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Keynote speakers and keynote panellists

The Honourable Peter Quinlan, Lieutenant Governor of Western Australia.

Peter Damien Quinlan was appointed to the Supreme Court of Western Australia on 13 August 2018.  He was appointed as a Judge of the Court, a Judge of the Court of Appeal and as the Chief Justice of Western Australia.

He was born in Perth on 16th June 1970 and attended John XXIII College.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1992 and a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) in 1995 from the University of Western Australia.

The Honourable Peter Quinlan was Professional Assistant to K H Parker AO QC, Solicitor General for Western Australia, from 1993 – 1994, and Judge’s Associate to the Hon Justice Parker, Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1995.

From 1996 – 2001, he was a Legal Officer (and ultimately Assistant Crown Counsel) at the WA Crown Solicitor’s Office before joining the Independent Bar in 2001. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2010.

He was appointed Solicitor General for Western Australia on 1 July 2016 and served in this role until his appointment to the Bench.

He served as President, WA Bar Association from 2012 – 2015, Board of Governors at the University of Notre Dame from 2008 and Director of the Law Council of Australia from 2012 – 2014.

Luc Longley is a trailblazer whose inherent sense of curiosity led him to become the first-ever Australian to play in the NBA and the starting centre of one of the best teams of all time, the Chicago Bulls and was a critical component in their famous three-peat, winning back to back championships from 1996-1998 and setting an NBA record with 72 wins and only 10 losses. He was coached and mentored by the legendary Phil Jackson and played alongside some of basketball's most iconic players including Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Toni Kukoc and Steve Kerr. The Team, and this incredible accomplishment, were the subjects of the 2020 Netflix & ESPN Documentary, The Last Dance.

He also represented Australia in three Olympic Teams including at the 1988 Seoul Olympics which delivered Australia's best result for the Men's Team until 2021. In 2019 he was named a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to basketball as a player, coach and administrator.

Simon Kuestenmacher is a Director and Co-founder of The Demographics Group based in Melbourne, Australia.  Simon holds degrees in geography from leading universities in Berlin and Melbourne and worked for several years as a business consultant with KPMG Australia.

In 2017 Simon, with Bernard Salt, co-founded The Demographics Group. The group provides specialist advice on demographic, consumer and social trends for business.

Simon has presented to numerous corporate and industry audiences across Australia and overseas on demographic trends, consumer insights and cultural change in Australia. 

Simon is a columnist at The New Daily newspaper and a contributor to The Australian newspaper; and he is also a media commentator on demographic and data matters.

Simon has amassed 300,000 global followers on social media, reaches over 25 million people every month and ranks as one of the world’s Top 10 influencers in data visualisation. If you can’t get enough of data that explains how the world works, make sure to follow him on Twitter or any of his other social channels.

Dr. Verna Yiu is one of Canada’s most respected healthcare leaders. She led the country’s largest provincewide health care system that protects and improves the quality of life for 4.4 million Albertans for over 6 years. 

In her tenure, Dr. Yiu was able to build trust and confidence not only with Albertans but internally with the 100K+ employees of the organization. In Dr. Yiu’s tenure, AHS was named as one of the Canada’s Top 100 Employers for 4 consecutive years along with other employer awards including Best Diversity Employer, Best Employer for Young People, and Alberta’s Top 70 Employer. Other accomplishments include optimizing integration of care within the province, so much so as to receive acknowledgement from the International Society of Integrated Care that AHS was in the top 5 most integrated systems in the world. Other accomplishments during her tenure includes improving efficiencies such that growth expenditure for AHS reduced by more than 50% while still maintaining quality and safety of care, she led and received the support from government to launch the province wide clinical information system called Connect Care that will transform how care is delivered for Albertans (which remains on time and on budget if not for COVID19), and over the past 2+ years, Dr. Yiu led AHS in its response to one of the worse public health crisis we will ever know in our lifetime.

