Michael McQueen 

Michael McQueen is a multi-award winning speaker, trend forecaster and bestselling author of nine books. 

With clients including KPMG, Pepsi and Cisco, he has helped some of the world’s most successful brands navigate disruption and maintain momentum. 

Michael is a regular commentator on TV and radio and his work has been featured in publications ranging from the UK Daily Mail to Medium.com and the Huffington Post. In addition, Michael is a familiar face in the international conference circuit having shared the stage with the likes of Bill Gates, Dr. John Maxwell and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. 

Michael has spoken to over 500,000 people across 5 continents since 2004 and is known for his engaging, entertaining and practical conference presentations. Having been recently named Australia’s Keynote Speaker of the Year, Michael was inducted into the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame. 

Yaser Naseri 

Yaser is a former refugee, survivor, and advocate dedicated to improving the lives of refugees in Australia. He arrived in Australia in 2014, started from scratch to study English, and ultimately earned a Business degree from the University of Sydney. Yaser currently serves as Marketing Activation Lead at a division of Wesfarmers. 

In addition to his daily work, Yaser is an inspiring speaker, sharing his story of survival, resilience, and the challenges faced by refugees seeking employment in Australia. He believes in the potential of refugees to become leaders and encourages corporations to hire more refugees. 

As one of the Refugee Council of Australia's ambassadors, Yaser is committed to spreading awareness and promoting the inclusion of refugees. He has spoken at a variety of events, including Microsoft, KPMG, Virgin Unite, Glow Up Career, and Social Good Summit Australia. 

Yaser's vision is to empower more skilled refugees to become tomorrow's leaders in Australia and beyond.

Robert van Stokrom FRCSA (Life) 

Robert first spent 23 years in the pharmaceutical industry in technical, manufacturing, and logistics roles in senior Executive positions. This saw him working for Multinationals in the U.S., Europe, China, and the Asia region. Robert then moved to manage businesses in Recruitment before acquiring DFP. As the CEO of DFP for 18 years, he grew the business from 3 to 16 offices nationally through organic expansion and completing 8 acquisitions. Under Robert's Leadership DFP won several industry awards which is well recognised for its unique culture, innovative adoption of technology, client retention and candidate care. After the consolidation of further acquisitions, the business was acquired by Will International, a major Japanese listed HR firm. Robert left DFP in 2022 after successfully completing the earn out requirements as CEO. 

Robert was the National President of the RCSA, and a Board Director for 10 years. Robert has also served as local Government councillor for the city of Knox, he is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a Certified Professional of AHRI, and a Fellow (life) of the RCSA. Robert is also a Life Member of VCCI (Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) after serving on the Board for 10 years and chairing the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce. 

After the completion of a successful earn out Robert left DFP to pursue an advisory and coaching career through his new company Redgum Advisory. 

Robert is focused on Executive Coaching, including how to be the best leader, preparing your business for sale, or how to grow through acquisition. Robert has specific expertise in coaching successful leaders to perform at their peak, he shows what to focus on and what to ignore. Robert, in his many years in senior executive roles, has learnt the hard lessons on how to lead effectively, and how to acquire and how to divest for the best outcome.

Thea O’Connor  

Thea O’Connor is a senior advisor on workplace wellbeing and productivity. She helps leaders, teams and individuals improve their workplace engagement and effectiveness through body intelligence and better health. 

Thea encourages employers to adopt a life-stage approached to worker wellbeing so that different stages of the life cycle, such as menopause, can be accommodated. She is the founder of menopause@work Asia Pacific, which helps workplaces become menopause-friendly through education, training, policies and tailored resources.

Billie Atanasova  

Billie is an epidemiologist turned national sales manager who has spent half of her career in academia and public health and the other half in the corporate financial services sector. Being a devoted lifelong learner has resulted in Billie undertaking a PhD and exploring the link between mental and financial wellbeing of people who accessed their super savings during COVID. 

She has worked passionately with recruitment agencies for almost seven years and admires their continuous efforts to support the wellbeing of staff through various programs. Billie’s session at the conference will provide an awareness of how overall staff wellbeing is important in the world of work and why financial wellbeing is just as important as mental wellbeing. 

 Billie has a keen personal interest in wholistic wellness. She is fascinated by human behaviour and really wants to know your ‘money personality’. When Billie doesn’t have her head buried in an article, book or report for work or school, she is either outdoors running, walking or cycling, or indoors watching movies, documentaries or painting something on canvas.

Dr Catherine Ball  

Associate Professor, Dr Catherine Ball is a scientific futurist, speaker, advisor, author, founder, executive producer, executive director, company and director working across global projects where emerging technologies meet humanitarian, education and environmental needs. Catherine also likes to create businesses and champion movements, collaborate with peers, and advise game-changers. 

