The Public Transport Association Australia New Zealand is excited to bring together thought leaders to speak on building better transport for a better future for the Australian and New Zealand regions.
Opening Address
Hon. Minister Ben Carroll
Minister for Industry and Innovation, Minister for Manufacturing Sovereignty, Minister for Employment, Minister for Public Transport, Victorian Government
Ben Carroll was born and raised in Airport West where his family have lived for over 40 years. Ben has over 20 years’ worth of experience in public service, including as a lawyer for the Victorian Government, and adviser to Victorian Premier Steve Bracks.
First elected as the Member for Niddrie on the 24th of March 2012, Ben was appointed the Minister for Industry and Employment in October 2017. In this role he oversaw the implementation of Australia’s first ever local jobs first legislation and the countries first Social Procurement Framework.
Following the 2018 Victorian State Election Ben was appointed the Minister for Crime Prevention, Corrections, Youth Justice and Victim Support.
In June 2020, Ben was appointed the Minister for Public Transport, Roads and Road Safety.
In July 2022, Ben added the portfolios of Minister for Industry Support and Recovery and Business Precincts to his existing portfolio responsibilities of Public Transport, Roads and Road Safety. In these roles, Ben focuses on ensuring Victoria’s transport network and industry policies provide access to opportunity, support the transition to net zero emissions, and build a fairer society.
Following the 2022 Victorian State Election, Ben added the portfolios of Minister for Industry and Innovation, Manufacturing Sovereignty and Employment to his existing portfolio responsibility of Public Transport.
Keynote
Dorval R. Carter Jr.
President, Chicago Transit Authority | Chair, American Public Transportation Association (APTA)
As President of the CTA, Dorval R. Carter, Jr. oversees more than 10,000 employees and helps ensure that everyone works together in adhering to the agency’s mission of delivering quality, affordable transit services that link people, jobs and communities.
Appointed as CTA President in 2015, Mr. Carter has led the way for unprecedented investment in CTA. Under Mayors Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot, Mr. Carter has overseen more than $8 billion of projects completed, begun or announced—including the largest construction project in CTA history (the Red and Purple Modernization), the largest railcar order in the agency’s history, and the reconstruction/rehabilitation of more than 40 rail stations.
Prior to becoming CTA President, Mr. Carter served as the Acting Chief of Staff to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, managing a department with more than 55,000 employees and a $70 billion budget that oversees air, maritime and surface transportation.
Prior to that, Mr. Carter served as Acting Deputy Administrator for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) as well as FTA’s Chief Counsel, where he provided support to the Department of Transportation’s General Counsel on legal matters concerning the federal transit program.
Mr. Carter is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the 2019 Motorola Foundation Excellence in Public Service Award from the Civic Federation of Chicago; the Transportation Research Board’s 2021 Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lectureship; and most recently the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) 2021 Outstanding Public Transportation Manager Award, the same year the CTA was named APTA’s Outstanding Public Transportation System.
A graduate of Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he is Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mr. Carter also holds a Juris Doctor degree from Howard University School of Law. He is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., as well as the Illinois and Federal bar associations.
Paul Younis
Secretary, Department of Transport and Planning Victoria
Paul Younis was announced as Secretary, Department of Transport and Planning following changes to Victorian Government departments in 2022.
He was previously Secretary of the Department of Transport until the expansion of the role brought together Victoria’s transport, planning and land use functions.
In 2019, he led the integration of the transport portfolio into the new Department of Transport, bringing together the planning, management and delivery of all transport in one integrated department, and overseeing the delivery of a record $100 billion new transport infrastructure across the State.
The new Department of Transport and Planning will play a pivotal role in shaping the growth of Melbourne and Victoria’s as we grow to a city of nine million and a state of eleven million over the next three decades. The integration of land use, planning and transport will be key to meeting the social, economic and environmental challenges of a growing state.
Prior to the Department of Transport, Paul was CEO of Melbourne’s Brimbank City Council and CEO of regional Corangamite Shire.
He has qualifications in Engineering, Law and Business.
