Committee
FITT is run by a Steering Committee, a group of volunteers from a variety of organisations. The current members are profiled below. Some also have public profiles on LinkedIn, where FITT has an active group.
The Steering Committee meets at least six times a year to promote various programs and initiatives designed to achieve the objectives of FITT and to support women in the ICT industry.
From time to time the committee has vacancies. If you are interested in being a part of this dynamic group, download a copy of the job description and contact us to apply.
 Maggie Alexander
Maggie runs her own business, M &
M Consulting Services which provides consulting and
training in business process improvement, including business
planning and teamwork development. She works for large and
small organisations including health & financial services,
educational and technology-based organisations.
Prior to starting her own business, she worked for a
multinational computer company in various managerial
positions. She also worked for NSW TAFE and the NSW
Government in industry development.
She is a foundation member of FITT and has been a member of
several private sector boards. LinkedIn member.
 Alia Amaouch
Alia is Service Delivery Manager at IBM. She started off her IT career in an IT department while at university, assisting with ad-hoc jobs and ended up with a full time Helpdesk Analyst role. She moved to IBM and started off as a graduate. She is now a Service Delivery Manager and has been in this role for approximately 3 months.
 Christine Bishop
Christine Bishop is a solution oriented professional with over 17 years experience in Strategic Marketing, Channel & Business Development roles within the IT, Telecommunications and Information Management industries. Christine has held senior positions at both Microsoft Australia where she was responsible for the management of the SQL Server product and Business Intelligence solutions, and Telstra, where she held a variety of roles including managing the OEM & Retail Channels for Telstra Big Pond as well as Telstra’s indirect channels launch for Broadband ADSL. Most recently Christine established the Sydney office of a strategic marketing consultancy specialising in providing IT companies with evidence based advice and direction.
Christine holds a BA & a Grad Dip in Education from University of Sydney, a MCom (Marketing) from UNSW and was one of 14 selected students to recently complete the Inaugural Global Executive MBA at the University of Sydney Business School. LinkedIn member.
 Karen Challenger
Karen is General Manager, Strategic Alliances at Telstra. She has had 21 years in the ICT industry working for corporations such as Xerox, Siemens, Cisco and Telstra, performing senior roles in Sales, Business Development and Marketing, particularly in building new routes to market for new technology through partnerships.
She worked for 11 years at Cisco, and after a brief sabbatical, joined Telstra where I lead the strategic alliances with Cisco, Microsoft and Accenture for Enterprise and Government customers. During her career at Cisco she set up a women’s network in The Netherlands which included networking, mentoring and speaker programmes. She is a mother of 2 young children and her partner has his own consultancy business. She has a MBA from Henley Management Collage, UK. She enjoys keeping fit, loves playing golf when time permits and has a passion for photography.
 Marianna Checklin
Having started my career in the banking world as an IT Graduate Programme, I moved from working as a Developer to become a Technical Lead, and eventually a Project Manager. I’ve now been working as a PM for approximately 6 years. Currently, I am an independent contractor and my career has spanned Banking, Government, Utilities and Telco. Project Management is many things, but never boring. There’s always a problem to solve, and there are always new people to meet – that’s what I enjoy most about my job! I value having a community of female IT professionals with whom I can share experience, and more importantly, learn from. I want to help get more females in leadership roles, help women network, and generally, help women succeed in IT.
 Melanie
Cheong
Melanie Cheong is an IT Consultant with 15+
years experience performing many roles. In South Africa, Melanie
worked in the sole electricity provider; the second largest
operation (14+ million subscribers) of a telecommunications
multinational, and 2 outsourced service providers, including
IBM.
She specialises in IT quality and governance, process
architecture and standards - managing projects and change.
Melanie holds a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science,
Mathematics) and Masters in Engineering, and is a Certified
Software Quality Analyst.
Melanie hopes to use her not-for-profit experience to advance
FITT’s objectives of developing and promoting women in the
Australian industry. LinkedIn member.
 Tracy Currie
Tracy has been in the telecommunications industry for 20 years
and held positions at Senior Executive and Director level.
She is a quick, lateral analytical thinker with strong
decision-making and change management skills. Her strong
values and communication skills build trust and this
facilitates strong relationships with staff, clients,
suppliers and the industry.
Management experience includes: Founder and Executive
Director of Sirius Telecommunications Ltd, where she
undertook various positions throughout the company’s
development including: CEO, Mergers & Acquisitions, General
Management, Operational management, Change management and
Project management. Since leaving Sirius in 2006, Tracy has
undertaken various consulting roles and the position of COO
and CEO at Zamro International. LinkedIn
member.
