Meet the Speakers

Julie McCrossin is a veteran radio and television broadcaster who spent over 20 years with ABC Radio National, ABC TV and Network Ten. Julie spent five years as the presenter of Life Matters on ABC Radio National and five years leading a team on the comedy quiz show Good News Week on ABC TV and Network Ten. Julie has worked as a TV reporter for both the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and the Anzac Day Parade. She is proud to live in a country where it is possible to do both. Her favourite media experience was appearing as a Silent Clown called Plain Jane on ABC TV’s Play School.

Julie was treated for stage four, HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer in 2013. Julie is an Ambassador for Targeting Cancer and TROG Cancer Research. She is a member of the advocacy group, Cancer Voices SA.

Julie has qualifications in the arts, education and law. In 2019, she was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the community, particularly through LGBTIQ advocacy roles and to the broadcast media. www.juliemccrossin.com

Aaron McEwan is a behavioral scientist, psychologist and work futurist and was recently named a Top 100 Global HR Influencer and one of 5 HR Leaders to Follow in 2022. As VP, Research & Advisory for Gartner’s HR Practice, Aaron provides strategic advice to the world’s leading companies on the future of work and talent and helps leaders manage their most critical relationships across the c-suite and board. Alongside his current role, Aaron is Co-Chair for Gartner’s Collective Abilities Network, a global employee resource group for those with hidden and apparent disabilities, mental illness, neuro-diversity, chronic or acute illness, their caregivers and allies. He is a Fellow of the Australian Human Resources Institute, serves on the national committee for the Australian Psychological Society’s Interest Group in Coaching Psychology and is an Associate of Macquarie University’s Centre for Workforce Futures. He has lectured at Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong, University of NSW, University of Newcastle, University of Queensland, Griffith University and the Australian College of Applied Psychology and was a member of Innovation Nation, a cross-industry initiative sponsored by the Office of the Prime Minister to elevate Australia’s reputation for entrepreneurship and innovation.

Vani leads the Global Disability Inclusion Program, Accenture and also the I&D Strategy Enablement for Accenture Growth Markets. Vani is an expert in Inclusion & Diversity, Brand & Communication and Recruitment. She is also a PCC certified Life and Leadership Coach.

Vani’s had tremendous exposure to Disability Inclusion and leads the strategic initiatives in this space, positioning Accenture as an industry leader. Culture, Accessibility and industry partnerships are key aspects of Accenture’s commitment to Disability Inclusion. There are two key aspects that enable Vani and her team to understand the width of depth of the complex area of disability inclusion – Working with leaders and teams from various functions that have a critical role to play in the success of the program – technology, CIO, Workplace, Talent Management ensures that the program is moving towards Accenture’s vision to be the industry role model. Working with leadership and teams in markets and countries brings to life an understanding of the finest nuances of law, data privacy, cultural elements etc. that helps program delivery with synergies between global and local priorities.

Liz is the Principal Advisor, Disability at the Victorian Public Sector Commission. Headed by a Commissioner, the VPSC and has a range of legislated functions, that include strengthening the public sector in order to meet existing and emerging needs, including those related to workforce management and development. In this role Liz developed Getting to work- Victorian public sector disability employment action plan 2018-2025, and is leading its implementation across the Victorian public sector. Getting to work was developed in collaboration with the Enablers Network, the public sector’s network for employees with disability and all Victorian government departments, to support achievement of the Victorian government’s disability employment targets of 6% by 2020 and 12% by 2025 and drive culture change across the largest employer in the state. Prior to this role Liz has worked across the health, higher education and not for profit sectors, in academic, project and Board leadership roles.

Graeme Innes AM is a lawyer, author, and company director. His autobiography Finding A Way achieved popular acclaim in 2016.

He has been a human rights practitioner for more than 30 years and is a conference presenter and facilitator.

Graeme was a Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission for nine years, responsible for issues relating to disability, race and human rights. In this role, he led work on:

• The ratification by Australia of a UN Convention on the rights of people with disabilities;
• The Same Sex Same Entitlements inquiry;
• Regulations in the areas of accessible buildings and transport;
• Work with industry on TV and movie captions and accessible banking standards; and
• Three inspections of Australia’s immigration detention centres.

Graeme led the merger of four blindness agencies to form Vision Australia, and chaired the board of that agency. He is currently the chair of the Attitude Foundation, a start-up aimed at using media to change attitudes towards Australians with disabilities.

He is also a Director of:

• Life Without Barriers, a $700 million turnover NFP providing support to people with disabilities, Aboriginal people, asylum seekers and children in out-of-home care;
• The State Insurance Regulatory Authority, regulating workers’ compensation and motor vehicle accident insurance in NSW.

Graeme was awarded an AM for his work on the development of the Disability Discrimination Act, was a finalist for Australian of the Year, and, on the international stage, he was a member of the Australian delegation that participated in negotiating the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. He was awarded Honorary Doctorates by the University of Canberra in 2014, RMIT University in 2016, UNSW in 2017 and Edith Cowan University in 2018, in recognition of his work as a human rights activist.

Graeme is married with two adult children, loves cricket as a spectator and sailing as a participant, and relaxes by enjoying fine Australian white wine.

Peter was appointed Chairman of the Australian Network on Disability Board in May 2015.

He was appointed Chairman of the Power and Water Corporation in the Northern Territory in March 2022, and Chairman and Director of the National Alcohol and Drug Foundation in December 2021.

Peter Wilson is the Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee at the Office of the Auditor-General in Western Australia.

Peter is also the Independent Member and Chairman of the Australian Retail Credit Association and the Reciprocity and Data Exchange Administrator Limited which set respectively the credit reporting standards under National Privacy legislation, and also industry rules for credit reporting by financial institutions that are authorised by the ACCC.

He was President and Chairman of CPA Australia from October 2017-2020, and continued as a Director until his retirement in December 2021. He was a non voting board member on the International Federation of Accountants in New York from 2020-2021.

Peter was Chairman of the Australian HR Institute from 2006-2020, and chaired it’s National Certification Council until March 2022.

He is a non-executive director of Vision Super and the Chairman of the Victorian Institute of Strategic Economic Studies at Victoria University. He is also a panel member at the Centre of Excellence into Population and Ageing Research (“CEPAR”) at Sydney and Curtin Universities, and an Advisor to the International Consortium for Research into Employment and Work (“ICREW”) at Monash University.

Peter served as an Adjunct Professor in Management at the Monash Business School, Monash University, Melbourne from 2012-2020, and as an accredited PhD Supervisor at the Latrobe Business School, Latrobe University from 2015-2020.

Peter held senior executive roles in the Commonwealth and Victorian Treasuries, and group executive roles at ANZ Bank, Amcor Limited, and as CEO of Energy 21. He has held non-executive director appointments on Boards of Dalgety Farmers Ltd, Kimberly-Clark Australia, and both the Commonwealth Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission and Yarra Valley Water as Chairman.

Peter Wilson was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2005 for services to workplace relations and safety and community service and was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2004.

Non-executive director with leadership and governance experience across government, education, health, and sport sectors.  Over 30 years lived experience of paraplegia following a car accident in 1990. Extensive civic and community contribution – passionate about sport, opportunities for women and people with disability and delivering an environment where people thrive.

Jane is Chair of the NSW Disability Council, a member of the Australian Disability Advisory Council, a Director of the Paraplegic Benefit Fund and of Royal Rehab. Jane is also Chair of the University of Sydney Sports Foundation and board member of Sydney University Sport & Fitness. Jane is a Council Member of the NSW Institute of Public Administration and a member of Chief Executive Women where she is on the Membership Committee.

