Adelaide Connected The Committee for Adelaide

Originally from Malaysia, John Kuruvilla started his career as a forensic accountant in Sydney. After realising how quickly technology was disrupting things, he decided to move to Adelaide in 2018 to complete a Masters program and hasn't looked back.

After graduating with a Masters of IT from the University of South Australia, John successfully transitioned into the technology sector as a Cyber Security Consultant. He recently joined Scyne Advisory, where he works across the areas of cyber security, digital forensics, and cloud security. We chat to John about his journey to SA, what he enjoys about living in Adelaide and forging his career in technology and cyber security.

Kayla Johnson came to Adelaide from Oklahoma in the United States in 2015 to study her masters and has quickly become a passionate advocate for SA. She started as an intern with the South Australian Government where she quickly progressed to Policy & Project Officer with the Department for Education and Principal Policy Officer with the Department of the Premier & Cabinet.

In her role as Director, Population Strategy, Kayla leads the State Government’s population growth policy, targets, and campaigns to attract and retain exceptional young global talent to SA.  We chat to Kayla about her role, what she loves about living in Adelaide and her favourite things to do on the weekend, including her go-to place for Tacos!

Ben Symons is the General Manager SA & WA at Lendlease.

After growing up in Country NSW, Ben found his calling in the construction industry and joined Lendlease as a graduate and hasn’t looked back. He has held multiple
roles within Lendlease, starting in Sydney and Canberra and later having the opportunity to work across the business internationally in Hawaii, Alaska, Dallas and Los Angeles, before coming back to Australia after nearly a decade of working abroad.

In 2021, Ben moved with his young family to Adelaide to take up his current role and has loved the lifestyle and access Adelaide provides.

We speak to Ben about how Adelaide stacks up to other cities he has worked in and why they chose Adelaide live long-term.

With a Master of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Arka Ghosh moved from India to Australia in 2019. He originally settled in Geelong where he studied a Ph D in Construction Management and was awarded as a finalist for innovative breakthrough and impactful research. In 2022, Arka secured a role as Digital Assets Leader for Beca and moved to Adelaide in 2023. We chat to Arka about his reasons for moving to Adelaide, the lifestyle benefits of living in the CBD, including the events and the iconic Adelaide Central Market, and how Adelaide compares to other cities.

Irina is what we term an ‘Arrow’ and a ‘Boomerang’. Originally from Romania, Irina moved to Adelaide in 2002 to undertake her post graduate studies at the University of South Australia and worked in a number of engineering and project management roles including as Director, Corporate Services and Director, Engineering & Building Services at SA Health. In 2011, she took up a national role with Schneider Electric Australia and subsequently moved to Sweden in 2016 before ‘boomeranging’ back to Adelaide in 2021.

Irina is now the Associate Director, Business Leader with Stantec and part of her reasoning for moving back to Adelaide was to support her son progress career opportunities in SA’s tech and innovation sectors. We chat to Irina about her journey and why she chose to move to Adelaide not once, but twice.

Professor Simon Lucey is the Director of the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, a professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Adelaide and an 'Arrow,' someone who has moved to Adelaide to live and work.

Originally from Queensland, Simon has spent time working as the Principal Research Scientist at the CSIRO in Brisbane and as an Associate Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh, USA. In October 2020, he was lured to Adelaide to set up the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, Australia's first facility dedicated to Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, computer vision, deep learning and innovation. We chat to Simon about his career to date, his work developing technology for self-driving cars and the opportunity for Adelaide to be a global leader in AI. We also find out what he loves about living in Adelaide, his typical Saturday routine and his favourite Adelaide restaurants, events and regional getaway destinations.