Scheduled Speakers
Opher Yom-Tov
Senior Manager
Customer Centred Design and Innovation
BT Financial Group, Westpac
Opher has recently returned to Australia after almost 10 years in the US and China helping global brands with their innovation challenges. He spent most of this time with IDEO, a recognised global leader in customer centered design and innovation. Most recently, leading IDEO's China start-up office in Shanghai.
He first joined their Silicon Valley California headquarters where he developed products, services and innovation cultures across a broad range of industries for clients such as Apple, Nike, McDonald's, P&G, NASA and GE. Opher has also facilitated numerous workshops with outcomes ranging from specific product and service innovations to new business processes. He was integral in building the sustainable design initiative at IDEO enabling clients to derive value from design which is mindful of the environment and its communities.
Originally from South Africa, Opher earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering and BCom in Management from The University of Western Australia in 1994. He spent time as an automotive engineer with General Motors Holden in Melbourne and as an analyst for a strategy and finance-based management consulting company in Perth.
Opher is excited to be back in Australia and to be part of the growing innovation conversation.
Stephen McRoberts
Executive Director Marketing
Queensland Tourism
Steve McRoberts was appointed to the position of Executive Director Marketing, Tourism Queensland, in October 2004.
Steve has high-level expertise in global branding having been involved in refreshing and developing some of Australia’s largest brand campaigns.
Steve has an impressive background in sales and marketing achievements having held senior sales and marketing executive roles over the past decade with Foster’s Australia. He has played a critical role in leveraging the branding campaigns for the Foster’s brand (including the 2000 Olympic Games, Formula 1 Grand Prix and the Melbourne Cup) as well as Indy 300, the VB One Day cricket Series and the AFL.
Achievements with Tourism Queensland include the Re-launch of the domestic and international campaign for Where Else But Queensland; the launch of the Sunshine Coast’s refresh "Find Your Space"; launch of the Tropical North Queensland’s "Change Your Latitude"; launch of the "74 Islands Out of the Blue" concept for the Whitsundays and most recently the global success of The Best Job In The World Campaign.
Ian Muir
Head of Customer Experience, Online & ATMs, Retail & Business Banking
Westpac
Ian has spent the last 14 years in Customer Experience Design, interaction design and web design with Westpac. He was responsible for design implementation and operation of the original Westpac Internet Banking service and has won customer voted best web site, best Internet Banking services, innovation awards for Business Internet services, and market leading Corporate & Institutional services. Prior to that he has spent 10 years in Industrial Automation solving automation, production and process problems. Ian also does freelance work with local and international organizations in Customer Experience design.
Marshall Heald
Manager Digital Media
SBS Television and Online
Marshall is the Manager Digital Media at SBS.
Over the last ten years he's developed multimedia projects in partnership with many of Australia's major companies and cultural institutions including The Australia Council, Telstra, Qantas, The National Gallery, NSW FTO, The ABC, Triple J, The SAFC and the National Museum.
Rod Farmer
Senior Manager
User Experience & Innovation
3 Mobile
Dr. Rod Farmer is one of Australia's leading User Experience (UX) experts, with a career spanning 12 years leading User Experience (UX) and Product Development teams. He is currently a Senior Manager (User Experience and Innovation) at 3 Mobile. Rod is passionate about mobile design, raising awareness of User Experience within the Australian community and developing UX organisational competencies. He holds a PhD in Engineering (Human-Computer Interaction) from the University of Melbourne, has over 40 international peer-reviewed publications, and was awarded a Fellow of the University of Melbourne due to his contributions to User Experience.
Steve McKenzie
Head of Customer Care
Siemens Australia
Steve McKenzie currently holds the position of Head of Customer Care for Siemens Ltd. which he has held for the last 4 years.
In this role Steve was responsible for developing the Siemens Customer Care Centre from a green-field site. In less than 4 years the Centre has grown from 4 to 49 staff, increased hours of operation to be 24 x 7, and provides both service and sales support across the Siemens sectors of operation.
Prior to joining Siemens, Steve held the dual roles of Centre Operations Manager and National Development Manager for Drake Australia Contact Centre Outsourcing from 1998 to 2004. Steve was first involved in a ‘telemarketing centre” in 1983 before pursuing other interests. Since re-entering the industry in 1998, Steve has won many awards including ATA National Manager in his first year, ICSP Customer Service Awards and Contact Centre Worlds Asia Pacific Regional Awards for Best Centre Under 50 seats and Best in Customer Service in 2009.
