Some of our Presenters
Fiona Simson
Fiona Simson is a Director of Plantation Trading Pty Ltd, a 5500ha family mixed farming enterprise near Premer on the Liverpool Plains in NSW. With broadacre farming and commercial and stud poll hereford cattle operations, Fiona is particularly responsible for the administration, marketing and risk management of the business. Fiona holds a Bachelor Degree in Arts/Business, and has tertiary qualifications in workplace training and adult education. Elected President of NSW Farmers in 2011 on a platform of renewal, excellence and inclusiveness, Fiona is the first woman to fill this role. Fiona was re-elected President in July 2012. With husband Ed, and children Jemima and Tom, Fiona is passionate about ensuring a strong future for agriculture, and maintaining a strong and united voice to ensure that farmers’ voices are heard and taken into account at all levels of Government.
Peter Kuhlmann
Peter Kuhlmann is the 2012 Farmer of the Year and Grain Grower of the Year. The Kuhlmann family have farmed at Mudamuckla on Western Eyre Peninsula in South Australia for 101 years. It is one of the driest cropping regions in Australia receiving an average rainfall of 291mm (11.45”). The annual cropping program is about 6,500 hectares of mostly wheat.
Peter has been heavily involved in grains research from doing on farm trials, hosting a focus paddock to chairing the Eyre Peninsula Agricultural Research Foundation and the South Australian Grains Industry Trust. Peter is an early adopter of technology and uses no till, fluid fertiliser and precision farming.
Richard Umbers
Richard Umbers, an Executive General Manager at Australia Post, is responsible for the Parcels & Express Services Business Unit, and for the enterprise eCommerce program which is a major change initiative designed to position Australia Post as the natural partner of online shopping in Australia.
Richard joined Australia Post in 2010 as Executive General Manager eServices, where he was responsible for developing Australia Post's digital offering and delivering new online initiatives to drive business growth.
Richard has previously held a range of senior and General Management positions in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) retailing. Prior to joining Australia Post, Richard held positions as General Manager Buying and Marketing, and General Manager Customer Engagement at supermarket retailer Woolworths in Australia. Richard was also Managing Director of supermarket chain Progressive Enterprises Ltd in New Zealand, and Managing Director (North West UK and Republic of Ireland) for supermarket discounter Aldi.
His strong international retailing experience gives him a great insight into supply chain management and he has a strong track record of developing new revenue and profit streams based on innovation and technology.
Richard has an honours degree in Geology and Geography from Exeter University (UK), and a Masters in Finance from the University of Leicester (UK). He also holds a non-executive board appointment at the Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA).
Paul Greenberg
Paul is the inaugural CEO of National Online Retailers Association, a retail association dedicated to advancing all Australian retail in the digital age. Paul is the founder and a non-executive director of the DealsDirect Group, a pioneering Australian online retailer. He is a registered psychologist, and a member of the Australian Psychological Society and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He was the recipient of the inaugural Industry Recognition Award at the Online Retail Industry Awards (2011) for services to the growth and development of online retail in Australia. His passion is blues guitar.
Braeden Lord
Braeden joined Aussie Farmers Direct in 2008 after 25 years at Bakers Delight, where he held a variety of operational roles within Australia, New Zealand, North America and Canada.
Starting out as a cleaner with Bakers Delight, Braeden quickly progressed to being a franchisee in 1989, ultimately operating five bakeries between Melbourne and Sydney.
After a variety of management roles around Australasia, Braeden became Australian/New Zealand Managing Director in 1999. Prior to leaving the company, he held the roles of International Director and North American President – successfully expanding the Bakers Delight brand into Canada.
In just over four years with Aussie Farmers Direct, Braeden has successfully implemented a number of key projects including a national franchise footprint and system of management, vertical integration of key Aussie Farmers Direct product lines and most recently, the establishment of Aussie Farmers Direct’s own dairy.