Previous non-executive roles include University of Sydney Senate, Western Sydney Local Health District, Venues NSW, Combat Sports Authority and Wheelchair Sports Australia. Recent executive roles include Assistant Commissioner NSW Public Service Commission, Deputy CEO of Jobs for NSW and Acting CEO, NSW Institute of Sport.

Jane has degrees in Economics (Honours), Law and a Masters in Public Administration, is a Fellow of AICD and of the Governance Institute and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration.

Cameron Gifford is the Chief Operating Officer at the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department (AGD). In this role, Cam has responsibility for all corporate services for the department. This includes strategy and governance, finance and budget, human resources, business operations and IT.

Cam is also the Celebrating Ability Champion for AGD and actively promotes inclusive work practices within the department. Working with the Celebrating Ability Network, Cam has been instrumental in the work that AGD has done to become more disability-confident. Under Cam’s leadership, AGD has both committed to and delivered actions and initiatives as part of our Disability and Mental Health Action Plan. These have had and will continue to have positive impacts to all our current and future staff with disability and mental health conditions.

With a desire to do social good and a passion for equity, Amber joined AND to use her consulting skills to drive and empower organisations to make a difference. With her project management skills, Amber designs national pioneering projects and theories of change to create lasting and sustainable impact in the not-for-profit sector.

Amber joined the Australian Network on Disability (AND) in December 2017 bringing her business analyst and social research background. Amber’s career path has always focused on consulting where she enjoys deep analysis to understand a market and environment. In the past, Amber’s work has focused on inclusion strategies, policy and system development, behavioural change and workshop training and facilitation.

Amber has extensive experience advising C-Suite decision makers on change management strategies to improve access and inclusion of the business, increase market share and generate revenue growth.

If you’ve ever been on a video call with Amber, you would know that she also has two miniature dachshunds that like to contribute during meetings. Carly (aged 14 months) is particularly vocal when it comes to the inclusion of people with disability.

Amber holds a BComm in Management and Marketing and DipLang in Indonesian from the University of Melbourne.

With over 15 years’ experience working across culture, engagement and inclusion at Australia Post Sharon has been leading the organisation’s strategic approach to improving access and inclusion for employees, customers and the community through the delivery of the organisation’s Accessibility and Inclusion Plans since 2017.

In 2019 Sharon established Accessibility Matters, Australia Post’s employee network representing people with disability and carers.  This group provides invaluable advice and insights on the employee experience, products, services and community activities aimed at improving access and inclusion for everyone.

Sharon is passionate about driving greater accessibility and inclusion for employees, customers and the broader community.

Jesse is the Design Operations Manager for the POST+ Program, which is building the new Point of Sale (POS) platform for the Post Office Network. He leads a team of experts in product design, content design, and design research, and is driving the craft of design operations within the enterprise. He has been is Australia Post since 2018.

 He has held leadership roles in the digital and creative industries across Australia and New Zealand over the past 16 years.

Sue joined Australia Post in February 2015 and was appointed to the role of EGM People & Culture in July 2018. With the strength of over 64,000 employees, community postal agents, licensees and contractors across Australia, Sue is responsible for leading Australia Post’s people strategy to drive future growth by continuously meeting changing customer and community needs.

With over 30 years industry experience, Sue has held a range of senior HR and operational roles across the transport and logistics industry, in Australia and internationally. She is a purpose and values driven executive, dedicated to working with our people to create a culture where they thrive professionally and personally, while delivering value for customers, community and the business.

As an advocate for mental health and wellbeing awareness, Sue recently joined the Board of the Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds Foundation, an initiative between road transport, warehousing and logistics operators to support workers with issues relating to mental health and physical wellbeing.

Sue is committed to providing a workplace that is accessible and inclusive and is the Executive Sponsor of Accessibility Matters, our Employee Reference Group providing people with disability a voice, influence and support.

Sue is also Executive Sponsor of the Australia Post Emerging Leaders Program that supports our Indigenous workforce.

