Alastair Dawson is the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor of CQUniversity Australia. He is an expert in transformational leadership that guides organisations through periods of disruption and change. He prioritises disruptive innovation, global leadership and team building to garner results.

Alastair boldly lead the initiative to successfully open Australia’s first Indonesian campus through CQUni and reduced costs of international university operations by 40 per cent in 16 months through his executive leadership. The outstanding success of CQUni’s first international campus can be credited to Alastair’s emphasis on accountability, authenticity and charitability to incite positive change.

Likewise, Alastair has also held key community positions such as CEO of Beaudesert Shire Council and Rockhampton Regional Council. Alastair’s success across a breadth of roles and industries is attributed to his focus on operational and financial stability across his 25 years of executive leadership.

Peta is a commercial, purpose-driven leader that is passionate about creating businesses that are ‘best FOR the world’, not just ‘best IN the world’. Peta is passionate about for-profit, for-purpose business models and believes that being an executive within these businesses presents a significant opportunity and obligation to deliver robust, profitable and impactful strategies that generate positive, inter-generational benefits for multiple stakeholders.

This requires a different type of leadership and a different type of person – someone who is multi-faceted, is open to evolution, embraces humanity and enjoys playing and creating in the unknown.

Peta’s experience doesn’t fit into a standard box or label and she likes it that way. She has a unique mix of skills across strategy, innovation, human resources, business transformation and organisation development.

She is regularly called upon to help Boards and Executive teams to work through complex and emergent challenges at the intersection of human experience, emerging social and technological change and across global systems.

She has held senior roles in Australia and the UK across the financial services, telecommunications, and resources sectors in large multinational and international companies, in both Australia and the UK and is currently the EGM of People and Customer Experience at SilverChef, a BCorporation that provides hospitality finance solutions to entrepreneurs in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

As Melbourne Real Estate’s Head of People and Culture, Adriarna encapsulates all of the things that make this award winning business rise head and shoulders above the pack. Consciously subverting the traditionally accepted values of Human Resources and embodying the core values that underscore Melbourne Real Estate’s success, her focus is on maximising the engagement, effectiveness and retention of each and every employee.  

With over ten years’ experience in the Property industry under her belt, Adriarna is duly acknowledged as a force of nature, juggling myriad roles across the company from recruitment to the onboarding and continual development of the MRE community. Responsible for the overarching well-being of staff, Adriarna actively works with team members to help formulate their individual professional career blueprints, along with providing ongoing support and guidance for up-skilling.  

The internal culture of Melbourne Real Estate is vital to a cohesive team and Adriarna, operating as a natural motivator with a genuine love of people, is able to employ her innate empathy to ensure everyone is included and valued.  

Inherently civic minded, Adriarna also likes to give back by volunteering. Most recently working with Juno Consulting in collaboration with AMES Australia and The Salvation Army, partaking in the ‘Passport To Work Program’ helping long-term unemployed people learn how to jump the interview hurdle, bridging the gap between corporate and community. 

Ümit Subasi is a successful executive and board member that has served across a breadth of industries for more than 30 years. Subasi is the current board director & partner at 4A Cosmetics Inc. and is the founding partner of Ultra Modum, a boutique advisory business.

Umit’s leadership experience spans across multiple continents where he has enjoyed a successful track record in strategy development, creating route-to-market strategies, designing & implementing new business models, non-organic business development, governance and monitoring practices, management finance, building high-performance cultures and change management.

Notably, Umit was in charge of all operations outside the US for the Campbell Soup Company as President International and CEO of Campbell Arnott’s. Having served on a variety of boards, including the Australian Food and Grocery Council, Umit has shared his expertise as a non-executive director and senior advisor with several boards and organisations across Australia, the US, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.