Alpha Geek Podcast: CIOs and Technical Leaders

Dr Tim Patston is the head of Innovation at Geelong Grammar School, and Peter Evans-Greenwood is a fellow at Deloitte Centre for the Edge. They have been working together on research around the future of work and the digital skills gap, and have uncovered some unexpected results. Listen now.

Jamie Leach is the CEO and Founder of Open Data Australia. Jamie has had a long and varied leadership history across a range of industries including finance and tech and AI startups. Jamie has distilled her approach to leadership so that it can work across boundaries and industries. Listen now.

Peter Evans-Greenwood has deep experience as a CTO and tech strategist and is now a Fellow at Deloitte’s Centre for the Edge, helping organisations understand the digital revolution and how they can embrace the future. We get deep into artificial intelligence and the future of work. Will we still have jobs in the future? Peter is confident he has the answer. Listen now.

Michael Reid is a fully qualified Aerospace Engineer, and then made a shift into sales in IT. He has worked his way into leadership roles, and is now the State Manager for Cisco in Queensland. Hear about the twists and turns in his leadership journey and how to disrupt yourself before others disrupt you. Listen now.

Jeff Haden is a world-renowned writer and ghostwriter. Much of what he has written about is in the leadership, influence and personal development space. We talk about some of the key leadership lessons Jeff has picked up from interviewing hundreds of the best in the world. Listen now.

Kristy Simpkin is the Co-President of the ICT arm of Women In Technology who promote women in the industry and what we can all do as leaders to help address the biases and imbalances that are still present in the industry. Listen now.

Andrew Ramsden is the CEO and Founder of Alpha Transform and host of the Alpha Geek podcast. He has a particular passion for leadership development for technical professionals. In this episode Andrew talks about his most important leadership lesson and how you can apply it. Listen now.

Karin Geraghty is the Chief ICT and Digital Strategist for Department of Premier and Cabinet in South Australia. She has led many successful large-scale transformations in South Australia and shares a lot of wonderful insights about how to be a leader in that environment. Listen now.

Leigh Berrell was a geek from an early age, interested in science and electronics. He has had an impressive career working his way from hands-on technical roles up to CIO roles over the past 10 years. Listen to hear how Leigh made the transition and his top leadership lessons. Listen now.

Dr. Mark Glazebrook is an inventor, academic, and founder of Girls Invent who supports girls in schools to become innovators and entrepreneurs. Listen to hear how this movement is helping to shift the imbalances in the industry and how you can be involved. Listen now.

Steve Hodgkinson is the CIO for Victoria's Department of Health and Human Services. Steve has spent time in both public and private sector and he believes this balance is the key to his success. Listen to hear his methodology for delivering successful digital transformation in large organisations that avoids the pitfalls of both waterfall and agile methodologies at enterprise scale. Listen now.

James Tuckerman is the Founder and CEO of Australian Anthill Magazine and the Not So Freaky University. Hear about how James built these businesses over the past 14 years into the success they are today, and how he managed the personal risk and uncertainty day-by-day. Listen now.

Arjen Lentz has a long history in technology starting out in hands on technical roles and includes being employee #25 at MySQL. Arjen is now the founder of Upstarta and co-founder of OpenSTEM. Arjen focuses on quality of products and quality of life over and above money. These priorities also allow Arjen to ensure his companies make a positive social impact. Listen now.

Simon Goodrich is the co-founder and Managing Director of Portable a digital service design and development company based in Melbourne. Simon’s had a string of entrepreneurial successes and talks about his journey in leadership, business and why having a higher purpose is so incredibly valuable. Listen now.

Sarah-Jane Peterschlingmann started her own mission-critical cloud hosting company not long after graduating from university. Defined by a focus on service excellence and integrity, her leadership approach has led to a successful and multi-award winning company. Listen to hear how she thinks about business and leadership. Listen now.

Robert Mead is an executive security adviser with over 20 years of experience. He shares with us about his somewhat unique approach to practical risk management and how he has been able to use information security as an enabler of business outcomes. Listen now.

For something a bit different, this episode features a recording of a talk I gave last week at the UX Brisbane meetup. But there's value here for any technical professional. It also includes a short leadership self-test and tips on how you can level-up your leadership superpowers. Listen now.

Chris Boyle and Tom O’Neill are social entrepreneurs. They are founders and directors at CommSync, a tech startup aimed at revolutionising child and community safety using the internet of things. Listen to hear how using passion and innovation you can make the world a better place. Listen now.

Ben Melbourne is the General Manager for ThoughtWorks Brisbane, a global software consultancy with a deep connection to Agile software development and project delivery. Ben shares his journey from being ‘in the trenches’ through to leadership roles and how he smoothed out the transition. Listen now.

