Speakers
Who you'll be hearing from
Get ready to hear from some of our industry's brightest minds. We’re bringing together an impressive line-up of experts to explore the latest trends and developments shaping the future of payments and identity.
Edwina Bartholomew
MC
Sunrise presenter, Seven netwwork
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Edwina Bartholomew brings over two decades of experience in television and radio journalism. As a reporter and presenter on Sunrise, she draws on a career covering major global events, five Olympic Games and extensive reporting across Australia and abroad. Her breadth of experience and on-air versatility make her one of Seven’s most trusted broadcasters, and a compelling contributor to conversations shaping the future.
Lynn Kraus AM
CEO
Australian Payments Plus
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As our CEO, Lynn is focused on ensuring that AP+ is strategically placed to deliver world class payments for Australia now and into the future. With over 25 years in professional services, she has held various senior leadership roles with a focus on financial services. Lynn has received recognition for her contributions to business, diversity, and gender equality, most recently being appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia.
Dr Brad Jones
Assistant Governor (Financial System)
Reserve Bank of Australia
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Since joining in 2018, Brad currently oversees the RBA’s policy work in financial stability and payments, including the future of money and geopolitical risk. He is a member of the Council of Financial Regulators, the Financial Stability Board and the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision, and Chair of the RBA’s Financial Market Infrastructure Review Committee.
Dr Jordan Nguyen
Engineer, Inventor and Founder
Psykinetic
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Dr Jordan Nguyen is an Australian engineer, inventor and founder of Psykinetic, a social enterprise creating inclusive technologies that improve independence for people with disability and in aged care. His innovations include a mind-controlled wheelchair and eye-controlled devices. An award-winning documentary maker and author of A Human’s Guide to the Future, Jordan champions STEAM education and human-centred innovation, and holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UTS.
Fawad Abro
Assistant Commissioner
ATO
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Fawad is an experienced senior executive leader with a demonstrated history of delivering outcomes at-scale across Business, Data & Analytics, and Information Communication Technology domains. He has been involved in and led large-scale transformation programs, initiatives, and strategies for over a decade, and has worked across Federal agencies including the Australian Taxation Office and Department of Defence.
In his current role as Assistant Commissioner – Digital Integration, Invoicing & Partnerships at the ATO, Fawad has played a key role in driving strategic initiatives that enhance how the ATO engages with partners and delivers seamless digital services. He has been very vocal in delivering streamlined invoicing processes and improving integration with external systems, ensuring more efficient, transparent, and extremely focused outcomes. Fawad is known for his collaborative leadership and deep understanding of complex digital ecosystems. He oversees a large multidisciplinary team and is widely recognised for his ability to deliver impactful, scalable solutions across government and industry interfaces.
In his current role as Assistant Commissioner – Digital Integration, Invoicing & Partnerships at the ATO, Fawad has played a key role in driving strategic initiatives that enhance how the ATO engages with partners and delivers seamless digital services. He has been very vocal in delivering streamlined invoicing processes and improving integration with external systems, ensuring more efficient, transparent, and extremely focused outcomes. Fawad is known for his collaborative leadership and deep understanding of complex digital ecosystems. He oversees a large multidisciplinary team and is widely recognised for his ability to deliver impactful, scalable solutions across government and industry interfaces.
Marcus Bayer
Chartered Accountant and senior finance leader
bp
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Marcus Bayer is a Chartered Accountant and senior finance leader at bp, with 24 years of experience across compliance, strategy, treasury, reporting and business continuity. He plays a key role in strengthening governance and ethical leadership across bp’s operations and has led BP’s finance and transformation change agenda in ANZ over the last 10 years.
Andrew Black
Managing Director, Digital Trust
Australian Payments Plus
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With over a decade of leadership in data and cybersecurity and a passion for improving user experiences, Andrew now leads ConnectID, the digital identity initiative from AP+. He works with all four major banks and across numerous industries to deliver trusted, consent-driven identity solutions for the benefit of Australian consumers and businesses.
Drew Bradford
Chief Executive Officer
Macropod
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Drew Bradford is a seasoned finance executive with 30+ years of global markets leadership, now driving innovation in digital assets as CEO of Macropod (Catena Digital) and Chair of JellyC. He previously led NAB’s global FICC business and held senior roles at Deutsche Bank and Bankers Trust, and champions stablecoin and blockchain adoption across Australia and beyond.
