Meet the 2024 Board
Bruce Marshall - PRESIDENT
Bruce is the Coordinator Economic Development and Smart Cities at Maribyrnong City Council in Melbourne's Inner West. Amongst other things, his team has responsibility for driving the municipality's Smart City program and delivering on the vision of the Smart City Strategic Framework.
Over his 13 years working in the Local Government sector Bruce has had a number of roles relating to Economic Development, Investment Attraction, Place Making and Visitor Economy promotion. Whilst still relatively new to the Smart Cities space, he is passionate about exploring how Smart City initiatives can play an active role in place making, place activation and improving the convenience and quality of life for residents.
Bruce is an experienced board director in a range of sectors and is passionate about embedding sound governance practices to ensure the ongoing success and sustainability of ASCA.
Prior to Local Government he ran a small business in the international tourism sector, and previously lived and worked in Japan for nearly 4 years.
EMMILY ACTON - VICE PRESIDENT
Emmily is the Economic Development Officer at City of Newcastle where she helps to solve community challenges with an innovative approach and keen interest for digital solutions. Her work involves a particular focus on the night-time economy and utilising smart city technology to inform evidenced based planning, activations, and interventions.
Emmily was awarded the Rising Star Leadership Award by Economic Development Australia in recognition of her outstanding achievements as a young, emerging leader in the economic development profession. At the heart of Emmily's work is her belief in a people-centred approach which empowers communities to strengthen opportunities.
Emmily enjoys learning about and advocating for the ever-growing opportunities for harnessing technology to improve wellbeing, inclusion, partnerships and skills.
Harman singh - SECRETARY
Harman is the global Smart Cities Lead at GHD Digital and works with senior stakeholders for GHD’s strategic clients to lead the development of innovative solutions for Smart Cities & Buildings. He is a technical advisor on smart technologies like Smart Parking, Smart Lighting, Intelligent Metering, Building Automation Systems, Internet of Things (IoT), Data Analytics and Cybersecurity.
Harman brings with him over 20 years of global experience in executive and management roles with various technology-related businesses in the US, Dubai, India and Australia. In the past, he served as the Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Brady Family of Companies in the US, where he led the organisation to be awarded the “Most Innovative Workplace” in North Carolina in 2017.
Harman holds an MBA from London Business School and is a regular speaker on smart technologies, applied innovation and digital transformation. He serves as a Vice-Chair on the board of a non-profit, Our Future Cities, and sits on Standards Australia’s committee for Smart City Systems to foster the development of standards and sharing of best practices in the ever-evolving space of smart and sustainable cities.
Sumeet nagpal - Treasurer
Sumeet is the Data Engineering Hub Lead at the Environment Protection Authority Victoria where he is heading the data, reporting and analytics platforms. He has an extensive leadership experience in Smart City, Open Data, Internet of Things, Digital Twin, Digital Transformation and Data Analytics domains.
In his career span, Sumeet has led and delivered award winning initiatives including City of Casey’s Open Data Platform to help community access, use and share the data.
Sumeet has a vision to find innovative ways to standardise smart technology for solving community problems in both urban and rural areas.
Sumeet is also passionate about promoting entrepreneurship in the emerging technology sector with an aim to build more smart and sustainable communities in a cost-effective way.
Bronwen clark
Bronwen Clark is CEO of the National Growth Areas Alliance (NGAA), the peak body representing fast-growing Councils on the outskirts of capital cities, where one fifth of the Australian population lives. NGAA advocates for a dedicated whole-of-government approach to policies impacting Australia’s fast growing outer metro cities and suburbs.
Bronwen was appointed to the Urban Policy Forum by the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, The Hon. Catherine King MP in May 2023 and was previously appointed to the Cities Reference Group under the Coalition government.
Bronwen brings advocacy, policy and strategy expertise to ASCA. She has an MBA from Melbourne Business School, has consulted extensively to local government, small business and not-for-profits, and has worked with the Federal Government on multilateral trade negotiations, including representing Australia at the World Trade Organisation.