Speakers
Ben Hague
APAC Regional Manager, Via
Brooke Wharton A/Executive Director Cities Revitalisation and Place at Transport for NSW
At Transport for NSW she leads a multi-disciplinary team delivering state-wide programs such as the NSW Public Spaces Charter, the Safer Cities Program for women and girls, Streets as Shared Spaces, Your High Street, Places to Love, the Great Public Spaces Toolkit, The Festival of Place and more.
Carla Purcell CEO Yarra Trams operated by Keolis Downer
Carla Purcell is the CEO of Melbourne’s iconic Yarra Trams network, proudly operated by Australia’s largest provider of multi-modal public transport, Keolis Downer.
A Melbourne local, Carla was a passenger long before joining Yarra Trams as Chief Operations Officer in 2018, where she drove significant improvements in safety, customer service, and disruption management.
Prior to joining Yarra Trams, Carla was a corporate lawyer both at Ashurst and Qantas, before making the jump to the operational side of the business to serve as Qantas' Head of Sydney International Terminal, Qantas' flagship airport and the epicentre of Qantas' international network.
A committed leader, Carla consistently delivers results and innovations and puts passenger experience at the heart of her work to ensure that the tram network continues to be a service that Melburnians can be proud of now and into the future.
Carla is passionate about improving diversity and representation across all areas of Yarra Trams and addressing the structural challenges that hold women back in the business. She has advanced gender diversity at Yarra Trams through initiatives such as the introduction of part time work opportunities and focus on facilities. Carla is a member of the Women in Transport Steering Committee and National Women in Transport Speaker Bureau.
Catherine Rinaldi MTA Metro-North Railroad, and Interim President, MTA Long Island Rail Road
Catherine Rinaldi has been President of MTA Metro-North Railroad since Feb. 21, 2018. She is the sixth president of Metro-North and the first woman to hold this position. In addition, Ms. Rinaldi serves as interim president of the Long Island Rail Road, a position she has held since February of 2022. This new combined role allows Ms. Rinaldi to promote greater collaboration between the two railroads, allowing the railroads’ operating departments to learn from each other and identify best practices to solve common problems. In her role as interim president of LIRR, Ms. Rinaldi is involved in readiness activities associated with the commencement of LIRR service into Grand Central. Ms. Rinaldi joined MTA as General Counsel in 2003, and before assuming her current roles, also served as LIRR General Counsel, MTA Chief of Staff, and Metro-North Executive Vice President. Ms. Rinaldi has worked to improve employee engagement at both railroads. These efforts have included panel discussions, recognition events, and the launch of a podcast and a blogpost. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale University and received her law degree from the University of Virginia. School of Law.
Chris Loader Director of Public Transport Planning Analytics at the Department of Transport and Planning (Victoria)
Chris has worked in public transport planning since 2005, for both transport operators and state government. He currently leads a team delivering data-driven insights to rail and bus planners to inform the development of the network. Chris is passionate about evidence-based decision making, data visualisation, and understanding how transport and cities work and are evolving. In his spare time, he authors the widely-referenced blog ChartingTransport.com, where he explores the patterns and trends of transport and urban environments through extensive visualisation of a variety of data sources.
Claire Donnellan Director, Customer Centric Consulting
Claire has 30 years of experience in leading customer experience and operational teams in airlines and airports across Asia and the Pacific. As an MBA and Human Factors qualified, respected industry expert, she has extensive experience in mapping customer and operational transformation strategies.
Her specialty is embedding human-led design thinking throughout project development lifecycles that deliver on agreed investment outcomes.
Daniel Martiri
Senior Network Planner, Brisbane City Council
Daniel is a Senior Network Planner at Brisbane City Council, where he leads Transport for Brisbane’s Strategic Network Planning team.
In his current position, Daniel has played a critical role in delivering strategic transport planning projects, including the Brisbane Metro project, the design of Brisbane’s New Bus Network (BNBN), supporting the public consultation process for BNBN, Brisbane’s ferry network review and other key Council transport initiatives.