Catherine Brenner
Independent Chair
Australian Payments Plus
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Catherine has extensive financial services and business experience and has held executive and non-executive roles across many sectors. In addition to being Chair of Australian Payments Plus, Catherine is a non-executive director of the Scentre Group, The George Institute for Global Health and Djerriwarrh Investments Limited.
Catherine was previously non-executive Chair of AMP Limited and a non-executive director of Boral Limited and Coca-Cola Amatil Limited. She was also a Trustee of the Sydney Opera House Trust and the Art Gallery of NSW and a member of the Takeovers Panel. Catherine was a senior investment banker at ABN AMRO and BZW. Catherine is a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors, a member of Chief Executive Women and a Panel member of Adara Partners.
Paul Burgess
Manager, Accounts Receivable and Banking
TAFE Queensland
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Paul has spent more than three decades immersed in the payments ecosystem, spanning both commercial and government sectors. Over ten years ago, he expanded his expertise by earning his CPA and Chartered Manager designations, later adding a qualification as a Neurodivergent Coach.
Throughout his extensive career, Paul has come to deeply appreciate the essential balance between technology and people. His experience has reinforced his belief that true success in payments depends on creating a seamless symbiosis between systems and the people who rely on them. Today, as the industry evolves toward this very harmony, Paul is proud to see the vision he has long championed becoming a reality - a meaningful and positive step forward for the sector.
Throughout his extensive career, Paul has come to deeply appreciate the essential balance between technology and people. His experience has reinforced his belief that true success in payments depends on creating a seamless symbiosis between systems and the people who rely on them. Today, as the industry evolves toward this very harmony, Paul is proud to see the vision he has long championed becoming a reality - a meaningful and positive step forward for the sector.
Alison Chang
General manager, Payments
CBA
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Alison is General Manager, Domestic Payments at CBA, where she leads the product vision and strategy, reimagining how money moves for millions of consumers, businesses and government. A global payments leader, she has held senior roles at JPMorgan Chase and Citi, launching market-shaping innovations across real-time payments, debit cards and digital wallets. Alison serves on industry committees focused on the move to NPP and is passionate about designing seamless, customer-led payment experiences.
Russell Cohen
Chief Executive Officer and Group Managing Director
PEXA
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Russell Cohen is a seasoned technology executive with more than 20 years of experience driving growth in the mobile, telecom and software industries across Asia Pacific. Russell’s focus is on enhancing PEXA’s products and platform and driving the exploration of new markets.
Prior to PEXA, Mr Cohen was the Group Managing Director of Operations at multinational technology company Grab, leading business performance, operations, platform safety, market expansion and a team of 3000 across seven countries. He also played a pivotal role in that company’s strategic growth throughout the region.
Prior to PEXA, Mr Cohen was the Group Managing Director of Operations at multinational technology company Grab, leading business performance, operations, platform safety, market expansion and a team of 3000 across seven countries. He also played a pivotal role in that company’s strategic growth throughout the region.
Tristan Dakin
Country Manager, Australia & New Zealand
Wise
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Tristan Dakin joined Wise in 2020, and since 2022, has been leading the Wise Australia and New Zealand businesses as Country Manager. He is responsible for growing Wise's presence and expansion across Australia and New Zealand, working with banking partners, regulators and policymakers to bring forth a better way for millions of people and businesses in ANZ to send, spend, and receive money across borders. Prior to joining Wise, Tristan worked in the financial markets space which left him with a comprehensive knowledge of the sector's mechanics, whilst also instilling in him a passionate belief for customer transparency and fairness, which is what led him to Wise.
Rob Dunn
General Manager of Product – Payments, Super and Benefits
Employment Hero
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Rob Dunn is the General Manager of Product – Payments, Super and Benefits at Employment Hero, leading teams building embedded financial solutions across HR, Payroll and Benefits to help employers simplify and maximise the value of employment. With 15+ years’ experience across financial services and fintech, Rob has held leadership roles at Westpac, AMP, Volt Bank, PwC and Employment Hero, spanning startups, scaleups and established organisations.
