Speakers
Kathryn McMullan
Director
Australian Geospatial- Intelligence Organisation
Keynote
Kathryn McMullan is Director of the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation (AGO), a role she has held since July 2023. In this role she is responsible for all aspects of AGO’s operations as an intelligence agency within the National Intelligence Community (NIC) and the Department of Defence. Previously, as the First Assistant Director-General Analytical Capabilities Division at the Office of National Intelligence (ONI), Kathryn was responsible for NIC-wide workforce, training and...
Katherine Mansted is an Executive Director at CyberCX, heading their global intelligence practice. Concurrently, Katherine is a Senior Fellow in the Practice of National Security at the ANU National Security College. Katherine regularly briefs government officials and business leaders on national security issues and commentates widely in the mainstream media. She’s a former fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and a former non-resident fellow at the Alliance...
Brendan Thomas
Chief Executive Officer
AUSTRAC
Keynote
Mr Brendan Thomas commenced his 5-year appointment as AUSTRAC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on 29 January 2024. As AUSTRAC CEO, Brendan leads Australia’s financial intelligence unit and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regulator. AUSTRAC’s regulation hardens the financial sector against criminal exploitation and its intelligence provides crucial information to its national security, domestic and international law enforcement partners. Brendan is AUSTRAC’s...
Philippe Ouimette is the Vice President, Australia and New Zealand of Cellebrite. He is responsible for developing Cellebrite’s strategic partnerships within the Public Justice, Government, and Defense market segments. He advises heads of investigation and intelligence agencies on transforming their digital investigative culture to solve crimes and eliminate threats. Previously, Philippe was the Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand at Genetec, where he ensured growth in the Oceania...
Katherine Hibbs Pherson, Chief Executive Officer of Globalytica and the VEXAS Global Foundation, teaches advanced analytic techniques and critical thinking skills to analysts in government, academia, and the private sector and consults to the government on planning, security, and analysis projects. She and the late Randy Pherson are co-authors of Critical Thinking for Strategic Intelligence, 3rd ed. (2021). Ms. Pherson currently serves as the Vice President of the International Association...
Chris Taylor is the head of the Statecraft & Intelligence Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) where his research focuses on emergent and emerging issues facing intelligence services internationally and in Australia, the place of intelligence agencies in democracies, and role of intelligence in the conduct of statecraft. Chris’ more than twenty years as a senior national security official in the Australian Government included leadership of functions such as intelligence...
Mark Evans was the first Director of National Intelligence for NZ Police (2008) and retired from the New Zealand Police Executive in December 2024 having held a wide range of portfolios. He now runs his own public safety and intelligence consulting and advisory business. In 2019 Mark was the NZ Police executive intelligence lead in response to the 15th March Mosque attacks in Christchurch, and the subsequent Royal Commission of Enquiry. Mark has been an Honorary Professor within the...
Tracy is a former Deputy Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service (QPS). During her six years as a Deputy Commissioner, she held executive responsibility for the Crime, Counter Terrorism & Specialist Operations portfolio. In this role she was responsible for the delivery of expert specialist & investigative support, & strategy direction in the areas of organised crime, counter-terrorism, youth justice, ethical standards, intelligence & specialist operations. Prior to this she was the...
Phil is one of Australia's preeminent thought leaders in law enforcement, intelligence and national security. For over 34 years in the Australian Federal Police, he played a key role in many of Australia's most important law enforcement programs and initiatives. He established multiagency intelligence capabilities in Australia's major airports; designed arrangements to set and manage Australia's counter terrorism priorities in the Counter Terrorism Control Centre; was instrumental in...
Recognised as a Master Neuroplastician and a Certified Speaking Professional, Samantha Rush helps individuals, teams, and organisations cut through complexity and make decisions that drive real-world impact. With a career spanning Business Intelligence, Corporate Executive leadership, Company Directorship, and Strategic Consulting across diverse industries, Samantha brings a deep well of experience and stories to her work. She holds qualifications in HR, Psychology, International Business,...