Sarah Smith is the Founder and lead software engineer for Smithsoft, who make educational games for young people. She also Founded the Brisbane chapter of Women Who Code. We talk about her leadership and entrepreneurial journey, her achievements and challenges. Listen now.

Jen Bunk is the Founder of People Stack Academy a leadership development consultancy for technology leaders. Her passion is organisational and leadership psychology and putting that into action to help new leaders grow. Listen now.

Craig Thomler has digital experience in public and private sector and is a serial entrepreneur, from social media to oil rigs! We discuss the incredibly disruptive effects of digital transformation we're yet to see and the inevitable impacts for governments around the world. Listen now.

Kim Hopwood is the Managing Director of Pusher and Marcel, Australian Digital agencies. Kim started Pusher in his early twenties and had to learn leadership lessons as the company grew. Listen to hear about his personal leadership framework. Listen now.

Peter Buckmaster is the Director of Digital Services for the NSW Department of Education. Peter has had a varied career but there’s a consistent thread. Peter has always provided vision and narrative to lead the organisation forwards. Listen now.

Hasan Anjum has a broad technical background starting as a Software Engineer working his way up to lead transformation programs within South Australian government. In this episode, hear about Hasan’s journey and the challenges he faced. Listen now.

John Smilek had a difficult childhood, and Aspergers on top of that. But John’s eye-opening experiences early in life lead to a positive outlook and a passion for personal development. John is now the CIO of Streamline Products and an active champion for the development of young people in the community. Listen now.

Ted Tencza is the CTO for finder.com.au Australia's biggest and fastest growing financial and utility deal finder. Ted started his career as a software developer and wanted to make a bigger positive impact. But he stayed deeply connected to technology and other skilled professionals. Listen in to hear how this combination (tech + impact) supported his impressive career and accomplishments. Listen now.

Jenine Beekhuyzen is the Founder of The Tech Girls Movement, inspiring and empowering young women to consider and pursue careers in tech industries. Listen to hear about the skills gap we'll face over the next 5-10 years and what we can do about it. We also discuss how we can normalise the conversation and what we can do to challenge our unconscious bias. Listen now.

Stuart Gibbon’s first role in an IT organisation was CIO. He is now leading the Digital Strategy development for WA government in the Office of the CIO. Stuart knows how to lead and how to efficiently progress your career, and he shares his tips and learnings in this episode. Listen now.

James Lush is the CEO of Lush Digital Media and a local radio personality in Perth. Listen to hear about how the media industry is undergoing massive upheaval due to digital disruption and how James is looking to the future. We also discuss Jame's commitment to his values and how that shapes his role as a leader and everything his team does. Listen now.

Holly Tattersall is the CEO and founder of Digital Talent Co a recruitment agency specialising in helping companies find the very best Digital talent. She has also founded and grown the Women in Digital organisation who provide community, mentoring and opportunities for women in the industry. Holly's grown the network now across Australia, and internationally in Silicon Valley, Toronto, Israel and Bangladesh! Listen now.

Morgan Strong is a consultant and digital developer for Gaia Resources. He's an experienced leader with impressive accomplishments in digital design and transformation programs. But he's currently happy being back in a more hands-on role. Listen to hear why, and how he leverages the experience of both types of roles to improve what he does. Listen now.

Matthew Perry is the CIO of the Dulux Group here in Australia. He formed the basis of his leadership philosophy while he played Volleyball at a National level. Applying and refining insights from the elite sporting arena, Matthew has developed a repeatable approach to creating high-performing teams, which he talks about in this episode. Listen now.

Kerry Walker is the Director of the Neighbourhood Justice Centre in Collingwood, for Courts Services Victoria. She has successfully led and delivered significant change to how the Justice system works in Victoria for the betterment of the community in an environment that's extremely resistant to change. Listen now.

Anthony Lake is the Principal Data Scientist for Complexica. Anthony has experience in leadership and management, but his current role is very hands-on. But he uses his leadership skills to influence clients and stakeholders within the business to get the best outcomes. Listen now.

Bill Le Blanc is the CIO for South Australia Government Department of Health. He comes from a hands-on technical background, he was an introvert and felt he didn't enjoy dealing with people. But he pushed outside his comfort zone, and realised he did enjoy working with people, then his career took off. Listen now.

Welcome to the first episode of the Alpha Geek podcast with your host Andrew Ramsden. Andrew speaks with technical leaders about their leadership journeys, challenges they've faced and how they've overcome them. This first episode is a short monologue explaining why we started the podcast and what it's all about. Listen now.