government’s Australia China Council.

Felicity Underhill has a history of successfully designing and then implementing strategies including new business ventures, major organisational change, digital and innovation. While she was with Shell, she worked in over 35 companies in over 20 countries, so has had the opportunity to learn from some of the best and the rest.  Felicity joined Origin just before they took FID on the Australia Pacific LNG project.  Now, as General Manager, Hydrogen, Felicity is currently investigating how hydrogen might best fit within Origin’s, and Australia’s, future energy mix.

Richard Van Breda has 20 years’ experience in the energy sector. He was appointed as Stanwell’s Chief Executive Officer in July 2012.

Despite the numerous challenges facing the energy industry, it is important to remain focused on those things that are important for the future while trying to influence outcomes. Stanwell has navigated through these challenges through the focus of it’s people and leadership team which Richard is proud to lead.

Richard is a non-executive director of the Australian Energy Council.

Matthew Warren is an energy policy commentator, writing for the Australian Financial Review and is author of “Blackout: How is energy-rich Australia running out of Electricity?”.  He has spent the past 15 years working for the electricity, downstream gas, renewable energy and coal industries. He was in turn CEO of the Australian Clean Energy Council, the Energy Supply Association of Australia and the Australian Energy Council.  He is a Principal of NEM Risk Bulletin.

Dr Bryn Williams is responsible for SA Power Networks' Future Network Strategy, which is our strategic blueprint for transforming our network and services to meet customers' future energy needs. A key element of this strategy is 'enabling the distributed energy transition' - driving new capabilities, operational systems and business processes that will enable the future role of the distribution network in supporting an energy system dominated by distributed generation, and enabling emerging new uses for the grid such as Electric Vehicles.

Bryn's previous roles within SA Power Networks include Smart Grid Strategy Manager and Telecommunications Strategy Manager. Prior to joining SA Power Networks in 2012 Bryn worked as a consultant to a range of corporate and Government clients in Australia advising on technology strategy and telecommunications.

Bryn holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and a 1st Class Honours degree from the University of Aston in Birmingham, UK.

Alex is responsible for overseeing AEMO’s expanded focus on system design, development and engineering, which includes planning and forecasting.

Alex started at AEMO in January 2019. With more than 15 years’ experience in the energy sector, Alex was previously the Managing Director – Energy, Resources and Manufacturing at international engineering and advisory firm Aurecon, focusing on growing its energy and resources advisory services to supplement its traditional engineering business.

Prior to working at Aurecon, Alex was the executive director responsible for CSIRO’s research and development in environment, energy and resources.

Tony Wood AM, has led the Grattan Institute’s Energy Program since mid-2011. Since then he and his team have delivered 20 major reports on energy and climate change and he has developed a strong profile with governments and industry, and is a regular contributor in major media on key energy issues.

From 2009 until mid-2014, he also had a role as Program Director of Clean Energy Projects at the Clinton Foundation, advising governments in the Asia-Pacific region on effective deployment of large-scale, low-emission energy technologies such as solar and CCS. Prior to these roles, he spent 14 years working at Origin Energy in senior executive roles covering retail and LPG line management and corporate affairs. In 2008, he was seconded to provide an industry perspective to the first Garnaut review.

In January, 2018 Tony was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of his significant service to conservation and the environment, particularly in the areas of energy policy, climate change and sustainability. In October 2019, Tony was elected as a Fellow to the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering.