22 Oct, 2026
Data & AI Summit VIC 2026
Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre (MCEC)
The Data & AI Summit VIC 2026 brings together data, analytics, and AI leaders to discuss machine learning, data strategy, and the impact of AI-driven innovation across industries in Victoria.
Delegates
Speakers
Sessions
Exploring machine learning, data strategy, and AI-driven innovation with data, analytics, and AI leaders across industries.
The pace of change in data and AI is redefining how organisations operate, compete, and create value. The Data & AI Summit brings together senior data, analytics and AI leaders across generative and agentic, to explore how emerging technologies are reshaping business models, decision-making, customer experiences, and enterprise operations.
Designed to foster cross-industry collaboration and practical insight-sharing, this Data & AI event will examine how organisations are moving beyond experimentation to embed big data and AI into the core of strategy, operations, and innovation, driving data driven outcomes at scale.
Across the day, leaders will gain insight into the latest advancements in modern data foundations, governance, and operating models, alongside the real world practical lessons, challenges, and opportunities shaping the next era of intelligent business. We will dive deeper into AI and ML innovation, including neural networks and reinforcement learning.
Meet our Speakers
Chief AI Governance Officer
General Manager - Data Science
Principal Product Manager
Director, AI Strategy & Transformation
Head of Product - Trade & Commercial Experience
Head of Data Science
Head of Data Science & AI
Head of Analytics Enablement & Engagement
Senior Director, R&D Data Excellence CoE Lead
Head of Data Retention
Director Data & Analytics
Head of Data & Insights
Featured Topics for the Day
View Agenda
8:30 am
Registration & Refreshments
9:00 am
Welcome Remarks
9:10 am
Attendee Spotlight
Attendee Spotlight
AI Black Mirror Pitch: If We Can Build It, Should We?
9:40 am
Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
A Leadership View: Where Data Investments Pay Off (& Where They Don't)
Honest reflections on which bets are actually delivering ROI, and which have been costly distractions
The hidden costs of scale – from talent and infrastructure to governance and change management, what leaders wish they’d known earlier
Redefining value beyond efficiency, and where the next big wins (and pitfalls) are likely to emerge
Ian Jackman
General Manager Data Analytics
HBF Health
10:20 am
Case Study
Case Study
10:50 am
Morning Tea & Networking
Stream A: Strategy & Execution
11:20 am
Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
Rethinking Data Governance for a More Distributed Enterprise
Adapting governance models as data ownership and decision-making become increasingly decentralised across the business
Balancing self-service access and speed with trust, accountability and consistency at scale
Improving visibility, stewardship and responsible data usage without creating unnecessary friction
Daniel Lichtenstein
Head of Data Retention
Bupa
Craig Davis
Head of Data & Insights
Racing Victoria
Marco Lui
Director Data & Analytics
Rome2Rio
Parag Shah
Executive, Audit - Technology, Digital, Data
NAB
12:00 pm
Case Study
Case Study
1:10 pm
Interactive Workshops
Interactive Workshops
1:50 pm
Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
Moving Beyond AI Pilots: Lessons From Organisations Seeing Real Impact
Lessons from organisations that have successfully moved beyond isolated AI pilots to deliver measurable operational, customer and commercial impact across the business
What failed early, what changed along the way, and the key decisions around ownership, governance, adoption and scaling that helped turn experimentation into long-term value
Sandhya Iyer
General Manager - Data Science
Sportsbet
Phoebe Twiggs
Head of Data Science & AI
Allianz
Sean Lee
Head of Analytics Enablement & Engagement
Cleanaway
Michael Mintrom
Chief AI Governance Officer
Monash University
Anjali Mehra
Director, AI Strategy & Transformation
eBay
2:30 pm
Case Study
Case Study
Stream B: Data Infrastructure & Engineering
11:20 am
Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
Managing Scale, Complexity & Performance Across Modern Data Platforms
Managing growing complexity across modern data platforms while supporting increasing demands for scalability, performance, governance and real-time access to data
Lessons learned around interoperability, platform sprawl, observability and balancing flexibility, cost and standardisation across evolving data environments
Veli Fikret
Assistant Commissioner, Senior Director - Data Management
ATO
Sunil Kumar Raja
Senior Director, R&D Data Excellence CoE Lead
CSL
Mark Sergeant
Head of Data Platform & Engineering
EnergyAustralia
12:00 pm
Case Study
Case Study
1:10 pm
Interactive Workshops
Interactive Workshops
1:50 pm
Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
Engineering Enterprise Systems for Agentic AI
Building memory, orchestration, evaluation and control frameworks for production-grade AI agents
The infrastructure, data and governance challenges of deploying agents that can execute work across enterprise environments
Ashish Garg
Principal Product Manager
Walmart
Kiel Johns
Head of Product - Trade & Commercial Experience
Reece Group
Leo Lopes
Head of Data Science
SEEK
2:30 pm
Case Study
Case Study
12:20 pm
Lunch & Networking
2:50 pm
Afternoon Tea & Networking
3:10 pm
Keynote
