39th Australia Papua New Guinea Business Forum & Trade Expo

Vaughan is a Partner and Practice Group Leader for Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

Vaughan is a highly experienced projects and transactions lawyer with a focus on natural resources and infrastructure, particularly in Papua New Guinea.

He has been described as having a 'first class commercial approach' and has been consistently ranked as a tier 1 leading individual in Chambers Global since 2009. He has worked on some of the world’s largest and most complex natural resources projects and transactions.

Vaughan is admitted to practice in Papua New Guinea, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, and in the High Court of Australia.

Vaughan is a Vice-President of the Australia Papua New Guinea Business Council Management Committee.

Pat has been a Labor member since age 15 and was inspired to join by his family’s life experiences that taught him that Labor is the best friend working people can have. He studied Economics at the University of Sydney and has been active within the labour movement throughout his working life. Before stepping into a senior role as a policy adviser and deputy chief of staff to Greg Combet, Pat worked to protect workers’ rights and support Aussie jobs in the union movement. Pat has already delivered for working Australians with his role in the development of defence industry policy, the Clean Energy Future Package and the Plan for Australian Jobs. He is fighting for more school funding, better healthcare, supporting pensioners and funding more local infrastructure as this is the best plan for Shortland. Pat lives in Lake Macquarie with his wife, Keara, and their two children. He enjoys cooking and watching rugby league.

The Hon. James Marape was re-elected to the 11th National Parliament in the 2022 National General Elections for the Tari Open seat as a PANGU party candidate. He was elected Prime Minister on 09/08/2022, serving as caretaker Minister for Planning on 24/08/2022, and as caretaker minister for Foreign Affairs on 16/05/2023, a shuffle in the cabinet on the 19/01/2024 added portfolio as the Minister for Treasury, 4th term in this Parliament. PM Marape holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (1993), a Post Graduate Honors Degree in Environmental and Science (2000) and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Papua New Guinea.

As the 46th Premier of Tasmania and one of the State’s longest serving Treasurers, on his watch Tasmania had the strongest performing economy in the country with the highest levels of business confidence.

He oversaw the state generating 100% of its energy from renewable sources and achieving net-zero emissions, which no other Australian jurisdiction and very few other places in the world can claim.  

He further legislated a target for Tasmania to achieve a 200% renewable energy target by 2040, creating the platform for significant renewable investment opportunities.

He is a director of Countrywide Hydrogen Pty Ltd and strategic adviser to companies on the leading edge of emission reduction technologies. He works with Sea Forest, which leads the world in the reduction of methane from livestock and INCAT which is building the world’s largest lightweight battery electric ship.  Peter is also engaged in off-shore wind projects and Chairs MRC Tas, which oversees the humanitarian refugee settlement service in Tasmania.

Professor Satish Chand is currently the Professor of Economics in the School of Business at the University of New South Wales and based at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. He is a Non-resident Fellow at the Centre for Global Development in Washington DC, a Research Associate of the National Research Institute in Papua New Guinea, and an Adjunct Professor at the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University (ANU). Before joining UNSW, Chand worked for the Australian Commonwealth Treasury and the Australian Taxation Office. Chand has been researching on migration, fiscal decentralisation, and education policy within the context of island nations of Pacific. He has during this period consulted for the Asian Development Bank, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), The Pacific Island Forum Secretariat, The World Bank, and the governments of Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of Marshall Islands, and Vanuatu. Chand is the author, co-author, and editor of numerous publications.

Ms Elizabeth Genia has nearly four (4) decades experience with the Bank of Papua New Guinea. Much of that time has been in senior level roles across a wide range of the Bank’s responsibilities, including positions as Head of Internal Audit Department and Financial and Administration Department and the leading supervisory role with the Bank’s strategic planning team.

More recently Ms Genia held the position of Assistant Governor, Corporate Affairs Group, responsible for the critical functions that support the Bank’s overall operation, including strategy and risk management, human resources, corporate services, information and communication technology, facilities and properties management.

