Alex Coates is the Chief Executive Officer of Interactive, bringing over 20 years of global experience in the tech industry, outsourcing, and strategic leadership.

Before joining Interactive, Alex served as Managing Director of Datacom Australia, where she led the organisation’s strategic growth, customer engagement and operational performance for over four years. Alex also held the role of Chief Operating Officer for Datacom across Australia and New Zealand, transforming the organisation’s large-scale operations and services.

Alex’s career includes senior leadership roles at Fujitsu in both Australia and Europe, managing complex IT service delivery for major customers in both the public and private sectors.

Holding a degree in International Management, Alex began her career in the UK before relocating to Australia in 2007. She is known for her customer and people centric leadership style with a focus on driving collaboration, strategic partnerships, and strong engagement in the broader industry.

As a passionate advocate for the tech industry, Alex has served as a Board member of the National AIIA and is a member of Chief Executive Women. She actively champions inclusion and active participation within the technology sector both within Interactive and more broadly.

After 17 years at Microsoft supporting the channel across Australia and New Zealand, Brad Clarke founded Channel Guru and the Tech Partner Operating System (TPOS) with a simple goal: help tech partners build stronger, more operationally mature businesses for the modern AI era.

Deeply passionate about the channel, Brad is focused on creating an independent, vendor-agnostic platform that gives tech partners practical access to the expertise, frameworks, and operational guidance they need to scale sustainably and stay competitive in a rapidly changing market.

The channel has always been at the forefront of delivering change. For me, AI is the moment that turns that promise into measurable commercial outcomes. I've spent nearly three decades on every side of the channel. As General Manager and CTO at DNX Solutions, I lead cloud, data, AI, security, and managed services for enterprise customers across Australia. Time inside Dell and AWS gave me an unfiltered view of how vendors think, what partners actually need, and where the gap between the two costs everyone. I've spent my career closing that gap. I'm joining xChange Australia to do what I believe i do best: cut through the noise, share what's actually worked, and learn from the peers shaping what comes next.

Lisa Fortey is the General Manager of Logicalis Australia, where she leads the company’s strategic direction, fosters strong partnerships, and empowers teams to drive business success. With over 25 years of experience in the technology sector, Lisa has been a trailblazer for women in the industry, combining her deep understanding of business challenges with a passion for delivering transformative results. She is deeply committed to customer obsession, ensuring that every strategy, partnership, and innovation is driven by a relentless focus on delivering exceptional value and outcomes for clients.

Lisa’s journey at Logicalis began in 2014 when she joined the sales team, quickly establishing herself as a key leader. Her ability to build high-performing teams and drive customer-centric solutions led to her promotion to National Sales Director in 2023. Now, as General Manager, she continues to shape the company’s growth, ensuring Logicalis remains a trusted partner for customers across Australia.

Lisa’s career in technology began in 1997 at Telecom New Zealand, where she gained foundational industry experience. She then expanded her expertise internationally, moving to London to work at Citibank. Her entrepreneurial spirit led her to play a pivotal role in establishing ekit.com’s business operations in both London and Boston, gaining firsthand experience in scaling a tech-driven company.

After relocating to Melbourne, Lisa took on leadership roles at Premiere Global Services, Interactive, and Data#3, where she further honed her expertise in sales, business development, and technology solutions. Her diverse experience across global corporations and innovative technology firms has shaped her ability to lead with a strategic mindset and a focus on long-term success.

A passionate advocate for diversity in the tech industry, Lisa is committed to mentoring the next generation of leaders and championing initiatives that support inclusion and professional growth. With her leadership, Logicalis Australia continues to strengthen its market position, delivering innovative solutions that empower businesses to thrive in the digital era

Matt Salmanzadeh is a technology, data and AI leader with over 15 years’ experience working with enterprise organisations, partners and vendors across banking, retail, government and consulting.

He is the Director and Co-Founder of nexwave, a Microsoft-focused data and AI consultancy supporting organisations through practical, outcome-driven modernisation.

Matt brings a strong understanding of both partner and vendor perspectives. He has led and advised complex transformation programs spanning data platforms, cloud adoption, analytics and AI enablement, with a consistent focus on execution, governance and measurable business impact.

In his advisory work, Matt helps align vendor strategy to real customer priorities, ensuring solutions, messaging and engagement models resonate with decision-makers and deliver value in-market. He is particularly effective at bridging strategy and delivery, translating technical capability into clear, business-relevant outcomes.

Matt is recognised as a calm, people-first leader with a strong bias to action, and is trusted by executives, partners and vendors navigating modernisation and AI adoption at scale.

Sunny Bhatia is the Chief Information and Digital Officer at Digital61, where he leads strategy, innovation, and growth across cloud, cybersecurity, and managed services. With extensive experience across enterprise IT, security operations, and digital transformation, Sunny works closely with government and enterprise clients to design and deliver secure, scalable, and outcome-driven technology solutions. He has been instrumental in expanding Digital61’s national footprint, building high-performing sales and cyber teams, and positioning the organisation as a trusted partner in the Australian public sector.

Sunny brings a strong commercial and strategic lens to technology, with a focus on aligning emerging capabilities such as AI, cloud-native security, and modern workplace solutions to real business outcomes. He is passionate about fostering industry collaboration, strengthening partnerships with leading technology vendors, and shaping conversations around the future of cybersecurity and digital services. As a member of the advisory board for XChange Australia, Sunny is looking forward to contributing to practical insights from the front line of the industry, helping ensure the agenda reflects the evolving challenges and opportunities faced by solution providers and their customers.

With 30+ years in IT, strategy, and partnerships, Vito Rinaldi leads Blue Crystal Solutions, a 100% Australian-owned IT consultancy and managed services provider specialising in modern data platforms, private AI deployments, cloud modernisation, and secure application services for government and enterprise organisations. Built on deep expertise in database architecture and management, Blue Crystal Solutions has grown over 20 years under his leadership into a trusted partner for complex, regulated environments, delivering scalable, governance-aligned solutions across Oracle, AWS, and Microsoft ecosystems. A graduate of Harvard Business School's Owner/President Management (OPM) Program, Vito also serves as a Board Director of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), where he shapes ICT policy at a national level.

Xara Tran is the Founder and CEO of Champions of Change, an Australian technology consultancy focused on helping organisations navigate complex transformation through modern infrastructure, adaptive cloud platforms, and intelligent technologies.

Founded on the belief that reinvention is a continuous strategy, Champions of Change works with organisations to modernise their digital foundations and build resilient, future-ready environments. Under Xara’s leadership, the company collaborates with leading technology vendors and enterprise organisations to design scalable platforms that enable businesses to move with confidence through technological change.

Her approach centres on helping organisations predict the unpredictable, turning complexity into opportunity through infrastructure modernisation, data platforms, and emerging technologies such as AI.

Xara enjoys collaborating on the CRN Advisory Board and contributes to industry advisory forums and partner councils that shape the future of enterprise technology and the partner ecosystem.

She is also a strong advocate for equity, diversity, and neurodivergent inclusion in the technology industry, championing environments where different ways of thinking can drive innovation and meaningful change.