Phil is an experienced leader, facilitator, and coach passionate about helping individuals and teams unlock their true potential. During his 26-year career with Victoria Police, Phil worked in uniform and plain clothes, including eight years as a homicide detective and performing various management roles. He was vitally involved in establishing the Victoria Police Airlie Leadership Development Centre before moving to the Australian Federal Police as the Director of Leadership at the...
Uncle Allen John Madden
Gadigal man from Eora nation
Welcome to Country
Allen is a Gadigal man from Eora nation Allen John Madden was born 16th June 1949 at Redfern NSW. Attended Redfern Public School, which is now reformed NTO National CIE, Narwee Boys High school, Newtown Technology High School Started working at age 14 at Ingham Chicken, Shelly soft drinks, Sydney of Sydney council, Aboriginal Medical Service, Aboriginal Children’s Service, Aboriginal Legal Service, NCAP, New Careers for Aboriginal People Employment. Been of the Board of various organisations...
Kathleen Donohoe is a nationally recognised transformation leader with a distinguished career delivering major digital, infrastructure and policy innovations across the education and not-for-profit sectors. As CEO of A Start in Life, Kathleen brings her passion for educational equity and her commitment to empowering young Australians to achieve their full potential through access to quality education and holistic support. With extensive experience leading large-scale initiatives for...
Ensley Tan is the Public Sector Lead for Industry Consulting (Asia Pacific). He brings over 21 years of experience, primarily in national security at the Singapore Ministry of Defence and Prime Minster’s Office. Ensley also worked for a while as a fraud investigator and consultant in the private sector, during which he conducted hundreds of corporate investigations throughout the Asia Pacific. Ensley has worked with ground-level officers, agency leads as well as Ministers and C-suite...
Alex Harper
Managing Director
KINSHIP Digital
AIPIO Annual Awards Sponsor
Alex Harper is the Managing Director of KINSHIP Digital, where he leads with a passion for solution innovation and solving complex problems through data. With nearly a decade of experience working across government and enterprise, Alex combines divergent thinking with strong commercial acumen and a deep understanding of IT and digital strategy. He is known for building high-performing teams, driving strategic alignment, and helping organisations use technology to achieve meaningful societal...
John Harms is a seasoned leader in government technology and advanced analytics, with over a decade of experience supporting global public sector organizations. He currently serves in an international role at Quantexa, where he leads efforts to help law enforcement, intelligence, and national security agencies worldwide. John joined Quantexa five years ago and was instrumental in establishing its North American government practice, beginning with foundational engagements Federal Law...
Ariel is the Managing Director of APAC at Penlink. Based in Singapore, he works closely with Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies across the Asia-Pacific region on a range of Digital Intelligence and OSINT projects. With over 20 years of experience in Business, Consulting, and Executive Leadership roles spanning B2B, B2G, and B2C organizations, Ariel focuses on promoting advanced OSINT solutions for operational domains including Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorism, Immigration,...
Arran Hassell
Director and Principal Consultant
Protegas
Welcome Reception Address
Arran Hassell CSC is Chairman of the Board, part-owner and a Principal Consultant at Protegas Australia (an intelligence professional services company). He commenced his intelligence career in 2002 and has worked as an analyst in the Defence Intelligence Organisation, as an intelligence team leader in the United States’ Pacific Command’s Intelligence and Operations Centre, as the senior intelligence officer in the Australian national military headquarters in East Timor, and as a senior...
Chathura is a trusted cybersecurity advisor with over 20 years of industry experience. With a strong track record of advising boards and executive teams, he brings a unique ability to translate complex technical risks into clear, actionable governance insights. He has led high-performing cybersecurity teams at two of the Big Four consulting firms in Australia for over a decade, delivering large-scale cybersecurity assessments, internal audits, and incident response programs for major...
