John is founder and Chair of the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®) Australia Chapter and has served 5 years as a Director for the Project Management Institute’s Sydney Australia chapter. John has worked in the areas of Business Analysis and Project Management within Professional Services, IT and Computer/ Electronics Manufacturing Industries for almost 20 years joining the PM-Partners Group (PMPg) in 2008.
As a trusted advisor, John has assisted organisations to build Business Analysis maturity through capability development and delivering to strategic objectives. Prior to working with PMPg, John assisted PK Business Advantage developing and guiding Project Management and Operations for the PKBA Group.
John founded and led Education Services for EQuest Consulting responsible for execution, delivery and growth of the Education Practice, having built this successful practice from the ground up culminating in the sale of the Business.
Much of John’s career was spent with IBM as part of the Asia-Pacific Head Quarters leadership team guiding Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. John has successfully negotiated and delivered key strategic projects for IBM and overseeing programs controlling project management and business process methodologies .
Whilst at IBM John received a number of IBM Awards, most notably the coveted IBM Excellence award.
On a balanced note, John is a Dad, holds a 2nd DAN Black belt degree in Taekwondo, has flown solo in a fixed winged aircraft, has represented Victoria in inline hockey and presents papers at international conferences on business analysis and project management.
Mark Heap (ACT) - Vice-Chair
Mark Heap has over 12 years experience in business and IT systems development and successfully attained the IIBA CBAP accreditation in 2008.
Mark is a consultant for HP’s Industry and Innovation Solutions group which supports projects across the Asia pacific region. Mark provides consultancy services primarily for the Australian Federal Government account to resolve complex business and IT systems issues and provide guidance on future state delivery of IT and business services.
Mark is also the HP Australian Business Analyst Community Leader. His responsibilities include working with the global Business Analysis Capability Leader to develop and harness the skills of Australian based Business Analysts as well as provide support to the global Business Analysis Capability, contributing to global capability initiatives and strategic directions.
Mark was previously a Lead Business Analyst for the EDS Applications Services team. Mark was also the Canberra Business Analyst Capability Leader, providing leadership and support to 12 business analysts. Mark’s responsibilities included developing the business analysis capability in Canberra as well as creating mentoring programs and developing the skills of the team to better support EDS project delivery.
Prior to working with HP, Mark worked as a senior business analyst \ senior solutions designer for the Australian Taxation office. Mark’s responsibilities included providing strategic advice and organisational alignment across ATO IT projects. Mark was also an active member of the ATO’s Business Analysis Community of Practice (BA CoP) and presented a number of business analyst related topics to CoP members.
Treasurer (Position Not Filled)
Astrid Ries (ACT) - Secretary
Astrid is a Senior Business Analyst based in Canberra and working with Federal Government. Astrid has over 9 years experience in Business Analysis, Systems Analysis and Project Management. Astrid has been employed at Medicare, Centrelink, Department of Human Services, and most recently at Geoscience Australia. Throughout her career Astrid has contributed to the implementation of several complex cross Government information and transaction processing systems.
Demonstrating her commitment to the Business Analysis profession Astrid has been involved with the Australian Business Analysis Association for 5 years stepping into the role of President for the last committee year. In identifying and strengthening the links between both associations the ABAA and IIBA Australia, Astrid has been a key driver behind the proposal to merge both associations and create a singular strong voice for Business Analysts in Australia.
Currently working at Geoscience Australia acting as Director of Enterprise Systems, Astrid continually strives to improve her skills and networks around Australia and internationally. Astrid holds a QBAP qualification and is a PRINCE2 Practitioner.
Fiona Darroch (QLD) - Education & Professional Development
Fiona Darroch’s professional background is underpinned by a constant theme of BA-related roles and involvement, including:
Two decades of ICT experience, focussed on the BA role (as well as some PM, programming, and teaching experience).
BA-related industry experience in public, private, large and small organisations. Industries include the financial sector, higher education, and government.
Postgraduate qualifications in ICT, including the recent completion of a PhD in Information Systems, in which one of the empirical case studies was mentoring the start-up of a group of BAs.