Over the course of her career in the Bank, Ms Genia has attained broad business experience in finance, auditing, corporate governance, strategic planning, risk management, administration, policy development, all underpinning her deep knowledge of central banking. As a member of the Bank’s Executive Committee for many years, she has been involved in key decision-making affecting the Bank’s day to day operations as well as future development.

Ms Genia, has built a strong reputation both within PNG and internationally as a thought-leader in financial technology as well as gender equity issues. She is a sought-after guest speaker on these topics.

Her impressive formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of PNG, a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Queensland, Australia, Graduate Award Certificate in Management and Organisational Change from Australian National University, Canberra and specialised studies sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat in Financial Technology and Innovation at Oxford University, United Kingdom.

With a strong commitment to continuous learning and development, Ms Genia is an active member of several professional bodies, including the PNG Business Coalition for Women, for which she held a board position. Other Professional affiliations include: Member PNGID; Member of PNGIA; Member of ILA; Member of PNGHRI; Member of ISACA; Member of AHRI; and Associate Member of AICD.

Ms Genia was appointed by NEC as a/Governor from January – December 2023. The Prime Minister and the PNG National Executive Council on 20 December, 2023 appointed Ms Genia as the first female Governor of the Bank of Papua New Guinea for a term of four (4) years.

Vaughan is a Partner and Practice Group Leader for Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

Vaughan is a highly experienced projects and transactions lawyer with a focus on natural resources and infrastructure, particularly in Papua New Guinea.

He has been described as having a 'first class commercial approach' and has been consistently ranked as a tier 1 leading individual in Chambers Global since 2009. He has worked on some of the world’s largest and most complex natural resources projects and transactions.

Vaughan is admitted to practice in Papua New Guinea, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, and in the High Court of Australia.

Vaughan is a Vice-President of the Australia Papua New Guinea Business Council Management Committee.

Mr Henderson is the founder of Future Value Global. As Chief Executive, he is responsible for all multi-national activities, balancing profit, people and planet. Based in New Zealand and regularly in Papua New Guinea, he is focused on Future Value becoming the leading regenerative development company with activity in Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand. Selar is a social impact leader and knowledge expert, with 20+ years’ social sector experience in Asia-Pacific. Previously, he has raised more than $200M in future income growth to cornerstone clients, delivered ESG framework development including impact investment criteria, and formed an innovative $100M impact investment fund for property.

Lauren Retief is a Director in the Economic & Financial Consulting team at FTI Consulting. She has 15 years’ overall experience including 12 years as an economist with Australia’s top economic consultancies. Lauren specialises in the development of economic frameworks to help clients resolve complex issues relating to regulatory, policy, industry, and economic performance. She has a deep understanding of and experience leading a range of projects in Pacific countries including PNG, Indonesia and Timor-Leste. Lauren is experienced in the areas of socio-economic assessments, regional and economic development, industry strategy, and economic evaluation and business case development and regulatory and policy analysis. Her extensive expertise and geographical reach provide valuable insights into climate change and the evolution of carbon marketing opportunities facing PNG.

Anna is a specialist in environment and planning law, with a broad practice spanning environmental regulatory compliance, contamination response and management, environmental prosecutions, environmental impact assessment and climate reporting. She also advises on strategic and statutory planning matters, approval pathways and planning appeals. 

Anna’s practice is multi-jurisdictional, spanning both public and private sector clients.  She advises on site establishment, operational and closure matters across a range of sectors, as well as environment and planning due diligence on corporate and real estate transactions.  Anna has a wide range of energy and infrastructure experience advising on renewable energy, mining, oil and gas, transmission network, airport, port, heavy rail, light rail, road and tunnelling projects. 

Working with clients to navigate opportunities and challenges associated with the energy transition, Anna advises on the establishment of carbon offset generating projects, particularly those based on natural capital opportunities.   

Brendan was appointed as Australia’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology in May 2023. As Ambassador, he leads Australia’s international engagement on cyber affairs and critical technology issues, while delivering cyber capacity building, crisis response and building resilience across our region.