 Natasha Dalton
Natasha is Client Director, Gen-i Australia. She has worked inthe IT&Tindustry for 10 years. Roles have included business development, Service Delivery, Strategy and most recently Client Director. She has worked for Ericsson, Compuware and Gen-i. Her major achievements include development and execution of multi-year managed services contracts, delivery of IT business projects, and strategic planning and execution.
Her broader experience includes developing new business solutions for clients based on industry insights and client requirements, organising client events, coordinating virtual teams within her organisation and across her client’s organisation, and initiating new business projects. Outside work she enjoys time with her friends and family, spending time with her dogs and loves cooking.
 Jennifer
Duryea
Jennifer is a driven Executive IT Professional with extensive
and diversified experience in both managing and leading a
variety of IT business disciplines, and more recently selling
enterprise solutions to support these business disciplines.
Over a period of 27 years she has attained a high level of
experience. She started her career as a developer, but then
moved into more strategic roles such as Implementation
Management, Quality Assurance, Account Management, General
Management and Solution Sales. She possesses a strong focus on
process improvement and implementation, and the inherent value
this brings to organisations. Her skills and experience have
been accomplished through working with private and government
organisations in Australia and internationally.
 Irene Evgeniadis
Irene Evgeniadis is currently a IT Program Manager within Telstra’s IT organization, having worked in a variety of fields, including Telstra’s IT Transformation, Program Management, Solution Management, Disaster Recovery, Security and Risk Management. Upon completing her Honors’ and Post Graduate Degree in Legal and Criminology, Irene fell into the IT industry mostly out of curiosity. Almost 17 great years later in IT roles that have kept her challenged and satisfied, Irene decided it was time to give something back and joined industry-driven initiatives which aimed to facilitate entry, retention and progression for women working in ICT. Taking on roles as Program Director of Go Girl Go for IT in 2010 and again for 2012. In 2006 Irene was invited to become a board member of Vic ICT for Women - Vic ICT for Women, a position she still currently holds. In 2011 Irene was then nominated to the FITT Steering Committee, as Telstra’s Representative, a role she takes up with much excitement and zeal. Irene also recently received the Queen Victoria Shilling Wall Tribute, as well as Telstra’s IT CIO Award for her contribution to women in IT. Irene is passionate about IT and encouraging women to never just accept the status quo, but to excel in what has traditionally been a male dominated environment. LinkedIn member.
 Claire Hayes
Claire is Change and Implementation Manager – Victoria at Westpac. She started at Telstra on the graduate program and moved through various strategy roles for seven years, including their billing transformation and the set up of BigPond. She spent a couple of years Management Consulting with BDO where she worked on various projects for NAB, ANZ, SP AusNet, Jemena, Red Cross and iiNet.
She joined Westpac in 2010 and is responsible for driving and implementing strategic change across their Victorian Branch Network,including their IT investments.
 Maureen Kalnins
Maureen is Senior Manager at Deloitte. Her career with Deloitte has spanned 24yrs, working in Hobart, Adelaide and Sydney. After working in the Hobart office, as Office Manager, her career developed more of an IT focus, moving from the on-site IT representative, for more experienced IT professionals based in Melbourne, to a 2nd level support role based in Adelaide.
She then relocated to Sydney for a role as Desktop Team Leader, followed by a brief stint as Project Manager, to the role she currently holds as Senior Manager of our Business Analysis team (13 people), which sits within Deloitte's Information Technology Solutions team.
 Conni Marais
Conni started a career in IT at a large energy provider in
Southern Africa and progressed from technical programming roles
to business analysis in a BA Centre of Excellence. She relocated
to Australia in 2002, where she continues working in IT in the
educational, tourism marketing and FMCG sectors. She is a member
of ACS and ACS-W the SIG for Women in IT. LinkedIn member.
 Mary McLeod
Mary has over 18 years IT&T experience in a variety of roles
and holds a Bachelor of Computer Science (Uni SA) and an MBA in
Technology Management (La Trobe, Melbourne).
Mary started initially in technical IT roles in Adelaide
(Mitsubishi Motors & Telecom Australia) then moved to the UK to
work for CSC & GE Capital on client sites delivering IT
Professional services. After stints in Technical Support & IT
Training, Mary moved into Sales (Pre & Post), Marketing &
Strategy. Mary has worked for start-ups (IT venture capital
incubators) and a number of IT Vendors including Telelogic, PTC,
Infor and KAZ. Currently working at Telstra, Mary has a broad range
of IT management skills, best-practise B2B marketing, strategic
approach to IT solutions strategy and values excellent
relationships above all else as a hallmark of great teamwork and
delivering hard outcomes.
Mary has been involved in various IT mentoring programs and is
particularly passionate about ensuring women have the necessary
communication and career management skills to achieve their
potential in the technology industry. As a FITT Steering
Committee for 4 years, Mary contributes to the marketing,
sponsorships & strategy of FITT. LinkedIn member.
