Dr Evert Lindquist (PhD Berkley) is a Professor in University of Victoria’s School of Public Administration (Canada), where he has served as Director since 1998. These responsibilities included directing the Centre for Public Sector Studies.

Before arriving at the University of Victoria, he taught for ten years in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. He was the first Visiting Scholar at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (1992–94) and a Visiting Scholar at Griffith University in Australia from January to July 2004.

Dr Lindquist has published widely on government transitions, cabinet decision-making, budgetary processes, consultation, capacity for policy innovation, government restructuring, alternative service delivery, business planning and performance reporting, managing overlap and duplication, think tanks, policy networks, and the impact of policy inquiry on decision-making.

Recent publications include A Critical Moment: Capturing and Conveying the Institutional Evolution of the Canadian Public Service for the Canada School of Public Service, a special issue of the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis on Organizing for Policy Implementation: The Emergence and Role of Implementation Units in Policy Design and Oversight, and a forthcoming chapter In Kernaghan’s Wake: Navigating the Choppier Seas of Commitment in Public Administration for a volume honouring Ken Kernaghan.

Liz Gilliland is Executive-in-Residence at School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria. She has over 15 years of progressively senior level provincial government experience in leading organisational and cultural change management initiatives, integrated service delivery projects, and a variety of key operations, programs and policies.

She has held Assistant Deputy Minister positions in the Ministry of Labour and Citizens’ Services, the BC Public Service Agency and the Office of the Premier. Liz has been Acting Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Women’s Equality and held management positions in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture.

Her work has ranged from province-wide ‘strategic’ to ‘hands-on community specific’ projects including running multi-agency enterprises, coordinating Drinking Water Policy and managing a number of initiatives addressing service delivery challenges.

As Assistant Deputy Minister to the Premier, Liz designed two new ministries. Her service delivery initiatives have won national and provincial awards: GTEC Silver Medal, Serving Canadians Better through IM/IT Innovations; GTEC Gold Medal, Renewing Services and Program Delivery—Service to Businesses and Citizens; and BC Strategies for Public Sector Transformation—Electronic Service Delivery category.

David Myers is currently Director of Shared Services for the Home Office in the United Kingdom Government. He is responsible for the strategy and implementation of a broadly based shared service business incorporating finance, human resources, information technology, procurement, estates management and information management transactional services.

He was previously in the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit where he wrote the UK public sector strategy for shared services, which was published in 2006 as part of the Transforming Government Paper by the Cabinet Office.

Earlier in his public sector career David was Chief Information Officer for the Department for Food and Rural Affairs where he led a program to outsource the IT service in a £500m deal with IBM. At this time David was a member of the UK Government CIO Council.

Prior to public sector service David worked for a range of private sector blue chip organisations including BAE SYSTEMS, Rolls-Royce Aerospace, ICI, KPMG and British Gas. David held a variety of roles mainly focused on information technology and business transformation in these organisations including operating as CIO and implementing shared services. David was the youngest board member at BAE SYSTEMS Avionics and during his private sector work managed £750m worth of outsourcing deals.

David has had articles published in the Times and Guardian newspapers as well as many industry magazines and is in demand as a speaker at conferences in the UK and Europe on subjects including shared services, outsourcing and public sector transformation. David is an economics graduate from Lancaster University and is a qualified accountant. He has three children and lives on a farm in Derbyshire. He enjoys golf, walking, gardening and is an avid fan of St Helens Rugby League.

Jonar Nader, the author of How to Lose Friends and Infuriate People, says, “Customers are not always right, but their perception is always real”.

In this day and age, everything is different, but nothing has changed. Despite all the technological and social advances, business success still boils down to client-relations and customer-service. One would think that it’s not too difficult to foster satisfied clients. The philosophies behind customer-service are centuries old. Yet, companies still collapse, businesses still blunder, and friendships still fail because people do not understand that at the core of all relationships are intangibles such as ‘atmosphere’ and ‘attitude’. When they lose sight of the essence of customer-service, managers try to lock customers into legal contracts, instead of engineering an organisation that understands the ever-changing demands of modern consumers.

Organisations who desire to build solid long-term relationships must learn how to feel the pulse of individual customers. They must also realise that excellent customer-service requires an intimate understanding of modern consumer behaviour, amidst fierce competition and modern social pressures that are driven chiefly by new technologies, new laws, and global competition.

In his presentation, Jonar will outline the world’s most powerful business weapon, and share the secrets to market supremacy. He will explain the secret formula behind the glue that binds customers to organisations, and explore the drivers that determine whether or not an organisation can engineer a successful future. This is your chance to learn how market leaders keep their customers coming back. On the other hand, why do most organisations inadvertently dissolve the glue, and consequently lose customers? As we know, if customer-service were easy, everyone would be doing it.

Today, Jonar is a consultant and lecturer in a wide variety of disciplines, including sales, marketing, advertising, and branding, as well as management and leadership. His books are translated around the world, and they include technical, management, and works of fiction.

