Speakers

Shannon joined Westpac in November 2021 as a group executive and leads Westpac’s legal function globally.  She is the executive sponsor of the RESPECT Employee Advocacy Group, focused on domestic and family violence related issues, executive sponsor for Westpac’s Walk for a Cure initiative, and an executive mentor for the Generation Valuable program.
 
Shannon’s legal career commenced at the Commonwealth Attorney General’s Department in Canberra.  She then joined Mallesons Stephen Jaques (now King & Wood Mallesons) where she practiced in litigation, mergers & acquisitions and capital markets for 25 years, in Canberra, London and Sydney, including as head of the Sydney office.  On retirement from KWM, Shannon joined global corporate law firm Jones Day as a senior partner in the mergers & acquisitions, private equity, and financial markets practice areas, based in Sydney.
 
Shannon is an executive member of the Business Law Executive Section of the Law Council of Australia (LCA).  She chaired the Corporations Committee of the LCA from 2018 to 2021.  Shannon has experience as a non-executive director, including as past Deputy Chair of Forward Ability Support, and is currently a member of the AICD Law Committee, a member of Chief Executive Women Australia, a member of the Australian Corporate Counsel – GC100 and a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.  Shannon has been widely recognised by industry awards, including the Australasian Lawyers Most Influential Lawyers (Changemaker & Corporate Lawyer of the Year awards), the Legal 500 GC Powerlist and Best Lawyers Australia.

Stuart Gregor is a small business owner, commentator, company director, industry leader, journalist, gin and wine maker, creative force, auctioneer, MC and selfproclaimed humourist.

Most recently he was the co-founder and Global Trade Director of Four Pillars Gin (2013-2023), Australia’s No.1 craft distilling success story. Renowned world-wide, Four Pillars is now sold in more than 30 markets. Stuart and his co-founders sold out of Four Pillars in July 2023 for an undisclosed sum to drinks giant LION, part of the global Kirin Group. From September 2023, Stuart is drinking alone while he ponders future ventures and improves his golf handicap.

While under Stuart’s decade-long stewardship, Four Pillars was thrice awarded (2019, 2020 and 2023) the world’s highest accolade for a gin business, the International Gin Producer of the Year at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in London.

Four Pillars also won multitudinous domestic and international awards including being named Australia’s Liquor Brand of the Year, the Global Green Initiative for sustainability, certified Carbon Neutral status, and trophies across three continents.

Stuart was the President of Australian Distillers from 2014-2022, overseeing the phenomenal growth in the Australian distilling community. For the best part of 10 years, he was the face of Australian distilling, and you can make of that what you will. In 2023, he was inducted into Australia Distilling’s Hall of Fame as inductee Number Six.

Rama leads Mastercard’s Australasia legal team, a cross-functional team of Australia-based lawyers which has grown from 5 to 14 lawyers over his 4 years at Mastercard.  Mastercard is a technology company in the global payments industry that powers a global network of consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments, digital partners and other organizations.  Mastercard’s global network operates without borders, and so does the Australia-based legal team which supports Australasia and other Asia Pacific markets.  Mastercard’s team of Australia-based lawyers are highly valued and critical to Mastercard’s market leading activity/programs, and whose contributions were recognised in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Team of the Year category at the Lawyers Weekly Corporate Counsel Awards, winning this category in 2023 and as finalists in 2024.
 
Rama is a highly experienced executive, leader and a legal practitioner with over 25 years of Australian and international experience in leadership and management positions at asset and fund managers, investment banks, retail banks, and payments networks. He has spent his entire legal career working in-house and has been recognised as one of Australia’s top General Counsels by Legal500 in its 2022 and 2023 GC Powerlists and was a finalist for Technology Lawyer of the Year at the Lawyers Weekly Corporate Counsel Awards 2024.

Olivia is a dynamic legal executive and company director passionate about inspiring and empowering others to shape a brighter future for business and humanity. As General Counsel at the University of Sydney, she leads the legal services team, Trusts Office, Policy and Compliance unit, and manages the Audit function. Olivia also serves as a Non-Executive Director at Westmead Fertility Centre, a social enterprise dedicated to innovative, high-quality, and accessible IVF services.
 
With over 25 years of experience as a commercial lawyer, Olivia is known for her strategic, collaborative, and inclusive leadership. She is passionate about legal innovation, particularly developing human-centered legal solutions designed with the user in mind.
 
Committed to leveraging her extensive legal expertise and business acumen to support the University of Sydney, Olivia also contributes to the academic community facilitating a unit of study for the University of Sydney MBA program.

