Fiona Holyoake, Vice President, DB Capital Partners
Fiona Holyoake joined DB Capital Partners, Deutsche Bank's private equity division, in 2000 after being with Deutsche Asset Management since 1998. Fiona has worked in business risk and in fixed income where she is was a quantitative analyst and dealer. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Fiona spent four years at KPMG focussing on infomation telecommunicaitons, banking and finance. She has a BComm from UNSW, is a Chartered Accountant and completed her Masters of Finance at Macquarie in 2001.
www.dbcapitalpartners.australia.db.com
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Chris Howells, Director, Cosamar Consulting
Thirty five years of operating experience in Information and Communications Technology (IT & CT) industries demonstrating sustained success and very high achievement. Customer focused, visionary leadership, unique entrepreneurial capabilities. An effective manager who has the capability to motivate at all levels, to formulate and implement business strategies & plans and to ensure key stakeholder goals are achieved at all levels.
www.chowells.com
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Lachlan James, Investment Manager, Innovation Capital Associates
Lachlan brings a depth and diversity of skills combining engineering, law and business. Lachlan holds honours degrees in electrical engineering and law from the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University respectively. He also holds a master of law from Cambridge, where he specialised in Intellectual Property and Corporate Finance. He is a member of the Bar, and previously worked in the Intellectual Property & Information Technology section of Clayton Utz. He also worked for several years as an electronics project engineer for Yazaki Australia (now Arrow Australia), a large transnational automotive electronics manufacturer, where he was responsible for both hardware and software development for vehicle security systems for one of Yazaki's largest clients.
www.innovationcapital.net
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Jonathan Kelly, Associate Director, CHAMP Ventures
Jonathan has been part of CHAMP Ventures' investment team since 2000 and has worked on several investments including Seek, Video Ezy Australasia, Minelab Electronics, Dexion, Tarocash and Nudie Foods. He managed the IPO of Dexion in April 2005 and has assisted with strategic acquisitions and follow-on investments in portfolio companies such as Video Ezy, Seek Communications and Nudie. Jonathan is currently an alternate director of Nudie Foods and manages CHAMP Ventures' investment in Video Ezy Australasia. In addition to portfolio responsibilities Mr Kelly is active in deal origination and exit planning. Prior to CHAMP Ventures, Jonathan spent four years at Cochlear Limited, leading the development of clinical software systems for a global customer base of audiologists. This operational role involved exposure to manufacturing, product development and project management in a technology environment, in addition to medical device regulatory issues.Jonathan holds a Master in Business Administration (Executive) from the Australian Graduate School of Management, initially graduating with a First Class Honours degree in Electrical Engineering (Information Systems) from The University of Sydney.
www.champventures.com.au
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Anthony Kongats, CEO, CAP-XX
Anthony is the CEO of CAP-XX which was founded the Company in 1997 as a vehicle to commercialize the supercapacitor technology and intellectual property spawned by CSIRO Australia and Energy Storage Systems (ESS). Prior to CAP-XX, he was the managing director of a manufacturer of passive components. Anthony previously worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. Inc. and held various engineering positions in Australia and Europe. He has a bachelor's degree in engineering from University of New South Wales (UNSW), bachelor's of science from the University of Sydney, and an MBA from AGSM/NYU.
CAP-XX is a US corporation that designs manufactures, and markets world-leading, high power density supercapacitors. These devices are an ideal power solution in mobile wireless devices, digital cameras, medical appliances, industrial and automotive applications, and many other devices. With their high power and energy densities, supercapacitors are capable of producing the high burst power required, for example, when taking a digital photo, sending wireless phone or PDA transmissions, providing back-up energy, or hot-swapping battery packsAs the use of mobile technology advances, the need for smaller, portable, and more highly functional devices grows. This, in turn, intensifies the demand for battery power systems that are compact and light, but still provide long run times. CAP-XX supercapacitors will increasingly become the critical enabling technology that allows OEMs to achieve significant savings in cost, component count, mass, weight, and circuit complexity.
www.cap-xx.com
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David Landers, Executive Director, Allen & Buckeridge
David has lead responsibility for A&Bs pre-seed and seed stage investments into discriminated intellectual property arising from R&D efforts within major research universities, government research organisations and corporate research labs in Australia. David's background comprises a blend of senior entrepreneurial, operating, corporate finance and strategic roles across Asia. A proven entrepreneur, he was executive vice president of sales and chief financial officer of AFL Ltd, a manufacturing business he co-created in Shanghai and Beijing from 1995 to 1998. David was the driving force behind the company’s successful fund rasing efforts and eventual trade sale to a major UK based multinational. Prior to that he was the Asia regional head of M&A for Pepsi Cola International, where he completed close to $1 billion in acquisition and joint venture transactions. David began his career with leading global management and technology consulting firm, Booz Allen & Hamilton, where he gained over five years experience in technology driven strategy development and implementation for clients throughout the Asia Region. david has an MBA in International Business from the New York University Stern School of Management and is an honours graduate of the prestigious International Management Program at the Stockholm School of Economics. He received his undergraduate degree with distinction from Babson College, America’s top ranked school of entrepreneurial management.
www.a-b.com.au
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Nicholas McDonagh, VP, Deutsche Bank Capital Partners
Nick has worked in the DBCP technology team since 2001. Nick has led a number of investments and currently serves as a Director on Sensory Networks and as an alternate Director and observer on several other portfolio companies. Since joining DB in 1996, he has worked in a number of the bank's business areas including IT/Global Operations, Global Corporate Strategy, Funds Management and Private Equity in London, New York, Singapore, Tokyo and Sydney. Nick worked on many of DB's larger acquisitions, strategic investments and joint ventures in the US, UK, Europe and Asia - focusing on the technology / eCommerce space. He received his Bachelor of Business Studies with honours from Trinity College, University of Dublin spending the third year of his degree studies at Solvay Business School, University of Brussels, Belgium.
www.db.com
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Matthew Michalewicz, Founder & Director, SolveIT Software
Matthew is a Founder and Managing Director for SolveIT Software. He is also a former Ernst & Young Management Consultant and Raymond James Financial Services (NYSE: RJF) Investment Advisor. Besides setting the strategic mission for the company, he is also deeply involved in the commercialisation of software applications based on Artifi cial Intelligence. Matthew had served on the Campaign Finance Committee for U.S. Congresswoman Sue Myrick and he also sits on the Board of Advisors of the Belk College of Business Administration at University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and the Business Development Board of the Polish- Japanese School of Information Technology. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the University of Adelaide, and a contributing writer for In Business Magazine. Matthew's business achievements have been recognized by countless publications, including Time Magazine, New York Times, Forbes, Wired Magazine, Business Journal, Associated Press, Ziff Davis, Information Week, NewsWeek, and many others. He was also named Charlotte's '40 under 40' list of accomplished business leaders by the Business Journal, 'Young Alumnus of the Year' by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and 'Entrepreneur of the Year' finalist by Ernst and Young. Matthew holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Financial Management from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
SolveIT Software is a premier provider of Profit Optimisation solutions for Global 1000 companies and government organisations. The company was founded upon the cutting-edge research of several worldrenowned computer scientists, and offers comprehensive solutions for logistics, marketing, and other areas. SolveIT software solutions are based on proprietary technology platforms and the power of Adaptive Business IntelligenceTM, and can provide clients with measurable increases in revenue and/or decreases in cost. The company also features a highly scalable business model, a strong set of competitive differentiators, and sophisticated core technologies that were pioneered by our founders.
www.solveitsoftware.com
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Brett Morris, Chief Executive, Neo Technology Ventures
Brett joined Neo Ventures in 2000. Neo's investment focus is exclusively early stage Australian Information, Media and Telecommunication technologies with global markets. Prior to Neo, Brett was Chief Executive and founder of three strategy and business development organisations through which he accrued broad-based experience spanning more than forty different industries, working with over one thousand enterprises ranging from start-ups to global Fortune 50 corporations. Over two decades of significant management consulting, corporate turn-around and technology development projects involved the development and execution of business and sales strategies, business models and processes, market and channel strategies, operating structures and executive team support. Brett is actively involved as a director with Neo's portfolio companies including Integration Management, Evolution Broadcast and SignIQ.
