Seshani Bala

Executive General Counsel at KPMG New Zealand

Seshani Bala is currently Executive General Counsel for KPMG NZ, providing guidance on all legal, governance, risk and compliance matters. She likes to help businesses deal with today, while building for tomorrow. Bala is an experienced executive General Counsel, strategic enabler and tech enthusiast with extensive transactional, advisory, regulatory and risk management expertise across multiple jurisdictions. Drives sustainable growth and delivers business resilience in adapting to the rapidly changing global environment.

Frances Valintine

Founder & CEO at academyEX

Frances Valintine CNZM is CEO & Founder of academyEX Frances Valintine CNZM is a passionate educator and technologist who is focused on developing education opportunities that connect professionals to the knowledge they need to be successful in today’s rapidly advancing world. For 25 years she has been dedicated to shifting education and business practice to develop the capabilities, knowledge and mindset needed to respond to the future of work, changing societal expectations and the protection of the planet. In her day to day role, she is the Chief Executive of academyEX, a post-graduate institute focused on professional development and knowledge in the fields of technological advancement, education, sustainability and leadership. In 2013 she founded The Mind Lab, a unique offering designed to empower students and educators to develop applied digital knowledge and capability. Over the past ten years The Mind Lab has enabled an entire generation of teachers and educators to upskill and develop their confidence in emerging digital technologies, and to rethink the model of learning and education and support school-aged children to foster these critical skills. The immediate impact The Mind Lab has earned the organisation the title of Best Start-Up in Asia Pacific as judged by Steve Wozniak and Sir Richard Branson in 2014. A Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her lifetime contribution to education and technology (2018), Frances has received numerous awards recognising her passion and commitment to supporting the young and more mature to seek opportunities and reach their potential. In 2022, Frances was inducted into the New Zealand Hall of Fame for Women Entrepreneurs and in 2020 Frances received the lifetime award for her Outstanding Contribution to Technology and Business at the CIO Awards. Her past accolades also include: 2017: Frances received the NZ Flying Kiwi Award, and she was inducted into the New Zealand Hi-Tech Hall of Fame and named one of the top 3 NZ Innovators of the Year at the NZer of the Year awards. 2016: Named one of the top 50 EdTech Educators in the World by EdTech International; awarded a Sir Peter Blake Leader Award. 2015: Awarded the Westpac New Zealand Woman of Influence (Innovation) and the Next New Zealand Woman of the Year (Education) Driven by a strong sense of purpose to support positive growth for Aotearoa, Frances sits on the board of Watercare and is a selection adviser to EHF (Edmund Hillary Foundation), a judge on the Hi Tech Awards, and the National Expert for the global World Summit Awards. Frances is also a mentor to a number of global female technology leaders, and a Director to On Being Bold, an initiative to support and encourage emerging female leaders and female students to aim high and dream big. Frances is also on the Board of Trustees for the University of Silicon Valley. Frances is the author of Future You, a book dedicated to shifting perceptions about learning as an adult and promoting the need to stay connected, relevant and informed throughout our life. Frances holds a Master of Education Management from the University of Melbourne.

Alex Petrie

Senior Legal Counsel and Company Secretary at James Hardie

Alex Petrie’s bread and butter are the infrastructure and property industries. As the Senior Legal Counsel at James Hardie Building Products APAC, Petrie is passionate about process improvement for both the legal team and the business.

Mayo Ishigami

Senior Legal Counsel at Heritage Bank

Mayo Ishigami is the Senior Legal Counsel and Acting Head of Compliance and Regulatory Services at Heritage Bank, based in Brisbane, Australia. She is well-versed in financial and regulatory services, having worked for multiple banks and Credit Union Australia.

Cameron Loughlin

Legal Director at Uber

Cameron leads the legal team for Uber’s mobility and delivery businesses in Australia & New Zealand and is a member of Uber’s ANZ Leadership Team, responsible for corporate governance, product counselling and enterprise contracting, high-stakes litigation and regulatory investigations. Previously Cameron was based in San Francisco working as the Global Chief of Staff for one of Uber's senior executives. Cameron sits on the NSW Committee of the Association of Corporate Counsel, and is listed in the Legal 500 GC Powerlist.

Teresa Allan

Vice President, General Counsel and Ethics & Compliance Officer at Capgemini

Teresa Allan is Vice President, General Counsel and Ethics & Compliance Officer at Capgemini Australia and New Zealand. Capgemini creates and delivers business, technology, and digital solutions to achieve innovation and competitiveness. With more than 340,000 people, the Capgemini Group of companies is present in 50+ countries and represents over 120 nationalities. Teresa spent almost a decade in private practice, working in London, before moving in-house. Teresa's leadership has received many accolades - she was recognized as an In-house Leader by the Australasian Lawyer in 2022, is listed on The Legal 500 GC Powerlist and has received many individual and team nominations at the Australian Law Awards.

