Julie McKay

Event MC

Julie McKay is an experienced facilitator, coach and speaker who has held executive level and leadership advisory roles in government, industry and the NFP sector.  Her focus over the past 16 years has been to influence cultural change within organisations, supporting leaders to understand the intersection between organisational culture, diversity & inclusion, workplace health and safety and performance.

Julie spent 9 years as Executive Director of UN Women Australia, where she worked with the Australian Government on key policy areas including the introduction of paid parental leave, the development of the first National Action Plan to reduce violence against women and their children and the women, peace and security agenda.  During Julie’s time as Executive Director, UN Women Australia grew from a voluntary organization to a major national women’s organization which raised more than $2M for UN Women programs in the Asia-Pacific region. 

She served as the first Gender Advisor to the Chief of the Australian Defence Force between 2014-2018, supporting the Australian Defence Force Leadership to adopt and implement the recommendations of the Broderick Review into the treatment of women in the ADF.  Prior to this she was an advisor to the Chief of Navy on the New Generation Navy cultural reform program and a member of the Defence Gender Equality Advisory Board which supported ADF leaders to make progress on all aspects of diversity and inclusion.

Between 2017-2023, Julie was a partner at PwC Australia and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer.  During this time, PwC Australia effectively closed the employee gender pay gap and rolled out firmwide training on attitudes and behaviours which contribute to inequality in the workplace.  She built a client facing practice supporting clients on all aspects of workplace culture, workplace safety and inclusive leadership development.  Julie was a member of the firm’s Executive and played a key role in the design of the employee relations panel and response to bullying and harassment. 

Julie has completed an EMBA at the University of Sydney, is a Vincent Fairfax Fellow of Ethical Leadership and has undertaken a Churchill Fellowship studying the barriers to women’s access to leadership opportunities in traditionally male-dominated industries.  She is Chair of the Board of Brisbane Girls Grammar School, a Board Member of the Campaign for Girls Education (CAMFED) and has held numerous other board and advisory roles across the NFP, education and government sectors.

Julie is now consulting independently coaching Boards and leadership teams on inclusive leadership, undertaking risk and culture reviews, people and D&I strategy development and supporting clients to create safe and respectful workplaces.

Presentation Title: Beyond Rank: Building Respectful Cultures in Hierarchical Teams

Karen Stewart

General Manager, Ambulance Operations – Rural and Remote WA

St John WA

Karen Stewart is a seasoned leader in emergency services, she currently holds the role as General Manager of Ambulance Operations – Rural and Remote at St John WA. Her career began in Scotland, where she became the youngest female paramedic to graduate with an IHCD in Paramedicine in 1997. Over the next 19 years, she held a variety of clinical and leadership roles with the Scottish Ambulance Service before relocating to Australia in 2012.

Since joining St John WA, Karen has progressed through several senior leadership positions, including Clinical Governance Operations Manager. She holds a Master’s degree in Healthcare Management from Murdoch University, where her research on the transition from clinician to manager was published in the Australasian Journal of Paramedicine in 2021. She is an Associate Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Management, a certified health manager, and a co-author of multiple publications.

Karen is a passionate advocate for women’s health in the workplace. Over the past two years she has focused on raising awareness of perimenopause and menopause, contributing to articles, podcasts, and television interviews. In 2025, she led the initiative that saw St John WA become the first Emergency Service in Australia to receive menopause-friendly accreditation. Her work earned her recognition as a finalist in the 2025 CAA Awards for Excellence.

Presentation Title: From Silence to Stigma to Strategy: Beyond the Hot Flush – A Personal Journey, and Shaping Menopause-Friendly Workplaces and Driving Change

Abstract: This presentation traces the journey from silence and stigma to strategic action in creating menopause-friendly workplaces. Drawing on lived experience and organisational change, it highlights the challenges, lessons, and practical steps needed to foster inclusive, supportive environments for all employees navigating menopause.

Dr. Erica Kreismann

Founder and Executive Coach

OneWild Coaching 

Erica Kreismann, MD, FACEM, is an Emergency Medicine specialist and board-certified executive coach.  Her passion for leadership and developing people to their greatest potential led her to found OneWild Coaching in 2022. OWC is grounded in the belief that leading with courage and kindness is the foundation for all great leadership and when we lead from the heart in a way that is authentic and real, we will change the world. 

Erica moved to Tasmania 15 years ago, recently returning to the US to continue her adventures in building community and connection across continents.  She can often be found tucked away with a book in front of the fire, or by following her oversized laugh. You can also follow her daily on LinkedIn.