Brendan has had a distinguished career in cyber affairs, most recently leading the Cyber and Critical Technology Coordination Centre at the Department of Home Affairs. He also served as the First Assistant Secretary for Digital and Technology Security Policy in Home Affairs. In those roles he provided national leadership and international engagement on cyber security strategy and coordination, the security of critical and emerging technologies and safety and security online.

Brendan held a senior role at Australia’s Embassy in the United States, leading engagement in the United States and across the Americas region on national security, cyber security, critical technology, criminal justice, emergency management, and immigration and border functions.

Prior to the US, Brendan was the Assistant Secretary for the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa in Home Affairs’ International Division. In that role, he led the department’s engagement with governments across those regions, as well as with the United Nations and other multilateral institutions. Brendan was also posted to Amman, Jordan, leading the Department’s largest refugee mission and relations with governments across the region.

Brendan holds a Master of Public Policy (Economic Policy) from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in political science and literature from the University of Melbourne.

Cameron is currently Chief Executive Officer – Brain Bell & Company Limited PNG and has been since 2016.

He has previously help full-time positions as Chief Executive Officer Remington Group PNG, Chief Executive LocalSearch in Queensland as well as holding number of Senior Executive roles in Publicly listed and Private companies in Australia. Cameron has also consulted to the like of: Monadelphous & Senis on strategic growth development programs.

Sir Mahesh Patel was born in Fiji and graduated from Pharmacy School in NZ in 1983.

He arrived in PNG in 1984 to work and started his first pharmacy with his wife, Lady Usha Patel and the Late Alan Jarvis in 1987. As the business grew, it was listed on the POM Stock Exchange in 2002, with all major Institutions as shareholders.

CPL acquired Stop & Shop in 2005 and Steamships Hardware (now Hardware Haus) in 2008.

In the 2012 Queen's Honors Award, Mr Patel was awarded an OBE, followed by the Knight Bachelor in 2020.

CPL Group set up Joint Ventures with Jacks of Fiji (Jacks of PNG) and Prouds Duty Free in 2015.

The Group today boasts over 2,500 employees (majority females) and 70 outlets across PNG.

Sir Mahesh is now mostly occupied with the CPL Foundation, as Chairman, where his passion is which focuses on Women & Girls Health, education and economic empowerment. He also mentors a number of Papua New Guineans in various start-ups.

Mr brings over 25 years of seasoned expertise in senior management roles spanning various sectors in Australia and Papua New Guinea. His passion lies in collaborating across diverse industries, leveraging his extensive experience to drive sustainable outcomes, particularly in low-cost commercial housing, health and education infrastructure sectors. David's strives to improve accessibility to quality housing while ensuring cost-effectiveness outcomes. 

With over 25 years of diverse experience primarily in the HR/Recruitment domain, George is a seasoned professional who has excelled in various roles encompassing sales, marketing, recruitment, research and analysis. His extensive expertise extends to Papua New Guinea's extractive industry sector and information technology sector, providing him with a comprehensive understanding of these industries.

George is the owner and Managing Director of CC Pacific Limited, a Recruitment/HR services consultancy which was incorporated in 2007. George holds qualifications and training in Business Management, Business Administration, as well as Behavioural and Competency-based interview techniques, enabling him to grasp the multifaceted concerns of businesses and advocate for timely decision-making processes underpinned by an efficient workforce. His hands-on experience spans recruitment consultancy, business development, information technology, and leadership/management roles.

Over the years George has consistently focused on sourcing and identifying top-tier national and international talent across executive, management, professional, and trade domains. He has effectively enhanced the operational efficiency and profitability of local companies through tailored payroll management interventions and strategic contract labour arrangements .

George's adeptness in recruitment consultancy, business development, information technology, and leadership/management positions, coupled with his discerning skills in addressing business challenges and fostering effective workforce dynamics, make him a valuable asset adept at driving organizational growth and success.

John was appointed Managing Director & CEO of Export Finance Australia in August 2022. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the finance, corporate and government sectors, with an international career focused on risk, legal and operational roles.

