WIC Past Speakers

Professor Doreen Thomas

Professor Doreen Thomas was Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Melbourne 2000-2006 and she is also in charge of the Mathematics for Engineers program.

She received a B.Sc.Hons at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, then went on to graduate with an MSc followed by the D.Phil.Degree in Mathematics at St Anne's College, University of Oxford.

Her research in Optimal Network Design has applications in Telecommunications, VLSI design, Computational Biology and Underground Mining and she has worked on optimisation problems in all these areas. She leads a team of researchers and PhD students working at the University of Melbourne with research funding from the Australian Research Council and Newmont Australia Ltd. She has worked with a number of mining companies on their underground mine design.

She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Combinatorial Optimisation and a Senior member of IEEE. She is a Fellow of Engineers Australia. In April 2007 she will take up a Plumer Visiting Research Fellowship at St Anne's College, Oxford.

Professor Doreen Thomas spoke at WIC's February 2007 HOT Breakfast on the topic of "Leadership in ICT with a Difference."

Downloads
Name	Date	Format
Doreen Thomas Presentation	7th February 2007	PowerPoint

Mary Ann Maxwell

Group Vice President of Gartner Executive Programs Asia/Pacific

Mary Ann is a Managing Vice President and General Manager in Gartner's Executive Programs Asia Pacific practice, responsible for the overall business as well as driving growth and enhancing the client experience for EXP members in that region. In addition, Mary Ann is also involved in product development and providing a high-level coaching facility for key CIO Members.

Mary Ann has a powerful blend of technical, management and people skills. She has had a successful career in both Australia and the US as a CIO, technology consultant and business woman. Mary Ann has worked in the financial services, insurance, health, consumer product and telecommunications industries. She was recognised as an outstanding CIO, capable of driving change whilst meeting stakeholder needs.

Prior to joining Gartner, Mary Ann assisted META Group Executive Directions clients with speeding up executive decisions and with IT/business value delivery. Before META Group, she was CIO and CTO of Westpac Banking Corporation, where she led development of an enterprise- wide IT solution and managed strategic outsourcing partnerships with IBMGSA and Telstra. Previously, Mary Ann worked for Countrywide Credit Services, Health Net and Zenith Insurance in the USA.

Mary Ann received an MBA in Management from Pepperdine University and a Bachelor of Science from California State University.

Mary Ann spoke at WIC's December 2006 HOT Breakfast on the topic of "Confessions of a Workaholic".

Belinda Barnier

Manager of Marketing, Fundraising and Communications - Australian Red Cross.

Belinda manages the Australian Red Cross' marketing, fundraising and communications functions here in the ACT whilst participating as member of a number of National Red Cross Taskforces.

Belinda's professional career is varied and is highlighted by a passion for good healthcare, and forging strong relationships.

Belinda and her husband moved to Canberra from Sydney in 1987. She launched her advertising and promotions business in 1988.

Like most professional women Belinda has juggled the responsibilities and joys of raising a family with her career.

Some of her professional highlights include managing and contesting two Federal Election campaigns for the Seat of Canberra in 2001 and 2004.

Creating and developing the "Corporate Club" for the Canberra Theatre Centre - a corporate entertaining facility designed to allow the private sector to establish alliances with local and federal government agencies and business whilst forging new sponsorships to support the Canberra Theatre.

Lobbying for financial and healthcare assistance for the Tatipata Family Appeal following the death of Louise Tatipata in 2000. And raising $44,000 in ten days to alleviate the family's immediate financial needs.

Developing new national and international sales opportunities for a Canberra based IT firm. Winning the inaugural ACT Government Major Sponsorship Award for the Westpac sponsorship of the Cultural Facilities Corporation. And raising funds and the awareness of SIDS here in the ACT

But by far, Belinda rates the "Dynamic nature of her Family Team" as her greatest achievement to date!

Belinda spoke at WIC's November 2006 HOT Breakfast on the topic of Being Part of a Valuable IT Partnership and Strengthening YOUR Community - PS It's Not All About Money.

