Bill Bartee, Managing Partner, Southern Cross Venture Partners
Bill is a founding partner of Southern Cross Venture Partners and has co-founded three succesful companies. At Southern Cross he focuses on early stage software, telecommunications, and internet services companies. From 1997 to 2001, he helped build and lead the early stage investing for Macquarie Technology Ventures ("MTV"), a balanced venture fund focused on software, telecommunications, internet and life sciences. At MTV, Bill led investments in several market leaders including Altium (ASX: ALU), LookSmart (NASDAQ: LOOK), Seek (ASX: SEK), Telera (acquired by Alcatel), Thrombogenix, ePredix, and onebox (NASDAQ: OPWV).
Before founding Southern Cross, Bill was the CEO of Mantara, a company that makes high performance, content based message routing systems. He also was instrumental in helping start up and launch of Dilithium Networks where he was a founding investor and Board Member.
Prior to moving to Australia, Bill had 12 years of research, operational, and entrepreneurial experience in the United States.
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Roger Buckeridge, General Partner, Allen & Buckeridge
Roger is the director and co-founder of Allen & Buckeridge Pty Ltd (A&B) since 1996, an Australian venture capital firm specialising in early and expansion-stage investments in the information technology, telecommunications and digital media industry. With $280 million of venture capital under active management, A&B has invested in 50 innovative companies during the last decade. Roger serves as a director of several A&B portfolio companies and has extensive experience in commercializing R&D and innovative ideas by nurturing and expanding these businesses and entering the international markets.
In a thirty-year investment management and consulting career (including six years with McKinsey & Company), Roger has been a prominent advisor to Australian companies and governments in the converging information industries and has advised industries clients in the United States, Japan and Australia. He co-founded CP Ventures Limited, an Australian venture firm, with Roger Allen in 1984 and served as CEO until 1990. Earlier he trained as a scientist, holding a PhD in chemistry and BSc (Hons 1st Class) University of Western Australia, and managed an Asia-Pacific marketing unit within Ford Motor Company.
www.a-b.com.au
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Alison Deans, Executive Director, Operations, netus
Alison's role is to establish, guide and support the management teams within each of netus' investments in developing their businesses.
Alison has played key roles in developing, managing and operating some of Australia's leading Internet businesses. For example, as the first managing director of eBay Australia and New Zealand (a joint venture between ecorp and eBay Inc), Alison was responsible for launching the business in Australia and building it to be the leading person-to-person trading site in this market within 12 months, and to achieve profitability within 18 months.
As Chief Executive Officer of ecorp, a technology-focused investment company with interests in many of Australia's leading online businesses, Alison was responsible for supporting the operational teams within its portfolio of businesses. These businesses included ninemsn, eBay, Ticketek, Wizard, Monster, and Distra. Alison guided these businesses in developing their strategies, building their teams and executing their plans. Alison led the ecorp portfolio through its investment phase, from losses of $A30 million per annum to profitability.
Alison also has eight years' experience with McKinsey & Company, where she worked with clients to develop their corporate strategies. While at McKinsey she specialised in high growth, consumer marketing and technology. She was also a founding member of the McKinsey Growth Practice, which developed the content for the business bestseller, The Alchemy of Growth.
Alison has a Masters in Natural Sciences (Physics) from Cambridge University, and a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. She serves on the boards of several non-profit organisations, including the Starlight Children's Foundation and The Griffin Theatre Company.
www.netus.com.au
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Ross Halgren, CTO and Co-Founder, AsiaPac Sales, RBN
Ross has a diverse background in research, development and design of new technologies, especially fiber optic communications products and networked systems.
Prior to co-founding RBN, Ross was managing director of Haltec Enterprises Pty Ltd., his own company providing consulting services to the communications industry. In this role, he was contracted as the Business Development Manager for the Photonics Redcentre - a division of Australian Photonics Pty Ltd. focused on supporting start-up companies in this field. Previously, Ross was manager of multimedia switching products for Plessey Asia Pacific Pty Ltd., a company comprising the communications, aerospace and traffic divisions of AWA Limited that were acquired by Plessey S.A. in 1997.
For nearly twenty years, Ross was employed by AWA, which became Australasia's largest home-grown electronics and communications company. Starting his AWA career as a junior design engineer in the AWA Communications Laboratory, Ross quickly progressed to senior design engineer, deputy head and then head of the Laboratory in 1984. As head of the laboratory, Ross directed AWA's research into fiber optic LANs, packet video and audio compression and fiber optic sensors for sonar arrays.
RBN's Investors are co-lead by Allen & Buckeridge and Jolimont Ventures / Redfern Photonics (both leading Australian Technology Venture Funds). Boardwing Corporation and Broadview (a division of Jefferies New York) are also investors in RBN.
www.rbni.com
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Matthew Koertge, General Partner, Accede
Matthew Koertge is a General Partner of Accede. Prior to founding Accede, Matthew led a number of successful investments whilst he was the head of the Australian technology venture capital team at Deutsche Bank and at Macquarie Bank where he was a founding team member of the technology venture capital team. Matthew has worked with over 30 venture backed companies encompassing all stages of the company life cycle including a number of successful IPOs and acquisitions. Prior to joining the venture industry, Matthew held several engineering and operational positions at various companies including Fujitsu.