www.ntfund.com
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Nick Peace, Investment Director, Starfish Ventures
Nick Peace joined Starfish Ventures in March 2002, focusing on the Pre-Seed Fund. His role includes identification and evaluation of prospective investments, execution of new portfolio investments and ongoing monitoring of investee companies. Nick is also responsible for ensuring compliance with the reporting and regulatory requirements of the Pre-Seed Fund. Nick holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD. Prior to joining Starfish Ventures, Nick completed articles at Freehills Melbourne where he practised as a corporate lawyer for a further 2 years post admission. He then worked as a corporate lawyer in London at Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw, specializing in mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions. His clients included a range of large corporates in sectors ranging from telecommunications to specialty chemicals. Nick is a director of TheraPPy Pty Ltd and Ceram Polymerik Pty Ltd.
www.starfishventures.com
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Michael Quinn, Chairman, Innovation Capital
Michael is CEO of Innovation Capital, an Australian/US venture capital fund that invests in early stage businesses with outstanding technology. Michael has wide executive and advisory experience in Australian, USA and European companies. Following management roles in international banking, transport and high technology plastics, he co-founded Memtec in Sydney in 1983. Memtec became a world leader in advanced filtration technology with sales of US$240m and 2000 employees. Memtec was listed on the ASX, NASDAQ and then NYSE, and was subsequently acquired for US$400m. For three years he was Chief Executive Officer of a listed manufacturer and distributor of health care and scientific products. Since 1992, Michael has been a director of ResMed Inc (NYSE: RMD), a leading manufacturer and marketer worldwide of respiratory and sleep disordered breathing products for the home health care market. Michael has been on the board of numerous other listed and private companies. He is also chairman of the New South Wales Entrepreneurship Centre Ltd, and a director of the Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering, a not-for-profit foundation at Sydney University.
www.innovationcapital.net
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Elaine Saunders, CEO, Dynamic Hearing
Elaine is CEO of Dynamic Hearing Pty Ltd and has a background in management of research and technology. Originally from the UK, Elaine is a Churchill Fellow, a founding member of the audiology profession in the UK, and she held senior roles in the development and management of hearing services in the British hospital system. She moved into an academic role, first at Southampton University and then at the University of London, where she co-authored a University textbook on the effect of hearing loss on children's language. For fun, she shared her early career with sport, and was a British 400m Junior International Champion. She was a research manager in the CRC for Cochlear Implant and Hearing Aid Innovation, she led the CRC team that developed the award winning Contour electrode of Cochlear Ltd. She then became the CRC's Assistant Director in 2000 and took on a commercialisation role. It was at this point that she became involved in the commercialisation of the ADRO! technology. Elaine became Dynamic Hearing's first CEO in February 2002. Elaine was awarded the State and National Prizes at the 2004 Telstra Business Women on the Year Awards in the Australian Government Private and Corporate Sector.
Dynamic Hearing Pty Ltd is an innovative company specialising in digital solutions for the aural world.
Based in Melbourne, Australia, Dynamic Hearing is a spin-off company from the highly regarded Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Cochlear Implant and Hearing Aid Innovation. Dynamic Hearing shares the same heritage as Cochlear Ltd, developing from the world renowned research group lead by Professor Graeme Clark at Melbourne University. This centre has a world class reputation in research and development by providing digital solutions for better hearing.
www.dynamichearing.com.au
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Simon Uzcilas, Investment Manager, Nanyang Ventures
Simon has over 10 years of experience in the domestic and international financial markets. He has completed many investments across a wide range of industries and technologies including manufacturing, information technology, transport, infrastructure and industrial equipment. Simon gained his corporate finance and investment analysis skills while working at St.George Bank in Sydney and BT Alex.Brown (now Deutsche Alex.Brown) in Europe. He has strong knowledge of public equity markets and was a key executive in listing St.George Bank shares on NASDAQ. Simon has responsibility for sourcing, analysing and completing new investment opportunities.
www.nanyang.com.au
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Dr Meera Verma, Chief Operating Officer, Bresagen
After obtaining her PhD in Adelaide, Meera joined BresaGen two years later in 1987. Managing the company’s Gene Technology Group, Meera was involved in technical marketing and sales. Meera was appointed General Manager of the Protein Pharmaceuticals division in 1995 before becoming Chief Operating Officer of BresaGen in November 2000.
