Amy-Rose Goodey is a prominent leader in Australia’s digital asset and blockchain sector, currently serving as the CEO of the Digital Economy Council of Australia (DECA). With a career spanning technology, policy, and industry advocacy, Amy-Rose has been at the forefront of driving regulatory clarity, fostering industry collaboration, and positioning Australia as a global leader in the digital economy.

Brad Carr is the Executive for Geopolitical Risk at National Australia Bank (NAB), leading the bank’s analysis and engagement on geopolitics and emerging risk themes, and the delivery of solutions to support the resilience of customers and the wider Australian economy.

Brad previously led NAB’s Innovation and Digital Governance functions, and before that was Managing Director of Digital Finance at the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in Washington, leading programs on digital identity, data policy, cloud, artificial intelligence, and digital assets. Brad led the IIF’s advocacy on the Basel III capital reforms, as well as a global review of banks’ credit risk modelling practices. Brad also hosted the IIF’s ‘FRT’ and ‘NAB Digital Next’ podcasts.

His qualifications include a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Western Australia, Masters in Science & Technology Commercialization from the University of Adelaide, Certificate in Futurist Studies from the University of Houston, and he is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is also a Fellow of the Salzburg Global institute.

Diane Smith-Gander AO is a professional company director with an accomplished business career 40 years in the making. She is Chair of Zip Co, Perenti Limited and private health insurer HBF. On 1st January 2025 Diane became the 16th & first female, Chancellor of the University of Western Australia.

Diane enjoyed a successful executive career ending in the C-Suite at Westpac Banking Corporation and with a period as a partner of McKinsey & Company in the United States serving global clients in diverse industries.

A keen advocate for gender equity Diane is past President of Chief Executive Women, Australia’s pre-eminent women’s advocacy group. In 2019 Diane was made an officer in the Order of Australia for services to business, women’s engagement in executive roles, gender equality and the community.

A former representative basketball player, Diane is a past chair of Basketball Australia and Australia's national anti-doping organisation. She now chairs the independent Nominations Committee of the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). Diane has completed independent reviews of high performance management and governance in sports.

Diane is a regular speaker on business topics including leadership, strategy and gender equity. For a period she hosted a panel show on Sky Business. She also lectures in the MBA program at UWA.

Diane holds an MBA from the University of Sydney and a BEc and Honorary Doctorate of Economics from UWA. A Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Governance Institute of Australia, in 2019 Diane was made an officer in the Order of Australia for services to business, women’s engagement in executive roles, gender equality and the community.

Dr Mark Staples is the CTO for the Digital Finance CRC, and a Senior Principal Researcher in CSIRO’s Data61. He has led research and standardisation on blockchain since 2015, including leading technology work on CBDC pilot research projects with the Reserve Bank of Australia. He holds a PhD in computer science from the University of Cambridge.

Considered by many to be the co-inventor of the blockchain (along with Dr. Stuart Haber), Dr. W. Scott Stornetta is an active investor, mentor, and the CEO of SureMark Digital. SureMark uses the same techniques that undergird the blockchain to create peer-to-peer unforgeable identities.

Effie is the CEO and Co-Founder of AUDC, the issuer of AUDD — Australia’s Premier Australian dollar-backed stablecoin built for institutional-grade payments, settlement and digital commerce. She leads the strategy and execution of AUDD, positioning it as a trusted, compliant digital representation of the Australian dollar across public blockchains, with a strong emphasis on governance, transparency and real-world use cases.

A seasoned fintech executive, Effie brings deep expertise across payments, alternative rails and blockchain infrastructure. Through AUDD, she is driving the practical adoption of stablecoins in global payments, bridging traditional finance with decentralised networks and shaping the future of digital money.

Stephen Dawson is Western Australia’s Minister for Regional Development, Ports, Science and Innovation, Medical Research and the Kimberley. He also serves as Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council.

Stephen was born in Dublin and migrated to Australia with his family. Through his role as Minister for Regional Development, Stephen is focused on driving the economy through diversification and job creation and advocating for the needs of those living and working in the regions.

He has a wealth of knowledge on issues important to regional WA, having lived in the North West and holding a range of portfolios throughout his career such as Environment, Disability Services and Emergency Services.

Jag Foo is Chief Security & Policy Officer at Safeheron, where he leads global security strategy, institutional custody, and regulatory engagement for banks and financial institutions adopting digital assets. He specializes in MPC-TEE self-custody infrastructure for financial institutions and institutional-grade digital asset governance.

With over 15 years of experience spanning physical security, cybersecurity, and digital asset infrastructure, Jag has secured billions of dollars’ worth of assets across government, multinational, and financial sectors. His cross-domain background enables him to translate traditional security discipline into resilient, zero-trust architectures for the digital asset era.

