international advisor

Dave Thomas | Founder and Chairman, Bedarra

Dave Thomas has a wide spectrum of experience in the software industry as an engineer, professor, consultant, architect, executive and investor. Dave is founder and CEO of Bedarra Corporation; which provides virtual CTO and CEO, business mentoring and seed investment to emerging companies. Recently formed Bedarra Research Labs undertakes speculative research on applications of emerging software technologies.

He has many years of experience in structured documents including the design of laser printer controllers, early commercial applications of Tex. He has advised on the IBM B2B strategy, and is on the MS Customer Advisory Council and with OLL contributed to the SCORM elearning standard, and authoring tools. He is Chairman of Xia Systems, Online-Learning.com (OLL), and a director of Stilo/Omnimark, Bitflash, Amikanow and Synop and several other software companies.

Dave is best known as the founder and past CEO and president of Object Technology International Inc. (formerly OTI, now IBM OTI Labs) and led the commercial introduction of object and component technology. The company is often cited as the ideal model of a software technology company.

He was also the principal visionary and architect for IBM VisualAge Smalltalk and Java tools and virtual machines including the initial work on popular multi-language Eclipse.org IDE. OTI pioneered the use of virtual machines in embedded systems with Tektronix shipping the first commercial products in 1988. He was instrumental in the establishment of IBM's Pervasive computing efforts and in particular the Java tooling.

Dave is an adjunct research professor at Carleton University, and the University Of Queensland and is widely published in the software engineering literature. He is a popular humorous albeit opinionated keynote speaker. Dave remains active in various roles within the technical community including ECOOP, AOSD, Evolve, and Agile Development Conference, Agile/XP Universe and OOPSLA Onward. He is a founding director of the Agile Alliance and most recently a founder of Open Augment Consortium. Dave writes expert columns in Otland Online in Germany, and the Journal Of Object Technology in Switzerland where he also serves on the editorial board.

