Speakers

Sally Stannard

As Acting Director-General, Sally Stannard leads the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR). TMR has an annual budget of $12 billion, including capital expenditure of $4.2 billion and managed assets in excess of $106 billion.

Sally was appointed as Acting Director-General on 5 June 2023, taking on the leadership of TMR's portfolio of work across road, rail, bus, cycling and marine infrastructure in Queensland. Alongside that, Sally has oversight of a new addition to TMR—the Queensland Government Customer and Digital Group that is focused on driving Queensland's digital economy, delivering better citizen-centric services, and optimising the Queensland Government's investment and use of technology. 

In Sally's previous role as the Deputy Director-General (Translink), she led the delivery of customer-focused passenger transport services across Queensland including policy, planning, ticketing, contract management and customer services. 

Sally is the Chair of Cross River Rail and Chair of Public Transport Association Australia New Zealand. She is also a board member of Roads Australia and Queensland Hydro.  She holds qualifications in Engineering and International Studies and is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Sally is passionate about the role transport plays in equitable and sustainable economic development of our cities and regions.

Peter Gill

Peter Gill is a seasoned leader in the rail industry, currently the Program Director of the Queensland Train Manufacturing Program (QTMP) for the Department of Transport and Main Roads. With extensive experience in commercial transactions, public transport operations and project management, Peter is dedicated to driving innovation and excellence in Queensland's rail sector.

Throughout his career, Peter has held key leadership positions in both public and private sectors, successfully delivering large-scale projects and implementing transformative strategies. He is known for his collaborative approach and his ability to foster partnerships between industry and the public sector.

Peter holds a bachelor’s degree in law and economics and is passionate about sustainability and efficiency in public transport delivery. His vision and leadership are instrumental in shaping the future of train manufacturing in Queensland through the QTMP.

Graeme Newton

Graeme Newton has led the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority as its Chief Executive Officer since 2017. Cross River Rail is Queensland’s largest single infrastructure project and will transform the way people travel across the whole of South East Queensland. It will increase rail network capacity and reliability, act as a catalyst for future rail improvements, drive urban renewal at major station locations and has already played a critical role in Brisbane securing the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Prior to taking the helm of the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority, Graeme has had extensive senior executive experience leading large and complex, high profile, multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects within both the private and public sector. He was appointed by the Queensland Premier as the first Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority in 2011 and prior to that served as both Director-General for Infrastructure & Planning and State Government Coordinator-General. Graeme has also been awarded both a National Award for Excellence and the QUT Outstanding Alumni Award. In his current role at Cross River Rail, Graeme takes great pride in leading high performing teams that continue to set new benchmarks for integrated delivery, safe construction, collaborative partnerships, and technological innovation.

Samantha Abeydeera

Samantha Abeydeera commenced as Head of Transport for Brisbane in April 2023. In this role Samantha is responsible for one of Australia’s largest public transport providers with approximately 3,500 employees facilitating close to 80 million annual customer journeys across bus, ferry and e-mobility. Prior to joining Council, Samantha was the Executive Director of Strategic Operations at Transport for NSW. This unique role was responsible for driving end to end multimodal strategy and continuous improvement in mass transport. Samantha previously held senior roles in the private sector including Managing Director of Transport and the group’s Chief Operating Officer for Maritime at the NRMA Group, where her team achieved a record 99% customer satisfaction rating. In 2018 Samantha was recognised as one of the Top 50 Women in NSW Government for her transformational leadership as Director of Train Crewing at Sydney Trains where she led more than 1000+ Drivers and Guards who delivered in excess of 400 million customer journeys annually. Samantha holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws from Macquarie University and has also undertaken executive education in Boston at Harvard Business School.

Franziska Korte

Franziska works on a range of Future Mobility projects, with a focus on low and zero emission mobility. She has delivered strategic advisory and policy development projects for government agencies in both Europe and Australia.

Franziska combines her technical knowledge with her transport planning background and is passionate about incorporating sustainable development principles into her work. She has delivered several transport decarbonisation projects, focusing on the challenges and opportunities that come with the introduction of zero emission vehicles in Australia. Across all her projects, Franziska brings a life cycle and systems perspective to ensure emissions reductions are maximised to shape a more sustainable transport system.

Lauren Hewitt

Lauren has demonstrated ability to liaise, interpret and mediate between parties facing critical environmental challenges. This has included work in project development for Queensland’s energy producers as well as General Manager Policy at Queensland’s peak agricultural body, AgForce achieving landmark legislative reform and private and public negotiations on behalf farmers.

In 2015, Lauren was awarded Queensland Rural Woman of the Year in recognition of her impact and leadership skills. Lauren applies her skills considering and improving the efficiency and footprint of the freight sector as CEO of the Queensland Transport and Logistics Council.

When not thinking about how to solve problems for members and their industries, raising some active and inquisitive children, beekeeping and tending to the family farm keep her busy (though not necessarily in that order).

Trent Williams

Trent is passionate about creating people and place-focused transport solutions. As the Future Mobility Lead for Stantec, he takes a forward-thinking approach to help clients across Australia and New Zealand understand, prepare for and take advantage of emerging technologies and trends.

