AmCham Industry Series: Defence
Cyber Security and Space
Defence - Made in Australia - how partnerships, joint integration and collaboration are building our Sovereign capabilities.
Australia is engaged in the largest expansion of our military and security in our peacetime history. South Australia is front and centre with the naval shipbuilding contracts, submarines, land missiles and focus on cyber security.
How are our partnerships helping to build our sovereign capability? What exciting collaborations in research and development will provide Australia with the intellectual property in technology that will grow our domestic industry and an export opportunity in Defence, Cyber and Space.
Expert Panelist:
Chris Keane - Chief of Future Busines, BAE Systems Australia
Chris is the Chief of Future Business and a member of the Executive Leadership Team for BAE Systems Australia. In this role Chris is accountable for BAE Systems’ enterprise level strategy development, external stakeholder relations and for driving strategic growth in Australia and our regional export markets.
Chris was previously the Head of Government Relations for BAE Systems Australia and has spent the past two and half years leading external stakeholder engagement for the company, and supporting major campaign activity. This recently culminated in the SEA 5000 campaign, with BAE Systems’ selection as the preferred tenderer to deliver nine Future Frigates for the Royal Australian Navy.
He joined BAE Systems Australia in 2006 and in that time has held a variety of senior executive positions across the organisation in general management, strategy, business development and M&A roles across all domains in the defence sector.
Chris has a background in economics and finance, spending a decade in senior government advisory roles focussed on industry, superannuation and defence policy in both State and Federal Government and sits on a number of industry advisory boards, including the Defence and National Security Advisory Committee.
Christopher Pyne (former Minister for Defence)
Christopher Pyne served as the 54th Australian Defence Minister and was responsible for delivering the $200 billion build-up of Australia’s military capability, the largest in Australia’s peacetime history.
Christopher worked to ensure the growth and sustainment of Australia’s Defence Industry, and thus implemented Australia’s Defence Export Strategy, Defence Industrial Capability Plan, and the Naval Shipbuilding Plan. He also created the Defence Cooperative Research Centre, the Centre for Defence Industry Capability, the Defence Innovation Hub, and the Next Generation Technology Fund.
Christopher also sought to strengthen Australia’s defence ties with other countries, establishing the Australia France Initiative, and settled Defence Memoranda of Understanding with Israel, China, and Switzerland, and initiated Memoranda of Understanding with the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Christopher was a Minister in the Howard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison Governments, holding various portfolios including Ageing, Education, Industry Innovation and Science, and Defence.
Christopher was elected to Parliament in 1993 and served as the Member for Sturt for 26 years. During this time, he was in the Liberal Party Leadership Group for 10 years, and Leader of the House of Representatives for six years.
Julie La Rosa Executive Director, Defence SA
Before joining Defence SA in 2015, Julie worked in the defence industry for more than a decade, holding director and general management roles in a defence-oriented engineering consultancy and managing defence industry business units in the recruitment and training sectors.
Julie has worked as a ministerial adviser in South Australia, supporting the Defence Industries and Veterans' Affairs portfolios, and was formerly a board member of the Defence Teaming Centre Inc.
She holds a Bachelor of Management, is a graduate of the Mt Eliza Leadership Development Program and the Transformational Leadership program at the University of Adelaide. She is currently completing her MBA.
Ian Irving Chief Executive, Naval Shipbuilding Institute
Ian Irving is a well known and high profile Australian Defence & National Security Industry senior executive.
Ian has more than 30 years’ experience at senior executive levels within the Australian defence and aerospace industry, and in 2019 was appointed as the Chief Executive of the Naval Shipbuilding Institute, responsible for the delivery of Australia’s Naval Shipbuilding College.
Most recently Ian was Chief Executive for Northrop Grumman Australia, with responsibility for leading the development of Northrop Grumman within Australia, taking the company from inception to one of the major ongoing contributors to Australia’s national security capabilities.
In 2011 Ian established ALTILUS, a management and professional services consultancy serving the government and the defence sector, where he held responsibility for the conduct of life-cycle governance gate reviews for the Defence Department on Australia’s major defence acquisition programmes. Ian was also assigned responsibility as the Commonwealth’s Lead Technical Negotiator for the successful $1.4B acquisition of Australia’s future military logistics vehicles.
Ian has also held responsibility as Vice President, Land Systems and deputy Chief Executive officer at Thales Australia, where he held various leadership positions over a period spanning twelve years.
Event Partners
MISSED A PAST EVENT OR WANT TO WATCH IT AGAIN!
Invitation transferable: feel free to forward this invitation to anyone within your organisation or networks who you think might be interested in this event.