Daniel has a breadth of transport planning experience across different modes and organisations including strategic bus, ferry and rail planning, as well as transport infrastructure planning. He is passionate about working collaboratively with stakeholders to facilitate strategic public transport outcomes that support sustainable transport choices within the community.
Daniel holds a Bachelor of Regional and Town Planning (Honours) from the University of Queensland.
David Simmonds
Director, Transport Accessibility and Inclusion, Department of Transport and Planning
Now the Director, Transport Accessibility & Inclusion branch within Department of Transport and Planning, David is a passionate crusader for accessibility and inclusion across our public transport network.
Prior to joining the then PTV David was employed by Guide Dogs Victoria(GDV) as their Business Development and Advocacy Manager and just prior to joining PTV was instrumental in the development and delivery of the Dialogue in the Dark Corporate Workshop offering in Melbourne.
In his time at GDV David spent much of his time advocating for GDV clients who had encountered discrimination or difficulty accessing various parts of the community including public transport. It was through David’s work in this area that he became well known across the public transport sector in the field of accessibility, being appointed to the Public Transport Access Committee PTAC by the then Minister for Transport Jacinta Allan. A previous member of V-Line’s Accessibility Reference Group and Yarra Trams Disability Reference Group, David also participated in joint compliance operations with the then Taxi Services Commission, an operation that they affectionately named “Operation Olga” named after David’s previous Guide Dog.
In his current role within the Department of Transport and Planning David feels he is ideally positioned to help enable DTP to provide a more accessible and inclusive public transport network for all by ensuring accessibility is a core consideration in everything they do.
Deborah Hume
National Manager Multimodal Integration, Waka Kotahi
Deb is currently the National Manager of Multimodal Integration for Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. Her portfolio contains urban mobility, public transport, urban form, rail and freight. 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.
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Dee Leggett
Executive Vice President/Chief Development Officer, Development Department, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART)
Dee Leggett, a nationally recognized transit leader, has over 20 years of experience in the planning, development, and operation of public transportation projects across the country. As DART’s Executive Vice President/Chief Development Officer, Dee directs and oversees the Development Department which includes Capital Planning, Service Planning & Scheduling, Engineering & Construction, Real Estate & Economic Development, and Capital Program Support. She is currently serving as the Project Executive for the Silver Line, a 26-mile commuter rail system connecting into Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, and the agency’s multimodal System Modernization Program.
Having worked in both the public and private sector, Ms. Leggett brings a diverse perspective to her role at DART. Prior to joining DART, she served as Hatch LTK’s Vice President for the South-Central Region and Director of Zero Emissions Technology. In that role, she oversaw projects and client engagement for all transit and rail clients in the South-Central Region of the United States. She has also served as a regional executive with First Transit and as a member of the Executive Leadership Team at Denton County Transportation Authority.
Ms. Leggett has a bachelor’s degree in History/Political Science from Union University in Jackson, TN, and a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington. She holds her AICP from the American Planning Association and is a graduate of Leadership APTA.
Dylan Alcott
2022 Australian of the Year, NEC Ambassador and Leading Disability Advocate and Consultant
2022 Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott AO, is one of the Australia’s most successful and well recognised Paralympians, media personalities and disability advocates. In 2021 he became the only male in any form of tennis to win the 'Golden Slam', winning the Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Open Championships, and he is a Paralympic Gold Medallist in two different sports.
Since retiring from professional tennis Dylan has not slowed down in any way and his drive is stronger than even when he comes to his purpose and mission:to change perceptions so people with disability can live the lives they deserve to live.
In 2017, Dylan launched the Dylan Alcott Foundation, providing grants, scholarships and mentoring to young Australians with disability to eliminate the barriers of entry to get involved in sports, study, training, employment and business ownership. In the same year, he co-founded consultancy firm Get Skilled Access with a purpose to create a new generation of disability inclusion that is equitable for all. More recently, he co - founded and launched The Field Jobs – a dedicated platform to establish pathways between job seekers with a Disability and employers of all kind in the marketplace.
