External Advisory Committee for BICT UG, BinfoSys and BCompSc
 | Marek Sikora - DevOps Manager, Google - Chair Over the last +15 years of working for Google from Ireland, Belgium, Australia, I've been leading a number of projects and teams that involved building and operating large-scale IT infrastructure systems. My expertise covers the following areas: building and managing engineering teams, engineering, operational and project management, software development life-cycles (DevOps), data centers technology, deployments and operations. Originally from Poland. MSc in Information Systems Management from University of Liverpool. |
 | Shyamala Balram - Delivery Director, Google, USA Shyamala has been a technologist for more than 3 decades; Delivered software projects across traditional waterfall and also in agile across six continents. Serviced several Fintech including Citibank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ANZ Bank, DBS Bank Singapore, M&T Bank, Paypal, FDC, WestLB Germany, Northern Trust, Wilmington Trust et all as a Software Engineering Manager. She is currently a Technology consultant in silicon valley after completing software projects delivery in Google , Mountain View, California for 24 months. She has also been teaching computer science in several universities (Wester Sydney University, Mother Teresa University). |
 | Urvashi Chadha - Head of Strategic Delivery, Risk Transformation Programs at Commonwealth Bank Urvashi Chadha is currently heading up the solution architecture in Institutional and Business Banking divisions at Commonwealth Bank. Urvashi has held various technology leadership roles at CBA for last 12 years across Retail Bank, Digital Channels and CommSec including head of strategic delivery, portfolio executive, executive manager -outsourcing, digital optimisation solution consultant, and information architecture lead. Prior to that, Urvashi held several technical consulting roles providing solutions for clients in financial, insurance, property and regulatory sectors. She has extensive experience in solution delivery in high-paced project environments, and has been involved in large scale technology and business strategic initiatives. She enjoys developing tech strategy for business, leading transformation programs and enjoys establishing capability underpinned by technology, process, frameworks and methodologies. Urvashi holds a Bachelor of Arts (with Honours in Economics) from Delhi University, and both a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Computing and a Master of Computing and Information Technology from WSU. She started her professional career in Australia as an Associate Lecturer at WSU for five years, until 2005 when she decided to pursue career in the IT industry. |
 | Liz Fassone - Advisory Solution Consultant, ServiceNow MA (IT in Ed), BCompSc In my professional and personal life, I'm always looking for better ways to do things. Technology plays a big role as an enabler to simplify work. I am a 'STEMpathic' person since I love talking tech and connecting with people to solve their work challenges. I have worked on both ends of the technology spectrum - from a small Australian software development company to the second-largest SaaS organisation in the world. This experience has allowed me to 'wear many hats' and get involved from business analysis, support, training, quality assurance, project management and sales. I have followed the presales path and am currently in a consulting role that involves having a strong knowledge of technology, architecting solutions and conducting business value analysis. I am thrilled to be part of this committee and provide input into WSU's computing courses. I look forward to imparting knowledge that will benefit our future technology graduates. |
 | Raymond Frangie - Principal Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance (GRC) Consultant at CXO Security With two postgraduate degrees in Information Systems Security and numerous industry certifications, Raymond Frangie was the inaugural recipient of the Australian Computer Society's Certified Cyber Security Professional certification for New South Wales, Australia. Raymond is a highly recommended and regarded Senior Member of the Australian Computer Society and Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia. Additionally, Raymond is a sessional academic lecturer, tutor and cybersecurity deputy unit coordinator at Western Sydney University, information security, cybersecurity and digital business subject matter expert, and an international industry speaker and thought leader with more than 22 years of combined experience. Raymond has consulted for numerous small, medium, and large enterprises across all C-Level and executive board levels. Raymond provides a unique approach in delivering broad and deep technical and business level Information Technology, Information Security and Cyber Security services across many national and international standards, frameworks, best practices, guidelines, industries, and market sectors. Raymond enjoys sharing the knowledge gained across his career with industry prospects and all clients, advocating safer and secure environments. Raymond is a citizen of Australia and Lebanon, fluent in English and Arabic, and currently holds an Australian Government Federal Security Clearance. Raymond continues to target specialised training and certifications, further upskilling and increasing his vast knowledge and subject matter expertise. |
 | Adam Gatt - ICT Applications Support Analyst at Penrith City Council ( PG student alumni) Adam is a Western Sydney University ICT postgraduate Dean's Medal winner. He is interested in using technology to solve problems, improve business processes and deliver great customer experiences. |
