Yasmin Catley is the Minister for Police and Counter-Terrorism, Minister for the Hunter and Member for Swansea.

Emily Suvaal is a Member of the Legislative Council and Parliamentary Secretary for Trade and Small Business.

Dr Ross Kerridge became the 15^th Lord Mayor of Newcastle in October 2024.

We are delighted to have Sarah Kelly join us with Matt Syron from the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council, who will conduct the Festivals Welcome to Country.

Matt Syron from the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council, who will conduct the Festivals Welcome to Country, his message emphasises the importance of building trust and understanding to advance reconciliation. Matt is also a former rifleman with the Australian Army.

Alex is passionate leader whose experience includes recruitment, start-ups, for-purpose organisations, and stonemasonry.

Zara Crichton is a global innovation leader who transforms ideas into valuable assets. She architects ventures and builds ecosystems for commercial success.

Renuka Rambhatla, Co-Founder and Chief Compliance Officer at Metakosmos leads regulatory, medical, and quality frameworks for next-generation space technologies.

Bret is a 42-year Defence sector veteran, now shaping Australia’s industry through senior leadership and advisory roles across Hunter Defence, HunterNet, the University of Newcastle, and Hunter IF.

Dr Jessica Allen is currently leading the Electrochemical Engineering Laboratory at the University of Newcastle within the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources. Dr Allen is a Senior Lecturer in chemical engineering, 2021 Australian Research Council DECRA and current TRaCE Academic Enterprise Fellow.

Susan Conway MacDonald is a Senior Project Officer at the Hunter Joint Organisation.

Greg is the CFO at NRN - National Renewable Network. NRN is building a platform for distributed energy through an innovative approach that removes the upfront costs associated with installing solar and storage solutions.

Pippa Smith is the Founder of Social Startup Labs, a specialist agency that helps launch new brands, products, and investment campaigns across Australia, and the UK.

James MacDonald is the founder of NewyTechPeople, a community-driven recruitment agency expanding across the East Coast of Australia.

Claire is the Founder of Launchpad9, a boutique consultancy that exists to inspire and empower innovation that matters in established organisations that want to find more effective and efficient ways of achieving results and staying relevant.

Brandon is the Founder and Chair of Good Design Australia, Chair of the Australian Good Design Awards, and Executive Director of the Australian Design Council. He has spent the past 25 years passionately advocating for the value of good design to improve our social, economic, cultural and environmental quality of life.

Justin Bain is the CEO of 3ME Technology. 3ME Technology’s vision is to be Australia’s leading off-highway electrification company and to make a substantive impact in Australia’s energy transition and national security.

Brett Thomas is a Director and COO at The Melt. The Melt provides a trusted and experienced hand for hardware startups to prove, prototype, pilot and produce. In addition to offering access to the prototyping facilities and technical specialists, they deploy capital through the early stage VC fund, Melt Ventures.

Clare Larkin-Sykes is Co-Lead of New.E – the Hunter New Energy Cluster and Managing Director of Forelight Advisory. She is a strong collaborator and advocate of future resource and energy industries including the symbiosis of clean technology solutions to traditional processes and value chains.

Benji Prawer is the COO of PlasmaLeap Technologies. PlasmaLeap Technologies designs, manufactures and distributes the world's most advanced zero-emissions chemical reactors for hard to abate industries.

Linc Horton is the CEO of Newcastle Airport, leading the organisation through a critical growth phase with the launch of the new international terminal and the development of the Astra Aerolab precinct.

Chris Shaw is the CEO and co-founder of Advanced Navigation, a navigation and autonomous systems technology company.

Em. Prof. Roy Green AM is leading a major review of the Federal government’s Energy Industry Jobs Plan for the Net Zero Economy Authority. He chairs the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub, serves on the CSIRO board and recently completed his 7-year term as Chair of Port of Newcastle.

A purpose-driven founder, Vu Tran co-founded edtech unicorn Go1. Now with Black Sky Industries, he's building Australia's sovereign defence capability, driven by a mission to create things that matter.

John Fry is the Managing Director of Kongsberg Defence Australia, based in Canberra. Since taking on the role in 2019, he has led the establishment and growth of Kongsberg’s operations in Australia, overseeing the local manufacture and integration of key defence capabilities including NASAMS Ground Based Air Defence, Protected Mobile Fires, and the Naval Strike Missile.

Alex is the Hardware Engineering & Manufacturing Manager at Pitcrew AI, where he leads the design and industrialisation of cutting-edge inspection systems for the mining sector. At Pitcrew AI, he is driving the company’s expansion into global markets and building a scalable, locally-led manufacturing strategy that brings advanced technology from prototype to production.

Resourceful Living’s Jess Hodge is a leader in the recycling and remanufacture of plastic. Through tireless innovation and a commitment to pushing the boundaries of material science, Jess and the Resourceful Living team developed a superior, sustainable material that empowers architects and designers to create projects without compromise.

Sam Mella is a Senior Project Manager for Beyond Zero Emissions and a well-known commentator on the subject of cleantech, innovation and zero emissions in the Hunter Valley.

MGA Thermal’s Erich Kisi co-invented the patented Miscibility Gap Alloy (MGA) thermal energy storage materials with 10 years of development experience in the field. This breakthrough tech is key to decarbonising hard to abate sectors such as industrial heating.

MC James O'Loghlin—comedian & New Inventors host—is making innovation fun. He'll wrangle the geniuses and serve up big ideas with a healthy dose of laughter. It's innovation, but funnier.