About ACAIS

Anna-Maria Arabia is a strategic leader with over 25 years' experience at the intersection of research, policy, government, and global affairs. As CEO of the Australian Academy of Science for a decade, she shaped national decision-making, advanced science diplomacy from the Asia-Pacific to the UN, and ensured science and technology remained influential in Australia's most consequential policy debates. A former neuroscientist, her career spans the public service, politics, senior executive leadership, whilst serving on a number of boards. She was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia and the Order of the Star of Italy for her contributions to science and society.

Lin is known for her national leadership, deep social policy expertise, and ability to work with diverse stakeholders to articulate and execute a practical shared agenda for change. She serves on a portfolio of boards of public good and social impact organisations.  

Lin joined ACAIS to support informed social choices about how Australia can secure the benefits of the development and deployment of frontier AI, while contributing to managing global AI risks.  

Previous roles include CEO of The Benevolent Society, Deputy Secretary Social Policy in the Department of Prime Minster and Cabinet, President of the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS), and National Director of UnitingCare Australia. She has served on a wide range of government and NGO boards and advisory bodies, such as the Australian Social Inclusion Board, and contributed to numerous national forums and summits.  

Lin has been ACT Australian of the Year and is a Churchill Fellow. 

Eleanor is an impact investor who works at the intersection of the business, not-for-profit human services, government, philanthropic, and technology sectors to strengthen and advance Australia’s communities and social fabric. 

Outside of ACAIS, Eleanor is a Partner with For Purpose Investment Partners, where she invests to bring scale, commercial discipline and AI-driven productivity to deliver more impactful services across Australia’s not-for-profit early learning, education & training, disability, aged care and housing sectors. She is also a Board Director with Impact Lab, leveraging technology to measure social return on investment. She previously ran McKinsey & Company’s Social Impact practice in Australia & NZ, and was an Innovation Fellow with Harvard’s Government Performance Lab. 

Eleanor holds an MBA and an MPP from the University of Oxford, and a BA (Hons) from the University of Melbourne. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Moksha Watts is a strategic adviser and board director with more than 20 years' experience at the highest levels of government and business, working across Australia, New Zealand, India, South-East Asia and the Middle East.

As Senior Adviser to Prime Minister Albanese, Moksha helped establish the Net Zero Economy Authority, working across governments, regions, workers and industries to secure the economic and social benefits of the energy transition. Before that, as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Qantas and Virgin Australia, she led both airlines' net zero roadmaps and sponsored the Australasian aviation industry's roadmap.

Moksha now advises on energy, industrial and AI policy, including data centre energy demand. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a BSc and BA from the University of Sydney and sustainability qualifications from Cambridge Judge Business School.

Janet Egan is an AI policy researcher based in Washington D.C., where she leads analysis of the national security, innovation, and economic implications of frontier AI. She is the Director of AI Policy at the Institute for Progress, a non-partisan thinktank focused on innovation policy, and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, an independent, bipartisan thinktank focused on national security policy. Before moving to the non-profit sector, Janet served as a director in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Her work in the Australian Government has spanned supply chain resilience, 5G security, cybersecurity, countering foreign interference, foreign investment and trade, and critical infrastructure regulation. Janet holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a bachelor of arts from Monash University.

Steve Hatfield-Dodds has a distinguished track record of working at the intersection of sustainability, public policy and business strategy, including senior leadership roles in government, research and business consulting.  He is recognized nationally and internationally for his achievements in design and assessment of climate, energy and sustainability policy and strategy; complex economic modelling; integrated assessment; scenario thinking; and decision support for resolving highly contested issues.

Steve works as a policy and strategy specialist. He is an honorary Professor of Public Policy at the ANU, expert member of the UN International Resource Panel, and honorary Associate at the Oxford University Environmental Change Institute and ANU Centre for Climate Economics and Policy. 

His previous roles have included Executive Director of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), Chief Coordinating Scientist for integration science and public policy at CSIRO, and multiple senior leadership roles in Australian Government departments.

Leveraging 20 years of experience consulting in public and private sector sectors, Tom advises on a range of contemporary business challenges across strategy, risk, culture, customer experience, people, finance, and technology. He was previously a senior coach and faculty member of PwC’s global leadership program, where he worked with leaders in multilateral organisations and industries seeking to adapt to a changing and fragmenting world. In his final role he was appointed as Chief Transformation Officer of PwC Australia where he implemented a new strategy, and oversaw wide ranging organisational reforms. Tom now works as an independent strategic advisor aligning leaders on engaging with business model change that AI has introduced.

Paul is an independent strategic adviser to the leaders and boards of major companies, investors and governments, with deep expertise in heavy industry, resources, energy and decarbonisation. Paul has advised some of Australia's largest resources, energy and infrastructure companies on long-term strategy, the implications of the energy transition and major capital investments, as well as global private capital investors on significant transactions.

Paul joined leading Australian advisory firm Port Jackson Partners in 2014 and became a Partner in 2021 following the firm's acquisition by EY. He retired from the partnership in 2026. Paul now advises in private practice.

Paul began his career in the Australian Government developing national infrastructure policy. He holds a Bachelor of Philosophy with First Class Honours from the Australian National University.