Clint specializes in global technology challenges with a deep understanding of regional dynamics. At Google, he led the Search Intelligence team and later the Trust and Safety Intelligence Emerging Trends team. His broader experience includes roles at Sonder, the NSW Police Force, and the Australian Defence Force. Clint currently advises organisations on technology risks and trends, with a particular focus on Generative AI.
Alexandra Ayton is a strategic policy advisor with expertise spanning policy development, program delivery and evaluation across complex health, government and defence portfolios across the Western Australian public sector. She holds a Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine) and a Master of Public Health from the University of Western Australia, alongside five+ years of experience working in State Government departments. She has supported and led major projects and...
Sarah Bellhouse
Senior Intelligence Analyst | Strategic Operations & Intelligence Unit
Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
Concurrent
Sarah has spent over a decade with Victoria’s Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, beginning her career in public land management before transitioning into environmental regulation with the Conservation Regulator. With an investigative background and five years as an intelligence analyst, she brings insight into the complexities of regulatory prioritisation. Sarah has an environmental science background and is passionate about the preservation of the natural environment.
Ken began his career as an Accountant at the Australian National University after studying at the University of Canberra, quickly specialising in computerised accounting systems. He later moved into financial systems consulting for large corporates before transitioning into sales, marketing, and senior leadership roles. Over the next two decades, Ken led teams across a broad range of technologies, including enterprise information systems and intelligence applications. His work in intelligence...
Pat Butler, in his role as Chief Product Evangelist, provides thought leadership and strategic support to Babel Street’s top customers and partners. Prior to that, he led the Product Management team through building and managing the product roadmap and setting organizational priorities. Pat joined the Babel Street team in May 2020 as part of the acquisition of the intellectual property of technology firm Dunami Inc., where he was the CEO and founder. Prior to Dunami, Pat served in the United...
Following 42 years of service as a Police Officer, Graham was appointed in 2023 as Executive Director and heads the Queensland Police Service (QPS) planning for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games (B2032). During Grahams policing career, he performed key roles in leading the planning and delivery of security operations for the 2014 G20 events held in Queensland and the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Graham also led the Security and Counter Terrorism Command’s Prepare Prevent...
Dr Elissa Farrow is a futurist, author, speaker, coach and strategist. As a highly skilled and experienced consultant, Elissa Farrow is dedicated to helping organisations navigate the complex landscape of strategy development, futures and foresight, and Artificial Intelligence. She has over 25 years experience in user centred research, organisational innovation, change design and facilitation. Elissa facilitates organisational capacity to define positive futures and transform bringing lasting...
Dr David Gawel APM, retired from the NSW Police Force as a Detective Chief Inspector after 35 years of service. He spent 32 years engaged in the investigation of major crime, with the last 20 years of his service specialising in counter-terrorism. During this time, he held numerous positions, including being the first State member (nationally) of the Joint Counter-Terrorism Teams, Director of the Counter-Terrorism Team Office for Police NSW Government, National ANZCTC capability advisor for...
Andrew commenced his professional career with the NSW Police in 1994 and received his designation as a Detective in 1999. Andrew worked as a detective in Sydney’s Inner West before specialising in Armed Robbery investigations prior to joining the Counter Terrorism Command in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While attached to the Counter Terrorism Command Andrew was seconded to a multi-agency task force which was tasked with investigating the manufacturing and use of high quality...
Helen Glazebrook is a leading criminal intelligence expert who has applied her skills across a broad range of intelligence environments over the last twenty-five years including law enforcement, national security, regulatory, corrective services and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission where she spent 15 years as a Senior Specialist Intelligence Analyst. Over her career Helen has developed intelligence response capabilities for both state and federal government agencies, including...