Prior to joining Export Finance Australia, John held various senior management positions at Westpac, Goodman Group and National Australia Bank in Sydney, London and New York. During this period, he advised on a broad range of transactional and corporate matters, including major financings, capital raisings, domestic and cross-border governance, regulatory and compliance issues.

John joined Export Finance Australia in 2012 and played a central role, both as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Risk Officer, in overseeing the expansion of Export Finance Australia’s mandate and the delivery of complex financing transactions in support of Australian business and key government policy objectives.

John has degrees in economics and law from the University of Sydney.

Frank founded Kramer Ausenco in mid-1978 in Papua New Guinea, and over 45 years has grown it into the largest engineering and project management firm resident in the South-West Pacific Region.

His early professional years were spent with a consulting engineering firm in Port Moresby, and later a construction company building airports, roads and bridges, mostly in remote PNG.

Frank’s decision to establish his company stemmed from a vision for a Pacific Engineering business with such professionalism and integrity, that governments, development agencies and industry would recognise it as the firm of choice. Today, Kramer Ausenco is responsible for the engineering of many major projects in the region including significant contributions to the major resources development projects in hydrocarbons and mining in PNG.

He was the first Papua New Guinean President of the Institution of Engineers, PNG, and the first PNG engineer to become a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia.

An accomplished executive with extensive Australian and international experience in leadership, executive management, government relations, project and service delivery, Leata Alaimoana was appointed Queensland Trade Commissioner for the Pacific in March 2023.

Leata began her career within the Investment Attraction Unit with what was then Queensland Department of State Development in 2002. The last two decades has taken Leata through a variety of management and leadership roles in the Queensland, Federal and Samoa Governments, Sunshine Coast City Council, Aviation Australia and Pacific Trade Invest Australia.  

During her time with Pacific Trade Invest Australia she facilitated over $33 million in investments across the Pacific Island region, creating economic opportunities while delivering positive social outcomes for communities.

Leata is a non-executive Director on the Boards of Good Return and Exemplar International Development, and is NAATI accredited as a Samoan interpreter/translator.  

Peter Komon heads BSP Financial Group Ltd.’s Retail Payments business that is responsible for the Bank’s electronic payment channels offerings including ATMs, EFTPoS, mobile banking and e-commerce. 

Peter has over 15 years of experience across various areas of retail banking and microfinance having lead branchless and agency banking, customer segmentation, product management, consumer, mortgage and SME teams, as well as overseeing the Bank’s PNG branch operations.  He is passionate about digitizing retail payments in the PNG market, and driving financial inclusion and access to financial tools, as a means to drive economic transformation.

As CEO of Australian Business Volunteers, Liz Mackinlay is a global expert in international disaster preparedness, contemporary community development and small business capability building. She brings 30 years of experience in over 80 countries, including as CEO of Australian Doctors International and Global Head of Strategy for World Vision. At ABV, Liz spearheads an innovative and community-led approach that fulfils social responsibility requirements for corporate partners. She's passionate about facilitating beneficial partnerships between communities and corporations, elevating, and amplifying the voices of the businesses and communities ABV serves. Her ambition is fuelled by the goal of meeting community needs in a way that is both outcome-driven and sustainable. ABV are committed to growing micro and small businesses across Papua New Guinea, supporting entrepreneurs to succeed, ensuring a thriving local and national economy for a bright future for PNG.

Stephen was appointed Executive Chairman of the Board in September 2021, having served on the Twinza Board since May 2014. He is a chartered engineer with over 25 years of international experience in multifaceted roles in business ownership, company Chairmanships and Directorships. His experience as a business leader, shareholder and advisor has encompassed energy and natural resource companies, family office and investment, financial and engineering services, property, bio-technology and the private equity arena.

Stephen is the former Executive Chairman of McRae Investments, the diversified investment holding company established by Harold Clough in 1965, and also currently acts as a Director of ASX-listed Tombador Iron (ASX:TI1). He holds a Bachelor of Science (Civil Engineering), Bachelor of Commerce, and a Masters of Business Administration, all awarded with first class honours. He is a Fellow of FINSIA, a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an Engineering Executive Member of Engineers Australia.