CFO Summit | 2022 Event

Jessica Adamson

Jessica is a presenter, facilitator and one of South Australia’s most sought after MC’s.

Jess forged a reputation as one of the state’s finest journalists after 24 years in television news.

Jess is a passionate ambassador for CanTeen – the Australian organisation for young people living with cancer, and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

She’s also a board member of the Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation, Sids and Kids SA and the Adelaide Crows Foundation.

The Honourable Christopher Pyne

The Hon Christopher Pyne served for twenty six years in the Australian House of Representatives. He was a Minister across the Howard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison Governments serving as Minister for Ageing; Minister for Education and Training,Minister for Industry Innovation and Science and as Australian Minister for Defence was responsible for delivering a $200 billion build-up of Australia’s military capability, the largest in Australia’s peacetime history.

He is now an author, Visiting Professor in Leadership, strategic adviser, member of boards and a media commentator.

Adam Hack

Adam Hack is the Head of Security Operations at Nuago, responsible for both the development of cyber solutions for customers and securing the information that is core to Nuago’s business. His cyber background spans multiple technical disciplines, with a strong knowledge base across cloud, network, and Windows technologies in addition to broader cyber governance, compliance, and risk. He is passionate about helping customers protect their businesses through cyber maturity development and awareness training.

Adam has led Nuago through stages of development to service the Defence sector, and maintains membership with the Australian Information Security Association, a peak body for cyber security professional development. He has also guided Nuago through the achievement of ISO27001 accreditation, an industry benchmark demonstrating proficiency in cyber professionalism.

Michelle Christie

With over 18 years’ recruitment experience within the Executive space, Michelle Christie is Director of the South Australian business for Robert Walters.

Michelle’s capability stretches across a broad range of industries including private and public sector, financial services, human resources, procurement and supply chain. She specialises in recruiting executive level roles including CEOs, CFOs and General Managers – having spent her first 10 years in recruitment focusing on Accountants of all levels it has provided her with a diverse finance network across Adelaide.

Michelle brings a solid understanding of the end-to end-recruitment process to the South Australian market and has first-rate feedback from clients and candidates regarding her capacity to deliver positive outcomes as well as the ability to manage client accounts.

Andrew Nicola

Andrew Nicola is a Tax Director and heads up William Buck Adelaide’s Tax Services Division.

Andrew is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser with experience in the corporate tax division of a Big 4 firm and a large firm in the United States.

Andrew advises a range of clients across a number of different industries and works closely with CFO’s, boards and business owners when navigating through tax risks and taking advantage of opportunities.

Karin Barry

Karin Barry is Director of Business Services at Community Living Australia. Community Living Australia employs 600 South Australians across regional and metro areas and provides support to 500 individuals living with disability.

A chartered accountant with over 25 years experience, Karin started her career at KPMG in their audit division and has spent over 20 years in the NFP sector (healthcare and disability) in senior management roles.

She holds a Diploma in Positive Psychology to enhance her leadership skills and has an interest in strengths-based leadership methodologies.

Hannah Murphy

Hannah is the Acting Chief Executive at ECH. She has worked within aged care services for almost 20 years in South Australia. During her time at ECH she was involved in the process that divested ECH’s residential care business to focus entirely on helping people to stay at home. ECH is a complex business operating in a complex environment with a strong balance sheet investing in its people and in transforming its operating model.

In her role as the General Manager of Corporate Services, she is responsible for Marketing, Finance, ICT, People and Culture, Quality and Risk, and a Digital Transformation Office.

Hannah is a CPA with a Masters of Business Administration and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of South Australia.

Stephen Dawes

Stephen Dawes is Chief Financial Officer of Uniting SA. After starting his career with William Buck, Stephen has worked in a range of senior finance and management roles and organisations for nearly 30 years, including rail, sports, aged care and energy sectors, and the London Stock Exchange.

