21-22 October 2026, Sydney
Day One – Wednesday 21 October 2026
8.30 Conference registration opens
9.00 Opening remarks from Chair
9.10 International Keynote Address:
Achieving organisational ambitions through risk-informed and technologically-enabled decision making – NASA returns to the moon
- Navigating risks effectively with intentional system design, testing, and deployment throughout project lifecycles
- Adjusting decision-making strategy as the risk landscape evolves
- Supporting operational risk mitigation using technology, AI, and robotic systems
- Advancing towards your long-term organisational goals – using risk-based decision-making to reach for the stars!
Jeevan S. Perera, PhD, JD, Deputy Branch Chief – Software, Robotics, and Simulation, NASA (USA)
10.10 Steering organisational success with meaningful Risk-Based Decision-Making practices
- Transforming risk tolerance policy into practical and timely organisational action
- Taking both implementation risks and opportunity costs into account in decision making
- Responding constructively to misalignments in risk appetite and ultimate decisions
- Producing accurate data and risk projections based on previous project delivery outcomes
- Generating organisational success with risk based decision making, in addition to preventing negative outcomes
Jag Narayan, Chief Risk Officer, State Super
10.50 Morning coffee
11.20 Developing a useful approach to risk appetite in organisational strategy
- Increasing an organisation’s risk maturity through aligning appetite and tolerance with organisational priorities
- Supporting considered risk taking within the limits of governance and policy responsibilities
- Exploring how culture and everyday behaviours shape the effective application of risk appetite and tolerance beyond formal frameworks
- Developing practical tools and resources to operationalise risk appetite, enabling confident risk based decision making
- Government example/s of applying risk appetite in a crisis
Kathy Dennis, Chief Internal Auditor and Assistant Secretary, Enterprise Risk, Assurance and Investigations, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
12.00 Achieving your risk management benchmarks as budgets get tighter
- Reaffirming the importance of risk-based decision making to your leadership teams
- Incorporating existing data and intelligence from other agency functions and prior audits
- Seeking out key supporters from other teams, agencies, and relevant regulatory agencies
- Keeping risk relevant in the eyes of leaders by prioritising significant and visible threats first
Kristy Watts, Director Corporate and Community, Strathfield Council
12.40 Lunch break
13.40 Aligning your organisation and its people to a shared risk management vision
- Adjusting your risk strategy per feedback and expectations of key organisational stakeholders
- Setting a foundational expectation around risk to enable effective decision making
- Creating risk awareness that empowers informed risk taking
- Understanding when caution is warranted, and when appetite can drive better outcomes
- Reaching out to other business areas on risk as a key partner
- Managing risks across the organisation with effective training and development
Michelle Butler, Manager Governance and Risk, Burwood Council
14.20 Communicating about risk effectively with key stakeholders
- Setting planned communications on risk in the context of underlying key deliverables
- Tackling the topic of risk management in terms that resonate with your audience
- Allowing ongoing risk conversations to develop in line with feedback
- Locating the key objectives of risk communications to ensure objectives are met
- Keeping risk communications short and actionable
Sajiv De Silva, Director Risk Compliance and Audit (CRO and CAE), NSW Treasury
15.00 Afternoon coffee
15.40 Engaging your senior executive leaders as risk management advocates
- Communicating your perspective on risk to time-poor leaders
- Introducing readable data and other evidence to support your case
- Pinpointing areas where risk tolerance is currently disproportionate to appetite
- Selling your executive leaders on preventative risk management for constructive outcomes
Adam Serin, Head of Resilience and Supplier Risk Management, NAB
16.20 Geopolitical Keynote Address:
Conducting effective risk management during an era of geopolitical instability
- Scoping the underlying drivers of geopolitical instability in the current global system
- Placing Australia in geopolitical context to assess flow-on implications for risk managers
- Observing the impact of dynamic geopolitical shifts for a range of key risk areas
- Reviewing guidance and ongoing updates from key diplomatic and security agencies
