Symposium Speakers
Symposium speakers play a pivotal role in shaping the overall experience and success of an event. The PGCS organising committee aims to choose individuals based on their experience, expertise, knowledge and ability to engage and inspire the audience.
Speakers are chosen from various backgrounds, including industry leaders, academics, thought leaders and experts in the project and program management field.
Please view all our confirmed speakers below. Information on their presentations can be found on the program page once available.
Click to see our:
Keynote Speakers
Invited Speakers
Masterclass Presenters
Keynote Speakers
Mr Chris Deeble AO, CSC
Deputy Secretary | Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG)
Chris has extensive experience spanning the defence, industry and commercial sectors and working with Government. He also served for 37 years in the Australian Defence Force, most notably as an Air Vice-Marshal.
His most recent appointment was Chief Executive at Northrop Grumman Australia. Prior to that he worked for Airservices Australia as the program executive for OneSKY, responsible for delivering the Civil Military Air Traffic Management System for Australia.
Chris returns to CASG after previously holding the role of Senior Program Manager where he managed more than $25 billion of complex acquisition and sustainment programs including the Joint Strike Fighter, Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control, Multi Role Tanker Transport and Collins Class Submarine.
Chris has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Sydney. He was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross (CSC) in 2007, and recognized in 2016 as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
Dr Keith Joiner, CSC, CPEng, CPPD
Senior Lecturer Test, Evaluation and Aircraft Design | University of New South Wales
Dr Keith Joiner, CSC, was an Air Force aeronautical engineer, project manager and teacher for 30 years before joining the University of New South Wales to teach and research test and evaluation. As Defence’s Director-General of Test and Evaluation for four years, he was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross and for doing drawdown plans for the Multi-National Force in Iraq, he was awarded a U.S. Meritorious Service Medal. He is a Certified Practising Engineer, a Certified Practising Project Director, and has over 100 published research articles on assuring engineered systems. His research is diverse, for example:
1) assuring cyberworthiness, AI-enabled systems, and robotic autonomous systems,
2) using high throughput test design and complex systems governance, and
3) developing air-sea hybrid vehicles and the electrification of aircraft.
Dr Dallas Rosson, PMP
Principal Engineer for the Digital Transformation Division | Naval Undersea Warfare Center
Dr Dallas Rosson is the Principal Engineer for the Digital Transformation Division at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Keyport, Washington USA. His responsibilities include engineering and technical oversight for 150 cross-functional personnel supporting ten US Department of Defense programs, engineering process and policy planning and management, digital transformations, and Agile oversight and training.
Dr Rosson is a Professor of Practice teaching Systems Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. He holds a Doctor of Engineering in Systems Engineering from Colorado State University, a Master of Science in Systems Engineering from George Washington University, a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Systems from the University of Washington. His professional certifications include the Project Management Professional (PMP), Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner, Advanced Certified Scrum Master, Defense Acquisition Workforce Level 2 Engineer, Defense Acquisition Workforce Level 1 Information Technology, Defense Acquisition Workforce Engineering & Technical Management Practitioner, DoD Cybersecurity Workforce (621/Software Development) Level 3/Advanced, and Six Sigma Yellow Belt.
He served 12 years Active Duty in the U.S. Navy Submarine Force as an Electronic Technician (Communications) First Class Petty Officer. He was awarded the Submarine Warfare Device and the SSBN Deterrent Patrol Insignia for participating in 6 Strategic Deterrent Patrols on the USS Alaska.
Mrs Kelli Houston,
MSCS, SPC, RTE, CSM, ICP-ACC, ICP-ATF
Lockheed Martin Fellow | Lockheed Martin
Kelli is a Lockheed Martin Fellow and the Technical Lead of the Lockheed Martin’s Missiles and Fire Control (MFC) Agility Transformation Office (AXO). She is responsible for driving the adoption of lean and agile practices across programs and functional areas, defining transformation strategies, coaching teams, and capturing successful patterns to accelerate the delivery of business outcomes and ensure knowledge continuity.
