President

Nick Tate has over 45 years’ experience in ICT, including 20 years in Cybersecurity, 16 years as a CIO/Head of IT at two London banks and the University of Queensland (UQ) and 11 years as head of the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT), which dealt with cybersecurity incidents nationally. He is co-author of “A Director’s Guide to Governing Information Technology and Cybersecurity”, an AICD published book and has 20 years’ experience as a Company Director in 16 Australian and 2 US companies. He is an Adjunct Professor at UQ, has degrees in Physics and Computer Science and a PhD in Cybersecurity. He is both a Fellow and Honorary Life Member of the ACS. Nick is currently Vice President (Membership), President of the South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC) and leads an APEC project on ICT Skills Frameworks. He is also Chair of the Council of ICT Associations (CICTA) and chaired the World Computer Congress in 2010. He was the National President of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) in 2012/2013 and is a member of the SFIA Council. Hi work experience includes working on the development of antimissile systems and real-time air traffic control systems before spending 20 years working for investment banks in both London and Australia.

Vice President Academic

Technology advocate dedicated to advances and the progression of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), and cyber security, combined with research and academic engagement in six main areas, Business, Information Technology, International Relations, Security, South-east Asia, and Governance. Fluent in South-east Asian languages.

Vice President Communities

Jo has over 25 years’ experience in the IT field some of which were spent as CIO in the Utilities and as Group CIO in the Tourism space, and with significant experience in the Information Security arena including as CISO in the healthcare sector. She underpins her information technology and security background with her qualifications in education and management. She specialises in consulting in risk and technology issues with a particular emphasis on governance and security in both the commercial and operational areas of businesses. Jo provides strategic advice to organisations across a number of industry sectors including banking and finance, utilities, manufacturing, tertiary education, retail, healthcare and government. Jo has extensive board and committee experience. She has chaired a number of ISACA’s international committees including the Board Audit & Risk Committee, Leadership Development and Professional Influence & Advocacy. She served as an Elected Director on ISACA’s international Board of Directors for seven years and was the founder of its global women’s leadership initiative, SheLeadsTech.

Vice President Membership

Jo has proudly served the ACS in a number of elected roles at State and National levels since 2008. In national roles, Jo has overseen ACS policy development and submissions, and is currently a member of the Working Group overseeing ACS’s Constitutional Reform. For over 20 years, Jo has specialised in the governance, change processes and delivery of digital projects, with a focus on improving customer trust in systems and data. Jo’s early career was in advertising and publishing, managing transformation to digital technologies. Her recent work focus is on large compute service provision and sensitive data collaboration and linkage platforms in ISO 27001 environments.

Chief Executive Officer

Chris Vein took the role of Chief Executive Officer of ACS in July 2022 after an extensive global search. He joins ACS with a wealth of experience in innovation policy, technology strategy and digital transformation. A member of ACS since 2018, Chris served as PwC Australia’s Sydney-based Partner for Global Digital Transformation between October 2016 and 2018 after working with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on innovation in aid programs. Chris has held roles internationally in the public and private sectors, including Deputy United States Chief Technology Officer for Government Innovation at the White House, Chief Innovation Officer for Global ICT Development at the World Bank, and City CIO and Executive Director at the Department of Technology for the City and County of San Francisco. In his private sector roles, Chris has worked in the consulting and health care sectors. Chris’ passion lies in using emerging technologies such as AI, quantum computing, biotechnology and gaming to drive change, transform organisations and build a better society.

Director Public Policy and Corporate Affairs