“Be the light or the mirror that reflects it.”

Dominic Siow is the quintessential optimist. A passionate transformation coach, he has dedicated the past 17 years of his career to helping organisations create workplace culture that inspires their people to be at their natural best. His talks, coaching and workshops on leadership, collaboration, influence and emotional intelligence have created a positive impact on more than 150 organisations throughout the Asia Pacific region. More than 50,000 people have attended his talks and training, with many rating them as the most impactful professional development they’ve experienced.

Prior to his present vocation, Dominic was a senior operations manager for IBM Australia and VP of Product Development at Grapevine Technologies. He is the author of the Amazon Best Seller “What’s GREAT about this? How to be Resilient and thrive through disruption and change.”

Tony Spencer-Smith loves words. He has worked with them all his life – ever since he published his own magazine while still in primary school. He moved on to become a prominent journalist, an award-winning novelist and a corporate writer and editor. In his training, he inspires others to share his enthusiasm for the power of language.

Tony is one of Australia’s top corporate writing and editing trainers. In over a decade he has helped thousands of people from blue chip companies, government and not-for-profit organisations to upgrade their communication skills.

The broad experience he brings to his training includes being Editor-in-Chief of Reader’s Digest magazine in both Australia and South Africa; a senior newspaper journalist; and a corporate editorial expert who has written speeches, brochures, reports, websites and internal communications for top clients.

His children’s novel The Man Who Snarled at Flowers won the biggest literary prize in South Africa, while his book The Essentials of Great Writing was published in Australia in 2009.

Trainees leave Tony’s classes with a comprehensive set of writing and editing skills to raise their writing to the next level.

Tony has a Bachelor of Social Science degree and a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. In his training, he strives to inspire others to share his enthusiasm for the power of language.

Michael Sribney brings a dynamic blend of hands-on expertise and visionary leadership based on experience in diverse industries including education, financial services and travel.  

Michael has an unwavering passion for leveraging technology to understand and solve complex customer problems.  Throughout his career, Michael has thrived in high-profile roles at renowned organisations like the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Qantas, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.  

Michael's approach to product management puts the customer at the heart of every decision and relies on data-driven insights to navigate the ever-changing landscape and deliver solutions that solve customer problems and deliver substantial business value. 

Michael shares his expertise through teaching at the prestigious University of Sydney, actively contributes to the start-up ecosystem as a mentor at the renowned Stone & Chalk incubator and takes on a leadership role as a council lead at the Association of Product Professionals, driving industry-wide product management best practices. 

Michael’s holds a Master of Commerce from the University of Western Sydney, as well as certifications in product management, human-centered design, cloud computing, agile delivery and successfully completed the Company Directors Course.

Andrew has delivered workshops on data strategy, program evaluation and AI applications in social science. His expertise includes machine learning, multimodal AI pipelines and advanced statistical analysis. He has previously taught on topics including restorative justice program evaluation and data-driven decision making.

Andrew worked as a Senior Research Associate at the Vera Institute of Justice, where he led AI-driven data solutions and ETL pipeline development across cloud platforms. He has managed research teams and analytics projects for John Jay College of Criminal Justice and government agencies, with a focus on equity, diversion programs and public health.

Andrew holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Washington and is a Pi Alpha Alpha Honors inductee. He has completed advanced training in AI and machine learning, including LangChain systems, LLMOps, and prompt engineering, alongside certifications in Principles of Machine Learning and AI strategies from UC Berkeley and Deeplearning.ai.

Mark Tredinnick, winner of the Montreal Poetry Prize (2011) and the Cardiff Poetry Prize (2012), is the author of The Blue Plateau, Fire Diary, and nine other acclaimed works of poetry and prose.

His work is widely published in Australian and overseas newspapers and journals, including Australian Poetry, Blue Dog, Five Bells, Indigo, Island, Isotope, Kunapipi, Manoa, Mascara, Meanjin, Orion, PAN, Southerly, Snorkel, The Grove, The Sun-Herald, The Sydney Morning Herald, Wet Ink, World Literature Today. He writes regularly for newspapers including The Australian, The Sun-Herald, and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Mark talks and teaches widely on writing, landscape, justice and ecology. For over a decade he has run writing programs at the University of Sydney and at writers' centres in Australia and the United States. He runs them these days, too, in his cowshed in Burradoo. He mentors aspiring writers, and now and then he edits a manuscript in need of help. He teaches grammar and composition, and he consults, on writing matters, with clients in business and government. For ten years, before all that, Mark was a book editor and publisher. Once upon a time he was a lawyer.