Dylan was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2022 for distinguished service to Paralympic sport, particularly to tennis, and as a role model for people with disability, and to the community through a range of organisations.
Elias Lebbos
Chief Executive Officer, Travellers Aid Australia
Elias joined Travellers Aid as Operations Manager in 2007 and took on the role of CEO in 2014. Prior to this, over a period of 18years, he held a number of different roles at state level within theAustralian Red Cross. This included overseeing BusinessDevelopment, Volunteer Development and Community Development.
Elias uses his expert knowledge of the transport sector together with innovative thinking and a real understanding of community needs to lead the organisation into its second century of operation.
Elias is particularly adept at strategic planning, identifying new opportunities and focusing on the big picture as Travellers Aid continues to experience significant growth in response to customer and service user needs in an ever changing marketplace
Helen Williams
Executive General Manager for Transport ANZ, SYSTRA ANZ
Helen Williams is the Executive General Manager for Transport Consulting in ANZ. Her career spans over 30 years of engineering management and leadership. She leads a broad range of interrelated technical, systems and human centred disciplines blending local expertise with extensive global reach back. Helen is passionate about building integrated, engaged teams to deliver optimal, sustainable and resilient solutions to complex challenges for the communities in which we all live and work.
John Anasis
Head of Origination, Director Structured Asset Finance
Head of Origination, Director Structured Asset Finance
Over 18 years of banking and finance experience spanning Structured Asset Finance, Funds Management and Private Equity investment
Prior to Joining CBA, John spent 5 years at Westpac in the Structured Asset Finance and Securitisation team. More recently 10 years at Investec Bank as a Director in the Structured Asset Finance Team, and as Investment Director in Investec’s Private Equity investment team.
John has a breadth of experience in financing major moveable transportation assets including aviation, mining equipment and manufacturing machinery as well as investment in technology assets, datacentre infrastructure, and airport infrastructure
Jon Whelan
Chief Executive, Department for Infrastructure and Transport
Jon Whelan is the Chief Executive for the Department for Infrastructure and Transport with over 35 years of extensive experience with the Department. He is passionate and committed to serving South Australians through the provision of valuable social and economic infrastructure, and service delivery.
His diverse responsibilities include setting strategy and policy, implementing programs, projects, initiatives, service delivery, and driving improved performance.
Jon is Rail Commissioner and Commissioner of Highways, with responsibility for ensuring well-connected and customer focused services are delivered safely, efficiently, and sustainably, and our road network is improved and maintained.
The Department is responsible for the delivery of $7.8 billion investment in transport infrastructure and $5.5 billion for social infrastructure projects, over four years.
Jon is committed to fostering collaborative relationships with industry and key stakeholders and ensuring as many South Australian businesses as possible can be involved in State Government infrastructure projects.
Julien Dehornoy
CEO, Keolis Downer
Julien is a true believer in public transport. In his 15 years of experience in the rail and public transport industry across 3 continents, he has worked with both Government and operators to make public transport the preferred option. Julien is currently the CEO of Keolis Downer, the largest multimodal public transport operator in Australia, with train, tram, bus, ferry or new mobilities operations across 5 States. In this role, Julien’s focus is to increase the use of public transport, by delivering a great passenger experience and operational excellence, bringing international best practice to serve local needs, as well as driving engagement with the 5,300 Keolis Downer employees.
Prior to this role, Julien was the CEO of Yarra Trams, the operator of Melbourne tram network, the largest in the world, and held various positions at SNCF, the national French rail operator, including CEO of SNCF America (2010-2012) and Managing Director of RER D, SNCF’s busiest commuter line in Paris (2014-2017). In French Government, Julien was the Project Manager for the first franchising of Intercity trains (2008-2010) and Chief of Staff to the Transport Minister (2017-2019).
Throughout his career, Julien has had a passion for transport policy, improving passenger experience and upgrading service delivery of large transit systems. He believes in building true partnerships between public transport authorities, experienced public transport operators and the broader industry, to deliver positive outcomes for local communities.
A French national, Julien relocated to Melbourne in 2019 with his family. In his free time, he can usually be found on his bike or tram spotting with his son.
