ACS has announced Ian Oppermann as its new President, with the appointment effective immediately until 31 December 2021.

Dr. Oppermann is the NSW Government’s Chief Data Scientist working within the Department of Customer Service.

He takes the role after serving as ACS Vice President - Academic Boards for the past two years during which he also held the position of President of the Australia National Committee of the IEC and President of the JTC1 strategic advisory committee in Australia.

In his private sector roles, Dr Oppermann led organisations including senior management positions in Europe and Australia as Director for Radio Access Performance at Nokia, Global Head of Sales Partnering (network software) at Nokia Siemens Networks, and Divisional Chief and Flagship Director at CSIRO.

Following his election by ACS Congress today, Dr Oppermann paid tribute to immediate past president, Yohan Ramasundara’s tenure, saying: “Many things happened under Yohan’s Presidency. He worked diligently to continue the journey of the ACS towards greater impact and relevance to Australia."

"The role of the President is to lead and guide. It is also to inspire and connect,” continued Dr Oppermann. “Over the last 3 years as Vice President for the Technical Advisory Board (TAB), I have had the pleasure of leading a concerted push to ensure the TAB was playing its role in creating value, increasing ACS relevance and developing quality outputs in support of the ACS strategy.”

Also elected are Nick Tate Vice President (Membership Board), Craig Horne Vice President (Community Board), Arnold Wong National Treasurer, CEO Andrew Johnson, and National Congressional Representatives Andrew Crawford (NSW Branch), George Coldham (WA Branch), Maria Markman (Victoria Branch), Michael Driver (Queensland Branch).

Immediate Past President, Yohan Ramasundara, praised the election of Dr Oppermann, saying, “I am thrilled the ACS’s Congress elected Dr Ian Oppermann as the Society’s President for the next two years.

“He has been a tremendous support to me during my tenure. The Board has delivered on the strategic plan, secured and launched state-of-the-art facilities for members and tech-startups in three capital cities, raised additional revenue, positively influenced national and international tech-agendas and run hundreds of development and award events across Australia.

“I have every confidence Ian will drive the Society to even greater heights and be a powerful and positive influence here and abroad. As the Immediate Past President, I look forward to working with Ian to maintain our momentum and build an even stronger and more productive profession.”

Dr Oppermann holds an MBA from the University of London and a Doctor of Philosophy in Mobile Telecommunications from Sydney University, he is also a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, an ACS Fellow, and a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He has also contributed to six books and co-authored over 120 papers which have been cited more than 3,500 times.