With over 40 years of experience in software engineering, solution architecture, project management, and business transformation consulting, Kelli has worked across the defense, federal, and commercial sectors. She has a proven track record of transforming organizations and building high-performing teams through lean and agile principles, resulting in measurable project and program performance improvements.
Kelli has led 19 agile transformations, achieving “double-digit” performance gains. Her efforts have earned her multiple awards, including a Program Management Review (PMR) Customer Recognition award for driving radical transparency.
Kelli was instrumental in developing MFC's agile playbook, enabling the company to scale agility adoption and earning her team the prestigious MFC Excellence Award. She also contributed to corporate guidance on Program Performance Management (PPM) for agile programs, providing a practical approach to tracking performance in an agile context.
An active participant in multiple professional organizations, Kelli is part of the leadership team for the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Systems Engineering Division (SED) Agile Delivery for Agencies, Programs and Teams (ADAPT) Committee, where she helps facilitate industry-government collaboration to continuously improve the implementation of agile practices to meet business and mission outcomes.
Kelli holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering, has earned numerous agile and coaching certifications, is the author of several books and articles, and has spoken at over 70 events.
Outside of her professional pursuits, Kelli enjoys practicing yoga, cycling, reading, and spending quality time with her two grown children and her husband of 36 years.
Mr Brent Johnstone
Lockheed Martin Fellow | Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Brent Johnstone is a
Lockheed Martin Fellow and cost estimator at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Company in Fort Worth, Texas. He has 37 years’ experience in the military
aircraft industry, including 34 years as a cost estimator where he worked on
the F-16, F-35 and Advanced Development programs. He is a member of the
International Cost Estimating and Analysis Association (ICEAA) and served on
the board of directors as regional director. He is a three-time best paper
winner at the annual ICEAA workshop and has published multiple articles in the Journal
of Cost Analysis and Parametrics. He has a Master of Science from Texas
A&M University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at
Austin.
Invited Speakers
Mr David Williams AM
Program Assurance Specialist | Australian Electoral Commission
In his current role, David Willaims works closely with internal partners, industry, academia and the broader government community to ideate, design, acquire and deliver technology that enables the agency to support the development and maintenance a world-class intelligence and information management systems capability. He also undertakes broader research, analysis, planning and implementation of technology, analytical and information management services to support both Intelligence, policing and corporate capabilities across the agency and with partners. His background is in project management in industries covering construction, defence, organizational development and information systems. Projects of interest include Loy Yang power station in Victoria, the Submarine construction facility in SA, Bruce Stadium & New Parliament House in the ACT and a series of ICT protects across government. He joined the Department of Defence on the Collins Class Submarine project back in 1990 before working across Defence in the management fields of program evaluation, information systems, quality, risk and enterprise architecture.
He has managed several major ICT procurement and implementation projects in government departments for both services and solutions. He developed information architectures and strategies for multiple government departments. He is also the President of the Australian Society for Knowledge Management (AuSKM) and lecture at the Australian National University on Project Management.
Masterclass Presenters
Dr Keith Joiner, CSC, CPEng, CPPD
Senior Lecturer Test, Evaluation and Aircraft Design | University of New South Wales
Dr Keith Joiner, CSC, was an Air Force aeronautical engineer, project manager and teacher for 30 years before joining the University of New South Wales to teach and research test and evaluation. As Defence’s Director-General of Test and Evaluation for four years, he was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross and for doing drawdown plans for the Multi-National Force in Iraq, he was awarded a U.S. Meritorious Service Medal. He is a Certified Practising Engineer, a Certified Practising Project Director, and has over 100 published research articles on assuring engineered systems. His research is diverse, for example:
1) assuring cyberworthiness, AI-enabled systems, and robotic autonomous systems,
2) using high throughput test design and complex systems governance, and
3) developing air-sea hybrid vehicles and the electrification of aircraft.
