Speakers

About the organisers and speakers

Adjunct Professor Christopher Arup

Christopher is a Professor in the Department of Business Law and Taxation at Monash University. His research, supervision and teaching interests take in innovation, intellectual property, international trade and competition law; the regulation of financial and professional services; and labour law. Chris is interdisciplinary in his work and has long-term experience in regulatory studies and socio-legal studies.

Professor Caron Beaton-Wells

Caron is a Professor in competition and consumer law at the Melbourne Law School and Director of the University of Melbourne’s Competition Law & Economics Network. Caron’s research and teaching includes the institutional, political and sociological dimensions of competition regulation and her current research focuses on competition and fair trading issues in grocery supply chains. Caron engages globally on significant competition law-related issues, and in fostering constructive debate amongst stakeholders. She is a member of national and international editorial and advisory boards, an advisor to intergovernmental organisations and a member of the Law Council of Australia's competition and consumer and small business committees.

David Brewster

David joined Coles as their Legal Director in early 2016 having been a long standing partner at Allens Arthur Robinson. Prior to joining Allens David worked with the ACCC for over four years, including in the mergers and acquisitions units, and was the Assistant Director of the ACCC’s Queensland office.

Sarah Court

Sarah, a former senior executive lawyer and Director with the Australian Government Solicitor, has been a Commissioner of the ACCC since April 2008. She has extensive experience in Commonwealth legal work, including restrictive trade practices, consumer protection and law enforcement litigation, and oversees the ACCC’s enforcement and litigation program. Sarah is chair of the Enforcement Committee and the Legal Committee and engages closely with investigating teams and lawyers on Commission policies and enforcement investigations. She also sits on the Merger Review Committee, the Adjudication Committee and the Infrastructure Committee.

Assistant Professor Victoria Daskalova

Victoria is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Governance and Technology for Sustainability, in the Faculty of Behavioural and Management Science of the University of Twente. Her research is on the intersection of law and economics, including a particular focus on the application of the EU antitrust rules to the exercise of monopsony and buyer power. Her areas expertise include the food (retail) sector, energy and health markets. Victoria is also an extramural fellow at the Tilburg Law and Economics Center and a member of the Netherlands Institute for Governance.

Natalie Davis

Natalie joined Woolworths in 2015 and in May 2017 was appointed Chief Customer Transformation Officer. Prior to working with Woolworths Natalie was a Partner at McKinsey & Co, where she worked in the UK and Australia for 15 years advising on strategy and commercial transformation. Natalie led the McKinsey Women's Initiative in Asia and was a member of the global McKinsey Women leadership team. Natalie holds an MBA from INSEAD France, and Bachelor of Commerce and Law degrees with Honours, from the University of Sydney.

Honorary Associate Professor Jane Dixon

Jane is based at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Research School of Public Health at the Australian National University, where she was Senior Fellow between 2011 and 2016. Taking place at the intersection of sociology and public health, her research focuses on the cultural dynamics behind ways of living. In particular how corporate strategy, government policy and civil society influence cultural transitions and impact social and health inequalities. As a Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor, she spent much of 2016 at the Centre for Food Policy, City University of London. Jane has been advising the International Union on Health Promotion and Education on their Food Security policy.

Judith Fox

Prior to commencing her role as CEO of the Australian Shareholders Association in late February 2017 Judith spent ten years with the Governance Institute of Australia as their National Director, Policy & Advocacy. Judith has represented Governance Institute on the ASX Corporate Governance Council since 2005, is a member of Standards Australia's Risk Management Committees, ASIC's Business Advisory Committee and the Business Reporting Leaders Forum. In 2014 Judith was named as one of the Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence. Judith also has extensive experience in publishing and is a published author with one of her novels being shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award.

John McQueen

John returned to Australian Dairy Farmers as Interim Chief Executive Officer in June 2016. Formerly ADF CEO from 1987 until 2007, John joined the ADF team in 1982. As well as developing policy for national and international issues affecting dairy farmers, he has represented Australian dairy farmers at national and international meetings and conferences over the past 20 years. John is a former Board member of the Cooperative Research Centre for Innovative Dairy Products, was previously Chairman of the Animal Health Australia Industry Forum and was Secretary of the Dairy Group of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers from 1996 to 2000.

Emeritus Professor David Merrett

David is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne. His areas of research include the internationalisation of Australian firms, the evolution of ‘big business’ in Australia, and the history of the Australian banking system. David is a highly regarded and widely published scholar in this field.

Professor Christine Parker

Christine is a Professor at Melbourne Law School and has written, researched and consulted widely on how and why businesses comply with legal, social and environmental responsibilities, what difference regulatory enforcement makes and how businesses can work with lawyers and compliance professionals to build internal corporate social responsibility systems that work. Professor Parker’s current research focuses on the politics, ethics and regulation of food.

Jo Paul

Jo is the research fellow for the Supermarket Power project. Prior to becoming a lawyer Jo had a lengthy career in commercial book publishing. She has also conducted training research and worked in change management for a variety of industries, before working with a Melbourne-based copyright and trademark law firm. Jo holds a Bachelor of Psychology degree from UWA, a Masters of Arts (History) from UNSW and a Master of Laws (JD) from Monash University.

Neil Rechlin

Neil is a Partner at NextGen, a strategy and capability consultancy working extensively with major retailers and manufacturers. For the past two years, Neil and the NextGen team have been working with the Australian Food and Grocery Council supporting manufacturers in their understanding of the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct. To date NextGen have trained in excess of 1,300 individuals across almost 150 companies and is currently supporting over 20 companies in renegotiating their terms with the major retailers to ensure Code compliance.

Dr Nick Rose

Nick has extensive policy, research and practical experience with food systems, food security and food sovereignty. A Churchill Fellow and a global advisor to the United Nations Global Compact Cities Programme, he has extensively researched the potential of urban agriculture in the United States, Canada, Argentina and Australia to address food security, resilience and sustainability challenges. He is editor of Fair Food: Stories from a Movement Changing the World, and was the principal founder and former national co-ordinator of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance.

Dr Marcus Spiller

Marcus is a founding partner at SGS Economics and Planning. SGS aims to shape policy and investment decisions to achieve sustainable places, communities and economies. Marcus has extensive experience in public policy analysis as an urban economist and planner and specialises in providing high level advice on metropolitan planning issues and processes, housing policy, the analysis of urban infrastructure and planning delivery systems. A recognised leader within the urban policy community, Marcus is the past National President of the Planning Institute of Australia and a former Board member at VicUrban (now Places Victoria) and an Adjunct Professor at the UNSW and RMIT University.

Craig Woolford

Craig Woolford is Managing Director and Head of Consumer Sector Research at Citi. Craig has been an analyst for over 15 years and specialises in the retail, food and beverages sectors. His work focuses on unique industry insights about supermarkets, department stores, specialty retailers and food and beverage producers. Craig’s role includes leading a team of more than 50 analysts and associates providing insights about companies listed on the ASX. Citi’s Research team has been consistently ranked top three by fund managers for the past four years.