BresaGen is based in Adelaide, South Australia and operates a cGMP facility with the capacity to manufacture recombinant proteins and peptides. The Company has human therapeutic API candidates and offers contract process development and manufacturing services. BresaGen has commercialised its first product, EquiGen, a horse growth hormone, and executed its first contract for supply of human growth hormone API. In the last 12 months the Company's protEcol Services has signed several contracts for process development and supply of material for pre-clinical and clinical studies.
www.bresagen.com.au
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Adele Whish-Wilson, CEO, Momentum Technologies Group
Based in Melbourne, Adele founded Momentum Technologies Group as a single-person operation. Momentum provides the software, hardware and hosting services that enable businesses to communicate visually over the internet and intranets, saving them time and money. Shortly after, the company's flagship wireless video streaming product SquizBiz - a hardware and software package that attaches to a standard video camera to send live video over the Internet - was created by Adele and the company's co-founders. Over the past four years Adele has secured government funding, a Telstra Broadband Fund Grant, and private investors for Momentum. Momentum's SquizBiz has also won an Australian Design Award (business category) and the CommsWorld Innovation Award, amongst others. Adele was a finalist for the Telstra Panasonic Young Business Women's Awards in 2004. Before setting up her own business Adele worked in the corporate, government and community sectors as a consultant for web-based technologies.
www.momentumgroup.com.au
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Darren Williams, CTO, Sensory Networks
Darren Williams is the Chief Technology Offi cer at Sensory Networks. As such, he is the principal architect and primary driver of Sensory's technology. At Sensory he has grown the Engineering team from one to forty Engineers, while developing high-speed hardware designs and security applications based on patented acceleration technology.
Dr. Williams has an extensive background in security, protocols, networking and software. Darren's experience in technology is deep, and he has previously lectured in Computer Science at the University of Sydney in a variety of areas, co-founded network security consultancy Infilsec and developed software & intellectual property for Dilithium Networks a next-generation telephony start-up. His expertise within the security area is broad and covers protocol, software, embedded and kernel level security. Dr. Williams has authored numerous articles and papers on security vulnerabilities and networking, and has spoken at a number of international conferences. Dr. Williams also has over ten years of security consulting experience in a leadership position.
Dr. Williams holds a first class honours degree in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Active Networking from the University of Sydney.
www.sensorynetworks.com
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Phil Wing, Director & General Partner, Technology Venture Partners
Phillip joined TVP in October 1999. Phillip was previously an Active Angel investor and mentor to founders of start up companies over the past 10 years. His previous roles include: General Manager for Strategy, Marketing and Business Development for IBM Global Services (Australian and New Zealand),
General Manager for the IBM Consulting Group (Asia Pacific), Managing Partner roles with Touche Ross, KPMG and Ernst & Young and Chief Information Officer of NSW Health. During 2002 he participated as a member of the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. He is the Chairman of AVCAL Education Sub Committee. Phillip has a Bachelor in Economics and Masters of Economics in Information Systems and a Doctorate from Macquarie University Graduate School of Management. He is Member of the Institute Chartered Accountants, Institute of Management Consultants and Australian Computer Society. Phillip works actively with the following TVP portfolio companies: Genetraks, Sienna, Impaq and 90 East.
www.tvp.com.au
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Mike Zimmerman, Principal, Technology Venture Partners
Mike joined the TVP management team in March 2002 from the US. He leads investigation of new investment opportunities and works with a range of existing portfolio companies. Mke was entrepreneur-in-residence at Altos Ventures, a software and communications venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. Responsible for business development as Vice President of Corporate Development at iOwn, a venture-backed technology company which grew from 9 to 320 people, raised US$100mm, filed for an IPO and was ultimately sold to Citibank. Mike has additional work experience in strategy consulting and investment banking with Bain & Co. and Goldman Sachs. Honours degree from Amherst College and an MBA from Stanford University.
www.tvp.com.au