As a passionate food and business executive, Braeden has also consulted through his private company to a number of developing food and franchise businesses in Australia and sits on an advisory board for a Melbourne based financial planning company.
Keeping active extends beyond business into sport where as a talented rugby player, Braeden represented Australia in the Secondary Schools Division. Today, fun runs, bike rides and a young growing family keeps Braeden fit.
Tim Neale
Tim has been researching and assisting farmers to adopt Precision Agriculture since 1995, and has been involved in some of the fundamental PA research since the late 1990’s. For the past 12 years, Tim has been an agricultural consultant specialising in Precision Ag, particularly in the area of GPS autosteer, machinery modifications, farm layout for drainage and erosion control, yield mapping, and remote sensing. Tim is based in Toowoomba, Qld, but has around 400 clients across Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and North America. The business focuses on new technology for agriculture.
Ben Sorensen
Ben Sorensen joined the Australian Agricultural Company in January 2012 to drive innovation, integration of technology and broad productivity gains as a member of AACo’s Executive Leadership Team.
Prior to joining AACo Ben provided business strategy advisory for venture capital funds and technology start-ups. He has been Marketing Manager of Gowing Bros Ltd, a direct marketing consultant and has grown global businesses as a founder, senior executive and leader.
His experience centres around business strategy, change, online and leveraging technology for innovation and productivity gains in industries including agriculture, retail, manufacturing and intellectual property marketing.
Ben boarded at Hurlstone Agricultural High School and his family horticulture business cultivated blueberries, strawberries and raspberries for export in the 1980s (back when the dollar was cheaper!).
Dr Peter Adams
Peter has a broad commercial, research and local government background and is passionate about regional Australia and the opportunities for economic development through strong regions.
He is currently the Director of Commercial and Economic Development at Wagga Wagga City Council with a broad portfolio including Council’s businesses, property portfolio, economic development and strategic commercial projects. Peter maintains his links with his research as an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education at Charles Sturt University.
His research is around the diffusion and adoption of innovations. For his PhD thesis Peter used focus group interviews and a national survey to develop the Household Adoption of Technology (HAT) model, which includes lifestyle compatibility, perceived cost, social influence and purchase complexity as factors explaining the intention of Australian households to adopt high-speed broadband. It was the first study to identify purchase complexity as a factor in technology adoption. The findings are of particular interest to governments who see high-speed broadband delivering economic and social benefits in areas including health, education and energy management.
Peter is a regular media commentator on technology and business issues. He is co-host of the ABC radio show Digital Living and has a fortnightly segment on e-business strategy.
Joe Dennis
Joe Dennis works in stakeholder relations at NBN, with a particular focus on regional areas. Joe comes from Wagga Wagga, NSW, and his past employment includes interstate truck driving, working on his family farm, and as Chief of Staff to a Federal Member of Parliament. Joe has worked closely on regional telecommunications and infrastructure policy and is a passionate advocate for agriculture and the regions.
Dr Peter Cull
Dr Peter Cull is the director of ICT International, a company specialising in the developing, manufacturing and distributing of instrumentation for the monitoring of water movement through soil, plants and the environment. With over 30 years of global experience as both a scientist and a product developer, Dr Cull has a clear understanding of the importance of environmental monitoring to ensure efficient use of scarce resources for the future. The ICT International products find application across a broad range of industries, from viticulture to mining, and catchment hydrology to climate change research. Dr Peter Cull will discuss the benefit that the digital broadband network will provide to the environmental research industry in rural Australia.
Dr Helen Thompson
Dr Helen Thompson is the Director of the Centre for eCommerce and Communications,at the University of Ballarat, which focuses on knowledge management, eResearch and digital futures. Helen’s doctoral research explored effective implementations of information communications technology in regional and rural area. Her research and engagement activities focus on innovation through the application of new technologies and the transformative opportunities that emerge as the availability of ubiquitous high-speed and affordable broadband services increases. Advancing the readiness of Australian regions for digital economy and NBN developments is an area of focus. Helen contributes more broadly through her role as a National Broadband Champion, Director of Ballarat ICT, and as a member of the Committee of Management for the Victorian eHealth Network.
