Industry Thought Leader

John Romano

Chief Product Officer , Saisei Networks

John is currently the Chief Product Officer at Saisei Networks leading the development and implementation of its product and operational strategy.

Prior to joining Saisei Networks, John worked with Telstra for 31 years in a variety of technology and executive management roles. These included engineering and operational roles in telecommunications, networks, wireless, IT, property, construction and energy.

In the past years, John has been the CIO accountable for all aspects of IT including cloud and software engineering/operations while leading the transformation to Agile ways of working. In addition to the CIO role, John has been the Executive lead for Telstra’s Digital transformation program. Prior, he led the Property division, accountable for the management of Telstra’s owned and leased property portfolio including energy management, leasing construction and maintenance.

John has held other senior leadership roles involving the acquisition, design, construction and field maintenance of Telstra's wireless networks. Some of the key achievements in this role include the major rollouts of Telstra’s & CSL’s Hong Kong 3G and 4G wireless networks.

John holds an MBA with an entrepreneurial and international management specialisation coupled with professional qualifications in Engineering, Business and Computing. In addition, he speaks Italian, studies Mandarin and has lectured in public speaking.