2024 Charles Todd Oration - Will Irving, Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer, nbn Co Ltd

150th Anniversary of the Telecommunications Association

TelSoc (the Telecommunications Association Inc.) is pleased to welcome a particularly distinguished speaker for this year's Charles Todd Oration, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the association, since its initial formation as the Telegraph Electrical Society in 1874.

Will Irving

Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer, nbn Co Ltd

Will’s theme will be: ‘If at first you don’t succeed …’ and it will deliver many industry insights from the creation of the NBN to the future of universal service in Australia.  TelSoc is proud to be presenting this year's Charles Todd Oration at Royal Automobile Club of Australia, 89 Macquarie Street, Sydney.  Join TelSoc and Will for lunch on Thursday, 17th October 2024.

Will is uniquely qualified to provide us with these insights.  He was there at the beginning of the nbn Co Ltd and is now still on centre stage.   

Will began his appointment as NBN Co’s Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer in October 2019 and leads nbn’s Strategic Services Group which encompasses nbn’s key customer and revenue growth engine – its New Developments business along with an array of corporate functions: Security; Data and Analytics; Strategic Partnerships; Corporate Strategy; Privacy, Risk Management & Business Continuity; and Compliance. 

In addition to his role at NBN Co, in October 2022 Will became a non-executive Director of Chorus Ltd – New Zealand’s leading fixed line telecommunications infrastructure company. 

Prior to joining NBN Co, Will was the Interim CEO of Telstra InfraCo and the Group Executive of Telstra Wholesale from 2016 to 2018. Between 2011 and 2016, he headed Telstra Business, responsible for more than one million Small and Medium Business Telstra customers – from sole traders to smaller ASX listed companies and local government. 

Prior to that, between 2005 and 2011, Will was Telstra’s Group General Counsel through the T3 privatisation, the multiple attempts at creating a national broadband network, and Telstra’s $11B deal with NBN Co in 2011. Before becoming Group General Counsel, Will held a variety of legal leadership roles at Telstra between 1997 and 2005, having started his career as a telco lawyer at King & Wood Mallesons in 1994.

The event will start with an aperitif and canapés at 11:45, followed by a table lunch around the speech and Q&A. Will Irving will be introduced by last year’s Charles Todd Orator, Rob Nicholls.

The venue is Royal Automobile Club of Australia, 89 Macquarie Street, Sydney, 2000.

Please put the event in your diary – booking information will be added to the website soon.