Lauren Streifer
Chief Executive, PTAANZ
Lauren is an experienced leader in transport, infrastructure and international relations, throughout Australia, the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific. Before joining PTAANZ, Lauren led boutique consultancy firm S&Co, which advised leaders and built collaborative partnerships across multiple sectors including government, transport, infrastructure, technology, finance and sport. She also founded Skillsy - an initiative that brings together industry and government leaders to mentor and train professionals in the Australian infrastructure sector, with the goal of addressing skills shortages and improving industry culture.
Previously, Lauren served as Executive Director of Roads Australia (RA) where she represented over 160 global infrastructure companies and state governments. During this period, she significantly expanded the organisation's membership, spearheaded unprecedented collaboration among stakeholders and built lasting industry programs - including the RA Fellowship Program.
Lauren's background is in international relations and diplomacy. She previously served as a Project Manager at the Australian office of APEC, where she managed trade relationships across 21 regional economies. She has also held roles within the Mayor's Office of Economic Development in New Orleans and the Australian Consulate-General in New York City.
Michael Sewards
Co-CEO and founding Director, Kinetic
Michael is a Co-CEO and founding Director of Kinetic, Australia and New Zealand’s largest bus operator supporting major industries including aviation and resources as well as delivering government-contracted public transport, school and charter services.
Kinetic is also the majority owner of Go Ahead, the largest operator of buses in London, Regional UK, and also operating buses in Ireland, Sweden and Singapore. In addition, Go Ahead operate the largest single train network in the UK, GTR including Thameslink/Great Southern/Gatwick Express moving over 350m passengers annually.
Michael was born and grew up in Melbourne and is passionate about commitment to social progression. One such way of driving meaningful change to society is through Kinetic's core sustainability commitments of gender equality in the workforce by 2030, applying a gold standard to inclusion and achieving net zero emissions by 2035.
The transport sector has a significant environmental footprint and Michael believes in taking action today, and working collaboratively with our clients to produce more sustainable movement solutions.
Michael has led Kinetic’s growth to a $2.2b revenue (FY23) business across six countries, 175 contracts, from 164 depots, 11,000 buses and 2,000 trains.
Before co-founding Kinetic in 2014, Michael enjoyed a long and successful career in the Australasian transport advisory and finance sectors.
Michelle Batsas
Executive Director of Future Mobility,
Victorian Department of Transport and Planning
Michelle Batsas is the Executive Director of Future Mobility at the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning. In this role, Michelle oversees the transport and customer strategy, research and innovation functions of the Department, leadings teams at the forefront of responding to mobility trends and emerging technologies.
Previously, Michelle was the Executive Director of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) in ANZ before becoming the CEO of the Public Transport Association Australia New Zealand, where she advocated for best practice public transport and sustainable mobility solutions. Michelle has also held senior roles at Public Transport Victoria and VicRoads.
Nicole Kalms
Associate Professor in the Faculty of Art Design and Architecture, Monash University XYX Lab
Paul D'Alessio
Chief Operations Officer, Keolis Downer
As Chief Operations Officer at Keolis Downer Yarra Trams, Paul leads service delivery, passenger experience, and operational planning and performance at the world’s largest tram network, delivering 5000 services a day across a 24/7 operation.
Paul is an impressive transport leader with a rich background in operations and customer experience in both public transport and aviation, including as CEO of New Zealand’s largest metropolitan rail operator in Auckland. Prior, Paul led Operations functions at V/Line and Metro Trains.
Paul puts safety and continuous improvement at the centre of everything he does, striving every day for Yarra Trams and its people to be the best they can be.
Russ Yell
Regional Director ANZ, Optibus
Russ is a thought leader and influencer at the forefront of global mobility innovation. In his current role he works with transport agencies and transport operators in ANZ to improve mobility outcomes through the Optibus platform and its ever-increasing suite of capabilities.
During his 20 years in the transport and infrastructure industry he's worked across the globe, and has always sought to challenge norms and find opportunities to improve outcomes through process redesign, user-centricity and the adoption of innovative technologies.
