Claire has recently returned to Adelaide after working as a Senior Consultant and Project Director to the Sydney Olympic Games.

During her 18 months in this role, Claire was responsible for the provision of all telecommunications products and facilities including voice, data, internet, and broadcast. As a result of this, many innovative products and services were developed to solve some very unique problems.

Claire has held a number of senior management communications roles within Telstra, working in Adelaide, Sydney, and London. She has also taken part in a study trip to New Zealand to assess new and innovative technology that is being developed for the America's Cup.

Since being elected to the Senate in 1996, Senator Kate Lundy has campaigned strongly from the opposition benches for recognition of IT as core business for government agencies and greater opportunities for Australian technology and companies to have access to government contracts. As a result Senator Lundy has consistently criticised the federal government's IT outsourcing program, criticism which was vindicated by a comprehensive report by the Australian National Audit Office last September and an independent inquiry by Richard Humphry earlier this year.

Senator Lundy is currently a member of the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee, which is due to report its findings to Parliament on the IT outsourcing program. Ms Lundy will discuss her view on the future direction of the IT industry within Australia and the growth areas she defines.

Dr Marianne Broadbent leads the global research program for Gartner’s Executive Programs, which has a membership base of over 1,500 CIOs worldwide. Dr Broadbent works extensively as an adviser and advice broker with business and IT management teams. Her particular areas of interest and expertise are the fusion of business and technology strategies and investments, the implications of new business models, the dynamics of business value of IT, and the governance and management of business-driven IT, particularly in international environments.

Marianne was previously a Professor in the Management of Information Systems at the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne, Visiting Researcher at Boston University, and Head of the Department of Information Services at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. She is co-author of the book Leveraging the New Infrastructure: How Market Leaders Capitalize on Information Technology published by Harvard Business School Press in 1998 and has won two international Best Paper awards. Marianne has a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Sydney and Macquarie Universities respectively, and a doctorate from the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne.

Sharon is a high-energy presenter specialising in professional image management. She is recognised as a leading speaker and corporate educator in the field of professional image, telephone skills (specialising in call centres), sales and customer service, presentation skills, and business etiquette. Sharon's seminars are highly regarded as interactive, entertaining, and informative events.

Chanty Lang-Wilton is a professional workshop facilitator, writer, and speaker with 17 years of experience in developing herself and others to fully reach their potential

Chanty has a regular talk back show on radio in the Northwest of Australia, helping people to realise their potential. She runs workshops throughout the year and also lectures on self-empowerment and gives motivational seminars to interested groups and companies.

Chanty loves living life in the fast lane and is conquering her fear of heights by abseiling and parachuting. She is currently learning to fly a Piper Cherokee and hopes to have her Private Pilot’s License by the year 2001. Chanty is best known for her laughter, wild hair and positive attitude and approach to life.

James has been an unabashed computer fanatic since 1982, when he reluctantly attended an "Introduction to Computers" seminar as part of his arts degree. He began his professional career as a software developer in research and university sectors, gaining an MSc in cognitive neuroscience along the way.

In recent years he has moved into the IT and internet policy area, being interested in how internet technologies affect organisations and society at the macro level. He joined the South Australian public service in 1998, and from early 1999 worked in a ministerial liaison role in the office of Dr Michael Armitage, Minister for Information Economy. It was during this period that the government's "Information Economy 2002" strategy was conceived and launched from within the minister's office. In late 2000 he came to work as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Information Economy Policy Office, where he has responsibility for inter-government relations and advises on internet related projects.

In his role of Group Manager Information, Einar Vikingur has played a key role in the launching of WMC's innovative internet sales strategy for nickel, cobalt, and copper.
Einar Vikingur was born in Iceland and immigrated to Australia as a teenager in 1969. He is a graduate of the Royal Military College at Duntroon and served in the Australian and British Armies in a variety of roles before joining WMC Resources seven years ago. After three years as Commercial Manager of WMC's nickel refinery in Perth, Einar led the deployment of SAP for WMC's nickel and gold operations in Western Australia, after which he became Information Systems Manager for WMC in that State. He assumed the role of Group Manager Information late in 1998, with responsibility for all information and IT assets worldwide, as well as WMC's strategy in eBusiness.

Einar holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, a Bachelor of Arts in Russian and a Master of Science in Engineering.

Recently appointed Chief Operating Officer for IBM Global Services Australia/New Zealand, Vickie was Vice President, Information Technology for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Vickie started with IBM Australia in 1976 in the capacity of librarian for the information systems department. From this area she moved to the logistics function of IBM where she held many roles including Import / Export Manager and Distribution Services Manager. In 1990, Vickie moved back into a technology role as Information Technology Manager for IBM Australia, which for the first time brought together the computing centre and the information technology functions under one senior manager.

In 1991 Vickie obtained her MBA from Macquarie University. Upon returning to IBM Vickie headed up the market research function and then moved in 1993 to the role of Business Centre Manager for Australia. In 1994 Vickie was appointed as the first CIO for IBM in Australia and New Zealand and in 1994 Vickie took on the added role as Transformation Executive. This role being the culmination of change management and transformation work Vickie had been carrying out within her functions for many years.

In 1996 Vickie was appointed as the Director Information & Telecommunication Systems Asia-Pacific (AP CIO). This role carried with it the responsibility for all of the countries within Asia-Pacific that have an IBM presence for the internal running of technology to carry out IBM's business.

August 1997 saw Vickie become Vice President Business Reengineering and Technology Asia-Pacific. In this role, Vickie was responsible for overseeing the technology required to run IBM Asia-Pacific operations including managing the business changes and new process implementation.

In September 1998 Vickie took up the role of Vice President of Olympic Technology for IBM in A/NZ. This role had overall responsibility for the provision of an end-to-end solution for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games and responsibility for the management of the IBM Olympic Technology Office.

Debra Shorter has 20 years' experience in advertising and marketing, and is considered one of Perth’s leading marketing experts.

She is Joint Managing Director of The Shorter Group, with responsibility for its overall management. Debra’s strength in top-end strategic planning resulted in the creation of Shorter Marketing, a dedicated planning consultancy providing advanced marketing advice to a broad range of clients. She had developed marketing and communication plans for Transperth, Home Building Society, Westrail, Landcorp, Termimesh, and the Wesfi Formex brands amongst others.

Debra is a member and past president of the Australian Institute of Management and a past member of the Senate of the University of Western Australia. She was the inaugural winner of the AIM Award for Excellence in Management for Women.

Her efforts on behalf of her industry were acknowledged with her naming as 1998 advertising person of the year.