2017 Speakers

Natarsha is noted for her warmth, passion and sincerity and these characteristics have made her very popular as both a keynote speaker and MC at several significant events, from International Women’s Day at Parliament House in Canberra to Australia Day celebrations in Sydney’s Darling Harbour.

Natarsha's career took off before she left university. While finishing her final year of a Bachelor of Communications Degree in Bathurst, Natarsha was asked to join the Prime News Team in Orange as a journalist. Just twelve months later she joined ABC's news team in Darwin, reporting on a number of major stories including the controversial world-first euthanasia legislation.

Her first news bulletin, at the age of 21, was for both the ABC and its Asia Television service which is beamed to millions across the world.

In 1998, Natarsha Belling joined Network Ten in Sydney and rose to prominence reading across the network’s major news bulletins. She has been at the forefront of a number of major breaking stories including the Asian Tsunami Disaster, the capture of Saddam Hussein and the devastating Glenbrook Train disaster.

Natarsha supports a number of medical charities, including the Cancer Council, The Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the Ovarian Cancer Network.

Highly professional, easy-going and graceful, Natarsha Belling is warmly received by all audiences and an asset at any event.

Despite a challenging start, by the time he was 30 years old, Anh Do held a Bachelor of Business and a Bachelor of Law and had been voted Winner - Comedian of the Year. An accomplished writer, actor, and film producer, he has also been recognised as the Winner - NSW Triple J Raw Comedy Champion and received the Winner - Thank God You're Here Trophy. In 2010 he published his autobiography, The Happiest Refugee. A talented cook and artist, he used his skills to develop television shows Anh Does Vietnam and Anh's Brush with Fame.

Anh Do's ups and downs, trials and tribulations, difficulties and successes as a refugee over three decades makes for an incredible and amazing inspirational tale that has audiences gripped with emotion one minute and howling with laughter the next. The result is always a room transformed. From language difficulties to divorcing parents, from being broke to being bullied, from becoming a lawyer to becoming Comedian of the Year... Anh uses all his life's experiences to entertain and inspire.

An inspirational speaker, Dr Nguyen has a natural ability to translate highly technical concepts and future trends into insightful, entertaining, clear and concise content. In the process, he inspires to ‘throw away the box’ and collaborate universally on the potential of technology for humanity, purpose and positive global impact.

In 2012, Dr Jordan Nguyen completed a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), having developed a mind-controlled smart wheelchair for people with high-level physical disability. The project, for which Jordan was acknowledged in the Chancellor’s List for the top theses across the University, combined scientific understanding (neuroscience and biological inspiration from nature) with current-day technology (advanced camera systems, artificial intelligence and robotics) and game-changing thinking, to provide the wheelchair operator with autonomous guidance during navigation.

Jordan’s professional career commenced with a software engineering role at the biggest biomedical company in Australia, in the field of automated test systems where his keen interest in robotics saw him contributing to the company’s first line of premium ventilators before undertaking his own entrepreneurial endeavours to further advance his work in life-changing technologies. Working with major disability charities over the next few years, Jordan has established and managed technology initiatives specifically to improve the quality of life for people living with cerebral palsy and related conditions. He founded Psykinetic, a social business that creates futuristic empowering and inclusive technologies to improve quality of life for people with disability, and beyond. With work ranging biomedical technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, empathetic and human-centred design, virtual reality and augmented reality, the projects created are cutting-edge and ambitious.

But it was as a young man that Jordan’s direction in life was indelibly charted. In a dive gone wrong, he hit his head on the bottom of a swimming pool, and was left confined to bed, unable to move, and fearing permanent damage. Suddenly Jordan found himself considering a life without independence in mobility. Fortunately, Jordan recovered and emerged from the experience with determination and commitment to educate himself about disability and to direct his energies to the not so insignificant challenges that people with disability face when trying to access necessary equipment and resources that enable independence.

Since that life-defining moment, Jordan has worked with passion and resolve to create new inclusive technologies aimed at improving the quality of life and independence for people with disability, while simultaneously making the connection to the infinite future pathways of global technology and what those pathways might mean for us as humans. Jordan believes that the relationship between humanity and technology is constantly changing and that technology’s role in our lives is becoming more integrated, leading us to a future that is ‘Beyond Superhuman’.

An engaging communicator, with the ability to create instant connections with his audience, Dr Jordan Nguyen is a TEDx speaker, and has keynoted at prestigious events such as Think Inc., and Wired for Wonder, among many others. He has shared the stage with a number of influential people, including Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and the one person the late Steve Jobs ever worked for.