Your free gift

Everyone who attends Jonar Nader’s closing keynote address, on Thursday 8 November 2007 from 2.30 pm to 4.00 pm, will receive a complimentary copy of Jonar’s audio CD called ‘How to Lose Friends and Infuriate Your Boss’, valued at $35 and produced by the ABC.

As CEO of the voluntary member organisation Hunter Councils Inc and its trading arm Hunter Councils Ltd., Barbara has increased the services and value to member councils.

Starting from a small three staff member group housed in rented offices and totally reliant on member contributions, the organisation is now a multi-function shared services entity with its own purpose-built accommodation, in excess of thirty employees and an annual turnover grown this year to $4 million; all achieved whilst reducing membership contributions.

With a background in private enterprise and industry associations, Barbara’s corporate activities helped her identify commercial and service opportunities and deliver strong revenue streams.

Her organisational experience combined with a Doctorate in Business Administration has enabled the creation of a strong platform for future growth for this successful local government shared services model.

Victor Callan has over 25 years of experience as a senior university manager, organisational researcher and management consultant.

As a senior manager, he has successfully led various schools, departments and clusters within the University of Queensland.

As an organisational researcher, he has an international reputation in the fields of organisational behaviour, change management and human resource management, having published several books and a large number of international research reports and journal articles.

As a management consultant, he has grown a successful management consulting business that has completed management research and consultancies for some of Australia’s largest public and private sector organisations.

Victor is the recipient of a number of awards and fellowships, including the University of Queensland Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision; numerous Best Paper Awards at various management conferences, including the US Academy of Management; and in recognition of the impact of his scholarship, was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. Victor is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

In 2007, Victor is working with senior executives and managers in Federal, Queensland and Victorian Government departments, as well as completing consultancies for private sector organisations that include NZ Telecom, AAPT, and Qantas.

Victor has a number of Australian Research Council and related grants that are funded by his industry partners and the Australian Government (Department of Education, Science, and Technology). Organisations that have recently worked with Victor and his colleagues on these research grant projects include Queensland Health, Queensland Department of Education, Training and the Arts, CSIRO, Brisbane City Council, and in the private sector, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Newmont Mines.

In the vocational education and training sector he has completed projects on apprenticeships, skills shortages, generic skills and leadership for a variety of state and federal clients.

Victor specialises in organisational reviews and change management, management and leadership development, management research in terms of qualitative (interviews, focus groups) and more quantitative studies (surveys, analysis of existing organisational data), and assists organisations in various aspects of strategic human resource management.

He has a BA (Hons, 1st Class) in Psychology from the University of New South Wales, and a PhD also in Psychology from the Australian National University. Currently, he is Professor and Organisation and Communication Cluster Leader at the University of Queensland Business School.

Greg Barnier is a retail banker who started his career in Queensland and has specialised in human resources for the last 20 years.

In 1989, Greg was the Australian Institute of Bankers/Wang Centenary Scholar and he is a Senior Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA).

In Westpac the human resources function is called people and performance, which better reflects its focus in delivery of business strategy. Greg is General Manager, Employee Shared Services which encompasses all aspects of employee shared services and a number of major strategic initiatives. The role also has accountability for strategy, policy development and governance of employee health and safety at Westpac.

Greg is a member of Westpac’s People and Performance Leadership Team and chairman of the NSW/ACT Regional Council of FINSIA.

Dr Michael Rosemann is a Professor for Information Systems and Co-Leader of the Business Process Management (BPM) Cluster at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

This research group is one of the largest BPM Research Groups in the world and is internationally known for its applied focus in areas such as BPM Maturity Management, process/workflow modelling and Services Management.

Michael is the Chief Investigator of a number of applied research projects funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and various industry partners.

He is the author of five books, more than 130 refereed papers and editorial board member of seven international journals. He is the co-inventor of seven US patent proposals. His book Process Management has been translated into German, Russian and Chinese.

Michael chairs the Australian BPM Community of Practice since 2004 and is a member of the ARC College of Experts. He will be the Chair of the 5th International Business Process Management Conference.

Michael has intensive consulting experiences, regularly conducts executive training and provided BPM-related advice to organisations from various industries including public sector, telecommunications, banking, insurance, utility, logistics and the film industry.

Kris is a Director within PricewaterhouseCoopers Performance Improvement practice in Brisbane. During his 10 years with the firm Kris has gained experience in a variety of assignments for private and public sector clients in the UK, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions, with a focus on finance and HR shared services and process improvement projects.

During his time in London, he worked with three major shared services initiatives for the UK Department of Social Security, Bally, and Vantico (previously part of the Ciba Geigy group).

In Australia he has worked on a number of shared services initiatives, in relation to business case preparation, implementation advice, review of operations, or improvement initiatives. His local clients have included Queensland Rail, Sandvik Mining and Construction, Queensland Investment Corporation, APN News and Media, the Fiji Government, and a risk management project for CorporateLink.

Due to his experience in this field, Kris is the national champion of the Sourcing and Alliance Management service offering for PricewaterhouseCoopers (which includes shared services). In this role he has been part of the global team which developed the firm’s shared services methodology.

Michael Vanderheide was appointed as the Head of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government’s newly established Shared Services Centre in May 2006. Shared Services comprises approximately 1000 staff and provides ICT, procurement, human resources, financial, records management and publishing services to ACT government departments and agencies.

Prior to taking on the Shared Services role, Michael was General Manager of InTACT, the ACT Government’s insourced provider of ICT services.

Michael’s professional experience is a mix of both public and private sector, with organisations including Qantas, IBM and ActewAGL in senior roles in the fields of ICT and Human Resource Management. He joined the ACT Government’s Chief Minister’s Department in December 1998 as a Director of what was then called the Office of Information Technology and Multimedia.

Michael has a Bachelor of Arts from Macquarie University and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of New England. He is an Adjunct Professor with the School of Information Sciences and Engineering at the University of Canberra.

He migrated from Canada in 1985 and has lived in the ACT for the past 14 years. He has been married for 21 years and has two daughters.

Annette Keller is the Executive Manager, Management Services with the Western Australian Office of Shared Services. She is responsible for service delivery of strategic finance and human resource services to general WA public sector agencies. This includes such services as recording to reporting, taxation, budgeting, forecasting, as strategic human resources services, occupational safety and health, workers’ compensation, organisation establishment, deployment and learning management.

Annette has been with the office since 2004, having been involved with its initial establishment prior to taking on her current role in early 2006.

Annette holds a Bachelor of Business, is a qualified CPA and has 22 years experience working within the public sector environment, both within WA and in the United Kingdom. Prior to joining the office Annette was Associate Director of Audit with the WA Office of the Auditor General.

Michael Lurie is currently the director of the corporate services reform program within the Department of Commerce NSW. He has been involved with shared services for more than 10 years in both the private and public sector.

Michael has had the unique opportunity of being involved in shared services from both an operational and consulting perspective having worked with such clients as Commonwealth Bank, Boral, AMP, Cadbury Schweppes, 3M and others during his time at Ernst & Young Consulting and Accenture, and operational roles at John Fairfax, Pacific Dunlop and NSW Government.

Michael is a qualified accountant, has an MBA from Macquarie University and is a certified six sigma, ITIL and Prince2 practitioner.

James White is a Senior Managing Consultant in the Financial Management Practice. The practice has a track record of working with CFOs and finance organisations to implement more responsive financial processes and dynamic underlying technologies.

James White has 8 years of experience in consulting and 12 years in a variety of line roles, including senior management positions in the Commonwealth Government. He has worked in a variety of roles including: consulting, investment analysis, policy development and financial management.

James has been engaged in a broad range of consulting assignments involving operations strategy, performance management, organisation design, business process transformation, business case development and cost reviews. He has worked for a broad range of clients, including Commonwealth and State Government departments, Government Business Enterprises, a major airline, an online stockbroker, a retailer and several industrial companies.

Dr Patty Renfrow lectures in Public Management at the University of Queensland Business School. She holds a PhD in Political Science and Public Administration from Rice University (USA).

Patty specialises in public sector human resource management, institutional arrangements, accountability frameworks, and reform. Her principal area of research is on the design, implementation and impact of senior executive services in Australia, which has been funded by the Australian Research Council, the Australian Public Service Commission and the Queensland Office of the Public Service Commissioner. She has extensive experience teaching public management at post-graduate and undergraduate and in public sector training.

Patty has served as a consultant and/or advisor to the Queensland Office of the Public Service Commissioner, the Queensland Departments of Industrial Relations; Natural Resources; Information, Communication, Local Government and Planning; Public Sector Management Commission, and Office of Women’s Affairs and the Brisbane City Council providing expertise on public management, human resource management, and public policy. 

Patty is currently Vice-President of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (Queensland Division). Since her election to the IPAA Council in 1998, she has served as chair of its research and events committees, as member of the editorial board of its quarterly magazine The Public Interest and as a member of various research steering groups, at state and national levels. In 2005, Patty was made a National Fellow of IPAA in recognition of her contribution to the field of public administration and her leadership to the Institute.

Mike Burnheim has played a leading role in the whole-of-government Shared Service Initiative that is transforming corporate service delivery in the Queensland public sector. His guiding role in the Initiative began in March 2003 when he was appointed to lead the Shared Service Implementation Office, and continues with his current position as head of the Shared Service Agency—an organisation of 2200 staff hosted by the Department of Public Works.

Mike is the Managing Director of the Shared Service Agency, which leads the evolution and refinement of a whole-of-Government model for shared service delivery. It currently services 29 departments and agencies across Government.

Mike has 5 years private sector work experience and 28 years experience in the public sector (with 20 of these in a corporate services environment). Previously heading a successful shared service operation (the Corporate Administration Agency within Arts Queensland), he has also worked in central agencies such as Queensland Treasury, Public Sector Management Commission, Office of the Cabinet and Premiers Department.

Mike has a Bachelor of Arts from UQ and a Master of Social Sciences (Australian Government, UQ).