SPEAKERS
SPEAKERS
James Brann | Director, Engagement and Strategic Practice Leader Transition, Office for Students | Charles Sturt University
James holds a master’ s degree in education and has taught and provided educational leadership in Australia, South East Asia and Europe. He is currently completing a PhD in political science( UNSW) that looks to historically analyse the role of the public interest within competition policy for people living in rural and remote areas of Australia. In 2012, James led the development of the CSU Outreach Team, which in 2016 won the Equity and Opportunity category at the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Awards. An early adopter of technology, James seeks to drive more innovative and equitable access to quality educational outcomes for those living outside metropolitan areas.
Rodney Beach | Director | Liberate eLearning
Rod has immersed himself in digital learning innovation for the past 15 years and has an unmatched understanding of digital learning design for the Australian higher education sector. He provides strategic, operational and practical advice to universities wanting to enhance their digital learning profile and internal production capabilities. Rod has successfully managed the development of digital learning for most of Australia’ s universities, as well as organisations such as BHP Billiton, NAB, Suncorp and Mazda.
Adam Brimo | CEO | OpenLearning
Adam co-founded OpenLearning. com in 2012 with UNSW associate professor Richard Buckland and David Collien. More than 350,000 students have joined courses on the platform, which has hosted the first MOOCs from Australia and Malaysia. Adam also led the successful Vodafail consumer activist campaign in 2010 – 11, which resulted in nationwide media coverage, an inquiry into Vodafone’ s conduct and a $ 1 billion network upgrade for the company’ s Australian business.
William Confalonieri | Chief Digital Officer | Deakin University
William represents the new breed of digital leaders who are focused on digitally driven enterprise strategy, with special emphasis on creating competitive advantage through the orchestration of digital ecosystems and organisational change to deliver premium experiences to stakeholders. He was appointed Deakin’ s first chief information officer in January 2012, and was the recipient of the 2017 ComputerWorld / IDG Premier 100 Global Technology Leader Award, the 2016 CIO of the Year by the Australian Executive Awards / CEO Magazine, and was named the 2016 Global Digital Leader by Gartner Symposium.
Stuart Cunningham Professor, Media and Communications | Queensland University of Technology
Stuart directed the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, the first Centre of Excellence based in the humanities disciplines, to 2014. He chaired the report for Australia’ s Chief Scientist on‘ Skills and capabilities for Australian enterprise innovation’ in the Australian Council of Learned Academies’ Securing Australia’ s Future series, launched in 2016. Recently a Fulbright Senior Fellow, he has published widely on creative industries, digital disruption, media economics, and innovation policy reform focusing on contributions from the humanities, arts and social sciences sectors.
Simon Eassom | Strategy and Solutions Leader | IBM Global Education Industry
Simon is responsible for shaping the approach and strategy for the IBM Global Education Industry and coordinating all education offerings across IBM’ s multiple business lines and brands. As IBM’ s global subject matter expert for the higher education sector, he represents, in public-facing and client engagements, IBM’ s point of view for the education industry. Simon is a recognised futurologist able to translate vision into actionable insights that drive innovation and change for universities.
John Germov | Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor( Education) | University of Newcastle
John is pro vice-chancellor of the Faculty of Education and Arts, and UON convenor of strategic planning at the University of Newcastle. A professor of sociology, John is also director of the Centre for Social Research in Energy and Resources, and immediate past president of the Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. John is a former president of TASA: The Australian Sociological Association, and former editorial advisory board member for the Journal of Sociology. In 2010, he received the prestigious national honour, the Outstanding Service to the Australian Sociological Association Award.
4