Dr Dallas Rosson, PMP
Principal Engineer for the Digital Transformation Division | Naval Undersea Warfare Center
Dr Dallas Rosson is the Principal Engineer for the Digital Transformation Division at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Keyport, Washington USA. His responsibilities include engineering and technical oversight for 150 cross-functional personnel supporting ten US Department of Defense programs, engineering process and policy planning and management, digital transformations, and Agile oversight and training.
Dr Rosson is a Professor of Practice teaching Systems Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. He holds a Doctor of Engineering in Systems Engineering from Colorado State University, a Master of Science in Systems Engineering from George Washington University, a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Systems from the University of Washington. His professional certifications include the Project Management Professional (PMP), Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner, Advanced Certified Scrum Master, Defense Acquisition Workforce Level 2 Engineer, Defense Acquisition Workforce Level 1 Information Technology, Defense Acquisition Workforce Engineering & Technical Management Practitioner, DoD Cybersecurity Workforce (621/Software Development) Level 3/Advanced, and Six Sigma Yellow Belt.
He served 12 years Active Duty in the U.S. Navy Submarine Force as an Electronic Technician (Communications) First Class Petty Officer. He was awarded the Submarine Warfare Device and the SSBN Deterrent Patrol Insignia for participating in 6 Strategic Deterrent Patrols on the USS Alaska.
Mrs Kelli Houston,
MSCS, SPC, RTE, CSM, ICP-ACC, ICP-ATF
Lockheed Martin Fellow | Lockheed Martin
Kelli is a Lockheed Martin Fellow and the Technical Lead of the Lockheed Martin’s Missiles and Fire Control (MFC) Agility Transformation Office (AXO). She is responsible for driving the adoption of lean and agile practices across programs and functional areas, defining transformation strategies, coaching teams, and capturing successful patterns to accelerate the delivery of business outcomes and ensure knowledge continuity.
With over 40 years of experience in software engineering, solution architecture, project management, and business transformation consulting, Kelli has worked across the defense, federal, and commercial sectors. She has a proven track record of transforming organizations and building high-performing teams through lean and agile principles, resulting in measurable project and program performance improvements.
Kelli has led 19 agile transformations, achieving “double-digit” performance gains. Her efforts have earned her multiple awards, including a Program Management Review (PMR) Customer Recognition award for driving radical transparency.
Kelli was instrumental in developing MFC's agile playbook, enabling the company to scale agility adoption and earning her team the prestigious MFC Excellence Award. She also contributed to corporate guidance on Program Performance Management (PPM) for agile programs, providing a practical approach to tracking performance in an agile context.
An active participant in multiple professional organizations, Kelli is part of the leadership team for the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Systems Engineering Division (SED) Agile Delivery for Agencies, Programs and Teams (ADAPT) Committee, where she helps facilitate industry-government collaboration to continuously improve the implementation of agile practices to meet business and mission outcomes.
Kelli holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering, has earned numerous agile and coaching certifications, is the author of several books and articles, and has spoken at over 70 events.
Outside of her professional pursuits, Kelli enjoys practicing yoga, cycling, reading, and spending quality time with her two grown children and her husband of 36 years.
Mr Brent Johnstone
Lockheed Martin Fellow | Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Brent Johnstone is a
Lockheed Martin Fellow and cost estimator at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Company in Fort Worth, Texas. He has 37 years’ experience in the military
aircraft industry, including 34 years as a cost estimator where he worked on
the F-16, F-35 and Advanced Development programs. He is a member of the
International Cost Estimating and Analysis Association (ICEAA) and served on
the board of directors as regional director. He is a three-time best paper
winner at the annual ICEAA workshop and has published multiple articles in the Journal
of Cost Analysis and Parametrics. He has a Master of Science from Texas
A&M University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at
Austin.
Conference Managers
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Email: pgcs@consec.com.au