Kristyn E. Jones is Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary of the Air Force. She is responsible for the affairs of the Department of the Air Force, comprised of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force, to include organizing, training, and equipping Air and Space Forces and for the welfare of approximately 700,000 active duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian Airmen and Guardians and their families serving around the world. As the Under Secretary, she oversees the Department’s annual budget of more than $205 billion and directs strategy and policy development, risk management, weapons acquisition, technology investments and human resource management across a global enterprise.

Ms. Jones serves as the Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller. In this role, she serves as the principal adviser to the Secretary, Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Chief of Space Operations on all financial matters. She is
responsible for providing financial management and analytical services necessary for the effective and efficient use of the Department of the Air Force resources. This includes directing the development of the Air Force program and budget, overseeing the Air Force Cost Analysis Agency's acquisition and operational cost analysis, providing analytical services and conducting Air Force accounting and finance operations.

Prior to her current governmental service, Jones was a Managing Director in KPMG’s Federal Advisory practice, where she supported the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and other federal clients. Previously, Jones served in a variety of government positions. She entered the Senior Executive Service in June 2008 serving as Director, then Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Information Management until 2014. From 2007 to 2008, Jones was assigned as the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Financial Management and Comptroller for Cost Management Transformation. Prior to this role, Jones was the Director of Enterprise Transition Planning at the Department of Defense Business Transformation Agency and served as a Financial Manager at the Office of Naval Research. Earlier in her career, Jones held management positions at two Fortune 500 companies, Capital One and Advanced Micro Devices. Jones also served as a Military Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Army, where she held a variety of leadership positions.

Major General Novak graduated from the Royal Military College Duntroon in 1995 to the Royal Australian Corps of Signals. Early in his career he filled a range of regimental and staff appointments with highlights including Squadron Commander and Operations Officer at the 3rd Combat Signal Regiment, Staff Officer Grade 1 for battlefield digitisation at Army Headquarters, and Commanding Officer of the 1st Combat Signal Regiment.

Post his Regimental command, Major General Novak spent two years seconded to the Office of National Intelligence as a strategic analyst. In this role, he prepared reports covering a range of issues relevant to Australia’s strategic security interests for the Prime Minister, other Government Ministers, and senior Departmental officials. After this secondment, Major General Novak returned to Army Headquarters as Military Assistant to the Chief of Army.

Major General Novak was promoted to Colonel in December 2016 and posted to the United States as the Australian Liaison Officer to United States Strategic Command. Representing Australia’s Defence interests with United States Strategic Command, Major General Novak gained unique insights on strategic deterrence, space as an operational domain, and integrated global operations. He was awarded a United States Legion of Merit for his contributions to these important components of the Australia – United States military to military relationship.

Upon return to Australia in 2019, Major General Novak served as Chief of Staff to the Chief of the Defence Force. This appointment remains a career highlight for Major General Novak as he worked closely with Defence’s most senior leaders and was constantly exposed to the highest level workings of the Department. He was promoted to Brigadier in January 2020 and appointed Commander Defence Strategic Communications in the Chief Information Officer Group, responsible for delivering strategic communications to deployed ADF elements and Defence establishments domestically, regionally and globally.

In December 2021, Major General Novak was appointed Commander of the Australian Army’s 6th Brigade where he led some of Defence’s most capable intelligence, surveillance, electronic warfare, cyber, battlespace control, and force-level engineering units. He was promoted to Major General in October 2023 and assumed his current appointment as Commander Defence Space Command in December 2023.

Operationally, Major General Novak has deployed to Bougainville, Afghanistan, the broader Middle East Area of Operations, and twice to East Timor. Through these deployments, he has served regionally and globally in coalition settings, commanded deployed forces at sub- unit and unit level, and experienced contingency operations as well as scheduled force rotations.

