Speakers

Ben Burge leads Telstra Energy, part of Australia’s largest telecommunications provider and a participant in the Race to Zero campaign. In 2020 Telstra committed to enabling renewable energy generation equivalent to 100% of its consumption by 2025, and to reducing its absolute emissions by 50% by 2030. The organisation has already achieved carbon neutrality for its operations and network.

Bess established Project Marinus in 2017 as a General Manager at Tasmania’s electricity network business TasNetworks.  She was appointed Marinus Link’s inaugural CEO in 2021.  Bess held executive roles at TasNetworks and Transend, and project and stakeholder roles at Sydney Water. Bess has over 25 years of experience in the utilities and infrastructure sectors, focusing on business strategy, large projects, regulation, government and stakeholder relations. Bess holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning, is an AICD graduate and Director of the Tasmanian Leaders Board.

Mark was appointed EnergyAustralia's Managing Director in July 2021.

Mark joined the organisation in 2003 and has deep executive experience in both the retail and wholesale energy markets.  Prior to his appointment as MD he served as Chief Customer Officer from May 2019.

Mark is expert in managing the complexities of the energy transition and has been instrumental in developing tools and services at EnergyAustralia to help accelerate the uptake of cleaner forms of energy. His insights into how retail and wholesale market opportunities can be harnessed for customer benefit was enhanced through his four years as Energy Executive, where he was responsible for EnergyAustralia’s wholesale business. In prior executive roles, Mark led teams responsible for Trading, Corporate Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Policy and Government Affairs and Sustainability.

He is a director of the board of the Australian Energy Council, a former member of the Reliability Panel (responsible for reviewing and reporting on the safety, security, and reliability of the national electricity system) and a former director of the Australian Financial Markets Association.

Mark holds degrees in Aerospace Engineering, Business Administration and Economics.

Anna Collyer is a leading energy expert and the Chair of the Australian Energy Market Commission and Energy Security Board. She has more than two decades of public and private sector experience in energy and has worked extensively on industry reform with energy ministers.

Anna has a passion for leadership and change and is a big believer in a learning culture, where experimentation is a necessary part of creating something new.

As a partner of Allens law firm from 2001 to 2020, Anna focused on the energy sector throughout its evolution, advised a broad range of clients in the public and private sectors on major projects, and fostered innovation at all levels of the firm, not only in technological developments but also in new ways of working and addressing disruption.

Anna has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne.

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.

Craig joined the business in 2005 and became Chief Executive Officer of the AGIG entities in November 2021. Craig is an experienced executive and, prior to being appointed CEO, had responsibility for a broad range of key corporate functions, including business strategy, our low carbon strategy and transition, hydrogen growth and development, ESG, corporate affairs, media, communications, regulation, customer service and business development, community engagement, risk and compliance and people and culture. He brings over 20 years of industry experience and currently Chairs the Australian Hydrogen Centre. Craig holds a Master of Economics.

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

Rod is also the Chief Executive Officer and a Board Director of all subsidiary companies of Energy Queensland Limited.

Rod brings extensive executive and energy industry experience working in senior roles at Santos, Singapore LNG Corporation, the Energy Market Authority of Singapore, and Woodside.

He has a strong commercial and safety focus with more than 35 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 Graduate Diploma of Management and a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) with Honours. He is a member of the University of Queensland School of Chemical Engineering Industry Advisory Board, a Board Director of the Clean Marine Fuels Institute, and a Board Director of Energy Networks Australia.

David works with clients across Asia to identify emerging policy issues, and he develops client capabilities so that governments, regulators, and other stakeholders achieve sustainable returns.

David has delivered Regulatory Strategy Academies to hundreds of clients, exploring ways to apply the “six checks” of regulatory strategy to develop holistic approaches for managing an increasingly complex stakeholder environment.

Based in Melbourne, David also serves clients in both the private and public sectors on strategy and productivity. In resources and energy, David advises clients on how to shape their investment pipelines and improve the productivity of their capital expenditures as the industry grows to meet the needs of an urbanizing China. In his work with public-sector clients, he focuses on helping federal-government departments implement major reforms and policy initiatives.

Matthew Halliday was appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer in June 2020. He joined Ampol in April 2019 as Chief Financial Officer.