A sought-after voice across the start-up, futurist and tech world, Catherine works globally across a wide range of projects from creating documentaries and world leading conferences and events, to advising on the use of novel approaches (e.g. drones) across environmental and humanitarian projects. Catherine is a proponent of community engagement with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), and likes to demystify emerging tech. 

Having been called a ‘social architect’, Catherine likes to connect people from different backgrounds across common themes. A champion of diversity and inclusion, Catherine believes we need points of difference to truly innovate and curate the changes we want to see in the world. Working to protect the natural environment and empowering all members of society through mutual education are core aspects of the projects Catherine chooses to spend her time and energy on.

Ronni Kahn AO  

Ronni Kahn AO is a social entrepreneur and founder and CEO of food rescue charity OzHarvest. Ronni is a passionate advocate and activist renowned for disrupting the food waste landscape in Australia. She appears regularly in national media, serves in an advisory capacity to government and is a sought after keynote speaker. 

Her mission to fight food waste and feed hungry people is supported by some of the world’s finest chefs. Ronni is an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) and was named Australian Local Hero of the Year. Her journey is the subject of a feature film, Food Fighter and her memoir, A Repurposed Life, has recently been published. 

As the owner of a successful events company, throwing away huge volumes of leftover food at the end of the day came with the territory. But when Ronni Kahn hit midlife, she found herself no longer able to turn a blind eye to her food waste problem. Hand delivering the untouched food to homeless shelters around Sydney became her renegade solution. Little did she know that fixing her small problem at work would lead her to unlock a hidden purpose at the very core of her inner life. 

Now founder and CEO of the food rescue organisation OzHarvest, Ronni leads hundreds of staff and thousands of volunteers with the goal to nourish Australia. She serves in an advisory capacity to government and is an instrumental leader in changing federal laws to improve social justice and environmental policies. 

Blake Thomson  

Blake Thomson has lived and breathed recruitment for most of his life. Growing up around his family’s nursing agency, finding new ways to help workers and employers find their perfect fit has been a lifelong passion. 

Backed by the tech brilliance of Co-Founder Sachin Nischal, Blake’s vision for a better world of individual fulfillment is well on its way to becoming a reality. Six years into the successful venture that is Entire OnHire, the most complete end-to-end staffing platform for on-hire agencies in Australia, Blake is excited to be representing the business’ latest innovation: Xeople. This brand-new platform is the bedrock on which the future of careers will be built. 

Blake lives in Melbourne with his wife, daughter and 2 cats. He enjoys playing basketball, video games and talking to new people about their definition of success. If you haven’t met Blake before, you can always spot him with his bright red car and even brighter blazers!  

Simon Lusted  

Simon Lusted is the Managing Director of Strategy, Product and AI at SEEK. Simon is responsible for the Asia Pacific and Americas operating business’ Strategy, Product and Artificial Intelligence teams. Simon brings to this role his previous experience as Group Strategy Director, and he serves on the board of several of SEEK’s strategic minority investments. 

Prior to joining SEEK, Simon worked in strategy roles at Telstra and A.T. Kearney. Simon also has over 10 years’ experience working extensively in online industries in Australia and the UK, including governments and start-ups. 

Simon holds an MBA from Melbourne Business School and a Bachelor of Business from Monash University majoring in Marketing.  

Clara McCarthy   

Clara McCarthy is a Regional Sales Leader for LinkedIn’s ANZ Search & Staffing business. She has over a decade of experience working with recruitment agencies across Australia & New Zealand, as well as in the UK and Ireland. She is a firm believer that the recruitment industry is uniquely placed to bring to life LinkedIn’s vision of creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Clara and her team are responsible for how recruitment agencies can plan, hire, and develop talent using data-led talent solutions and LinkedIn Learning. 

Clara is passionate about developing talent to unlock potential, develop skills and transform careers and as a co-founder of Australian Women in Recruitment she set about creating a community for the present and future female leaders the Australian Recruitment Industry. Outside of work Clara is an avid reader, podcast listener and traveller – and has never been known to shy away from a dancefloor.  

Martin Herbst   

Martin is a tech leader with 20 years of experience launching and scaling SaaS, eCommerce, online classifieds and digital media businesses from start-up mode to highly profitable enterprises across the globe. 

 Adept in setting the long-term strategic vision and deploying go-to-market strategy by developing and scaling teams powered by an innovative, agile, customer-centric and commercially driven culture. After 15 years at Gumtree, Martin made the move to JobAdder with the purpose to make recruitment more efficient and joyful for everyone.