Sally Stannard
Deputy Director-General (TransLink), Department of Transport and Main Roads, Chair, PTAANZ Board of Directors
As Acting Director-General, Sally Stannard leads the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR). with an operating budget of more than $8.223 billion, capital budget of $4.704 billion and managed assets worth $106.719 billion.
Sally was appointed as Acting Director-General on 5 June 2023, taking on the leadership of TMR's portfolio of work across road, rail, bus, cycling and marine infrastructure in Queensland. Alongside that, Sally has oversight of a new addition to TMR—the Queensland Government Customer and Digital Group that is focused on driving Queensland's digital economy, delivering better citizen-centric services, and optimising the Queensland Government's investment and use of technology.
In Sally's previous role as the Deputy Director-General (Translink), she led the delivery of customer-focused passenger transport services across Queensland including policy, planning, ticketing, contract management and customer services.
Sally is the Chair of Cross River Rail and Chair of Public Transport Association Australia New Zealand. She holds qualifications in Engineering and International Studies and is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Sally is passionate about the role transport plays in equitable and sustainable economic development of our cities and regions.
Scott Suine
Co-founder and Director, Osmodal Group
Samantha Abeydeera
Head of Transport for Brisbane, Brisbane City Council
Samantha Abeydeera commenced as Head of Transport for Brisbane in April 2023. In this role Samantha is responsible for one of Australia’s largest public transport providers with more than 3,000 employees facilitating close to 60 million annual customer journeys across bus, ferry and e-mobility.
Prior to joining Council, Samantha was the Executive Director of Strategic Operations at Transport for NSW. This unique role was responsible for driving end to end multimodal strategy and continuous improvement in mass transport. Samantha previously held senior roles in the private sector including Managing Director of Transport and the group’s Chief Operating Officer for Maritime at the NRMA Group, where her team achieved a record 99% customer satisfaction rating.
In 2018 Samantha was recognised as one of the Top 50 Women in NSW Government for her transformational leadership as Director of Train Crewing at Sydney Trains where she led more than 1000+ Drivers and Guards who delivered in excess of 400 million customer journeys annually.
Samantha holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws from Macquarie University and has also undertaken executive education in Boston at Harvard Business School.
Tim Mercer-Cook
Senior Engineering Fellow, Cubic Transportation Systems
Tim is a Senior Engineering Fellow at Cubic Transportation Systems. He has 30 over years of experience in the design, development delivery of fare collection systems in Europe, the USA and in Australia, and has held a variety of senior engineering and project management roles including serving as the Chief Technology Officer for Cubic. He holds an Honours degree in Physics and Astrophysics from the University of Leeds, and an MBA from Curtin University.
Some of Tim’s career highlights include leading the engineering team the delivered the back-office systems supporting the London Oyster system, leading the R&D projects that delivered Cubic’s account-based ticketing systems, and being the overall technical design authority for the program that delivered the Opal card smartcard ticketing system in Sydney. He also established a dedicated Solution Architecture team within Cubic to support the Business Development function, which has helped CTS win over $2BM of contracts in recent years.
Tricia Malowney
Chief Accessibility Advocate, Department of Transport and Planning
Tricia Malowney OAM is the Chief Accessibility Advocate for the Victorian Department of Transport. She provides an advocacy consultancy to government and non-government agencies. Tricia is a senior member of the Disability Leadership Institute and works to bring a gender lens to Disability Sector and a disability lens to mainstream services. Tricia has been running a consultancy for the past 20 years operating in a range of portfolios including transport, justice, health and housing. Her early career was spent working with engineers in the Public Transport Corporation in Victoria.
Tricia is a member of the NDIA Independent Advisory Council, a Director at the Urgent Action Fund for Women, Asia Pacific and has taken a leave of absence from Melba Support Services. Tricia is a member of the Fire Rescue Victoria Strategic Advisory Council. She is chair of the Client Advisory Committees at OCConnections and at Outlook Australia.
More speakers to be announced soon!