Speakers

Reece has overseen government departments responsible for protecting Western Australia’s environment since December 2021 and regained the Racing and Gaming portfolio in December 2022.

Sam was appointed Western Power CEO in August 2022. He has been a member of the Executive team since 2014 serving firstly as the Executive Manager of the Governance & Assurance and then the Executive Manager Asset Operations.

As Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Power, Stephanie Unwin leads a team of 600+ energy professionals to deliver power to some of Western Australia’s most remote and regional communities.

Kate Ryan is responsible for leading the Western Australia function and AEMO’s corporate strategy. Kate joined AEMO in February 2022, and has extensive knowledge and experience built over decades in the energy industry.

Dr Kate George is a Putejurra woman from the Murchison-Gascoyne region in Western Australia. She was born on the 494 mile peg of the rabbit-proof fence and belongs to the Putejurra people who are part of the Martu of the Western Desert. She spent 14 years in a Perth institution from the age of 3. She was the first Aboriginal student to graduate in law from the Australian National University, the first Aboriginal woman admitted to practice law in WA, and one of the first Aboriginal women to chair an ASX-listed company.

Roland is an experienced social performance consultant with over a decade of experience in community development, social impact, and stakeholder engagement. He has worked on some of Australia's most significant energy and infrastructure projects, supporting clients such as AEMO, Acciona Energia, Alinta Energy, TransGrid, Hydro Tasmania and Origin Energy with strategy, assessments and audits that manage change and achieve improved social performance throughout the project life cycle. His project resume includes national strategy such as the Integrated Systems Plan, organisation-level strategy and framework development for major energy generation businesses, as well as delivering comprehensive project level Social Performance services across the entire suite of energy generation project types, including over 4GW of Wind, multiple Pumped Hydro facilities, over 1000km of new build Transmission and Battery Energy Storage.

Sarah Derham has been at the forefront of corporate governance and sustainability in the renewable energy sector since joining Collgar in 2021. As Head of Sustainability and Company Secretary, she is responsible for developing ESG strategies, ensuring corporate compliance, and implementing the systems to support best practices in these areas.Sarah brings extensive experience from her previous roles in corporate law and management consulting, where she focused on governance, strategy, risk, and stakeholder engagement. She is passionate about driving sustainable practices and creating positive impacts as part of Collgar’s strategy.Her dedication to strong ESG performance is complemented by her participation on the AEC’s Sustainability Working Group, where she provides the unique perspectives of a renewable energy generator and promotes attention to the challenges of the energy transition in WA.Originally from Kentucky, USA, Sarah holds a JD and BSc (Hons) and has postgraduate certificates in Sustainable Investing (Harvard Business School Online) and Applied Corporate Law and Corporate Governance (Governance Institute of Australia). Additionally, Sarah is an AICD Graduate, Infrastructure Sustainability Accredited Professional and is currently studying sustainability accounting through the IFRS.

Margot is the Transition Social Performance Manager at Western Power and has the exciting role of managing the development and implementation of social performance framework and strategy to support transmission expansion projects across the network.

Rachel Peterson was appointed Executive Director of the California Public Utilities Commission in January 2021. She leads the Commission’s statewide workforce to accomplish California’s pathbreaking goals in the areas of energy, telecommunications, safety, rail, water, and passenger transportation. California is a dynamic state and the CPUC sets policy and rules for utility services that are essential to modern life – and Rachel has set her sights on two long-range strategic priorities: achieve the Commission’s regulatory mission in the context of climate change, and invest in the Commission’s workforce. She is moving the CPUC toward this vision with effective leadership driven by values. Rachel has worked at the CPUC since 2011 in numerous leadership positions, including chief of staff and advisor to Commissioners, and as an executive in the areas of safety policy and enforcement.

Katie is an energy policy, regulation & stakeholder relations specialist focused on progressing a secure, low-carbon, consumer-centric energy transition through her current roles with AEMO and AIE.

Steve Duggan holds the position of General Manager for the Energy and Resources Program at the Bureau of Meteorology. His role involves strategic engagement, systematic gathering of insights, and deployment of the Bureau’s substantial capabilities to create significant impact and value for Australia’s energy and resources sectors at scale.An experienced engineering professional, Steve Duggan has extensive public and private sector experience and a depth of business and technical skills gained through years of delivering applied science solutions to the energy and resources sectors.‍

Ross is a robotics engineer by background and has spent the last seven years getting involved wherever the standards, codes and regulations relating to the electrical infrastructure supporting EVs in Australia are being considered. He has been closely involved in the development of minimum requirements for buildings in Australia in relation to EV readiness and in work preparing the energy system for the wide scale adoption of EVs. Ross and his wife own a Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in hybrid and a pure electric Polestar, and live in Melbourne.

Fabian Le Gay Brereton is a passionate clean energy entrepreneur and the Co-Founder and CEO of Gridcog, a groundbreaking startup dedicated to the clean energy transition.

David has more than 20 years' experience across the energy and telecommunications industries, including holding executive roles in operations, commercial sales, asset management and business development.

We have entered a time where we need to do things differently. Tim is connecting people driven by a shared purpose and popping up teams that draw on the best and brightest across business, government, technology and the community to get stuff done.

Steve has been the Chair of the Economic Regulation Authority since August 2021. He is an economist specialising in the energy sector. Steve has many years of commercial and regulatory experience working with the public sector, industry agencies and private industry. Before joining the ERA, Steve relinquished his role as Chair of Horizon Power to be appointed as Full time Chair of the WA Government’s Energy Transformation Taskforce. He was the inaugural Chair of the Australian Energy Regulator 2005-10 and was a member of the ERA governing body from 2006 to 2017. In a private consulting capacity, Steve has recently developed a high level design for the electricity market in the Northern Territory and is a member of the Electricity Market Reform Implementation Taskforce in the Northern Territory, as the independent energy market expert.

As the Managing Director of Energy & Utilities at Sia Partners, Australia, Jessica leads teams advising Western Australia's major energy players on strategy, business planning, performance improvement, and stakeholder engagement.

Jai Thomas is the Deputy Director General - Coordinator of Energy, a statutory role that leads Energy Policy WA. As Coordinator of Energy, he is also the designated Hazard Management Agency for disruption to electricity, natural gas or liquid fuel supplies in Western Australia.

Chris is a member of the Western Australian Expert Consumer Panel and Market Advisory Panel, where he advocates for consumers on a range of network regulatory, retail market and energy transition issues.