Past Speakers

Guest Speaker:        Keith Evans | CEO Driza-Bone & RB Sellars (Propel Group)

Topic:                          The Dryza-Bone Journey; an iconic Aussie brands path to success

A proven business transformer, implementer and leader with extensive experience across buying, merchandising, operations for some of the UK’s largest retailers. Having spent over 20 years with Marks & Spencer PLC, roles included Head of the Ladies Leisurewear Division & Director of the Homeware Group.  At J Sainsbury, he developed & established the “TU” Clothing & Homeware brand. Preceding his CEO role within Propel he was a Change Management Consultant to the Woolworths Group Board (Aus.)

Now  he is taking the iconic Australian brand Driza-Bone into a new generation of outerwear and apparel  with the introduction Driza-Bone’s … Read More

Guest Speaker:   Ben Darwin | Former Wallaby | Director | GAIN LINE

Topic:                    Team Cohesion Analysis and Recruitment

“If you are trying to win for talent, you never going to build an empire”

Former Wallaby Ben Darwin, injured in 2003, has spent the last decade coaching and analysing the game he loves.

Ben is undoubtedly one of the best public speakers the game has produced. His wit and humour, as well as thoughtful content, have entertained audiences across the rugby and business worlds.

Ben will explain how the lessons from academic research into stockbroking firms totally changed his philosophy about teams of all kinds:

• a short explanation of the history of sports analysis and a demonstration of the technologies used

Guest Speaker:   Professor Justin O’Brien

Topic:                    “Conduct, Misconduct and the Search for Accountability,” Professor O’Brien explores the reasons for the decline in trust and how it can be rebuilt.

Justin O’Brien is Professor of Financial Regulation at Monash Business School and an acknowledged international authority on capital markets governance. He has written extensively on the intersection between regulatory form and ethical considerations and is a published author of a trilogy of books on financial scandal and biography of James Landis, the architect of the New Deal regulatory framework that still informs the securities market. That framework has come under sustained pressure as a consequence of the Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath. Notwithstanding the fact that no major financial institution … Read More

Guest Speaker:   David Galbally | AM QC

Topic:                    What’s in a Name?

A discussion on the law of defamation and the changing attitudes of the Courts in this area.

One of Melbourne’s most respected legal authorities, David joined Madgwicks as a partner in January 2010. Appointed one of Her Majesty’s Counsel in 1996, David has worked on some of Australia’s most high profile and complex corporate and criminal cases.

Possessing renowned expertise in commercial litigation and dispute resolution, David is regularly called upon to provide comment and expert opinion across a broad range of topics including corporate governance, human rights, privacy and superannuation regulation.

David is involved in sporting, company and charity administration, and Chairman of the board of an … Read More

Guest Speaker:   Laura Anderson | International Company Director, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

Topic:                    The Fourth Industrial Revolution’s Impact on the Workplace and the Australian Grand Prix

Laura Anderson is an international company director, entrepreneur and philanthropist.  She has worked extensively across governments and industries locally and globally in trade, investment and infrastructure development.

Laura is Chairman of SVI Global.  Laura is a long-standing Australia Day Ambassador and a Board Member of the Fulbright Commission, the Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Technology in Schools, Epworth HealthCare, The Defence Science Institute, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, the National Basketball League and supports the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem as Chairman of LaunchVic.

Laura was honoured as an Ambassador of International Women’s … Read More

Guest Speaker:   Finbar O’Hanlon | ‘Rockstar of Technology’

Topic:                    Being an Expert not being an Expert

Strategic thinker, global technology pioneer, digital media architect, inventor, futurist and musician are a few ways to describe Finbar O’Hanlon. He has helped Telstra, the Australian Gand Prix, NAB, Apple, IBM and the Sri Lankan Government to define their strategies and explore how they can disrupt the industries they are in.

Finbar lives and breathes the future. More importantly, he creates technology today that empowers tomorrow…and tomorrow is now.

Dubbed by the media as the ‘Rockstar of Technology’, Finbar has been at the forefront of technologies that transform the digital media landscape across the world. He has launched three publicly listed companies and been … Read More

Guest Speaker:   Simon Mawhinney | Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer | Allan Gray

Topic:                    4% p.a. real returns are UNSUSTAINABLE in the long term

Simon Mawhinney joined Allan Gray in 2006 as an analyst. He joined Allan Gray from Alliance Bernstein, where he held a role in Finance from 2004 to 2005. From 2001 to 2003, Simon worked in the Equity Markets group at Macquarie Bank. He also worked at Deloitte and Touche in the Financial Institutions Services team from 1998 to 2001.

Simon holds a Bachelor of Business Science (First Class Honours) with majors in Finance and Business Strategy and a Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting (University of Cape Town). Simon qualified as a chartered accountant in 1998 and … Read More

Guest Speaker:   David Evans | Executive Chairman | Evans Dixon

Topic:                    Challenges faced during the Evans & Dixon’s journey

David Evans is the Executive Chairman of the recently merged Evans Dixon, having established Evans and Partners Pty Ltd, the investment advisory company in June 2007.

Since 1990, he has worked in a variety of roles within JB Were & Son and the merged entity Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty Ltd where he ran the Private Wealth business and the Institutional Equities business.  His most recent role at Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty Ltd was Managing Director and Chief of Staff.

Mr Evans is a Director of the Seven West Media (SWM) and Chairman Audit & Risk Committee and a member of the … Read More

Friday 4 August Luncheon

Guest Speaker:   Richard Faber, Executive Director | Discovery Limited

Topic:                  Discovery’s experience expanding outside South Africa – Lessons learned

Richard Farber is an Executive Director of Discovery. From 2003 to 2017 he was Group CFO and Financial Director and played an instrumental role in Discovery’s international expansion.

Discovery is a shared value insurance company whose purpose and ambition (to make people healthier and enhance and protect their lives) is achieved through a pioneering business model that incentivises people to be healthier, drive better and undertake activities to enhance and protect their lives. Today Discovery impacts over 6.9 million lives, with insurance licenses in South Africa and the UK and partnerships with leading insurers– AIA in South … Read More

Friday 7 July Luncheon

Guest Speaker:  Derek Scott, CEO | Haileybury Principal

Topic:                   The important role education is playing as a major export earner for Victoria and Australia now, and in the future.

Derek Scott is the CEO | Principal of Haileybury, the largest school in Australia with 4100 students on four sites in Melbourne and one of the leading academic schools in the country.

Haileybury City is Melbourne’s first vertical school. It opened in 2016 in a 13,000 sq/m re-purposed office building opposite Flagstaff Gardens.

Haileybury is Australia’s largest transnational school education provider with a campus in Wuqing, just out of Beijing, and eight programs in schools in China, the Philippines and Timor Leste.

Derek is an expert in … Read More