PROFILE
Victor Dominello is a former senior NSW Government minister, best known for serving as the inaugural Minister for Customer Service and Digital, a role he pioneered globally in 2019. Recognised by The Australian in July 2022 as one of Australia’s top 100 innovators, Victor spent 12 years in cabinet leading portfolios including Digital Government, Innovation, Finance, and Aboriginal Affairs. His leadership earned international acclaim for revolutionising NSW public service delivery through initiatives like the Department of Customer Service, Service NSW, and the Digital Restart Fund.
Prior to his political career, Victor practiced law for over a decade, becoming a partner in a commercial firm. In September 2023, he co-founded ServiceGen, a consultancy advising governments and organisations on innovative service delivery strategies. Through ServiceGen, he was selected by The World Bank to spearhead a transformative digital identity initiative in Mongolia. In February 2025, he launched the Future Government Institute, a global hub for forward-thinking public sector leaders, innovators, and practitioners dedicated to shaping the next era of governance.
In March 2025, Victor was named one of The Identity 25 by Okta Ventures, recognising global pioneers shaping the future of digital identity. As part of the announcement, Victor’s image was featured on the Nasdaq Tower in New York’s Times Square—a celebration of his contribution to secure, citizen-focused identity innovation.
Victor currently holds several prominent roles: Chair of the Services Australia Independent Advisory Board, Senior Advisor for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and Professor at the University of New South Wales. He also serves as a Director of the UNSW-UTS Trustworthy Digital Society Hub and a Board Director of the Tech Council of Australia.
SPEAKING TOPICS
Digital leadership
Spending an unprecedented 12 years as a government minister gives Victor the rare experience of planning and delivering digital projects and seeing their outcomes.
Over this period Victor drove a significant digital transformation of Service NSW delivering groundbreaking projects, including the development of the ServiceNSW app, digital driver’s licenses, QR Check-Ins, vaccine certificates and NSW’s dine and discover vouchers. Under Victor’s leadership Service NSW saw a significant improvement in Customer Experience driven by digital innovation.
In this keynote Victor shares key learnings gained from managing a large-scale transformation in a complex environment and the future-forward initiatives that led NSW to become the most digitally advanced state in Australia.
Key Takeaways:
- Understand why digital leadership skills are should be a key competency for any modern leader.
- Digital transformation is more than tech, it’s about building tech and partnership and culture and trust.
- Large-scale transformation takes time and consistency, as a leader if you don’t spend enough time and the wicket it isn’t going to work.
- The importance of building a strong culture and framework for innovation so that the journey doesn’t stop when the team changes.
- Understand the importance of partnerships, both internal and external. Leading and fostering digital transformation requires a strong web of support.
- Understand the threat of falling behind the speed of consumers.
- How to foster an agile environment that empowers people to innovate, make mistakes and try new things.
Artificial Intelligence & emerging technology
In this Keynote Victor unpacks the challenges and opportunities ahead for Australian organisations grappling with the fast-paced evolution of generative AI.
With the rare experience of 12 years as government minister overseeing a number of digital projects and innovations including the development of the ServiceNSW app, digital driver’s licenses, QR Check-Ins, vaccine certificates and NSW’s dine and discover vouchers, Victor has a keen understanding of what leaders need to know about artificial intelligence and the world of emerging technology.
Key Takeaways:
- A general overview of the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence.
- Understand the geopolitical impacts of AI.
- Understand how to foster digital trust by building trust into our AI systems.
- Understand what steps modern leaders need to take to build their digital literacy.
Navigating the chaos of change
In this presentation, Victor Dominello highlights key aspects of digital advancement, data-driven decision-making, empowerment, speed, customer focus, and leadership using the transformative journey of Service NSW as a case study.
Victor comprehensively examines the challenges encountered during large-scale transformation and best-practice strategies to ensure impactful collaboration, risk management, and trust-building in the digital ecosystem. Victor emphasises the necessity of fostering innovation in a risk-averse environment, balancing agility with essential governance structures to support high-level investments and reflecting on personal leadership growth to create an empowering and authorising environment for leaders and management teams.
Additionally, he discusses the future prospects related to Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) and its role in the digital landscape.
Key Takeaways:
- Understand the critical components of driving a large and sustained transformation effort, including making strategic bets, structuring programs, ensuring collaboration, focusing on the customer, cultivating a positive culture, establishing partnerships, tracking progress, and managing risks.
- Recognise the importance of building trust in the digital ecosystem, fast feedback loops, and the pivotal role of data in enhancing customer experiences.
- Develop strategies to foster innovation and achieve step-changes in a risk-averse environment while ensuring safety, ownership, and clarity.
- Balance the need for speed and agility with essential governance structures to support high levels of investment, particularly focusing on the roles of leaders and management teams.
- Reflect on personal leadership growth, managing for impact, creating an authorizing and empowering environment, and fostering collaboration and alignment.
- Understand the evolving role of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) in the future digital landscape.