Julia Edwards-Smith
Global Product Marketing GM, Payments, Payroll, AI Ecosystem
Xero
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Julia Edwards-Smith leads global product marketing for Xero’s growth portfolio, overseeing payments, payroll, ecosystem and AI marketing initiatives. With over 20years' experience leading go-to-market programs across payments, financial services (inc. NAB) and retail industries (Myer), Julia has spearheaded major initiatives including launching new products and features around the globe. At Xero, she developed the payment proposition for 'more ways to pay and get paid' and launched Tap to Pay, the first major accounting platform to go live with these capabilities at Xero's flagship Xerocon event. Julia is passionate about translating small business problems such as cash flow management into seamless payment solutions that drive meaningful impact.
Dave Ellett
Chief Commercial Officer
Australian Payments Plus
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Dave leads with the philosophy ‘champion the customer’ through his ownership of strategic commercial relationships, business development and commercial growth activities across AP+, in addition to Brand and Marketing and Communications functions.
Dr Scott Farrell
Data Standards Chair
Consumer Data Right and Digital ID
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Dr Scott Farrell is the Data Standards Chair for the Consumer Data Right and Digital ID. He led the Government Reviews which designed Australia’s open banking and consumer data right frameworks and modernised its payment regulation. Scott now also serves on the Payments System Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia, is Strategic Counsel at Mallesons, and an Adjunct Professor at UNSW law school. Scott also chairs the global ISO technical committee developing standards for blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.
Hannah Glass
Special Counsel
Ashurst
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Hannah is a special counsel in Ashurst's financial regulation practice. She advises a broad range of clients from start-ups to ASX 50 companies and banks to provide strategic regulatory advice, and bring new financial services and payments solutions to market.
Hannah sits on the RBA and DFCRC's Project Acacia Industry Advisory Group. She is also the Law Council's representative on Standards Australia committee IT-041, Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology.
Hannah sits on the RBA and DFCRC's Project Acacia Industry Advisory Group. She is also the Law Council's representative on Standards Australia committee IT-041, Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology.
Marc Gross
Chief Financial Officer
GT Insurance
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Marc Gross is the Chief Financial Officer of GT Insurance, bringing more than 34 years of financial leadership within the insurance sector including 26 years at Allianz. Since joining the GT Insurance leadership team in 2022, Marc has contributed deep expertise as a senior insurance accounting specialist and a proven ability to guide complex financial operations.
Marc holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting), a Master of Commerce, and is a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA). His career has been marked by numerous industry honours, reflecting his commitment to excellence and his influence across the sector.
Marc holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting), a Master of Commerce, and is a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA). His career has been marked by numerous industry honours, reflecting his commitment to excellence and his influence across the sector.
Kathleen Harker
Associate Director, Strategic Growth
ANZ
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A recipient of the 2023 Women in Payments Emerging Leader Award, Kathleen plays a pivotal role in shaping and executing ANZ’s Institutional Payments strategy in Australia. She partners with clients to integrate cutting-edge technologies that enhance customer experience and drive operational excellence. Known for her strategic acumen and ability to lead complex initiatives, Kathleen consistently delivers impactful solutions across the payments landscape. Outside her direct responsibilities, Kathleen has a passion for mentoring and acts as the Business Unit Sponsor for Transaction Banking on ANZ’s Institutional Graduate program, advocating for new graduates to explore the ever-evolving world of payments and supporting their broader career development ambitions.
Chris Hurst
Head of Growth & Development
Fat Zebra
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Chris Hurst is Head of Growth & Development at Fat Zebra, working closely with Australia’s leading brands to drive growth through high-performing payment solutions. With extensive hands-on experience across acquiring, risk, and payment platforms, he brings a practical, customer-first perspective on performance, reliability, and what it takes to build and operate payments at scale.
Shirlyn Kumar
Director, Transaction Banking
NAB
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Shirlyn Kumar is Director, Transaction Banking at NAB, with over 15 years’ experience across payments product innovation and institutional client leadership. She works closely with Australia’s leading insurers to modernise payment ecosystems, strengthen resilience, and deliver customer-led outcomes at scale.
Adrian Lovney
Chief Product Officer
Australian Payments Plus
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Adrian leads the Payments and Schemes team which is focussed on delivering products that meet the payments needs of Australian retailers and businesses, incorporating the full range of capabilities within AP+. This includes responsibility for product management and development, payment strategy, scheme management and business operations and delivery.
