Speakers

The Hon. Bill Johnston is Western Australia's Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Energy, Corrective Services and Industrial Relations. He has been a Minister for the McGowan Labor Government since

Dr Alan Finkel AC is a neuroscientist, engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

A retired career diplomat and former U.S. Ambassador to Serbia, Ms. Warlick has held a variety of senior leadership positions at the U.S. Department of State, National Security Council and Department of Defense, serving in Washington and abroad.

Rod Sims AO is Chair of the Superpower Institute, a non-profit organisation dedicated to Australia moving quickly to,and benefitting from, the transition to net zero emissions.

Michael Gunner is the Director of Australia West, leading Fortescue Future Industries’ (FFI) work across Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory.

Yolande Strengers is a digital sociologist and human-computer interaction professor investigating the sustainability, energy and inclusion impacts of digital and smart technologies, including emerging forms of AI.

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.

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.

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.

Pierluigi Mancarella is Chair Professor of Electrical Power Systems at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Professor of Smart Energy Systems at the University of Manchester, UK.

Ruby Heard is a versatile and ambitious entrepreneur and electrical engineer with global experience and an affinity for sustainability. She began her career with Arup designing electrical and lighting systems for iconic buildings in Melbourne. In 2015 she transferred to San Francisco to follow her passion into the renewable energy sector, designing complex solar arrays and microgrids for Google campuses. 

Sally McMahon is an economist with more than 25 years’ experience in energy and industry reform programs.

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.

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.

Supporting the energy transition. Specialties include strategy development, commercial negotiation, renewable projects, gas, electricity, hydrogen, asset sales and acquisitions.

Naoki Takahashi is Chief Representative of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation's Sydney Office

As Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Power, Stephanie Unwin leads Australia’s only vertically integrated energy utility and is responsible for the largest geographical catchment of any Australian power provider, covering an area more than one quarter of the Australian continent.

Katie is an energy policy, regulation and stakeholder relations specialist pursuing her passion for a clean, consumer-centric energy transition.

Professor Lachlan Blackhall is Entrepreneurial Fellow and Head, Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program at The Australian National University.

Sarah is an is an industry leader with more than a decade of experience working with policy and regulatory frameworks across the resources and energy sectors.

Jenness Gardner is an experienced strategic leader working in the energy and resources sector leading economic policy development, commercial negotiations and large scale project development for the state.

Martin Wilkes is the Managing Director of RISC, an independent International Energy Advisory company headquartered in Perth, Western Australia.

As the WA Business Development Manager at JET Charge, Mark has been privileged to be part of the team delivering landmark projects including the State Government's WA EV Network.

Scott is VP of Origination at Xodus with a remit to update and change the company’s business model as it relates to the offshore wind sector.

Cecily Rawlinson was appointed in July 2021 as Director of the WA AustCyber Innovation Hub, recently rebranded as CyberWest.

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.

Jacinda Papps is a regulatory, policy and government relations professional with over 20 years’ experience in energy markets across multiple jurisdictions, including 15 years in Western Australia.

Bobby Ditric has over 15 years’ experience in energy sector market operation, reform and development. He has extensive expertise in market design and regulatory instruments for reliability of supply, including capacity mechanisms/markets, scarcity payments, and reserve capacity instruments. He has advised on direct sales transactions frameworks (governance and market design implications) as well as the corresponding market rules and contracting instruments. He has advised commercial, regulatory, and policy stakeholders on crucial market reforms in the Western Australian, Eastern Australian, Northern Territory, Singapore, Peninsular Malaysian, and Oman electricity sectors. Prior to joining TLG he worked in a governmental electricity sector reform unit and before that was involved in the settlement of transactions in the WA Electricity Market (WEM) including review of the associated complex mathematical and financial calculations, verification of energy market data integrity, and troubleshooting market database issues. Bobby holds a BCom from Curtin University, Australia.

Greg Ruthven is an Associate Director with Rennie Advisory, with a focus on regulation, reform and strategy in the transitioning energy markets

Holly leads a team that focuses on strategic initiatives that build the energy management market, facilitating the realisation of an equitable, prosperous, net zero economy.

Justin Nash heads up the Geraldton Export-Scale Renewable Investment (GERI) Project, H2Kwinana and is a director of bp’s Kwinana Refinery subsidiary.

Greg is part Vestas’ development team and is responsible for project origination and development activities in Western Australia and South Australia.

Dr. Kari Dahlgren is a Research Fellow in the Emerging Technologies Research Lab at Monash University. Kari is a social anthropologist and ethnographer interested in the social and ethical aspects of energy production and consumption in Australia.

Fareed is a multidisciplinary social scientist. He is currently a research fellow at the Emerging Technologies Research Lab (ETRL) focusing on energy scenarios and digital technology futures. Additionally, Fareed is a research

Professor Peta Ashworth OAM is the Director, of the Curtin Institute for Energy Transition (CIET). Prior to joining Curtin University, Professor Ashworth was the Director of the Andrew N. Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership, and Chair in Sustainable Energy Futures at The University of Queensland (UQ).

As Western Power’s Distribution Grid Strategy & Planning Manager, Janica Lukas is charged with planning for the rapidly changing future of the distribution network of Western Australia’s South West Interconnected System. Janica is responsible for distribution network strategies and the scoping of investment proposals with a project pipeline of $40M-$50M per year.

Kieran Rayney is Assistant Director, Electricity Network Regulation at Energy Policy WA (DMIRS), where he is leading the implementation of the State Government’s Energy Governance and Legislation Reforms and advising on network regulation matters.

Lesley joined Synergy in January 2022 and has considerable prior experience with customer engagement in the banking and finance sectors.