OPEX 2026 - Day 1 Program (Monday, 26 October)
8:00 am - 9:00 am
Registration & breakfast networking
8:55 am - 9:00 am
Event Director's Opening of the Event
9:00 am - 9:10 am
Opening Remarks — ANZ State of Play 2026
9:10 am - 9:40 am
LEADERSHIP PANEL | Transforming while the world breaks: Leading enterprise change when stability is a myth
Anat Hassner -
Chief Operating Officer,
OneSchool Global
KB Gaur - Enterprise Transformation Executive -Structural Simplification & Capital Efficie, Downer
What does enterprise transformation look like when you're simultaneously managing AI disruption, regulatory change, post-COVID cost pressure, and a talent cliff? A candid account of leading transformation at scale under real conditions not success theatre
KB Gaur
Enterprise Transformation Executive -Structural Simplification & Capital EfficieDowner
9:40 am - 10:10 am
Partner Keynote Case Study
Sponsored by: GBTEC
10:10 am - 10:30 am
STRATEGIC CASE STUDY | Living in Transformation: Building a Workforce That Thrives in Ongoing Change
Glen Babington -
Chief Operating Officer,
University of Technology
10:30 am - 11:00 am
PANEL | When the burning platform isn't burning fast enough: Manufacturing urgency without manufacturing a crisis
Jo Prideaux -
Transformation Director,
Defence Health
Most transformation programmes stall not because the case is weak but because competing priorities win. How do transformation leaders build and sustain organisational urgency especially mid-programme, when fatigue sets in and the original threat feels distant? Real tactics, not communication plans.
11:00 am - 11:30 am
Morning Break
Fuel up, connect, and explore - your chance to grab a coffee, meet solution partners, and spark new conversations across
Interactive Discussion Groups - Unscripted. Unfiltered. Unmissable
IDG A
11:30 am - 1:00 pm What does "good" actually look like? Debating operational excellence standards that stick across a changing organisationIDG B
11:30 am - 1:00 pm Change that lands vs. change that lingers: Why some initiatives embed and others quietly dieIDG C
11:30 am - 1:00 pm Service delivery under pressure: Maintaining customer and stakeholder outcomes when your operating model is mid-transformationIDG D
11:30 am - 1:00 pm AI in risk, compliance & fraud detection: What's working in production and what's still a promise
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Networking Lunch and VIP Hosted Lunches
Join us in the expo hall for a relaxed networking lunch with the full Shared Service community - connect with peers, explore the exhibition, and recharge for the afternoon ahead. For invited guests, exclusive VIP lunches will run concurrently - bringing senior leaders and select partners together for high-impact conversations in a more intimate setting.
OPEX & Continuous Improvement - The practitioner track
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm CASE STUDY | Lean in a labour shortage: Embedding continuous improvement when you can't hire the people to run itHow do you sustain a Lean programme when frontline workforce is down 20%? Practical case: redesigning CI capability around smaller teams, cross-functional ownership, and AI-assisted process monitoring.
OPEX & Continuous Improvement - The practitioner track
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm DISCUSSION FORUM | From cost lever to value engine: Redefining what operational excellence actually means in 2026OPEX is no longer just about cutting cost. How are ANZ organisations repositioning CI as a growth and resilience capability and what metrics do boards actually care about now?
OPEX & Continuous Improvement - The practitioner track
3:00 pm - 3:30 pm SOLUTION PANEL | Process architecture at scale: Building the foundation that AI can actually run on Maria Ramos - Senior Change Manager -Finance &Supply Chain Transformation -ERP implementation, GPC Asia PacificAI transformation fails when process foundations are weak. How do you build process intelligence, documentation, and governance infrastructure that actually enables automation not just describes it?
Maria Ramos
Senior Change Manager -Finance &Supply Chain Transformation -ERP implementationGPC Asia Pacific
OPEX & Continuous Improvement - The practitioner track
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm LIGHTENING LESSONS – AI and WorkforceSession A - Five things we'd do differently – Confessions of an AI Leader
OPEX & Continuous Improvement - The practitioner track
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm Afternoon Tea BreakFuel up, connect, and explore — your chance to grab a coffee, meet solution partners, and spark new conversations across Australia's Operations leadership community.
OPEX & Continuous Improvement - The practitioner track
4:30 pm - 5:00 pm PANEL DISCUSSION | The EPMO under pressure: Governing a transformation portfolio when every project is urgent and the budget is shrinking Kirstin Reblin - Head of Operational Excellence, GWFWhen everyone has a stake and nobody has final say, AI initiatives stall in committee - this session maps the ownership models actually working in ANZ enterprises and how to stop accountability gaps killing your roadmap.
OPEX & Continuous Improvement - The practitioner track
5:00 pm - 5:30 pm C-LEVEL TALKS | Finance transformation meets operational excellence: Closing the gap between the CFO's world and the OPEX leader's world Kirstin Reblin - Head of Operational Excellence, GWFOPEX delivers outcomes the CFO measures, but the two functions rarely co-design. How do you align financial close transformation, cost optimisation, and operational improvement into a single coherent programme?
OPEX & Continuous Improvement - The practitioner track
5:30 pm - 5:40 pm Closing Keynote Remarks from ChairpersonOPEX & Continuous Improvement - The practitioner track
5:40 pm - 6:40 pm Networking Reception and Cocktail PartyCTO Boardroom
2:05 pm - 2:30 pm What's actually keeping you up at night? (The real answer, not the board version)Speed round: Every person in the room names their single biggest transformation fear in 60 seconds. No elaboration yet. Facilitator maps themes live. This becomes the agenda for the session.
CTO Boardroom
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm PANEL The Chief Transformation Officer in 2026: Engine room, scapegoat, or strategic force?Is the CTO role maturing or becoming a crisis-management title? How do transformation leaders protect programme integrity when boards want speed and CFOs want cuts? What does 'accountability without authority' really mean on the ground?
CTO Boardroom
3:00 pm - 3:30 pm DEEP DIVE | The talent problem no one has solvedPanel discussion on workforce redesign, change fatigue, and what happens to transformation programmes when the people carrying them are burning out. What are people actually doing — not what the HR strategy says.
CTO Boardroom
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm BOARDROOM BRAINSTORM | The global uncertainty premium: What it's costing Australian enterprises to transform slower than the world is changingWhen global disruption outpaces internal transformation speed, the gap becomes a commercial liability. This session presents a frank executive perspective on what organisational inertia is actually costing at a strategic level and how C-suite leaders are making the case for accelerating transformation investment precisely when conditions argue for caution.
CTO Boardroom
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm Afternoon Tea BreakFuel up, connect, and explore — your chance to grab a coffee, meet solution partners, and spark new conversations across Australia's Operations leadership community.
CTO Boardroom
4:30 pm - 5:00 pm CANDID CHAT | The transformation investment paradox: Why the case for spending more gets harder exactly when the need is greatestIn a high-uncertainty environment, CFOs tighten and boards want proof before commitment. Yet the organisations that have emerged strongest from previous disruption cycles are those that invested through them. A frank executive discussion on how transformation leaders are making and winning the investment case when the macro environment argues against it.
CTO Boardroom
5:00 pm - 5:30 pm What you're taking back to the office and what you're leaving in this roomIn a high-uncertainty environment, CFOs tighten and boards want proof before commitment. Yet the organisations that have emerged strongest from previous disruption cycles are those that invested through them. A frank executive discussion on how transformation leaders are making and winning the investment case when the macro environment argues against it.
