Speakers

Andrew Gissing

CEO
Natural Hazards Research Australia

Andrew is an emergency management and resilience expert and leader with more than 20 years’ experience in the emergency management sector as both a practitioner and researcher. As the Chief Executive Officer of Natural Hazards Research Australia, Andrew is focused working collaboratively with partners to deliver research that is useful, usable and used to increase the safety and resilience of Australians from natural hazards. Andrew has previously held senior roles within academic organisations (General Manager, Risk Frontiers) as well as emergency management agencies (Deputy Chief Officer/Director Emergency Management and Communication, Victoria State Emergency Service) and state government (Director of Enterprise Risk Management at the NSW Department of Family and Community Services).  

Andrew is a sort after conference speaker and results-driven leader, driven by a passion to make a difference. He has a focus on strategy, risk, thought leadership, collaboration and mitigation. 

Andrew holds a Masters (Hons) of Science and a Bachelor of Economics degree, both from Macquarie University. 

John Hopping

CTO APAC
Cradlepoint 


John Hopping has over 30 years of technical leadership experience within the telecommunications and IT industry working for both global CSPs and prominent multinational companies. He has successfully led and delivered multiple complex technology transformation projects for customers head quartered globally and delivered network managed services and mobile and fixed wireless solutions. ​

John is an expert in working with organisations across all industries - from retail to construction, healthcare, government and many more - to help organisations harness connectivity as a pillar of business transformation. He currently leads a team of architects located across Australia and Southeast Asia whilst also being the technical thought leader for Cradlepoint within the Asia Pacific region.​

Nathan McGregor

Senior Vice President Sales
Cradlepoint


Nathan McGregor is the Senior Vice President, Sales for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region at Cradlepoint. Nathan has over 20 years’ of leadership experience in the telecommunications and IT industry working for prominent companies, including Cisco Meraki, Hitachi, Juniper Networks, Ericsson and Alcatel Lucent. He has successfully led technology businesses across APAC delivering networking, IoT, and analytics solutions across all industries. Working closely with indirect channel and carrier partners, he has a strong track record in supporting customers success in the use of innovative technologies to drive business value.

Steven Pearce

CEO
Surf Life Saving NSW 


Steven Pearce AFSM is the Chief Executive Officer Surf Life Saving NSW, a gazetted emergency service within NSW emergency management arrangements and is the peak body for coastal aquatic rescue in NSW. SLSNSW comprises over 76000 volunteers and 1000 fulltime and casual staff. Steven joined SLSNSW in 2017 and has an extensive 31-year background in emergency services, political relationships and emergency and crisis management, having worked for Fire Rescue NSW, the NSW State Emergency Service and consulting to major corporate organisations to in crisis and emergency management preparation

Jennifer O'Brien

Founder, Stories Ink
MC


Jennifer O’Brien, a seasoned business and technology journalist, is the founder of Stories Ink, specialising in content creation and event hosting. With over 25 years of experience, she has worked at prominent publications such as CIO Australia, CMO Australia, ARN, and Computerworld Australia. She has worked for newspapers and magazines in Toronto and Northern Ireland. Based in Sydney since 2003, she's well-known for moderating executive roundtables, panel discussions, and various events in the business and tech sector. O’Brien excels in blending human-centric storytelling with business and technology narratives.