Jag serves in leadership roles across industry bodies including the Digital Assets Association, Blockchain Security Alliance, and Global Fintech Institute, contributing to regulatory dialogue and advancing institutional security standards. He is a Chartered Industry Fellow and a triple-crown holder (CPP, PSP, PCI) under ASIS International.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jag-foo-cftp-cpp-psp-pci-3bb85175/

Jannah advises firms on identifying and capitalising on innovation opportunities, and crafting and executing strategies within highly regulated environments. She is passionate about shaping the financial markets of the future by leveraging frontier technologies to create innovative financial services and products that drive social and environmental impact while expanding access to financial services. Her current focus areas include the evolution of digital asset markets, the development of new forms of digital money, including stablecoins, and sustainable financial systems.
A long-standing contributor to the development of domestic and global financial policy and regulation, Jannah has played a key role in shaping organisations that drive the regulatory agenda for digital assets and digital currencies, both in the UK and globally, with respect to digital money and assets, including the Digital Pound Foundation, Global Digital Finance, the Whitechapel Think Tank and London Blockchain Foundation.

Kate Cooper is CEO of OKX Australia, leading a regulated digital asset platform through market volatility, regulatory scrutiny, and accelerating AI adoption. She also serves as Co-Chair of the Digital Economy Council of Australia, working across industry, policy, and financial infrastructure.
From inside regulated markets, Kate focuses on how institutions make sound decisions when technology changes faster than humans do. As AI becomes embedded in trading, settlement becomes programmable, and financial systems evolve in real time, her work centres on accountability under automation, clear decision rights, and infrastructure that earns trust before it is tested.
She is the author of EDGE: A Field Guide for Navigating Tech-Driven Change, written for leaders who want to retain judgement and authorship as systems move faster and stakes rise.

Kylie Stewart has more than 20 years’ experience in public policy and is currently a Senior Manager at the Reserve Bank of Australia, where she leads the RBA’s research into digital currencies. She oversees the RBA’s major experimental research initiative, Project Acacia, which is exploring the role of digital money in wholesale tokenised asset markets. This work is being undertaken in partnership with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre.

Kylie’s previous roles at the RBA include serving as Senior Manager of Clearing and Settlement Supervision and Senior Manager responsible for business policy for the RBA’s settlement infrastructure. She has also worked at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in the United States, where she played a key role in the initiation of US faster payments.

Natasha is one of the world’s pre-eminent Live Contract experts.
She is recognized in Chambers as a global fintech expert with technical product design experience and deep legal understanding as a co-author of the seminal 2022 Oxford text on SLCs and is also a contributing author to the upcoming 2025 text, “Private Law: Digital Assets and Infrastructure.”
Founder of Chambers ranked national tech law firm Stirling & Rose and former Global Head of Digital Law at a major international law firm, Natasha advises Legal Commissions on SLCs, DAOs, and digital assets in the UK and Australia and has been awarded the Financial Times Most Innovative Lawyer, Thought Leader of the Year, Finalist Partner of the Year, and Innovator of the Year.

Nils Hay is the CEO of the Mid West Development Commission and Chair of the WA Regional Development Alliance. Based in Geraldton, Western Australia, he is passionate about regional development, and has spent the last decade working in senior State and Local Government roles in regional Australia. In 2024 he completed a Churchill Fellowship examining on the impacts of large-scale renewable and low-carbon energy projects in regional communities.

With the Mid West emerging as a key contributor to Australia’s energy transition, Nils’ work is increasingly focused on the intersection between major project development, infrastructure delivery, investment, and the pivotal role of the regions where these projects are taking place.

Bernard Carr is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary University of London. For his PhD he studied the first second of the universe with Stephen Hawking at Cambridge University and Caltech. He then held Research Fellowships at Trinity College and the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge before moving to Queen Mary in 1985. He has also held Visiting Professorships at various institutes in America, Canada and Japan. His professional area of research is cosmology and astrophysics and includes such topics as the early universe, black holes, dark matter and the anthropic principle. He is the author of around 300 papers and the books Universe or Multiverse? and Quantum Black Holes. He is very interested in the role of consciousness, regarding this as a fundamental rather than incidental feature of the Universe. He also has a long-standing interest in the relationship between science and religion. He is President of the Scientific and Medical Network and a former President of the Society for Psychical Research.

Professor of Computer Science at Oxford 1997-2024, now Emeritus. Head of Department 2003-14. Leading authority on Computer Security, Concurrency, Verification and Blockchain. Founder of several companies including TBTL (Security and Blockchain), Cocotec (Verification) and Iothic (Network Authentication). Author of over 200 academic papers and several books including the forthcoming Understanding Decentralised Systems — a reinvention of blockchain for the mainstream world.

Professor Jingbo Wang established and currently leads the Research Centre for Quantum Information, Simulation and Algorithm that fosters collaboration and entrepreneurship, bringing together academics and industrial partners to develop innovative quantum solutions to tackle otherwise intractable problems and complex phenomena. Widely published in prestigious journals like Nature Photonics, Science Advances, Physical Review Letters, Quantum Science and Technology, her contributions have significantly advanced quantum computing and laid the foundation for future breakthroughs.  

Kate is the Head of School for Curtin University School of Electrical Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences (EECMS).