Major General Novak holds a Masters of Science in Information Technology and a Masters of Arts in Strategy and Policy. He held the appointment of Head of Corps for Army’s Royal Australian Corps of Signals from January 2020 to December 2023 and was awarded Member of the Order of Australia in 2023 Australia Day Honours for exceptional service in ADF command and liaison appointments.

Brig. Gen. Anthony J. Mastalir is the Commander, United States Space Forces Indo-Pacific, Joint Base Pearl Harbor - Hickam, Hawaii. The unit plans, coordinates, supports, and conducts employment of space operations across the full range of military operations, including security cooperation, in support of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command objectives.
Brig. Gen. Mastalir earned his commission as a distinguished graduate of the Northwestern University Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps. He is a credentialed Guardian having completed a series of operational, staff and command assignments in spacelift and range operations, satellite command and control, space electronic warfare, space policy, space security and defense, legislative affairs, and joint operations. He has commanded at the Air Force squadron, group, and wing level and at the Space Force delta level and has deployed in support of Operations Inherent Resolve, Freedom’s sentinel, Spartan Shield, and Allies Refuge.
Prior to his current assignment he served as the Special Assistant to the Deputy Commander, Space Operations Command, Vandenberg SFB, CA.

Loredana Santo is full professor of Manufacturing processes at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy. She is the head of the Department of Industrial Engineering and head of the Space Sustainability Center. She has been principal Investigator of experiments on board of the International Space Station, keynote speaker in many international conferences, organizer of several international symposia and involved in international activities and projects. Her scientific activity has been mainly focused on the following topics: innovative materials and manufacturing processes, industrial and Space sustainability. She is author of over 180 manuscripts accepted in international journals, books and conferences proceedings.

Dr Paul Scully-Power is an integrator, strategist and orthogonal thinker and is Australia’s first astronaut. He has a unique international background in Industry, Government and Academia in the US, UK, Australia, and NZ, and is well known for his network of people and institutions around the world. A leader in applying technology, he has broad expertise in defence, national security & intelligence, aviation & aerospace, cybersecurity, remote sensing, and systems analysis & ICT. He is currently engaged in artificial intelligence (national iAward for innovation), UAVs, microsatellites, smart sensors, nanotechnology and big data analytics.

Dr Joni Sytsma is an aerospace engineer hailing from the USA who, as a recent citizen of Australia, is committed to building innovative technologies within our country. Dr Sytsma has over 16 years’ experience in the research, development and commercialisation of extremely complex aerospace systems where combined interactions of hardware, software and physics are the defining value-add.
As the Chief Technology Officer (iLAuNCH), Dr Sytsma leads the program’s research portfolio in space, satellites, rockets, hypersonics and advanced manufacturing and materials.
Joni was most recently Chief Technology Officer at Department 13 in the counter unmanned aerial systems field. Joni began her career with a decade of developing cutting edge aerospace systems at the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). In her time at AFRL, Dr Sytsma led research and development teams to design and optimise aerospace technologies and develop academic concepts into fully tested systems.

Dr Sytsma moved to Australia to join the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experiment (HIFiRE) program with Defence Science and Technology (DST) group. She then joined Gilmour Space Technologies as Head of GNC to work on software stack development, performance simulations and design optimisations.

Prof. Fabrizio Quadrini (m), PhD, is full professor of Manufacturing Technologies in the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. During his career, he has collaborated with many industrial partners to design and optimize new processes and products. He has been S&T manager of European projects such as SMART (Sustainable Moulding of Articles from Recycled Tyres) and GreenPack (Fully recyclable 100% PET package for food contact with O2 barrier, improved transparency and low CO2 footprint) and coordinator of the research unit of his University in several national and international projects such as SMARTFAN (Smart by Design and Intelligent by Architecture for turbine blade fan and structural components systems). He is author of over 260 manuscripts accepted in international journals and conferences (173 on Scopus, Hindex =20). He has been member of ASME/MED Manufacturing Processes Technical Committee (MPTC) and the AITEM board, and is Coordinator of the Bachelor in Engineering Sciences and member of the board of the Doctorate in Industrial Engineering. His main scientific interests deal with laser processing of metals and plastics, forming and machining of materials, composite materials, cellular materials, manufacturing processes, additive manufacturing, smart and shape memory materials, technologies for recycling, smart materials for space application.

