Energy Leaders’ Panel

Ali Moore has more than 30 years experience as a journalist and broadcaster, working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia’s Nine Network, and for the BBC’s global news network, based in Singapore. She has covered major news and current affairs events across the region, including as the ABC’s China Correspondent in Beijing. Ali is a former Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Melbourne, producing and presenting the This is Not A Drill series of hypotheticals with Asialink, the ABC and the Wheeler Centre. She is now a freelance broadcaster and journalist, and regular program host on ABC Radio Melbourne.

Kory Judd is the director of Operations for Chevron Australia, located in Perth, Western Australia. He is responsible for overseeing the safe and reliable operations of the Gorgon LNG, Wheatstone LNG, WA Oil and domestic gas assets. Before taking on this role, Judd was the general manager of Richmond Refinery in California. Judd joined Chevron Corporation in 1986 and his career has spanned commercial, maintenance and operational roles of increasing responsibility at the Salt Lake, Richmond and Pascagoula Refineries in the United States. Judd received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Utah.

Meg O’Neill was appointed as Chief Executive Officer on 17 August 2021. Meg joined Woodside as Chief Operations Officer in May 2018. Previously, Meg held senior roles for ExxonMobil, including regional production and development leadership positions, and country leadership positions in Norway and Canada. Meg is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with degrees in Ocean and Chemical Engineering.

Dylan Pugh was appointed Chairman of ExxonMobil Australia Group of Companies in April 2021. Since joining ExxonMobil in 2003, Dylan has held multiple assignments with ExxonMobil in various research, engineering, operations, planning, and commercial teams. While Dylan’s roles have provided support to ExxonMobil operations around the world, the majority of his experience has been in Kazakhstan, Canada, and the United States, including an assignment as a member of ExxonMobil’s Upstream Business Analysis and Reporting group where he led the Global Upstream Planning process. In his previous role he was the General Manager for the US Conventional Business Line responsible for ExxonMobil’s U.S. Upstream Conventional operations, which include assets in Alaska, California, Texas, Wyoming and the Gulf of Mexico. Dylan received his Bachelors of Science degree in Physics and PhD in Materials Science from Virginia Tech. He is married with three children and enjoys playing soccer, reading, cooking, and spending time with his family.

Lucy Snelling is a senior executive with over 30 years in the Australian energy and infrastructure sectors. She holds qualifications in law (BA/LLB (Hons)), finance (Grad Dip Securities and Investment) and governance (GAICD). She was a Partner of Carter Newell Lawyers, an executive in the Queensland Government, and while working part time raising her family, commercial manager at AGL Energy Ltd Upstream Gas. In 2018 she was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the newly established State Gas Ltd, prior to moving to her current role as Head, Corporate and Commercial in 2020 to make room for industry heavyweight Richard Cottee as Executive Chairman. Lucy has also held a number of Board and governance roles, including her current role as Director of Queensland Resources Council, and previously, Director of the Cross River Rail Development Authority, and low emissions pioneer ZeroGen Pty Ltd.

Dr Merriden Varrall is Director of the Australia Geopolitics Hub at KPMG, where she helps business understand and navigate the complex global geopolitical environment. She provides business-relevant insights into global, regional and local geopolitical trends and works with clients to develop strategies and solutions. A former UN diplomat based in China, Merriden is a sought-after commentator on geopolitics, East Asia, China’s foreign policy, and Australia’s bilateral relationship with China. From 2014–2018, Merriden was the Director of the Lowy Institute’s East Asia Program. Before joining the Institute, Merriden was the Assistant Country Director and Senior Policy Advisor at United Nations Development Programme, China, where she worked on China’s role in the world, focusing on its international development cooperation policy. Prior to that she worked for the Australian Government Treasury and the Department of Family and Community Services. Merriden spent almost eight years living and working in China, including lecturing in foreign policy at the China Foreign Affairs University and conducting fieldwork for her doctoral research. Merriden has a PhD examining Chinese foreign policy from Macquarie University, Sydney, and the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. She has a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from the Australian National University, and completed her undergraduate studies in international studies at the University of Technology Sydney. Her analyses have appeared in academic journals, as well as publications such as The Quarterly, The New York Times, Nikkei Asian Review, Foreign Policy, The East Asia Forum, and the Lowy Interpreter, among others.