2021 Speakers

Professor Peta Ashworth OAM is the Director of the Andrew N. Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership, and Chair in Sustainable Energy Futures at The University of Queensland (UQ). Professor Ashworth brings over thirty years’ experience working in a range of senior management, consulting and research roles. Prior to joining UQ in 2016, Peta worked as a consultant to industry, as Research Group Leader at CSIRO, and in senior executive roles for the Body Shop.

Professor Ashworth is a globally-recognised expert in the fields of energy, communication, stakeholder engagement, and technology assessment. For almost two decades, Peta has been researching public attitudes toward climate and energy technologies, including wind, carbon capture and storage (CCS), solar photovoltaic, storage and geothermal. 

The Palaszczuk Government recently appointed Peta to chair a seven-member expert taskforce charged with fast tracking the establishment of a sustainable hydrogen supply chain in Queensland.

Dr Vicky Au is Engagement and Strategy Lead for the Hydrogen Industry Mission at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency and innovation catalyst.

Missions are major scientific and collaborative research programs developed by CSIRO with industry, government and research sector partners and are aimed at making significant breakthroughs to solve some of Australia’s greatest challenges.

Operating at the interface of research and industry, Vicky has led the development and expansion of multiple R&D and innovation-related initiatives in diverse markets, defining the structure and strategic priorities to deliver clarity and sustainable growth for new and emerging service offerings.

Vicky obtained her PhD in Physics from The Australian National University

Stephanie joined the Australian Energy Foundation Board in 2021, a For-Purpose organisation leading the way to an equitable zero carbon society and accelerate the energy transition by empowering communities to take action.    Stephanie is a well-known industry leader, with more than 18 years of commercial experience in complex and matrix-style environments.  Stephanie has held energy sector leadership roles in technical, commercial, strategic, policy, advisory and engagement roles, with expertise in energy market policy and regulation, new energy technologies and service innovation, grid modernisation and electric vehicles. She is the Founder and Principal of Nexa Advisory, and previously led the policy vision and strategy at AGL Energy in relation to new energy technologies and services.  Stephanie had key roles in driving the clean energy transformation and establishing the national policy agenda around virtual power plants, and competition reforms in new energy technologies and services.

Luke Blackbourn is a Corporate Affairs executive with over 15 years in managing communications and external relations around the world. Luke is Yara Pilbara’s Manager Government and External Relations, focused on Yara Pilbara’s green ammonia project in collaboration with ENGIE, to be located near the existing 800,000 tonnes per year ammonia plant. Additional responsibilities cover other Government Relations issues, media and engagement and partnerships with local Traditional Owners. Previously, Luke worked with Chevron and Woodside for a number of years, including global advisory roles in the USA, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. His early career was in the offices of State and Commonwealth Members of Parliament.

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.

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.

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.

Amy Childs is the Managing Director of Momentum Energy. Momentum Energy is 100% owned by Hydro Tasmania, Australia's largest generator of renewable energy. 

Amy thrives on building challenger brands in highly competitive markets and in leading complex transformations to deliver outstanding customer experience and business performance with a focus on culture and employee wellbeing.

Amy joined Momentum Energy in 2016 as a member of the Executive Team and was charged with building an integrated sales and marketing team from the ground up. During her time there she has led the abolition of confusing energy discounts, grown the customer base by a third and driven a major digital transformation to improve the customer experience and to create greater efficiencies in the business.  Cultural transformation has been at the heart of her leadership with the establishment of a new way of working, including enabling flexibility and driving collaboration with the fit out of an environmentally friendly activity-based workplace which recently won Gold at the Melbourne Design Awards.

Previously, Amy held senior digital, sales, service and marketing roles at Medibank, ahm, Red Energy, and has worked in New Zealand for leading energy retailer Meridian Energy and New Zealand owned bank Kiwibank.

She is a Director on the board of the Australian Energy Council and has spoken at major events including the AFR Energy Summit.

Heading up TasNetworks’ Project Marinus developing a second Bass Strait electricity interconnector, ‘Marinus Link’. Further interconnection can harness Tasmanian and Victorian potential to deliver clean, affordable, reliable and secure power into Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM). Project Marinus is currently in the Design and Approvals stage working towards a ‘shovel ready’ Marinus Link by 2024.

James is focusing on driving growth and new business models particularly in the Energy sector. He leads the Electricity Companies team in Australia for global energy management specialist Schneider Electric. James previously led the Strategy & Market Development for Energy Technology business Edge Electrons. He was the GM of Strategy for Energy Australia where his role encompassed overall strategy as well as new technologies and businesses including Smart Grid Smart City, Embedded Networks, Smart Metering, EVs and storage. He also worked for Origin on International markets and partnerships for new models engaging customers and data. Over the last decade James has been involved in the digitisation of the energy sector, driving business development and growth within the rapidly changing energy landscape. Prior to joining the energy sector, he held a range of business development, strategy, commercial, marketing and sales roles within Financial Services and FMCG sectors including with GE and Coles Group.

