Speakers

Hon. Jacinta Allan

Frankie Carroll

Michele Morrison

Michele Morrison is the Chief Development Officer for Homes Victoria and is responsible for end to end development and the delivery of the homes that we are planning. Michele focuses on end user functionality, high design quality, and streamlined delivery methodologies and models that includes delivering projects in partnership with construction, development and housing sector organisations.

Michele has extensive experience; ownership and dedication to making projects, programs and desired outcomes succeed. She brings a broad range of development experience spanning across various sectors (corporate, health, education, transport, telecommunications etc) and is known to strategically implement large scale, complex projects and delivering despite tight timelines.

Hannah Clement

Hannah Clement leads Development Victoria’s Civic Infrastructure group, which is responsible for managing major project delivery on behalf of government clients.

With more than 20 years’ experience in planning and delivering major civic and infrastructure projects, Hannah has led some of the state's most significant redevelopments including Margaret Court Arena, Geelong Arts Centre, State Library Victoria and the Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation.

Prior to joining Development Victoria, Hannah delivered complex and challenging major projects across Australia, the Middle East and South-East Asia. With a background in civil engineering, she spent more than 10 years in the engineering consultancy sector, with a specialisation in the delivery of major sporting, event and social infrastructure.

Hannah also maintains an interest in the fields of international development and is passionate about the role urban built form plays in promoting social equity, cohesion and reducing communities’ vulnerability to natural disasters.

Greg Rafferty

Greg Rafferty is John Holland’s national Social Inclusion Manager for Infrastructure and Major Projects. Since joining the construction industry in 2017, Greg has established industry-leading social procurement and inclusion initiatives on the Metro Tunnel Rail Network Alliance (RNA) and Mernda Rail Extension projects as well as establishing national and local partnerships with social enterprise, Aboriginal businesses and community organisations and Not for Profit organisations. He is passionate about ensuring the industry leaves a positive legacy and achieves this through the development and implementation of social procurement and inclusion strategies that maximise immediate and long-term opportunities for local communities particularly priority-jobseekers. His work on the Mernda Rail Extension resulted in the project exceeding its Major Project Skills Guarantee (MPSG) and Aboriginal Employment Target, the first project to do so in the Victorian Government's level crossing removals program. In 2020, Greg was named John Holland’s Employee of the Year highlighting his contribution to the organisation and social inclusion. Prior to joining John Holland, Greg spent nearly a decade in the Not-for-Profit and social enterprise sectors in Australia and across Asia.

Justene Cowie

Justene Cowie is the Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Manager at the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC). She leads the engagement function for ARTC’s Major Construction Projects across Victoria and South Australia, including the North East Rail Line Upgrade, Inland Rail and ARTC Airport Package of Melbourne Airport Rail projects.

Prior to joining the rail industry three years ago with ARTC, Justene worked across the oil and gas and mining sectors.

Llewellyn Reynders

Katie O'Brien

Katie is the Deputy Project Director for the New Footscray Hospital Project (Project) – the Victorian Government’s largest ever health infrastructure investment. Prior to this, Katie led the Project’s procurement phase as Transaction Lead.

Katie is an experienced senior project manager having held several management roles across the Departments of Transport, Treasury and Finance, and Education, including as Senior Commercial Analyst on the New Schools PPP Project.

Margy Osmond

Margy Osmond is the Chief Executive Officer of the Tourism & Transport Forum and has been in this role since October 2014. Margy has extensive experience in media, policy development and advocacy, politics and government relations, membership organisations and public affairs. Margy is the co-Chair of the Tourism Group of the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum [ANZLF] and co-Chair of the Safe Border Group established to assist both governments to create the Trans-Tasman ‘bubble’. She has actively led the visitor economy industries through the bushfires and Covid-19. Margy has a wide range of Board experience, she is currently on the Boards of TTF, Sydney World Pride 2023, UITPANZ and sits on the Federal Government’s Biosecurity Futures Group and a range of State Treasury groups focused on restarting the wider economy. Previously, she was Chair of the NSW TAFE Commission Board and Chair of the Australian Sports Foundation, Deputy Chair of Tourism NSW, and served on the boards of the Australian Sports Commission, Bell Shakespeare, the Retail Employees Superannuation Trust, NSW Major Events, the NSW Police Minister's Advisory Board and NSW State Transit Authority. Margy also led the bid on behalf of the NSW Government for the International World Masters Games in 2004 and chaired the official Organising Committee for the IWMG, the largest non-elite sporting event in the world, in 2009. Before joining TTF, Margy was the inaugural CEO of ANRA which was established in 2006 as a lobby and research organisation to be the voice of the large national retailers in Australia. Margy was the CEO of the State and Sydney Chambers of Commerce in NSW for five years prior to this.

