International Women's Day 2025 : March Forward for All Women and Grads

Celebrating International Women's Day 2025
SheLeadsTech Melbourne and ISACA Melbourne is thrilled to invite you to the Melbourne International Women's Day event! Join us as we celebrate and advocate for gender equality under the theme, “March Forward: For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.

The theme "March Forward" encourages us to take bold steps to achieve gender equality, recognizing that progress requires action, not just reflection. It drives change to create an equal future for all women and girls, acknowledges the barriers women have broken down and their breakthroughs in knowledge, innovation, and discovery, and inspires us to keep pushing forward, no matter the obstacles.

This inspiring event is jointly hosted by AISA Victoria, AWSN (Australia Women in Security Network), SheLeadsTech Melbourne, and ISACA Melbourne Chapter along side NAB our major sponsor. We will celebrate women's social, economic, and cultural achievements, featuring a panel of leading speakers who will share their insights.

Don't miss the opportunity to network and engage in meaningful discussions as we come together to empower women and drive progress towards gender equality and equity.

Panellists:

Sam Fariborz Birjan
Sam is a seasoned cyber security expert and thought leader with a unique blend of CISO experience and technical know-how.
With over fifteen years of experience in Technology and Security expertise, Sam can switch between "tech talk" and "business talk," making her a go-to person for organisations looking to bolster their cyber resilience. In this fast-paced digital world, it's easy to get caught up in the complexities of technology and processes. However, Sam has learned that the key to true cybersecurity success lies in understanding and empowering the individuals behind it all.

John O'Driscoll
John is a long serving cyber security and technology risk leader. This included his service as Victoria's first Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for 6 years after his appointment in October 2017 until late 2023. He led the development and delivery of Victoria’s Cyber Security Strategy to assess, monitor and respond to cyber security risks, as well as engaging with the government departments, interstate counterparts, Commonwealth and private sector experts to deliver a resilient and cohesive cyber security capability. 
 John has over 35 years’ experience in information technology, with a focus on IT audit, cyber security, and technology risk in financial services and the public sector. He has a keen interest in growing and promoting cyber skills. John is the Immediate Past President of the ISACA Melbourne Chapter. 

Professor Asha Rao
Professor Asha Rao is a Professor of Mathematics  and Cybersecurity at RMIT University. She conducts research in cyber-mathematics with the aim of better securing cyber space. Her research ranges from designing better codes for communication, to detecting money laundering and describing human interactions in the physical and cyber spaces. Her research has led to traditional outputs such as grants and publications, and non-traditional outputs such as an art installation, invitations to closed and open meetings on cybersecurity as well as to observe the United Nations intergovernmental meetings on cybercrime.

Dane Meah
Dane is an accomplished entrepreneur, CEO and company director, having founded and led multiple businesses over the past 20 years. Dane is the CEO of cyber security SaaS business MyCISO, which launched in 2022 and has emerged as a leading, and award winning, security program management platform.
Originally from the UK, Dane started his career in recruitment and pharmaceutical industries and moved to Australia in 2008 After a successful career in cyber security, he was the co-founder and CEO of InfoTrust in 2014. In 2021 Dane’s passion for making cyber security simpler for business leaders he oversaw the development of the MyCISO platform and launched the business in 2022. The platform helps IT and security leaders to develop and run an effective security strategy without specialist knowledge or expensive consulting. MyCISO is rapidly growing, serving hundreds of customers across the globe.

Panel Moderator: Jacqueline Ryder
Jacqueline is NAB’s Cyber Threat and Vulnerability Intelligence Manager.  Jacqueline is passionate about building cyber threat intelligence functions and teams for organisations in the critical infrastructure space. In addition to her extensive cyber threat and government experience, Jacqueline has also worked in the Australian healthcare sector and the Australian cyber security start up community and received her Master’s in Cybersecurity from Georgetown University in Washington D.C.

Date: Thursday 6 March 2025

Time: 5:00pm - 7:30pm (AEDT)

Venue: NAB, The Hall, Level 3, 700 Bourke Street, Docklands

Agenda:
5:00pm - 5:30pm Registration and networking
5:30pm - 6:40pm Panel session and Q&A
6:40pm - 7:30pm Networking and light refreshments

Registrations Close:  5:00pm, Wednesday 5 March 2025 unless sold out prior.