Jordan has presented internationally at the world’s largest annual biomedical conference, the Engineering for Medicine and Biology Conference (EMBC), advocating for greater advances in intelligent assistive robotics to harness the power of the mind and human biological signals to control technology.

His work has been featured in range of TV, radio, magazine, and newspaper interviews, most notably ABC’s Catalyst and Channel TEN’s The Project. In 2016 Jordan collaborated with the Australian based production company, The Feds, and the ABC to create and present his first TV documentary, Becoming Superhuman. For this he brought together diverse teams to rapidly prototype and develop technology, taking the audience on the exciting journey of agile collaboration and creative thinking to solve some extremely challenging problems.

Dr Jordan Nguyen is a current member of the board for the NSW Medical Technology Knowledge Hub, a past member of the board of directors for Object: The Australian Design Centre, and has lectured UTS engineering Masters students in Artificial Intelligence design and Biomedical instrumentation. In addition to this Jordan was named in the top 100 global influencers on Virtual Reality in Onalytica’s Top 100 Influencers and Brands report in May 2016.

Dr Nguyen’s inspirational presentations will resonate with organisations and businesses seeking to understand the big implications of innovative, game-changing technologies and what they mean for dealing with change in the way we live and work. The empathy and human sides of technology is core to these uplifting, educational and thought-provoking talks. In order to build better businesses moving into the future, Dr Nguyen will guide audiences through both the disruptive challenges and the exciting opportunities we face, and how these will enable people to better connect and communicate in the rapidly evolving world of the 21st century and beyond.

He is a director of

• NSW State Insurance Regulatory Authority
• Life Without Barriers, and
• PWC's diversity board

He was awarded Honorary Doctorates by the University of Canberra in 2014 and RMIT University in 2016 in recognition of his work as a human rights activist. Honour for human rights advocate and Disability champion honoured.

Graeme is married with two children, loves cricket as a spectator and sailing as a participant, and relaxes by enjoying fine Australian white wine.

In August 2012, Susan was appointed to the position of Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer at the Ministry of Health. During her time in this role, Susan focused on strengthening the engagement of healthcare teams to build a sustainable Essentials of Care Program that enhances the experiences of patients, families and carers. Further, Susan introduced the Productive Ward which focuses on increasing the amount of time frontline nursing staff spend providing direct care to patients through reviewing and improving ward systems and processes resulting in the improvement of safety and efficiency. Susan also had oversight of a short film that was developed – Small Acts of Kindness which demonstrates the importance of facilitating person-centred, humanistic and compassionate healthcare through the implementation of local innovations and strategies.

During her time as the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, there were more graduate nurses and midwives employed in NSW in comparison to any other state as well as an increase in the number of Aboriginal nurses entering the profession of midwifery. Prior to this appointment, Susan was the Director of Operations at Northern Sydney Local Health District where she managed large portfolios including: acute health services, mental health, public health and health promotion, workforce, clinical training and education and Aboriginal health.

Making a positive difference to patients’ health outcomes and care has been important to Susan, which is reflected in her commitment to drive change in the public health system.

Dan joined Sydney Water in mid-2006 where he held various roles including Shared Services Manager and Capital and Procurement Manager. In 2012 he was the Project Manager of the $2.3 billion project to privately refinance the Sydney Desalination Plant. In 2013 he moved to Sydney Water’s Human Resources function as General Manager People, Leadership and Culture, and was appointed in July 2014 to General Manager Transformation to deliver the corporate strategy in the areas of efficiency, IT, people and process, safety, industrial relations reform, culture and customer.

In June 2015 Dan moved to become Chief Executive of HealthShare NSW. HealthShare NSW is a statewide organisation of more than 6,000 employees delivering more efficient support services for NSW Health. HealthShare NSW is the largest public sector shared services model in Australia.

Dan’s philosophy is that if you put customers at the heart of everything that you do, and have a strong workplace culture, then you will be a successful business.

Across the Tasman, Zoran spent several years leading a regional shared services agency for District Health Boards and, after that, took up a role with New Zealand’s Ministry of Health where he was responsible for the national health information strategy and architecture.

Since joining eHealth NSW in July 2015 as Chief Executive and Chief Information Officer, Zoran has focused on building on current areas of strength, streamlining governance of eHealth NSW’s key programs and activities as well as developing the recently published eHealth Strategy for NSW Health: 2016-2026.

Zoran is passionate about improving the health system through meaningful and effective use of digital technologies, data analytics, research and innovation in partnership with patients, clinicians, health organisations, government departments and industry partners.

As well as a medical degree, Zoran holds a Masters of Business Administration and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators.