TECHNICAL PROGRAM

CLICK HERE to view the RMIA 6th Annual Conference program (subject to change)

CLICK HERE to view the Additional Professional Development Opportunities including the Seminar and Workshop series.

All Professional Development Opportunities forming part of RMIA 2009, MARSH Monday Business Briefing Breakfast, Wednesday Workshops and Seminars are bookable separately and conference registration is not essential.  Preference will be given to delegates registering for full conference at RMIA 2009.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Steven Cork

EcoInsights and Australia 21, Canberra, Australia

Steven Cork was a research ecologist with CSIRO for 25 years and has been a futurist specialising in relationships between the environment and human well-being for the past 10 years. He has extensive experience working in and with government and private organisations in Australia and internationally. He is a fellow of Australia21, a private organisation encouraging dialogue among leading thinkers about Australia’s possible futures. He has recently completed two projects exploring the resilience of Australia and its people to a range of potential future challenges.

Gary S Lynch

Marsh Risk Consulting, New York, USA

Gary Lynch is an author and the global leader of the Supply Chain Risk Management Practice at Marsh. He is a member of the advisory board of the New York Institute of Technology and Risk. Gary has advised numerous Global 500 companies in risk areas such as supply chain resiliency, operational risk management, global risk strategies, continuity and technology risk. He is a contributor to the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risks Report and recently travelled to Australia to address the APEC secure trade Conference. He has worked with The Wharton School, Centre for Risk Management and Decision Processes and is the author of several books including At Your Own Risk: Creating a Risk-Conscious Culture to Meet the Challenge of Business Change and the soon to be published Single Point of Failure: The Ten Essential Laws of Supply Chain Risk Management. Prior to Marsh, Gary was a Management Consultant/Partner for Booz Allen Hamilton, before which he was a Partner at Ernst & Young in its Information Assurance business. Prior to this role, he served as Global Research Director and Market Analyst

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Joseph Restoule

Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS), New York, USA

Joseph A. Restoule, CIP, CRM, is a leader of risk management at NOVA Chemicals Corporation. NOVA Chemicals’ risk management group contributes to the long-term financial success of the business by providing proactive risk analysis; motivating and assisting in cost-effective loss prevention; and providing long-term, stable risk financing. The risk financing program includes the use of alternative risk financing programs through the use of insurance, captive and other financial products. Mr. Restoule has been associated with NOVA’s risk management group for the past 20 years. Previous experience includes responsibility for risk management activities in NOVA’s previously owned gas transmission and international business actively involved in mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Restoule currently serves as RIMS president. He has served on the RIMS board since 2001 in various capacities, including vice president and secretary. Formerly, he was chair of RIMS Canada Council (1997-2000). In addition, he has served in the past on the International, Member & Chapter Services Committee, and the Strategic Planning Task Force. Mr. Restoule is president of the Canada-based William H. McGannon Foundation. He has been an active board member on RIMS Southern Alberta Chapter since 1992. He is a member of the founding Board of Governors of the Institute of Risk Management and often lectures at the University of Calgary, Insurance and Risk Management faculty. In 2004, Mr. Restoule was the recipient of the Donald M. Stuart Award, RIMS highest honor for risk management in Canada. He also co-chaired the 2006 RIMS Canada Conference. Mr. Restoule is currently a member of the AEGIS International Risk Management Advisory Committee and a former chair (1997-1998) of the American Gas Association Risk Management Committee. His educational background includes a bachelor’s degree of arts in criminology from the University of Alberta (1979)

Maha Sinnathamby

Springfield Land Corporation, Ipswich, Australia

Maha Sinnathanby is the visionary behind the Greater Springfield development – Australia’s largest master planned project. Maha graduated as a Civil Engineer from University of New South Wales. Maha worked for Perth Water Board as a Civil Engineer for 4 years until 1976 then went into property development. He built one of the most successful property development businesses in Western Australia. He then moved to Brisbane in 1985 and to date has been involved with over $5 billion dollars worth of projects. He is the main driving force behind Greater Springfield which was unanimously approved by Queensland Parliament as a futuristic City in 1997. In 2003, he received the Centenary Medal from the Governor General of Australia for Community Regional Development. He was also awarded the Ernst & Young Master Entrepreneur of the Year (Northern Region) and the Rotary Foundation’s Paul Harris Fellowship. Most recently, Maha was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Southern Queensland for his contribution to Education and last year the Australian Institution of Management awarded him a medal for innovation. Maha is very committed to Education and to uplifting human values in society. As a result, Greater Springfield has many Education facilities including 6 schools, a TAFE and a campus of the University of Southern Queensland.

William (Bill) Sirois

Circadian Technologies Inc., Boston, USA

Bill Sirois is Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for CIRCADIAN. He is responsible for all CIRCADIAN services in North America and Europe, including development of Industrial Shiftwork Strategies, Alertness Assurance programs, Human Alertness Technologies, Ergonomics programs, Industrial Engineering, Pre-employment Screening, Behavioral Safety Development, and Bio-compatible Shiftwork Scheduling and support training on Managing a Shiftwork Lifestyle. By addressing human limitations and capabilities from a holistic perspective (i.e., operational, physiological, and sociological), Mr. Sirois has demonstrated that a new frontier of opportunity exists for human asset utilization and continuous improvement in overall employee health, safety, and operational performance for all types of business. Having been a former shiftworker in chemical plant environments, Bill is well acquainted with the effects of shift schedules and long, irregular hours on fatigue, human error, and impaired performance. Bill has a chemical engineering and ergonomics background, with more than three decades of operational management and consulting experience in the areas of health, safety, and productivity. He is internationally recognized as an expert in workforce management, and is frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal and numerous trade publications. Bill has also lectured extensively as a featured speaker at numerous corporate meetings and international conferences, including the National Association of Manufacturers, The Society of Plastics Engineers, National Ergonomics Conference, The American Petroleum Institute, The American Shipping Club, International Semiconductor Safety Association, Canadian Electric Association, the National Food Processors Association, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Puerto Rico Health and Safety Conference, and the Institute of Mining Health, Safety and Research. 

