Dr Richard “Harry” Harris has worked in anaesthesia, diving and aeromedical retrieval medicine in Adelaide, South Australia.
His passion for cave diving goes back to the 1980’s and has taken him to the corners of the globe in search of new adventures.
Harry and his colleagues have explored caves to 245m depth, and shipwrecks to over 150m, in dives lasting over 16 hours. He is an enthusiastic UW photographer and videographer who is now also building a career in documentary films.
Harry has a professional and voluntary interest in search and rescue operations, establishing the first sump rescue training course in Australasia. By building relationships with emergency services locally he has been preparing for such an event. The 2018 Thailand cave rescue was an opportunity to put this training to work.
In 2018 he received the Star of Courage, Australia’s second highest civilian award for bravery, and the medal of the Order of Australia for his role in the Thailand cave rescue.
Harry was the 2019 Australian of the Year for South Australia and the joint 2019 Australian of the Year with his dive partner Craig Challen.
Ali is a registered Psychologist and co-founder of three-time AFR Fast 100 company, Pragmatic Thinking. Pragmatic Thinking is a behaviour and motivation strategy company that helps organisations build better leaders by building better people.
Awarded Educator of the Year in 2018, business woman and international keynote speaker, Ali’s work has made its way into businesses you may have heard of... Virgin Australia, Suncorp, PepsiCo, Siemens, McDonalds, Bond University and Heritage Bank to name a few.
On top of all this, Ali’s found the time to author three best-selling books; ‘Dealing with the Tough Stuff: How to achieve results from key conversations and Stand Out: A real world guide to get clear, find purpose and become the boss of busy, and Work From Anywhere. She’s also the host and producer of one of Australia’s top podcasts, Stand Out Life where she digs into the stories behind some of the world’s greatest thought leaders and talents who lead truly awe-inspiring lives.
Adele has over 15 years’ experience in the legal software industry and is very passionate about solving problems for law firms and building products that clients love.
At Smokeball Adele and her team work seamlessly with the Engineering team to deliver the best and most innovative small law firm products to the international market.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Computing Information Technology and has a wide range of experience working in the UK and Australia where she developed a great understanding of the legal industry from her roles in software development, professional services and at LexisNexis where she spent several years heading up an international Product Management team.
Bianca is an award-winning global executive where she has more than 20 years of experience in the tech industry. Bianca is the General Manager of the Australian Smokeball business. She has led teams both globally and locally in Australia with a passion for delivering world-class customer experiences where teams under her leadership have won awards in both service and innovation. She has significant experience in practice management technology where she has worked across various functions including Customer Success, Operations, Product Management & Development.
Bianca has a Bachelor of Business Studies and is an accredited Organisational Coach with the Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership.
Clayton is a passionate and engaging communicator who speaks in a practical style based on his 30+ years of Business & Technology experience. From starting his career as a Tax Accountant at PwC, Clayton is now recognised as a global leader in Accounting Technology and applying it to Small Business. Clayton helps business owners/operators, and their advisors implement systems that enhance business performance and quality of life. You are going to love what Clayton has to share with you.
Darren is expert on family law, divorce and separation, having specialised in this area of law as a Barrister for over 30 years. He was also awarded Barrister of the Year in 2022 at the Australian Law Awards. Darren is also a professional actor and producer. His recent short film – Degree of Separation – a story about family violence – won multiple international awards, opening the Beverley Hills Film Festival at the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles in 2016 with a best short film nomination. He is a director of To Be Loved Network – a charitable foundation which produces resources advancing the best interests of children navigating conflict in parental separation and divorce. Isla's Song is his debut novel.
With 20 years of experience in the legal industry, Fiona Kirkman is an Accredited Specialist in Family Law, a Mediator FDRP, and a Collaborative Coach and holds a Masters in Applied Law (majoring in Family Law). She runs her own mediation and collaborative coach firm, Kirkman Family Law, where she helps families resolve their disputes without going to court.
In addition to her legal role, Fiona is the Global Family Law Evangelist at Smokeball, a leading global legal practice management software. She is also the Co-Founder of FamilyProperty, an expert family law system that streamlines the family law process.
Fiona is passionate about using dispute resolution and legal technology to make the legal process more efficient and affordable for families. She is also an advocate for the education of the next generation of family lawyers and mediators, mentoring a number of students within her firm.
Fiona McLay is a legal tech consultant and evangelist who works with law firm owners to make the most of their existing tech. She is a teaching fellow at the College of Law and a Geeky Guru for the Centre of Legal Innovation. A former lawyer, she has an insider’s view on how business across the legal industry are using (or not using) technology. Her book, Tech-Enabled Lawyer: How to Make the Most of the Tools You Have and Spot the Tech You Need, has been called “the guide the industry has been crying out for.”