Dr. Yiu has spent more than 2 decades in leadership roles, spanning from leadership roles in academia at the University of Alberta including being the first female interim dean of the faculty of medicine and dentistry at the U of A to that within AHS. She is known to embrace a servant leadership motto where ensuring the success of others inevitably leads to everyone’s success. 

Dr. Yiu has won numerous awards including most recently being Global Woman of Vision in 2019 and being ranked second on the Medical Post’s 2021 Power list of physicians in Canada, behind only Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer.

A professor of Pediatrics in the division of pediatric nephrology at the U of A, Dr. Yiu is an alumni of both University of Alberta and Harvard University. She continues to work on the front lines, providing care to young patients and their families at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton. 

Professor Dame Clare Gerada. Having first trained in psychiatry at the Maudsely hospital, Dr Clare Gerada followed her father’s footsteps and became a general practitioner, working in her practice in South London for more than thirty years.

Over this time, alongside her clinical practice, she has held several national leadership positions including in 2010, Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, only the second women in its 55-year history to hold this position.  She has led the way in reforming how drug users are managed in general practice and was awarded an MBE for his services to medicine and substance misuse in the 2000 Birthday honours.

Since she has also led the development of a service for doctors and dentists with mental health problems, establishing and leading NHS Practitioner Health since 2008. This has been, not only a world first, but massively impactful, particularly on young doctors and consequently on the patients they look after and the teams in which they work.  The service was awarded Outstanding by CQC rating in March 2019. 

Currently Clare not only still leads NHS Practitioner Health but has, in 2020 established a service for problem gamblers; Chairs the newly formed registered charity, Doctors in Distress, is co-chair of the NHS Assembly.

In 2020 she was made a Dame in the Queen’s birthday honours, making her, we believe, the first Maltese woman to receive this honour.  In November 2021 she became the President of the RCGP (only the second women to hold both Chair and President of the College in its 70 year history).  She is a highly respected NHS professional, whose views are listened to by NHS professionals and patients alike.

Ronald Lavater, MPA, FACHE is a healthcare executive with 25 years of leadership experience in public and investor-owned healthcare companies in the United States and international markets. With extensive knowledge in hospital operations and ambulatory services including retail urgent care, Ronald has a deep and broad-based understanding of the healthcare services sector with a global perspective.

Before joining the IHF, he has served as CEO of WellStreet Urgent Care headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. From 2014 to 2016, he was the CEO for Al Noor Hospitals Group, Plc. He also worked for six years for Johns Hopkins Medicine International, serving first as CEO of Corniche Hospital in Abu Dhabi for five years and later as a senior executive representing many of the company’s interests in the Middle East.

Ronald began his healthcare career in 1993 as an analyst for senior management of insurance company Blue Cross and Blue Shield. After a few years, he was recruited by Hospital Corporation of America where he held several leadership roles in U.S. hospitals, including CEO and COO. He has also served as a Non-Executive Director for Optegra Eye Health Care.

Ronald holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Florida and a master’s degree in public administration from Florida State University. He is a Fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and previously completed a two-year term as president of the Middle East & North Africa ACHE group.
 

Professor Paul Kelly is currently the Chief Medical Officer at the Australian Government Department of Health. Prior to this appointment, he was the Acting Chief Medical Officer, leading the Government’s health response to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. A public health physician and epidemiologist by training, Professor Kelly first joined the Department in March 2019 as the Chief Medical Adviser, Health Products Regulation Group and became the Deputy Chief Medical Officer in February 2020 following the response to the Summer 2019-2020 bushfires.
Prior to these appointments, Professor Kelly spent 8 years as Chief Health Officer for the Australian Capital Territory and Deputy Director-General of Population Health in the ACT Government Health Directorate.

Professor Kelly has previously worked in research, health systems development, post-graduate teaching and as a health service executive including Director of the Masters of Applied Epidemiology Program at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University (ANU), and in the Northern Territory working as a Principal Research Fellow with the Menzies School of Health Research, as well as with the Centre for Disease Control in the NT Department of Health. Professor Kelly has worked in parts of Australia as well as Malawi, Indonesia, East Timor, and the UK.