Cameron leads the legal team for the Uber Group in Australia and NZ, looking after everything from corporate governance, product counselling and enterprise contracting, to high-stakes litigation and regulatory investigations. He is a member of Uber’s ANZ Leadership Team, the global lead for Uber Legal's inclusive culture taskforce, and is a Director of Mobility Mutual Limited. Cameron was previously based in San Francisco working as the Global Chief of Staff for one of Uber's senior executives. Outside of Uber, Cameron is a passionate surf lifesaver, is on the board of the Association of Corporate Counsel, is a GC100 member, and is listed in the Legal 500 GC Powerlist and Doyles Guide as a leading Australian in-house lawyer.

Elizabeth Briggs is the Senior Director of Legal for PayPal Australia. She is a strategic and pragmatic financial services General Counsel and Group Senior Executive experienced in driving strategic results across APAC, the UK and USA. Elizabeth is an experienced and trusted advisor in banking, insurance, superannuation, wealth management and financial advice and has deep experience advising on complex regulatory matters across these sectors. Elizabeth is also an accomplished company secretary, having acted for regulated, listed and not for profit entities.

Financial services lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in superannuation and funds management. She is currently Director, Legal at Colonial First State and prior to that spent 17 years in Group Legal at Westpac, in both management and advisory roles, including as the Special Counsel for the BT Superannuation Trustee Board. Shanaz is highly experienced in advising Boards and senior management across the spectrum of large-scale transactions, prudential regulation and the appropriate management of legal and regulatory risk. Shanaz also has experience with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which was during the implementation of the Financial Services Reform provisions of the Corporations Act, which regulate the Australian financial services industry. Throughout her career Shanaz has also consistently engaged on regulatory change and is a member of the Law Council’s Financial Services Committee.

Rachel Launders joined Nine in 2015 as General Counsel and Company Secretary, and leads the Nine legal team, which works with the business on everything from pre-publication advice on our news and current affairs content, television programming such as The Block and Married at First Sight, privacy, technology to regulatory matters and litigation.

She has worked with the Nine group for over 15 years, having been a key external legal adviser for Nine, as a partner at Gilbert + Tobin. Rachel has played a central role in many strategic and defining transactions for the Nine group, including its IPO, the merger with Fairfax Media, the acquisition of Macquarie Media, affiliate arrangements and major sports rights including the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

Before joining Nine, Rachel was a partner in Gilbert + Tobin’s Corporate team for 13 years.

She is the Chair of the City Recital Hall and a director of Giant Steps, which runs schools and post-school programs for people with autism, in Sydney and Melbourne.

Nicole Choolun is a Senior Legal Counsel at SBS. Nicole has a broad range of corporate and commercial experience developed over 14 years in in-house legal roles and private practice. As a leading sports, media and entertainment lawyer, her areas of practice span the full gamut of SBS’s 24/7, 365-day a year national operations, including employment, procurement and safety, corporate governance, real and intellectual property and content commissioning, acquisitions and prepublication. She has particular expertise in contracting for talent, advising on complex production, sports and financing transactions, and navigating regulatory issues for broadcasters in an evolving landscape. Highlights of her many film and TV projects at SBS include The Cook Up, Eurovision, Filthy Rich and Homeless and Going Places with Ernie Dingo, as well as guiding SBS’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup, World Athletics Championships, Giro D’Italia and Tour de France. Her work has culminated in her being twice recognised as Sports and Entertainment Lawyer of the Year at the Lawyers Weekly Corporate Counsel Awards. Nicole is also proud to be working for a purpose-driven, world leading public service broadcaster, whose remit to provide multicultural and multilingual television, radio and online services to all Australians remains as important as ever.

Jennifer Bannan is the Head of Strategic Partnerships (APAC) for LexisNexis, with over 20 years' experience advising international organisations on competition and consumer law. She has worked in both private practice and in-house, including for Sky TV in the UK and Allens and Johnson & Johnson Medical in Sydney. Since joining LexisNexis in 2019, she has held various roles including leading the Commercial Transactions team for Practical Guidance. Jennifer is passionate about fostering partnerships in the legal tech industry to drive efficiencies and is a prolific author and regular commentator for LexisNexis.

Joanne is the Strategy and Legal Operations Manager at LegalVision, where she works closely with LegalVision's management teams to optimise service delivery and manage a range of strategic and transformation projects. Joanne was a lawyer at a national law firm and was a Senior Lawyer in LegalVision's Commercial and Regulatory team, before spending several years as a Management Consultant at a Big Four consulting firm. Since returning to LegalVision, Joanne has supported a wide range of operational practice management functions, including product management and data analysis, as well as led strategic projects such as AI transformation activities.