Damian Brizzi

Damian is a civil engineer with a career spanning almost 20 years in the rail industry.

Damian has worked across both design and construction delivering some Victoria’s largest infrastructure projects, including the Springvale Rd Grade Separation Nunawading, South Morang Rail Extension, Wodonga Rail Bypass, Regional Rail Link Work Package B, North/McKinnon/Centre Road Grade Separations, Caulfield to Dandenong Grade Separations and the Metro Tunnel Project.

Damian joined Rail Projects Victoria in 2017 as Package Director for the Metro Tunnel Project where he now manages the Rail Infrastructure, Rail Systems, Sunbury Line Upgrade and Gap Road Level Crossing Removal projects.

Cressida Wall

With extensive experience in the property and infrastructure sectors, Cressida was appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Office of Projects Victoria (OPV) in November 2020 with a focus on maintaining and enhancing major project delivery.

Cressida’s detailed understanding and experience of working with Government for over two decades is drawn from her previous roles as Chief of Staff and senior adviser to Premiers and Government Ministers, specialising in infrastructure policy, strategy and major projects.

Most recently, Cressida’s strong public policy and leadership credentials were integral to her role as Victorian Executive Director of the Property Council of Australia before taking up her current position with OPV where she had also served as an Advisory Board Member.

Cressida’s legal background saw her practise as a commercial litigator at Minter Ellison and Corrs, Chambers Westgarth. She was also a Director on the Board of State Trustees Victoria.

Having established a private equity company, Cressida was the CEO of its property division and is a long-term advocate for strong collaboration between the private and public sectors in driving development and industry innovation.

Vanya Kumar

Vanya Kumar is the Executive Director, Commercial and Investment Attraction in the Energy Group at Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. Vanya is an experienced executive with expertise in commercial transactions, infrastructure development and project management. A lawyer by training, Vanya also brings strong commercial, negotiation, governance, stakeholder management and policy experience to her role. She has worked across a range of industries including energy and utilities, banking and finance, construction, oil and gas, and transport in Australia and overseas.

Stephen Browne

Stephen Browne is the Technical Solutions Manager for the JAPAC region with Autodesk Construction Solutions (ACS), with industry specific experience that spans from post-disaster DfMA shelter, to delivering five star hotel fit outs. Stephen and his team focuses on delivering positive outcomes and driving sustainable practices through the use of innovative technology.

Stephen holds an Honours Degree and a Masters by Research in Architecture from the University of Plymouth in the UK, and currently resides in Victoria, Australia. 

Chris Newman

Chris Newman is Managing Director of ArcBlue, one of the Asia-Pacific Region’s fastest growing procurement consultancy, analytics, and training organisations. One of ArcBlue’s key areas of expertise and experience is in social procurement, where Chris has been a leader over the last decade.

Key social procurement activity, Chris has played a leadership role in projects including:

• The delivery of social procurement and workforce development strategies and solutions on current major infrastructure projects in Victoria and NSW, working with Government and with major suppliers;
• The development and implementation of the social procurement strategy across the Geelong Regional GROW Program over the last 4 years, working with over 70 organisations to maximise the local economic and social impact from their procurement;
• The establishment in 2018 of the GROW Gippsland Program designed to address significant economic challenges and unemployment across the Latrobe Valley in Victoria;
• Support for the development of key Government policies, including the Victorian Government’s new Social Procurement Framework, and the Transport for NSW Social Procurement Workforce Policy and Guidance; and
• Delivery of Social Procurement Training for over 400 people across Australasia.

As a consultant and trainer, Chris has presented at State, National and International Conferences and worked with a range of public and private sector clients across Australia and New Zealand on social procurement development and training programs.

In 2012, Chris co-developed the NSW Public Sector Social Procurement Guidelines, including Workshops across the State. In 2013, Chris co-founded Social Procurement Australasia, a not-for-profit membership organisation and community of practice that produce guidance and thought and practice leadership and has developed and facilitated conferences and events across the region.

MBA qualified, Chris has over 16 years’ experience in senior procurement and management roles in Government and currently leads a broad range of procurement development and training projects.

Tanya Harris

Tanya brings almost 20 years procurement experience, working and leading procurement and sustainability functions in the private and international development sectors. She is a contributor and expert practitioner of Sustainable Procurement – Guidance ISO 20400, a sector and industry roundtable representative of the Australian Federal Government consultation developing the Modern Slavery Act, the productivity commission assessment of National Supply Chain Vulnerabilities and Resilience and a United Nations One Planet Network sustainable procurement expert advisor.