Professor Kelly has over 30 years research experience and has published over 120 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters. He has supervised or mentored many trainees and post-graduate students and delivered lectures, workshops, seminars and conference talks nationally and internationally.

Professor Kelly is the Chair of the Australian Health Protection Principle Committee (AHPPC) and as an official member of National Cabinet, has contributed his extensive public health and epidemiological knowledge and experience in the formulation of various plans and advice relating to COVID-19. This has included the publication of statements and guidelines across a wide range of COVID-19 issues including incoming and outgoing travel particularly regarding infection prevention and control at Australia’s borders, aged care, hotel quarantine, public health measures such as social distancing and hygiene and the application of restrictions in response to community cases of COVID-19. This vital work has significantly contributed to Australia’s approach to virus suppression.

Dr Frank Daly commenced as the Chief Executive for Northern Territory (NT) Health on the 7 June 2021, and has over 30 years’ experience in clinical (emergency medicine and clinical toxicology), academic, executive and advisory roles. 

The NT covers one sixth of Australia’s land mass but is home to only 1% of Australia’s population. Approximately 30% of the NT population is Aboriginal, of whom 70% live in remote locations. Over 100 Aboriginal languages and dialects are spoken in the NT and there is rich culture and heritage with the longest continuous culture on earth. However, the NT also experiences the highest rates of social disadvantage in Australia.
 
Frank’s past experience includes working in an Australasia-wide role in a multinational consulting firm and public sector executive roles leading and managing large hospitals and health systems. 

Frank has done significant work in consumer engagement; patient experience; service improvement; hospital building and commissioning; service design and reconfiguration; clinical and corporate governance; workforce planning; digital implementation; building organisational capability; risk management and project management. 
 
Frank is passionate about ensuring NT Health continues to deliver sustainable health services and timely patient-centred and quality care to all Territorians. He has thoroughly enjoyed his 15 months as the CE of NT Health, and has travelled across all five regions, meeting and getting to know the passionate team who ensure that NT Health is a great place to work. 
 

Liz MacLeod is the Chief Executive of the East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS), a large organisation which provides health services to over 729,000 people in Perth’s east metropolitan region, as well as supports regional West Australians requiring complex care.

As Chief Executive, Liz is responsible for managing a $1.75 billion annual budget and leads a team of more than 9,350 staff.

Having extensive experience in complex transformational change meant Liz had an integral role in establishing EMHS as a new statutory authority within the WA public sector in 2016 and has successfully guided EMHS to become one of the highest performing and innovative health service providers in WA.

In addition, Liz continues to play a pivotal role in WA’s response to COVID-19, as the Chief Executive for COVID-19 Health Operations, where she leads the coordination and oversight of activities carried out by WA’s healthcare providers in response to the public health emergency.

Liz was recently recognised for her excellence in public service leadership when she was awarded the Leader of the Year working within a division, team or organisation at the 2021 Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) Achievement Awards.

Prior to becoming the Chief Executive for EMHS, Liz was the Executive Director, Commissioning of Fiona Stanley Hospital where she had oversight and accountability for commissioning of the hospital. Liz has held senior leadership roles within WA Health during the past 10 years with particular experience in clinical planning and health service redevelopment.

With a background in physiotherapy and more than 20 years management experience in the health sector, Liz is passionate about the delivery of safe, high quality, consumer-centred care, financial performance and sustainability.

Rob Edwards OAM. 
Rob has been a business leader for 25 years in the well-being industry, designing and with his team delivering programs for hundreds organizations.  Prior to that he worked for five years in a cardiac rehabilitation program where he developed programs to motivate people who had heart attacks, bypasses, diabetes and the like, to get back on their feet and get the most out of their lives. There he wrote the internationally distributed book “Better Blood Pressure”.

Rob also has a long history of significant philanthropic initiatives that resulted in an Order of Australia Medal in 2020.  He took a year out with a group of 20 others to develop and implement a wilderness based rehabilitation program for young offenders. He founded and manages Its Time Foundation that replaces diesel power with solar in remote island schools. Developed the Plastic Free Oceans social media platform. He also established a Women’s Health and Resilience program in Fiji bringing well-being education to women in remote areas of Fiji.

