Workshop speakers

  • The Hon. John Brumby

    John Brumby

    The Hon John Brumby was the former Premier of Victoria (2007 – 2010) and has immense experience in public life serving for more than 10 years as Treasurer and then Premier of Victoria, 6 years as Leader of the Victorian Opposition and 7 years as Federal MHR for Bendigo during the period of the Hawke Government.

    Since retiring from politics, Mr Brumby has accepted an appointment as a Professorial Fellow at both the University of Melbourne and the Monash University.  He is also the Chairman of the Motor Trades Association of Australia (MTAA) Superannuation Fund, Deputy Chair of Industry Super Australia, an Independent Director of Huawei Technologies (Australia) Pty Limited and a Director of Citywide Solutions Pty Ltd.

    During his time as Treasurer and then Premier, Mr Brumby forged closer links with China, releasing Victoria's first ever China Strategy, visiting China on numerous occasions and opening new trade and investment offices in Nanjing and Shanghai.  Mr Brumby is also a regular speaker at forums in Australia, New Zealand, China and the United States of America on issues such as the global economy, innovation, superannuation and regional development.

    Mr Brumby is also involved in a range of other organisations.  He is a Director of the Fred Hollows Foundation, Chair of the Advisory Board of the National Centre for Workplace Leadership at the University of Melbourne and a Director of the United States Studies Centre Ltd at the University of Sydney.

  • Deborah Hadwen

    Deborah Hadwen

    Deborah Hadwen was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Tata Consultancy Service's (TCS) Australia and New Zealand business in April 2011. Deborah is responsible for all of TCS operations, leading over 10,000 executives that service over 60 customers in Australia and New Zealand.  Deborah joined TCS in 2005 and previously led the Banking and Financial services sector business for TCS in Australia and New Zealand.

    Deborah was recently Chairperson of NASSCOM in Australia during 2013. NASSCOM is the industry association for the IT-BPM sector in India. A not-for-profit organisation funded by the industry, its objective is to build a growth led and sustainable technology and business services sector in the country.

    At the beginning of her career, Deborah joined IBM Australia upon graduation and worked for IBM and then Goal Systems (acquired by Legent Corporation) in technical roles.  Deborah then spent 9 years with Compuware Asia Pacific, while based in Singapore as Sales Director, Software & Services, and prior to that based in Melbourne and Sydney in various management roles.

    Deborah received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts (Merit) from University of Sydney, her Master of Commercial Law from Macquarie University and completed executive management education at Harvard Business School. She is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Deborah lives in Sydney, Australia with her family.

    TCS is a world leading IT Services, Consulting and Business Solutions organisation. TCS offers an integrated portfolio of Information Technology, Business Process Services, Infrastructure, Engineering and Assurance Services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™, recognised as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India's largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 300,000 of the world's best-trained consultants in 46 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $13.4 billion for year ended March 31, 2014 and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For further information regarding Tata Consultancy Services please visit www.tcs.com

  • Dr. Hao Tan

    Hao TanDr. Hao Tan is a Senior Lecturer in International Business at the Newcastle Business School, University of Newcastle, Australia. His latest research is focused on the interplays of international business strategy, innovation and economic geography, with a particular reference to the energy, resource and renewable energy sectors.

    Since 2009 he has published over 20 book chapters and scholarly journal articles, including ten A/A* journal articles as per ERA and/or ABDC rankings. He has also contributed frequently to both English and Chinese-language media such as theconversations.com, FTChinese.com and caixin.com. Recently he has published in Nature a comment article (co-authored with Prof. John Mathews from Macquarie University) entitled "Manufacture renewables to build energy security".

  • Prof. David Merrett

    David MerrettDavid Merrett is a professor in the Department of Management and Marketing at the University of Melbourne. He has written extensively on Australian multinationals, including The Internationalisation Strategies of Small-Country Firms: The Australian Experience of Globalisation (2007) which he edited with Howard Dick.

    Abstract: The dynamics of the recent engagement of Asian economies with the rest of the world differs sharply from that of Australia. Like Asia, Australia has been the beneficiary of large inflows of FDI. Unlike Asia, Australia is home to few multinationals. We will offer an explanation of this difference and discuss its consequences for Australia.

  • Prof. Hans Hendrischke

    Hans Hendrischke Hans Hendrischke is professor of Chinese business and management, University of Sydney Business School and chair of the executive committee of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

    He was educated at universities in Germany, Taiwan and Japan and did postgraduate research at the Contemporary China Institute at the London School of Oriental and African Studies.

    He lived in China from 1979 working for the diplomatic service and the finance industry. In his academic career he headed the Centre for Chinese Political Economy at Macquarie University, was head of Chinese Studies and head of school at UNSW and served as director of the University of Sydney Confucius Institute.

    His main research focus and publications are on emerging local entrepreneurship and business institutions. As an institutional economist he has conducted hundreds of interviews with Chinese private entrepreneurs and local officials over the last decades. He is author of China's Economy in the 21st Century: Enterprise and Business Behaviour (co-edited with Barbara Krug).

    Professor Hendrischke leads the Business School's Australia China Business Network and heads a multi-year strategic cooperation with KPMG which reports regularly on Chinese outbound direct investment in Australia and publishes thought leadership reports on Australia China business relations.