Program & Speakers

Catherine King represents the electorate of Ballarat in the Australian Parliament. Following the 2022 Election, Catherine was sworn in as the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government – a portfolio that reaches into the heart of every community across the country. Catherine holds Bachelor Degrees in Social Work and Laws and a Masters’ in Public Policy. Prior to entering Parliament, Catherine was a social worker, a public servant and a senior manager at KPMG’s Consulting Practice.

Ursula Bryan is the Chief Executive Officer at the Institute of Asset Management (IAM). Prior to this role, she spent 30 years as an asset management leader working at National Grid, an energy company operating in the UK and the US and the largest electricity transmission and distribution business in the UK. She is a past President of the IAM, has been a member of the IAM Board since 2009, and was made an IAM Life Fellow in 2022.

John is the Executive Director of the Asset Management Branch at Transport for NSW and is responsible for leading and enabling transport service outcomes for customers and communities through effective whole of life asset management. John was previously the Executive Director, Sydney Division for former Roads and Maritime Services where he lead the division’s first Strategic Asset Management Plan and the implementation of full battery electric vehicles into Sydney division’s passenger fleet.

John has a background of over 30 years in asset management within the electricity and transport industries, is a passionate leader of organisational improvement in asset and operational risk management and has implemented world class asset management strategies and systems to manage risk and provide value for customers and communities.

John is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and serves as a board member for numerous global and Australian asset management organisations and co-authored the books Living Asset Management and Living Asset Management Maturity. In 2018 John was awarded the MESA medal by the Asset Management Council. The MESA Medal is awarded to an individual who has personally contributed at the highest level to the advancement of the science and/or practice of asset management.

Michael Shave is an accomplished executive-level government senior consultant with an extensive 26-year background in financial strategy and operations. Specialising in providing strategic advice for the local government industry, Michael has garnered experience in both private and public sectors. For the past 3 years, Michael has served as President of the Local Government Finance Professionals Queensland, the key representative body for financial and accounting professionals in Queensland’s local government sector. Before that, he spent 5 years as an Executive member of the LGFP Committee. Michael plays a pivotal role in advocating for continuous innovation and improvement in the industry. Michael also facilitates a range of capacity building activities for the sector, including webinars, training sessions, masterclasses, and finance-related forums across Queensland. Michael strongly believes in articulating complex financial issues in a manner easily understood by executives, board members and elected representatives, irrespective of their financial literacy level. Michael holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting), Bachelor of Arts (History), is a fellow of CPA Australia and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Tanya Garost is the City Manager, City of Martensville, Saskatchewan. Martensville is a fast growing community with a population of 12,000. With 20 plus years in local government finance, her past positions include a progression from manager and director positions in Finance to Executive and City Manager positions. Tanya’s involvement with Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) started at the Provincial level when she joined the GFOA of British Columbia in 2013, eventually serving two terms as President. From there, Tanya started with the GFOA of US and Canada by sitting on the Canada standing committee on Canadian Issues in 2017 and then joining the Executive Board in 2020. She was nominated as President Elect for GFOA in 2023 and will become President at the GFOA’s 118th Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. Asset management and sustainable service delivery are a passion that Tanya has brought to all the organizations she has worked in.

With a professional career as a lawyer and mediator, belief in the power of community, and 20 years in leadership roles – twelve as a Chief Executive, Susan Freeman-Greene could easily have run as a candidate for council herself. But right now, she is happiest where she is, working hard for the membership body and the councils, to leverage the opportunity that is local democracy. Susan joined LGNZ in October 2020. She was drawn in by the opportunity for local government to achieve greater impact and the ability to do great things for communities in the face of some turbulent times. Susan says the role is at the perfect junction of all her life and career experiences to date. She has worked within many sectors and with many diverse groups of people, in cities, towns and rural communities both here and internationally. It’s led her to become pretty comfortable operating in a range of settings and adapting to change. She would love to see more participation in local government and for people to value its role more than they do today. She knows intimately of the enormous commitment and mahi done behind the scenes by passionate, committed, smart and caring people who put in the hard yards, day-in, day-out. And while more is needed to ensure people understand this work, she is proud of the environment that has been created to push firmly into this positive space for the betterment of communities.