sparc-FMA International Lighting & Facilities Event

Ron has contributed to award-winning buildings and urban design projects around the world. His work is widely recognised for its civic and environmental responsiveness.

His recently completed project The Edge, is considered the world's most sustainable, and possibly the smartest, office building. Ron is involved with the World Economic Forum and frequently speaks at academic and professional symposia.

Dr. Pekka Hakkarainen is vice president of Government and Industry Relations at Lutron Electronics. He has held several technical, market development and business development positions since joining Lutron in 1990.

Pekka has been involved in NEMA activities since the mid-1990s and he is a past chair of the Lighting Systems Division. Pekka currently chairs the High Performance Building Council as well as the Daylight Management Council. He has also served on the Board of the Global Lighting Association, and is the current chair of the General Assembly of the Connected Lighting Alliance.

Pekka is also a voting member of the ASHRAE 90.1 Committee, and a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. He has served on two committees for the National Research Council charged with evaluating public spending on solid state lighting. Pekka received a BA/MA degree in mathematics from Cambridge University, England and a PhD in plasma physics from MIT. He holds seven U.S. patents.

As a recognised leader in the business of building, construction and infrastructure law, Founder and Principal of BCI Solutions, Caro Walters combines deep legal, commercial and business expertise with operational prowess, helping organisations minimise risks, reduce operating costs and lessen disruption. Caro provides consultant legal services to a clientele which include global construction and engineering businesses, global consultant engineers and APAC construction contractors.

President, Clanton & Associates, Nancy Clanton —  a designer who specialises in sustainable design, energy efficiency and light pollution. Nancy obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Architectural Engineering with an emphasis in illumination from the University of Colorado at Boulder and was the group leader for the “Greening the White House” initiative and received the 1999 “Contribution to the Built Environment Award” from the Colorado North Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).  Nancy will be presenting Lighting design for Net Zero Energy Buildings.

Peter practices as a strategy and innovation focused management consultant based on a background that also includes senior executive roles with multinational companies operating in the electrical, lighting, controls and construction segments, such as Rexel, Legrand, Eaton and Philips. He also has international exposure through these roles (Australasia, Western Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia, USA) that gives him a ‘wider than Australia’ view in client assignments.

He balances his executive experience, and a creative approach to his advisory work with a balanced technology — commercial — operational — strategic outlook to getting better business results and competitive advantage for the clients he works with.

Originally technically qualified in electrical, his skills include R&D in lighting/controls, as well as commercial experience through various sales, product, marketing, strategy and general management roles, supported by MBA qualifications from MGSM in Sydney.

Peter has his own consultancy – Stratovation – and as well leads the strategy and innovation offer of Haron Robson. He is the only Australian accredited senior licensed practitioner of the Swedish based Innovation360 Groups global best practice methods and tools around innovation and strategy.

Gilles Thonet is the head of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) standards for the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). A technology executive with international experience in high tech industrial companies — including ABB, Eaton and Schneider Electric — Gilles has a PhD in Communication Technologies from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), and an MBA from Grenoble Graduate School of Business.

General Manager - Brand, Innovation and Technology of Spotless, Julian Fogarty, is responsible for marketing, corporate communications, corporate citizenship, innovation and technology. He has over 21 years’ experience leveraging innovation and technology to drive growth having worked for KPMG, Axon Consulting and Accenture across Asia, Europe and the United States. Julian works across the Spotless group to leverage technology and develop an entrepreneurial culture that results in new products and services and an enhanced customer experience.

She resides in Sydney Australia with specific focus to develop an occupancy planning best practice for regional and global JLL accounts. As a leader in the occupancy planning business, Rachel leverages 15 years of experience in design and change in the US, Asia and Australia to drive growth in occupany planning.

She has worked on major corporate accounts for global institutions leading workplace strategies, space planning and change management. Rachel believes occupancy planning is one of the most important and sustainable offerings to the future of corporate real estate. It is at the heart of the workplace with space data supporting property and workplace strategies.

Since March 2015, Caroline Lambert is the European Union's Climate and Environment counsellor in Australia. Before being posted to Australia, Caroline worked for five years in the private office of the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, where she advised on financial, trade and taxation matters and adaptation policy. Between 2007 and 2010, Caroline advised Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission in charge of Communication and Interinstitutional Relations and helped design communication campaigns on key European policies.

Caroline entered the European Union's civil service in 2000 and initially worked in the Energy, Transport and Budget Departments. Early in her career, Caroline did strategic communications and public affairs work in the energy and environment sector for European businesses and commodities. She holds a post-graduate diploma in European Political Science from the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium) where she was awarded first prize of the year. She has a MA with highest honors in International Relations, Economics and Law from Sciences Po Paris and graduated in International Economics with the highest honors from Paris X University.

Fred Watson comes from a long line of Freds, but was the first in his family to become a scientist. He has been Astronomer in Charge at the Australian Astronomical Observatory since 1995, having worked previously at both of Britain's Royal Observatories. He is also the AAO’s Head of Lighting and Environment, providing advocacy for the protection of the night sky against light pollution.

Fred is a graduate of the universities of Edinburgh and St Andrews, and today holds adjunct professorial positions at several Australian universities. His academic work has covered most branches of astronomy, from the Solar System to the distant Universe, and he is known for pioneering the application of fibre optics to astronomy in the 1980s and 1990s.

Fred is best known, however, for his radio and TV broadcasts, talks, and other outreach programs, which earned him the 2006 Australian Government Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science. He has written a number of popular astronomy books, two of which have received literary awards, and has both a science-themed CD and an award-winning symphony libretto to his name. Fred was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2010. He has an asteroid named after him (5691 Fredwatson), but says that if it hits the Earth, it won't be his fault.