Speakers
Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon
Executive Director - Cities Revitalisation and Place, Cities and Active Transport, Transport for NSW
Dr Caroline Butler‐Bowdon is an Executive Director in the new Cities and Active Transport Division at Transport for NSW where she leads a team of strategists, policy-makers, place-managers, project managers, planners and storytellers to lead a program of investment in NSW addressing the wellbeing, walkability and amenity and activation in our streets, civic places in our suburbs and cities.
Katie Cooper
Chief Executive Officer, Metro Tasmania
Katie Cooper is a commercially focussed, operationally experienced and authentic business executive with an impressive track record in both private and public sector services.
A strong communicator and with a strategic customer and performance focus, Katie excels at managing complex and fast paced operations while also delivering results.
Prior to joining Metro Tasmania, Katie held senior positions with Melbourne Airport, Stansted Airport, Northern Territory Airports and Air New Zealand. Over the course of Katie’s career, she has worked across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom and has also completed an MBA. Katie was awarded a Chief Executive Women scholarship to attend Harvard Business School’s leadership program and in 2012, was the Northern Territory Telstra Business Woman of the Year.
Katie is the inaugural Chair of the Tasmanian Chapter of Chief Executive Women (CEW). She was also previously a Director of the Australian Airports Association, Tourism Central Australia and Chamber of Commerce (Alice Springs).
Barbara Harvey
Barbara Harvey is Head of Learning at Cahoot Learning leading a global team of designers to deliver high-impact learning experiences for workforce education. She is passionate about enabling others through learning to live and work with curiosity and fulfilment.
She has studied, facilitated, designed, and delivered pathway leadership programs and interventions in person and digitally for over 3000+ individuals from Graduate to C-suite level for corporate clients, not-for-profits, and government agencies in Australia and beyond.
Currently studying a Global Executive MBA at The University of Sydney, she sits on the board of a not-for-profit supporting Girls' education in Fiji and has four children and 12-year-old kelpie called Nutmeg.
Dr Deborah Hume
National Manager Multimodal & Innovation, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency
Deb is currently the National Manager of Multimodal and Innovation for Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. Her portfolio contains urban mobility, public transport, urban form, rail and freight, and future transport. Previously she has worked with local government to transform public transport provision; led Wellington metro and New Zealand’s national rail tourism brand (Scenic Journeys) for KiwiRail; and led the NZ risk management practise for Fortune 500 global consultancy.
Aashish George Mathew
Senior Design Integrator, Aurecon
Aashish has over 3 years of experience working on a diverse range of projects and initiatives, from developing precinct masterplans and enhancing the public realm, to conducting User-Centred Design research and implementing strategic design for greater outcomes. He is passionate about influencing change through design to draw out the greatest value and does so by exploring the root cause of problems before developing actionable solutions.
Aashish thrives in multidisciplinary collaborative environments with a focus on challenging the outcomes, bringing the client on the journey of design development, and ensuring that ‘people and experience’ are at the core of what he does.
Mark Pesce
Futurist, University of Sydney
Mark Pesce is a futurist, inventor, writer, entrepreneur, educator and podcaster.
In 1994 Pesce co-invented VRML, a 3D interface to the Web.
Pesce was a judge on the ABC’s hit series The New Inventors, celebrating Australia’s newest inventions, and writes an award-winning column for the global tech publication The Register.
Pesce brings his skills as a futurist to diverse sectors of the economy, including financial institutions ranging from Westpac, World Bank, HSBC and SWIFT, and regularly facilitates and mentors hackathons on topics as diverse as fintech, blockchain, virtual reality, and education.
Pesce hosts two podcasts: This Week in Startups Australia - exploring tech startups; and The Next Billion Seconds - winner of the Best Technical and Scientific Podcast of 2018 - connecting the work of today’s brightest thinkers with the world of tomorrow.
Pesce has written six books, including The Playful World, which used toys such as Furby and LEGO Mindstorms to illuminate the interactive world of the 21st century.
