Keynote and Plenary Speakers

About Ian

Dr. Ian Oppermann is the NSW Government’s Chief Data Scientist working within the Department of Customer Service. He is also an Industry Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Ian has been recognised as a Global Leader in Data and Analytics (Corinium’s Global Top 100 in 2020 and 2022) spanning the domains of government, industry, academia and standards. Ian has an MBA from the University of London and a PhD in Mobile Telecommunications from Sydney University. Ian is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW, is a Fellow and Immediate Past President of the Australian Computer Society, and a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is Chair of Australia’s IEC National Committee and JTC1, the NSW AI Review Committee and the NSW Smart Places Advisory Council

About Jim

Jim Guszcza is a Research Affiliate at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, leading a project to articulate a practical field of human-machine hybrid intelligence.  Jim worked as data scientist for over two decades and was the first person to be designated Deloitte’s U.S. Chief Data Scientist. A former professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison business school, Jim holds a PhD in Philosophy from The University of Chicago, and is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society.

Jim serves on the advisory boards of the Psychology of Technology Institute and the Penn Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics.

About Craig

Craig is the Institute's Chair of Data Analytics Practice Committee and is Head of Data Science
and AI CoE at Suncorp. He is a qualified actuary with over 20 years' experience in financial services. 

Prior to his current role he led the technical pricing team for Suncorp Insurance's mass market portfolio which includes consumer brands such as 
AMMI, GIO, Suncorp & Apia. 

In his current role he has a particular interest in the application of Data Science and AI capabilities within the insurance and banking sector to improve the value that customers get out of their interactions within the organisation. His team also focuses on the use of these technologies to drive intelligent automation and the decision support of core operational processes. Craig sees great potential for data to help organisations do well, while also doing good.

About JILL 

Jill Berry is co-founder and CEO of Adatree, Australia’s leading Open Data intermediary. Jill’s professional experience is steeped in developing regulated banking products. She is one of three people in Australia to have helped build two newly regulated banks, Tyro and Volt, while working at AMP Bank and Macquarie in the years prior. With a strong background in greenfield products and being comfortable with regulatory uncertainty, in 2019 she and her co-founder Shane Doolan launched Adatree, a poles-and-wires RegTech business serving as the on-ramp for organisations wanting to innovate in this new Open Data economy. Adatree has been the first Consumer Data Right platform for companies to access and leverage data across all industries. 

Adatree a diverse team of bank builders, startup founders and data engineers with an economy-wide reputation as the experts in CDR regulated data. If the scores of awards doesn’t convince you, their list of A-list clients ought to, including signing Australia’s largest fintech/bank partnership with 27 banks. Adatree’s unique capabilities and first-in-market advantage have positioned them to own the infrastructure supporting the next big tech revolution and secure their position as the category king of Open Data.

About Theresa

Theresa uses creative, compassionate and contemplative practices to help communities build better digital and data futures. For more than 20 years, her award-winning work as an educator and researcher has engaged with the ever-evolving relationship between people and emerging technologies when working with data and making decisions. A social informaticist with a PhD in Information Science, she served as inaugural Director and Associate Professor of the Master of Data Science & Innovation program at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) from 2014-2018. The uniquely transdisciplinary and human-centred curriculum developed during her tenure continues to prepare graduates for the demands of the data science fields. 

As a freelance consultant within her own company, Theresa now focuses on advancing socially-just data policies and building trusted environments for data/AI use. She contributes to the development of reference and actionable frameworks at local and international levels. In 2021, she was appointed to the NSW Government’s inaugural Artificial Intelligence Advisory and Review Committee. She is actively contributing to development of an international standard for Data Usage (ISO JTC1/SC32/WG6), serving as a Project Editor. Theresa also sits on the Advisory Board for Resilience Brokers, an international organisation using systems thinking to unlock value and to improve the climate resilience of cities and communities around the world.

