OUR SPEAKERS
TĀNE HUNTER
FOUNDER | SCIENTIST | AUTHOR | FORMER CANCER RESEARCHER
Founder of Future Crunch, scientist, author, and former cancer researcher published in Nature, spent years building AI and machine learning models at leading Australian research hospitals before turning his scientific lens on the forces reshaping business, technology, and society.
Through 500+ keynotes across five continents, including a 15,000-person audience at the LA Convention Center, Tāne has become one of Australia's most sought-after science communicators. He's the author of Full Stack Human, a neuroscience-informed playbook for staying sharp amid exponential change, and has advised the New Zealand government on their green hydrogen strategy, supported Australia's national energy transition.
He is also a former U.S. mountain biking champion, an ocean sailor with crossings from the South Pacific to the Caribbean, and the former manager and sommelier at New Zealand's Rural Restaurant of the Year.
DR ANGUS HERVEY
POLITICAL ECONOMIST |
FOUNDER FIX THE NEWS
Angus is a political economist and a journalist specialising in the impact of disruptive technologies on society. Former co-founder at Future Crunch, he now develops Fix The News - one of the leading journals reporting on intelligent optimism, science, and feel good news.
He was the founding community manager of Random Hacks of Kindness, a global initiative from Google, IBM, Microsoft, NASA and the World Bank to create open-source technology solutions to social challenges.
He was also the first editorial manager for Global Policy, one of the world's leading international policy journals. He holds a PhD in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics, where he was the Ralph Miliband Scholar.
REBECCA MAKLAD
CO-FOUNDER HUMANITY SCHOOLS | ADVISOR | PODCAST HOST
For more than two decades, Rebecca Maklad
has worked alongside futurists, scientists, entrepreneurs, authors and thought leaders exploring the forces shaping our future.
As part of the founding team at ODE Management and former CEO and Director of Future Crunch, she has spent her career helping influential ideas reach wider audiences through speaker management, consulting, hosting conversations and keynote speaking.
Through her podcasts The DNA of Purpose and The Last Human Edge, advisory work and the development of Humanity Schools, her work today centres on an increasingly urgent question: as technology becomes more capable, what becomes more valuable about being human?
DAISY WONG
LEADER IN CYBERSECURITY | DISABILITY ADVOCATE
Born and raised in Melbourne with Hong Kong heritage, Daisy Wong is a cybersecurity awareness leader - currently leading Security Awareness at Medibank, and disability advocate with a passion for building adaptable, inclusive, and people-first security cultures.
Known for her bright pink wheelchair, matching hair, and even brighter leadership, she uses her lived experience with spina bifida to champion visibility and access for women and people with disabilities in security, and serves as Sponsorship Manager at AWSN.
DARA SIMKIN
ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE DESIGNER | AUTHOR
Dara Simkin is Australia’s leading voice on play at work, co-author of Full Stack Human and founder of Culture Hero, a consultancy that helps people and organisations prepare for change through evidence-based, play-driven learning.
With over a decade of experience, her work has been shaped by research partnerships with RMIT University and The LEGO Foundation, and collaborations with McKinsey & Co. and the National Institute for Play. Blending neuroscience, adult development theory and improvisation, Dara helps leaders and teams think better, relate better and respond to change with more courage, creativity and capacity.
DR EHSSAN SAKEE
ENGINEER | CARTOONIST
Ehssan is a cartoonist, leadership educator, engineer, writer, philosopher and mindfulness practitioner.
He has been lecturing at University of Sydney, UCLA Extension and Osaka University in the area of leadership, innovation and sustainability for close to a decade.
He has founded a tech startup for measuring soft skill development (PaLDIP) as well as an edutainment company (Wacky Wisdom) and Inspirational Management Australia using evidence-based personal and leadership development training.
SARAH ROWAN
AUSTRALIA'S FIRST SPEAKER +
SPEED PAINTER
Rowan is Australia's top speed painter (according to ChatGTP) and has been speed painting for over 20 years, bringing a vibrant and fun vibe to everything she does.
To date, Rowan has painted at over 500 events, raising over $350,000 for charity. Her keynotes on creativity and mental health whilst speed painting are a big hit with all her clients. As part of the Future Crunch team, she helps create extraordinary experiences, allowing audiences to learn with both the heart and the head. She graduated from Converse College in 2003 with a BFA in Studio Art, and moved to Sydney in 2005 to expand her art horizons.
BEHIND THE SCENES
TIA JEAN
Future Crunch GM | Owner of Organise.Curate.Design | Admin Specialist, Life & Business Consultant
Tia is the current mind and heart behind Organise.Curate.Design, a boutique life and business admin company that blends creativity and organisation into a collective that curates clarity out of chaos through grounded, structured thinking, and a little bit of admin magic.
At Future Crunch, she brings that same grounded magic to operations, partnerships and creative logistics - helping ideas move smoothly from thought to action. With a background in Psychological Science and Sociology from the University of Sydney, Tia’s work is guided by a lifelong curiosity about people, patterns and the way we fit together.
Sam McLean | Elite Agency
“FUTURE CRUNCH... WHERE DO I EVEN START? ABSOLUTELY INSPIRING, INCREDIBLY INTERESTING AND JUST OVERALL OUTSTANDING.”
