Curious Thinkers

Adam is a famous Australian media personality and public mathematician. He has hosted award-winning breakfast radio shows in Australia’s toughest markets and live current affairs TV.
With 25 years’ experience in television, radio and events, Adam loves curating challenging and thought-provoking conversations and therefore is the perfect MC for Curious Thinkers 2023.

Amy is the Chief Product Officer of Propel Ventures, with over 20 years’ experience leading product teams across a range of industries, including financial services, telecommunications, travel and technology. She has expertise in understanding customer behaviour and embedding a product mindset so that technology is used in a way that solves real world problems.

Anna is the Assistant Secretary (Acting) in the Financial System Division (FSD) at Treasury. She has over 15 years’ experience in the private and public sectors in London, Sydney and Auckland. Prior to FSD, Anna was a Director in the Law Division of Treasury and Advisor in Crisis Management Policy at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

Bronwyn is the Chief Product Officer of Cuscal, responsible for driving product strategy and delivery of innovative solutions to meet the evolving needs of clients and their customers. She has over 25 years of hand-on transformation experience in financial services and consulting industries. Bronwyn has a drive for transformational change to organisations and teams.

Christian is the Co-Founder and CEO of Monoova. He has led the building of a company servicing domestic and international tech-first platforms such as Wise, Nium and a significant portion of the Australian digital-currency industry. Christian has been a finalist for the ‘Outstanding Fintech Leader of the Year’ by Fintech Australia in 2020, 2021 & 2022.

Craig is Cuscal’s Managing Director, responsible for the corporate leadership, strategy and direction that has established Cuscal as a leading payments and regulated data services provider in Australia. He has more than 35 years’ experience in financial services, with expertise in digital banking and payments. Craig is also a Director of Australian Payments Plus Limited.

Helen is the Head of Product & Marketing of Global Payments. She is a strategic and innovative digital payments leader with over 20 years’ experience designing and implementing digital products and experiences in fintech. Helen is passionate about digital technology and data to deliver outcomes across consumer and business segments to solve customer problems.

James is the founder of My Adventure Group. He made history completing the longest unsupported polar expedition of all time with his friend, from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back without assistance. James holds 2 Guinness World Records for his accomplishments and has written 2 bestselling books: <em>Crossing the Ditch and Extreme South.

Jason is the Chief Risk Officer & Money Laundering Reporting Officer for Monoova. He is accountable for developing and running the risk management framework including AML/CTF compliance, fraud and scam risk management. Jason is an accomplished business leader with over 25 years of financial services experience at Commonwealth Bank, OFX Group, Macquarie Bank and Westpac.

Jenny A.KA “The People Hacker,” is a world renowned Social Engineer, hired to bypass security systems through a mixture of psychology, con-artistry, cunning and guile. She has received many industry awards and in 2022 inducted into the InfoSec Hall of Fame. Jenny is a global keynote speaker and go-to guest expert on the human element of security, scams, cons and hacks.

Joe is the Regional Risk Officer for Visa in Asia Pacific. His key responsibilities are to maintain trust in the Visa brand, being a champion for security in the industry and executing on Visa’s payment security strategy across the region to the benefit of clients, merchants, cardholders, and key stakeholders. Joe holds a MBA from Melbourne Business School.

Katrina is a Senior Partner in Bain & Company’s Sydney office, with over 25 years of consulting experience. She is a leader in Bain’s Financial Services practice, with a focus on growth strategy, customer experience, loyalty and digital transformation. Katrina has extensive experience supporting clients on a wide range of topics across the full payments value chain.

Mark is the Chief Operating Officer of AP+, responsible for bringing together an integrated end-to-end operating model including change, portfolio management and corporate strategy functions. He also leads the innovation and digital experiences team, connecting next-generation technology to traditional payments infrastructure. Mark has also cofounded iflix and CapabilityCo.

Nathan is Cuscal’s Domain Lead for Payments. He is responsible for the end-to-end product lifecycle for all account-based payment solutions. Nathan joined Cuscal in 2014 and brings a vast range of experience with more than 25 years in leadership roles in the payments industry. Prior to joining Cuscal, Nathan worked for NAB, Optus and Macquarie Bank.

Nghi is the First Assistant Secretary (Acting) in the Financial System Division (FSD). Prior to FSD, Nghi was the Senior Adviser in the Asia Pacific Constituency Office (International Monetary Fund), Manager of the Forecasting and Modelling Unit, Asia Policy Unit and the China Policy Unit in the International & Domestic Divisions of Macroeconomic Group.

Rachel is the Head of Strategy of Superhero, an Australian share trading and superannuation platform. Prior to this role Rachel was Superhero’s first marketing hire and led the acquisition of 100,000 customers less than 12 months after launch and also held the role of Head of Strategic Partnerships at FinTech Australia.

Rebecca is the CEO of Future Crunch. She is the host of The DNA Of Purpose podcast and a business consultant specialising in purpose-driven influence. Rebecca is also the creator of Ignite, a bespoke consulting process designed to help entrepreneurs and leaders stand out in their marketplace and transform their expertise and stories into real influence.

Scott is the Chief of Staff at Microsoft APAC. He is a global leader in the cutting-edge arena known as “The Digital Shift”, encompassing innovation, culture, design, technology, and mobility in a world gone digital. A thought leader through and through, Scott thrives on the intersection between cultural and behavioural changes in the face of technological innovations.

Simon is a partner at Patona, a seasoned professional with a track record of success in various leadership roles across multiple industries. He co-founded Assembly Payments, holds multiple board positions and mentors fintech start-ups and scale-ups. Simon consistently demonstrates his commitment to shaping the future of the payments industry and driving positive change.

Stew is the Managing Director of Accenture Song’s Financial Services Team for Australia & New Zealand. With over 20 years’ experience, he advises organisations on how to grow by connecting their brand’s purpose with relevant and engaging customer experiences to create enduring loyalty. Stew also advises how to leverage the power of data, machine learning & generative AI.

Sunil is the Senior VP, ANZ of WNS, where he is focused on building relationships with various banking and fintech clients. He has over 20 years of experience in risk management working for some of Australia’s largest banks (CBA, Westpac & Macquarie). Sunil possesses strong program management experience delivering large programs of work in risk management and finance.

Tané is a cancer researcher and science communicator. He is a Cofounder of both Future Crunch and Lighthouse Data Science.
Tané works with big data in the biological realm and is interested in medical genomics, big data and evolutionary biology. He has a Master of Bioinformatics and is currently completing a PhD at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

Tom is Azupay’s Chief Product Officer, who is passionate about leading great teams to develop great products. He has more than 10 years’ experience scaling & optimising payments businesses globally. Tom has also held strategy roles with Macquarie Group and PA Consulting. His achievements include launching OFX in North America and creating Flywire’s new APAC commercial team.

Wayne is the Chief Economist for Visa Inc., he keeps close watch on emerging opportunities in the trillion-dollar payments industry, helping to identify economic trends shaping the future. His unique presentations explain the impact of trends, while bringing economic theory & analysis to life with compelling stories & data from the largest payment provider in the industry.