Dan Clark is the Chief Executive Officer of Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG), a natural gas business owned by ConocoPhillips, Origin Energy and Sinopec based in Brisbane.
Dan commenced his role with APLNG in May 2024 and is on secondment from ConocoPhillips, where he was most recently president of the Australia business unit.
Dan has held numerous engineering, planning, asset management and commercial assignments related to ConocoPhillips’ operations in the Lower 48, Indonesia, Alaska and Qatar. Before coming to Australia, Dan served as vice president, Rockies Business Unit for ConocoPhillips. In this role, he led the team responsible for development and operations of the company’s Bakken asset, as well as its interests in Wyoming, Utah, the Gulf of Mexico and the Anadarko Basin in Texas/Oklahoma.
Dan joined ConocoPhillips in 1988 as an engineer in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and subsequently served in a variety of other roles of increasing responsibility in the Lower 48. In 2005, Dan transferred to Jakarta, Indonesia, as manager for Offshore Assets for ConocoPhillips Indonesia. He transferred to ConocoPhillips Alaska in 2008 and successively served as manager, Cook Inlet, manager, Strategy & Portfolio Management, and vice president, Strategy and Commercial. In 2018, Dan assumed the role of vice president, Commercial & Business Development for ConocoPhillips Qatar.
Dan graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 1990.

Helen Mitchell is an economist and former diplomat, most recently one of a senior cadre of experts providing strategic advice to the Prime Minister and rest of government.
She is a Sir Roland Wilson Scholar at the Australian National University doing targeted research to help solve national policy challenges. Her integrated research explores economic security and statecraft in a new global order – one in which Australia faces sharper trade-offs between sovereignty, security and prosperity.
Helen is also an Economic Security Non-Resident Fellow at the US Studies Centre where she has published an Economic Security report for Australian policymakers.
Previously, Helen advised the Australian Government on economic security issues at the Commonwealth Treasury. She is a published economist and she served Australia in diplomatic positions in New York, South Africa and Mexico.
Helen holds a first class honours degree in Economics and an Arts degree from the University of Melbourne. She recently completed Leadership training at the Harvard Business School. She speaks Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese.
You can hear Helen speaking about her research topics on the ANU’s National Security College podcast: A New Age of Economic Statecraft and How the Global Economy is Reshaping International Security.

Ms. MIYANO is a Japanese career diplomat who is serving as Minister in charge of economy including energy and climate, as well as communications, culture and consular affairs at the Embassy of Japan in Canberra since October 2023.
At the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she has held a number of positions, including Director of UN Planning and Administration Division (2019-21), Director of Press Division (2018-19), and Director of Access to Information and Diplomatic Records Division (2016-18). Prior to that, Ms. MIYANO worked on a range of bilateral and multilateral negotiations on economic partnerships and global environment as well as Japan’s relations with Europe, Middle East and South Asia.
Her professional experience outside the Foreign Ministry includes policy setting/managerial positions at a local government and at the International Peace Cooperation Headquarters, Cabinet Office of Japan, overseeing the GOJ policy on participating in international peace operations.
During her posting as Counsellor at the Permanent Mission to the UN (2014-16), she was extensively involved in the negotiations of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which laid out the SDGs. As Counsellor at the Mission to the EU (2011-14), her portfolio included political and parliamentary affairs where she worked on the initial phase of the Japan-EU Strategic Partnership Agreement. She also served in New Delhi earlier in her career.
Ms. MIYANO holds LLM from Edinburgh University and LLB from Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo.

Christopher A. “Chris” Powers, 43, is vice president, Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) for Chevron New Energies (CNE), a position he assumed in October 2021. He is responsible for leading and growing Chevron’s CCUS business worldwide and is based at CNE’s headquarters in Houston, Texas.
Previously, Powers served as General Manager of Strategy and Business Performance for Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company (CNAEP) since 2020. In this role, he was responsible for leading efforts to shape strategies and competitive plans for each business unit across the North America region, including the leading Permian position. Chris led the merger integration of Noble Energy’s North American assets into CNAEP.
Powers’ recent leadership roles include General Manager, Maintenance & Reliability, at the Pascagoula, Mississippi Refinery, Chevron’s largest wholly owned manufacturing facility, and Area Operations Manager in Bakersfield, California, within the San Joaquin Valley upstream business unit. Previously, he served as Advisor to the Vice Chairman and EVP of Upstream, and as General Manager of CUEL, a former joint venture in Thailand.
Powers began his career as a process engineer in the Chevron Energy Research and Technology Company in Bellaire, Texas. Over his 20-plus year career with Chevron, he has held business and technical leadership positions of increasing responsibility in Kazakhstan, Thailand, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
A native of Port Neches, Texas, Chris received his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering Magna Cum Laude from Rice University in Houston, Texas. He is a registered Professional Engineer.
Married with three children, Powers and his family are active in the Houston community, where his children, from high school to preschool age, attend HISD public schools. He is a Governing Director of the Houston Symphony and is active with HETI, the Houston Energy Transition Initiative. Powers also serves as the Chevron Executive Sponsor for the Chevron – Rice University relationship and serves on the George R. Brown School of Engineering External Advisory Board at Rice.

Gaku Takagi has been CEO and Managing Director of JERA Australia since July 2023.
Mr Takagi’s energy industry career spans over 33 years, with extensive experience in the fuel business, including in upstream LNG and Ammonia, in LNG shipping, LNG trading, and LNG procurement.
Before taking the lead at JERA Australia, he was head of JERA Co., Inc.’s Low Carbon Fuel Value Chain Division, working closely with LNG producer Chevron on Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage projects in the United States and Australia.
Mr Takagi has been actively involved in the company’s decarbonisation efforts, helping to advance JERA’s ‘Net Zero CO2 Emissions 2050’ objective.

Joel brings over 25 years of experience as a former federal Member of Parliament for the New South Wales seat of Hunter. Throughout his extensive career in politics, Joel served in Cabinet and held the ministerial portfolios of Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Minister for Defence, and Chief Government Whip.
He also held several shadow portfolios throughout his time in Opposition, including Shadow Minister for Resources, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Shadow Minister for Rural and Regional Australia, Shadow Minister for Small Business and Tourism, and Shadow Assistant Treasurer.
Joel has served on a number of parliamentary committees, covering diverse issues including regional affairs; agriculture and resources; economics and finance; employment and workplace relations; foreign affairs, defence and trade; and public administration.
Prior to his time in federal parliament, Joel was a local Councillor and Deputy Mayor of the Cessnock City Council, and a small business owner.
Joel provides CMAX Advisory’s clients with corporate strategy and policy advice, assisting international and Australian businesses navigate the unique Australian business landscape. He also provides advice for Australian companies looking to expand their business overseas.