Executive

Chairman

Dr Andy Sierakowski completed his BSc and PhD at The University of Western Australia and carried out Post-Doctoral work in the UK and Switzerland. In 1980, he joined Kodak Australia in Melbourne as a Group Leader R&D. He has considerable experience in commercialising his and co-workers inventions, including intellectual property that has been either patented or kept as trade secrets. He has co-ordinated large technology transfer and commercialisation projects for Kodak on a worldwide basis and has extensive knowledge of product development processes.

Dr Sierakowski gained wide experience with Kodak working in manufacturing, technical marketing, and quality assurance in Australia, France, Asia and the US. From 1992 to 1997, he was Business Unit Manager of Kodak Professional with responsibility for Australia and New Zealand with a sales turnover in excess of $100 million. He has experience in setting up joint venture companies and acted as Executive Director of such companies.

In 1998, Dr Sierakowski returned to Perth as General Manager of Joyce Rural, an agrichemical company and a subsidiary of Joyce Corporation. This role encompassed R&D, sales and marketing, manufacturing, logistics and distribution functions.
In January 2001, he joined The University of Western Australia and heads up the Office of Industry and Innovation. He is also on the Board of two UWA spin-off companies.

Dr Andy Sierakowski
Director, Office of Industry & Innovation
The University of Western Australia
Tel: +61 8 6488 7048
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Vice Chair

Rob Chalmers is Managing Director of Adelaide Research and Innovation Pty Ltd (the University of Adelaide's commercial development company). Rob has 2 decades of experience in the field of technology development and commercialisation in multiple roles across a broad range of fields – including Health, Agriculture and Defence. This has exposed him to a wealth of technical development in fields including: functional foods, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, structural biology, information security technology, sensors, communications, software (including expert/AI systems), as well as plant biotechnology, crop management, and the development of new plant varieties.

Rob's past roles include work with private and government law firms, specialising in IP and commercial transactional work relating to the development and commercialisation of new technology, for DSTO, CSIRO, Universities and companies. He has also worked within CSIRO in a mixed commercial and legal capacity, where he was part of a team awarded the 2005 CSIRO Medal for Business Excellence. In addition Rob has an academic background, having held a position with the University of Adelaide's Law School since 1999, where he was responsible for elective subjects on Intellectual Property and Technology Regulation

Mr Robert Chalmers
Managing Director, Adelaide Research & Innovation Pty Ltd
Tel: +61 8 8303 3323
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Vice Chair

Dr Charlie Day is the General Manager of Melbourne Ventures Pty Limited. Prior to joining the Ventures Division Charlie spent eight years in engineering research and management consulting.
Charlie joined MUP from The Boston Consulting Group, where he spent three years working on strategic advice for clients in a range of industries throughout Australasia including airlines, banking, and software development. In addition to his client work Charlie was a member of the Corporate Development practice area, which studied issues concerning Corporate Structure and Finance, among others.

Before BCG, Charlie worked for Hagen & Co, an innovative start-up consulting firm focused on performance improvement in manufacturing. His assignments there covered food, industrial goods, and consumer durables.

Charlie has a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (Hons) and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne, and a DPhil in gas turbine design from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

Dr Charles Day
Managing Director, Melbourne Ventures Pty Ltd
The University of Melbourne
Tel: +61 3 8344 3190
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Vice Chair

Jim is responsible for the commercialisation of all life science projects at UNSW from the Science, Engineering and Medical Faculties.

Prior to joining NSi, Jim spent over 4 years as a Licensing Officer in the Office of Technology Management at the University of California, San Francisco, an institution ranked 9th worldwide by Newsweek International. The OTM itself ranked as one of the top five technology transfer offices in a study by the Milkien Institute. While at the OTM, Jim was responsible for managing a portfolio of over 200 distinct inventions, and he led financial and legal negotiations on more than 40 licenses, including six with start-up companies.

Prior to joining UCSF, Jim spent two years as a postdoctoral licensing agent in the University of Utah Technology Transfer Office. While at Utah, he managed a large life science portfolio and negotiated a number of agreements including licenses to two start-up companies.

Dr Jim Henderson,
General Manager, Commercialisation, Life Sciences, NewSouth Innovations Pty Limited
Tel: +61 2 9385 5041
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Vice Chair

Alastair Hick is Director of Commercialisation in the Industry Engagement and Commercialisation group at Monash University. Following ten years as a research scientist in the UK he has spent ten years involved in commercialisation of technologies from Universities and Research Institutes around the world. He spent three years at Plant Bioscience Ltd, an independent technology transfer company managing technologies in plant and microbial science and then four years at Cambridge Enterprise at the University of Cambridge. There he was Head of Life Sciences, responsible for commercialisation of all technologies in the life and medical science areas.

Since arriving in Australia he has worked at Monash University where he has a played a key role in building the Industry Engagement and Commercialisation Group, as well as helping establish the $30M Trans Tasman Commercialisation Fund. He had considerable deal making and negotiating experience, and has lectured on aspects of technology transfer for Praxis in the UK. Dr Hick has a Bachelor of Science degree (Honours) in Chemistry with Biochemistry from the University of Southampton, a PhD in Chemical Ecology from the Open University and an MBA from the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge.

Dr Alastair Hick
Director Commercialisation, Industry Engagement and Commercialisation, Monash University
Tel: +61 3 9905 1655
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Vice Chair

Bruce has been actively involved in innovation, at a practical level, for some 15 years. He currently directs Swinburne Knowledge, Swinburne University of Technology’s commercialisation unit, and is also CEO of Swinburne Ventures Ltd.

Bruce is Chairman of INNOVIC, the Victorian Innovation Centre Limited, having been its Executive Director for nine years. This organisation evaluates new products and technologies, then plans and implements commercialisation strategies to optimise the likelihood of market place success. Previously Bruce was General Manager, Training and Innovation, for the Strategic Industry Research Foundation, developing and delivering innovative industry training, together with a range of consulting and related activities. He has had close links with Swinburne’s Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship for many years, providing sessional teaching input on innovation and creativity to Swinburne’s Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation program. Bruce also has extensive industry experience, holding a range of research, technical, operational and management positions.

Dr Bruce Whan
Director, Swinburne Knowledge, Swinburne University of Technology
Tel: +61 3 9214 5979
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