Dr Ben Hamer is one of Australia's leading work futurists. He is the Future of Work Lead at PwC Australia and, in this capacity, spent time seconded to the World Economic Forum heading up critical projects on the future of work, skills, and education. Ben also leads PwC's health workforce capability and was an advisor during the pandemic to the NSW State Health Emergency Operations Center. 

In addition, Ben is a Board Member for the Australian HR Institute, recently appointed as the youngest Non-Executive Director in the organisation’s history.

Ben has a Doctorate of Public Administration, which included time spent as a Visiting Scholar at Yale University, and is an Adjunct Fellow with the Centre for the New Workforce at Swinburne University. Ben regularly features on across Australian media providing expert commentary on the Future of Work.

Plenary panel facilitator & workshop presenter

Dr Norman Swan is Australia’s most respected health journalist, broadcaster and commentator.

He hosts RN’s Health Report and since the COVID-19 pandemic, co-hosted Coronacast, a daily podcast on the coronavirus.

He is also a reporter and commentator on the ABC’s 7.30, Midday, News Breakfast and Four Corners and a guest host on RN Breakfast. 

He is a past winner of the Gold Walkley and has won other Walkleys including one in 2020. He was awarded the medal of the Australian Academy of Science and has an honorary MD from the University of Sydney.

He created Invisible Enemies, on pandemics and civilisation for Channel 4 UK and broadcast in 27 countries. He trained in medicine and paediatrics in Aberdeen, London and Sydney before joining the ABC.

Panel members

Dr Pete Watson, Interim National Director – Medical for Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand and the Interim District Director for Te Whatu Ora – Counties Manukau. 

Pete is a Pakeha New Zealander, an Otago Medical graduate and a Paediatrician and Adolescent Health Specialist. Since his trainee days Pete has worked across a range of academic, clinical and leadership roles in Counties Manukau, one of New Zealand’s largest public health districts providing public health services to a population of over 600,000 people that is younger, more ethnically diverse (including having the largest Polynesian population in the world) and having greater poverty than any other district in New Zealand. 

In recent years Pete has held leadership roles in New Zealand’s Ministry of Health and as Counties Manukau’s Chief Medical Officer and acting CEO up until July 1, 2022 and the creation of Aotearoa New Zealand’s new health entity Te Whatu ora. His appointment as National Director – Medical is a key national executive clinical leadership role in the new national entity.

Professor Harlene Hayne CNZM
Vice‐Chancellor, Curtin University

Professor Harlene Hayne is Vice‐Chancellor of Curtin University. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and of the Association for Psychological Science. In 2009 she was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to scientific and medical research. In 2022 she was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of her outstanding services to health and wellbeing. In 2012 she received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Colorado College, USA, and in 2021 she received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Otago where she had been the Vice‐Chancellor since 2011.

Professor Hayne arrived in Western Australia in April 2021 to take up the role of Vice‐Chancellor at Curtin University. She was recently appointed as an honorary Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham), a Director of the Western Australian Health Translation Network (WAHTN) Executive Board, a member of Chief Executive Women (CEW), and a member of the Scotch College Council.

Originally from the United States, Professor Hayne received a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College, and a Master of Science and PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience from Rutgers University. She spent three years as a post‐doctoral fellow at Princeton before joining the University of Otago in 1992. She subsequently served as Head of the Psychology Department and as Deputy Vice‐Chancellor Research and Enterprise before being appointed as Vice‐Chancellor.

During her tenure at Otago, Professor Hayne served on the Board of the New Zealand Treasury, she was the Chair of Fulbright New Zealand, she was an expert panel member for the Tamaki Regeneration Project, she was a member of the New Zealand National Science Panel, and she was the Co‐Chair of Office of the Prime Minister’s Science Advisory Committee Working Party on Reducing Social and Psychological Morbidity during Adolescence. Professor Hayne is also the Co‐Director of the Innocence Project New Zealand; she recently provided expert testimony in a case of miscarriage of justice before the New Zealand Supreme Court.