Kenny is based in Melbourne, Australia and he leads Security Customer Success at Microsoft ANZ. For over 20 years, Kenny has been heavily involved in all aspects of the Accessibility software standards development and delivery lifecycle. He worked on the Accessibility of Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) standard in the W3c, the epub standard in IDPF, and has been working closely with several engineering teams at Microsoft to make our products and services more accessible to all. Kenny has been serving as the APJ Disability ERG lead and ANZ Accessibility Council co-chair for the last 2 years driving various initiatives such as the Microsoft Asia Accessibility Summit, accessibility in Action, Inclusive Hiring. In Kenny’s own words:

” It is my incredible privilege to have the opportunity to serve as the co-chair of our vibrant Global Disability ERG community. I have been deeply inspired by the stories, the passion, and the unwavering commitment of this community to Accessibility & Inclusion at Microsoft over the years. The rich tapestry of partnerships and friendships enabled by this community has been a source of constant sustenance and strength in my 10+ years at Microsoft. I could not be more excited to take on this new role. I look forward to partnering with all of you to help create our future; A future where everyone can bring their full self to work every single day and thrive in an environment that is Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive at it’s very core.”

Tony Abrahams is Co-Founder and CEO of Ai-Media. Committed to making an impact, Tony co-founded Ai-Media in 2003 to provide captions for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community. It has since grown into a global market leader that aims to improve content accessibility through innovative technology. 

Ai-Media’s online captioning service, Ai-Live, helps provide immediate access to the spoken word for not only the Deaf and hard of hearing, but also those with autism, learning difficulties and non-native English speakers. The service is used by universities, schools and workplaces worldwide, providing real-time speech-to-text delivered remotely to any web-connected device. 

Tony has served as a non-executive director of Northcott Disability Services and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. As a Rhodes Scholar, Tony received an MBA (2001) and MPhil in Economics (2000) from the University of Oxford. He received an LLB (1998), BCom (Hons I) (1996) from the University of New South Wales. In 2013, Tony was appointed a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. 

Karen is a senior lawyer with more than 15 years’ experience in the rail industry. 

Karen is currently Manager – Corporate Governance and Compliance at Australia’s leading private rail freight company, Pacific National.

Before joining Pacific National, Karen worked in various roles at an ASX Listed company – from legal counsel to policy advisor, and contract governance manager to governance lead on a major transformation project.

Prior to working in-house, Karen practiced at mid-tier law firms for several years.

Karen is the Immediate Past President of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Australia.  

As a leader, Karen is a strong advocate of mentoring to gain personal and professional development and has been recognised professionally for her commitment as a mentor.

Karen is passionate about creating and supporting a diverse and inclusive workplace for all.   Karen is the Chair of the Pacific National D&I Employee Network and a Finalist Mentor of the Year  in the ACC Corporate Lawyer Awards

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Majella Knobel is Director, Access and Inclusion at Westpac Group. She is a strategic influencer and change maker who creates meaningful impacts for customers, employees and the wider community. Majella is a passionate advocate for inclusion in the broadest possible sense backed by her extensive leadership, strategy, risk management, influencing and implementation skills. In her current role she steers the bank’s Access and Inclusion Strategy and initiates product and service accessibility initiatives across digital, marketing, finance, human resources, communications and marketing, business operations, learning and development  and legal. Majella also consults across government, not for profit, corporate and  large global organisations on disability inclusion. Her individual career achievements include receiving the 2012 Westpac Woman of Influence Award for Diversity and Inclusion; the 2017 Westpac Service Honours award and the 2018 CEO Leadership Award for her work in creating cultural change around accessibility. She is on the Board of Sydney’s Achilles running Club and Westpac committee lead for Walk for a Cure. With a number of health challenges including losing her vision, living with Type 1 diabetes and having a kidney transplant, Majella has lived experience in looking for the opportunity in every challenge.