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Tasmanian Governance Forum 2025

19 September 2025 12:30 - 6:30pm | Hobart, Tasmania

Tasmanian Governance Forum

Who should attend?

Business leaders and managers cannot afford to miss this update, including:

  • CEOs
  • directors
  • company secretaries
  • governance professionals
  • risk managers
  • legal advisers
  • anyone else with governance or risk management responsibilities.

The forum is relevant for all sectors including listed, non-listed, government and not-for-profit.

Program and Speakers

12.45pm – 1:00pm Welcome

Acknowledgment of Country: Pauline Cook, Chief Executive Officer, Reconciliation Tasmania

MC: Theo Kapodistrias FGIA Cert(EDC), Senior Legal Counsel at Gentrack and Award-winning speaker and author 

Opening remarks: Simon Scott FGIA, ​State Chair Tasmanian Council

Pauline Cook, Chief Executive Officer, Reconciliation Tasmania

Pauline Cook has been active in campaigning for Aboriginal cultural and legal rights and social justice outcomes since her university student years, as a volunteer with the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement in Adelaide.

With a degree in anthropology and postgraduate research in this field, Pauline spent several decades living and working in remote Indigenous communities on initiatives focussed on self-determination and informing her fierce commitment to driving change through place-based, ground-up responses.

She has extensive experience in not-for-profit sector management and believes that relationships based on respect and reciprocity are at the core of all genuine engagements.

Pauline is committed to challenging the status quo through working with Aboriginal people and the wider community for the pursuit of truth, reparation, and the systemic changes needed to build a more just and equitable society.

Theo Kapodistrias FGIA FCG
Tasmania State Council Member, Governance Institute of Australia
Theo Kapodistrias is an award-winning speaker and communication expert. He is a multi-award-winning lawyer, based in Hobart, Tasmania. Through his business, he is also a public speaking + presentation skills coach, and online course creator.Theo is also the author of A Way With Words, published by Rethink Press that became a best seller in its first 48 hours on sale.He has been recognised for his work in the legal and community space winning several awards and has been named one of Australia’s Most Influential Lawyers by the Australasian Lawyer Magazine in both 2022 and 2023.
Simon Scott FGIA
State Chair Tasmanian Council
Simon is currently a Committee Secretary for the Tasmanian Legislative Council and appointed as the Secretary for the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee of Public Accounts. Throughout his career, he has managed and provided advice in a range of corporate governance, legal and risk functions across private, public, and local government sectors across WA, NSW, ACT and now Tasmania which has been his family home since 2015. Simon has an Honors in Industrial Relations, Masters of Management, and was admitted as a Lawyer of the Supreme Court of NSW in 2008, and is also a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Australia. A Chartered Governance Professional, he is a past graduate of both the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Applied Corporate Governance from the Governance Institute of Australia.Simon is the current Chair for the Governance Institute of Australia (Tasmania) and the Deputy Chair for the Hobart Friendly Society Dispensary Ltd (a not-for-profit with a 140 plus years heritage). Closer to home he is actively involved in the Australasian Council of Public Accounts Committees and is keenly focused on parliamentary governance practices as they apply in modern Westminster-style settings.

1:00pm – 1:35pm Tasmanian State of the Economy 

  • Outlook for the Tasmanian economy
  • Population trends
  • Is Tasmania’s economy kicking goals?

Heather Hicks, Partner, KPMG

Session sponsor:

Heather Hicks, Partner, KPMG

With over 22 years at KPMG, including 8 as a Partner, Heather has advised and supported organisations through every aspect of their governance, risk and compliance journey. From the fundamentals to the critical moments of truth, Heather has brought energy, trust and integrity to the provision of assurance and advisory services to diverse clients – across government, public, private and not-for-profit sectors in Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria.

1:35pm – 2.10pm Manage legal and commercial risks with employees. Update: legal, commercial and practical insights

Joe Mullavey, Principal, Page Seager Lawyers

Session Sponsor:

Joe Mullavey, Principal, Page Seager

Joe is a Principal Lawyer at Page Seager Lawyers. Joe regularly advises on claims made against employers, including claims for unfair dismissal and general protections matters. Joe acts in work health and safety and assists employers following serious workplace accidents, including facilitating investigation reports, liaising with WorkSafe Tasmania and in coronial matters. He regularly provides training to managers and boards on duties and compliance with obligations under industrial laws and the harmonised Work Health and Safety legislation.

 

2:10pm – 3:00pm The “S” in ESG Governance challenges

  • Emerging trends
  • Attracting & retaining people to live & work in Tasmania
  • Social values & responsibilities, long term thinking.