About Kimberlee

Kimberlee is a Professor of Law at the University of Sydney, and a Chief Investigator with the 
ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, and a Fellow with the Gradient Institute. She specialises in issues at the intersection of law and technology, as well as intellectual property law. 

Her current research focuses on the law relating to the collection, ownership, use and governance of data about and related to people, including privacy law, with the goal of ensuring that data collection, use and linkage, and data and predictive analytics are developed in ways that are beneficial to people and society

About Ron

Ron is an experienced actuary and risk manager, currently Chief Actuary at Old Mutual Insure, responsible for oversight of all actuarial activities in the OMI Group. Before this he was Managing Head of Insurance Actuarial at SA Taxi and Associate Director at QED Actuaries and Consultants, Africa’s largest independent actuarial consulting firm. Prior to this, he led the Enterprise Risk Management and Actuarial Functions for the AIG group within Africa.

Ron is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and the Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA), holds practicing certificates in Short Term Insurance and Life Insurance from ASSA, and a Masters of Philosophy in Actuarial Science, with distinction, from the University of Cape Town. Ron chairs the Actuarial Society of South Africa’s ERM committee and is a member of the ASTIN Board.

About Chris

Chris Dolman is currently the Director of Data and Algorithmic Ethics at IAG, helping to ensurethat the modern decision-making algorithms and other advanced uses of data are designedand implemented in an ethical, responsible, and thoughtful way.

Prior to this, Chris held a variety of senior management positions in the insuranceindustry and consulting, in Australia and the UK.

Chris is a Fellow of the Actuaries Institute, a Gradient Institute Fellow and an activemember of the Actuaries Institute's Data Analytics and General Insurance Practice Committees.His previous papers at the Actuaries Summit were awarded the Melville Prize both in 2020 and 2021.

About Michael 

Michael is an experienced prudential regulator, with 24 years of insurance supervision and
policy practice across three different regulators (Financial Services Authority (UK), Qatar
Financial Centre Regulatory Authority and APRA).

Michael is presently a Senior Manager in APRA’s Data Analytics Unit, heading up the
Insurance Strategic Insights team. The team provides data-enabled industry insights to
internal insurance stakeholders across general, life and private health insurance, and is
playing a leading role in APRA’s work on the strategic transformation of its insurance data
collections.

Michael is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute (ACII), a Chartered Insurance
Risk Manager (CIRM) and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors
(GAICD).

About Jas

Jas is a qualified actuary (FIAA) with more than a decade of experience in Australia and the UK. He has held roles, primarily in the life and general insurance space, at direct, reinsurance and consulting companies. He has an unparalleled network of connections within the actuarial profession, with strong personal and professional relationships across Australia, New Zealand, Asia Pacific, and the UK, as well as throughout the insurance sector. 

Skilled in the full spectrum of actuarial and analytics roles, Jas has led executive searches for a range of strategic leadership roles, including Chief Actuary, Senior Pricing, and Partner. Jas is widely recognised as an industry thought leader and regularly presents at professional actuarial events. He is frequently quoted in industry publications, and he contributes blog posts. 

As Managing Director of Australia’s largest specialist actuarial and analytics recruitment and executive search firm, Jas manages both the firm’s day-to-day operations and its growth and strategic direction. He plans to grow the brand globally, first by increasing SKL Actuarial’s Asian footprint.

About Peter 

Peter Leonard is a Sydney based data and technology consultant and lawyer.

As principal of Data Synergies, many of his clients are data analytics services providers and businesses developing and implementing data driven projects and AI applications.

Peter is a part-time Professor of Practice (across the Schools of Management and Governance, and Information Systems & Technology Management) at UNSW Sydney Business School.

Peter serves on the NSW Government’s AI Review Committee, tasked “to guide and provide strategic oversight for the use of AI in [NSW] government”, and the NSW Information and Privacy Advisory Committee, tasked “to provide the government with information, advice, assistance and training to deliver world-leading information and privacy management”.

He was a founding partner of Gilbert + Tobin Lawyers, now a large Australian law firm.