Matthew has served on the Boards of numerous portfolio companies including Dilithium Networks, ManageSoft and G2 Microsystems, Engana (acquired by NASDAQ:OPTM) and Sensory Networks. Investments which Matthew has worked on prior roles include SEEK (ASX: SEK), LookSmart (NASDAQ: LOOK), Telera (acquired by NYSE: ALA ), Altium (ASX: ALU), Greengrocer.com.au (acquired by ASX: WOW), Presence Online (acquired by NYSE: IBM), OneBox.com (acquired by NASDAQ: OPWV), RedSheriff (acquired by NASDAQ: NTRT).
www.accedecapital.com
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Ian Maxwell, Venture Partner, Allen & Buckeridge Venture Capital
Ian Maxwell has worked as a venture partner with A&B since the commencement of the ETF in 2003 and now co-directs the $51 million 2003 vintage pool of early stage technology investments with David Landers, Roger Allen and Roger Buckeridge.
He draws upon an extensive background in technology commercialisation, management, and research, including founding CEO of RPO Pty Ltd (an ETF investee), VP business development & intellectual property for Redfern Photonics, Corporate R&D Manager at James Hardie Group, International R&D Manager and other line management roles at Memtec Ltd. His academic appointments have been founding CEO of the Sydney University Polymer Centre (now the Key Centre for Polymer Colloids) and senior lecturer and post-doctoral fellow at the University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands.
He has received awards including the Corday Morgan-Rennie Medal Exchange Award (1997) of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) & the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and the Rennie Memorial Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (1995). Ian has authored seven book chapters and more than thirty five research publications in business, material science, chemistry, biotechnology, biochemistry and polymer journals and holds more than thirty patent families in multi-media distribution, polymer materials, medical diagnostics, photonics, fibre-cement (products and production processes), membranes, filtration engineering and applications.
www.a-b.com.au
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Nicholas McDonagh, Founding General Partner, Accede Capital Venture Partners
Nick is a Founding General Partner of Accede Capital. Prior to co-founding Accede Capital, Nick was a senior member in the Australian venture capital business of Deutsche Bank Capital Partners, where he led a number of investments and has served as a Director on both Sensory Networks and RedSheriff (acquired by NASDAQ: NTRT) and as an Alternate Director on several other portfolio companies. Prior to joining the venture capital industry, Nick worked in a number of Deutsche Bank's other business divisions including Private Equity, Funds Management, Global Corporate Strategy and IT/Operations in London, New York, Singapore and Sydney. Nick worked on many of Deutsche Bank's larger strategic acquisitions, investments and joint ventures in the US, UK, Europe and Asia and in particular focusing on the technology / eCommerce space with the bank's internal venture capital arm.
Nick received his Bachelor of Business Studies with honours from Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland. Nick spent the third year of his degree studies at Solvay Business School, University of Brussels, Belgium.
www.accedecapital.com
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Fiona Pak-Poy, General Partner, Innovation Capital
Fiona is a General Partner of Innovation Capital, having joined the firm in early 2002. She has experience in engineering, technology and retail sectors. She is currently on the board of Innovation Capital's portfolio company bCODE Pty Ltd and is the Chair of Opto Global Pty Ltd.
Prior to joining Innovation Capital, Fiona co-founded a catalogue and e-commerce retail business. Before this she worked with The Boston Consulting Group in the US and Australia as a member of the High Technology practice group. She worked in the areas of strategy, marketing, operations, and cost reduction initiatives for a variety of companies in sectors including telecom, manufacturing and retail. Fiona has also practised as a consulting engineer and R&D engineer.
Fiona has an Honours Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Adelaide and an MBA from Harvard University's Graduate School of Business. Fiona represents Australia in field hockey. She is on the board of Mercy Works incorporated, a not-for-profit international aid development agency. She is a member of the Commercialisation Emerging Technology (COMET)/Industry Cooperative Innovation Program (ICIP) committee for Innovation Australia.
www.a-b.com.au
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Vicki Potts, Chief Financial Officer, Viator
Vicki joined Viator in October 2006 as the company's chief financial officer, bringing more than 20 years experience, primarily the technology industry in Australia, UK and New Zealand. Prior to Viator, Vicki was CFO for the Unwired Group Ltd, an ASX listed wireless broadband provider where she saw the company from its startup in 2002 through to securing more than AU$140 million in financing for the company. Previously, Vicki served as CFO for Netcomm Ltd., Australia's leading provider of broadband hardware solutions, and as CFO for Saturn Communications Ltd. (now Telstra Clear) in New Zealand.
