MEET OUR SPEAKERS

Mark was a career special forces officer in charge of 30 elite soldiers, his role was to lead combat missions deep behind enemy lines. Mark has completed 10 tours of duty to Afghanistan, Iraq, East Timor, Lebanon and the Solomon Islands.

Mark’s successful transition from the Army led him to a high-profile business career. He graduated with an MBA from the Wharton School of Business – and joined McKinsey & Company. Mark was listed in Wharton’s prestigious 40 under 40 awards for business excellence. He is the founder and CEO of a tough-luxury brand, Kill Kapture.

Mark’s best-selling memoir: Survivor: Life in the SAS, is known as one of the leading contemporary war memoirs.

Mark’s is married to Samantha Gash and they have a four-year-old boy called Harry.

Dr Amy Peden is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Population Health at the University of New South Wales and co-founder of the UNSW Beach Safety Research Group. She maintains an honorary position as a Senior Research Fellow with Royal Life Saving Society – Australia and regularly appears in the media. Her research is focused on the prevention of drowning and ensuring people of all ages can enjoy the water safely. Born and raised in central west NSW, she is particularly interested in drowning risks facing regional and remote communities and the safety of inland waterways. On this topic, Dr Peden completed her PhD examining river drowning burden, risks and prevention, which provided pivotal insights for the development of the Respect the River program.

Vikki Maver is the Founder of two highly respected businesses and brands. The first is Refresh Marketing (RM), Australia’s longest running copywriting agency. The second is Communication Skills Academy (CSA) – a dedicated communications training business.

Established in 2003, RM writes content and copy for a diverse client base. Under Vikki’s stewardship, RM has grown from a one-woman band into a team of 8 talented humans crafting compelling copy that connects with readers, builds brands and grows businesses.

CSA, on the other hand, launched in 2024. But Vikki is certainly not new to the world of corporate training. In fact, she’s been arming teams with better writing skills since 2008. With an intimate knowledge and appreciation of the unique communication challenges councils face, Vikki has facilitated writing skills workshops for a long list of Australia’s leading local government organisations. City of Greater Geelong, City of Gold Coast, Mildura Rural City Council, Glen Eira City Council, Hume and Inner West Council – just to name a few.

Craig is the General Manager at Woollahra Council in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, a role he commenced in July 2020. Prior to this, Craig was the General Manager of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council on the mid north coast of NSW, from 2014 to 2020.

Craig has spent over 20 years in local government in NSW in a range of roles across three Councils and prior to his time in the public sector, Craig had a twenty-five-year career in the private sector in a range of roles and industries. Craig is dedicated to giving back to the local government sector and as part of that, he has been on the Board of Local Government Professionals Australia, NSW since 2018 and is currently the Vice President.

Craig is a solutions-focused leader who enjoys coaching people for success by inspiring them to get to know their own strengths and how to work with them, by building trust with people and by acting with authenticity and integrity at all times.

Terry did the usual things a completely naive, ambitious, and energy filled young person does, formally studying engineering, human resources, project management, and finance.

Then, still feeling inadequate and lost, knocked over yet more courses in fraud prevention, leadership, contract management, construction law, Lean Sixth Sigma, airport and risk management.

After completing twenty (20) courses in forty-two (42) years he’s recently realised that they were a complete and utter waste of time.

He should have listened to his father and studied psychiatry. Because to be successful as a CEO in local government requires you to be as proficient at psychoanalyzing people as Freud. And just like Freud, it helps to be nuts yourself.

Deborah is the Manager Integrated Risk at Singleton Council where she has responsibility for enterprise risk management, insurance, internal audit, Work Health and Safety, injury management and recover at work, and business continuity. She spent the bulk of her career in the insurance and risk management areas with Port Stephens Council before taking on leadership of the integrated risk management team at Singleton Council in late 2016. Deborah is a Risk Management Institution of Australia Certified Practising Risk Manager and an Associate (CIP) of the Australia and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance.