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.

Mark has over 35 years experience as an executive and strategic advisor to utility and infrastructure businesses in Australia and internationally.   His career has focused on building and leading successful businesses, energy policy reform and building new strategies and business models. 

Mark has spent the last 10 years working with many Australian utility companies on their transformation and strategy agendas as well as a number of State Governments and national oversight bodies.  During the 2000s Mark was a senior executive with Origin Energy.

In June 2020 Mark completed 13 years as a partner with PwC.  From 2015 to 2020 Mark led PwC’s Australian Energy, Utilities and Resources (EUR) practice.  Mark was a member of the PwC global leadership team for power and utilities for 5 years and was PwC’s global power and utilities advisory leader when he left the firm.  

Since leaving PwC in mid-2020 Mark founded a new energy and utilities advisory business, Coughlin Advisory which provides strategy, commercial and project development services to a range of clients including energy start-ups, scale-ups, large and small utilities, governments and infrastructure investors.  Mark is working very closely with Amber Kinetics as it scales its Australian business.

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.

Michael Dart is the Executive General Manager for Customer at Energy Queensland.

Energy Queensland is a Government Owned Corporation and Australia’s largest electricity distribution company, connecting electricity supply to 2.3 million customers across Queensland. They develop and deliver innovative solutions for the energy challenges faced by customer and communities.  Energy Queensland includes Ergon Energy, Energex, Ergon Energy Retail and Yurika.

Michael has championed Energy Queensland’s customer and community strategies, engaging with our significant stakeholders and customers to implement energy policy on behalf of the Board of Energy Queensland.  His portfolio includes customer and community strategy, media management, Government and investor relations, internal communications, marketing, brand and customer digital needs.  More recently his portfolio has been extended to include the businesses Customer and Market Operations which covers connections, metering services, market transactions and customer contact centres across the state of Queensland. He is the Chief Customer Officer and Chief Marketing Officer.

Michael has executive management, stakeholder relations, policy development, media, social media and communications experience reaching over 20 years. He is also an experienced Non-Executive Director and Chair in the government, arts and environmental health fields. Michael has also worked for a major utility, State and Local Governments and as a private sector consultant.

He is a proven leader, policy and communications specialist, having spent more than a decade as an Energy industry leader and consultant to the public and private sectors.

Michael is also involved in several volunteer organisations including the Arts, Business and Environment sectors.

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.

Mick de Brenni is the Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen and Minister for Public Works and Procurement.

With an abundance of sunshine, wind and water, Mick wants to see Queensland's renewable energy boom continue to deliver cheaper, cleaner energy for all Queenslanders.

He’s also the world’s first dedicated Hydrogen Minister, tasked with overseeing the development of local supply chain capable of exporting Queensland sunshine to the world.

Mick has an unwavering commitment to the simple things – good, decent, stable government on behalf of every Queenslander.

He’s a father of two young kids, husband of a high school principal for disengaged youth, a unionist, and - when time permits - a surfer.

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

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.

Casper Frost Thorhauge is the CEO of Australia’s first proposed offshore wind project – the Star of the South.

With extensive experience in the offshore energy industry, Casper has developed and delivered offshore wind projects in Europe and Asia totalling over $10 billion.

Holding senior roles and board positions at one of Denmark’s biggest energy companies, Casper has led large teams across multiple global offices.

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.

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.

Kirsten Hannan is a Division Director within the Infrastructure, Utilities and Renewables team at Macquarie Capital in Australia, focusing on renewable energy generation projects.

She works closely with debt financiers and institutional investors and has a deep understanding of the issues faced in evaluating, financing, acquiring, managing and divesting infrastructure projects. 

Kirsten has led Macquarie Capital’s transaction team within Macquarie Capital responsible for the development of the Murra Warra Wind Farm in Western Victoria where Macquarie Capital has been co-developer, equity investor and financial adviser.

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.

Adrian leads the Regulation & External Affairs Business Unit at AusNet Services. In his role, Adrian has accountability for government relations and media management as well as regulatory and energy policy matters.

Adrian is a senior executive with over 25 years’ experience in strategic and operating roles in the energy, resources, infrastructure and investment banking industries. Adrian has been with AusNet Services for two stints over more than fourteen years and is an experienced leader with a track record of leading teams in complex environments.

Adrian has held several executive roles, including as the Executive Officer and adviser on the establishment and future strategy of the Australian Energy Market Operator Ltd in 2009.  He has worked for investment banks, Credit Suisse First Boston and NatWest Markets and whilst working as a Chartered Accountant worked on a range of clients including a large number within the energy, mining and mineral exploration 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.