Rob Findlay
Customer Experience Manager Direct
NAB
Rob started his career in the creative and design industry, producing digital and other work for some of the best known Australian and global brands. Feeling rinsed out at the ripe old age of late 20 something he transitioned to the dark side of suits and strategy. Leading accounts at a large digital agency then preceeded another change in direction onto the corporate world and the Direct Channels team at Nab where he leads the Customer Experience direction. He also runs and writes TheBankChannel.com, a blog dedicated to finding and discussing financial services customer experience and innovation.
Angelo De Silva
Customer Engagement Manager
Fuji Xerox Australia
Angelo joined Fuji Xerox Australia 3 years ago and has been instrumental in the initiation of fast startup of innovative go to market strategies, web based dialogue, web site optimisation and the development of a low cost sales channel. He is the Customer Engagement Manager for Fuji Xerox Australia managing the Customer Engagement Unit, a team structured around a totally fresh 'Customer First' business model. He continues to provide the organisation with capabilities to maintain a culture of continuous improvement, innovation and improved marketing capabilities.
John Allan
CEO
truelocal.com.au
John Allan is the chief executive officer for truelocal.com.au – News Digital Media’s online business directory.
John was appointed to the role in January 2008 to oversee the expanding operations of truelocal.com.au.
He was previously general manager of Media Integration for News Limited Community Newspapers.
Prior to joining News, John was the group publishing director at The Federal Publishing Company (FPC) where he led the editorial, marketing and sales units of FPC newspapers across NSW. From 2002 to 2005, he was managing director of Viamedia overseeing the magazines, promotions and books unit throughout Australia. Prior to Viamedia, John led sales for Fairfax.
Michelle Cox
Head of Contact Centres
Bupa Australia
Michelle was General Manager (Head of Business) MBF Alliances, the 9th largest private health insurer in Australia and based in Adelaide, South Australia. MBF Alliance was a subsidiary company of the MBF Group and along with MBF Australia formed the PHI division of the Group business. In addition she was also General Manager of the Groups PHI Operations, which service in excess of 2 million customers.
The MBF Group has recently been purchased by British company Bupa (British United Provident Association) and during the merger / integration period Michelle is responsible for the integration and development of the future state strategy of the Customer experience via our most touched channels of Contact Centres and managing the Alliance transition.
In addition to this Michelle has established the inaugural Community of Interest Group - Contact Centres across the Bupa Group Internationally.
Michelle Cox was elected to the Advisory Board for the Chief Customer Officer Forum in May 2007. (Michelle has held a number of Board roles previously including a Ministerial appointment)
Michael Griffiths
Director Business Development & Head
T[life] Deployment Team
Telstra
Michael Griffiths is the Director of Business Development for Telstra Retail and the head of T [Life] Deployment for Telstra. In this role, Michael has overseen the conceptual and detailed design of Telstra's new retail stores - T [Life] - including associated changes to retail operating and organisational models and in-store and back-of-house technologies. In FY08/09, Telstra, under Michael's leadership, deployed over 80 T [Life] stores nationally. Prior to his current role, Michael held the position of Director of Strategy for Telstra Consumer and Channels. Before joining Telstra, Michael worked for Accenture where he consulted on strategy and business transformation both domestically and internationally over a nine year period.
Aaron Tunks
Manager, Operations Reengineering & Project Delivery
Aviva Australia
Ann Harding
Manager Customer Enterprise System
Crazy Johns
Luke O’Brien
Group Call Centre Manager
Yum! Restaurants International
As Group Call Centre Manager for Pizza Hut, Luke had operational responsibility for 2 centre’s spanning + 400 seats, 700 staff, and incoming calls in excess of 90,000/week. During his time in this role he has overseen the strategy to improve call taking economics whilst protecting customer experience by moving to a hybrid call taking model that includes store and remote agent call taking. Prior to this Luke has held numerous business support roles at Yum! Restaurants Intl., and in the FMCG industry.