Mini Masterclass: Radical Candor

Dr. Arabella Koliwan

Interim Chief Executive

The National St John Ambulance Service of Papua New Guinea

Dr Arabella Koliwan is a respected healthcare leader in emergency medicine in Papua New Guinea, presently serving as Interim Chief Executive and Commissioner of National St John Ambulance PNG. Her career is marked by a steadfast commitment to capacity building and health advocacy, demonstrated through senior management of emergency departments, direct leadership in ambulance operations, building high performing teams, and successful implementation of ambitious health initiatives across rural and remote regions.

Presentation Title: Leading High-Performing Teams Under Pressure: Lessons from PNG’s Healthcare Frontlines

Abstract: This presentation shares practical leadership lessons from delivering and sustaining high-performing emergency care in Papua New Guinea during periods of transition and intense external pressure. Drawing on frontline experience leading through organisational change and crisis, Dr Koliwan shares insights into strategies for maintaining team morale, building trust, and achieving service excellence under challenging conditions. These lessons are directly relevant to leaders navigating complex healthcare environments where resilience, responsiveness, and continuous improvement are critical to success.

Kate Clarke

Executive Director, Critical Operational Services

SA Ambulance Service

Kate Clarke is the Executive Director, Critical Operational Services for SA Ambulance Service with over 30 years experience in the health care and ambulance sector. Kate is a registered Intensive Care Paramedic who has completed further tertiary study including a Master of Business Administration. Her expertise is in leadership in ambulance operations and developing and supporting high performing teams. Kate has successfully led the implementation of new programs such as the GoodSAM first responder and the AED registry program for South Australia, implementation of the Clinical Hub and other initiatives in the Emergency Operations Centre focused on improvement of patient safety and performance.

Jordan Emery

Chief Executive Officer

Ambulance Victoria

A widely respected healthcare leader and clinician, Jordan was previously the Chief Executive of Ambulance Tasmania having worked in various clinical, operational and leadership roles at NSW Ambulance and working in global mental health in New York and East Africa.

With a distinguished background of leadership across Australian ambulance services, Jordan has led sustained culture change and reform, as well as contributing to the advancement of paramedicine through his teaching roles and with the Council of Ambulance Authorities (CAA). His work on culture transformation, diversity and inclusion saw him awarded the Ambulance Service Medal in 2024.

Jordan is a registered paramedic with AHPRA and completed his Intensive Care Paramedic training with NSW Ambulance. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Tasmania, Board Director of CAA and Chair of the CAA Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Forum. He holds a Bachelor of Clinical Practice (Paramedic) with Distinction from Charles Sturt University, as well as a Master of Public Health and a Master of Health Management from the University of NSW.

Peta Thompson

Assistant Commissioner, Darling Downs and South West Region

Queensland Ambulance Service

Peta Thompson is a passionate healthcare leader who brings strategic vision and compassionate leadership to her role as Assistant Commissioner for the Darling Downs South West Region of Queensland Ambulance Service. With a demonstrated commitment to building health equity, Peta champions accessible, high-quality emergency healthcare services across one of Queensland’s most geographically diverse regions.

Leadership Philosophy

Peta leads with courage, fostering a culture where innovation meets compassion and difficult decisions are guided by community needs and workforce wellbeing. Her approach emphasizes transparency, accountability, and empowering teams to deliver exceptional patient care in challenging and often remote environments.

Building High-Performing Teams

Recognised for her ability to build, develop, and inspire high-performing teams, Peta cultivates workforce excellence through mentorship, professional development, and creating supportive work environments. She understands that outstanding patient outcomes begin with engaged, skilled, and motivated frontline and business support staff. Her leadership focuses on workforce attraction and retention, particularly vital in rural and remote healthcare settings.

Strategic Engagement

Peta excels in strategic engagement across multiple stakeholders, including government agencies, healthcare partners, local councils, and community organisations. Her collaborative approach ensures that ambulance services are integrated within broader health systems and local providers while remaining responsive to regional and remote needs. She navigates complex governance structures with skill, balancing operational demands with long-term strategic planning.

Community Connections

Deeply committed to community connections, Peta recognises that effective emergency healthcare extends beyond response times—it requires understanding the unique challenges and strengths of the communities served. She actively engages with residents, Indigenous communities, and regional stakeholders to build trust, identify health priorities, and develop culturally appropriate service models.

