Andrew served a distinguished 40-year career with Victoria Police where he held a number of senior executive positions, finishing in the role of Deputy Commissioner Regional Operations. In 2018, Andrew was appointed as Victoria’s Emergency Management Commissioner, a position he held for five years.

In these roles Andrew provided strong leadership and was a calm, familiar face for Victorians during some of the most significant emergencies the state has faced including the 2019- 20 bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic response.

In both his police and emergency services roles, Andrew is regarded as someone with sound judgement who builds effective teams that deliver positive outcomes for the Victorian community. It is important to Andrew that all voices are listened to, and that inclusion and diversity are front of mind when it comes to organisational culture and service delivery.

Andrew is well known as a champion for multicultural and faith communities and firmly believes he is a better person and leader through those relationships.

As Inspector-General of Emergency Management, Alistair Dawson leads his Office to provide assurance and advice to enable confidence in Queensland’s disaster management arrangements. He works with entities to identify and improve capabilities and facilitate opportunities for collaboration.

Mr Dawson brings 45+ years of policing experience from the UK and Queensland. With his commitment to police and emergency management, he achieved the rank of Assistant Commissioner with the Queensland Police Service. As a former Chair of the State Disaster Coordination Group, Mr Dawson has played a lead role in coordinating the whole of government response to several complex disaster events.

Tea Dietterich is Founder and CEO of 2M Language Services (2M), Australia’s leading language technology and language service provider.

Tea is instrumental in providing secure time-critical language access for Migrant and Deaf & Hard of Hearing Communities in emergency management.

Tea has positioned 2M as a trusted partner supporting the in-language capabilities of Australia’s Warning System to achieve safety equity for non-English-speaking populations.

Tea is President of AALC, Graduate of AICD, has featured in the Australian Financial Review as international Language Technology Innovator, Board and Council Member of University of Queensland BA Advisory Board, Board Member of Austmine, among others.

Natasha is an Emergency Physician, who also has experience in research and emergency public health including trauma prevention and disasters. She is also the mother to three very adventurous children and teenagers, and is happiest at the top of a mountain.

Dr Neryl East is the trusted adviser of leaders and communicators who are ready to impact the future.

She’s an acclaimed speaker and credibility expert who’s worked with leaders at the highest levels of government and business.

As a former television reporter and Olympic announcer Neryl is no stranger to big stages. These days she speaks to audiences across Australia and Asia, helping them communicate with clarity and influence, especially when the pressure is on.

Neryl has a PhD in Journalism and is the author of five books including an Amazon best-seller on media and reputation.

Sara Fazeli is a final year PhD candidate at the Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation (rCITI) at the UNSW Sydney. She earned her bachelor's and master’s in urban planning with honours from Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran. After that, she worked as an urban and transport planner at the Transportation and Traffic Research Centre of Shiraz University on several sub-projects within the broader projects of Shiraz City Comprehensive Transport Plan and the Shiraz City Subway Lines Plan.
Her PhD research centres on individual preparedness in response to flood and bushfire emergencies.

Olivia Gardner has a Bachelor of Arts (Double Major Journalism) and more than 20 years of experience in media, communications and stakeholder engagement.

Olivia started her professional life as a journalist and became interested in disaster communications after working through the Brisbane floods of 2010-11 at the ABC.

She has now managed communications through several large-scale bushfires, cyclones, floods and played a pivotal role in the COVID-19 response for Queensland Health.

In her current role, Olivia has led Public Information for several biosecurity responses including varroa mite, salmonella enteritidis, and avian influenza (deployed to Victoria’s avian influenza outbreak August 2024).

Lisa Glass is an IAEM Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) and the first person outside the US to achieve FEMA Master Public Information Officer (MPIO) designation.
Her educational background is in neuroscience, journalism and business. Before joining the world of CDEM (Civil Defence Emergency Management) five years ago, she worked in television news, science communications and strategic consulting.
Lisa is team leader for Communications and Engagement at Emergency Management Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand and is also a member of the national emergency deployment team, NZ EMAT (Emergency Management Assistance Team).

For more than 20yrs Tracey has been focused on the transformation of organisations including public sector and the application of emerging technology. Leading APAC for Dataminr, she and her team are focused on innovating and building new capacity for Emergency & Crisis response, National Security and Cyber security including for Supply Chain and risk management. Dataminr is a top 20 Global AI firm delivering real-time alerting of risks and events. The faster we can make sense of information and modify our systems of working, the more we will improve our ability to manage this chaotic ever-changing world.