Russell Vine

Senior Marketing Executive with over 20 years’ experience developing marketing and communications for some of the world’s largest brands.

Russ is the General Manager Communications and Engagement at the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority and was one of the first team members to be appointed by CEO Graeme Newton when Cross River Rail moved into delivery back in May 2017.

Prior to this, Russ was Managing Director of integrated communications agency Ogilvy Brisbane, where he built up significant experience assisting State Government with many of its better known and most successful large-scale community engagement initiatives.

Currently a member of the Delivery Authority’s Executive Management Team, Russ is passionate about telling the Cross River Rail story and in particular, using digital technology to ensure that people have every opportunity to better understand why Cross River Rail is being built, what it entails and what it means for the future of transport in Southeast Queensland.

Zachary Whale

Zach manages GrainGrowers’ policy and advocacy efforts working to ensure the right policy settings for Australia’s grain growers. Previously, Zach has worked for the Department of Agriculture and most recently was the Grains Policy Director at AgForce Queensland Farmers. He has qualifications in International Relations and Public Policy and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Zach is from Merriwa in rural New South Wales, where his family remains involved in agriculture.

Angelo Lambrinos

Angelo is an Engineers Australia – Engineering Executive and Chartered Professional Engineer as well as an Australian Institute of Project Management – Certified Practicing Portfolio Executive, with over 27 years’ experience in Portfolio, Program and Project management; 15 of those in delivering major civil engineering and transportation infrastructure and 12 years in financial services, leading best practice enterprise portfolio management offices.  He has been working for Transurban for the last 9 years where he initially came on to establish their Enterprise Portfolio Management Office then, deliver major civil road infrastructure projects across Melbourne and Brisbane. Angelo is currently the General Manager for Transurban’s assets in Queensland and looks after 82 kms of motorways across South East Queensland, operates the largest dedicated incident response fleet in Australia which responds to over 1,000 incidents per month and manages over $2B in asset lifecycle capital costs across operations, maintenance, engineering and asset management.

Andrew Wheeler

Andrew has over 20 years’ experience in the transport infrastructure industry having worked on some of State’s largest infrastructure delivery projects during this time.

Andrew leads the Program Delivery and Operations South Coast Region and is accountable for the delivery of the regions $5.194 billion, 4-year (2022-2026) program integrated program of capital infrastructure, maintenance and operations projects, estimated to support an average of 3,280 direct jobs over the life of the program. The South Coast Region is home to 20 per cent of Queensland’s population, covering a geographical area of 6543km2. The region stretches from Coolangatta on the New South Wales border, north to Springwood and as far west as the Cunningham Highway, west of Boonah. The Region is responsible for 918km of state-controlled roads, 130km of National Land Transport Network, 20.3km of light rail, as well as cycling, boating, bus stations and park ‘n’ rides.

Santiago Velasquez

Santiago Velasquez has been inspired by his vision impairment and electrical engineering expertise to invent solutions to make this world more inclusive. He is a 2022 Churchill Fellow. Through his Fellowship, he travelled to 11 countries around the world looking at public transport accessibility. Santiago is also the founder of two companies, EyeSyght and Hailo, to solve accessibility issues in transport, navigation, business, education, and employment. National and international transport agencies, governments, and tech companies are currently in discussions to implement his inventions. Santiago has won excellence awards, presented TED talks, keynote addresses, and shared his passion for innovative inventions during the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations in 2019, 2020 and 2023. He is a bilingual Australian who immigrated from Colombia and is the first blind electrical engineering student in the Southern hemisphere. Santiago does not believe that barriers should stop anyone from achieving their dreams.

Lucinda Hoffman

Lucinda Hoffman is the General Manager (Transport Policy) within the Policy, Planning and Investment Division of the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads.  

Lucinda shapes the Department’s long-term vision for the transport system, which includes creating a single integrated transport network accessible to everyone, bringing Queensland closer together and effectively planning the state’s future transport needs.  

Lucinda is leading the research, development, and implementation of a variety of innovative projects including the Zero Emission Vehicle Strategy which includes the Electric Vehicle Rebate Scheme and the Queensland Electric Super Highway initiative.  

With over 15 years’ experience with the Department, Lucinda previously ran her own planning consultancy and has worked in various leadership roles across environment, cities transformation, urban planning, policy implementation, strategic leadership and has extensive experience in intergovernmental relations. 

Gary Mahon

Gary is the CEO of the QTA, an association that has been actively serving the industry since 1907. QTA is the pre-eminent industry association for road freight operators in Queensland and membership is well represented across all sectors of the industry and distributed across the state. Gary has a reputation as a trusted navigator in the transport industry and combined with his open engagement style, makes him a strong advocate for facilitating innovative changes for the road freight industry in Queensland and Nationally. Spending a large part of his career in and around the Road Freight Industry including holding senior executive positions within the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads and Emergency Services. Gary has a proven reputation for positively influencing Heavy Vehicle Industry reform and has led reform of the Queensland Disaster Management Act, the Australian Road Laws, the introduction of (PBS) High Productivity Multi-Combination vehicles into Queensland from 1998 and the introduction of the 50km per hour speed limit in residential areas to name a few. The recent announcements of both State and Federal Governments to fund the Inland Freight Route is a key example of his advocacy. Gary has extensive policy experience, holds an Executive Masters’ degree in Public Administration and is well known in road transport. Gary is a Trustee Director of the TWU Industry Superannuation Fund and was appointed to the NTC Heavy Vehicle National Law Review Expert Panel in early 2019. He is a strong and effective communicator and industry opinion leader.