Denise Tsagaris is a highly experienced trainer and consultant with over 25 years of expertise in instructing Microsoft applications, spanning from fundamental to advanced levels. Throughout her extensive career, Denise has been a trusted source for organisations such as the Reserve Bank of Australia, Department of Defence, ANSTO (Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation), The Salvation Army, Village Roadshow, and legal firms including MinterEllison Sydney and Philips Fox (now known as DLA Piper). Her reach extends across diverse sectors, encompassing government, corporate, and not-for-profit entities.

Denise's contributions go beyond the training room; she crafts comprehensive training materials, including manuals, course exercises, tip sheets, PowerPoint decks, and other resources to facilitate learning. Drawing on her rich experience using and developing with Microsoft products in professional settings, Denise enriches the learning experience with real-life examples. Beyond her role as a trainer, Denise has conducted Train the Trainer courses for training organizations and corporate groups, cultivating new IT trainers with a passion for lifelong learning. With a Bachelor's degree in Adult Education, Microsoft Certification, and a Certificate IV in Workplace Training, Denise is not just an instructor but a dedicated guide fostering the potential of learners in the dynamic world of Microsoft applications.

Sylvia has studied sociology, psychology, education and philosophy in Wuppertal and at the University of Hamburg. Before becoming a language facilitator and receiving a Certificate in Language Training from the University of Sydney, Sylvia worked in political and market research. She currently teaches students of all levels and ages, and gains motivation from watching her students' progress. She also offers cultural training to Australian's conducting business in Germany. As well as her training role, Sylvia also works as a translator and enjoys immersing herself in different topics.

Alent Vargas has been teaching Mathematics since 1996 at both University and High School levels. She has extensive experience in marking at HSC levels and in examination standard-setting for the Stage 6 Mathematics General course. Alent is currently the head of a Mathematics department in a Senior Sydney High School that specialises in preparing students at Stage 6 level.

Alent holds a Bachelor of Secondary Education degree, with major in Mathematics and a minor in Science. She has also completed the academic requirements for the Master of Science in Mathematics Education. Alent is currently accredited by NESA as a Proficient Teacher.

Alent has considerable experience as a presenter and facilitator for a number of Mathematics General workshops and seminars for teachers of Stage 6 Mathematics in the Sydney Catholic diocese. She is also a member of a Southern Sydney diocesan committee, developing and writing programs and course material for HSC Mathematics General course.

A life-long fascination with the mystery of numbers and a passion to inspire others lies at the heart of Alent’s teaching and personal learning journey.

Maggie Videan is a Learning and Development professional with a special interest in the area of professional development for the Executive Assistant. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology, Education & Communication) and a Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment. Maggie’s experience includes speaking at national conferences, conducting in-house training for Executive Assistants, writing for EA-specific publications and delivering training at the Centre for Continuing Education where she has been a tutor for over 15 years.

Maggie has been privy to the many challenges and issues facing the present-day EA and continues to provide up-to-date learning opportunities to keep the skills of the current day EA relevant and meaningful.

Having worked across a wide and diverse range of industries, Maggie is an experienced educator, presenter and facilitator, and her training sessions are highly interactive and engaging.

Mandy is an IT professional with over 30 years of experience in delivering transformational technology training services across a broad range of industries. Her expertise lies in curriculum development and the design and delivery of Microsoft Office training solutions.

She has an established record in managing technical change projects in ICT infrastructure roles and has a proven track history of achieving outstanding results in the transformation training change space within the legal, financial, and education industries and for private and public sector clients.

Mandy designs training solutions in collaboration with her clients using a detailed training needs analysis to determine the training specifications and delivery outcomes required for the professional development of technical and general staff.

Her experience includes instructional design, coaching, strategic planning, organisational development, change management, e-learning, project management, mentoring, curriculum development, and delivery/facilitation of training programs across a variety of industries as well as the reportable monitoring and evaluation of learning outcomes.