Jamila Gordon Travels from Sydney, NSW

Jamila Gordon is CEO and Founder of Lumachain, a scale-up that uses Artificial Intelligence to disrupt global food supply chains.  She recently received the top award - Innovator of the Year - in the 2021 Women in Artificial Intelligence Awards, was 2020 New South Wales Entrepreneur of the Year, and Microsoft’s global Awardee in the 2018 International Women’s Entrepreneurship Challenge. 

Jamila is a former Chief Information Officer of Qantas and a global IBM executive.  She is also a council member of Questacon, Australia’s national science and technology centre.

One of Australia's most respected IT and digital leaders, Jamila has a deep understanding of the corporate world from both a technology and business perspective. Having held leadership roles in businesses in Australia and globally, she has an extensive network spanning the business, technology, start-up and venture capital worlds.

An inspirational and motivational speaker, Jamila speaks with honesty, humour and dignity. She uses her story to deliver memorable messages about the importance of dreaming big, the keys to effective leadership amidst change, and the crucial role of resilience and positivity.

Her arrival into Australia at the age of 18 was after having escaped the Somali civil war alone and being virtually homeless in Kenya. Jamila set about learning English and then studied IT at La Trobe University, before commencing a career that has taken her around the world.  She has served on the Board of La Trobe University for five years.

Jamila is deeply committed to helping refugees and others from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed in Australia.