MASTER OF CEREMONIES
Richard Champion
Richard’s football career spanned fourteen years in total, including ten pivotal years with the Brisbane Bears/Lions before his retirement at the end of the 2000 season. Along with his current AFL and media commitments he has moved on to be a regular Master of Ceremonies with corporate organisations for conferences and events.
Always prepared, Richards experience as a media personality and professional athlete means he is able to think on his feet and develop great rapport with the audience. His ability to laugh at himself, as well delivering key messages to the audience, makes him an exceptional choice for any high profile event, seminar or conference.
As a Master of Ceremonies, Richard Champion is articulate, professional and charismatic. Champs is down to earth and approachable, with leadership skills that extend beyond the microphone.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Rob Rossano
With 15 years experience of facilitation, training and coaching, Rob is passionate about helping individuals, teams and organisations fulfill their potential. Having focused much of his professional experience in the areas of leadership development, sales enablement and personal effectiveness, he has worked with many to achieve great results.
Over the years, Rob has worked with a variety of industries from financial services to Telco, government to FMCG and has engaged with stakeholders at various levels from C-suite to front-line staff. In addition to a Bachelors Degree, Rob is an accredited facilitator in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as well as a practitioner of HBDI and MBTI. Rob loves to understand how people and businesses work and how adjusting different levers can have a dramatic impact on outcomes.
He has an ability to connect with people and create an environment conducive to heightened engagement, collaboration, and results.
Michael McQueen
Michael is a multi-award winning speaker, trend forecaster and bestselling author of nine books.
With clients including KPMG, Pepsi and Cisco, he has helped some of the world’s most successful brands navigate disruption and maintain momentum.
He is a regular commentator on TV and radio and his work has featured in publications ranging from the UK Daily Mail to Medium.com and the Huffington Post. In addition, Michael is a familiar face on the international conference circuit having shared the stage with the likes of Bill Gates, Dr. John Maxwell and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Michael has spoken to over 500,000 people across 5 continents since 2004, and is known for his engaging, entertaining and practical conference presentations.
Having been formerly named Australia’s Keynote Speaker of the Year, Michael McQueen has been inducted into the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame.
Jason Carlson
Jason is a Partner of Grace Lawyers practicing exclusively in strata law. He has served as a Director of SCA (Qld) from 2016 – 2022, and currently serves as a Director of SCA Australasia. In 2022, his contributions to and leadership within Queensland’s strata sector were recognised when he received the SCA (Qld) President’s Award.
Jason is known for his engaging presentation style. He has an ability to look past the law that affects the strata sector and instead focus on the behaviours and motivations that drive some of the biggest issues the industry and strata professionals face
CONCURRENT SESSION SPEAKERS
Chris Duggan
Chris is the current President of Strata Community Association Australasia and served as President of NSW chapter of SCA for five years having served on the Board of Directors since 2009. He is the youngest life member in the Association’s history.
During his tenure in NSW, Chris advanced the cause of strata by collaborating heavily with Government and broader stakeholder groups to further the professional standing of strata management culminating in the recent achievement of a Professional Standards Scheme for strata managers in NSW- a first for property services in Australia.
Chris is the Group Managing Director of the Bright & Duggan Property Group- owner operators of a number of Australia’s leading strata and facilities management brands.
Jessica Cannon
Jessica is a Partner of Grace Lawyers and is actively involved in Grace Lawyers’ delivery of services to all parts of Queensland. She is known for her accessibility, promptness, common-sense approach, and attention to detail.
In 2022, Jessica was appointed as a Director of SCA (Qld) and in 2020 was appointed as a member of the SCA (Qld) Legislation Committee, which has been instrumental in the BCCM regulation module reforms.
Jessica’s passion is advocating for bodies corporate and ensuring they have legislation in place to enable them to properly administer and operate their schemes. Jessica is a member of the Australian College of Strata Lawyers and frequently presents at industry conferences.
Chris Irons
With an unmatched perspective on strata issues, Chris Irons is a thought leader for the strata sector. For over 5 years Chris was Queensland’s Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management. Now as Director of Strata Solve, Chris is an independent consultant who helps clients untangle their strata issues.
Chris is President of Strata Community Association (Qld), which is Queensland’s peak strata body and is also President of Northside Connect, a not-for-profit provider of community and legal services on Brisbane’s northside. Chris is also human slave to a happily-retired former racing greyhound, which has all the necessary body corporate approvals.
Tyson Pratt
Tyson is experienced and well-connected in the strata community. His exceptional organisational, time management and diplomacy skills, and strong work ethic has earned him a solid reputation in the industry.
As Chief Operations Officer for Strata Influence, he is responsible for leading a team of dedicated Strata Managers and Support Staff to best serve a large and varied portfolio of bodies corporate. On top of his operation and management responsibilities and keeping his finger on the pulse, Tyson continues to manage a portfolio of bodies corporate.
James Freestun
After 25 years in the industry, James Freestun has strata in his blood. His market leading brands Solutions in Engineering, Solutions in Fire and ARM Contractor compliance have provided over 1.5m professional compliance reports to 112,500 buildings and annually keep in check over 75,000 contractors.
He served the industry as a board member from 2003 and 2014.
In the wake of 35 years in building related industries as a builder, developer, and businessman his knowledge of the fabric of structures and their issues is unparalleled.
Daniel Borin
Daniel is Director of Client Success at the MaxSoft Group. He has achieved outstanding success throughout his career and is an asset to the MaxSoft Management team.