Tony McDonald
Acting Division Head of Digital Policy and Corporations Division
Treasury
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Tony is the Acting Division Head of the Digital Policy and Corporations Division in Treasury, with over 30 years’ experience in the Australian Public Service, primarily at Treasury. He has worked across taxation, superannuation, fiscal and monetary policy, economic forecasting, financial markets and international development. His experience includes roles in Iraq, PNG, and on the Asian Development Bank Board. Tony holds economics and commerce degrees from ANU and the University of Western Australia.
Albert Naffah
General Manager, Payment Acceptance
Commonwealth Bank
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Albert Naffah brings over 25 years of experience across financial services, with a career spanning general management, strategy, business development, regulatory affairs, and operations in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. He has held senior roles at CommBank, Mastercard, and Westpac.
Albert was appointed CEO of CommBank Health in 2021, establishing the bank's dedicated health vertical to support the financial needs of healthcare professionals, businesses, insurers, governments, and patients. Prior to this, he served as General Manager of Payments and the Data Economy at CommBank, where he was responsible for shaping the bank's payment strategy, leading the bank’s payments product function and driving regulatory and industry engagement.
Now as General Manager of Payment Acceptance, Albert oversees CommBank's full suite of in-person and online payments acceptance solutions. Albert is passionate about simplifying commerce and enabling businesses to accept payments how, when, and where customers choose.
Albert was appointed CEO of CommBank Health in 2021, establishing the bank's dedicated health vertical to support the financial needs of healthcare professionals, businesses, insurers, governments, and patients. Prior to this, he served as General Manager of Payments and the Data Economy at CommBank, where he was responsible for shaping the bank's payment strategy, leading the bank’s payments product function and driving regulatory and industry engagement.
Now as General Manager of Payment Acceptance, Albert oversees CommBank's full suite of in-person and online payments acceptance solutions. Albert is passionate about simplifying commerce and enabling businesses to accept payments how, when, and where customers choose.
Ankita Nagpal
Strategic Partnership Lead
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Ankita Nagpal leads Google's Shopping Partnerships in Australia and New Zealand, shaping the future of commerce at the intersection of digital ecosystems, payments, and platform innovation. With over a decade of experience across eCommerce strategy and global product partnerships, she works with merchants and platforms to reimagine how value is created, transacted, and scaled in an increasingly connected economy. Bringing a strong APAC perspective, her thought leadership includes forward-looking insights on how commerce, payments, and technology will converge to define the next era of growth.
Alexi Paxinos
Country Director
Western Union Australia
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Alexi Paxinos is the Country Director for Western Union Australia, leading strategy, operations and growth across digital and new channels. With more than 18 years’ experience across payments, identity technology and financial services, he has held senior roles at Visa, IDEMIA, and Westpac. Alexi has served as a Director and Board Chair of Western Union Financial Services Australia, and as a Non-Executive Director of the Governance, Risk and Compliance Institute. He holds a Master of Organisational Psychology from Macquarie University.
Sue Pearce
Senior Manager, Regulatory Change & Governance
Aware Super
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Having worked in the superannuation industry for many years, Sue has experience in many facets of Regulatory Change, Administration, Regulatory reporting and complex SFT reporting impacts to regulators. Additionally, during the past 19 years she has been a member of ATO, SA, APRA and Industry Forums working on Regulatory Change, strategic Co Design, and advocacy. Assisting in achieving the best scalable administrative outcome for industry across many facets of contemporary fund with superannuation members always at the forefront of mind.
Professor Tālis Putniņš
Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) Co-CEO and Chief Scientist
DFCRC
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Tālis Putniņš is the Co-CEO and Chief Scientist at the DFCRC, leading the research and education strategy for the Centre. Talis is an internationally recognised authority on digital finance, with over 15 years’ international research experience. He is a Professor of Finance at the University of Technology Sydney and has published widely in distinguished journals.
Chris Rolland
Customer Operations & Solutions (COS) Lead
Telstra
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Chris Rolland is a senior executive at Telstra and a member of the Consumer Leadership Team, where he leads Customer Operations & Solutions (COS). In this role, Chris is responsible for key customer-facing and operational capabilities, including supply chain, fraud, billing, customer data quality, and identity and verification processes. His team also oversees reporting, go-to-market processes, major transformation initiatives, and incident management - helping ensure Telstra delivers reliable, high quality customer experiences at scale.