Nicola is an experienced partner with a demonstrated history of working in the management consulting industry. She is skilled in Management & Board Governance, Culture Change, Executive Coaching, Leadership Alignment, Organisational Design in capital and labour intensive industries. Nicola is a strong entrepreneurship professional with a Bachelor of Business focused in Human Resources and Industrial Relations and governance qualifications.

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.

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.

Until recently Benjy was Jemena’s Energy Policy Manager, and played a key role in shaping their energy policy advocacy and stakeholder engagement approach over the last decade. Benjy now works as an independent energy consultant providing strategic advice on energy policy and market development, as well as net zero carbon strategies. A passion of Benjy’s is advancing hydrogen and bioenergy market development in Australia and he has been instrumental in leading collective stakeholder advocacy to further activate and scale these markets. Benjy has worked collaboratively to shape the advocacy of many industry associations, including the Business Council of Australia, Energy Networks Australia, Ai Group, Australian Hydrogen Council, Bioenergy Australia, Australian Pipelines and Gas Association, as well as supporting energy research through the Future Fuels CRC and improving customer outcomes as a former Deputy Chair of the Energy Charter’s Industry Working Group.

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

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.

Luke Menzel is CEO of the Energy Efficiency Council, a not-for-profit membership association for businesses, universities, governments and NGOs.

Luke is one of Australia’s leading advocates for the role of energy efficiency, energy management and demand response in Australia’s energy transition. He is Vice-President of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, sits on the NABERS National Steering Committee, is a member of Standards Australia’s EN001 Energy Standard committee and is the Lead Chair for the NSW Government’s Green Globe Awards.

Whitney is a Partner in BCG’s Sydney office, and the Sector Lead for BCG’s Oil & Gas practice in Australia, where she also champions the hydrogen & decarbonisation topics.

She has more than 15 years’ experience supporting energy and resource clients in tackling their toughest challenges, including large scale change efforts, marketing & trading topics, and strategy. Whitney is passionate about helping the resources sector – and particularly LNG players – navigate the energy transition. Most recently, she has also been supporting large Asian resources players in establishing their hydrogen export value chains.

She holds an MBA and a Masters Science from Stanford University, and is originally from Canada, where her love of resources was born.

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.

Jane has 25 years’ experience in the energy sector, leading teams across the diverse functions of sales & marketing, customer services, HR & corporate services and operations at numerous energy companies - Alinta Energy, AGL, EnergyAustralia and Ausgrid.
Beyond the energy sector, Jane also held the position of Chief Operating Officer at the City of Parramatta Council and Human Resources roles at IBM.  

In her role as General Manager Sales & Marketing at Alinta Energy, Jane’s responsibilities include national residential and small business sales, marketing, brand & partnerships and customer experience.

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.

Aleks is an innovative and creative CTO and Enterprise Architect with 20 years’ experience in systems architectural interfacing, determining multiple design alternatives, assessing alternatives based on criteria, and selecting suitable options. He provides thought leadership on emerging technologies such as Cloud, DevOps, AIOps, CyberSecurity and AI/ML. Outside of IT, Aleks has a strong multilingual capacity with fluency in Dutch, English, German and Serbian and basic understanding of Spanish and French languages.

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.

Anita Oh is a Managing Director & Partner at BCG and a leader in the Energy practice. She drives the Digital in Energy topic as part of the DigitalBCG Leadership team.

Anita has worked with many companies across the energy value chain and has expertise in leading customer-centric digital transformations using agile, advanced analytics and personalisation. She is actively involved in supporting clients with growth programs and energy transition/sustainability topics.

She is also passionate about living out BCG’s purpose (Unlocking the potential of those who advance the world) and as the Lead for our Ethnicity Pillar and the Deputy Recruiting Lead, contributes to building the diversity of our firm.

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.

Prajit leads the commercialisation of the Battery of the Nation initiative, including relationships with wholesale trading counterparties across the National Electricity Market.

With a Masters of Business and a Masters of Professional Accounting, Prajit has spent the last 12 years working on the full spectrum of Hydro Tasmania's commercial and operations groups, developing commercial models and products, including contract support mechanisms and structures to de-risk investements, demonstrating commercial viability for traditional and pumped hydro projects.

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 has over 14 years’ experience working in the energy sector. As Infrastructure Development Manager at AusNet Services, she currently assists renewable energy and storage developers through the contestable connections process across the National Electricity Market.