Simon Tynski
National Franchise Advisor
Bridgestone Australia
Based in Adelaide, Simon began life as a graphic artist but quickly moved into Marketing and Advertising management with one of Australia’s iconic consumer goods manufactures. In 1995 Simon became Marketing Manager with Australia’s only optical frame manufacturer and built a detailed understanding of how Franchised retail business can best be supported by manufacturers. In 2001 Simon took on the role of Franchise Manager with a family based, service industry business in Adelaide and built a Franchise model for the company from the ground up, launching successfully in 2002.
Mike Swanston
Group Manager Customer Advocacy
Energex
Mike’s career in the electricity supply industry has been wide and varied, across three states, and includes roles in network operations, distribution system capital investment, strategic change and customer services. Based on experiences in both government-owned and private electricity undertakings, Mike’s view of the industry has shifted from the technical to taking a critical look at how the actions and behaviours of a natural-monopoly essential service truly meets the needs and earns the respect of the customers we serve. With an interest in the impact of regulation, performance management and financial responsibility, Mike places the traditional operation of an energy utility into the modern context of energy market reform, with a focus on service delivery, brand positioning and empathy with our customers.
Peter Tudehope
General Manager
Radisson Plaza Hotel Sydney
& Regional Manager
Radisson Hotels Australia & Asia Pacific
Peter Tudehope was appointed General Manager of Radisson Plaza Hotel Sydney on 12 September 2005. Peter manages all aspects of the operations of this intimate, boutique style, five-star hotel.
Peter was also appointed Regional Manager Australia/Pacific of Carlson Hotels Worldwide – Asia Pacific on 1 January 2009. Singapore based Carlson Hotels Worldwide – Asia Pacific is a regional office for Carlson Hotels Worldwide. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Carlson Hotels Worldwide has five hotel brands: Regent Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Hotels & Resorts, Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson and Park Inn. Peter manages the operating hotels in the Australia/Pacific region.
Peter has an extensive background in hotels. He was Director Operations & Services for Carlson Hotels Asia Pacific. In this role his initial responsibility was to develop the Regent brand. This then led to being charged with the growth and development of the groups other brands with a particular focus on Radisson. Development projects covered a number of countries, in addition, he also worked with existing properties on operational performance.
Kara Ward
Senior Manager
Digital & Direct Marketing
NRMA Insurance
Kara Ward has more than 15 years online experience. She has worked for organisations such as Telstra, AMP, and Merrill Lynch. She is currently the Senior Manager for Digital Marketing and Internet Channels for IAG's retail brands, including NRMA Insurance. Kara has delivered everything from Facebook widgets to multinational trading platforms, and is passionate about consumer experience online.
Wayne Samuels
Customer Services Manager
Queensland Motorways
Dr Catriona Wallace
Director
Callcentres.net
Dr Catriona Wallace is the Managing Director of callcentres.net, based in Sydney with a regional office in Singapore. callcentres.net is the leading research, consulting, analyst and online publishing company dedicated to the contact centre and outsourcing sectors in Australia and Asia Pacific. Dr Wallace, with a PhD in Organisational Behaviour, is an expert in areas of Customer Engagement and Employee Engagement and advises many companies on service and employee strategies, with particular emphasis on contact centre service channels. Dr Wallace is also Adjunct Faculty at the Australian Business School (UNSW) and is the author of The Complete Guide to Call & Contact Centre Management. In 2008 Dr Wallace was recognised as one of Australia’s top business women in the Telstra Business Women’s Awards.
John Turnbull
Adjunct Lecturer & Doctoral Scholar
Macquarie Graduate School of Management
John Turnbull is the founder and Managing Director of Customer Connect Australia Pty Ltd. He has helped organisations in a wide range of sectors to succeed with their customer relationship / CRM programs over his twenty-seven year career. His work at Customer Connect includes business consulting, strategy, education, research, program management and customer management (CMAT™) assessment.
John commenced his working life with hands-on roles in service, sales, marketing support and project management in the industrial sector. He has managed business transition programs for a wide range of organisations in the commercial and not-for-profit sectors encompassing marketing, sales and service. His experience also includes sales consulting and line management in the IT sector.
John is a sessional lecturer and doctoral candidate at Macquarie Graduate School of Management, running a number of MBA units and Executive Education programs in Australia and Asia including Customer Relationship Management and Consumer Behaviour. John is currently developing a cross-sector, cross-channel framework for Customer Experience as part of his PhD research. He is the Australian facilitator for the global Customer Futures best practice forum, author and contributor to a number of papers and texts relating to customer experience, CRM and loyalty.