Darlene Grech
Detective Sergeant / Board Member
AFP / AIPIO
Concurrent
Darlene has 39 years’ experience in law enforcement, with 20 years dedicated to various intelligence functions both specialist and criminal. Darlene is experienced in tactical, operational and strategic intelligence fields of operation and a former trainer of covert human intelligence methodologies. Darlene has a passion and focus for ethics and human behaviour profiling and as it relates to criminal and human intelligence collection. Darlene holds a number of tertiary qualifications in...
Lesley Honeyman
Director DCS CISO – Security GRC
Department of Customer Service
Panellist
Lesley has over thirty years of public sector experience in the intelligence and security field, both at the state and federal level. Her experience includes providing leadership across cyber governance, cyber risk and compliance, cyber operations, law enforcement intelligence, major event planning, policy and risk management. In November 2024 Lesley was appointed as the Director, Security GRC for Department of Customer Service. In her previous role as the Director Operations for Cyber...
Matt (Billy) Humphries is the Director of Law Enforcement Relations, APAC. He spent over 30 years in law enforcement with experience in investigations, surveillance, cybercrime and digital forensics. While at the Australian Federal Police he was stationed across the APAC region, including in Indonesia and Malaysia before leading the establishment of the AFP’s first full time digital forensics capability in Thailand. He has travelled extensively across the APAC region, delivering technical...
David Johnson brings 25 years of experience as a practitioner and senior manager of programs to enhance Australia's national security. In his Commonwealth career David specialised in tackling the hardest problems by designing and implementing major capability and change programs to improve the resilience and effectiveness of high tempo, high assurance organisations. David is now the owner of Argus Consulting, which specialises in providing bespoke risk management services for government and...
Gareth Jones is an Indigenous commentator, advisor, and academic working at the intersection of online harms, intelligence, and violent extremism. He brings critical Indigenous perspectives to global security challenges, with a focus on how digital systems—such as algorithms, mis/disinformation, and surveillance—impact Indigenous communities. Gareth is a member of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network (CCAN), contributes to the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) Youth...
As the Regional Industry Leader – Law Enforcement and Public Safety at SAS, I spearhead the development and strengthening of partnerships with Law Enforcement and Public Safety agencies across emerging markets in EMEA and the Asia Pacific region. My role involves driving SAS engagement with heads of investigation, agency leaders, and transformation officers, assisting to revolutionize their digital investigative and intelligence culture through the rationalisation and adoption of cutting-edge...
Michael King is the Head of Intelligence and Investigations at the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of World Athletics. The intelligence and investigations work that Michael leads covers the range of integrity threats to international athletics, including doping, competition manipulation, age manipulation, safeguarding, illegal betting, technical cheating and others. Prior to joining the AIU, Michael played a lead role in establishing and building the Intelligence and Investigations Department...
Tony has 20+ of intelligence experience, working with customers both domestically and internationally to help them solve their intelligence problems.
Kylee Leota is the founder and Chief Vision Officer of Elements 4 Success, an international organisation delivering transformational experiences for individuals, teams, and organisations seeking alignment, clarity, and growth. With over 25 years of experience in education, leadership, and behaviour change, Kylee empowers people of all ages to develop the mindset, confidence, and tools needed to live a life by design. Guided by Earl Nightingale’s idea that success is “the progressive...
Sam MacDonald is a career industry professional having worked across Defence, Federal Government and private sectors over 25 years as both a practitioner and leader in National Security, Defence, Protective Security and Financial intelligence domains. This includes operations, investigations, analysis, governance, training and capability development, and leading international delegations or collaborating with domestic and international partners on next generation analytical systems. Moving to...
Nick McDonnell
Senior Director
Auror
Concurrent
Nick works at Auror; a crime intelligence platform working with retailers and police globally to connect communities to stop crime. He is responsible for Auror’s work across trust and safety, public policy, law enforcement partnerships and corporate affairs. He’s passionate about how technology can empower communities in public safety and support law enforcement to keep us all safe. Prior to joining Auror, he worked with Meta, including across counter-extremism, child protection and election...
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