Tanya is a member of the Australian Circular Economy (ACE) Hub procurement working group representing the Chartered Procurement and Supply professional body, the UN Asia Pacific Green Public Procurement Network, the UN Science-Policy-Business Forum for the Environment Governing Consortium, the secretary of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness Climate Action Working Group and co-author of the global eye care sustainable practices guide, and the international steering committee for www.ios20400.org

Benjamin Delaney

Andrew Cialini

As the State Building Surveyor, Andrew is an industry advocate for building surveyors and building practitioners across Victoria. He brings a wealth of knowledge to this important role, with more than 30 years' industry experience as a building surveyor as well as roles in the private sector as a structural design engineer and as an adviser to the Government of South Australia.

Andrew is passionate about the industry and its future. He has led the creation and implementation of the Code of Conduct for Building Surveyors to improve standards, trust and oversight in the building industry and help keep Victorians safe. Andrew is also driving new career pathways to address the critical shortage of building surveyors.

Active participation with industry is fundamental to Andrew's role and he chairs several state government committees and engages regularly with industry associations, forums and working groups.

Mike Day

A co-founder of RobertsDay and a Partner of HATCH I RobertsDay, Mike has moderated visioning+ planning design forums and led the firm's design teams responsible for an array of urban renewal projects and new towns throughout Australia, New Zealand, UAE and Asia since the inception of the company in 1993.

Mike was the principal master planner and urban designer of the Ellenbrook New Town in Western Australia and in 2004, the recipient of the Russell Taylor Award for Design Excellence for Ellenbrook. Ellenbrook received the International Real Estate Federation [FIABCI] 2015 World Prix d'Excellence Award as the world's best master-planned community.

Consecutive Western Australian Planning Ministers appointed Mike; Deputy Chairman of the Subiaco
Redevelopment Authority and Board member of the East Perth Redevelopment Authority from 2002- 2010.

Mike has held the positions of; Chair EPRA Planning Committee, Chair SRA Planning Committee and Chair Housing Industry of Australia WA­ Planning Committee.

The Victorian Department of Planning and Community Development appointed Mike to the independent property industry panel that nominated the 900-hectare Werribee East landholdings, within the City of Wyndham, as the site for a model 21st century city for metropolitan Melbourne.

Based in Melbourne since 2005, Mike is leading the practice's design teams implementing new towns and urban renewal projects in Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and the Aust Capital Territory.

Mike was awarded the 2018 Place Leaders Asia Pacific Centrepiece Award | Leadership Excellence in Promoting Walkable Urbanism and in August 2018 was appointed Chair of UDIA Victoria's Building, Design and Civic Realm Committee in August 2018.

Mike is a Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of
Company Directors.

Peter Bannerman

Peter Bannerman is the Engineering Change and Interface Manager on the Rail Network Alliance, he leads the Change Management Team  within the Alliance and is the MTM Interface Manager for the Alliance also.

Peter has 30 plus years experience in building and infrastructure design and delivery projects and has degrees in Mathematics, Civil Engineering and Business Administration. He has worked across a number or rail, civil and building projects including the Caulfield to Dandenong Level Crossing Removal Project, revitalisation of the Tasmanian Rail Network, Burnley Road Tunnel, a number of incremental launched bridge structures, the MCG and the Docklands Stadium.

Laura Baker

Professor (Practice) Ravi Ravitharan

Ross de Rango

Travis Smith

From humble beginnings as a Dogman and Steel Rigger, Travis rose to become Premier Cranes & Rigging - Head of Sales. With 12 years of industry experience, a natural passion for understanding our clients, and the capabilities of our cranes - Travis’ skill set is invaluable.

Accompanied by his extensive on-field experience working on significant and challenging large infrastructure projects, he and his team produce effective and innovative lifting solutions that suit every Client’s needs.

Lisa Kinross

Lisa is a highly qualified, experienced executive and transformational leader with over 20 years’ experience in management, human resources and education/training. Recently Lisa has been a leader and advocate for innovation and driving future skills development across the Water Industry nationally. She is a strategic advisor to industry, invited to sit on a number of industry committees and is highly networked. Drawing on her networks she passionately brings about collaboration and sharing of ideas, knowledge, resources and experience.
In her recent role as Head of the National Water and Safety Centre at Chisholm, she has been an industry disrupter and has delivered year on year outstanding growth in both revenue and client satisfaction.