Plenary SPEAKERS

Professor Catherine Bennett

Alfred Deakin Professor, Chair in Epidemiology

School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University

Professor Bennett’s career in applied biostatistics and epidemiology cuts across health, university and government sectors, including working on outbreak preparedness and response with NSW Health and the Australian Government. After working as Olympic Public Health Coordinator for Northern Sydney in 2000, Catherine returned to academia and was Associate Professor in Epidemiology and Director of Population Health Practice with the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health before taking up the inaugural Chair in Epidemiology at Deakin in late 2009. Her research focusses on community transmission of infectious diseases, and Catherine is involved in a range of COVID-19 projects, including global analyses of excess deaths, public health risk communication, contact tracing methods and COVID-safe protocols. Catherine has been a leading public analyst during the COVID-19 response, keynote speaker, and advisor to industry, governments, and institutions globally. In 2022, Catherine’s research contributions were recognised with the conferral of the title Alfred Deakin Professor, the highest honour the University can bestow.

 

Lord Mayor Sally Capp

City Of Melbourne

Sally Capp was re-elected Lord Mayor of Melbourne in October 2020 after having previously been elected in May 2018 and is the first woman to be directly elected as Lord Mayor. Sally’s top priority is bringing the buzz back to Melbourne and driving the city’s economic recovery following the devastation caused by the COVID pandemic. Sally is committed to helping rough sleepers get more support and a pathway into secure housing, and ensuring Melbourne remains a global leader in environmental sustainability.

Sally was the first woman to hold the post of Agent-General for Victoria in the UK, Europe and Israel. She has also served as the CEO for the Committee for Melbourne and Victorian Executive Director of the Property Council of Australia. A passionate Collingwood Football Club supporter, in 2004 Sally made history as the first female board member of Collingwood Football Club. Sally began her career as a Solicitor, after completing Law (Hons) and Commerce degrees at the University of Melbourne. She has held senior roles at both KPMG and ANZ, and co-founded a small business which she took to the ASX. She is involved in a number of charities, currently sitting on the board of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, the Mary Jane Lewis Scholarship Foundation and the Melbourne University Faculty of Business and Economics.

 

Steve Farrer MBA CAMS CFE

Consultant

Corban Consulting (UK)

Mr Farrer has 35 years of experience from working in law enforcement (RHKPF), working in the financial industry (global payment card company, global banks, global intelligence & technology service providers), and working in civil society (focused on human trafficking), of which 25 years were in the Asia/Pacific region. Currently engaged as a consultant with UNODC, EUTF, and INTERPOL on enhancing capacity in law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), and financial institutions on use of financial investigations to combat the illicit proceeds from human trafficking and migrant smuggling;  recent engagements have included workshops in Middle East & North Africa, East & Southern Africa, Central & Latin America, and previously across Asia Pacific, US, and Europe. He is a passionate advocate of new & innovate ways to develop solutions and partnerships in the fight against human trafficking; a highly "sought after" and engaging conference speaker and published author on new trends, tools and resources to help front line professionals enhance their knowledge and contribution. He has an MBA (Henley, UK),  B.Sc Hons (Reading, UK), is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), a Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), and a recipient of His Excellency the Governor of Hong Kong’s Commendation for Bravery, the highest bravery award bestowed in Hong Kong, prior to the change of sovereignty in 1997. 

 

Major General (Retired) Ben Kite OBE

Senior Executive Leader in Defence, Intelligence, Cyber, Security and Resilience
Kearney

Ben Kite was commissioned into the British Army’s Intelligence Corps in 1990, retiring in April 2022 as a Major General in April 2022. During his thirty-two year career he worked on intelligence, Security and Cyber issues both in the UK as well on deployments to Germany, the United States, Belize, Bosnia, Kosovo, South Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan. His last role was as Director Intelligence Interoperability in Defence Intelligence where he led the creation and implementation of Defence’s first Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance strategy and managed International Intelligence engagement and interoperability with the single services.   Ben is currently working as a Defence, Intelligence, Security and Cyber adviser for the strategic consultancy firm Kearney which is based in Abu Dhabi. He studies military history in his spare time and has published three books on the Second World War, as well as being elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

 

Jonna Hiestand Mendez

Author, Former CIA Chief of Disguise
CIA

Jonna Hiestand Mendez is a retired CIA intelligence officer with 27 years of service. When she retired, she was the Chief of Disguise at the CIA. Since that time, she has continued her career as a photographer, a consultant/lecturer, and an author. She and her husband, Antonio Mendez (of ARGO fame) published “The Moscow Rules,” just before the world closed down due to the Covid pandemic.

She was recruited into the Central Intelligence Agency in Europe in 1966. For many years she lived under cover, serving tours of duty in Europe, the Far East, and the Subcontinent, as well as at CIA Headquarters. She joined CIA’s Office of Technical Service in early 1970 and within a few years she was back overseas as a Technical Operations Officer with specialties in clandestine photography and disguise. Her duties included the preparation of the CIA’s most highly placed foreign assets in the collection of intelligence, using subminiature cameras and disguise technology.

She is a founding board member of the International Spy Museum in Washington DC. Many of her talks can be found on-line. She is currently working on a new memoir, the title of which is “In True Face.” It will be available in 2024.

 

Kathryn McMullan

First Assistant Director, General Analytical Capabilities Division
Office of National Intelligence (ONI), Australian Government

At ONI Kathryn is responsible for whole of intelligence community workforce, training and inclusion initiatives, plus leadership of analytical modernisation within ONI. In addition, Kathryn leads ONIs current intelligence and open source collection capabilities. Previously, Kathryn has held roles that covered intelligence strategy, mission management, and foreign engagement at ONI. Kathryn has worked extensively in the national security community in a range of operational and strategic policy roles within the Australian Government. This experience canvasses border security, defence, foreign policy and national criminal matters. In addition, Kathryn spent a number of years as National Security Advisor to the Attorney-General and senior strategic adviser to the Minister for Home Affairs. Kathryn has augmented her government roles with a period in the private sector, working as a senior strategy consultant with a UK based firm.