Professor Hayne has been awarded continuous research funding since 1992. She continues to conduct research and she has published widely in the areas of memory development and adolescent risk taking. She has supervised numerous PhD, masters and undergraduate honours theses. She is an Associate Editor of Psychological Science in the Public Interest and of Memory, and is a member of the Editorial Board of Infant Behaviour and Development and of Developmental Psychobiology.

Prof Catherine Stoddart,
CEO, Brightwater Care Group 

Catherine commenced as the Chief Executive Officer of Brightwater Care Group in April 2022. Prior to this Catherine was the Deputy Director General, Department of Communities in WA and previously Chief Executive Officer, Northern Territory Health. With extensive leadership experience in complex health and care organisations including Deputy Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Executive, at the Oxford University Hospital’s NHS Foundation Trust, Catherine’s commitment to social justice and improving the lives of vulnerable groups of people has been the focus of many of her roles.

Catherine was awarded the 2011 Telstra Western Australia Business Woman of the Year for strategies that she put in place to build stronger nursing career paths, as well as the development of Aboriginal employment programmes across the Department of Health. In September 2013, she received the Australian Public Service Medal in recognition of her contribution to health and innovative global community health volunteering programmes.

Catherine holds a Masters of Business Administration and Management as well as a Master's degree Science (Project Management). 

Dr Mark O’Brien,
Programme Director, Oxford Healthcare Leadership Programme and Associate Fellow at the Said Business School at Oxford University

Dr Mark O’Brien is the Programme Director, Oxford Healthcare Leadership Programme and Associate Fellow at the Said Business School at Oxford University. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law University of Queensland, a Non-Executive Director of St John of God Healthcare Australia and Advisory Board member of Dietician Connection. Previous roles include the Medical Director of the Cognitive Institute and International Program Director, Educational Services, Medical Protection Society. He commenced his professional life as a proceduralist General Practitioner in rural Australia.

Dr O’Brien is an international consultant on quality and safety, clinical governance and healthcare leadership. His career has seen him provide expert advice and training to Hospital Boards, Executives and Clinical Leaders in Australia, the UK, Ireland, South East Asia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. In 2016 he was awarded the President’s Award by the Australian College of Health Service Management for his services to Healthcare in Queensland.

Ailsa Claire,
Chair of Workforce and Winter Resilience Taskforce, Auckland District Health Board, New Zealand

Ailsa Claire was appointed as Chief Executive of Auckland District Health Board in October 2012. Auckland DHB is a large and complex organisation employing approximately 11,000 staff, supporting the central Auckland population to achieve the health outcomes they want for themselves, their whānau, community and providing services or commissioning for them.  ADHB provider is also the provider of national services, the provider of last resort, provides acute and tertiary services for the northern region and is the largest health research and training organisation outside the university sector.

Ailsa has been asked to act as the interim Workforce lead for Interim Health New Zealand from 1 June 2022 and to lead the Workforce Task Group.

Ailsa is a New Zealander who returned home after a career in the United Kingdom’s health system. There she managed large provider and commissioning organisations as well as undertaking national roles and positions on Ministerial Advisory Committees.

Her passion is for enabling individuals to achieve self-directed care and for staff to do their life’s best work in an organisation providing value based care to patients.

Ailsa has a BA (University of Canterbury) and an MA in Health Services Management (Nuffield Centre for Health Services Studies, University of Leeds).  She was appointed OBE for services to healthcare.

Dixie Marshall
Chief Growth Officer, Marketforce

Dixie is the Chief Growth Officer of WA’s oldest advertising agency, Marketforce.

She has more than 38 years’ experience in media, advertising, politics and communications across a range of platforms, including television, radio, newspapers, and digital. She has won awards for journalism, and more recently advertising. 

She is a former journalist and Channel 9 newsreader. Dixie was the first woman AFL boundary rider on Australian TV. She has covered international bombings, fraudsters, bikies, Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Dixie worked from the Premier’s Office for 7 years as the Director of Strategic Communications for the WA Government. 

