It’s time to get real.
Perth Agility Circle 2021
THE EVENT
The 2021 PAC event invited executives to look beyond glossy success stories and uncover the hard lessons, setbacks and realities behind transforming the modern workplace at scale.
Lindsay O’Sullivan (COO, Keystart) shared candid lessons from leading enterprise-wide change, highlighting the realities of culture, data, and prioritisation. Building on this, Tom Gulliver and Ashley Della-Vedova (Scalabl) brought the metaphor of the penguin huddle to life, showing how thousands of individuals acting in lockstep embody the very principles of agility. Their message was clear: like the huddle, thriving organisations depend on shared direction, individual ownership, and sustainable practices.
A panel of experienced leaders - including Sam McCready (Racing & Wagering WA), Ioannis Gerothanasis (Lotterywest), Rebecca Ostergaard (Curtin University), and Sarah McAllister (Scalabl) - added their perspectives, sharing what transformation looks like behind the scenes.
The discussion reinforced that meaningful change is messy, complex and human - and that success depends on leaders who are willing to commit, empower their people, and invest in sustainable ways of working.
Speakers
Lindsay O'Sullivan
Chief Operating Officer, Keystart
BIO
Lindsay O’Sullivan is a leader with twenty five years’ experience in executive and non-executive roles. He has particular skills in strategy and leading organisations through periods of significant change and disruption.
He is currently Chief Operating Officer at Keystart Home Loans. Prior to Keystart Lindsay was Chief Operating Officer at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in WA and held a number of leadership roles with Bankwest, Herbert Smith Freehills and NAB in Australia and the United Kingdom.
He has served in non-executive roles for 15 years in technology, education, consulting, arts and not-for-profit organisations.
Lindsay has an Executive MBA (Dux) from the University of Western Australia, and tertiary qualifications in marketing and applied finance and investment. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Richard McAllister
Managing Director, Scalabl
BIO
Richard has over 20 years experience within software delivery, organisational change and scaling agility. He brings a fresh and energetic approach to solving complex business problems.
Richard is the lead organiser of Agile Perth meetups with over 2,000 members and the founder of Flow Perth (an organisation that host unique events in the technology, marketing & product community to bring skilled volunteers and charities together).
Tom Gulliver
Lead Business Agility Consultant, Scalabl
BIO
With an ongoing focus on how the businesses of today respond to the pace of technology-driven change, Tom takes a people-centric and value-led approach to helping clients deliver tangible benefits through Agile. Working across frontline, management and executive levels, Tom has acted in Agile coaching and program leadership roles in a variety of projects including automation, asset performance management, innovation, cyber security, big-data and ERP implementations.
Toms understanding of client needs is supported by a strong background in strategy and operational improvement advisory, including frontline coaching, LEAN, direct sourcing, reporting and benefits tracking across the resources, upstream and downstream energy, utilities, private health insurance and public sectors.
Ashley Della-Vedova
Specialist: Scrum Master, Scalabl
BIO
Ashley has passion for enabling Agile teams to get the best out of themselves and deliver high value products. Her international experience has enabled her to work with the smallest of start-ups to large scale multijurisdictional enterprises. She has a keen interest in the emerging technology space and sets a high standard about delivering the best user journey possible.
Panel
Sarah McAllister
Head of Product, Scalabl
BIO
With expertise in leading agile transformation programs, Sarah has played a pivotal role in leading, shaping and driving the cultural and practical adoption of Agile at all levels.
Sarah’s passion is the human element of business agility, bringing a wealth of experience in how to mobilise, engage and execute on large scale agile capability uplift.
Sam McCready
CIO, Racing & Wagering WA
BIO
Sam is the Chief Transformation Officer at Racing Wagering WA. Having joined in 2017 Sam is part of the executive team and has been responsible for a change of strategy and execution to realise a transformation in the culture, ‘Ways of Working’ and technical direction. These changes have supported the growth and continuous improvement of the customer offerings of the Wagering arm of the business through the WA TAB and TABtouch brands.
Sam leads a team of 160 people that are responsible for supporting the delivery of the Strategic outcomes needed by the Racing, Wagering and corporate areas of the company. Experienced in leading commercial and strategic outcomes, prior to his time at RWWA, Sam has been responsible for operational excellence, digital growth, innovation, customer experience and banking integrations for organisations such as Bankwest in Australia and internationally at The Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and Ulster Bank.
Ioannis Gerothanasis
General Manager, Lotterywest
BIO
Responsible for leading product development, distribution and support for Lotterywest retailers, the online channel and customer services , as well as for Lotterywest strategic planning, business analysis and insights, market research and development, and marketing.
Rebecca Ostergaard
Deputy Director, Solution Delivery Curtin University
BIO
Rebecca is a people and technology leader. In her current role as Deputy Director, Digital Solutions at Curtin University, Rebecca leads a team charged with building the transformational digital experiences of the University’s community of stakeholders. Rebecca’s passion is building teams that hum; where the work is challenging, rewarding and fun; and where we meet and exceed our customer’s expectations.
Starting out as a software engineer, she has held various technical and leadership roles, primarily in the telecommunications and higher education sectors. Although still not adverse to a conversation on bits and bytes, Rebecca loves the complex challenge of making the right strategic technology decisions to create business advantage.