Pesce founded graduate programs at both the University of Southern California and the Australian Film, Radio and Television School, holding appointments as Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney, and Honorary Adjunct at UTS.
Romesh Rodrigo
Senior Manager Electric and Hydrogen Projects, Daimler Truck and Bus
After completing his engineering degree at the University of Melbourne, Romesh joined IVECO Trucks Australia as a graduate in 2000. He has since gained experience in a range of technical and managerial roles with leading European, North American and Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturers in Australia. Romesh re-joined Daimler Truck and Bus (DTB) in 2016, taking on a Senior Manager role within FUSO Truck and Bus where he oversaw engineering and product strategy along with technical support for the brand. In 2019 he changed roles within DTB taking on responsibility for homologation and regulatory affairs for all three Daimler brands. Much of his current role involves regulatory planning around DTB’s future product with specific focus on Zero Emission Vehicles strategy. Future perspective is a key focus for him where efficiency, safety and the advanced technologies offered by DTB products will play an important role in supporting Australia’s future freight task.
Scott Smith
Managing Director, Transportation - Australia, Aurecon
Scott is international engineering, design and advisory company Aurecon’s Managing Director, Transportation – Australia. He has worked in a variety of technical and management roles since his career began as a Tunnel Engineer in 1999, most recently as Market Operations Director – Transportation.
He believes Australia and New Zealand are in an incredibly fortunate position within the world, where we have a once in a generation opportunity to ensure that the current pipeline of transport projects deliver real benefits for communities and create a legacy where our systems, for commuting and freight, strengthen our economic productivity and promote sustainable outcomes.
Scott has previously spent 11 years in leadership roles in Aurecon’s Asia business, including as Infrastructure Leader – Hong Kong and Client Director for Infrastructure in Asia.
He brings international lessons learned regarding the prioritisation of transit oriented development hubs and ensuring that we look up rather than out – thinking about our transport networks as being the centres of our communities.
Scott is passionate about understanding where the pressures are and how to manage them, looking in particular at digital engineering and how technology can assist with the lifecycle of a project from delivery to the asset management, operations and maintenance.
Scott has played key roles on many large infrastructure projects in both Australia and Asia, including EastLink, Cross City Tunnel, South Island Line and Express Rail Link in Hong Kong, as well as the Doha Metro Red Line project in the Middle East.
Sally Stannard
Deputy Director-General (Translink), Department of Transport and Main Roads
Sally is the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Transport and Main Roads and the head of TransLink, where she leads the delivery of customer-focused passenger transport services across Queensland including policy, planning, ticketing, contract management and customer services.
TransLink Division is responsible for the integrated rail, bus, ferry and tram network in South East Queensland; and long-distance rail, coach and aviation services in regional, rural and remote Queensland, in addition to school transport, personalised transport and demand responsive transport services.
Sally has qualifications in Engineering and International Studies and is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Rowenna Walker
NSW/ACT Managing Director, Aurecon
Rowenna Walker is the Managing Director for NSW and ACT for an international design, engineering and advisory company called Aurecon. As a member of Aurecon’s Australian Executive Leadership Team, she is responsible for the leadership and performance of the New South Wales & ACT business including health & safety, client engagement, staff engagement, project and financial performance.
Qualified as a Chartered Civil Engineer with 30 years of international experience in the engineering industry across a diversity of geographies including Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Hong Kong. Rowenna has held leadership roles on a range of infrastructure projects as well as having key business and operational leadership roles.
Rowenna was recently recognised at the 2022 National Infrastructure Awards winning the Women’s Achievement Award. In 2019 she was acknowledged for her business leadership in the construction industry by being awarded the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) ‘NSW Business Woman of the Year’ Award. She is passionate about the diversity and inclusion agenda and in 2017 received a Highly Commended award for Champions of Change, Female Leadership by Consult Australia. A Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Rowenna is the current President and a Director on the Board of Consult Australia.