Prior to joining Ampol, Matthew enjoyed a successful career with Rio Tinto spanning 20 years, where he held senior finance and commercial roles across several divisions and geographies.

Matthew is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia and an MBA from London Business School.

Graeme has extensive experience in establishing and operating large capital projects including in energy intensive industries. He was previously Managing Director of Broadspectrum Limited and Managing Director of Lihir Gold Limited. He has also held a number of senior executive positions in a 30 year career with the BHP Group.

Jonathon McCarthy is the Head of Rio Tinto Energy Development, responsible for delivering Rio Tinto’s renewable energy solutions across the group. Prior to this role, Jonathon has held positions across operations, project development and strategy working in Australia, Canada, Mongolia and Switzerland.

Jonathon is a chartered professional with the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and holds a Bachelor of Mining Engineering from the University of Queensland and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

January 2020 marked the start of a new role for Tony, as EVP Integrated Gas Australia and Country Chair. Tony describes it as an honour and a privilege to lead the Shell business in Australia through the energy transition, where our purpose is to power progress together to provide more and cleaner energy solutions, for Australia and the world.

With degrees in Land Resource Science from the University of Queensland and Law from the University of New England, Tony joined Shell’s QGC business in 2008 as Legal Counsel, just prior to the Shell and BG integration. Since then he has held a variety of land, community, asset management and legal roles. In 2015, Tony became QGC Managing Director as the business commenced production operations. Following Shell’s acquisition of BG, he was appointed Vice President QGC for Shell Australia, and then VP East, Shell Australia, until his appointment as EVP Integrated Gas Australia and Country Chair.

Brett Redman is a highly experienced energy industry executive at the centre of Australia’s energy transition. He has more than three decades of leadership experience including nearly 15 years at AGL Energy where he was appointed CEO and Managing Director in 2018.

During his tenure at AGL, Brett grew Australia’s largest energy retailer, assembled Australia’s largest electricity generator and founded Australia’s largest renewables developer.

He is the former Chair of the Australian Energy Council.

Brett is a passionate believer that corporates must build their social license as well as the bottom line to be truly successful. He is committed to working across the community to help build an energy market that is reliable, affordable and sustainable.

As Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Power, Stephanie Unwin leads a 500 strong team of energy professionals to deliver power to some of Western Australia’s most remote and regional communities.

Under her leadership Horizon Power is transforming the WA regional energy landscape in an increasingly decentralised delivery model to more than 48,000 connections across 32 microgrids through 2.3 million square kilometres of rugged and remote territory.

Stephanie is passionate about collaboration, inclusion and diversity to build an engaged and inspired workforce. Her ability to facilitate change on a foundation of safety is delivering Horizon Power’s vision of innovative customer choices, reduced costs and cleaner, greener energy solutions for the future through reducing Horizon Power’s carbon footprint, and investing in new technologies such as hydrogen.

Stephanie is a recognised energy industry leader having joined Verve Energy in 2008, continuing into its transition to Synergy. Stephanie has significant executive and Board-level experience with a number of publicly listed companies, including Alacer Gold Corp, Zenith Energy, Integra Mining Limited and several non-listed joint ventures. She is currently a Board Member of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, and is a member of the CSIRO Energy Advisory Group. Stephanie is also a Senate member of Murdoch University.

Stephanie brings a depth of experience in large scale and remote renewables, battery storage technology transformation and information technology.

Daniel Westerman commenced as CEO and Managing Director of AEMO in May 2021. He oversees AEMO’s strategy and operations, including collaboration with market participants and policy makers.

Daniel is a chartered engineer and a skilled business leader with significant experience in the energy sector.

Prior to joining AEMO, Daniel held a variety of senior executive roles with London-listed electricity and gas utility, National Grid Plc. Most recently he served as Chief Transformation Officer and President of Renewable Energy, where he led the company-wide transformation program, and grew a large-scale renewable energy business in the United States. In previous roles he has been responsible for engineering, planning and operational control of the electricity transmission network across Great Britain, as well as the development of distributed energy systems, such as rooftop solar, storage and energy metering.  

Prior to joining National Grid Plc, he held positions with McKinsey & Company and Ford Australia.

Daniel holds degrees in Engineering and Mathematics from the University of Melbourne, and an MBA from Melbourne Business School. He is a Fellow of the Energy Institute and the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and a Fellow of the Institute of Directors.