With a judging panel including senior leaders, academics, business executives, entrepreneurs and innovators, the Australian Cyber Awards forms peer-reviewed recognition of your capabilities in the cyber profession and the passion of those driving the sector forward.
Ben has over 15 years of experience specialising in cyber risk, privacy, law, technology risk, insurance and dispute resolution.
Ben leads WTW’s Australia and New Zealand cyber and technology risk team providing insurance, advisory and consulting services to domestic and international clients. Ben focuses on helping clients understand emerging technology, exposure risks and developing responsive management, resiliency and business strategies.
Kim Chandler McDonald is a globally respected thought leader in disruptive innovation, transformational trends, and strategic foresight. As the visionary Co-Founder and CEO of 3 Steps Data she has led her company to the forefront of technological advancements in cybersecurity, data sharing, observability, and governance across disparate systems.
Kim is a board member of and the Global Vice President of the Cybersecurity Advisors Network (CyAN), the Paris-based, multidisciplinary, international trust network of cyber professionals. She drives the organisation’s strategic growth, community engagement, and leads its Combatting Technology-Facilitated Abuse and Violence initiative.
A sought after keynote speaker, Kim is an acclaimed advocate, activist, lifelong storyteller and award-winning author. Her, latest work, ‘An Interviewer’s Guidebook - Turning Conversations Into Captivating Stories’, joins her other titles: ‘Innovation: How Innovators Think, Act and Change Our World’, ‘Flat World Navigation: Collaboration and Networking in the Global Digital Economy’, and ‘Postcards From Tomorrow’ (with all proceeds from Postcards going to Lou’s Place, Sydney’s only daytime drop-in centre for female victims of domestic abuse and coercive control). She is also the co-author of ‘Entrepreneurial Renaissance: Cities Striving Towards an Era of Renaissance and Revival’.
Dr Maria A. Pozza is the Principal Lawyer and Director of Gravity Lawyers, a law firm in New Zealand that offers specialist legal advice on Space law. The firm also offers legal advice in Corporate and Commercial law, IT, Cyber Security, Data, Technology and UAV’s.
Dr Pozza holds her own practising certificate as a Barrister and Solicitor in New Zealand and is a qualified Trust Account Supervisor in New Zealand. She completed her Master’s of Business with a focus on business administration and management in 2022, she gained her PhD at the University of Otago specialising in Space Law as well as International Relations in Outer Space in 2013, and was also awarded the visiting Lauterpacht Fellowship, Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge, UK. She also holds a Masters in International Studies from the University of Otago in 2010, completed the New Zealand Law and Practice Exams in 2009, Called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn UK in 2005, completed her Bar Vocational course at the Inns of Court School of Law in London UK where she also completed a post-graduate Diploma in Legal Skills and Research (whilst studying Arabic) between 2004- 2005, and completed her LLB Law (Hons) in 2004.
Dr Paul Scully-Power is an integrator, strategist and orthogonal thinker and is Australia’s first astronaut. He has a unique international background in Industry, Government, Defence, Space and Academia in the US, UK, Australia, and NZ, and is well known for his network of people and institutions around the world. A leader in applying technology, he has broad expertise in national security & intelligence, aviation & aerospace, cybersecurity, remote sensing, and systems analysis & ICT. He is currently engaged in AI (national iAward for innovation), UAVs, microsatellites, smart sensors, nanotechnology and big data analytics.
Dr Scully-Power has led many high-tech, defence and security programs. He held executive appointments under Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, and was Deputy to the Associate Technical Director, US Naval Undersea Warfare Center, where he held the US Navy Distinguished Chair of Underwater Acoustics He was a Research Associate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Chairman of Membership of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, President of the Fort Trumbull Federal Credit Union, and served on the Universities & Colleges Accreditation Board and the US Office of Naval Research.
Dr Scully-Power qualified for very high altitude full pressure suit flying at Edwards Air Force Base, and was a flight crew instructor in the NASA Astronaut Office, Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas, where he became Australia’s first astronaut flying aboard Challenger on the 13th mission of the Space Shuttle
Peter Lynch is a leader in Professional Indemnity Insurance in the real estate, valuation and management right industry sectors.
He boasts over 30 years’ experience with Aon Risk Solutions and as the Client Manager is responsible for developing new business within the real estate sector including the identification of business opportunities with franchise groups and other stakeholders.
He took a significant role in providing advice and support to introduce a Real Estate specific indemnity insurance scheme and is responsible for the highly successful REIQ/REINT schemes which he coordinated with the assistance of industry, lawyers, underwriters and claims staff.
Peter has a strong interest in promoting safe and quality business practices in real estate and has been a regular contributor to course materials, presentations and editorial submissions. He has been called upon to be a guest speaker at training forums for the REIQ, REIA, REINT, REIWA and various franchise groups.
Peter also provides individual Risk Management training to a number of his Franchise Group clients.
