Speakers

Specialising in data connectivity including private data networks, field based communications and be-spoke connectivity solutions.

Robert is the Principal Adviser to ThunderStruck Space. He is an Aerospace Innovator and an aerospace engineer. At the age of 17, Robert was on the Team supporting Apollo 11 from Australia with the feeds from Honeysuckle Creek and the Parkes Radio Telescope. He supported almost every mission from Apollo 11 to STS-7 and a minor support role in Shuttle flights right up to 1985.

Michael has over 20 years of experience in the IT, Power, Construction and Telecommunications industries with companies including Powercor, ETSA, Leighton Contractors, Nextgen Networks and now Vocus. Michael has held senior leadership roles in the development of key regional and international fibre assets including: • the rollout of 9,000km of optic fibre cable across Australia in 2010-11 in partnership with the Commonwealth Government under the Regional Backbone BlackSpots Program, • the 2,100km North West Cable System from Darwin to Port Hedland 2014-2016, • the Australia Singapore Cable 2017-2018, and • completed last year, the Coral Sea Cable System, delivered on behalf of the Governments of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Australia, connecting Sydney, Honiara and Port Moresby With a deep understanding of the economic drivers that support investing in telecommunications infrastructure as well as the transformational benefits is brings communities, Michael continues to drive for infrastructure based competition to support the needs and demands of end users into the future.

Kody is the Product Lead and Lead Systems Engineer at Fleet Space Technologies - a South Australian start-up developing a global IoT communications network utilising a constellation of 150 microsatellites. He is an experienced multidisciplinary engineer with a demonstrated history working in the mining, space, and aerospace industries. He is skilled in Systems Engineering, Software Engineering and Simulation, Mechanical/Thermal/Electrical Engineering, Robotics and DevOps. Kody is a strong engineering professional with master’s degrees in Mechatronic Engineering from UQ and Space Engineering from UNSW.

Jeff has spent 25yrs+ in global telecommunications roles, based in NZ, Australia and the UK. Covering technical, business development, strategy and senior Product roles across multiple services and developments. More recently taking these skills into Agile development, Software Defined Networks and Service Orchestration — in 2019 joining Airbus Defense and Space to pursue and drive the innovative approach to developing HAPS/UAS based Connectivity Services to connect the under connected.

Benoît Vivier works at the European Emergency Number Association (EENA) since September 2015 and is in charge of the organisation’s advocacy work. He is responsible for the definition and the development of EENA’s lobbying strategy and is EENA’s liaison with public institutions, and in particular EU institutions (European Commission, European Parliament…) as well as other stakeholders. Benoit is also working on dedicated EENA programmes such as emergency caller location and public warning. Before joining EENA, Benoît studied Politics, Internal Relations and EU affairs in France, Sweden and Belgium.

Peter Scarlata has close to 25 years of experience working at senior levels in national and multinational engineering, system integration, product management, sales and marketing and general management in companies such as Bosch, Intelematics, CNG Systems and most recently Simoco Wireless Solutions. Peter’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.), Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering and a Bachelor of Applied Science (B.App.Sci) in Computer Science. At system integrator CNG Systems, Peter drove the organisation into a period of significant company growth focused on the transport infrastructure and government verticals. He has held several senior positions at Bosch and has spent time globally in Germany, US, China and Australia leading teams of product managers, engineers and purchasing personnel in driving high volume, quality and value electronic, audio and RF products to market. Peter is CEO of Simoco Australasia and is responsible for business growth within the Australasia division. His focus is on important infrastructure projects and overseeing all management, system engineering, sales and marketing activity, as well as national and multinational product management and development.

Steve Hwang is a committee member of Safe-Net Forum. He has 23 years’ experience of telecommunication market since 1997. He is currently working for Nokia and is responsible for business development in global government & Cities segment including end customer engagement, strategic alliance with industry partner and telco operators, in areas of public safety, smart cities, defense and government-driven broadband initiatives. He has a successful sales and business development careers with over twenty-three years in end customer engagement and partnership with MNOs / SI companies in public sector and commercial mobile network business sector. He has been successfully driving the campaign and boosting mission-critical technology and building-up echo system. Steve holds bachelor’s degree in computer science from Soongsil University, Seoul, South Korea.

Roger has extensive management experience within Australia and Asia in technology related businesses including IT, Telecommunications and Engineering. Currently Managing Director at Vicom, Roger has particular experience in distribution and service related businesses. A Director of ACCF Roger holds a BSc(Physics) from Imperial College London and an MBA from Deakin University.

Neal has extensive experience designing and deploying business solutions and leading others to do so across multiple IT and network technologies. His world-class knowledge spans drafting international technology standards to architecting New Zealand’s largest 4G Network. Neal is leading the development of the solution architecture for New Zealand’s Public Safety Network.