Sam Barbaro

CEO

Western Power

Western Australia

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.

Sam has held senior positions since the late 1990s and has experience across a wide range of industries. He has a law degree from the University of Western Australia and joined the corporate sector after spending a decade practicing law in top tier law firms. Sam has a diverse range of technical and management experience in strategic leadership, stakeholder management, operational delivery, legal and financial regulation and governance, culture and change management and safety and compliance. Sam is passionate about contributing to the community and driving positive outcomes.

Sam is a non-executive Director of Leadership WA and a Director on the Board of Energy Networks Australia.

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Speaker agenda

9:25 am

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Panel: Coordinating investment to decarbonise WA's energy sector

Engaging Consumers in the Energy Transition

Conference

Conference

Conference

Conference

The scale of investment necessary to decarbonise the Western Australian energy sector is substantial and coordinating that level of investment is no small task. This panel will discuss the approach to coordination, so the industry has the best chance of harnessing the disruption that is now well underway to meet government and community decarbonisation objectives.

More panelists to be announced shortly.

Meet our moderator & panelists

Economic Regulation Authority

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.

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.

Deputy Director General - Coordinator of Energy

Energy Policy WA (DEMIRS)

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.

Managing Director

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.

9:25 am

16

August

2024

The Ritz Carlton