6 years university lecturing and tutoring in Business Analysis (and PM)
Research and writing skills – author of numerous published refereed conference papers, journal articles, and book chapters.
Currently working in QLD government on BA-related areas.
Knowledge of the BABOK, and many techniques, approaches etc. that relate to the BA role.
Experience in industry accreditation, including university degree programs with professional bodies.
Speaker and panellist at inaugural BA World Brisbane 2009
Andreas Stasoullis (SA) - Communications Portfolio
I’m currently a final-year Uni student finishing a second degree and contracting at SA Health as a BA on a business transformation project encompassing a consolidated procurement and supply chain business model. I am also leading the procurement activities for an Oracle Applications implementation with IBM.
I thoroughly enjoy my job and the interesting work it entails day-to-day and have had the opportunity to learn and acquire knowledge and skills from a variety of experienced professionals. I find the work I’m involved in challenging and rather rewarding.
I hope to fulfil a career in Systems Integration/Implementation, and to continue to participate in business reform initiatives. Ideally, I hope to undertake project management certification(s) in the not too distant future, and manage implementations on an enterprise level.
Outside of work I enjoy keeping fit at the gym, spending time with family and friends, music/film and travelling.
Graeme Higgins (VIC) - Certification Portfolio
Graeme started in the Computer industry as an analyst programmer in 1969. Since then, the vast majority of his time has been as a System or Business Analyst. Graeme studied part-time for a degree graduating in Applied Science (Electronic Data Processing) in 1974. He received an award from the Australian Computer Society in 1974, as the most outstanding practical student at CIT, now the Monash University Caulfield campus.
For the first 15 years of his computer career Graeme worked for vendors such as Burroughs, Data General, Wang, Tandem, STC, and Alkatel. His roles were mainly pre-sales (Business Analyst) or post sales (System Analyst/Process specialist).
In the mid 80’s, Graeme switched from the computer vendor world to the customer world, becoming a consultant in 1987. His clients included Defence (Army Logistics Command, DSTO and ARDU) and Government (Department of Planning and the Department of Housing). In 1995-1997 Graeme worked in Indonesia with Telekom Indonesia then the Indonesian Air Force. He returned to Australia when the Asia market collapsed. In 1997 Graeme joined the Victorian WorkCover Authority and is still employed by that Authority as a Senior Business System Analyst and methodology specialist.
Over the past 20 years, Graeme has presented at senior level Government and Defence conferences and more recently at the BA World Symposium. Graeme is a regular speaker at IBM user and technical conferences.
Jeff Isles (QLD) - Marketing Portfolio
Jeff Isles is the Principal Director for BEWL Consultancy providing professional consulting services in the areas of Risk Management, Organisational Change Management, Business Strategy, Project Management and Business Analysis to both government and commercial enterprises in a variety of business sectors – these include the transport, hospitality, defence, energy, health and the information and communication technology disciplines.
With more than 15 years experience working as a Business Analyst Jeff’s specialities include business process engineering, business modelling, strategy and aligning technical capabilities to business needs. More recently Jeff has worked with some of Australia’s leading telecommunications company’s on major telecommunication transformation reforms and the roll out of service management offerings to some of Australia’s largest corporate entities.
Jeff entered the world of the Business Analyst on the back of a strong technical grounding having spent 10 years as a permanent member of defence with the Royal Australian Navy. During these years Jeff participated in a military exchange program with the United States Navy and was posted in the U.S during which Jeff gained exposure to projects with the Advanced Research Project Agency Network (ARPANET) via the Military Network (MILNET) which is now recognised as the precursor to the Internet or the World Wide Web. The remainder of Jeff’s naval service was predominantly on peace keeping missions and assisting developing nations by participating and leading projects to develop their computer and communications infrastructure capabilities.
Jeff’s main pursuits outside of his professional life include family, audio fidelity, cycling and bushwalking.