Health Equity Champion

At the heart of Peta’s work is an unwavering commitment to building health equity. She advocates for resources and programs that address healthcare disparities in rural and remote areas, ensuring every Queenslander—regardless of location or circumstance—has access to timely, quality emergency medical care. Her initiatives focus on closing gaps in health outcomes and creating culturally appropriate and appropriate pathways for communities to receive the care they deserve.

Through her visionary leadership, Peta Thompson continues to strengthen emergency healthcare delivery across the Darling Downs South West Region, leaving a lasting impact on both her teams and the communities they serve. 

Trent Jackson

A/Executive Manager, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Safety Unit

Queensland Ambulance Service

Trent Jackson is a proud Murrawarri and Yuwaalaraay Aboriginal man and a respected leader who champions health equity, cultural safety, and systemic reform across the health system. As the Executive Manager of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Safety Unit within the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS), Trent leads efforts to embed cultural safety and health equity into business-as-usual.

Prior to joining the QAS, Trent held various roles in stakeholder and community engagement. He also brings over a decade of frontline experience as both an Advanced Care Paramedic and a Local Area Assessment and Referral Unit paramedic. His deep practical understanding of patient care and community engagement informs his leadership, which is grounded in authenticity, vulnerability, collaboration, and cultural integrity.

Trent’s proudest role is being a father to four daughters. Through them, he demonstrates his commitment to role modelling what it means to be a good man, husband, and father. He continues to inspire others through his dedication to building an ambulance service where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices, knowledge, and leadership drive equitable outcomes for all communities.

Sally Moten

Partner and Practice Group Leader

Landers & Rogers

Sally Moten, Partner and Practice Group Leader, Landers & Rogers 

While Sally works with employers from a variety of industries, her practise has a particular focus on employers in the government and financial sectors. She is a trusted advisor to many government agencies, given her in-house legal and workplace relations experience at a large NSW government agency. 

Sally is also an experienced litigator. She has run litigation in a variety of courts and tribunals including the Supreme Court of NSW, the District Court, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, the Fair Work Commission, the ICAC and the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW. 

Sally’s areas of expertise include all matters relating to employment, discrimination, disputes and termination of employment, industrial relations and employee entitlements, defending underpayment claims, investigating workplace misconduct, providing training on all workplace issues, workplace health and safety advice and response to incidents. 

She regularly presents at client and external seminars on various aspects of employment law. 

Sally has been recognised by Best Lawyers for her employment law expertise. She is a member of the Women’s Lawyers Association of Australia; the Commercial Law Association of Australia; and the Law Society of New South Wales. 

Presentation Title: From Awareness to Action: Keeping Each Other Safe

Rebecca  Atherton

 Executive Director, Corporate Services Finance

Queensland Ambulance Service

Rebecca Atherton’s three-decade career in finance includes roles across different industries, multinational companies and government departments.

She is currently Executive Director, Finance for the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS), a role in which she is responsible for finance, infrastructure, fleet, clinical equipment, procurement and business intelligence.

Rebecca has led system and reform projects across government and has extensive experience in restructures and corporate consolidations. Her current focus is on leading strategic change in the delivery of support functions to QAS operations.

When she’s not working she enjoys spending time with family, enjoying a glass of wine on the back deck, and vocally barracking for the Brisbane Lions.

Michelle Baxter

Interim Chief Executive

Ambulance Tasmania

Michelle joined New South Wales Ambulance in 1994 and worked around the Western Sydney suburbs until moving to the Queensland Ambulance Service - Central Queensland in 2001. After working on road in Blackwater for a year she was appointed Officer in Charge remaining there until 2005.

Early 2005 saw Michelle moving her young family into Rockhampton to take up a project in central office involving rosters and mines. Later that same year Michelle decided to return to road duties at Rockhampton station but this did not last long and she was acting in the role of Officer in Charge/Group Coordinator on and off for four years. This role involved leading and managing 40 staff on station and 11 other stations coordinating relief.

In 2009 Michelle was appointed Area Director Port Curtis/ Callide and was awarded Not for Profit Manager of the year in 2011. Appointed Regional Director of Operations in 2012 Michelle received Ambulance Service medal on the lawns of Government house eating cucumber sandwiches – quite a career highlight and very proud moment.

2012 and 2021 saw QAS go through restructures and Michelle led two regions though this. She stayed there until February 2015 when she was requested to go to Townsville and act as Assistant Commissioner for one month which lasted ten months. This was a significant ten months with loads of change and realignment for the staff. It was during this acting period that two Assistant Commissioner Positions became available and Michelle applied not knowing where she may go if successful. Cairns was the winner in November 2015. In 2023 Michelle Transferred to Darling Downs and Southwest region.