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advisors

Philip Abernathy \| Founder and Alchemist, Purple Candor In his previous role as Agile Professional Development Lead for Suncorp, Philip Abernathy helped set up the 'Agile Academy', thus leading the spread of Agile across the industry as a whole. He now coaches, trains and consults at board room and senior management level to help companies transform to an Agile way of working. In his own words, "having grown grey on the Waterfall method" in large corporate organisations in the financial services, energy and telecom sectors, Philip understands the structure and discipline needed by large organisations. Marrying this need with Agile's dynamism is the alchemy he brings to the table. Philip has 31 years of hands-on, information technology experience and over 18 years of consulting and management experience with blue chip companies in the IT international arena. He has been practising and preaching Agile for the last 11 years. He was Chief Information Officer of Shell Markets Middle East and later founded his own IT services delivery company in The Netherlands. Philip has extensive experience in the difficult areas of Distributed Agile and Agile/Lean Governance and Agile Leadership. ^ back to top
Adam Boas \| Principal Engineer, Tiny Robot Army Adam Boas is a Principal Engineer at Aconex, leading development in the new product space. He has a long history in software delivery as a developer, tech lead, architect and manager. Adam has delivered bespoke development projects and new products in a wide range of areas including telecommunications, logistics, government, mining, and resources. He is a team builder, a coach and a delivery enabler but above all a developer with a low level understanding of the problems development teams face when approaching the sharp end of a delivery. ^ back to top
Nigel Dalton \| Chief Information Officer, REA Group A veteran Agile evangelist, with over 10 years experience applying Agile principles to IT and product development in the USA, Australia and NZ, Nigel Dalton is the co-founder of Luna Tractor, a business consultancy company taking Agile and lean thinking beyond software development to all areas of business and organisations. Luna Tractor leverages the experience gained in the transformation of Lonely Planet between 2007 and 2011, with over 20 teams running variants of Agile, kanban and lean methods to support their aim to make amazing guides in all formats for customers. ^ back to top
Keith Dodds \| Director, Client Relations, ThoughtWorks Asia Pacific Keith Dodds is responsible for ThoughtWorks' client relations, sales and marketing in the Asia Pacific region. Keith has over 25 years experience in consulting, story-telling and general rabble-rousing. He has worked across the US, the UK and for over 17 years in Australia. Keith prefers informed conversations with clients and prospective customers about the likely outcomes of their behaviour and decisions, both rational and unintended, emerging industry trends and new management imperatives. ^ back to top
Martin Kearns \| National Capability Lead, SMS MT Martin Kearns is the National Capability Lead for agile services in SMS, an experienced technology professional with over 18 years of industry experience. Martin is leading the development of an enterprise agile capability within SMS to support the business strategies of a diverse set of clients. Martin is a pioneer in the field of Scrum, being one of the first three Scrum Coaches to be certified in the world. Martin's forte is in the coaching of individuals and organisations to improve their application of the Agile process and to build high performance teams. He has an infectious passion for agile and is heavily involved with the community ( Co-Author of the CSC Whitepaper, part of the coaching board for the scrum alliance, CSC/CSP Examiner. Martin has a strong technical background moving over into a more consultant role after moving to Australia, where is love and passion for Agile Practice begun). ^ back to top
Daniel Oertli \| Founder, LIIIFT Daniel Oertli is an international IT and Operations executive, with C-level and VP-level experience in global B2B and B2C companies. For the last two years, he has been leading a busy period of transformational change as Chief Information Officer of REA Group (operators of market-leading property sites across the world, including Australia's #1 realestate.com.au). He is passionate about leading positive, profitable change in forward-thinking enterprises. Daniel brings commercial acumen, break-through thinking, broad technology expertise and performance management skills to the boardroom table - and translates strategies into outcomes with a leadership style that inspires action. Daniel's change philosophy is centred around developing high-performance cultures - with a focus on energising teams, pushing boundaries and nurturing inclusive leadership models, to create sustainable advantage for employees and the enterprise alike. ^ back to top
Katy Rowett \| Organisational Change Consultant Katy has 28 years' experience in Business, Technology and Organisational Strategy. She has collaboratively contributed value to organisations and teams through the leadership of large scale Agile transformational programs and as a business partner in the information technology profession. Katy's career spans across the finance, telecommunications and mining industries internationally and in Australia. Katy holds qualifications in Business and a Masters in Applied Science in Systems Psychodynamics. Katy is an accredited coach and an active member of the International Coaching Federation and Neuroleadership Institute and supports the organisational committee of the National Institute of Organisation Dynamics Australia. ^ back to top
Craig Smith \| Agile Coach, Suncorp Craig Smith has been active in the IT industry for over 15 years. He has been an Agile practitioner for over 10 years and is a Certified Scrum Master and a member of both the Scrum Alliance and Agile Alliance. He is currently working within Suncorp's Business Services division as an Agile Coach, on a number of high profile technical and business projects. He is a regular trainer for the Agile Academy, has presented at a number of international conferences and is also an Agile Editor for InfoQ. ^ back to top
John Sullivan \| Head of Technology New Business Development, Jetstar John Sullivan is responsible for the formation of new IT solutions and delivery teams, for new business development at the Jetstar group. Using over 20+ years IT experience he specialises in the formation of teams utilising Agile delivery techniques to build and deliver time to market business aligned systems. He has worked in multiple industries like travel, sales and marketing, banking, insurance, health, consulting, government and defence. He has transformed, built and managed Agile delivery teams varying in size from small to 150+ people. ^ back to top

