His Excellency the Honourable Chris Dawson APM,
Governor of Western Australia
The Dawson family have been part of the early colonial settlers over five generations of farming and law enforcement. Chris Dawson’s great-great-grandparents arrived in the then Swan River colony in Western Australia in the early 1800s.
Chris was educated at Perth Modern School before joining the Western Australia Police Force as a cadet in 1976. Chris joined the Western Australia Police Force in February 1976, going on to provide 46 years of service in Australian law enforcement.
He served in country and metropolitan positions criminal investigation, training and senior roles. After 10 years as Deputy Commissioner, Chris left WA Police in 2014 to take up the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, formerly the Australian Crime Commission. He also served as Director of the Australian Institute of Criminology during this time.
Chris was appointed as Commissioner of the Western Australia Police Force in August 2017. During the period of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Chris has coordinated the State of Emergency since March 2020 as the State Emergency Coordinator.
Chris was sworn in as the 34th Governor of Western Australia on 15 July 2022.
John Wieland
Keynote Speaker 2023
John Wieland grew up in Jerseyville, Illinois USA, one of four children. Whilst his grades at school were mostly average, he did have an affinity with numbers. After he graduated, he pursued a career in accounting, which was instrumental in giving him a good understanding of why some companies were successful and some were not.
This eventually led him to purchase a small, virtually bankrupt company, MH Equipment, which has subsequently grown from having three branches and 50 employees to a company with over 30 branches and 1,000 employees. MH Equipment donates 10% of all profits to charitable organizations totalling over $25 million through the years.
Along the way, John has faced many challenges and learnt many valuable life lessons, in business, family, and faith and how all three influence each other. This led him to write the popular book “Uncommon Threads – Weaving a life through family, business, and faith”.
May you be inspired by his wisdom, humour and honesty as he openly shares how his life experiences as a son, a husband, a father, a businessman and a Christian are woven together to create something we call LIFE.
John and his wife, Julie, have four adult children and one granddaughter.