As President of Microsoft Asia, Ahmed Mazhari oversees a vibrant and diverse region comprising 20 countries, some 30,000 employees, and 100,000 partners.

He focuses on acceleration of the Asia Pacific region’s digital transformation enabled by Microsoft, as the leading productivity and platform company, through its product, service and support offerings. He also continues to build and reinforce Microsoft’s reputation as a trusted partner for individuals, organizations and governments.

Mazhari believes in deepening collaborations with Microsoft’s customers and partners in Asia to accelerate digital adoption and empower innovative advancements in the region. This is fueled by his deep understanding of business process transformation and his passion for embracing change and implementing creative solutions in a fast-paced world. He is a big believer in the power of long-term partnerships with both employees and customers to achieve stronger and longer-lasting growth.

He joined Microsoft Asia in February 2020, following 23 successful years at GE and Genpact (a spin off from GE in 2005) where he last served as Senior Vice President and Chief Growth Officer leading the company’s growth globally across all industry verticals, products, service lines and geographies. Prior to this, he held senior leadership roles at Xerox.

Mazhari holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, India. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, is passionate about fitness, is an avid reader and loves watching cricket.

As Managing Director, Steven Worrall is responsible for Microsoft’s overall business in Australia and New Zealand, a role he assumed in January 2017. As Managing Director ANZ, he ensures the company meets the needs of its customers and the more than 10,000 partners and independent software vendors that sell or build on the Microsoft platform in Australia and New Zealand.

Steven joined Microsoft in March 2014 as Director, Enterprise and Partner Group, responsible for driving business growth and building strong customer and partner relationships in the Australian Commercial and Public Sector markets. In this role, Steven worked with organisations to drive innovation and business improvement through the application of technology in many areas, including productivity solutions, mobility and cloud services.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Steven worked for IBM for 22 years and held a number of marketing, sales and general management roles in the services, software and financing segments of the organisation. Most recently, he led IBM’s software business in Asia Pacific region where he built organisational capability in diverse markets across the region and drove the business towards more cloud delivered services.

Steven is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion with a particular focus on improving Indigenous inclusion and addressing wellbeing and mental health in the workplace. Steven is the founding Chair of Corporate Mental Health Alliance in Australia and the Microsoft Global Indigenous Employee Resource Group Executive Co-Sponsor. Steven is also committed to a sustainable and inclusive future and is a founding member of the Australian Climate Leaders Coalition and is Chair of the New South Wales Skills Board

Steven holds an Honours degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s in Business Administration. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and lives in Sydney with his wife and three children.

Richard White co-founded WiseTech Global in his basement in 1994. Today it is the major supplier of logistics execution software globally covering 181 countries, employing ~3,600 staff and with all of the top 25 largest global freight forwarders as customers. WiseTech is the largest ASX-listed technology company by market cap.

Richard works with universities and schools to create pathways for more students to enter the tech industry, including WiseTech’s ‘Earn and Learn’ program.

He is a government appointed member of the Australia Border Force Customs Advisory Board.

David is Chief Executive and co-founder of Macquarie Technology Group and has been a director since 16 July 1992. He is responsible for overseeing the general management and strategic direction of the Group and is actively involved in the Group’s participation in regulatory issues. He is a member of the Australian School of Business Advisory Council at the University of NSW and was a member of the Australian Government’s B20 Leadership Group. David is a member of the Australian Government’s Cyber Security Industry Advisory Committee. David holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of NSW. In 2018, David was named Australian Communications Ambassador at the 12th Annual ACOMM Awards. In 2020, David was named CEO of the Year at the World Communications Awards in London. In 2023, David was awarded the Pearcey Medal, the Australian ICT industry's highest award.

Associate Professor Jo-An Occhipinti is an esteemed epidemiologist and systems scientist whose pioneering work has established her as a leader in addressing public health and social policy issues and safeguarding the future of work amidst complex global challenges that threaten the Mental Wealth of nations. Her research breaks down conventional barriers by integrating mental health, economic, and social frameworks, and metrics to pave the way towards wellbeing-orientated economies that foster social cohesion, resilience, and inclusive prosperity.

In her most recent research, A/Prof. Occhipinti has identified the potential recessionary pressures of generative AI, and calls for governments, unions, and civic organizations to work collaboratively to shape a new social contract; one that augments rather than replaces labour, upholds work justice and human rights, while fostering economic productivity and business innovation.

Victor Dominello, a former senior NSW Government minister, served notably as the world’s first Customer Service Minister. His 12-year cabinet career spanned Digital Government, Innovation, Finance, and Aboriginal Affairs. Recognised globally for pioneering public service transformation in NSW, he contributed to initiatives like Service NSW and the Digital Restart Fund. Before politics, he was a commercial law partner. In 2023, he co-founded ServiceGen, advising on innovative service delivery. In 2022, he was named one of Australia's top 100 innovators by The Australian newspaper

David Goodrich OAM is the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Anduril Asia-Pacific. He oversees and drives Anduril growth and operations in Australia and the greater Indo-Pacific region. Before Anduril, David advised the Australian Defence Force and other Australian and State government entities on dozens of major weapons system acquisition, sustainment and infrastructure contracts.

Jon Whittle is Director of CSIRO's Data61, the digital and data science arm of Australia's national science agency. With around 1000 staff and affiliates, Data61 is one of the largest collections of R&D expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in the world. Data61 partners with over 200 industry and government organisations, over 30 Universities, and works across vertical sectors in manufacturing, health, agriculture, and the environment. Prior to joining Data61, Jon was Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University, the largest university in Australia. He was named CEO Magazine's 2019 Education Executive of the Year. Jon is also a former Technical Area Lead at NASA, where he worked on software for NASA space missions. Jon is passionate about the role digital technologies can play in society. He has a world-leading reputation on how to adapt software development methods to fully take into account human values and ethics, so that we build software for a society we want rather than one we get by accident. Jon is also host of CSIRO's Everyday AI podcast, which provides a gentle introduction to AI and cuts through much of the hype surrounding this emerging technology.

Charlie has over 20 years in the industry after initially graduating with a degree in Aerospace Engineering. As Managing Director of Waterstons Australia since early 2020, she leads the APAC team and looking after our local people and clients. Known for her innovative leadership and passion for technology, she focuses on staff development and customer needs. She joined Waterstons UK in 2013 as a Technology and Cyber consultant, growing in the company to then move to Australia early 2020 with her family to expand the business.

Rachael Falk is the Chief Executive Officer of the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre
(CSCRC), leading a high-level collaboration between government, industry and research
institutions.

As one of the nation’s leading cyber security, policy experts and commentators, Rachael was appointed by the Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security to the three-person Expert Advisory Board to advise on the development of Australia’s 2023-2030 Cyber Security Strategy.

Rachael also led the independent review into the Department of Home Affairs management of the Optus and Medibank cyber breaches in 2022.

Rachael has a background in telecommunications, litigation and commercial law, practising as a lawyer for more than a decade in top-tier firms in Australia, the UK and with Telstra Corporation Limited.

She has co-authored several key policy papers on artificial intelligence, ransomware, cyber insurance and IoT cyber security and holds an Advanced Masters in National Security Policy (Hons) from the Australian National University (ANU), Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and a Bachelor of Arts (ANU).