Remona Murugan

Remona Murugan spent two decades in IT and technology leadership across Africa, Namibia, Singapore, and Australia, in mining and heavy industry. Most recently, she was Head of Technology Platforms at Rio Tinto until March 2026. Her work led major operating model and platform transformations, covered by Computer Weekly and iTnews. She has presented at Gartner IT Infrastructure & Cloud Strategies and Cisco Live, and is a Women in Digital Awards finalist. She is especially passionate about mentoring the next generation of women in technology and industrial leadership, and about building cultures where the truth can travel freely, even when it’s uncomfortable. She is currently writing Leadership Has No Volume Control: Seven Conditions for Change That Lasts, drawn from two decades leading technology transformation in one of the least gender-diverse corners of corporate life. She is on a career break now, focused on writing, speaking, and coaching, and is available for podcast and speaking engagements.

WHY I’M A STRONG GUEST

I bring specific, real stories instead of abstractions. A customer telling me a cup of coffee cost my team a million dollars. A leadership team reaching for blame the moment an anonymous survey told them the truth. A rebrand built to change an entire team’s identity. I talk about the parts most leadership guests leave out, including the personal cost. And I connect those stories to a practical framework listeners can use on their own team.TOPICS I CAN SPEAK ON

● Why purpose has to be real, not just a slide, before people will change

● Building a culture where people feel safe telling the truth, especially under pressure

● Why agreement in a room is not the same as alignment once everyone leaves it

● Designing organisations that reward the behaviour you actually want, not the one you’re trying to leave behind

● Leading technology transformation in traditional, non-tech industries like mining and heavy industry

● Being one of the only women, and often the only person of colour, in the room

● Mentoring and coaching the next generation of leaders, especially women in technology and industrial leadership

● Burnout, undiagnosed depression, and rebuilding a leadership identity after loss

SAMPLE QUESTIONS A HOST COULD ASK

● How do you know if a transformation’s purpose is real, versus something that just sounds good in a slide deck?

● What does it take to build a culture where people feel safe telling you the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable?

● What’s the real difference between a room full of people agreeing to a plan, and a room full of people who are actually aligned on delivering it?

● How do you redesign an organisation so it genuinely rewards the new behaviour you’re asking for, instead of quietly protecting the old way of doing things?

● How do you build a way of knowing whether a transformation is really on track, instead of just being told that it is?

● What’s the difference between a change that’s been implemented and one that’s actually built to last?