Associate Professor Marta Yebra is a leading expert in remote sensing and bushfire management and the director of the ANU-Optus Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence, which aims to develop technological solutions to protect Australian from catastrophic bushfires.

She has published more than 141 scientific papers and her research has been recognised through numerous awards, including the Max Day Environmental Science Award by the Australian Academy of Science, the CSIRO OCE Pyne-Scott career award and the Bushfire & Natural Hazards CRC’s Outstanding Achievement in Research Utilization award.

She was finalist for the Australian Space Awards' Academic of the Year and the National Resilient Australia Award. Marta Yebra has served on several advisory government bodies including the Australian Space Agency’s Bushfire Earth Observation Taskforce and Earth Observation Technical Advisory Group, the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning’s Scientific Reference Panel and the ACT Multi Hazards Advisory Council.

Preetham Akula, CEO and founder of Akula Tech, a deep tech start-up specializing in the space sector, draws from his aerospace engineering background to drive innovation. Fuelled by a profound passion for space tech, he established Akula Tech to pioneer advancements in the industry.
Akula Tech's unique value proposition stems from our next-generation satellites, equipped with adaptive intelligence, enabling them to learn and improve the mission operations over time. Our satellites are also manufactured using novel materials and advanced manufacturing techniques, making the production faster and cost efficient.

Dr Rebecca Allen is the Co Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute at Swinburne University of Technology. She completed her PhD in Astrophysics at Swinburne where she used information from powerful telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope to study the evolution and growth of galaxies going back to when the Universe was barely a billion years old. Now, Dr Allen applies her scientific expertise to help support Australia's growing space industry. To this end, she utilises cutting-edge research in areas such as microgravity experimentation and Earth observation to build climate change resilient communities and support health innovation. When she’s not studying space or using it for Earth, she’s inspiring and empowering future space leaders by communicating the wonders of the Universe and creating immersive, hands-on learning experiences.

As Director Governance & Industry Engagement Veronica is responsible for government relations, risk, supply chain and procurement, audit, security, DISP and PMO, as well as industry engagement (including university engagement) within the Optus Satellite & Space Systems business unit. Veronica also holds a number of roles with SIAA, including Deputy Chair, Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, and member of the Nominations, Performance and Remuneration Committee, and Constitutional Reform Committee.
Prior, Veronica held a number of roles with Raytheon Australia, will responsibility for contracts management and Australian Industry Capability within the Business Development function. She also held senior corporate and Papua New Guinea-based Commercial, Compliance and Contractor Management roles with Newcrest Mining. In this capacity she provided legal and commercial advice in complex matters spanning the full spectrum of the contract management process, as well as setting up and managing a flagship vendor pre-qualification program.
Veronica holds a Bachelor of Arts / Law (Hons) from the University of Sydney and is admitted to the Supreme Courts of NSW and NT. She has also earned a Master of Business Administration (Strategic Planning) from the Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University (Scotland), a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, and a Diploma in Marketing (Public Relations).
Her portfolio included stakeholder identification and management and balancing multiple agendas and priorities to obtain and retain the company’s social licence to operate with an emphasis on supply chain localisation and sovereign capability development to meet Defence Program requirements. Veronica also has extensive experience in research, writing and policy development, with published works on subjects such as Supply Chain Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Indigenous Engagement. She has worked for the Judicial Commission of NSW, the Queensland Resources Council, University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute, and the UN Global Compact.

