Keynote Speakers
The AITPM National Transport Conference is the leading event in Australia for transport professionals and has an unrivalled reputation for allowing delegates to meet and discuss ideas, broaden their knowledge, and form connections with other professionals in the industry.
The AITPM is thrilled to announce our world-renowned keynote speakers for the 2023 National Transport Conference, Melbourne, 13-15 September, MCEC and MCG.
Professor Marco te Brömmelstroet (The Netherlands)
Chair on Urban Mobility Futures at the University of Amsterdam
Marco te Brömmelstroet, who holds the chair on Urban Mobility Futures at the University of Amsterdam, radically reimagines the way in which society thinks about mobility, transport systems and the streets.
Passionate about the relations between land use and mobility, Marco is Chairman of the Board of Urban Cycling Institute, which he launched in 2016. The Institute leads research into the reciprocal relations between cycling, society, and cities.
Known as ‘Fietsprofessor’ (The Cycling Professor), Marco also launched the Laboratory of Thought in 2022. He has published more than 40 academic articles with over 3000 citations. His co-authored book on his thinking, MOVEMENT: how to take back our streets and transform our lives, won Best Journalism Book in the Netherlands. The book explores society’s dependence on cars and asks the fundamental question: who do our streets belong to?
He is bringing his family to Australia and plans to explore the south and east coasts, after visiting Western Australia on his previous visit.
Marco’s Twitter handle is @fietprofessor, and he has nearly 100,000 followers.
Bill Allen (United States)
Independent Consultant (previously Bentley Systems)
Bill has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and worked for consulting firms before running his own practice from 1988 to 2016. He is now retired from full-time consulting but works on small projects from time to time.
During his long career, Bill has worked in nearly every aspect of travel modelling including estimation, validation, application, evaluation and review, subarea, sketch planning, and cycling. He considers the development in 2010 of the Simplified Tour-Based Model his key career development. This development uses a straightforward discrete structure that is a reasonable and efficient way to improve existing four-step models.
Bill, who has written or co-authored more than 35 papers and presentations at professional conferences, believes stepping back to view the ‘big picture’ is vital in travel forecasting.
Bill and his wife Kim have been married for nearly 50 years and live on a horse farm in South Carolina. He is passionate about carriage driving and competing and will soon compete in two US national championships.
Professor Ingrid Burkett (Australia)
Professor and Director of the Griffith Centre for Systems Innovation (formerly The Yunus Centre) Griffith University
Ingrid Burkett is Professor and Co-Director of the Griffith Centre for Systems Innovation, Griffith University. She is a social designer, designing processes, products and knowledge that deepen social impact and facilitate social innovation. She is passionate about developing more effective ways to foster 'the business of social impact'.
With qualifications in design, social work, economics, and business, much of Ingrid’s work has focussed on addressing complex problems - from place-based inequities to shifting how we invest and contract better for deeper impact.
Ingrid has particular expertise in the design of economic processes and products and is recognised internationally for her work in community finance, social investment, social procurement, social enterprise, and not-for-profit sustainability.
Ingrid has built five social businesses, contributed to the design of practice models, policy, and processes in a diversity of fields, including local economic development, ageing, disability, procurement, impact finance and impact investment. She considers her career highlights to be creating foundations for social procurement in Australia and doing groundwork for Australia’s entry into social and impact investment.
Ingrid led the design of several key place-based initiatives aimed at addressing entrenched disadvantage including the Geelong Regional Opportunities for Work initiative, an innovative, award winning approach to engaging business in addressing disadvantage.
She is Past President and Honorary Ambassador of the International Association for Community Development and continues to be committed to fostering deep local and international dialogue about designing innovative and participatory methodologies for regenerative futures.
Lucinda Hartley (Australia)
Technology leader and urban futurist
Lucinda is an award-winning urban designer and a globally recognised expert in smart cities and social change. Passionate about cities, travel and social action, Lucinda has spent the past decade pioneering innovative solutions for improving cities and neighbourhoods.
Named as one of Australia’s 100 Most Influential Women by the Australian Financial Review, Lucinda is a technology leader who offers inspiration and practical advice on the future of living, work, and their intersections with technology.
Lucinda is a Founding Director of social analytics platform Neighbourlytics. The technology taps into the digital footprint of a neighbourhood to understand its lifestyle and wellbeing. Neighbourlytics has scaled rapidly across 2000 neighbourhoods in 12 countries and was named as one of 20 Start-ups to Watch by Smart Company, and listed in the Deloitte Fast 50.
One of Australia’s most sought after voices on cities and social change and a regular media commentator, Lucinda is alumni of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Singularity University.
She does not separate work and personal life: first we shape our cities, then they shape us.
You can follow Lucinda on Instagram @lucindaartley and on twitter @lucindahartley or view her LinkedIn profile.
