21-22 October 2026, Sydney
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)
Developing a useful approach to risk appetite in organisational strategy
- Working alongside organisational leaders to accurately determine risk tolerance
- Organising risk appetite statements according to realistic and achievable tolerance windows
- Reducing delays in decision making with actionable risk tolerance statements
- Developing understanding of risk appetite within executive leadership
- Supporting constructive risk taking within the limits of governance and policy responsibilities
Kathy Dennis, Chief Internal Audit, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
International Keynote Presentation:
Mitigating cybersecurity risks in a rapidly evolving environment
- Identifying the resilient and emerging cybersecurity risks relevant to your organisation
- Developing risk-led cybersecurity and IT systems with support from internal experts
- Ensuring new cyber threats from emerging technology, such as AI, are accounted for
- Advancing your organisational cybersecurity risk strategy with support from key stakeholders
Nico Lategan, Head of IT Risk and Resilience, EasyJet (UK)
Integrating artificial intelligence and generative AI as a tool within your organisation
- Adopting AI as a strategic tool as the technology and its risks become more complex
- Building a business case for integrating AI technology into your risk management practices
- Organising your AI usage around key ethics and governance considerations
- Verifying the security and privacy of your AI platform for lower risks on integration
- Energising your approach to data collection, analysis, and representation with AI support
Mike Moroney, Executive Director Defence AI Centre, Department of Defence
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
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
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
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
Case Study:
Developing maturity in your psychosocial risk management strategy
Saranyae Manisegaran, Principal Occupational Psychologist, Fire Rescue Victoria
Louisa Detez, Principal Consultant, Consultaps
Retooling your risk management controls across the organisation
- Transforming your risk management strategy from reactive to proactive with key controls
- Organising your risk strategy to spread duties and responsibilities across the organisation
- Outlining control strategies and risk-conscious behaviour for frontline staff
- Leading your organisation to a structured and sustainable risk control strategy
Kylie McKiernan, Chief Risk Officer, Macquarie University
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
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
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
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
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
Managing the substantial long-term risks of climate change within your organisation
- Forecasting long-term climate change risks as you seek support to fund prevention strategies
- Lending support to high-risk areas of the organisation as climate effects worsen
- Integrating key climate risk controls into your strategy with support from executive leaders
- Reporting accurately around organisational environmental governance to exceed compliance
- Transforming your current risk heat maps, dashboards, and other indicators for climate risk management
Mitigating the risks of organisational change management effectively
- Making risk management a key consideration in change management processes
- Ensuring that planned organisational transformations are conditioned by risk appetite
- Collaborating effectively with organisational development leaders as a risk team
- Controlling the pace of change according to the associated risks of transformation projects
- Adjusting change management procedures for risk informed decision making in future
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
Collaborating effectively with your audit function as a risk management professional
- Negotiating the different perspectives of auditors and risk specialists effectively
- Engaging your audit function to increase data collection and provide mutual benefit
- Reporting risk according to the expectations and requirements of Risk and Audit Committees
- Designing risk and audit functions as key strategic partners in steering organisational strategy
Maximising the agility of your risk management approach
- Designing your risk strategy around the key principles of agile processes
- Engaging organisational leaders to shorten time-lag of key risk indicators
- Nourishing your duty holders with deeper expertise for dynamic risk-based decision-making
- Tooling the precision of your organisational risk policy to improve and shorten decision cycles
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
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
Engaging in key procurement risk management within the current environment
- Tackling the key roadblocks preventing risk-conscious procurement function
- Ensuring your procurement decisions provide proactive protection from reputational risks
- Adjusting your approach to the tendering process for an additional risk control
- Countering the project delivery risks involved in vetting of vendors
- Helping your procurement function to address key risks and deliver services effectively
Creating legible and useful data representations to assist in evidence-based decision making
- Visualising key data that motivates effective and timely decision making
- Analysing datasets for any indicative trends that can be drawn out
- Scoping your risk data representations around existing business priorities
- Undertaking additional data collection and visualisation based on initial outcomes and leadership priorities