About

Ms Adams is Aurecon’s incoming Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 July 2025. She will lead approximately 7,500 people in 31 locations across Australia and our region. She serves on various national advisory boards, including Infrastructure Partnerships Australia and Consult Australia’s Champions of Change Group. Ms Adams was appointed as the Australian Business Champion to Vietnam by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in 2024. With more than 25 years of experience, Ms Adams is a Chartered Civil Engineer with a global background in managing and designing civil and multi-disciplinary projects.

Professor Farrelly specialises in the study of political, economic, and cultural issues across Southeast Asia. He previously held leadership positions at the Australian National University and has extensive experience in research, writing, and teaching. In 2024, Professor Farrelly was lead author of the report, Comprehensive Strategic Partners: ASEAN and Australia after the first 50 years with co-authors from the Southeast Asian region. From 2020-2024 he was on the Australia-ASEAN Council’s Advisory Board, and in 2023 was appointed as a Director of the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters.

Professor Mahanty is a human geographer studying the politics of social and environmental change in the Mekong region, focusing on forest governance, land conflicts, and local responses to nature-society transformations. She also researches chemicals and toxicity in Asia’s poultry industry. Professor Mahanty works with civil society and government in Australia and the Asia-Pacific and teaches postgraduate courses at the ANU on environmental/social impact assessment and pollution/waste.

A graduate in Economics and Japanese, Ms Morrice transitioned from a successful career in telecommunications to pursue her passion for food. Her culinary career took off after she became a finalist on MasterChef Australia 2012 followed by co-hosting and judging on MasterChef Asia and MasterChef Singapore. In addition to hosting her own TV series Tasty Conversations, Ms Morrice's latest project Eat Roam Relish: Sarawak Malaysia, is a 6-part TV series showcasing the depth of Sarawak gastronomy, the culture and people, to be released in Australia and Asia in 2025. She returned to MasterChef in 2025 to champion the importance of preserving cultural cuisine.

Mr Nagesh is Curatorial Manager of Asian and Pacific Art at QAGOMA in Brisbane. He leads the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art curatorial team and recently delivered the 11th Triennial. He was previously part of the curatorial team for the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th editions of the exhibition, particularly working with artists and organisations across South and Southeast Asia, alongside curating exhibitions and working with collections of contemporary and historical Asian art. Mr Nagesh is a Board Member of the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, and QLD State Representative for The Asian Arts Society of Australia. He is an alumni of Monash University and The University of Melbourne.

Ms Ong is a Managing Director of RBC Capital Markets, Chief Economist and Senior Corporate Relationship Manager. She has led the Economics and Fixed Income Strategy team for AU/NZ since 2010 and was Head of Australian Research, including oversight for equity research, from 2015 to 2019. Ms Ong is part of the global strategy team, responsible for formulating and presenting RBC’s AU/NZ macroeconomic outlook, cash rate view and bond yield forecasts. Based in Sydney, she works closely with sales and trading across fixed income, currencies, and equities in Australia as well as key RBC offices across the globe. Su-Lin regularly sees clients in Southeast Asia who are key investors in Australian fixed income products.

Professor Sharon Pickering is the 10th Vice-Chancellor and President of Monash University, Australia’s largest University with campuses in Malaysia and Indonesia. Professor Pickering is a leading international scholar in the field of criminology with global expertise on border crossings, migration and trafficking. Her work across criminology and higher education has attracted numerous awards and she has extensive experience in higher education leadership. She has published 15 books and over 80 articles and book chapters and has led major research programs across Europe, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences. Professor Pickering has also served as Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education) and Senior Vice-President with responsibility for education strategy, student experience, teaching and learning, scholarships, executive and online education.

Ms Russell is a proud Awabakal woman from Lake Macquarie and is committed to empowering her community. She draws on her extensive experience working across public and community sectors and is driven by a desire to promote opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – making sure to approach all programs, policies and initiatives through an intersectional lens. Ms Russell's broad expertise and experience in diversity and inclusion, organisational culture, leadership, human resources and knowledge, and project management enables her to develop programs that recognise the intersectionality of diverse experiences. Ms Russell studied in Singapore and is focused on encouraging new business connections between Indigenous Australia and ASEAN, leveraging the ancient trading routes between the Yolngu and Makassar communities.

Ms Winchcombe works at the intersection of economics, data, and policy, focusing on technology evolution, evidence-backed policy design, and sustainability targets. She has a deep background in promoting ASEAN-Australia relations as the Co-Founder and former Chair of the ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership where she served for five years. Ms Winchcombe was the inaugural New Colombo Plan ASEAN Fellow in 2018 and studied in Singapore and Indonesia.

Mr Hopkins has more than 25 years’ experience in the finance, corporate and government sectors, with an international career focused on risk, legal and operational roles. He has held senior management positions at Westpac, Goodman Group, and National Australia Bank in Sydney, London and New York. As Australia’s export credit and overseas investment and infrastructure financing agency, Export Finance Australia performs an important role in supporting Australian trade and strategic objectives. EFA provides finance to support Australian trade and investment in Southeast Asia through the Australian Government’s Investment Deal Teams in the region, and the $2 billion Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility.

Ms Chan has extensive experience in foreign policy, diplomacy, national security and intelligence, with a focus on the Indo-Pacific region. Prior to assuming her current role, Ms Chan was the Deputy Secretary National Security and International Policy in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and was the National Security Adviser and Senior International Adviser to the Prime Minister. She was also the Deputy Director-General of the Office of National Assessments.  She served overseas as
Australian Ambassador to Myanmar, with earlier postings in Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia.