Visions Conference 2010

The Visions Conference Program 2010 is available here.

Check out the abstracts and bios of 2010 conference presenters and papers.

The Visions Committee are pleased to introduce our keynote speakers.

Julia Collins
Director, Model Legislation Project Safe Work Australia

Julia Collins is currently the Director of the model legislation project at Safe Work Australia and is responsible for the policy input in developing the model work health and safety laws, which are to be adopted by all jurisdictions under the Council of Australian Governments’ Intergovernmental Agreement for Regulatory and Operational Reform in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). She also worked with the panel who undertook the National Review into model work health and safety laws, which provided the policy framework for the current harmonisation process.

Apart from her extensive experience in national policy development, Julia has also worked in the regulatory field. She previously managed the workplace safety inspectorate and the education unit at ACT WorkCover where she developed various initiatives to raise awareness of work health and safety, including the ACT’s “Ten Steps to Safety” program for Small Business.

Julia has an Executive Master of Public Administration from the Australian National University and a Graduate Diploma in Safety Science from the University of New South Wales..

Bruce Sullivan, CSP
Keynote Speaker, Author & Business Leader

(CSP is the highest possible international qualification & accreditation for professional speakers)
2007 National Speakers Keynote Presenter of the Year
Author: Hannah’s Christmas Gift, 1 Life Journal, Rippa! How To Have The Energy Of A Four Year Old Almost Everyday

Managing his own businesses since his teens, by age 24 he had established his own million-dollar network of businesses and he has an extended track record of working with a wide range of private and public organisations, both in Australia and overseas.

Bruce has also worked with individuals, families and communities providing education and opportunities for personal improvement. It is this experience that has given Bruce a unique understanding of our ability to relate to one another in the workplace and at home. This is what sets his work apart and gives a very practical and timely insight into the human side of the corporate environment.

In 2007 Bruce was awarded the Keynote Speaker of the Year by the National Speakers Association of Australia. He was also presented with the Paul Harris Fellowship Award for his outstanding contribution to the Rotary Youth Leadership Award which is a Youth Leadership Program for up and coming leaders in the 18 to 25 year old category. Bruce has been presenting at this program for over 19 years.

Susan Heron
CEO AIM Vic/Tas

Susan Heron is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Institute of Management, Victoria and Tasmania. AIM VT has administrative offices in Melbourne and Hobart.

AIM is Australia’s major executive development, training and management research organisation with offices across the nation. This independent organisation has more than 25,000 professional members and more than 5,000 corporate partners. It operates on a federated model with each state responsible for its own operations. Since Ms Heron took over as CEO of AIM VT in 2004, the organisation’s annual profit has increased from $5,500 to $2.76 million.

Prior to joining AIM, Ms Heron held various senior corporate management positions including Chief Operating Officer and Head of Corporate Strategy, ANZ Institutional Banking; Executive Director and Head of Banking (Melbourne), Rothschild Australia; and Chief Manager at Westpac responsible for one of Institutional Bank Victoria’s largest teams as well as responsibility for Institutional Bank Perth.

Ms Heron is a current Board member of Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust and a member of the Federal Government’s Energy Efficiency Skills Consultative Committee. Previous Board appointments include NM Rothschild & Sons (Australia) Limited, Museum Victoria, Malthouse Theatre,The Australian Institute of Management Victoria & Tasmania, Southern Health Care Network and Water EcoScience Limited. She was also Chairman of the Defence Reserves Support Council (Victoria), Deputy Chairman of the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and was a member of the Victorian Government’s Finance Industry Consultative Committee.

Earlier career highlights for Ms Heron include employment as the only female shipbroker in Australia and one of only three in the world. During Ms Heron’s six years as a shipbroker, she became the first woman in Australia to qualify as an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (London).

Away from work, Ms Heron’s interests include scuba diving, archaeology, history and plagues.

Dr Ki Douglas MBBS MPH MEL GradDipOHS FAFOEM
Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Dr Ki Douglas is a specialist in occupational and environmental medicine and a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. In that capacity she has served on many Federal and State Committees of the Faculty, the most recent being the Policy and Advocacy Committee which she represents today.

Dr Douglas is also the Chief Medical Officer for Workplace Health and Safety Queensland in the Department of Justice and Attorney-General where she heads up the Health Strategy Branch. This group, which includes the disciplines of occupational medicine, ergonomics and organisational psychology, has a pro-active role in furthering the prevention of occupational disease, and musculoskeletal and psychosocial disorders through preventing exposure, promoting health and changing workplace culture.

From her early days working in occupational rehabilitation it was evident that a return to work after injury was much better for the physical and mental health of individuals than prolonged absence and disengagement from the workplace. This anecdotal evidence is now strongly supported by research. She will be addressing this topic in her keynote address.