Panel discussion: Our workforce for the future

Helen Dalley is a well-respected television journalist, interviewer and podcaster, a Walkley Award winner with several decades’ experience on the Nine Network for 20 years, and more than a decade with Sky News Australia, Sky News Business and APAC. Helen created and hosts the podcast series, Build It. They’ll Come. focusing on Australian entrepreneurs and how they backed themselves and built an empire from scratch. Helen hosted several national primetime political, business and news programs on Sky News, such as Late Agenda with Helen Dalley, The Dalley Edition, News Now, as well as Trading Day and The Final Count on Sky News Business Channel. She also co-anchored coverage of several Federal Election campaigns. At the Nine TV Network, Helen was a senior Reporter, and occasional host on the award-winning Sunday program for 16 years. She won a Walkley Award, Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, in 1999; the 1994 United Nations Media Peace Award; and the prestigious Human Rights Award for Television in 1998. Helen was also a founding member of Channel 9’s Business Sunday as a reporter and was Host of A Current Affair Summer Edition and TODAY on Saturday. Helen is a Non-Executive Director of Aurora Education Foundation, and Patron of Healthy Bones Australia (formerly Osteoporosis Australia), the leading Australian organisation devoted to public health information and initiative to promote healthy bones and prevent fewer life-limiting but avoidable fractures in the Australian community. Helen is a Governor of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation.

Professor Deborah Terry AO is a highly experienced leader in the Australian university sector – and an internationally recognised scholar in psychology. Since August 2020, Professor Terry has served as Vice-Chancellor and President of The University of Queensland (UQ). Prior to this, she was Vice-Chancellor of Curtin University in Western Australia, from 2014 to 2020. Having grown up in Perth and Canberra, Professor Terry completed her PhD in Social Psychology at the Australian National University in Canberra. She moved to Brisbane in 1990 to begin her academic career in UQ’s School of Psychology. Between 1990 and 2014, Professor Terry progressed through a range of academic positions at UQ before moving into senior university leadership roles, eventually becoming Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Professor Terry is a Fellow and past President of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and an appointed member of the Australian Research Council Advisory Council. She currently serves on the Board of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, AARNET and the National Schools Resourcing Board. She is also a former Chair of the Board of Universities Australia and a member of the Universitas 21 Executive Committee. Professor Terry was made an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO) in June 2015, in recognition of her distinguished service to education in the tertiary sector.

In the past 15 years, Michael has transformed ideas into local, and global businesses and endured the journey of multiple startups through great failures and awesome successes. His multicultural background and global experience in innovation, education and entrepreneurship, provides a platform for diverse dialogue and input.

Deanna Jones is the Chief Human Resources Officer of Baker Hughes. She joined the company in January 2020. Prior to joining Baker Hughes, Jones served as Senior Vice President of HR, Communications, and Administration for Marathon Oil Corporation. Prior to that, she was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Commercial Officer for Newfield Exploration, and she also served as the head of Human Resources for Schlumberger’s Reservoir Production Group. Between 2006 and 2008, Jones was Vice President, North America for Schlumberger Information Solutions, and in that role, was responsible for leading software, information, and the company’s related infrastructure organisation in the U.S. Prior to 2006 she worked in a variety of managerial assignments of increasing responsibility for Schlumberger in Canada and the U.S. Jones previously served on the Board of Directors for Communities in Schools of Houston and was on the board of the Texas Dow Employees Credit Union (TDECU). She earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Calgary, Canada. Jones has also completed executive business courses in human resources at the University of Michigan and in finance at the IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Nick is an Associate Director in KPMG’s People and Change practice. Nine years of experience as a Workforce Transformation and Procurement professional with strong experience in delivering workforce transformation solutions and change management programmes. Nick has delivered major programmes covering: strategic workforce planning; future skills gap analysis; demand forecasting and modelling; skills and capability framework design; total workforce management; change management; employee value proposition design; people systems implementations; regulatory external workforce readiness; and op model integration synergy development.