By using experience from his own journey of imperfection, he has empowered thousands of lawyers around the world to escape the performance trap, cut themselves some slack, learn from their experiences and enjoy success in being whoever they are called to be in every area of their life. His proven Lawyers Becoming Leaders™ and Professional Services Leadership™ programs help lawyers and other legal professionals to develop the crucial personal, professional and people leadership skills that are not taught at university. With over 37 years as a leadership trainer and coach, Grant has learned that the key to developing others is to first help them replace the mindsets and behaviours that are currently sabotaging their results. Once that platform is built, they actually implement what he teaches them, and this ensures a high ROI.
Hunter joined Smokeball in 2008, and five years ago was appointed to Chief Executive Officer, responsible for running both the Sydney and Chicago offices. With over 16 years’ experience in building legal software, Hunter has a proven track record for pushing the boundaries and delivering innovative software solutions. He holds a Law and Computer Science degree from Bond University.
Based in Melbourne, Jessie Weatherley is an experienced marketer and sales manager. Her business, Jork Consulting, provides marketing strategy, coaching and training to professional services in Australia. Having studied management and marketing at Monash University, she is a Certified Practising Marketer with the Australian Marketing Institute and a Judge for the 2021 Australian Marketing Institute Awards. She is a professional member of Professional Speakers Australia. Prior to running Jork Consulting, Jessie held several senior management positions with prominent Australian businesses. She brings to this business a wealth of knowledge of sales, marketing, people leadership and coaching. She is passionate about inspiring professional services in achieving success in their marketing and taking control of driving business into their firms.
John has over 20 years' experience in the Information Sector, having worked in a variety of roles throughout his career including CEO,CTO, Engineering Manager, Sales Manager and Product Manager. This rare combination gives John an exceptionally strong business nous and the ability to communicate clearly across multiple business units.
Following a seven-year tenure at InfoTrack, John now serves as their Global Head of Property. This role has further reinforced John’s position in proudly promoting InfoTrack’s Australian owned heritage, whilst also passionately advocating how building pioneering legal technology can be seen as a highly exportable solution that strengthens the domestic economy.
John has experience with both start-up firms and multi-national companies. He has worked at firms during times of rapid expansion, implementing growth strategies that ensure any business-focused research and development is aligned with customer needs and company strategy.
Judith is a property lawyer with more than a decade of experience. She began her career at top tier law firm, Allens Linklaters in the property and finance divisions including a two-year stint in Singapore. She is the founder of J Hammerschlag & Co, a boutique property law firm in Sydney that specialises in conveyancing. During this time, she noticed the significant inefficiencies in the legal process of buying a property in Australia and founded Contrax to help address these.
Karen Finch is a non-practising lawyer, Founder and CEO of Legally Yours, Co-Director of Australia’s first ‘telehealth’ for legal video platform Pro Help Legal Australia, President of the Australian Legal Technology Association (ALTA), former Chair of the Women of ALTA, a Legal Tech Editor for Idea Spies, and a passionate Ambassador of the progressive law movement in Australia.
Lauren Cassimatis is the Founder and Principal Lawyer of Gallant Law, the Founder and Chair of Connecting Lawyer Mums and an Adjunct Lecturer at the College of Law. Lauren has over 20 years’ experience in the legal profession, is a Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Specialist in Criminal Law and is one of Australia’s leading criminal lawyers. Lauren founded Gallant Law with a vision to protect her clients’ interests beyond the courtroom, advocating for their rehabilitation, identity, relationships, careers and reputation.
Nadene Serman is a leading IT executive with a proven track record spearheading first-of-its-kind technology and business transformation for some of the most prominent organisations globally and in Australia. As the Global Chief Technology Officer, she is a key protagonist of innovation as an enabler of InfoTrack’s next stage growth. Her energy, commercial acuity and strategic capability have fuelled her success. Nadene leads with clarity, transparency and urgency, uniting people in complex, multi-layered technology and business execution, and go-to-market transformation and innovation. She tackles and resolves complex and seemingly intractable challenges while building support and collaboration – even in times of crisis.
Nav is currently serving as the Head of Client Success at Smokeball where he joined almost a year ago to lead the Onboarding, Customer Success, and Data Migration teams to ensure firms are well taken care of throughout their Smokeball journey. Nav started his career over 12 years ago in Canada doing consulting, project management, support and sales before taking the leap into Customer Success. Since then, he has built and scaled CS teams across a number of organisations of different sizes ranging from SMB to Enterprise and across various regions and industries. In his spare time Nav co-hosts The Customer Success Talks podcast and runs The Post-Sale Cocktail newsletter.
Shelley Burger is an executive at the AI-driven legal technology company LawY, dedicated to enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of legal professionals for the benefit of both legal practitioners and their clients. With over 15 years of experience in corporate and commercial law, inclusive of roles held at renowned organizations and a top-tier law firm, Shelley brings a deep understanding of the complexities at the intersection of legal, technology and executive leadership to the table. Prior to commencing her role as the COO of LawY, she was the chief legal officer of a global technology group in the LegalTech industry.
Vik Sundar is a leading private wealth lawyer and author specialising in estate planning, SMSFs, asset protection, commercial law, and tax law. Vik has over 12 years of experience in the legal and financial services industry, with his current role as Managing Director of Clear Law, a specialist estate planning and tax law firm that he founded.