Col Griffith
Colin Griffith is the Director of the Australian Centre for Innovation (ACBI), a collaborative research initiative led by CSIRO in partnership with NICTA, Australia’s two leading Information and Communications Technology research organisations. ACBI draws on their broad and diverse research capabilities to demonstrate, develop and evaluate innovative new services and applications that are enabled by next generation broadband networks.
Colin has been a leading exponent of innovative internet and electronic services over the last twenty years working in a variety of media, internet, consulting and government positions. He was responsible for establishing the popular and awarding winning ABC Online and managing the ABC’s new media service during the 1990s. He was also a senior executive with the NSW Government Chief Information Office, responsible for promoting broadband and new forms of service delivery for health, education and other government services. Key achievements included the construction of state-wide fibre optic network for major hospitals, schools and other government facilities and the development of open government policies and initiatives to improve access to public sector data.
Colin has been a Director of the Australian Telecommunications Users Group (ATUG), the Australian Centre for Advanced Computing (ac3) and was the President of the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA). Colin has also been a member of several industry advisory groups including the Federal Government’s Creative Industries Advisory Committee and National Broadband Development Group.
Professor Mike Keppell
Professor Keppell is Executive Director and Professor, Australian Digital Futures Institute<http://www.usq.edu.au/adfi/> at University of Southern Queensland. He is also Director of the Digital Futures Cooperative Research Network<http://www.usq.edu.au/research/usq/dfcrn> (DF-CRN) a research partnership with Australian National University (ANU) and University of South Australia (UniSA). Mike has a long professional history in higher education in Australia, Canada and Hong Kong. Mike was Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Flexible Learning Institute at Charles Sturt University, and prior to that was Head of the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Technology at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Professor Keppell has also held positions at the University of Melbourne, Central Queensland University and private providers in Canada. Having published widely in the field of flexible learning, and with a background in educational technology, extensive community involvement and a strength in design-based research, Professor Keppell has a range of valuable skills and experience in Higher Education. His research focuses on digital futures, learning spaces, blended learning, learning oriented assessment, authentic learning and transformative learning using design based research. He is a Life Member of ascilite<http://www.ascilite.org.au>. He has completed numerous keynote and invited presentations. Further detail can be found at: http://mike-keppell.blogspot.com.au/
Dr David Miron
Dr Miron has held senior management positions within research organisations and the IT industry. In his previous role as the General Manager Infrastructure Operations and Service Delivery for the Australian Biosecurity Intelligence Network (ABIN) Dr Miron worked closely with all sectors of the Australian biosecurity community to enhance research, diagnostics, surveillance, emergency response and preparedness capabilities. Dr Miron also lead the development of software tools that include tools for mapping, visualisation, analysis, modelling and simulation. Dr Miron has considerable project, contract and relationship management experience. Dr Miron has particular interests in new and emerging technologies and in driving collaboration. He has an enviable record of project delivery and successfully leading distributed teams. With a background in high performance computing, Dr Miron has extensive experience in diverse areas of software application development, software design, distributed systems, telecommunications, RFID technology, mobile application development and the modelling of emerging disease threats in livestock. Dr Miron has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mathematics from RMIT, a Masters of Applied Science from Monash and a PhD in Computer Science from the ANU.
Professor David Lamb
David, a Professor of Physics and Precision Agriculture at the University of New England, develops and tests new sensor technologies for practical farming. He started his research career building and testing airborne imaging systems for agricultural applications. Following a few near-death experiences, his work now extends to cover on-ground, optical and electromagnetic sensors for monitoring crops, pastures and soils. David leads the university’s SMART farm project aimed at demonstrating the benefits of smart technologies, broadband connectivity and smart services in farming. He is also a project leader in the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information where he runs the ‘Biomass Business’ project.