 | Ankit Gupta - Agile lead at Kindred Group plc, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia ( UG student alumni) Ankit has over 10 years experience in the IT sector across various software development roles and is a proud Western Sydney University Alumini. He has been an active contributor within the software testing and system analysis and design courses over the years at Western Sydney University. He started his professional career at Polaris Financial Technology as part of the company's first graduate program intake in Australia, and worked as a Software Quality Assurance Engineer consulting to leading ASX listed clients such as CBA and Cuscal. He has also worked for Woolworths Group and the Kindred Group in agile project delivery lead roles and is currently working as a Product Owner for a global wealthtech company. Ankit has worked across a variety of industries and looks forward to sharing his knowledge to help shape the future of IT courses at Western Sydney University. |
 | Ben Jackson Ben has worked in various roles within the technology space for over 20 years. His experience ranges from technical engineering roles with 2 Australian universities, a large Australian bank and a software development start-up, to solution consulting and technical training delivery within the cloud and Enterprise Service Management space. He is now leading the ServiceNow Solution Consulting Academy in APJ. The academy is a six month program designed to accelerate a graduates pre-sales career. The program provides professional development, world-class mentoring, numerous certifications and unique networking opportunities across the organisation as they are introduced to the world of Solution Consulting and prepare to launch their career.” |
Ekta Nankani - Deloitte | |
| Simon O’Toole - DXC Technology | |
 | Mahesh Ramanayake - Business Development Executive - IBM TSS Mahesh Ramanayake is an experience IT professional with over 30 Years experience at IBM in Technology, Industry and Markets. Mahesh has extensive experience in providing Technology based solutions in Banking & Finance, Insurance, Govt as well as Distribution Industry. Mahesh joined IBM in Sri Lanka as a Systems Engineer and moved in to the Asia Pacific region based in Thailand and Singapore. He was a key member of the IBM Growth Market unit that was instrumental in the rapid expansion of IBM business in China, India, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. He has been actively involved in advising start-up specially in the FinTech Industry. Mahesh holds a BSc Engineering degree, MBA from Sri Lanka and Post-graduate studies in Computer Science from Japan. |
 | Mark Rugless - Head of Information Technology at City of Parramatta Council Mark has been helping organisations solve business problems through leveraging technology for over 30 years. His experience covers most industries and the majority of countries within the Asia Pacific region along with the USA, Canada and UK. Mark decided to exit the IT Services Corporate world and take a year to study and travel in Europe, returning late 2017 when the opportunity arose to join the City of Parramatta. The diversity of the Council, offering exposure to major developments, theatre, libraries, childcare centres and traditional IT, presented a unique opportunity and Mark is now developing and executing the IT strategy for Australia’s next great city. Mark has also recently completed his MBA specialising in technology. |
 | John Schumacher - Delivery Executive ANZ Bank, DXC Technology John is passionate about service culture and has deployed programs globally for DXC and Fujitsu. John’s focus is on both the customer and staff to achieve the right balance to produce service outcomes that exceed customers’ expectations and requirements. The leadership style John brings to every role is customer results orientated, focussing on promoting positive team culture and leading organisational change. John has over 20 years of Customer outcome experience. |
 | Luke Stephenson - Education and Career Pathways Lead First nations program at DXC Technology Luke is has been in the IT industry for just over 3 years prior, to this he was an industry research assistant at the university of Adelaide looking at how technology can be used to enable sustainable transitions towards carbon neutrality. In his current role with DXC.Technology he is responsible for developing numerous projects focused on talent pathways programs all of which will contribute to delivering the workforce of the future. Starting in schools, we aim to create pathways through to tertiary institutions and universities. In his role at DXC, I work alongside the Government, local businesses, TAFES and universities to help DXC and partner organisations develop a skilled workforce that will help support their customers and the community. I’m also involved with the DXC First Nations Programme as the Education and Career pathways theme lead. It involves working with First Nations businesses and communities, to drive interest and engagement in STEM with first nations communities. |
 | Nick Winham - Program Manager EMEA, NextGen Programs, Service Now I have been with ServiceNow for over 4 years, being part of its rapid growth to over 16,000 employees supporting 6900+ customers globally. With this rapid growth comes the need for ServiceNow skills in the market. Working as a Program Manager in ServiceNow’s NextGen team my role is to build the next generation of ServiceNow professionals to support this growth and the demands of the ServiceNow ecosystem. We work closely with universities to create innovative training programs to make sure students gain access to in-demand ServiceNow skills recognized by industry. I am excited and humbled to bring my experience of designing and implementing such programs to WSU’s external advisory committee for computing. |
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