Her achievements include volunteering in the Risk Management Functional Area at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, winning the inaugural Affiliated FM 2015 Statewide Mutual Risk Management Scholarship, recognition in the Minister’s Awards for Women in Local Government in 2019, winning the NSW Local Government Excellence Awards (People & Culture category) in 2018 and 2020 and several Statewide Mutual Risk Management and StateCover Mutual Excellence Awards. Deborah and her small but energetic team thrive on bringing a ‘people first’ approach to everything they do, finding innovative ways to drive engagement and building a risk aware and safety conscious culture.

Peter heads the Digital Branch of the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC), a major NSW regional council adjacent to Canberra. He is responsible for the organisation’s technology stack and also fulfils the duties of council’s Chief Information Security Officer. Technology was a key enabler along the organisation’s trajectory of transformation, for which the council won the A.R. Bluett Memorial Award in 2020. Peter has a servant leadership approach to a team that spans Systems, Networks, and Records, with a staff retention rate of 97%.

He currently chairs the IT Leadership Group for the Canberra Region Joint Organisation (CRJO). He holds a Master of Information Technology Management and various professional accreditations in electronics, systems, networks, and cyber. He is a PROSCI-certified change practitioner and a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) accredited by ISACA, the peak global body for information security and governance. Prior to joining QPRC in 2017, Peter founded and led an award-winning technology consulting firm.

Troy has been working in local government for 25 years, with his last 10 years spent in waste management at Canterbury Bankstown Council. His has considerable experience in operations, business systems improvement and project management. Troy specialises in using technology and Artificial Intelligence (A.I) to improve processes and reduce costs.

Gareth is the current NSW Public Sector Claims Manager. He has over 20 years’ experience in claims, with experience working with State Governments, Local Government, corporate and retail clients. Gareth was a former national claims manager for property, energy and construction at a large American insurer. He has been involved in the management of numerous catastrophe claims locally and globally, including more recently the Essendon DFO plane crash in 2017; the 2019/2020 bushfires in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia; the 2020 Canberra hailstorm; the 2020 Wallan passenger train derailment; Covid-19 BI claims in 2020/2021; and the 2022 east coast lows and flooding in Queensland and New South Wales.

Phil has been working in Local Government since 2004 and held executive management roles since 2013 in a number of regional Councils in NSW. He has led multidisciplinary teams of approx. 90 staff at both Lachlan Shire and Griffith City and made his mark as an approachable leader who listens to staff and supports them in improving efficiencies and completing works to the highest standards.

With close to 30 years at DLA Piper, Kieran has for much of that time assisted the local government liability scheme in Victoria (and on occasion in NSW) to manage claims and risk. This has included the full range of public liability and professional indemnity claims ranging from standard trip and falls to catastrophic injury, substantial property damage and class actions.

Kieran is also DLA Piper’s Global Co-Chair for Class Actions and Mass Torts and is the Australian lead partner of DLA Piper’s Product Liability practice.

Darren is an experienced and results driven Executive Manager with a history of working in Local Government, Financial Services, Automotive and Quick Service Restaurant industries. He has a proven track record in Customer Acquisition, Product Development, Strategic Planning, Marketing & Brand Strategy, Business Transformation, Governance & Risk Management, Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Engagement. He has highly developed communication and influencing skills with demonstrated leadership capabilities in developing and motivating staff while driving cultural change.

In his substantive position at Armidale Regional Council, he manages diverse portfolio of technical teams within the Corporate and Community Directorate, where he has a focus on improving customer experience and organisational capability. He is a strong advocate for developing workplace culture, recognising it as a key driver of performance outcomes. To this end, Darren is presently Acting as Chief Officer Assets and Services, where he relishes the opportunity to ensure the rubber is hitting the road within a culture that actively manages risk and prioritises workplace safety.

Kieran is also DLA Piper’s Global Co-Chair for Class Actions and Mass Torts and is the Australian lead partner of DLA Piper’s Product Liability practice.