Liam manning
Liam Manning is a partner and the chief commercial officer of SAPHI, a tech-agnostic solution provider specialising in the integration of emerging technologies. Liam and his two co-founders come from small regional council areas and fell into supporting local governments when they saw a power imbalance between vendors and consultants pushing solutions into councils and what they actually needed. Since then, Liam and his team have been on a mission to protect the interests of local government and support them on their technological journies to ensure cities are set up to maximise the benefit to ratepayers not vendors.
He has been instrumental in advising local, state, and federal governments on optimal technological applications for urban environments. Liam's experience encompasses a broad spectrum of smart city initiatives, where he has effectively bridged the gap between innovative tech solutions and practical urban applications, enhancing community connectivity and livability. His role at SAPHI showcases a profound commitment to developing and deploying technology that genuinely serves and transforms communities.
nathaniel bavinton
Dr Nathaniel Bavinton is an urban sociologist, social researcher and city strategist who has researched, planned and implemented urban and social innovation for over twenty years. Nathaniel is an Associate Director at Urbis, working in the Smart and Sustainable Places team within urban planning. He is focused on the complex challenges of creating technology and data-enabled places, and innovative, sustainable, and future-focused cities, communities and organisations.
Previously the Innovation and Futures Manager at the City of Newcastle, he has a longstanding interest and history with the revitalisation and transition of Newcastle and led the city’s multi-award-winning smart city program.
Prior to his work in local government, Nathaniel was an academic lecturing on cities and culture, and researching at the intersections of urban design, governance, and behaviour. He earned his PhD in 2011 for a thesis focused on the cultural, spatial, and economic dynamics of cities at night.
In addition to his role on the board of the Australian Smart Communities Association (ASCA), he is currently a board member of innovation ecosystem connector Hunter If, and sits on the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s NSW Resilience, Net Zero and Smart Cities Committee. Nathaniel is really interested in how cities can be a more creative, resilient, connected, and socially inclusive places. He believes that in an age of accelerating change, those communities that embrace the future will thrive.
Pearl ng
Pearl is the Head of Smart City, Innovation, and Improvement at the City of Casey, a rapidly growing Council in Australia. With a future-focused agenda, she leads the integration of smart technology, collaboration, and innovation to enhance sustainability and resilience in the local region.
Trained as an engineer at the University of Melbourne, Pearl has a diverse background spanning professional services, non-profit, and government sectors. She has been recognized with esteemed awards, including the IBM Manager's Choice Award and the IBM Global Service Excellence Award. Passionate about promoting women in STEM and harnessing technology for positive impact, Pearl has been acknowledged as one of Science & Technology Australia's Superstars of STEM.
Through her leadership and research, Pearl propels positive change in smart city initiatives while inspiring others. With her expertise, she remains committed to making significant contributions to innovation, sustainability, and empowering women in STEM.
Rory Brown
Rory is the Executive Director, Smart Places and Net Zero Cities, in the Cities and Active Transport Division of Transport for NSW. He has been part of the NSW Government’s Smart Places revolution since its inception in 2019. His passion lies in instilling a data- and technology-first approach, and a citizen- or customer-led lens to smart places.
An executive leader with over a decade of C-level advisory experience, Rory has a track record in delivering strategy, transformation and developing enterprises. His prior commercial roles have included growing SeventeenHundred, a digital platform provider of diversity solutions, leading product, strategy and development organisations for Optus, and leading SingTel Group’s Consumer Cloud business.
SIMON BERRYMAN
Simon is the Manager Stakeholder Engagement NSW/ ACT with nbn co; and while based in Orange focuses much of his work on greater Sydney; with a particular focus on cities planning, policy and smart places delivery initiatives.
Simon has a background in economics and financial services in Sydney and London. The past 7 years Simon has worked in roles across state and federal government, all targeting outcomes for people which have connectivity as the primary enabler.
Simon is passionate about delivering on the promise of IoT and smart places; and aims to work with ASCA and its members to move from a proliferation of successful pilots to a scaling of smart solutions to deliver social, economic, and environmental outcomes.