Conference and Lecture Preview

Professor Margaret Gardner is the Vice Chancellor at RMIT University. She is also the President of the Museum Board of Victoria, Chair of the Australian Technology Network, Chair of the Education Advisory Group of the Council for Australia-Latin America Relations and Director of the Australian Teaching and Learning Council. Previously she was the Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Queensland. Professor Gardner has an Bachelor of Economics (Hons.) from University of Sydney, a Doctor of Philosophy on Industrial Relations, and was awarded a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship and studied in the US at the University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University.

7-3 - Dr Ziggy Switkowski, Chancellor, RMIT University

7-2 - Dr John Edwards - Board Members, Reserve Bank of Australia Dr. John Edwards is a Visiting Fellow at the Lowy Institute, an Adjunct Professor at Curtin University, and a member of the Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia. From 2009 to 2011 he was Director for Economic Planning and Development for the Economic Development Board of the Kingdom of Bahrain. From 1997 to 2009 Dr. Edwards was Chief Economist for HSBC Australia and New Zealand. Before this he was the principal economic adviser to the Treasurer and then Prime Minister, Paul Keating. A journalist in his early career, Dr. Edwards was the Sydney Morning Herald’s correspondent in Washington, DC. He has published four books and holds a Ph.D. in economics from George Washington University.

7-1 - Richard Martin - Managing Director - IMA Asia Richard Martin is the Managing Director of International Market Assessment, an advisory firm that runs an Asia CEO Forum in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore; an India country program in six cities in India; an Asia Program in Australia and supports country CEO programs in other Asian economies. He has been advising MNCs on the business environment in Asia since 1981 when he joined the Hong Kong office of Business International (BI). Following The Economist Group’s acquisition of BI he was the EIU director for Southeast Asia from 1985 before founding IMA in 1990. He is based in Singapore and is a graduate of University of Sydney (Asian politics), SOAS and LSE (Southeast Asia Area Studies).

7-0 Key Messages and conclusions - Alan Oxley, Chairman, Australian APEC Study Centre

6-0 The State of Australia's Competitiveness - qanda

6-3 - James Bond - President, Australian Services Roundtable James Bond is the President of the Australian Services Roundtable, the only dedicated wholeof-services industry organisation in Australia. Its members include providers of financial services, legal, professional services, architects, information technology and education. Mr. Bond is also the Chief Economist at the Financial Services Council. During his tenure at the Council, James has been responsible for broad national economic policy issues including: national tax policy; population growth; climate change; adequate retirement incomes; infrastructure; and labour force participation. Prior to joining the Australian Services Roundtable, James was Government Relations Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Senior Advisor to then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and an Economist in Macroeconomic Group at Commonwealth Treasury. James holds a Bachelor of Economics with Honours from the Australian National University.

6-2 - Mike Woods, Deputy Chairman, Productivity Commission Mike Woods is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Productivity Commission. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Developing Cities at the University of Canberra, the Australian Government’s Commissioner for Competitive Neutrality and a Commissioner on the Education and Training Workforce Schools study. Previously, Mr. Woods was Chair of the Financial Reform Implementation Committee for the China Australia Governance Program and the Secretary of the Treasury for the Australian Capital Territory. He has also been a member of the Australian Statistical Advisory Council and Chair of the Government Sector Finance Task Force for the Securities Institute of Australia.

6-1 - Gary Bowditch, CEO, SMART Infrastructure, University of Wollongong Gary Bowditch is the CEO of the SMART Infrastructure Facility at the University of Wollongong. Prior to this, he was the Founding Executive Director of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia. Mr. Bowditch is currently an Expert Panel Member of the Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortia at Oxford University; Board Member of the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network at the University of Melbourne and Member of the University of Wollongong Research Council. He is also an adviser to Infrastructure NSW, and is an appointed Australian member of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. Mr. Bowditch was previously a senior executive with DFAT. He has served as Australia’s Export Credit Trade and Finance representative at the OECD. He holds an MBA from Macquarie and an Honours degree in Economics from the University of Wollongong.

6-0 The State of Australia's Competitiveness - Mark Johnson AO, Member, ABAC Australia Mark Johnson AO, is one of the Prime Minister's three Australian representatives on the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). Mr. Johnson was appointed as a non-executive Director of Westfield Holdings Limited in 2010, and is a senior advisor for Gresham Partners in Sydney and Chairman of Alinta Energy and the Australian Government's Australian Financial Centre Task Force. Mr. Johnson is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Institute for International Trade at the University of Adelaide. He has previously held senior roles in Macquarie Bank before retiring as Deputy Chairman in 2007. He holds a degree in law from the University of Melbourne and an MBA from Harvard University.