Gavin Massingham

Gavin’s recent experience has been in Program Leadership of the Gold Coast Light Rail infrastructure program and Project Leadership for Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3, and is currently A/Deputy Regional Director South Coast. Prior to this it was providing Program Management of state-wide infrastructure programs. He has a passion for developing teams and strives to provide vision and guidance for them to achieve their personal goals while meeting the department’s needs and expectations. He is a professional civil engineer and Registered Professional Engineer Queensland (RPEQ), and has extensive experience in project management, road safety, traffic and transport engineering, and asset management. His project experience includes major highways design and construction, regional transportation studies, aviation infrastructure, Intelligent Transport Systems, and general civil engineering with strong skills in public liaison and stakeholder and relationship management

Alton Twine

Alton Twine is a highly experienced former public servant with a long record of passionate and effective advocacy for cycling and sustainable transport. At City of Gold Coast for over 13 years as Director Transport and Infrastructure and Director Lifestyle and Community, where he had a critical role in delivering the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Alton has also led cycling infrastructure and active transport planning and activation at Brisbane City Council as well as with the Queensland Government . A member of the Australian Bicycle Council for many years, in 2009 he was awarded Cycling Professional of the Year by the Cycling Promotion Fund and Engineer of the Year in 2018 by the Institute of Public Works Engineers Queensland. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management. He first joined Bicycle Queensland as a member in 2003. He grew up in Townsville where he started his cycling career on a bright green Malvern Star, and, with still too many bikes in the shed, has recently bought his first E-bike.

Lee Hellen

Lee Hellen is a geospatial entrepreneur and consultant specialising in geospatial and surveying technology. He is the founder of Land Solution Australia, Monitum and most recently the IoT GNSS based enterprise Kurloo Technology, based in Brisbane, Australia.

Lee is a highly respected member of the Surveying and Spatial Sciences professional community, having served as a member and non-executive director of the Surveying and Spatial Science Insitute (now the Geospatial Council of Australia). Lee was awarded the Spatial Industries Business Association’s National Chairmans award in 2022 and has been recognised 4 times in Australia and New Zealand for national technical excellence and innovation since 2015.

Charles Sanchez

Experienced Consultant with proficiency in Technology Adoption, Sustainable Design, BIM technology, Cloud-based collaboration, and Renewable Energy. Skilled in analysing opportunities for improvement and growth, including scoping, discovery, and planning. Possesses a strong academic background in research, architecture, and technology. Combining analytical thinking with a creative mindset, demonstrates an ability to understand project needs and find effective solutions. Known for being a highly motivated team player with a friendly and empathic approach.

Jason Howden

Chief Innovation Officer for Revizto. Prior to joining Revizto in 2023, Jason enjoyed 30 years in the Architecture profession having worked in the UK, Australia and NZ. He is passionate about collaboration and technology and firmly believes by embracing both in equal proportions is the key to successful project delivery and transforming the construction industry.

Dr Michael Kane

Dr Michael Kane heads the Public Policy team at RACQ covering safety, mobility and energy matter across transport policy and infrastructure. Michael has previously worked in sustainability and innovation within the Queensland Government. Michael has a PhD relating to knowledge economy, urban transport and planning. Outside of RACQ Michael is an adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Queensland researching future cities and sustainable transport.

Dr Emma Whittlesea

Emma is the Head of Partnerships for Stralis Aircraft and Chaired the Hydrogen Flight Alliance in Australia, working to advance hydrogen-electric propulsion. Prior to that she worked in the Climate Transitions Team of the Queensland Government and managed Griffith University’s Climate Ready Initiative. She has 25 years’ experience in the public, private and academic sectors in the UK, Europe, and Australia, progressing partnerships and projects for environmental sustainability and low-carbon transport and tourism. This includes being a co-author of the Framework for an Australian Clean Transport Strategy and coordination of Griffith’s Aviation Reimagined – Decarbonising Flight Webinar Series.

Joe Banks

Neil Sipe

Sebastien Glaser

Sebastien Glaser is a Professor at CARRS-Q, QUT, (since 2018) and Centre Director for the ARC Training Centre on Automated Vehicles in Rural and Remote Regions, having previously contributed to and led research projects & teams in Europe. He has significant experience working with the automotive industry. His research focuses on the safe interaction between automated vehicles and other road users. He is managing the iMOVE CRC Cooperative and Highly Automated Driving project and several extensions, with the Australian Research Council, and the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, looking at the deployment of automated vehicles and the safety of automated technologies for their uses in on-road applications.