Greg Farr, CIO Australian Department of Defence,

Winner MIS Financial Review Public Sector CIO of the Year 2007

Greg Farr has occupied the position of CIO of the Australian Department of Defence since November 2007. As the capability owner of the Australian Defence Information Environment (DIE), he has responsibility for the architectures, integrity and evolution of all ICT systems within Defence.

Previously Greg occupied the position of Second Commissioner of Taxation (Chief Operating Officer) for the Australian Taxation Office, which included responsibility for all aspects of ICT environment. In addition, since 2004, he was responsible for driving a transformational change program for the ATO that encompassed enterprise-wide CRM, business process systems, new case management systems and replacing back-end processing systems. Costed at $700 million, the project has fundamentally redefined how the federal government uses technology to engage with the public as it attempts to move away from paper-intensive processes and forms.

Greg is credited by with an uncanny ability to cut through complexity and go to the very heart of a matter. The ATO's IT division has delivered excellence despite having had to handle government changes mid project, and the program is on track for completion in 2008.

While he is relishing the challenge in his new role at the Department of Defence, Greg's prime motivator is still the desire to make a difference. He hopes to build a closer relationship between the Defence and the ATO IT departments to make the most of both organisations' knowhow.

Peter Hind, Principal, Launch Pad Marketing Pty Ltd

Peter Hind is an independent analyst with 25 years' industry experience among major IT users, international IT suppliers, local distributors, IT industry bodies and research organisations. A respected researcher and commentator on the IT industry around Asia Pacific, Peter has acquired the skill to cut through the hype that bedevils the IT industry and position technology in a business context.

Peter’s work brings him in to regular contact with IT executives across Asia Pacific, and he draws on this dialogue in his monthly ‘At the Coalface’ columns in CIO magazine in both Asia and Australia.

For more than ten years Peter ran a series of regular bi-monthly management forums for IT executives on behalf of the research company, IDC. He drew on this work in ‘The IT Managers Survival Guide’, a book he co-authored with Rob Aalders in 2002. Peter is also a skilled researcher who has designed, coordinated and interpreted regular surveys of IT executives across Asia Pacific for clients like the Australian Computer Society, CA, CSC, Fairfax Business Media, IDC, Ideas International and Micro Focus.

Peter is a popular and entertaining speaker and trainer at user and vendor IT conferences, seminars and workshops across Asia Pacific. He consistently scores top ratings at these events because of his skills as a public speaker. He has been an active Toastmaster for over 20 years and he places an emphasis in his presentations on being both entertaining and provocative. 

Dave Cannon, Co-author (with David Wheeldon) of the ITIL v3 Service Operation Book

Dave Cannon is internationally recognised as a leader in IT Service Management. He has more than 15 years' experience in IT Service Management and is a Fellow of the Institute of Service Management –  the highest level of professional achievement in this field. 

Dave has provided training and consulting services to virtually every industry sector and at every level of management.  He was also a key figure in establishing the IT Service Management industry in South Africa and the USA, both by establishing successful businesses and through his involvement in the itSMF. He was the founder of the itSMF South Africa, and a founder and director of the itSMF International. He is currently President of the itSMF USA Board. 

David has also participated in the ongoing development of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF). Most recently he has co-authored the Service Operation book for ITIL v3. His current role is ITSM Practice Principal within Hewlett-Packard, where he is responsible for establishing, building and supporting IT Service Management practices in Asia, the USA and Latin America.

David Wheeldon Co-author (with Dave Cannon) of the ITIL v3 Service Operation book.

David is one of the world’s leading authorities on IT Service Management. He worked for the UK Government and was author of many of the original ITIL books. He was founder Secretary of the itSMF and Chairman of itSMF International, and is now Honorary Vice-President. He is the ISEB’s Chief Service Management Examiner.

David has had extensive experience over more than 25 years of planning and implementing IT Service Management for a wide range of organisations in all market sectors. He is possibly the world’s most experienced ITIL trainer, and has lectured extensively on this subject in more than 50 countries.

He is the joint architect of HP’s global ITSM Assessment Service and the Customer-One service, and has delivered more than 30 such assessments worldwide. David is joint author of the new ITIL v3 Service Operation Book, and is a member of the APM Group senior examiners panel.

Plenary – Mark Toomey, Managing Director, Infonomics Pty Ltd

Mark Toomey has represented the Australian Institute of Company Directors in developing Australian IT Governance Standards since 2003, and made a major contribution to the development of AS8015. 

In 2006, he became active in international standards, participating in two studies that are setting direction for further development of ISO standards relating to IT Governance. As part of this work, Mark played a key role in the international adoption of AS8015 as ISO38000, which was published recently.

Through his company, Infonomics Pty. Ltd., Mark specialises in corporate governance of information and communication technology. His focus is helping organisations to ensure that their current and future use of IT is effective, efficient and acceptable by explaining, developing and improving top level systems of control of information technology and business change.

Mark is well experienced in helping IT Leaders to build executive and board understanding of, support for and engagement with systems of governance for IT. He also helps directors and senior officers to understand their roles in respect to IT, and is particularly adept at bridging the gap between those who have little detailed understanding of IT and those who know a great deal. Mark is an experienced presenter and is a regular guest speaker at conferences, seminars and tertiary institutions on the topic of IT Governance in Australia.