Sue Wiblin
Sue is a strategic stakeholder and emerging mobility specialist with over 20 years’ experience leading innovation, urban planning and transport technology projects across listed property groups, membership organisations, SMEs, and government. Sue passionately believes that a holistic plan is needed to improve public transport mode share and create more liveable cities.
Sue joined Transport for NSW in 2021 as the Executive Director Emerging Technologies where she leads a diverse program of work including connected and autonomous vehicles and quantum computing and scaled AI projects and hydrogen and electrification strategies. Previously Sue led the new mobility business for Keolis Downer designing and delivering on-demand transport services and autonomous vehicle projects nationally.
Sue is a strategic stakeholder and emerging mobility specialist with over 20 years’ experience leading innovation, urban planning and transport technology projects across listed property groups, membership organisations, SMEs, and government. Sue passionately believes that a holistic plan is needed to improve public transport mode share and create more liveable cities.
Sue joined Transport for NSW in 2021 as the Executive Director Emerging Technologies where she leads a diverse program of work including connected and autonomous vehicles and quantum computing and scaled AI projects and hydrogen and electrification strategies. Previously Sue led the new mobility business for Keolis Downer designing and delivering on-demand transport services and autonomous vehicle projects nationally.
More speakers to be announced soon!
Hosts and Facilitators
Tabitha Carr, Marketing Specialist, Daimler Truck and Bus
Tabitha Carr is currently the Marketing Specialist for Mercedes-Benz Truck and Bus at Daimler Truck Australia Pacific. Her key responsibility in this role is the management and delivery of all Mercedes-Benz Bus and Coach marketing activities. She also manages internal and external communications, events, incentive programs, merchandising and supports the wider dealer network to help keep Australia and New Zealand moving. Tabitha moved from a farm in regional Victoria to Melbourne to complete a Double Bachelor's Degree in Business (majoring in marketing) and Design (majoring in communication design) at Swinburne University. In her own time, Tabitha will be found training at the gym, drinking coffee, or managing her side hustle tea business.
Ruw Palapathwala, Transport Planner, Aurecon
Ruw is a transport planner at Aurecon, motivated to create a better world by believing in its capacity to create better people. Ruw sees his work as a vocation that serves both the community and his clients, bringing excellent communication and a dependable work ethic to projects. He is committed to exceeding client expectations, par excellence, thriving in working to demanding project programs in leading work and collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams.
Ruw is driven by taming the wicked problem of traffic congestion and is passionate about delivering efficient and reliable transport systems which help bring people and opportunity together. To this end, Ruw has carried out work in traffic engineering, demand modelling, microsimulation modelling, GIS mapping, traffic impact assessments, intersection network modelling and transport strategy advisory. Moreover, he also volunteers in a leadership capacity with the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) and the Institute of Transport Engineers Australia-New Zealand section (ITE-ANZ), organisations both committed to advancing transport development for the wider community and profession. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) (Honours) and Bachelor of Business (Finance) dual major from Swinburne University of Technology.
Aliya Westaway, Senior Program Advisor, Department of Transport and Main Roads
Aliya has fulfilled the Senior Program Advisor for TransLink's multi-million-dollar Passenger Transport Service Investment Program (PTSIP) for over 12 months. As Program Advisor, Aliya supports TransLink's Service Integration and Delivery team to deliver integrated service projects through her management of the PTSIP Program Management Office. Aliya is responsible for internal and external stakeholder management, quality assurance of program outputs, maintenance of program schedule and financial status, program development and continuous process improvements. Aliya has approximately 4 years’ experience working in the transport sector, in various roles across the Department of Transport and Main Roads including project management, planning and development assessment, rail strategy, transport planning, and service delivery. Aliya has an undergraduate qualification in Regional and Urban Planning from the University of the Sunshine Coast, structured project management method qualifications and is currently undertaking facilitator training.