In 2024 Michelle become the Executive Director of Operations for Ambulance Tasmania and in July of that year she acted as Chief Executive Ambulance Tasmania for 6 weeks. One of Michelle’s growing numbers of being the first woman ever in that role.

Michelle has two boys 24 and 21. Michelle walked Kokoda in October 2015 to raise funds for Mates4Mates. High personal achievement for Michelle.

2017 and 2019 Telstra business women’s wards state finalist.

Justine Fletcher

Station Officer, Hedland

St John WA

Justine Fletcher is a dedicated Country Paramedic and Station Officer with over eleven years of service to St John WA, currently leading ambulance operations in Port Hedland. Born and raised in Hedland, she has a deep connection to her hometown and the people she serves, coordinating emergency response across the local community in partnership with key stakeholders and local industries. Her leadership is defined by operational excellence, teamwork, and a genuine commitment to supporting both her colleagues and her community.

Justine has completed a Master’s in Paramedic Practitioner and is a recipient of a Women in Leadership scholarship, reflecting her passion for advancing regional healthcare through education, collaboration, and innovation. Outside of her professional life, she is a proud mum of two daughters and an active contributor to community and youth initiatives in Port Hedland.

Belgravia eHealth supply clinical decision support solutions through out Australia: Odyssey Teleassess & Firstcall.  Clinically robust solutions assisting telehealth operators to diagnose patients conditions remotely and a recommended urgency of treatment Odyssey SelfAssess.  Web based symptom checker for non clinicians to self diagnose.  For high acuity cases patient can be connected to a tele/video call. Adastra. Patient call flow and urgency prioritisation.  Allows for integration with PAS, IMR, CAD, and other health systems.  Built in electronic referrals, comprehensive reporting, frequent caller management, video conferencing, and more

Your emergency services go above and beyond their call of duty — and so do we. SDSI is dedicated to providing police, fire and ambulance agencies with the digital resources they need to keep their communities safe. As a value-added reseller of the world’s premier emergency service softwares, a customised software developer, and a provider of 24/7 technical support, SDSI plays a pivotal part in allowing these agencies to operate to the best of their ability.

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Hexagon is the global leader in digital reality solutions, combining sensor, software and autonomous technologies. We are putting data to work to boost efficiency, productivity, quality and safety across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, public sector and mobility applications. 

Hexagon’s Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division improves the resilience and sustainability of the world’s critical services and infrastructure. We are the global leader in public safety solutions, helping protect 1 billion people. Building on our long-standing leadership in computer-aided dispatch, we provide an AI-enabled public safety platform for data collection, management, analysis, collaboration and response. 

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Our priority is to help our clients achieve their goals by making lifesaving equipment that is effective, reliable and safe to use.

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OneWild Coaching was founded by Dr. Erica Kreismann, an Emergency Medicine Specialist, Executive Medical Director, and certified executive coach with over 20 years of experience leading in high-pressure environments across continents. Her career - from being the first female specialist on Tasmania’s helicopter rescue service to shaping healthcare leadership - has been defined by courage, kindness, resilience, and a deep belief in growth through discomfort.

At OneWild Coaching, Erica partners with women leaders and professionals navigating transition, growth, and challenge. Her approach blends honesty, curiosity, and compassion - helping clients rewrite the rules and stories they live by, build authentic confidence, and step fully into their leadership journey. Drawing on her own story of reinvention and her passion for building community, Erica supports clients in cultivating clarity, courage, and connection so they can lead with authenticity and joy.

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 OneWild Coaching was founded by Dr. Erica Kreismann, an Emergency Medicine Specialist, Executive Medical Director, and certified executive coach with over 20 years of experience leading in high-pressure environments across continents. Her career - from being the first female specialist on Tasmania’s helicopter rescue service to shaping healthcare leadership - has been defined by courage, kindness, resilience, and a deep belief in growth through discomfort.

At OneWild Coaching, Erica partners with women leaders and professionals navigating transition, growth, and challenge. Her approach blends honesty, curiosity, and compassion - helping clients rewrite the rules and stories they live by, build authentic confidence, and step fully into their leadership journey. Drawing on her own story of reinvention and her passion for building community, Erica supports clients in cultivating clarity, courage, and connection so they can lead with authenticity and joy.

Learn More