Plenary Session Speakers

Day One

Karen Lonergan
Karen is the group general manager for organisational effectiveness and management development at Qantas Airways. The main focus of her job is senior and emerging leaders.

As Australia’s largest airline, Qantas employs around 38,000 people. Most are based in Australia. The company’s current management development strategy –part of its talent and succession planning strategy – had its genesis in 2005 when the organisational focus shifted to its leadership pipeline.

James Allt-Graham
James is the National Partner in charge of both the Business Performance Services and People Performance and Culture practices. He is a member of KPMG’s Asia Pacific Performance Improvement executive team and a member of the global solutions group for performance improvement. James has worked with a variety of clients to drive operational improvements in procurement and for the past 12 months has been the global partner responsible for managing the redevelopment of KPMG’s procurement methodologies.

James joined KPMG in 1992 and has worked in the audit and consulting practices within KPMG. In 2002 he moved to Sydney to build the Business Performance Improvement practice and was appointed partner in charge in 2003. His technical focus has been on process improvement with a strong emphasis on supply chain re-engineering and organisational cost reduction. He has worked in a range of industries but specialises in consumer & industrial markets and government. All engagements have involved understanding the strategic positioning of the organisation, developing improvement initiatives and in many cases, implementing these initiatives.

Lynette Browning
Lynette is a Senior Consultant in Organisational Learning and Development at the University of South Australia and Coordinator of the Australian Technology Network Women’s Executive Development Program. For the past ten years she has been involved in developing and implementing strategies to increase the number of women in senior positions.

UniSA is one of South Australia’s largest employers with more than 3,000 staff, an annual turnover of more than $400 million, and a student population of about 33,000. UniSA has been an Employer of Choice for Women for the last six years and is the winner of the Inaugural Public Sector Gold Award in the 2005 National Work and Family Awards and the Inaugural Diversity@work Award for work/life balance for large organisations in 2006.

 Jane Bridge
A founder and the Managing Director of Boardroom Partners, Jane has worked with boards for almost 10 years and is well qualified to advise and assist with board practice and composition. After a career in HR management and policy work , Jane worked as a consultant specialising in leadership and planning. Since 1997, she has worked as an adviser to boards and chairmen across Australia.

Jane sits on advisory boards for the Sydney Graduate School of Management and the School of Corporate Governance at the University of Technology.

Sean Linkson
Sean is a 20 year veteran of the search industry, having assisted Boards and senior management recruit leaders and influencers across a wide range of industries and functions.

Sean has worked with listed and unlisted Boards, not-for-profits, multi-nationals and private entities. His search experience crosses most functions such as sales and marketing, IT, operations, human resources, finance and general management.

Prior to joining Talent Partners Boardsearch, Sean was Managing Director of A.T. Kearney’s executive search practice. He commenced his search career with Morgan and Banks. In the preceding years he has worked for the Australian subsidiaries of JP Morgan, Chase Manhattan and Lloyds Bank, covering areas such as capital markets and corporate banking. Prior to this, he spent nine years in project management with a leading Australian construction and engineering company.

Sean earned his Bachelor of Applied Science at Queensland Institute of Technology, and has a Master of Commerce from the University of New South Wales.

Denise Aldous
Denise is an experienced CEO with a career spanning 34+ years domestically and internationally in financial services, professional consulting services and international business development. In her most recent role as CEO of the International Finance Corporation – the private sector arm of The World Bank Group – she was interfacing with all levels from Prime Ministers to individual entrepreneurs across many industries in developed and emerging markets.

Denise is currently pursuing a career as a director. Her success to date includes a directorship with the UnitingCare NSW Children Young People and Families Services which has an operating revenue of $40m, assets of $127m and a staff of 500 across NSW. She is also on the UnitingCare NSW/ACT Audit Finance & Risk Committee which oversees a business of $350m revenue and assets in excess of $1.3bn. She is a lay member to the NSW Bar Association Professional Conduct Committee and Chairman of the International Assessment Panel of a multi-million dollar fund providing finance across nine countries in the Asia and Pacific.

David Stanton
David is an actuary whose main working career was with Towers Perrin and its predecessor firm, PTOW Consulting Actuaries. From 1990 until his retirement in 2007, he was Managing Director of David Stanton & Associates Pty Ltd, a firm specialising in computing and actuarial services for financial institutions. David was instrumental in setting up the Peer Support Foundation Ltd in 1983, and has been a director since that time. He was elected as Chairman in October 2005.

Jennifer Dalitz
Jen Dalitz is a CPA and has a Masters of Business Administration (Executive) from the AGSM and a Bachelor of Arts (Accountancy). She is a non-executive director of the Peer Support Foundation and in 2007 Jen founded www.sphinxx.org a web portal dedicated to supporting women leaders.

Jen has 15 years experience in the corporate environment in Australia and internationally as an executive, management consultant and business manager. She has led teams and business units of up to 200 people and is a recognised change agent, having implemented a number of business turnarounds and high profile strategic change programs with multi-million dollar budgets.

Day Two

Sarah Cornally
Sarah Cornally is an expert on leadership dynamics, specialising in diagnostic analysis of leadership challenges and developing effective strategies to influence people’s perception, behaviour, performance and outcomes. Sarah has consulted at the highest levels of Australian business and Government, including the Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet, Coca Cola Amatil, Ernst & Young, Macquarie Bank, Network 10, Phillips Fox Lawyers, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Vodafone. She has experience coaching chairs, directors, CEO’s, managing directors and senior executives. She is a facilitator for the AICD Advanced Diploma, Mastering the Boardroom and a member of the AICD directors coaches panel.

Judith Chapman
Judith is a registered psychologist with extensive experience in the human resource development field as a practitioner, consultant and teacher. She has a Doctorate in organisational change and has published widely in this area. Judith has been personally trained and certified in executive coaching by Dr Skiffington of the Behavioral Coaching Institute.

Helen Lang
Helen is a registered psychologist and CEO of Transitions, an accredited Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation. She has a strong record as an executive coach and consultant to decision makers within a range of organisations including the Australian Public Service, the private sector and academe. She has more than 15 years of experience conducting major organisational change initiatives and reviews.

David Williams 
David is a registered Psychologist with six years experience coaching CEOs, executives, and managers. He established his own mentoring consultancy and has managed the building of an innovative online mentoring management system. He offers clients practical insights on how to get the business and personal results they want more quickly and easily.

David also has more than 19 years experience working in senior management and consulting roles in the food, accounting, pharmaceuticals, and financial services industries, often as a coach to Senior Executives