Stephen is a skilled people leader who has lead organisations and teams through transformational change, culture and improve corporate performance. He was Chief Operating Officer with Port Adelaide Football Club and was responsible for the business transition to Adelaide Oval, and drove a $10m uplift in business profitability. He has held numerous board roles, including most recently with Netball SA.

Dr Tom Nehmy 

Dr Tom Nehmy is an award-winning clinical psychologist with a passion for preventing psychological problems while also enhancing resilience and wellbeing. His university research produced the world’s first prevention program to prevent the onset of symptoms of depression and anxiety while also reducing risk for eating disorders.

Tom currently works with companies, schools and professional organisations to help them build psychological skills for mental health, wellbeing and resilience. More than 45,000 people have attended his workshops, training programs, invited keynote addresses, and conference presentations across Australia and around the world. His work has been featured widely in the media, but most importantly it gets outstanding feedback from participants. Tom is the author of the book Apples for the Mind: Creating emotional balance, peak performance and lifelong wellbeing.

Jim McDowell

Jim has 30 years’ experience in both the private and public sectors. Before joining Nova Systems,  Jim was South Australia’s top public servant in the role of Chief Executive for the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.

Prior to that he was the CEO of BAE Systems Australia and oversaw the purchase of Tenix Defence. Under his leadership, the company expanded to become Australia’s largest defence prime, with more than 6,500 employees and annual sales of approximately AUD $1.7 billion. He then moved to Saudi Arabia where he took up the role of in-country CEO for the $6 billion business.

Jim also worked in legal, commercial and marketing roles with aerospace company Bombardier Shorts for 18 years after graduating from the University of Warwick (England).

Howard Coombs

Howard Coombs is a Chartered Management Accountant. He has extensive experience working in senior finance roles for large organisations such as Rolls-Royce, a Japanese textile manufacturing company, and National Grid in the UK. Howard joined the European business of Seeley International in 2008 overseeing its European operations, from the UK. He relocated with his family to Adelaide in 2011 to take up the role of General Manager Finance at Seeley International. He has been a member of their Board since 2016.

Anna Nolan

Anna Nolan is Chief Financial Officer with Radiology SA. She has over 30 years industry experience in Manufacturing, Property and Construction, Retail, Technology and Healthcare sectors, in Australia, UK, France and The Netherlands, and over 20 years’ experience working in large internationally focused organisations. Her roles in industry have ranged from CFO to Operations Director, Head of Fraud, Revenue Assurance and Technical Security. Anna is a previous Chair of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand SA/NT Council, a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and an experienced Board member.

Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson is the Chief Financial Officer for the REDARC Group. Chris is responsible for REDARC’s overall financial and strategic management. This includes the company’s financial reporting, long-range business planning, program management. Chris also serves on REDARC’s Advisory Board.

Chris graduated from the University of Adelaide in 2003 with a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in accounting and corporate finance, before beginning his career in auditing at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Prior to joining REDARC Chris served as the Financial Controller for Viterra Incorporated’s Australian and New Zealand Agri-Products division.

Chris has experience across a range of industries including FMCG, Agriculture and most recently Advanced Manufacturing.

Andrew Nunn

Andrew is Co-Founder, Chairman and Executive Director of JBS&G Australia—one of Australia’s largest privately owned environmental consulting companies—and was awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year for the Central Region in 2017.

Andrew acts as Director for several companies focussed on property development, private equity investments and entertainment opportunities.

In partnership with his wife Alexandra Dimos, he founded the Nunn Dimos Foundation, a philanthropic fund focussed on supporting key social and arts causes in South Australia.

Leader of the Entrepreneurship Advisory Board, the South Australian Chief Entrepreneur provides high level, independent advice to the South Australian Cabinet and the business community to enable entrepreneurialism across all forms of business, industry and the public sector.

Sitting within the Department for Innovation and Skills, the Office of the South Australian Chief Entrepreneur guides the implementation of actions set out within the FIXE strategy.