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Biography: Ella Kell is the Chief Technology Officer for Defence & Intelligence at Dell Technologies Australia.

Ella is driven by her belief that technology saves lives, particularly in Defence and National Security sectors. She works closely with partners in these areas to develop and realise strategies for edge compute through to cloud, secure data and infrastructure fabrics, AI and ML implementation, and cyber threats.

Ella has held a range of engineering, enterprise software delivery, and business development positions across Research, Defence Industry, and National Security in Australia and Europe.

Ella holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) (1st class), specialising in mechatronics and systems, and a Bachelor of Commerce from the Australian National University. She is passionate about encouraging participation in STEM from school students to young professionals, with an emphasis on Australia’s Defence and National Security domain.

Biography: David Klemke is a Presales Solution Architect at Dell Technologies, responsible for the technology strategy and Dell Technologies solutions within Defence and Intelligence space. With over 15 years experience in numerous roles in Canberra's ICT sector David is an expert in working with Federal Government agencies. He has architected, delivered and supported leading edge solutions that have transformed the way government provides services to all Australians. He is a veteran of the infrastructure space having been involved in a wealth of large scale deployments of new infrastructure, including the development of automation and orchestration systems. This expertise has also extended to the cloud, having enabled many of his customers to leverage the benefits of all cloud platforms whether they be private, public or hybrid.

Biography: David Klemke is a Presales Solution Architect at Dell Technologies, responsible for the technology strategy and Dell Technologies solutions within Defence and Intelligence space. With over 15 years experience in numerous roles in Canberra's ICT sector David is an expert in working with Federal Government agencies. He has architected, delivered and supported leading edge solutions that have transformed the way government provides services to all Australians. He is a veteran of the infrastructure space having been involved in a wealth of large scale deployments of new infrastructure, including the development of automation and orchestration systems. This expertise has also extended to the cloud, having enabled many of his customers to leverage the benefits of all cloud platforms whether they be private, public or hybrid.

Biography: Brian Grant is the Thales Regional Director with responsibility for Thales’ Data Protection business in Australia and New Zealand. He started his career in technology when he enlisted, at 15 years of age, in the Royal Australian Air Force over 40 years ago. Since then, he has had extensive hands on and leadership experience in delivering innovative and unique solutions for organisations, with an emphasis on networking and cybersecurity. In the past decade, he has held country and regional leadership roles for a number of technology start-ups. Brian is highly committed to the embedding of security to assure confidentiality, integrity and availability in our data dependent world.

Biography: Jonathon (Jono) Beesley is the global lead for intelligence business strategy within Microsoft’s Worldwide Public Sector Defense and Intelligence Leadership Team. He is a veteran of 32-years in the Australian Defence Force. His military career is characterised by command and staff appointments within Special Operations Command, Army and Joint Headquarters. Throughout his career Jono led numerous multi-disciplinary organisations in complex national security environments.

In his current role at Microsoft Jono is responsible for supporting and enabling Microsoft global subsidiaries and partners to digitally transform defense and intelligence organisations, so that they may improve operations and protect national security.

Jono is a passionate advocate for veteran’s support and well-being, lives in Canberra and is married with three high school aged children. Hobbies include surfing, trail running, mountain biking and other outdoor pursuits with his family.

Biography: Dr Sam McLaughlin is the Technical Director for Cyber and Information Systems within Thales Australia. With over 15 years’ experience designing and delivering deployed ICT solutions to defence forces around the world, he has developed a good understanding of the common interoperability challenges. During nearly 10 years working in Europe, he worked closely with NATO and its member nations on interoperability issues spanning from Transmission services right up to Community of Interest level services. In this context, the force multiplier of strong industry partnerships was laid bare.

Upon his return to Australia, Sam has been the technical lead on the collaboration between Thales, Dell and Microsoft to develop the Nexium Defence Cloud solution which is targeted to support future ADF operations with coalition partners.

Biography: As one of Apex's founding Directors, Adam brings a wealth of experience that ensures his company’s services provide positive, enduring effects. With over 19 years of professional experience working within the Defence Industry, Adam has been helping organisations deliver operational results time and time again. Following over a decade spent serving in the Australian Army, Adam has held numerous consulting roles focused on implementing organisational change initiatives, capability development and delivery, program delivery and portfolio management. Adam has demonstrated an astute ability to deliver successful programs with a focus on outcomes. Apex has partnered with Myriad Technology to deliver S2IX. With a focus on operational design, Adam and his team are helping to propel this leading-edge data fabric technology to the Warfighter, from point of capture through to point of need.

Biography: Perry’s work as Strategic Partner Manager at Myriad has taken him all over the world, working with many different organisational representatives to ensure our customers are getting nothing but the best when it comes to S2IX. With more than 30 years’ experience in the information technology sector, Perry brings a unique passion to his role. He has worked extensively in the Defence and Military arenas, spending over 10 years focussed on delivering and sustaining Myriad’s innovative technologies. Perry has worked in numerous customer-centric roles including as a solution architect, service delivery manager and client engagement lead. In recent years he has focused on data exchange for Military scenarios covering multi-domain operations (MDO) and multi-level security (MLS) requirements. While MLS and MDO provide rich customer challenges for both Warfighters and OEM’s supplying the Military alike, Perry’s experience and specialist knowledge ensures that any requirement can be met.

Biography: Mr Josh Polette is the General Manager for Cyber and Information Systems for Thales in Australia. He has over 20 years of experience working in various business, program and technical management roles in industry and government. Most recently, Josh was the Director Strategic Initiatives for Thales Australia where he was responsible for developing the strategic business plan for the business in Australia. He had a particular focus on using digital technology to transform the Thales business and the business of its customers, including the Queensland Digital Licence pilot. In December 2017, Josh completed a two-year secondment from Thales to the Department of Defence as the General Manager of the Rapid Prototyping, Development and Evaluation (RPDE) program, where he continued the legacy of outstanding collaboration between Defence and industry and supported the transition of RPDE functions into the Defence Innovation Hub. Earlier in his career, Josh held various policy analysis roles in the Federal Government and at the University of Canberra. He also spent two years working in technology roles in a multi-national investment bank in London. Josh holds a BSc from the University of Western Australia and a MSc from UNSW ADFA.