Phil Jones (United Kingdom)
Chairman, Phil Jones Associates (PJA)
Phil is a Chartered Engineer with over 40 years’ experience. He founded Phil Jones Associates in 2003; the PJA Group now employs around 130 staff based in two offices in Australia and six in the UK. His experience includes preparing transport strategies for major developments and leading street improvement and urban design projects in villages, towns and cities.
Phil has contributed to much recent UK Government thinking on walking and cycling and is now a Non-Executive Director of Active Travel England, an Agency of the Department for Transport (DfT). In 2017 Phil led the production of DfT guidance on the preparation of Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans and co-authored Local Transport Note 1/20, ‘Cycle Infrastructure Design’, published by DfT in July 2020. He also contributed to the 2022 revision of the UK Highway Code.
In 2019-20 he chaired Task Forces for the Welsh Government on establishing a default 20mph speed limit for residential roads and the civil enforcement of pavement parking restrictions.
Phil is looking forward to again visiting Australia and getting to know Melbourne and Perth (where PJA has an office) better.
Alison Holloway (Australia)
Chief Executive of SGS Economics and Planning
An economic geographer with a Masters in Environmental Planning, Alison takes a long- term, evidence-based and integrated approach.
She has extensive experience providing advice to government in Australia, New Zealand and North America across public policy and strategic urban and transport planning.
In addition to her technical expertise, Alison has successfully led teams at the project, practice, and company scale. Passionate about education and continuous learning, Alison designed, coordinated and delivered an undergraduate subject at University of Melbourne on implementation of strategic urban planning for capital cities. She regularly provides lectures at UTS Planning School, and has built strong connections with Western Sydney University and the University of Melbourne.
Alison is also the Chair of the UNSW City Futures Research Centre Advisory Panel, which guides the Centre’s priorities and activities.
Alison is looking forward to again attending an AITPM national conference and to re-visiting Melbourne, where she lived for five years.
Derval Cummins (Ireland)
An AECOM Director
A chartered engineer for nearly 30 years, Derval leads AECOM’s Transportation business in Ireland.
Derval is part of AECOM’s Future Mobility leadership for Europe, which is rethinking what is next in the way people, goods and services are moved, with the aim of making a positive impact on the planet, enriching communities, and building legacies for future generations. Based in Dublin, she leads AECOM’s Transportation business in Ireland.
Derval has worked as a consultant in the transport sector for over 30 years, assisting clients in Ireland, UK and Southeast Asia across many different facets of their businesses including economic and financial analysis, governance, risk management, customer service, contracting, operations, planning and engineering. She is committed to inclusive mobility and the improvement of public transport, the promotion of walking and cycling, and the efficient use of our resources across all aspects of transport.
In addition to a level eight qualification in Civil Engineering, Derval also has a master’s degree in transport studies from Imperial College and University College London, and a post graduate diploma in urban design, providing a broad transport planning perspective.
The Hon. Melissa Horne MP (Australia)
Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Victorian Government
Melissa is the Member for Williamstown, and Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Roads and Road Safety, Ports and Freight, and Local Government.
Growing up, Melissa watched the area she grew up in buffeted by economic challenges that saw industries and employment disappear and working people face enormous and unforeseen challenges. Both of Melissa’s parents were school teachers who instilled strong public sector and public education values in her.
Melissa has enjoyed a long career at senior levels of government and corporate Victoria, overseeing projects and policies which have helped change lives for the better. She has played her part in delivering responsible gaming reforms and led efforts to engage the community in level crossing removals across Melbourne.
Melissa moved to Melbourne’s Western Suburbs with her husband Alex and two sons in the late 1990s and has called the area home ever since.
Melissa is honoured to represent the electorate of Williamstown, the Western Suburbs is the spiritual heartland of the Victorian Labor Party and she is humbled to follow the legacy of former MPs such as Joan Kirner, Steve Bracks and Wade Noonan.
Paul Younis (Australia)
Secretary, Department of Transport and Planning Victoria
Paul Younis was appointed Department of Transport Secretary in 2019. A Machinery of Government change expanded his role as Secretary of Department of Transport and Planning in January 2023.
In June 2019, he began the integration process of the wider Victorian government transport portfolio into the new Department of Transport. Starting with VicRoads and PTV, bringing together more than 25 agencies, operators and divisions under the guidance of one integrated department.
Transport played a pivotal role in Victoria’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Working closely with the Premier, Paul was part of the Crisis Cabinet Committee, aimed at keeping Victorians safe and the economy functioning.
The Department of Transport and Planning was formed in recognition that the pandemic has forever changed the way we work, live and travel and transport, planning and land use need to work dynamically to support these societal shifts.
Prior to the Department of Transport, Paul was CEO of Melbourne’s Brimbank City Council and CEO of regional Corangamite Shire.
He has qualifications in Engineering, Law and Business.