Rosanna Biggs

VP - General Counsel & Acting Head of People & Culture at Linktree

Rosanna is General Counsel and acting Head of People & Culture at Aussie tech start-up, Linktree, where she is responsible for the Legal, Trust & Safety, HR and Talent Acquisition teams and sits on the executive leadership team. Prior to Linktree, Rosanna held legal roles at Gumtree and eBay both in Sydney and Silicon Valley.

Theo Kapodistrias

General Counsel at Evergen

Theo Kapodistrias is a multi-award-winning lawyer, based in Hobart, Tasmania. He is also a speaker, trainer and public speaking coach, running his own business www.theokap.com.au. He has been recognised for his work in the legal and community space winning the 2017 and 2018 Lawyers Weekly 30 Under 30 Award (Corporate Counsel), the Academia, Training and Education Lawyer of the Year Award at the 2018 Corporate Counsel Awards, the Young Lawyer of the Year Award at the 2020 Law Society of Tasmania Awards, and Excellence Award at the 2021 Australasian Law Awards. He has been identified as a rising star by both the Legal 500 in 2019 and the Australasian Lawyer in 2022. In 2022, he was named one of Australia's Most Influential Lawyers and as International Speaker of the Year. He is a Non-Executive Director of the Association of Corporate Counsel Australia and Business Events Tasmania. In 2021, Theo took on the role as Executive Director and Licensee of TEDxHobart and is the host of a podcast titled ‘Craft Messages That Matter.’

Mollie Tregillis

Director - Legal Optimisation Consulting at Minter Ellison

Mollie leads MinterEllison’s Legal Optimisation consultancy practice. A 'recovering lawyer' with a depth of Legal Operations experience, Mollie is a people person with a passion for building strong relationships and influencing for change. Mollie brings an empathetic yet strategic focus to all engagements and takes pride in a low jargon, human centred approach. She is passionate about wellbeing within the legal industry and facilitates open and frank discussions about how we are really as a profession. Mollie is a respected member of the Legal Operations industry and maintains strong relationships within the industry, including through memberships of CLOC and ALTA. She is an IECL Certified Executive Coach, and is also certified in Prince2, AgilePM, Lean Six Sigma, Facilitatio, Design Thinking and Service Design.

Feng Guo

Legal Counsel (APAC) at Blackhawk Network

A truth seeker, soul searcher and life long learner, Feng is Legal Counsel for a global financial services company looking after its Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia and India jurisdictions. She is based in Sydney and enjoys creative pursuits to relax, including yoga, meditation and drawing.

Justin Moses

In-House Lawyer at Aime Mentoring

Justin has been an active participant in the evolution of the Australian in-house legal sector since joining it as graduate lawyer in 1987. Over the ensuing decades, Justin has amassed deep experience in the leadership of legal teams and change management in areas as diverse as team culture, engagement, high-performance, efficiency, innovation, technology and wellbeing. Justin is currently the in-House Lawyer for AIME Mentoring, an indigenous not-for-profit corporation focused on building mentoring bridges between universities and schools to help in overcoming educational inequality. Justin is a true believer in the power of industry-based conversations, and is a member of ACC Australia, Justice Connect and the AICD. He is a member of the NSW Law Society’s In-House Corporate Lawyers Committee; and is an Adjunct Professional Fellow of UTS Faculty of Law. In 2022 Justin received the NSW Law Society award for Excellence in In-House Practice.

Michael Guilday

General Counsel & Head of Property at Sydney Fish Market

Michael is a purpose driven Chief Legal Officer, Executive Leader and Governance Professional, with multidisciplinary expertise across several different industries and sectors. He has a passion for place creation, business combination, transformation, innovation, diversity, disruption, sustainability, recognition of Australia’s First Nations People, investing, and finding solutions to complex problems. Michael is currently General Counsel and Head of Property at Sydney Fish Market. As member of the Executive Group, he is responsible for the Legal and Property Functions at Sydney Fish Market, including executive level strategic decision making in relation to commercial, operations, legal and ESG aspects of the Market. Prior to his current role, Michael held senior in-house legal and governance positions with Lendlease Corporation, Cbus Super Fund, Commonwealth Bank and Goodman Group; where he has been responsible for leadership within high performing legal functions and providing high quality legal and governance advice to operational businesses and Boards.