 Fiona
Noyce
Since 2001 Fiona had been a full-time teacher at The
Hills College of TAFE teaching a range of software, hardware,
networking, and communication skills. Her specializations are
virtualization and networking.
For the last 1 ½ years she had been the SharePoint mentor for
Baulkham Hills College staff. When she first became a full-time
teacher she completed a Graduate Diploma in Vocational Education
and Training. Previous to this she was a part-time teacher at
various TAFE colleges teaching a range of IT skills.
Prior to this she worked in the IT industry for two large IT
companies in the roles of Computer Operator and Technical
Support Officer. At University she completed a Bachelor of
Computer Science Degree at Wollongong University.
Fiona is keen to encourage more women into the ICT industry
especially when she teaches in a male dominated area. She would
like to inspire women to achieve their goals for their IT career
through facilitating networking opportunities, knowledge
transfer and awareness of the TAFE environment.
 Jeanette Patamia
Jeanette is Director, IT Customer Services, University of New South Wales. Her first job in IT was in 1978 as an IBM system 32 Computer Operator.She then began further studies in Computer Programming, moved to the USA in 1980 and married. She lived there for 10 years and started her undergraduate studies in Computer Science at University of Hawaii (Leeward College).
She has worked in various roles: Desktop/Systems Support at TNT, Product Support Marketing Manager at Microsoft, Australia Support Team Manager, at Cisco Systems, National IT Operations Manager a tBoral Australia, Infrastructure Director (Australia) and Service Delivery Directory (AsiaPacific) at The Nielsen Company. She is married with 2 Children and 2 grandchildren, is a keen cyclist, runner, and in general fitness fanatic. She completed her MBA at University of Western Sydney 2006 and has applied for a DBA at Southern Cross University commencing 2011.
 Carol Skyring
Carol Skyring (formerly Daunt) has been involved in the design, application and effective use of learning technologies for education and business applications since 1986. Carol works with universities, colleges, schools, government departments, large corporations and SMEs throughout Australia, New Zealand, USA and Europe. As a recognised expert in her field, Carol has been published in numerous journals, is the author of several books and eBooks and is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences. (Her papers & articles can be accessed at http://www.scribd.com/cdltoz). Since 1986, Carol has been an active member of numerous industry panels, boards and committees. Carol holds a Dip T, B Ed, Grad Dip DE, M Ed (Research) and is currently undertaking an Ed D. LinkedIn member.
 Megan Stokes
Megan is Application Delivery Manager at Singtel Optus. She has 15 years experience in staff management, customers service and project management and for the last 10 years has been with Singtel Optus. She has a proven track record of quality delivery in managing the roles of Project Manager, Test Manager, and Project Architects; leading Customer Service teams and working in a variety of programs and situations. LinkedIn member.
Her responsibilities have included all aspects of program lifecycle, including scoping, assisting in Business Case preparation, solution design, useability, implementations, testing, training, change management and post implementation evaluations.
 Kellena Taylor
Kellana is Managing Director, Kellena IT Recruitment, a boutique recruitment company. Kellena began her career at IBM and has over 15 years of experience in the IT, telecommunication and media industries in roles spanning marketing, business development and sales management. She has worked across Europe and Asia.
She was General Manager of Victoria for a leading digital marketing agency and Business & Market Development Manager of Hewlett Packard’s communication, media and entertainment solutions across Asia Pacific and Japan for 5 years. She was also Business Development Manager for Hewlett Packard Europe of E-Services and telecommunications, located in Germany for 3 years. and has also held sales and marketing roles at Sandvik and Nedlloyd. She has a Masters of International Business Administration (MBA) from the University of New England and an Economics Degree from the Australian National University. LinkedIn member.
 Christine
van Toorn
Christine Van Toorn is a Lecturer and Director of the BIT and ISM Co-op
Scholarship Programs in the School of Information Systems, Technology and
Management (SISTM) at UNSW. Her commercial background is diverse and she has
considerable experience across a wide variety of industries. Christine has a
research master’s degree from UNSW and her current research interests lie in the
areas of knowledge management, eLearning and Collaborative Learning, with
particular emphasis in relation to human computer interaction. She has over 18
years of teaching experience at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels
as well as the corporate sector. Christine has extensive industry experience in
the fields of information systems, information technology and accounting, she is
a CISA and a CPA member.
Having made the transition from Industry to Academia Christine is keen to
inspire and influence young women to embrace the field of ICT and all it has to
offer. It’s a vibrant and relatively young industry offering a plethora of
opportunities just waiting to be embraced. This message needs to be sent and
needs to be heard. In the field of ICT, everyone can make a difference, no
matter how large or how small, every bit helps.
|