Chris Townsend

AIG Australasia, Melbourne, Australia

Chris Townsend has overall management responsibility for AIG Australasia, a member of the American International Group of companies. His remit includes AIG’s general insurance operations in Australia, New Zealand and PNG. Prior to his current role as CEO AIG Australasia, Chris was Country Manager for Hong Kong, a position he assumed in 2006. Prior to this, he was Regional Senior Vice President, AIG Southeast Asia and Greater China, overseeing the business development and management of the portfolios of Casualty, Marine, Property, Financial, Trade Credit, Surety and Political Risk businesses as well as the Small Business Solutions operation in the regions. Chris first joined AIG in 1991, as an underwriter in the London office of AIU.  Moving on from the UK, Chris has held a number of senior management positions in the Europe, USA, Australasia (1996-1999) within the AIG organization, including a role as Senior Vice President responsible for Merger & Acquisition Insurance for AIU worldwide out of London. Chris is a Chartered Insurer.

David Crossley

Canberra, Australia

David Crossley holds a Bachelor of Economics from Sydney University and a Chartered Accountant. Currently - Executive Director, Performance Audit Services Group, Australian National Audit Office. As a Chartered Accountant, David spent 14 years with a Big 4 firm including 4 years in Hong Kong. Also spent 11 years in wholesale banking operations before moving from Sydney in 1999 to join the Commonwealth Public Service …. initially as the Chief Financial Officer for The Treasury and then as a financial statement audit executive with the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO). Currently ANAO Branch Head with responsibility for preparation of performance audit reports in relation to the Australian Taxation Office as well as Prime Minister & Cabinet, Australian Public Service Commission and the Parliamentary Departments. ANAO Performance Audits are designed to assist commonwealth entities to achieve improvements in the effectiveness/efficiency of their Public Administration. As a parallel career/retirement project David planted a 5 acre vineyard in 1999 on the Lake George escarpment above Bungendore.

BUSINESS BREAKFAST BRIEFING

Mark Thirlwell

Lowy Institute for International Policy, Sydney, Australia

Mark Thirlwell is the Director of the International Economy Program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. He is a graduate from Cambridge University and has an MPhil. degree in economics from Oxford. Mark has a postgraduate qualification in applied finance at Macquarie University. Mark began his career as an economist in the Bank of England’s international division, where he focused on emerging market issues. Mark also spent time in the Bank’s UK structural economic analysis division prior to joining JP Morgan as vice president in the economic research department with responsibility for Central and Eastern Europe. Before joining the Lowy Institute, Mark was senior economist at the Australian Export Finance and Insurance Corporation from 1999 to 2003 where he worked on country risk issues, with a particular emphasis on East Asia.

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CONFERENCE TECHNICAL MODERATORS

Peter Moore

Risk Point, Perth, Australia

Peter Moore is principal consultant and owner of Risk Point, a leading risk management consulting practice.  He has over twenty five years experience in managing businesses and providing consulting and advisory services. Peter also lectures in risk management at Murdoch University in the MBA programme in Perth, their offshore programme in Singapore, and facilitates the unit in Dubai. Peter holds a Bachelor of Science from Murdoch University, a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Curtin University, and is a Certified Practicing Risk Manager.

Mike Lutomski

National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), Houston, USA

Mike Lutomski is the Risk Manager for the International Space Station Program (“ISS”). He has spent over 20 years working on Manned Spaceflight at the Johnston Space Center in Houston working in various positions. His current role in risk management includes building a Probabalistic Risk Assessment model of the ISS to compare relative risks to the crew and the vehicle. As well as taking a keen and informed interest in Climate Change matters with access to the considerable research that NASA has undertaken in this area, Mike has been a regular supporter of RMIA events in recent years, both at a National and Chapter level.

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SOCIAL MODERATOR

Max Walker

Melbourne, Australia

In the space of five decades Max Walker has travelled an amazing road from schoolboy sporting prodigy to having one of the most recognisable faces and voices in Australia. Along with the way he managed to play Test Cricket in a golden era, VFL/AFL football for the Melbourne Football Club, take centre stage in the sports media arena and author 14 books. Max is also a successful entrepreneur with directorships in a number of companies. Academically he qualified from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology with a Fellowship Diploma of Architecture and practiced as an architect for 10 years. Max’s transition from the sporting fields to the hypnotic world of media and keynote speaking was seamless …a natural charismatic communicator on radio, television and in the corporate sphere. An extension of that natural ability has resulted in seven No.1 best selling books in Australia with aggregate sales beyond a million copies. The smile and enthusiasm is contagious. As a talent, Max has been described as ‘extremely user friendly’. The Max Walker Company utilises the many multimedia, communication, marketing and creative skills all under the one umbrella. The name Max Walker has become a brand that is synonymous with integrity, credibility and success. His philanthropic attitude is, “if you can, you must”.