Kenneth Mortimer - Special Projects Portfolio
Kenneth’s experience spans thirty years starting in the IT sector and for the last twenty-one years performing as a management consultant focusing on business process management (BPM). He focuses on improving the business performance of executives and enterprises in both the public and private sectors using a range of expertise successfully applied to over forty clients and over sixty assignments. His industry exposure covers all levels of Government in Australia and New Zealand, Transport, Energy, Media, Distribution, Telecommunications, Finance, Education, and Not for Profit sectors. His work as a business architect and business process analyst aligns with the principles and guidelines of the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®). Kenneth was the business architect of eBrisbane that morphed into http://www.ourbrisbane.com/.
His business process analysis, mapping and re-engineering methodologies are ISO9001:2000 certified and in 2006 gained global recognition as a Certified Process Professional through the BP Group. Kenneth has extensive practical experience in project management including issues management, risk & mitigation management, project planning, and change management. For 23 years he has managed teams, developed project charters/plans/schedules, and implemented change management, all based on the principles of the PMI Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). His web site can be found at www.performance-improvement.com.au and my blog at www.e-performanceimprovement.com.
Kenneth lectures on MBA and other postgraduate programs at the University of Queensland Business School on E-Business, Decision Support, Knowledge Management and ICT Governance. He is also on the Brisbane City Council Consultants’ Panel and the Mentoring for Growth Panel of the Department of State Development & Innovation. Assisting others through consulting, coaching and mentoring is an important component of Kenneth’s personal and professional life.
Holding the Education portfolio since the last election of directors has been fulfilling for two reasons: one helping BAs who have telephoned or emailed me for assistance with decisions on their career direction, which courses to take, where to find IIBA endorsed training providers, etc., and two, helping with colleagues to form and evaluate last year’s BA survey.
Sally-Anne Mitchell (WA) - Membership Portfolio
With over 20 year’s involvement with information and service industries Sally-Anne has participated in projects in roles of changing titles and scope that in essence has always championed the need to understand the business in order to establish appropriate solution. Sally-Anne’s experience ranges across strategic planning, business modelling, requirements elicitation and definition, solutions delivery, quality assurance and coaching. Sally-Anne has the ability and experience to liaise at all levels within business in order to define business requirements, make recommendations and manage delivery of solutions that assist businesses to achieve their strategic vision and goals.
Sally-Anne has experienced life as a Business Analyst working internally within an organisation and as a Consultant to organisations; in assisting fellow analysts has also seen her manage the resourcing and capabilities development of team of business analysts. Presently Sally-Anne is a Senior Consultant for Empired.
Sally-Anne’s down time is spent with her husband and 8 year son, pursuing interests in travelling, camping, photography and drawing.
Scott Bradley (SA) - National Events Portfolio
Scott has worked in a variety of business analyst roles over the past 10 years and has worked for clients in the energy, telecommunications, transport, education, financial and IT sectors. Scott holds qualifications in marketing, economics, management, accountancy and IT. He joined the ABAA in early 2008 and took over the role of South Australian Events Coordinator in January 2009 where he regularly coordinate and ran the local ABAA Chapter meetings. He then acted as the treasurer for a short time before being voted in as the Vice President of ABAA in early 2010 where he has been fortunate to take part in the ABAA and IIBA Australia merger activities.
Tim Coventry (QLD) - BABOK & Competency Portfolio
With over 16 years experience in the IT industry, Tim has consulted in all aspects of business analysis with expertise in requirements elicitation, analysis and management, Business Analysis Centre of Excellence (BACOE), business analysis competency models, assessment, training, and mentoring & coaching.
He is experienced in a comprehensive range of IT roles including Senior Business Analyst, Project Manager, Systems Analyst, and Training Manager across the Telecommunications, Transport and Logistics, IT Manufacturing, Software Services, and Government sectors including Education, Health, Police.
Tim has expertise in all phases of the solution delivery life cycle with substantial practical experience in business process analysis, requirements, tendering and evaluation and software implementation. Tim has a Bachelor of Education, Workplace Category IV Trainer and Assessor certificate, and is a Qualified Business Analysis Practitioner (QBAP). He has had experience in major Business Process Re-engineering projects throughout Americas, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia and Australia, working in 18 countries.
With a strong background in education and assessment Tim has a keen interest in business analysis competency models and is a volunteer member of the IIBA® Global Competency Model committee.