Russell Boyce is a seasoned leader and strategic advisor with over 35 years of experience across disruptive technologies. He has deep experience in providing strategic thinking, leadership development, education and skills uplift for applying advanced technology and innovation to solve modern challenges.
His contributions include :
25 years of hypersonics R&D (experimental, numerical and flight experiments), including as DSTO Chair for Hypersonics at UQ. This included leading the international SCRAMSPACE scramjet flight experiment and supporting research program that saw over 100 publications and almost 30 young scientists and engineers trained;
10 years of in-orbit space R&D as Chair for Intelligent Space Systems and Director of UNSW Canberra Space. The effort included flying four space missions with five advanced satellites (including the formation-flying / optical-and-RF ISR / artificial-intelligence mission M2); contributed 35+ of the best space engineers in Australia, and spun off three space companies;
Chaired the National Committee for Space and Radio Science for several years, and helped establish the Australian Space Agency, Smartsat CRC, and NICSAT, NSMEO, Aquawatch and other national mission opportunities; and
led the founding of Skykraft, and chairs the board of Infinity Avionics (two of the spin-offs)

Russell is now using his consulting company Mission Assurance as the vehicle for continuing to contribute, in roles that include :
Domain Lead for Aeronautics, American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) – this role includes overall responsibility for AIAA’s High Speed Flight Task Force (supersonics and hypersonics)
Ambassador to the Australian region for the Milo Space Institute (Arizona State University) and its emerging space nations capacity building programs
strategic thinking facilitation for senior executive education via the global top 5 business school INSEAD in France and Singapore.

Matt is the Managing Director for SSC Space Australia. Joining SSC in 2022, his role is to manage the Swedish Space Corporation ground station infrastructure in Australia, and to grow the business in the ANZ region.

Matt has been working with organisations to deliver complex projects in highly technical environments for 19 years within the ICT, telecommunications, and data centre sectors, and he has experience in bringing new technologies to market. With the rapid growth of the Space sector in Australia, and the focus on developing a mature, sovereign capability, SSC are continuing to invest in their Australian operations and are in a position to provide a complete range of services to industry, including ground station, science and launch, and engineering solutions.

Jackie has a diverse and long-standing background in education with first hand experience working with school children.
She was a school teacher for 25 years and later worked in the Department of Education analysing the NSW school curriculum and how it corresponds with student learning.
Jackie co founded One Giant Leap Australia Foundation with her husband, Robert Carpenter OAM, in 2008.

Anntonette Dailey is a chartered engineer and brings more than 15 years senior executive capability, working across multiple Government agencies, not for profit and consultancies.

Anntonette was recently the Executive Director at the Australian Space Agency, having commenced as part of the inaugural leadership team in 2018 and was responsible for managing its operating environment, managing stakeholders and was instrumental in the establishment of the Australian Space Discovery Centre, publishing the first three whole of Government State of Space Reports, the financial controller and management of the public affairs, outreach and parliamentary activity.

Anny has always had a soft spot for the space sector, attending space camps at school, presenting to Parliament on the need for better space coordination. She is also a major supporter for developing the current and future STEM workforce. Her leadership and passion were recognised by AFR as one of Australia’s 100 most Influential Women and as young graduate of the year by the University of Technology, Sydney.

As a mother to Skye (6) and Flynn (1), Anny enjoys caravanning, renovating, rugby union and car racing.

Dr. Malcolm Davis joined ASPI as a Senior Analyst in Defence Strategy and Capability in January 2016.
Prior to this, he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in China-Western Relations with the Faculty of Society and Design at Bond University from March 2012 to January 2016, and he currently retains an Honorary Assistant Professor position in the Faculty. He has worked with the Department of Defence, both in Navy Headquarters in the Strategy and Force Structure area, and with Strategic Policy Division in the Strategic Policy Guidance and Strategic External Relations and Education sections from November 2007 to March 2012. Prior to this appointment he was a Lecturer in Defence Studies with Kings College London at the Joint Services Command and Staff College, in Shrivenham, UK, from June 2000 to October 2007. He holds a PhD in Strategic Studies from the University of Hull as well as two Masters degrees in Strategic Studies, including from the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. His main research focus is on defence strategy and capability development, military technology, and the future of warfare.