Previously, Lillian was Director of Energy Transformation at the Clean Energy Council, Australia’s peak body for the renewable energy sector. During a period of intense focus on electricity market design, transmission network development and utility-scale grid connections, she was responsible for leading the Council’s policy and advocacy work on these matters. Having also held roles at Origin Energy, the International Energy Agency and the Federal Government, Lillian has a strong knowledge of energy markets and their implications for different elements of the energy supply chain. 

Lillian holds a Master in Sustainability and Energy Management from Bocconi University in Italy (for which she received a full scholarship from the Enel Foundation) and a Bachelor of Business (1st Class Honours in Economics and Finance) 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.

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.

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 joined Stanwell in February 2012 and was appointed to Stanwell’s Executive Leadership Team in July 2016. 

In February 2021, Stanwell restructured its business to enable a greater focus on investment in new low or zero emission technologies and provide new energy products to support the transition of its business. Mr Quilter was appointed Executive General Manager Commercial Strategy and Energy Futures to lead the commercial delivery of a pipeline new energy initiatives for Stanwell, including renewables, green hydrogen and energy storage.

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.

Dr Maia Schweizer is the CEO of CleanCo Queensland, a state-owned energy generator with a mandate to blend its flexible hydro and gas generating assets with new low cost wind and solar resources to offer customers competitive, reliable, low-emissions energy.

Maia has extensive global experience in the energy and infrastructure industries, including as a management consultant in McKinsey and Company’s London, Houston, Shanghai and Sydney offices and as a general manager in Origin Energy’s gas and retail businesses. Under Maia’s leadership, CleanCo is playing a key role in shaping Queensland’s path to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

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.

Glenn Springall is Energy Queensland’s General Manager of the Renewables and Distributed Energy group. The Renewables and Distributed Energy team is responsible for Future Network Strategy, Demand and Energy Management solutions, Network Connection technical assessments (particularly related to large scale renewable integrations), Fringe of Grid innovation, Isolated Systems asset management along with Generation and Customer Technical standards.

Glenn is an experienced technical leader with proven capability across diverse sectors of the electricity distribution industry including generation and load connection management/assessment, complex power system modelling, system planning, customer centred non-network alternatives, standards development and customer engagement.

Glenn holds a dual Degree in Bachelor Engineering (Electrical/Electronic) and Bachelor Science (Chemistry), a Master of Business Administration (Digital Transformation), a Chartered Professional Engineer and a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland.

Glenn sits on National Electricity Market Operations Committee as the Distribution Network Service Provider representative, is engaged in an advisory capacity in the tertiary education sector and is part of an Engineers Australia local group.

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.

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.

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.

Mark Twidell has worked in the renewable energy industry for over 25 years and since May 2016 been with Tesla leading their entry into the Australian and neighbouring regional stationary energy markets.  Mark has worked in Australia, India, USA and Europe in Solar related industry and government leadership roles.  Past roles have been Managing Director of SMA in the Australia and SE Asia, CEO of the Australian Solar Institute and a variety of roles with BP Solar managing activity across Australia, Asia and the Middle East. He has served on the Boards of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) the Clean Energy Council (CEC) and various private sector companies throughout Australia and  Asia through his roles with SMA and BP. 

Mark has an Electrical and Electronic Engineering degree from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from Sydney University.

Jessica Venning-Bryan has spent two decades advising organisations within New Zealand and internationally. From energy retail start ups and award winning brands, through to her current role as Chief Customer Officer at Flux Federation. Flux is a software company driving the energy sector with innovative solutions for a complex and changing industry. Jess is known for bringing a customer centric mindset to the Flux team along with in depth energy experience, and technology-marketing prowess.

Prior to joining Flux, Jess was the Chief Revenue Officer at Flick Electric Co. for 5 years and prior to this worked across a wide range of sectors as a world class communicator. She’s helped several leading organisations develop game changing ideas, brought them to life and grown their customer bases.

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.

Mr Williamson had extensive senior executive experience in the private sector and state and local government prior to joining the Commonwealth in 2012. He previously held a national commercial and technical position in an ASX 200 company and was Executive Director of the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, leading that agency's regulatory operations across a diverse range of environmental legislation.

Mr Williamson has qualifications in applied science and postgraduate qualifications in management.

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.

Gordon joined Snowy Hydro in 2003 and has over 25 years’ experience in the energy industry.

In 2018, Gordon was appointed Chief Commercial Officer with responsibility for the wholesale portfolio and risk, corporate strategy, M&A, finance and credit rating, and IT strategy. Prior to this, Gordon was Chief Financial Officer and played a leading role in the development of Snowy Hydro’s risk management framework and the company’s evolution from generator to its position as the fourth pillar in the National Electricity Market.

Before joining Snowy Hydro, he held corporate advisory roles specialising in mergers and acquisitions with Fay Richwhite and UBS. During this time, Gordon was an advisor to the shareholders on the corporatisation of Snowy Hydro.