- Tapping into expertise to understand the implications of ongoing global conflict
Michael Feller, Chief Strategist, Geopolitical Strategy
17.00 Closing remarks from Chair & Networking Event
Day Two – Thursday 22 October 2026
8.00 Conference registration opens
8.30 Opening remarks from Chair
8.40 Conducting practical and effective business continuity planning in the age of black swans
- Achieving buy-in for a BCP proportional to identified risk appetite
- Conducting effective risk assessments and data collection
- Tooling your Business Impact Analysis (BIA) to practical risks and priorities
- Organising a robust BCP with clear procedures for managing realised risks
- Reinforcing your BCP plan with effective training and regular updates
Kylie McKiernan, Chief Risk Officer, Macquarie University
9.20 Private Sector Guest Presentation:
Managing the substantial risks of supply chain disruptions
- Assessing the particular risks that supply chain disruptions pose to each organisation
- Developing a “hedge” against supply disruptions within clear tolerance ranges
- Accounting for any resources or regulatory constraints provided by the government in risk
- Preparing for potential supply chain risks in the coming future
- Transforming your approach to supply chain risk with informed risk-led decision-making and operational strategy
Malcolm Eng, Head of Risk and Quality, Australian Clinical Labs
10.00 Morning coffee
10.30 Integrating artificial intelligence and generative AI as a tool within your organisation
- Developing a strategic approach to AI adoption
- Identifying the hazards associated with AI adoption in large organisations
- Assuring AI across teams and a portfolio of use cases
- Maximising upside benefits of AI through appropriate risk management
- Bringing key stakeholders along on the journey of AI adoption and risk management
Mike Moroney, Executive Director Defence AI Centre, Department of Defence
11.10 Refining your data analysis system for effective risk management practice
- Mining data across the organisation for key insights and risk red flags
- Analysing organisational data with emphasis on lead indicators
- Upskiling your risk managers and duty holders to utilise new technologies including AI
- Leveraging your new risk data as an invaluable support when seeking additional resourcing
Andrew Spiegelman, Head of Data and Analytics, Service NSW
11.50 Lunch
12.50 Private Sector Guest Presentation:
Overcoming siloing within your organisation for streamlined risk management
- Starting the conversation around shared services and breaking down silos
- Driving cross-functional risk identification and cross-functional ownership
- Overcoming key barriers to collaboration
Beatrix Hugh, Head of Risk Management, Delivery, Fujitsu Australia Limited
13.30 Improving your internal reporting for timely and informed risk-led leadership decisions
- Determining most effective reporting style for action based on prior experiences
- Engaging with key decision-makers in your executive team and audit committee
- Summarising your advice and findings based on key success indicators
- Incorporating risk reporting as a regular practice in your organisation
Jade Maskiewicz, Coordinator Governance, Randwick City Council
14.10 Afternoon coffee
14.40 Case Study:
Developing maturity in your psychosocial risk management strategy
- Establishing the importance of psychological health and wellbeing for risk management
- Assessing the meaning of risk in terms of psychological regulations specifically
- Revising your risk management approach to account for mental wellbeing
- Navigating the new relationships between risk, HR, and safety functions
- Supporting your teams to further reduce risk realisation with healthy minds
Saranyae Manisegaran, Principal Occupational Psychologist, Fire Rescue Victoria
Louisa Detez, Principal Consultant, Australian Psychological Services
15.20 Panel Discussion:
Navigating the key challenges for risk managers in government agencies
- Creating risk strategy around the unique challenges of public service agencies
- Adjusting your risk management approach to align with sudden shifts in priorities
- Utilising key risk resources and opportunities available to public agencies
- Surviving machinery of government changes with minimal realised risks
- Engaging ministers and executives to take risk seriously in their decision making
Brendon Popovski, Director Governance, Risk, Audit & Assurance – Chief Risk Officer, NSW Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality, and Sport
Jade Maskiewicz, Coordinator Governance, Randwick City Council
16.00 Closing remarks from Chair and end of Conference