Viator.com launched a new, more robust version of its consumer-direct site in 2006 that has been a hit with travelers and has accelerated the company's growth. The site development and enhancements were fueled by two rounds of Series B financing: $6 million in November 2005 led by Carlyle Venture Partners, the venture and growth capital arm of Washington D.C.-based Carlyle Group with participation by Sydney-based Technology Venture Partners, a previous investor; and, $4 million in spring of 2006 by the same investors.
www.viator.com
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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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Malcolm Thornton, Investment Director, Starfish Ventures
Malcolm Thornton joined Starfish Ventures in January 2003 and focuses on investments in medical devices and information and communications technology opportunities. He is responsible for all aspects of the investment lifecycle from deal sourcing and execution through portfolio management and exit creation.
Prior to Starfish Ventures, Malcolm worked in venture capital for several years as Investment Manager with JAFCO Investment (Asia Pacific) Ltd as well as Business Development Officer with Platypus Technology Inc, a JAFCO portfolio company in the USA. He has spent many years travelling to and living in Japan while at Starfish Ventures and JAFCO and also as a Monbusho scholar researching technology commercialisation.
Malcolm holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and a Master of Applied Science (Medical Physics) from Queensland University of Technology and a MBA from Melbourne Business School.
Malcolm is the Starfish representative Director for g2 Microsystems Inc, QS Semiconductor Inc and Impedance Cardiology Systems Inc and oversees the investment in ICIX Pty Ltd.
www.starfishventures.com.au
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Richard Webb, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director, BlueFreeway
Richard Webb is the CEO and Co-founder of BlueFreeway (ASX: BLU). Founded in October 2006, and listed on the Australian stock exchange in December 2006 ? BlueFreeway is an independent, global digital and interactive marketing communications company made up of 25 companies and 540 staff servicing 1,500 publishers and advertisers in all continents. BlueFreeway recently launched blu. - a patented world first marketing portal designed specifically for marketing professionals to collaborate, network, and execute interactive communication initiatives.
Prior to his role with BlueFreeway, Richard successfully developed a number of global publicly-listed and private companies. In 2005 and 2006, as CEO of Citect (ASX: CTL), he restructured and re-aligned the global Australian publicly listed industrial automation software company, to launch a number of patented new products, expand its geographic presence to 80 countries, achieve record revenue and profits, and deliver a three-fold increase in its share price prior to its successful trade sale to the French publicly listed industrial conglomerate, Schneider Electric. Before becoming CEO of Citect, Richard was the President of Asia Pacific and Latin America of Nielsen//NetRatings (NASDAQ: NTRT) post the successful trade sale of Red Sheriff to Nielsen in 2004.
Prior to joining Nielsen//NetRatings, Richard was the CEO for the public unlisted Australian company, Red Sheriff, for five years. Under Richard's leadership, Red Sheriff grew its revenue thirty-fold, raised product development and expansion capital in New York and London, expanded its global presence from a start-up in Australia to become the world's largest web analytics and market intelligence provider servicing over 1,200 clients in 52 countries, and developed and launched a suite of patented software and technology application services. Previously, he served as the Managing Director - Australasia for Sensient Technologies Corporation (NYSE: SXT) and CEO - Asia Pacific for Cott Corporation (NASDAQ: COTT). He has also held various senior management roles in Europe, Asia, South America, North America, and the Middle East with Lion Nathan (ASX: LNN), PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), and Anheuser Busch (NYSE: BUD).
Richard holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering/Engineering Management from the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from Syracuse University in New York. He is a licensed professional engineer in New York and Florida and maintains dual US/Australian citizenship. During his spare time he enjoys his four children, match race sailing, snowboarding, enduro motorcycling, water skiing, tennis, golf, and owns and operates a vineyard in the Hunter Valley, north of Sydney.
www.bluefreeway.com
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Jennifer Zanich, CEO, uiActive
Jennifer is an accomplished leader with over 20 years of marketing and executive management experience. She is the CEO of uiActive, a mobile social messaging provider, a company she has restructured and raised a new round of venture funding since joining in April ’07.. Prior to her return to Australia earlier this year Jennifer spent 9 years in the US where she was a Founder of SeeSaw Networks, a digital media services company for which successfully raised $10m USD in venture capital. As CEO of Wedgetail Communications, an enterprise security company, she delivered more than seven times return for investors via a successful acquisition. Jennifer has also held executive positions in SkyPilot Networks (wireless broadband) and Microsoft APAC. Jennifer holds several advisory and board roles in the US and Australia including Capital Markets CRC, Aggregate Knowledge and Express Mobile and has been an active mentor of Australian companies migrating to the US for 7 years through ANZA TechNet.
www.uiActive.com
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Mike Zimmerman, Principal, Technology Venture Partners
Mike joined the TVP management team in March 2002 from the US and is responsible for TVP's investments in Eurekster, Threatmetrix, Optium, Project Goth/ MIG33 and Xelor Software. Prior to joining TVP, Mike was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Altos Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. Before this, Mike ran business and corporate development at iOwn , a venture-backed technology company which he helped to grow from 9 to 320 people, raise US$100m, file for an IPO and sell to Citibank. Mike has additional work experience in strategy consulting and investment banking with Bain & Co. and Goldman Sachs and holds an Honours degree from Amherst College and an MBA from Stanford University.
www.tvp.com.au
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