Who’s who at Confex?

Next month sees the 11th Annual PASA Premier Confex take place at the Flemington Racecourse Conference Centre in Melbourne from 18-19th October – and tickets are selling fast!

Widely accepted as the region’s most influential procurement conference with the peer-decided NIGELS awards celebrating the best in the profession, this vibrant event – which welcomed over 400 guests in 2022 – challenges attendees to adopt new ways of thinking as they explore the latest procurement practices.

The jam-packed two day program features a number of high-profile keynote speakers covering a range of topics that are relevant to issues affecting procurement today, so let’s take a look at who’s set to take the stage in October.

Day 1

Katrina Ell, Director – Economics Unit, APAC at Moody’s

9:30am: Geopolitics is complicating supply-chain management

Katrina Ell is an Associate Director and Senior Economist in the Sydney office of Moody’s Analytics. In her role, Katrina helps manage the Asia-Pacific team of economists spanning Sydney, Singapore and Tokyo that produce research and analysis of economies throughout the region. 

Katrina is also responsible for baseline and scenario forecasting and macroeconomic narrative development. She is regularly relied upon by international media for timely, independent and succinct insights on the global economy, with a particular focus on Asia-Pacific.

Kate Hart, Partner at Kearney

10am: Demystifying procurement & sustainability

Based in Melbourne, Kate Hart leads the ANZ strategic operations practice at Kearney, where she’s been for almost 10 years collectively. Kate also leads the ANZ sustainability practice, as well as being the APAC Kearney spokesperson for sustainability. 

She is a specialist in operations strategy, business transformation, supply chain management, procurement and business process redesign, bringing over 20 years of consulting and industry experience.

Read our exclusive pre-Confex interview with Kate, here

Tom Zielinski, Senior Director – Consulting & Services Leader ANZ, GEP

3:50pm: Procurement in the AI era: unleashing innovation & shaping strategies

Tom Zielinski leads GEP’s consulting and services practise in Australia and New Zealand. He has extensive experience in supply chain and procurement transformation across numerous industries including natural resources, retail, manufacturing, consumer products, telecommunications and financial services. He has consulted extensively internationally across North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific.

Day 2

Marli Smith, Head of Procurement, Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC)

9:15am: Delivering both short and long term value beyond cost savings on submarines – an ASC procurement case study

Marli is Head of ASC’s procurement and has been instrumental in developing procurement capability into a truly world class model, through innovation, efficiency and proactive engagement with suppliers and stakeholders.

Chris Sullivan, Global Chief Supply Officer, Ramsay Health Care

9:45am: Value beyond cost: emerging stronger by embracing challenging times

Chris Sullivan is a C-level executive with 26 years of global experience in customer-led businesses, with leadership and operational roles across multiple functions. 

He has a proven track record of driving results and challenging the status quo, transforming cost bases, future-proofing organisations, identifying new growth opportunities and building talent & teams.

Travis Brooks-Garrett, VP – Commercial (Oceana), DP World

1:45pm: The ongoing drama of inbound global supply chain and logistics post-pandemic – what to expect in 2024

Travis Brooks-Garrett is an industry leader with a relentless commitment to transforming logistics operations. 

As VP Commercial, Logistics for DP World, Travis has helped lead DP World’s transformation into an integrated logistics service provider with coverage and capability across the region.

Having served on a number of industry boards and committees, his appointments include former Director of the London-based Global Shippers Forum, former Secretary and Board Member of the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) and Chief Commercial Officer of a major Australian transport business.

Travis has spoken at several industry events including the “Brexit: Keep Britain Trading” forum in London in 2017.

Travis is passionate about supply chain efficiencies and untangling the complexities of the international logistics sector.

Dan Bouton, Head of Procurement, AusNet

2:15pm: How procurement at AusNet delivers value beyond cost

As Head of Procurement at AusNet, Dan Bouton manages a team of 30, addressing $1.5B spend annually working on strategic sourcing, category management, governance and sustainability

Dan is very motivated by the changes and challenges underway with the transition to a renewables based electricity market.

He began his career as a mathematician, then moved into supply chain and procurement with previous experience at Ixom, AGL, Coles and Carlton & United Breweries.

There will also be:

• A fireside Q&A chat with Qantas CPO Rick Fraccaro
• An interactive session on the seven data driven insights that procurement managers need to think about urgently with Michael Odam – Strategic Advisory Services Director Coupa and Scotty Taylor – Independent Consultant, Procurement and Finance Transformations
• A panel interview with the front line procurement GMs at Woolworths

It’s set to be an unmissable event but don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what previous PASA event attendees have to say…

“The PASA conference was the best conference I had attended in many years – practical advice and applications that my team and I can put to use straight away. A great investment of our time.” – Procurement Professional

“It was great to hear a wide range of presentations from a diverse mix of speakers, especially in person.” – Procurement Professional

Don’t miss out on the region’s most influential procurement conference, secure your space today!