Kate is an expert in scoping and delivering projects of strategic importance to business, government and universities. Kate values building relationships and networks and has a keen eye for connecting interesting people to start conversations that generate new ideas. She is also passionate about STEM and skilling up Australia’s workforce for a digital and sustainable world and has a keen eye for what's on the horizon in terms of new opportunities and challenges.

Kate has PhD in astrophysics and spent the first part of her research career in Chile working for the European Southern Observatory and then the University of Chile before moving to Sydney to accept the CSIRO Bolton Research Fellowship. Kate was elected President of the Astronomical Society of Australia for 2011, 2012 and was awarded the CSIRO Chairman's Medal in 2015 for her contribution to Australia's involvement with the SKA telescope.

Kate's career roles include State Director for the WA Life Sciences Innovation Hub (a collaboration between federal and state governments); Lead Advisor Research for Murdoch University, Innovation Manager for Wesfarmers (WESCEF); and Deputy Head of Operations for CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science. In her most recent role with the Federal Government's Entrepreneurs' Programme, Kate led the design and implementation of a program to helpl 150 businesses across Australia to decarbonise.

Kate also holds a Grad Cert in Innovation & Commercialisation and is a member of several Advisory Boards for universities and not-for-profit organisations. Kate co-founded Green Caffeen, a sustainably coffee cup startup on the eastcoast and was a member of the Board of Directors for StartupWA. Kate has also lectured for Murdoch University's MBA Global program on innovation and commercialisation.

Professor Peta Ashworth is the Director of Curtin University’s Institute for Energy Transition. She is a renowned expert in energy, communication, stakeholder engagement, and technology assessment. Professor Ashworth has researched public attitudes towards climate and energy technologies, including wind, carbon capture and storage (CCS), solar photovoltaic, storage, geothermal and hydrogen, for almost two decades.

I am a value-driven entrepreneur, engineer, technologist, startup founder, conservationist and author. After 30 years in enterprise technology and consultancy in the banking, technology and military sectors, I now build and advise teams looking to use emerging technology to solve real world problems.

As Head of the Hedera Enterprise Adoption Team, I lead the global professional services team that supports the Hedera Council members adopt this ground breaking technology.

My consultancy, nodl.io, is an impact-focused technology consultancy specialising in innovation and the application of decentralised technology to address financial democratisation, sustainable development and environmental issues. I co-authored "Fintech Revolution: universal inclusion in the new financial ecosystem".

Robert Porter is Head of Digital Asset Services (Business) at ANZ, where he is responsible for the strategic development of the bank’s enterprise capability for Digital Assets & Currencies (DA&C). His remit includes establishing strategic partnerships, regulatory engagement, and coordinating ANZ’s participation in regulator-led pilots across Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. With over 15 years’ experience in banking, strategy, and industry engagement roles, Robert has a strong focus on industry trends, policy and regulatory developments related to payments and digital assets.

Tan Bin Ru is a renowned leader in the Fintech industry globally and a prominent figure in the Singapore blockchain community. As the Chairwoman of the Blockchain Association of Singapore (BAS), she leads the organization with the vision to be the leading industry organization for the advocacy, collaboration, convergence, and fair use of blockchain and scalable technologies in Singapore.

Bin Ru is a regular speaker at various Fintech events on Artificial Intelligence & Blockchain including Singapore Fintech Festival, Singapore Blockchain Fest, Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Singapore – India Hackathon 2023 (Fintech & ESG) and many more. Through her speaking engagements, Bin Ru aims to promote the adoption and responsible use of technology in various industries and sectors.

Currently, Bin Ru serves as President, Enterprise Digital in Singapore Technologies Engineering in addition to her role as the Chairwoman of the BAS. With over 25 years of experience, Bin Ru has led several leadership roles in MNCs and startups. Notable roles include Deputy CEO and COO of ChainUp Pte Ltd, a leading blockchain technology solutions provider for digital asset exchanges and institutions, and CEO (Southeast Asia) of OneConnect Financial Technology Co. Ltd., a technology-as-a-service platform for financial institutions. Bin Ru also held various leadership roles at Microsoft and Hewlett Packard.

Bin Ru's contributions to the Singapore fintech industry have been recognized with numerous accolades, including being named "Top 5 Women in FinTech" and "Asia FinTech Leaders" at the 2019 Singapore FinTech Awards. Bin Ru was also recognized with the "Woman in Fintech" award by Fintech Nation 65 in 2022. She is also a role model for women in the tech sector and was featured in the inaugural Singapore 100 Women in Tech List in 2020.

Bin Ru holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from National University of Singapore. She is also a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Ajahn Brahm was born in London in 1951 and earned a degree in theoretical physics from Cambridge University. He became a monk in 1974 in the Forest Tradition. Ajahn Brahm is today a revered spiritual teacher and guide, and is abbot of the largest Buddhist monastery in the Southern Hemisphere. He is the author of Opening the Door Of Your Heart, Mindfulness Bliss and Beyond, The Art of Disappearing and Don’t Worry Be Grumpy.
His public teachings regularly attract thousands to his inventive and insightful talks. He was awarded John Curtin medal in 2004 for his vision, leadership and service to the community and he is also recipient of Order of Australia in 2019 for service to Buddhism and gender equality.