Leadership in Focus

Dr Kirstin Ferguson

Thursday, 9 October – 9:00am

Dr Kirstin Ferguson is an internationally acclaimed leadership expert, author, columnist, and keynote speaker.

Ranked as one of the top 50 management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, Kirstin was also awarded the Thinkers50 Distinguished Leadership Award in 2023.

Kirstin began her career as an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force and has held roles including chief executive officer of an international consulting firm and acting chair and deputy chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

During a fifteen-year career as a company director, Kirstin sat on a range of large publicly listed, private company and non-profit boards.

Kirstin has a PhD in leadership and culture and honours degrees in Law and History. She is an adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology Business School, where she was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in 2020.

In 2023, Kirstin was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her significant service to business and gender equality.

AI in the Boardroom

Dawid Naude

Thursday, 9 October – 2:15pm

Dawid Naude is a trailblazer in business, disruption, and innovation, shaping the future by translating AI’s potential into real world impact. Committed to making AI exciting, accessible, and impossible to ignore, he helps organisations to make every employee more productive, reimagine what’s possible, and achieve breakthrough innovation.

As the CEO and Founder of Pathfindr, Australia’s leading, AFR award-winning AI accelerator, Dawid is one of the country’s foremost AI innovators, educators, and implementers. A prominent AI speaker, Dawid’s keynotes have built a reputation for exciting audiences into action. With an infectious energy and a gift for making the complex feel simple, he is renowned for converting cautious AI onlookers into confident champions.

Dawid lives and breathes technology—not just for the thrill of innovation, but for the immense difference it makes to people’s lives. Ultimately, Dawid believes AI’s superpower isn’t simply its ability to optimise the status quo, but capacity to ignite breakthrough ideas and opportunities. Entirely new, and better, ways of thinking, doing and being.

His dynamic CV spans consulting, leadership and founder roles across digital, technology and innovation. A key player in Cloud Sherpas’ explosive startup years, Dawid was instrumental in the Company’s acquisition by Accenture in 2015. Joining the Firm’s technology innovation division, Dawid accelerated to Partner within three years and led projects for the likes of Qantas, NAB, AMP, Foxtel, and Government.

Through Pathfindr, Dawid now thrives on helping bold leaders to unlock AI’s full potential today—not in some distant future. Named one of AFR BOSS’ Most Innovative Companies in its founding year (2024), Pathfindr’s clients include Woolworths Group, Victoria Government, Honey Insurance, Standards Australia, Engie, Engineers Australia, Australia Post, Pemba Capital Group and Hunter Water. An advisor to Government and industry bodies across APAC, Dawid is proud to be at the forefront of AI’s evolution and impact.

Making Behaviour Change Happen

Dominic Thurbon

Friday, 10 October – 8:35am

Dominic Thurbon is an internationally engaged speaker and facilitator who helps individuals and organisations drive behaviour change in the face of external disruption.

Dom has authored and researched best-sellers published in over 15 countries, on subjects as diverse as generational change, business strategy, purpose-driven leadership, the future of work and education, and disruption.

He has over 17 years’ experience as a successful senior executive and entrepreneur. At just 23, he was founder and Chief Creative Officer at Karrikins Group, a behaviour change agency he grew to over 150 staff across Australia, New Zealand and North America (acquired by EY in 2019). He was also founder and director at Educator Impact, a technology company providing on-demand teacher quality and student wellbeing solutions (acquired by Qoria in 2022).

Dom has been architect of multiple-award winning behaviour change programs that reach over 500,000 people per year. Over his career, Dom has spoken to a combined audience numbering in the tens of thousands across Australasia, Europe and North America, with clients spanning financial and professional services, technology, FMCG, pharmaceutical and automotive industries, as well as working extensively in education, Government and not-for-profit sectors.

His publications include (as author) Matter: Rising Above the Competition to Become the Obvious Choice, Purpose-Driven Leadership, and Talent Magnets: Attracting Top Staff; (as lead researcher) Flip: How counter-intuitive thinking is changing everything and Game On: How video games change work.

Dom is also a previous world top-10 debater, Tottenham Hotspur tragic, and hasn’t quite given up the dream of becoming a rockstar with his band The Glorious Fourth.