Rachel Parry

Director of Communications - CAMBIA

Rachel is currently the Director of Communications for CAMBIA - a local not for profit that is taking the concepts and spirit of open source software and applying them to molecular biology. While considered a serious luddite by most who know her, she has worked in the communications and public relations field for twelve years which has provided her with experience on a range of activities from strategy development to media relations and from mass media campaigns to community based social marketing. Most recently, Rachel has been working at the intersection of science, communication and policy development through her work at the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Canada and prior to that for CSIRO in Australia. Rachel holds a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University, Canada. She keeps herself busy with intercontinental moves, a young active family, various sporting activities, and reading.

Rachel spoke at WIC's October 2006 HOT Breakfast on the topic of "The beginning of a beautiful friendship: The open source future of IT, intellectual property and the life sciences"

Paul Reedy

Coordinator Electronic Evidence - Australian Federal Police

After gaining a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Biochemistry from Monash University, Paul and his wife moved to Canberra for two years. Twenty one years later and they are still here. His first position was as a forensic toxicologist with the ACT Government Analytical Laboratory where he stayed for 14 years. There were many interesting cases, two of which involved the use of heroin as a deliberate lethal poison and were well publicised at the time.

This was followed by three years with the Policy Group of ACT Chief Minister's Department where his brief included innovation policy and 'anything to do with Science'.

For the past four years, Paul has been with the AFP primarily with responsibilities for the Computer Forensic Team and Forensic Imaging. This has been an interesting challenge as his appointment has occurred during a period of rapid growth in electronic evidence, and dramatic organisational change.

Paul spoke at WIC's September 2006 HOT Breakfast on the topic of Computer Forensics.

Professor Judith Whitworth

Professor Whitworth is the Director of the John Curtin School of Medical Research and Howard Florey Professor of Medical Research at the Australian National University in Canberra and heads the High Blood Pressure Research Unit. Professor Whitworth is an Ambassador for Canberra and an Ambassador for Women. She was Telstra ACT Business Woman of the Year in 2002 and 2004 ACT Australian of the Year.

Professor Whitworth graduated MBBS from the University of Melbourne in 1967, MD in 1974, PhD in 1978 and DSc in 1992. The University of Sydney awarded her an MD (Honoris Causa) in 2004, and in 2005 she was awarded an MD (Honoris Causa) by the University of New South Wales. Professor Whitworth is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She has practiced medicine and researched extensively in Australia and overseas; she chaired the Medical Research Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and is a Past-President of the Australian Society for Medical Research, and the High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia. She is chair of the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Health Research (2004-2007) and a member of the Global Forum for Health Research.

Professor Whitworth's previous appointments were Australia's Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer and Professor of Medicine at St George Hospital, University of New South Wales.

She was made a Companion in the Order of Australia in 2001 for service to the advancement of academic medicine and as a major contributor to research policy and medical research administration in Australia and internationally.

Professor Shirley Gregor

Shirley Gregor is the ANU Endowed Chair in Information Systems at the Australian National University, Canberra, where she heads the National Centre for Information Systems Research and is Head of the School of Accounting and Business Information Systems.

Professor Gregor's current research interests include the adoption and strategic use of information and communications technologies, intelligent systems and human-computer interface issues, and the theoretical foundations of information systems. Dr Gregor has led several large projects in the e-commerce area funded by the Meat Research Corporation, the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, and the Australian Research Council.

Professor Gregor spent a number of years in the computing industry in Australia and the United Kingdom before beginning an academic career. She obtained her Ph.D. in Information Systems from the University of Queensland. Dr Gregor's publications include 4 edited books, 15 book chapters and over 80 papers in conferences and journals such as Management Information Systems Quarterly, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, International Journal of Human Computer Studies, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, European Journal of Information Systems and Information Technology & People.

Professor Gregor was inaugural President of the Australasian Association of Information Systems 2002-2003 and is currently Vice-President of the Australian Council of Professors and Heads of Information Systems.

Professor Gregor was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honour's list in June 2005 for services as an educator and researcher in the field of information systems and in the development of applications for electronic commerce in the agribusiness sector.

In 2005 she was also elected as Fellow of the Australian Computer Society.