Philip Abernathy \| Founder and Alchemist, Purple Candor In his previous role as Agile Professional Development Lead for Suncorp, Philip Abernathy helped set up the 'Agile Academy', thus leading the spread of Agile across the industry as a whole. He now coaches, trains and consults at board room and senior management level to help companies transform to an Agile way of working. In his own words, "having grown grey on the Waterfall method" in large corporate organisations in the financial services, energy and telecom sectors, Philip understands the structure and discipline needed by large organisations. Marrying this need with Agile's dynamism is the alchemy he brings to the table. Philip has 31 years of hands-on, information technology experience and over 18 years of consulting and management experience with blue chip companies in the IT international arena. He has been practising and preaching Agile for the last 11 years. He was Chief Information Officer of Shell Markets Middle East and later founded his own IT services delivery company in The Netherlands. Philip has extensive experience in the difficult areas of Distributed Agile and Agile/Lean Governance and Agile Leadership. ^ back to top
Adam Boas \| Principal Engineer, Tiny Robot Army Adam Boas is a Principal Engineer at Aconex, leading development in the new product space. He has a long history in software delivery as a developer, tech lead, architect and manager. Adam has delivered bespoke development projects and new products in a wide range of areas including telecommunications, logistics, government, mining, and resources. He is a team builder, a coach and a delivery enabler but above all a developer with a low level understanding of the problems development teams face when approaching the sharp end of a delivery. ^ back to top
Nigel Dalton \| Chief Information Officer, REA Group A veteran Agile evangelist, with over 10 years experience applying Agile principles to IT and product development in the USA, Australia and NZ, Nigel Dalton is the co-founder of Luna Tractor, a business consultancy company taking Agile and lean thinking beyond software development to all areas of business and organisations. Luna Tractor leverages the experience gained in the transformation of Lonely Planet between 2007 and 2011, with over 20 teams running variants of Agile, kanban and lean methods to support their aim to make amazing guides in all formats for customers. ^ back to top
Keith Dodds \| Director, Client Relations, ThoughtWorks Asia Pacific Keith Dodds is responsible for ThoughtWorks' client relations, sales and marketing in the Asia Pacific region. Keith has over 25 years experience in consulting, story-telling and general rabble-rousing. He has worked across the US, the UK and for over 17 years in Australia. Keith prefers informed conversations with clients and prospective customers about the likely outcomes of their behaviour and decisions, both rational and unintended, emerging industry trends and new management imperatives. ^ back to top
Martin Kearns \| National Capability Lead, SMS MT Martin Kearns is the National Capability Lead for agile services in SMS, an experienced technology professional with over 18 years of industry experience. Martin is leading the development of an enterprise agile capability within SMS to support the business strategies of a diverse set of clients. Martin is a pioneer in the field of Scrum, being one of the first three Scrum Coaches to be certified in the world. Martin's forte is in the coaching of individuals and organisations to improve their application of the Agile process and to build high performance teams. He has an infectious passion for agile and is heavily involved with the community ( Co-Author of the CSC Whitepaper, part of the coaching board for the scrum alliance, CSC/CSP Examiner. Martin has a strong technical background moving over into a more consultant role after moving to Australia, where is love and passion for Agile Practice begun). ^ back to top
Daniel Oertli \| Founder, LIIIFT Daniel Oertli is an international IT and Operations executive, with C-level and VP-level experience in global B2B and B2C companies. For the last two years, he has been leading a busy period of transformational change as Chief Information Officer of REA Group (operators of market-leading property sites across the world, including Australia's #1 realestate.com.au). He is passionate about leading positive, profitable change in forward-thinking enterprises. Daniel brings commercial acumen, break-through thinking, broad technology expertise and performance management skills to the boardroom table - and translates strategies into outcomes with a leadership style that inspires action. Daniel's change philosophy is centred around developing high-performance cultures - with a focus on energising teams, pushing boundaries and nurturing inclusive leadership models, to create sustainable advantage for employees and the enterprise alike. ^ back to top
Katy Rowett \| Organisational Change Consultant Katy has 28 years' experience in Business, Technology and Organisational Strategy. She has collaboratively contributed value to organisations and teams through the leadership of large scale Agile transformational programs and as a business partner in the information technology profession. Katy's career spans across the finance, telecommunications and mining industries internationally and in Australia. Katy holds qualifications in Business and a Masters in Applied Science in Systems Psychodynamics. Katy is an accredited coach and an active member of the International Coaching Federation and Neuroleadership Institute and supports the organisational committee of the National Institute of Organisation Dynamics Australia. ^ back to top
Craig Smith \| Agile Coach, Suncorp Craig Smith has been active in the IT industry for over 15 years. He has been an Agile practitioner for over 10 years and is a Certified Scrum Master and a member of both the Scrum Alliance and Agile Alliance. He is currently working within Suncorp's Business Services division as an Agile Coach, on a number of high profile technical and business projects. He is a regular trainer for the Agile Academy, has presented at a number of international conferences and is also an Agile Editor for InfoQ. ^ back to top
John Sullivan \| Head of Technology New Business Development, Jetstar John Sullivan is responsible for the formation of new IT solutions and delivery teams, for new business development at the Jetstar group. Using over 20+ years IT experience he specialises in the formation of teams utilising Agile delivery techniques to build and deliver time to market business aligned systems. He has worked in multiple industries like travel, sales and marketing, banking, insurance, health, consulting, government and defence. He has transformed, built and managed Agile delivery teams varying in size from small to 150+ people. ^ back to top