Professor Rahat Munir is the Head of Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Macquarie University. He is FCA, FCPA and PhD. Professor Munir is internationally acclaimed for his engagement with industry-driven curriculum and has been at the forefront of leading development and change initiatives. He is also forensic accounting specialist with financial crime investigative skills. He has pioneered innovative learning and teaching (L&T) practices, academic standards & accreditations. Her maintains strong ongoing relationships with external stakeholders, including professional associations, universities and communities - Universities in China, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Europe. He has served on the panel for Faculty/Course Reviews of various Universities in Australia and New Zealand. With his strong engagement with industry, he leads CFO Forum, Industry Academic Series, Thought Leadership and Business Leaders Roundtables. He has written over 100 peer reviewed journal articles, conference papers, books, book chapters, monographs and commissioned reports, and over 50 publications for professional and lay audiences. Although the bulk of his research focuses on management accounting and controls, he has also published in important cognate areas such as education, CSR, corporate governance, corporate culture and research expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Professor Munir has delivered scores of invited/keynote presentations, and his expert opinions has been featured in radio, television, newspapers, newsletters, and web outlets. He is affiliated with several professional bodies including the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, Professional Risk Managers International Association, USA, American Accounting Association, British Accounting Association, Canadian Accounting Association and European Accounting Association. Professor Munir serves on various high-level Committees and Advisory Boards. Professor Munir’s sustained excellence in teaching and research has been recognised through international awards.
Professor Ryan Ko is an internationally recognised computer scientist, co-founder of CyberCert, and co-founder and director of Cyber Security Certification Australia (CSCAU), an industry council which focus on uplifting the cyber maturity of SMEs globally through dynamic certifiable standards. For more than a decade, he has served as an expert at ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27, edited two ISO standards in the ISO/IEC 27000 family, and recently co-chaired Singapore’s standards on Cyber Essentials and Cyber Trust Mark. He is also a Chair Professor and Director of UQ Cyber at The University of Queensland. He grandfathered (ISC)2’s CCSP certification, and was commissioned by NZ’s Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to draft NZ’s national cyber security curriculum (NZQA Level 6). Through his academic roles, he co-founded several national and global cyber security competitions. He has published more than 150 publications in the areas of AI, AI security, cyber security autonomy, data provenance and privacy, and his work has been translated and adopted worldwide including organisations such as INTERPOL, CERN, and Hewlett Packard. He is a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society, Fellow of Cloud Security Alliance and Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Steven is the Senior Partner of Advisory at Tesserent, leading a team of over 120 security consultants across Australian and New Zealand. He has over 20 years of experience in Cyber Security, Audit and Risk, having worked across a number of large Federal Government agencies.
Tania Ezra BA(ANU), MPM (USQ), PGCertAstro(Swin), ITIL, PMP, PMI-RMP, CPPD, MRMIA, MAIPM, MASA, SFC is a Security Specialist with Microsoft. She has extensive academic achievements and over 20 years of intimate end to end involvement in complex high-risk security programs, and has previously worked IBM, CSC and Logica.
Thomas Green is an award-winning project manager who has worked extensively across government, aerospace and defence sectors and the research sector. He is a member of the International Institute of Space Law; the Royal Society of NSW; and, the Australian Institute of Project Management.
Thomas has also previously worked on software projects and start-ups related to machine learning, worked in private equity, established Neumann Space, served as a Ministerial Advisor on emergency services and road safety, and was a program coordinator for the COVID-19 tiger team for Transport for NSW during the COVID outbreaks in NSW throughout 2020.
Troy Swan is the Group General Counsel and Board Member of the $1.3 billion office products company Winc. Winc was formed following the acquisition and merger of Staples, OfficeMax and Corporate Express in Australia and New Zealand by leading US based private equity firm Platinum Equity.
He has been publicly recognised as one of Australia's leading corporate lawyers and was previously an Australian Lawyer of the Year and an Australian General Counsel of the Year triple finalist. He was also the Association of Corporate Counsel Global Member of the Year, from over 43,000 lawyers worldwide, with this being the first time this honour was ever awarded to a lawyer outside America.
He became only the second Australian lawyer to win the International Value Champions Award in San Francisco and was also named the Association of Corporate Counsel Winner for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility.
Known for his business judgement, he is highly active within the legal and business community, being named a Judge at the Australian Law Awards, New Zealand Law Awards, Corporate Counsel Awards, Partner of the Year Awards and the 30 Under 30 Law Awards.
He is a long standing Member of the Law Society Corporate Lawyers Committee, is a regular commentator and speaker on legal and business affairs and leads an award winning legal team based in Sydney, Australia.
Warren supports customers in leveraging the value of cloud at scale, his focus is on identifying and overcoming blockers to adoption. Currently he is leading the roll-out of Generative AI services to enable enterprises to benefit from the new technology in a safe, responsible and effective manner.
Prior to AWS Warren was a General Manager at Commonwealth Bank of Australia and was accountable for the digital transformation of a subsidiary bank in Vietnam which contributed to a 25% improvement in CIR and 10X increase in profit over 3 years. He was also involved in a number of other large transformation programs within the main Australian bank.