Professor Gregor spoke at WIC's March HOT Breakfast on Smart Thinking and Smart Thoughts on using ICT for Smart Business.

Deborah May

Deborah May is a Fulbright Scholar, with an MBA from the only business school in the world designed for women, Simmons School of Management, Boston.

She is passionately committed to advancing women and has specific expertise in developing women's leadership and creating diverse workplace cultures. Her interest in gender and diversity was sparked during her 10 year career with IBM when it was an issue yet to be addressed.

Deborah has been based in Canberra since 1998 and in that time has:

• worked as an executive coach to many senior women and their male colleagues
• developed and facilitated numerous women's leadership programs
• helped organisations develop more women-friendly, inclusive workplace cultures, and
• successfully managed her consulting practice in a way that keeps her teenage son fed, clothed and happily able to maintain his snow boarding and travel hobbies.

In November 2005 she was engaged as Women's Advocate by the ACT Department of Urban Services.

Deborah gave a talk entitled "Speak Up! Speak Out!" at the Feburary 2006 breakfast.

Deborah's talk discussed that women are notoriously poor at speaking up on behalf of themselves. This means we are prone to:

• avoid telling people about how good we are
• undervalue ourselves and our worth - and accept a lower salary than we deserve
• do more than our fair share of work
• focus on being nice/liked/good instead of respected and valued

Assertive communication ensures honest, open and collaborative relationships and is essential if we are to be respected and valued for our contribution. Too often internalised messages about how we "should" behave prevent us from saying what we think and contributing fully.

In her short interactive and entertaining presentation, she explored the impact of self beliefs on our ability to speak up and exhibit assertive behaviour so that we are valued, recognised and rewarded for our contributions.

More information on Deborah can be found at her website www.deborahmay.com

Sabrina Caldwell

Sabrina Caldwell is a postgraduate student in the School of Humanities at the ANU and works part time at Wizard Information Services. She has spent many years working in a variety of roles within the ICT industry and has also been closely involved with women's issues having held positions on the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council on Woman and the ACT Joint Community Government Reference Group.

Sabrina spoke at WIC's December 2005 HOT Breakfast on the topic of "Putting the ICT into ART." Her discussion contemplated some of the often surprising ways in which ICT relates to and pervades the artistic and literary world, using Richard Kelly Tipping, a prolific and technophilic Australian poet/artist as exemplar.

Kate Carnell

Kate Carnell is Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Divisions of General Practice (ADGP). ADGP represents 120 Divisions of General Practice which are community-based organisations located throughout Australia which support general practitioners and their practice teams.

A pharmacist by profession, Kate was the first female to become the National Vice-President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

Kate was elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly in 1992, and became leader of the Liberal Party in 1993. She was elected Chief Minister in March 1995, and re-elected in 1998 becoming the first Liberal woman to be elected as Chief Minister or Premier in Australian political history.

She transformed a substantial budget deficit into a surplus during her first term and helped make Canberra a "good place to do business" with the lowest unemployment levels and highest growth rates in the country.

Following her political career, Kate became a serious driving force behind Transact Communications' innovative broadband communications network, and also spent three years as Executive Director of the National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI).

Kate is also WIC's patron.

Kate spoke at WIC's November 2005 HOT Breakfast on the topic of "Leading through Change."

Pru Goward

Pru Goward became federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner in July 2001. Following the introduction of the Age Discrimination Act in 2004, Pru Goward was also appointed Commissioner Responsible for Age Discrimination. She is an economist by training and a broadcaster by practice, having spent 19 years with ABC TV and Radio as a current affairs journalist and later as a political reporter and commentator. She is best known for her efforts to promote a national scheme of paid maternity leave and a better balance of work and family. She is considered by both The Australian and The Australian Financial Review newspapers to be one of our most influential Australians, her speeches and columns are widely reproduced in journals and books and in 2001 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for services to journalism and women's rights. She has also co-written a biography of Prime Minister John Howard with her husband David Barnett.

Pru spoke at WIC's October 2005 HOT Breakfast on the topic of "Striking the Balance: Women, men, work and family. (How we share the care)." A link to Pru's speech will be included here shortly.