Dixie is also a Commissioner of the Australian Sports Commission; Deputy Chair of the WA Football Commission; a Non-Executive Director of green energy company, Frontier Energy, and Non-Executive Director of Lotus Resources.

Dale Fisher
Chief Executive Officer, Silver Chain Group

Dale’s expertise in leading large-scale, innovative organisational transformation in the design and delivery of client-centred care is contributing to the modernisation of how Australians receive their health and aged care in the home. 

In December 2018, Dale was appointed CEO of Silver Chain Group, Australia’s largest in-home care specialist, providing complex health and aged care services to more than 105,000 clients a year and employing more than 4,400 people. With a national service offering, Silver Chain’s vision is to provide the world’s best health and aged care in the home so Australians can confidently live the lives they choose. 
 
Prior to joining Silver Chain Group, Dale was the CEO of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, establishing Peter Mac as Australia’s largest cancer centre and a world leader in translational cancer research. Dale was also previously the CEO of the Royal Women’s Hospital in Victoria, where she re-established the identity of the Women’s as a standalone specialist hospital and was instrumental in creating the first Centre for Women’s Mental Health.
 
Dale is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine at Monash University, and an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University (Research).

In recognition of her achievements throughout three decades of leadership in health care, Dale is a member of Chief Executive Women, which represents Australia’s most senior and distinguished women leaders. Dale is also a board member of the Committee for Melbourne; has been inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll; and has been honoured as one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence. In 2021, Dale was appointed to the international Deloitte Human Services Innovators Council, and in 2020, the Advisory Council for the Western Australian Future Health Research and Innovation Fund. 

Learne Durrington
Chief Executive Officer,  WA Primary Health Alliance

Boasting a wealth of experience in the management of government and not-for-profit organisations, Learne Durrington has a reputation for driving innovation within and across the health and social care sectors.

Learne is passionate about achieving a connected and accessible health system that is patient and outcome focused.

As the CEO of WA Primary Health Alliance, Learne is leading the establishment of strategic alliances and partnerships across WA to support systemic change within the primary healthcare system.

Learne leads with the principle that good health outcomes can only be achieved through the combined effort of all levels of government, clinical and social care services together with private and public organisations.

Starting her career as a social worker, Learne has a Masters of Public Policy and is an Associate Professor of Health Sciences at Curtin University, a Fellow of the Australian College of Health Services Management and GAICD.

Dr Shirley Bowen
Chief Executive, North Metropolitan Health Service WA

Dr Bowen brings with her deep knowledge across the public, private, research and educational parts of the health sector, with experience in managing hospitals and community services, also as Chief Executive at St John of God (SJOG) Subiaco Hospital, Chief Medical Officer of the ACT and as Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame.

With dual Fellowships in Infectious Diseases (FRACP) and Sexual Health medicine (FAChSHM), Dr Bowen has also maintained her clinical practice over the last 30 years.

Dr Bowen has a passion for excellent and compassionate patient care and is committed to visible and authentic leadership. She is excited to join and lead North Metropolitan Health Service. 

Lesley Nelson,
CEO, South-West Aboriginal Medical Service

Currently CEO of the South-West Aboriginal Medical Service, I am a proud Noongar woman from the Balladong and Whadjuk clans, mother of four, and have been in senior management roles for over 25 years within the Aboriginal health sector.

I have a bias for innovation and strategic action, further strengthened by a strong academic background in both business and epidemiology. Over my extensive career in corporate, government and community sectors, I have leveraged this unique blend of skills to engage meaningfully with Aboriginal communities and champion the expansion of accessible primary health services.

My demonstrated capacity to influence, create collaborative solution and build key partnerships have contributed to growing organisations’ capacity and delivering better outcomes for Aboriginal individuals, families and communities.

As an appointed advisor, chair and director of several boards, committees, and forums, I am also a recognised advocate and contributor to policy and program development at the national, state and community levels, all the while managing a regional service delivery company with multiple local outlets.