Tony Willmot, General Manager Project Delivery, TasWater

Kathrine Morgan-Wicks, Secretary, Department of Premier and Cabinet

Georgie Ibbott, President, Tasmanian Council of Social Service (TasCOSS) and Independent Chair, Wildlife Network Tasmania

Chair: Michael Sylvester, CEO Tasmanian irrigation

Georgie Ibbott, President, Tasmanian Council of Social Service (TasCOSS) and Independent Chair, Wildlife Network Tasmaniaers

Georgie Ibbott is a dynamic and purpose-led leader who focusses on her non-executive director roles and volunteering in the community service industry. She applies her experience as a former executive, CEO and consultant to her non-executive director appointments spanning government, for-purpose and the community service industry. Georgie builds aligned and sustainable organisations that harness the collective wisdom, skill and expertise of all stakeholders to deliver positive community benefits and outcomes.

Georgie is also the Independent Chair and Non-Executive Director at Wildlife Network Tasmania and a General Volunteer at Orange Sky. She is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and an Associate Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute. Her qualifications include a Master of Business Administration, Bachelor of Commerce and the AICD Company Directors course.

Kathrine Morgan-Wicks
Secretary, Department of Premier and Cabinet
Kathrine has recently been appointed as Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet as well as the Head of the State Service (April 2024). Kathrine has been a Head of Agency in the Tasmanian State Service for seven years, with both central and front-line State Sector experience. Prior to becoming Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet and Head of the State Service in April 2024, Kathrine held Head of Agency roles with the Department of Health and Department of Justice, and was a Deputy Secretary (Budget and Finance) at the Department of Treasury and Finance.Kathrine’s 35-year career has spanned the private and public sectors, including 14 years working as a corporate lawyer across Australia and overseas with Australia’s corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.A move to Tasmania brought with it the opportunity to shift from the Commonwealth to the State Service, and in February 2014 she commenced at the Department of Treasury and Finance, leading her Treasury Division through the delivery of four State Budgets in just over three years, whilst quickly coming up to speed with the Tasmanian business and community context.
Tony Willmot, General Manager Project Delivery, TasWater

Tony and his team, which includes the CDO and our internal Project Delivery Group, are responsible for the delivery of TasWater’s large and ambitious capital works program. The program encompasses many projects that have been identified by our Customers, Regulators, and Owners through to the delivery phase and handover to our Service Delivery Teams.

Tony has had an extensive career within the Local Government sector, along with the Tasmanian Water and Sewerage Industry over the past 30 years. Tony’s previous experience includes senior leadership roles in TasWater’s operational environment within the Service Delivery and Asset Management Services Divisions.

3:00pm – 3.35pm Afternoon tea

Afternoon tea

3:35pm – 4:10pm Parliament a Question of Management: The Role of a Clerk

  • the role of the Clerk – traditional and modern breeds
  • custodians and administrators of an institution
  • workplace challenges and complexities
  • implementing contemporary public sector management approaches to reform

Speaker: Catherine Vickers, Clerk of the council

Catherine Vickers,
BA LLB Clerk of the Council
Tasmanian Government – held various leadership, legal and policy roles in Government from 1998 across a range of departments, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and at the Supreme Court of Tasmania.Lawyer – admitted as a practitioner of the Supreme Court of Tasmania in 1995.Completed legal apprenticeship at law with and employed by Temple Smith Barclay in Devonport, Tasmania 1994 – 1996 and worked at Legal Aid Commission of Tasmania, Devonport duty lawyer 1996 to 1998.

4:10pm – 5:00pm Using neuroscience to survive and thrive through the stress of a modern world

  • The neurobiology of stress, fostering resilience, strategies for reversing the changes in the brain that occur during stress
  • Decision making, problem solving, coping with challenges
  • The neuroscience of better communication (especially when reporting to the board or management)
  • Neuroscience-based tools, tricks and solutions

Dr Lila Landowski, multi award-winning neuroscientist, lecturer, Vice President of Science and Technology Australia and regular guest expert science communicator for the ABC

Dr Lila Landowski

Multi-award winning neuroscientist, lecturer and Vice President of Science and Technology Australia. She is a regular guest expert science communicator for the ABC.

5:00pm – 5:15pm Closing remarks

MC: Theo Kapodistrias FGIA Cert(EDC), Senior Legal Counsel at Gentrack and Award-winning speaker and author

5:15pm – 6:30pm Networking drinks

Networking drinks

Kicking Governance Goals

This is your opportunity to address the latest issues shaping the leadership, governance and risk management landscape in your state and network with your peers.

The Tasmanian Governance Forum gives you state-relevant and practical ideas and insights that you can implement immediately. Hear from the respected voices in governance and risk management and be empowered with market-leading knowledge and skills to help you tackle the challenges you face in your role.

 

Where and when

Format Date Time Venue
Face-to-face Friday, 19th September 2025 12:30pm – 6:30pm
(including networking drinks)
RACV (Collins Room)
Hobart, Tasmania

Pricing

Ticket price
Member $190
Non-member $230

 

The forum is relevant for all sectors including listed, non-listed, government and not-for-profit.

Gold sponsor

Session sponsor

Please contact the Events Team at [email protected] to organise group bookings.
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