 

Dr Phil Kowalick MAIPIO

President

AIPIO

Phil is one of Australia’s preeminent thought leaders in law enforcement, intelligence and national security. For over 34 years in the Australian Federal Police, he played a key role in many of Australia’s most important law enforcement programs and initiatives. He established multiagency intelligence capabilities in Australia’s major airports; designed arrangements to set and manage Australia’s counter terrorism priorities in the Counter Terrorism Control Centre; was instrumental in developing the Australian Criminal Intelligence Model; the strategic organisational design of the Australian Border Force; the Australian Federal Police, International Engagement 2020 and beyond; and the National Plan to Combat Cybercrime. Phil is the President of the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers and a member of the School of Justice Advisory Committee at the Queensland University of Technology.

 

Mark Evans OBE

Deputy Chief Executive: Insights and Deployment,
New Zealand Police

Mark has been a member of the Police Executive since 2011. In 2014 he was appointed as Deputy Chief Executive Strategy, in 2018 as Deputy Chief Executive Service Delivery, and in October 2020 moved into the role of Deputy Chief Executive Insights and Deployment. As head of Insights and Deployment, Mark is responsible for several key areas including Policy and Partnerships, Ministerial Services, Intelligence, Evidence Based Policing and Critical Command Information/Deployment. Additionally, the post includes executive leadership of a number of functions focused on lifting performance including Tasking and Co-ordination and problem solving.

Mark is Vice President of ANZSEBP, a member of the Global Advisory Board for Policing Insight, a member of the World Class Policing Awards Judging Panel and a fellow of the Institute of Strategic Risk Management. Before coming to New Zealand in 2007,  he was Director of Analytical Services for the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Mark earned an OBE for services to policing in 2006. He is a frequent contributor to international intelligence teaching and training.

 

Dr Tracey Green

Chief Executive Officer

Australia New Zealand Policing Agency (ANZPAA)

Dr Tracey Green is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA), commencing in November 2021. Tracey has 22 years police experience as a sworn officer in the UK and her areas of expertise include serious and serial criminal investigation, in particular homicide, drug and police corruption. As a strong advocate of policing and police education, Tracey has a proven commitment to domestic and international collaboration with police and law enforcement agencies, ensuring education and research are operationally relevant and aligned to policing needs. She joined ANZPAA from Charles Sturt University where she was the Executive Dean, Faculty of Business, Justice and Behavioural Sciences.

 

Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford APM

Deputy Commissioner
Queensland Police

Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford APM, was sworn in to the Queensland Police Service (QPS) in November 2015. In December 2017, she was promoted to Deputy Commissioner and currently holds executive responsibility for the Crime, Counter Terrorism and Specialist Operations portfolio. The Deputy Commissioner is responsible for expert specialist and investigative support, advice and direction in all areas of the crime, counter-terrorism, domestic and family violence and other specialist operations.

Deputy Commissioner Linford has over 37 years' experience in both the Victorian Police and the Queensland Police Service. During her 31 years in Victoria Police, she worked on a number of state-wide projects that have impacted significantly on the way Victoria Police operates today. 

Highlights include - the introduction of a Victoria Police Intelligence Model, and the formation and implementation of the Major Crime Management Model, which was brought about following a series of gangland murders. 

The Deputy Commissioner performs key governance roles on Boards and Committees including the QPS Board of Management. She chairs the Demand and Capability Committee, Youth Justice 5PP Steering Committee and the Senior Women's Collective and is the Queensland representative on the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee, Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, Australian Transnational, Serious and Organised Crime Committee, National Crime Intelligence System Steering Committee and the Major Events Executive Committee; and is a member of the Women’s Safety Justice Taskforce; Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Council and is the organisation’s Chief Security Officer. Deputy Commissioner Linford also represents the QPS on several intergovernmental committees.

Deputy Commissioner Linford holds a Bachelor of Business Management Degree and an Executive Masters in Public Administration.  She is a graduate of the Leadership Victoria Program, the international Leadership in Counter Terrorism Program, ANZSOG Executive Fellows Program, and has completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors Course. In 2009 she won an outstanding leadership award from ACWAP for driving cultural change.  She was awarded an APM in the Australia Day Honours in 2014.

 

Phil Thomson

Co-founder and CEO
Auror

After spending four years as a commercial lawyer specialising in Privacy and IP, Phil was part of the founding team at Auror and now leads the global organisation as its CEO. He and the team have spent the last 10 years on a mission to empower retailers with the intelligence and tools they need to stop crime, for good. Auror is focused on the power of partnership and collaboration to drive real results for both retailers and police.

Phil is committed to the digital transformation between police and retailers, and is acutely aware of the impact of collaboration on reporting, solving and preventing organised offending and retail crime - on a global scale.

 

Teresa Walsh

Global Head of Intelligence

Financial Service Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (FS-ISAC)

Teresa Walsh is FS-ISAC's Global Head of Intelligence, based in London. Her team extends around the world, supporting FS-ISAC's mission of cyber risk resilience for the financial industry. Teresa has worked for FS-ISAC for over six years, previously working for the banking industry at Citibank and JP Morgan Chase. Teresa started in the intelligence analysis profession with the US Department of Defence, working for the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and later as a Booz Allen contractor for the US Army. She has 20 years of experience in the field.