Daniel's diverse experience and dynamic background over the past two decades include successful entrepreneurial ventures in Hong Kong, China and the Philippines. Before pursuing these opportunities overseas Daniel worked in IT sales and consulting for well-known companies such as Hewlett Packard and EMC here in Australia.
In 2009 he returned to Australia to join the family business and has been able to achieve significant growth in the business during this time.
Antonia Mercorella
With the knowledge you expect from a lawyer and the sense of humour you wish your lawyer had, Antonia Mercorella knows a thing or two about real estate. For the last 18 years, she’s headed up legal counsel for the industry’s peak bodies in South Australia and later in Queensland, where she’s also served as Chief Executive Officer for the last eight years.
As the Real Estate Institute of Queensland’s (REIQ) first female CEO, and its youngest, Antonia has transformed the 104-year-old Institute into one of most progressive and high-profile industry associations in Australia.
Backed by a 20-year legal and executive management career, Antonia has led and shaped some of the most significant real estate legislative reforms across multiple jurisdictions while her ability to lead and develop advocacy programs has drawn national and international attention.
Craig Stanley
Craig is a National Business Development Manager with CHU Underwriting Agencies. With an MBA from the University of QLD and a Diploma in General Insurance, he is an Insurance Professional that has worked in many different roles over the last 30 years. The last eight year he has specialised in Strata Insurance.
Craig contributes to the SCA (QLD) through presenting Strata Starter & the A100 Qualifications for Strata Managers in respect of Insurance and Risk Management.
In 2021, Craig was the winner of the Underwriting Agency BDM of the year award as well as being recognised as a Five Star BDM for the last two years by Insurance Business Australia.
George Salloum
George is the co-founder & Executive Director of The Community Co. which is based in Brisbane, Australia.
He has 25+ years of experience in Leadership, Strategy & Culture within various industries including the Not-For-Profit Sector, being one of the early advocates and leaders of Red Frogs Australia.
George has a Bachelor of Economics, majoring in Corporate Law and Accounting from the University of Sydney.
Michelle Cummins
Michelle is the Chief People & Client Support Officer at MaxSoft, who have been serving the strata industry for over 30 years.
Working in the Strata Industry for more than 30 years, with over 25 years as a professional HR Leader, Michelle is a highly skilled and talented HR Specialist, holding a Master’s Degree in Human Resources.
Committed to the Strata Industry and its people, she is a current National and Victoria SCA Board member and International Subject Matter Expert for CAMICB.
Passionate about educating, motivating and communicating, Michelle strikes the best balance of competence and character traits to align human resources to support business goals. Michelle’s presence, energy and passion for people are what puts the ‘human’ into resources.
David Gow
David commenced his career in claims in 1991 and has over 30 years experience in handling property, public liability, employers liability and motor third party / personal injury claims all classes of Short Tall Claims.
David previously held the position of Head of Property Claims at QBE and commenced his position as Head of Claims with CHU in March 2022. David has been CHU's Head of Claims since February 2022.
Along with his extensive experience he is a Senior Associate of ANZIIF and is a Charted Loss Adjuster for AICLA. David is a Senior Associate of ANZIIF and is a Charted Loss Adjuster for AICLA. He is a member of the Insurance Council CAT Panel, The ANZIIF Claims Faculty Board and the AICLA Claims Conference Committee.
James Nickless
James is a Partner of Chambers Russell Lawyers and manages the firm’s Queensland practice. James is an expert in strata title law and litigation.
James is a former President of SCA(QLD) and served on the legislation committee from 2013 to 2019 and the Board of Directors from 2016 to 2022.
Juliette Nairn
Juliette was admitted as a Solicitor in 1993 after obtaining an Honours Degree in Law from Bond University. After establishing herself in strata title law in Queensland, Juliette moved to NSW in 2000 to work with Andreones Lawyers, a corporate law firm that specialised in strata and community title law.
Since 1997 Juliette has worked almost exclusively for bodies corporate in a range of litigation, dispute resolution and transactional matters. Juliette is an active member of SCA (QLD) in a training/education capacity and sits on the SCA (Qld) Legislative Committee.
Larissa Rose
Larissa is a locally and nationally highly recognised Environmental Consultant who has contributed at a United Nations level. Her leadership in Sustainability and Environmental Management, has seen her advancing policy for the use of renewable fuels in Queensland, while enabling projects opportunities to decarbonise the transport sector. Larissa is a Board Director of the World Bioenergy Association, she sits on the Gold Coast City Heart Taskforce under the portfolio Sustainability and Environment, is an Adjunct Lecturer at Bond University, and Director of GG Enviro, her environmental consultancy company for 13 years on the Gold Coast.
Her company GG Enviro, work with various companies and industry sectors to build out their sustainability strategies, develop their carbon neutral portfolio, and deliver compliance and regulatory governance for local and national environmental planning policy laws. GG Enviro have worked with over 50 + developments across Queensland and New South Wales to secure development planning approval.
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Shane Devenish
Shane is a Special Counsel at Devenish Law, Cairns with a significant practice in strata law. Shane has worked exclusively in the areas of body corporate and community management law and management rights for more than thirteen years.
Shane regularly assists body corporates, committees, owners, body corporate managers, on-site managers and developers with a broad range of issues including resolution of complex disputes and has a deep understanding of the body corporate industry.
Shane enjoys sharing knowledge and regularly presents seminars to body corporate managers, committees and other stakeholders.