Keynote Speakers

Are we there yet? …………………Well this is how to get there!

Keynote speakers 2009

Tracey Fellows - Managing Director, Microsoft Australia. Tracey is responsible for driving the company's overall business in the region. Prior to her Managing Director role, Tracey was the Director of Business and Marketing Operations for Microsoft Australia and New Zealand, overseeing all the subsidiary's corporate and product marketing functions. Ms Fellows joined Microsoft in 2003, prior to this she held a variety of serior positions at Dell and IBM.

Mark Pesce, inventor, writer, educator and futurist. Known internationally as the man who fused virtual reality with the World Wide Web to invent VRML. Mark Pesce has been exploring the frontiers of media and technology for a quater of a century. Pesce currently holds an appointment as an Honorary Associate in the Digital Cultures programme at the University of Sydney, and in 2006 founded FutureSt, a Sydney media and technology consultancy. Working with clients such as Telstra, Lonely Planet and SanDisk. http://blog.futurestreetconsulting.com/

Cheryl Kernot, Associate Professor and Director of Teaching and Learning at the Centre for Social Impact at the University of New South Wales. After a distinguished political career Cheryl Kernot has spent the last five years working in the UK as Director at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurs at the Said Business School at Oxford University and prior to that as Director of Learning at the School for Social Entrepreneurs in London.

Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson are both ex-television producers and editors who were born anew into the videoblogging world in 2004. Jay is the co-author of Extreme Tech Videoblogging and, Ryanne is the co-author of Secrets of Videoblogging. Both are co-founders of NODE101.org and open source collaborative efforts to teach videoblogging around the world. Their current, collaborative project is ShowinaBox.tv - you can see their work at Ryanishungry.com.

The “hands on” workshop with Jay and Ryanne on 13 May will showcase community sector case studies highlighting issues of using technology to build capacity and building capacity to utilise technology.(Book early for this one!)

Peter Deitz, founder and Executive Director of www.socialactions.com . Peter is a blogger, technology consultant, and the founder of Social Actions. Since July 2006, he's been working to advance the field of micro-philanthropy by building what he calls Web 3.0, the open philanthropic web. His work is based on the idea that peer-to-peer citizen initiatives are the best incubator for broad social change. He lives and works in Montreal, Canada.

http://twitter.com/peterdeitz

Join the conversation @ http://blog.socialactions.com

Monique Potts, Digital Media Project Manager and Producer at the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). Monique has a background in public media, online training and community development. She has been building websites and digital media applications since the mid 90's, and developing interactive applications and online communities at the ABC since 2002. She manages several audience focused projects in the Strategic Development group at ABC Innovation.

Allen Gunn, (Gunner) Executive Director of Aspiration. With twenty years of software development, senior management, and capacity building expertise, Allen has spent the last fifteen years exploring how technology can most effectively empower and support social justice causes. He has been closely involved with the US and international technology activist communities; the Silicon Valley engineering and venture funding world; social justice organizations, and academic communities, and currently sits on the boards of The Ruckus Society, Global Exchange, and Idealware.

Alan Noble, has been the Engineering Director for Google Australia and New Zealand since early 2007. In this role he manages the growth of Google Australia's engineering R+D centre in Sydney. He joined Google from Net Priva, a software company he co-founded and most recently served as CEO and Chief Technology Officer for nearly two years.In 1996 he founded NetMind in California which was acquired in 2000 by Intellisyc, subsequently acquired by Nokia.

Elliott Bledsoe is a Project Officer with Creative Commons Australia, the organisation that administers the Australian Creative Commons licences and supports Australian licence users. At the core of the Creative Commons project is a suite of standardised licences, freely available to creators, that foster sharing and collaboration. Elliott also sits on the board of Flying Arts, a provider of arts workshops and exhibition opportunities for remote and regional Queenslanders, and on the board of Youth Arts Queensland, and Creative Director of Artcast, a free art podcasting service.

Jody Mahoney, Vice President, Business Development, Anita Borg Foundation for Women and Technology. At the Anita Borg Institute (ABI) Jody is responsible for developing current and new Institute sponsors and partners willing to grow with ABI as their programs expand in support of their mission. Prior to joining ABI for Women and Technology, Jody was senior director international development with TechSoup Global, a social enterprise based in San Francisco where she was instrumental in developing the corporate and nonprofit partners needed for international expansion, including Connecting Up Australia's Donortec program.

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