Ramza Martin

Legal Counsel at Pepper Money

Ramza is Legal Counsel for leading non-bank lender, Pepper Money. With previous experience in private practice, property, government, not-for-profit and as an e-commerce business founder, she enjoys the in-house lawyer's ability to think commercially and strategically to set organisations up for best success.

Alex Smith

VP of Customer Success at LawVu

Located in Melbourne, Australia, Alex Smith leads the Customer Success and Experience Strategy at LawVu. Alex is passionate about building customer facing teams that serve, delight and empower customers to maximise their value from their investments in LawVu. After seeing the ever increasing need for in-house lawyers to improve the way they work within their respective organisations, Alex transitioned from CRM Software to Legal Technology in 2017 and has been with LawVu since 2019.

Marija Dukadinovska

Senior Associate at Legalite

Former in-house lawyer and now Senior Associate at Legalite - a multi-award winning commercial law firm specialising in franchising and property, Marija is the dedicated legal counsel to one of Legalite's longest-standing clients, KX Pilates. She is also a Career Coach helping lawyers uniquely design their careers, she's a speaker and workshop facilitator, running her own business www.marijaduka.com and hosts The Career Confidence Podcast, the podcast for driven lawyers wanting to step out of the traditional path and create fulfilling and purposeful careers.

Jason Xu

Legal Operations Principal at IAG

Jason Xu is the Legal Operations Principal at IAG, the largest insurance company in Australia and New Zealand. Jason's mission is to inspire and usher 'better ways of doing things' in law and was a finalist for the Australian Corporate Lawyer Awards in the Legal Innovator of the Year category. Prior to IAG, Jason held legal and operational roles at MinterEllison and Veolia based in Sydney.

Nicola Gannon

Deputy Chief Legal Counsel at Craveable Brands

Nicola is Deputy Chief Legal Counsel of Craveable Brands, a franchisor of four iconic Australian brands, Chicken Treat, Red Rooster, Oporto and their latest family member Chargrill Charlies. Nicola spent many years in private practice but her experiences in-house, both in local government and at her current role at Craveable Brands has sold her on the holistic, pragmatic and always evolving landscape of providing legal advice in-house. In her current role you will find her working on leasing, franchising, compliance, general commercial matters, projects and ER compliance. She was instrumental in the implementation of LawVu for the Craveable Brand’s legal team which resulted in the team receiving the ACC’s Value Champion award for Innovation in 2022.

Joanna Abraham

Senior Legal Counsel at Settlement Services International Limited

Joanna is Senior Legal Counsel for Settlement Services International, a national not-for-profit that supports newcomers and other Australians to achieve their full potential. Joanna is experienced in legal practice management in not-for-profits, including overseeing generalist practices across jurisdictions and providing in-house legal and strategic advice to a diverse range of clients, including individuals, charities and social enterprises. With strong corporate governance knowledge, Joanna currently sits on the board of a community legal centre. She has also held past positions, including chair, on state and national human rights committees. Joanna is driven by using legal practice for social good, fostering strategic partnerships with the private sector and furthering strategy in businesses that support communities. She was awarded the Not-for-Profit Lawyer of the Year in 2023 at the Lawyers Weekly Corporate Counsel Awards.

David Lancelot

CLO, LawVu

David has 20+ years’ experience building, leading and optimizing best-in-class international in-house legal functions. David is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida College of Law where he teaches International In-House Legal Leadership. Before joining LawVu, David spent 10 years building and leading the eBay Classifieds Group Legal Team; rising to VP, Global Head of Legal and a member of the Executive Leadership Team. eBay Classifieds Group had over $1bil revenue and operated market leading online classifieds businesses in 11+ jurisdictions globally, head-quartered in Amsterdam. David and his team of 25 professionals successfully facilitated the $9.2bil sale of the eBay Classifieds business in 2021. Before eBay, David was General Counsel of an online payments and encryption start-up in London and General Counsel of QVC UK for 5 years. David is a member of the FL, NY and CA Bar and is an English Solicitor. He also holds an LLM from the University of London in Communications and Technology Law. David is based in Los Gatos, California

Allison Smart

Legal Director at O’Brien®

"Allison is the Legal Director, Australasia for the Belron which operates in 37 countries under well known brands like O’Brien® in Australia and Smith&Smith® in NZ. Mostly the group is famous for its automotive glass operations but in ANZ it also operates divisions for building glass under the O’Brien Glass® brand, a plumbing and electrical franchise group under the Laser brand as well as O’Brien, and another franchise services business called Exceed, which fixes windows and doors in NZ. The Belron focus on customer service is at home in the small legal team of five, who work on contracts, franchising, compliance, competition law, marketing and other general commercial matters for all of those divisions. "