Invited Speakers

Eileen A. Bjorkman

Eileen A. Bjorkman, a Senior Level executive, is Technical Adviser, Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. She provides leadership and final review of the technical aspects of the center's overall program as well as consultant advice and technical guidance to agencies within and outside the center. In collaboration with the center commander, Ms. Bjorkman establishes test and evaluation technical policy and procedures, and provides technical expertise and direction to the AFFTC work force. She also formulates testing philosophy and testing approaches to assure scientific validity, effectiveness and efficiency in accomplishing ground and flight tests. Ms. Bjorkman chairs the AFFTC Center Systems Engineering Council and is the AFFTC Science and Engineering Center Functional Manager. She also represents the center on the Air Force Material Command Engineering Council, J-Tech Program Board of Range Directors, Executive Committee of the Range Commanders Council, and Secretary of the Air Force-Acquisition Senior Leader Development Team.

Ms. Bjorkman served nearly 30 years as an Air Force officer, retiring as a colonel. During her military career she served as a flight test engineer, instructor and test squadron commander. She was a senior non-rated aircrew member and flew more than 700 hours as a flight test engineer in over 25 different aircraft, primarily the F-4, F-16, C-130 and C-141. She also held multiple staff and director positions involving modeling, simulation, analysis and joint testing, retiring from active duty as the Chief of the Modeling and Simulation Policy Division, Warfighter Systems Integration and Deployment. Ms. Bjorkman was appointed as a Senior Leader executive in January 2010.

Dick Fleming

Senior Consultant (Emeritus) - Transit Planning, Parsons Brinckerhoff Australia

Dick has been engaged as a specialist in planning for urban transit systems, multi-modal interchange planning and design, road based priority systems and integrated land use / transport planning for over 35 years.  He is an internationally recognised expert in bus rapid transit systems and has worked throughout Australia, New Zealand, UK, USA, China, Philippines and Pakistan.   A career focus has been the development of practical and functional public transport solutions in low density Australian cities.  In recent years he has also contributed to transportation plans in San Diego, Beijing, Karachi and Manila.  Dick was deeply involved in surface transportation planning for the highly successful Sydney 2000 Olympics.  He also developed the transportation master plan for Beijing's Olympic Green and has advised London 2012 and Tokyo's bid for the 2016 Games. 
Dick is a past Vice Chair of the International Association of Public Transport (Australia/New Zealand) (UITP) and a past National President of the Australian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management.

Heather Layton

General Manager – The Rapid Prototyping, Evaluation and Development (RPDE) Program

Heather Layton assumed her appointment as General Manager of the RPDE Program in November 2010 and oversees activities designed to bring Defence and industry together to solve Defence’s complex capability problems. Her responsibilities include selecting, conducting and reporting analytical activities, and fostering the collaborative RPDE culture. A key aspect of the role is promotion of the RPDE Program within Defence, industry and further afield.
Prior to taking up the role Heather held the position of national Head Information Systems, BAE Systems Australia. Based in Adelaide, she was responsible for the provision of information systems infrastructure, services and support to some 6,000 staff at over 60 sites across Australia. Responsibilities included execution of the Enterprise Resource Planning, Product Lifecycle Management and Information Lifecycle Management Programs.
Before this Heather occupied the roles of national Manager Science Corporate Information Systems and national Manager Library and Information Services for the Defence Science and Technology Organisation. She has worked in a range of other environments including statutory authorities and private sector management consulting.

AVM Jack Plenty, AM
HCS Special Projects

Air Vice-Marshal Plenty joined the Royal Australian Air Force on 26 June 1975, graduating from No 96 Pilots Course in September 1976. He has undertaken three operational flying tours at No 38 Squadron flying Caribou aircraft (RAAF Richmond and Amberley), a secondment to the Papua New Guinea Defence Force for instructional duties on Dakota (C47D) aircraft (Lae), and flying instructional tours at No 1 Flying Training School (RAAF Point Cook), No 2 Flying Training School (RAAF Pearce), and the Central Flying School (RAAF East Sale). During the latter tour, he was a member of the RAAF formation aerobatic team, The Roulettes. He has flown 14 aircraft types and has approximately 6,900 flying hours, of which around 3,300 hours are as a qualified flying instructor.

His staff postings include a tour at the RAAF Directorate of Personnel - Offices at Air Force Headquarters, Canberra as a member of aircrew and other officer selection boards. Other staff postings have included the Defence Intelligence Organisation, and as the Staff Officer to the Vice Chief of the Defence Force, initially Lieutenant General John S. Baker then Vice Admiral RAK Walls. Later he was posted as the Director Exercises at the Australian Defence Force Warfare Centre (RAAF Williamtown). During this posting he was responsible for the planning and conduct of Exercise Crocodile 99, then the largest and most complex Command Post Exercise conducted by the Australian Defence Force.

On 19 December 2001, he was promoted to Air Commodore and posted as the Chief of Staff, Headquarters Australian Theatre, Potts Point, Sydney. In January 2004, he was posted to Infrastructure Division, Defence Support Group in Canberra to take up the appointment as Director General Headquarters Joint Operations Command Project. The project was established to provide a new Headquarters facility for Joint Operations Command on a greenfield site between Queanbeyan and Bungendore, New South Wales. Significantly, the project was the first Public Private Partnership undertaken by the Commonwealth Government. The facility is planned to be ready for Defence use by the end of 2008.

On 2 February 2007, he was posted to RAAF Richmond to take up the appointment of Commander Air Lift Group, commanding all of the RAAF's combat airlift, air to air refueling and VIP transport capabilities. On 28 July 2008, he was promoted to Air Vice-Marshal and returned to Canberra to take up the appointment of Head Capability Systems on 1 August 2008.

His command experience has been at the sub-unit level as the A Flight Commander and later the Chief Flying Instructor at No 2 Flying Training School. He commanded No 38 Squadron at RAAF Amberley, and later was the Officer Commanding No 86 Wing at RAAF Richmond. During that tour he also commanded Joint Task Force 632 supporting the Department of Foreign Affairs led Bougainville Peace Talks, and Joint Task Force 633 supporting the Solomon Islands Peace Initiative. Air Vice-Marshal Plenty commanded Air Lift Group from 2 February 2007 to 3 July 2008.

Air Vice-Marshal Plenty graduated from No 45 RAAF Command and Staff Course in late 1992, where he was awarded the Chief of Air Staff price for Professional Excellence, and the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom, Higher Command and Staff Course (2003). He also graduated with a degree of Master of Public Administration from the University of Canberra in 1996. Air Vice-Marshal Plenty was appointed an Member of the Order of Australia in the Queens Birthday List of 2002 for services as Officer Commanding No 86 Wing.

John A. Thomas

Senior Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton

John Thomas is a Senior Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton and its Lead Systems Engineer. He leads teams that plan and execute multi-million dollar complex system programs. His clients include U.S. government and industries worldwide. John’s current focus is supporting complex systems development activities for the U.S. federal government. With John’s Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) stewardship, Booz Allen (a $5 billion strategy and technology consulting firm) has invested in its Systems Engineers and SE methodologies for the purpose of enhancing the SE profession and its practitioners.

John’s leadership assignments span program and engineering management, strategic planning, stakeholder communications, conflict management, business process analysis, activity-based costing, solutions concept development, systems synthesis (systems architecting, design, alternatives evaluation), systems integration, and systems verification/validation testing and operational test and evaluation.

John also is a business coach and mentor to a number of Booz Allen’s senior technical and management professionals. He is a spokesperson for Booz Allen, speaking to groups and media to help raise the relevance and importance of Booz Allen’s systems engineers and SE&I services.

Dr. Owen Traynor

Vice President Engineering, Invensys Rail Asia Pacific

For the past 25 years Owen’s focus has been research, development and delivery of high technology systems at both leadership and technical levels. This experience has been gained across commercial and academic environments, through all stages of the systems engineering and development life cycle. A key focus has been on the development and delivery of both safety and mission critical products and systems.

A theme of Owen’s work has been extensive experience in a varied international context, having held extended appointments in the USA, Germany, the UK and Australia, with significant international collaboration central to all of all of these roles.

As well as having over 30 publications in refereed conference proceedings and journals, Owen has also delivered over 50 invited talks and presentations at conferences and seminars around the world.

Owen has worked at Invensys for the past 13 years, in his current role Leading Engineering for Invensys Rail Asia Pacific, with a focus on the delivery of complex systems-based solution for the Rail industry.

Captain Mark Charles Kellam, RAN

Captain Kellam entered the Royal Australian Navy in January 1974 from Aquinas College in Southport, Queensland. 

Career highlights include Commanding HMAS Ships BUCCANEER (Attack Class Patrol Boat) and HMAS DARWIN (FFG), Commander Sea Training and Commander Task Group 633.1 in the Northern Arabian Gulf. He has also undertaken a number of overseas posting and exchange tours including 6 months with the Royal Fijian Military Forces, three years with the USN and 12 months in the UK undertaking his PWO Course.  

Recent shore posting have included 12 months civil schooling at Macquarie Graduate School of Management obtaining a Masters in Management, FFG Capability Manager, Surface Combatant Force Commander, Chief Staff Officer Operations and Chief of Staff Navy Systems Command and most recently Australian Defence Adviser in Wellington New Zealand.

Captain Kellam took up his appointment as Director RANTEAA in December 2009

Captain Kellam lives in Sydney and is married to Alexis (Lexi) and has three adult children Brendan, Rowan and Alanna.