Chris joined Telstra through its graduate program and has held a range of senior roles over 20 years, most recently serving as Chief Risk Officer with accountability for risk management, compliance, and crisis management. His career spans marketing, product management, customer experience, and risk, with a consistent focus on operational excellence and putting customers first.
Chris joined Telstra through its graduate program and has held a range of senior roles over 20 years, most recently serving as Chief Risk Officer with accountability for risk management, compliance, and crisis management. His career spans marketing, product management, customer experience, and risk, with a consistent focus on operational excellence and putting customers first.
Marnie Ryan
Head of Product Innovation and Enablement, Business Payments
AP+
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Responsible for the implementation of PayTo, eInvoicing, Superannuation, Tax and Payroll business services, Marnie is also currently the product sponsor for the migration of BECS to NPP. She has experience across the digital service provider and payments ecosystems with an extensive background in payment, financial, payroll, time and attendance, HCM/HRMS and human resources systems.
Naomi Simson OAM
Co-founder & Non-Executive Director
Big Red Group
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Following a marketing career with IBM, Apple, and KPMG, Naomi founded RedBalloon in 2001. As an independent director for AP+ for four years, she brings practical insight to Australia's evolving payments ecosystem. A champion of modern payments empowering businesses of all sizes, Naomi will share her perspective as both a business owner and passionate advocate for small business payment innovation.
Will Snell
GTM, APAC Strategic Accounts
OpenAI
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Will leads go-to-market engagements across some of OpenAI’s largest accounts in APAC, working with strategic industries to scale responsible, high-impact AI adoption.
He brings deep experience across Financial Services, Payments and Commerce from prior senior roles at Google and PayPal, working with large organisations on platform-led growth, digital transformation, and data-driven business models.
At OpenAI, Will operates at the intersection of strategy and execution, helping complex and often highly regulated enterprises translate advances in large language models and agentic systems into measurable commercial and operational outcomes.
He brings deep experience across Financial Services, Payments and Commerce from prior senior roles at Google and PayPal, working with large organisations on platform-led growth, digital transformation, and data-driven business models.
At OpenAI, Will operates at the intersection of strategy and execution, helping complex and often highly regulated enterprises translate advances in large language models and agentic systems into measurable commercial and operational outcomes.
Anders Sörman-Nilsson
Futurist - Founder
Thinque
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Anders Sörman-Nilsson (Global EMBA/LLB) is a global futurist and founder of Thinque, a trend and analysis firm. He’s an award-winning keynote speaker and author of three books on digital transformation. He is also a TEDGlobal member and a 2019 World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders nominee.
Katrina Stuart
Executive Sponsor, Move to NPP
Australian Payments Plus
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Katrina works at AP+ as the executive sponsor for the industry programme of work focusing on modernising Australia’s payments and migrating payments to the NPP. Prior to the formation of AP+, Katrina was Head of Engagement at NPP Australia working with financial institutions and fintechs to grow volumes and services on the NPP.
Mike Vorias
Solution Advisor oCFO - APAC
SAP
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Mike brings over 40 years of finance expertise, seamlessly integrating technology and business insight to drive transformation across industries. At SAP, he leads Go-To-Market strategies for CFO-focused solutions in Asia Pacific Japan. Renowned for his collaborative and visionary leadership, Mike empowers teams to innovate and deliver measurable impact. As a respected thought leader, he shares insights at global finance forums, shaping best practices and reinforcing SAP’s position as a leader in finance transformation.
Trev Wistaff
Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer
Zepto
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Trev Wistaff is Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Zepto, where he leads the company’s product vision and future state. Formerly Zepto’s CTO, Trev has been instrumental in building Zepto’s composable, real-time payments platform and launching innovations such as Zepto Validate. He focuses on developing capabilities that combine real-time money movement with data, automation and consent, enabling faster, safer and more intelligent payment experiences.
Courtney Wright
Founder and CEO
Vehicle Exchange Made Easy
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Courtney Wright is the Founder and CEO of Vehicle Exchange Made Easy (VEME), a legal tech platform designed to make private vehicle exchanges safer and more equitable for Australians. A former General Counsel, Courtney spent her legal career advising on risk, fraud, and complex transactions before leaving practice to build technology that addresses real-world consumer harm. She brings a strong regulatory lens, deep commercial experience, and a clear focus on digital trust, safety, and inclusion in digital systems.
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