Michele O'Neil, President, ACTU

Michele O’Neil is the President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

Before being elected as ACTU President Michele was CFMEU Vice President and the National Secretary of the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA). Michele represented workers in the textile, clothing and footwear industry for 28 years and held a variety of union positions in her own union and in the broader trade union movement in Australia and globally.

Michele led campaigns to win world leading rights for workers throughout clothing supply chains including for homebased outworkers. A model of supply chain accountability for workers which has increased pay and conditions for some of Australia’s most exploited workers.

Michele was a founding member of the Fairwear Campaign and is Secretary of the national joint Union/Industry body, Ethical Clothing Australia

Michele has been a long-term campaigner for the rights of the low paid, women, migrant workers, and asylum seekers.

Phil Ruthven, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Ruthven Institute; Founder, owner and a continuing director, IBISWorld

Phil Ruthven founded the Ruthven Institute in 2017 to help business managers and students to better understand the keys to success and provide the vital information needed to achieve forward planning, effective business strategy and consistent world’s best practice profitability.

Phil Ruthven is the founder and owner of IBISWorld, an international corporation providing online business information, forecasting and strategic services. He is also a director of other companies, advisory boards and charitable organisations.

Phil is a science graduate, with further studies in management and economics at various universities and institutes. He spent over 10 years in the food industry, including executive positions in research, production and marketing, before establishing IBIS in 1971. He is currently a board member of the Australian National University Business College Advisory Board, an Adjunct Professor at The University of Technology Sydney and an ambassador for the Whitelion disadvantaged youth charity.

Phil is widely considered the nation’s most respected strategist and futurist on business, social and economic matters. As one of Australia’s most frequent and prolific commentators in demand by the media, he contributes regularly to radio, TV, newspapers, magazines and documentaries on business, economic and social issues. He also addresses around 50-60 congresses, seminars and conferences each year, having done so for over four decades. He was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2014 for his services to business and the community.

Katherine Teh, Managing Director, Futureye

Founder of 18-year old consultancy, Futureye, Katherine Teh, is a strategic adviser to the world’s largest chemical, resources and technology companies on their most difficult issues. She can extract the essence of societal expectations to frame solutions that produce positive results for government, community and business.

Katherine is the Chair of Monash University’s Castan Centre for Human Rights Law and she is a member of the Federal government’s Forest Industry Advisory Council. Due to her advocacy on the prevention of sexual harassment she was listed on Women’s Honor Role for the Victorian Government in 2003 and is now an Ambassador. She co-founder of the UN Global Compact Cities Program and now a Global Ambassador.

Her awards include the Golden Target award from the Public Relations Institute of Australia (1995) and Telstra Business Woman of the Year (Victorian private sector 2001). She has been listed in Who’s Who of Australian Women since 2007.

Peter Wilson, President and Chair CPA Australia, and Australian Human Resource Institute; Trustee Director, Vision Super

Peter Wilson is Chairman of the Australian Human Resource Institute Limited, CPA Australia Ltd, the Australian Network on Disability Limited.

He is immediate past Chairman of Yarra Valley Water, of Vision Super, and the Immediate past President of the World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA). 

Peter is currently a Director of Vision Super.

He led the Business Council’s program to mentor senior executive women, and is Adjunct Professor in Management at the Monash Business School in Melbourne. He is also Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Victorian Institute of Strategic Economic Studies at Victoria University, and an accredited PhD Supervisor at the Latrobe Business School, Latrobe University.  He authored the book “Make Mentoring Work” in 2012 & 2015, and delivered the 2014 Kingsley Laffer Oration at Sydney University, and the inaugural Prescott Family Oration at Monash University in 2016.

Peter held senior executive appointments at ANZ, Amcor and the Federal Treasury, CEO of the Energy 21 Group, and also a range of senior board directorships.