Partner Summit 2025

Adrian Baillargeon

Guest Speaker

Adrian Baillargeon is a team performance specialist, author and keynote speaker who helps senior leaders work better together to drive real results. With over 20 years of leadership experience across Canada, Africa, and Australia, Adrian understands the pressure leaders face when balancing performance, people, and partnership.

He works with high-performing professionals who are exceptional in their fields, but don’t always get the opportunity to lead as a unified team. His focus is on building clarity, strengthening relationships and helping leaders shift from operating in silos to leading together.

Adrian is the author of Teams That Swear (by each other, not about each other), and his clients range from sporting bodies to major corporates, public sector organisations and even a sheep farm! Known for his energy, honesty and practicality, Adrian brings a fresh perspective to leadership and collaboration. His sessions leave leaders with sharper focus, stronger alignment and the tools to win the games that matter most.

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Wayne Spanner

Chairman of the Board

Wayne has over 25 years experience in executive management, leadership and corporate governance at Board level. In addition to being Chairman of the Hicksons Board, he is Chairman and non-executive director of ASX listed, Resimac Group Limited, a leading Australian non-bank residential mortgage and asset finance lender.

He has also been part of an international global executive team responsible for the management of Norton Rose Fulbright globally, a US$2 billion business, which has over 1,200 partners and 7,500 people around the world. He was based in New York from 2021 to 2023. He was also previously Managing Partner of the Australian practice of Norton Rose Fulbright from 2012 to 2020, leading the Australian business and its 1,100 partners and staff. He has spent over 30 years working in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. Prior to his executive leadership career, Wayne had an extensive legal career in employment law and industrial relations.

Wayne was a long-standing member of the Business Council of Australia (BCA) from 2012-2021, He served as Chair of the BCA’s Workplace Relations Advisory Group. Until recently he was a Board Member of Asia Society Australia and was also a former Councillor of the Australian British Chamber of Commerce. He has been the Chairman and longstanding board member of the University of Cape Town Australia Trust, a charitable foundation established to provide support to a range of development and social justice programs at the University of Cape Town.

He holds professional qualifications in law and management, including a Master of Science in Management from Oxford University and a Bachelor of Laws and Commerce from the University of Cape Town. He is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Wayne is married to Rosemary and has three adult children. An avid Pickleball player he sits on the board of Pickleball Australia. He likes a game of golf interspersed balanced with a bit of yoga.

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