Industry Advisory Board

David is Managing Director at Long Lake Research Group, an advisory firm focused on innovation, agility and capital management. He is an Adjunct Professor at UTS Business School and a member of the Dean's Advisory Board.

David has spent over 25 years advising Australian and global institutional investors and corporations. He is a long-standing researcher, advisor and independent thinker in the telecommunications, media and technology industries, where innovation and global change dominate value creation. He has held analytical and strategic leadership roles in some of Australia’s largest corporations and Wall Street investment banks over the past 30+ years. 

David's background includes roles as General Manager –Corporate Analysis at Telstra, Senior Communications Analyst at Morgan Stanley and Head of Equity Research at both Lehman Brothers and ING Investment Management.

David holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) and a Master of Business (Accounting and Finance) from the University of Technology, Sydney and is a Fellow of CPA Australia (FCPA).

Dr Phillip Brenner is a retired surgeon, having practiced Robotic Surgery for Prostate and Kidney Cancer at St Vincents Private and St Vincents Public since development of Robotics in the early 2000’s.

Currently runs Family Office primarily concerned with construction and venture capital.

Demonstrator in anatomy at UNSW, USyd and UTS (for Notre Dame).

Short CV

• M.B.B.S. UNSW 1977-1982
• Post Grad fellowship Hammersmith Hospital London 1982
• Fellowship in Urologic Oncology MSKCC New York 1992-1994
• Urologist St Vincents Public 1994 to approx 2009
• St Vincents Private to 2016
• Publications Urological Oncology, multiple, peer reviewed.
• Conjoint Senior Lecturer UNSW till 2016
• Conjoint Assoc Professor Notre Dame
   

Philippa Charlesworth is a seasoned healthcare executive with a strong focus on advancing reproductive and genetic diagnostics. As the Executive Manager for Virtus Health Specialist Diagnostics (VHSD), she leads a national team of pathologists and scientists committed to delivering high-quality, patient-centered diagnostic and genetic services. Philippa’s leadership in healthcare is marked by her dedication to innovation, operational excellence, and the adoption of cutting-edge diagnostic technologies.

Philippa holds a Master’s in BioScience Enterprise from the University of Auckland. Her career has transitioned from science into diverse leadership and executive roles across New Zealand, Malaysia, and Australia. She has successfully driven strategic priorities, including the introduction of new technologies, expansion of diagnostic sites, establishment of partnerships, and development of fertility and genetic testing services.

A former athlete, Philippa brings a driven, results-focused approach to her work in healthcare. 

Ian is a senior executive with over 35 years’ experience and an excellent track record of results as a change agent – innovation, growth, transformation and performance improvement – focused in media, education and telecommunications – from big corporates to start-ups.  

He has held senior executive roles in several large media organisations, most recently as Managing Director, Telstra Television (35% owner of Foxtel), and previously CEO of a US-based Educational Publishing company and Director of Corporate Development for a major Canadian Publisher (Newspapers & Books).  He has also worked for 3 major management consulting firms - The Boston Consulting Group and Kearney and Monitor Deloitte.

In the last 10 years, Ian has helped design, build and launch several new businesses, including developing the original business case for Kayo Sports and also a B2B two-sided managed digital marketplace. He has also led a program to flip the live sport broadcasting model on its head to save circa 25% of cost, led a major transformation program for Foxtel and led the successful merger of Foxtel and Fox Sports. 

Ian has also been actively involved with tech start-ups/scale-ups over many years – as mentor/advisor, NED and angel investor.  He currently has a portfolio of 18 companies of which he is on the Board of 5 – Jibb.ai, Abyss Solutions, Dotterel, Truescope and Surfbee – and is an LP in 2 VC Funds.  He has also helped build, launch and scale >10 businesses and raised >$50m in capital across >20 funding rounds as Executive, NED or Consultant.

In philanthropic work, Ian has been Chair of Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School for 10 years and on the Development Committee for the Australian Chamber Orchestra for eight years.

Currently Ian splits his time between his start-up/scale-up activities, investing in and advising young tech companies, including his 5 NED roles, and contract consulting, focusing on commercialising new digital business ventures for large corporates. 
 

Tony Hunt is the Environment Manager at Optus. He joined Optus in 2016. Prior to this role he led the environmental management and sustainability function at Transfield Services (from 2003 to 2015); from 2000 to 2003 he worked at State Forests of NSW helping develop carbon offset plantation investments; and from 1994 to 2000 he was the Group Environmental Manager for Burns Philp, a large food manufacturing company with operations world-wide.  

In a wide-ranging career Tony has worked across many industries and in numerous countries, including substantial experience in water and power infrastructure; transport infrastructure; oil and gas; mining; contaminated sites; facilities management; and manufacturing. 

Tony completed a B.App.Sc. in Environmental biology at the NSW Institute of Technology (the forerunner to UTS) followed by a M.App.Sc. at UTS. In addition to his corporate role he is also the Vice-President of the Australian Bird Study Association. 

John is a partner at Gilbert + Tobin specialising in Intellectual Property.

He has many years’ experience dealing with all aspects of intellectual property law with a particular focus on patent litigation and trade secrets across a range of industries including information technology, engineering, life sciences and mining and resources.  He is also actively involved in transactional IP projects including licensing, M+A, IP structuring and R+D collaboration arrangements.

John has a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and a Bachelor of Science (Biochemistry), is also a registered Patent Attorney and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Angus, a dynamic leader and UTS Science Advisory Board member, has a proven track record of driving large-scale transformation within high-risk, complex enterprises both in Australia and internationally. A systems thinker focused on achieving tangible results, Angus combines a deep understanding of the cultural conditions needed to accelerate innovation, benefiting both businesses and customers.

With an unwavering focus on customer needs, Angus is known for fostering resilient, high-performing teams that excel through change and disruption. His collaborative approach ensures that every individual’s contribution is valued, leveraging people and cultural insights to lead diverse teams through critical challenges. His leadership style is underscored by a rigorous yet creative mindset that supports experimentation, innovation, and career development across various sectors.

Angus has held multiple senior executive roles, including at Aurecon, where his contributions helped the company achieve recognition as Australia’s Most Innovative Company in 2020 by the Australian Financial Review. Currently, as COO of Veris, he oversees operations for Australia’s leading spatial data provider. During his 28-year tenure at Aurecon, Angus held pivotal roles such as MD of Clients and Markets, Executive Director, and Regional MD, where he led efforts in market diversification, client solution creation, and P&L recovery.
 

Kylie is the Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer of the Insurance Council of Australia having joined in September 2020 with a mandate to support the incoming CEO to reset and refresh the ICA as the peak body for general insurance in Australia. 

Today, Kylie leads the ICA’s advocacy work across all levels of government and other stakeholders on fraud and has responsibility for co-ordinating the response and recovery efforts of the Insurance industry to severe weather events. Her other responsibilities include leading the operational functions of the ICA across finance, human resources, and IT and data managment.

Kylie has held executive and non-executive positions in financial services over the past 25 years and is dedicated to optimising public and private sector responses to rapidly changing environmental context with a focus on strategy, governance, innovation and value creation.

Prior to the Insurance Council Kylie spent 8 years at the forefront of Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) at eth Commonwealth Bank, setting standards in organisational reporting conventions on climate, and developing multi-stakeholder approaches to social impact investment focused on producing shared outcomes and embedding social license.

Mark Maloney is a Co-Founder and the CEO of Tulla Group, a private investment company focusing mainly on the resources sector. 

Mark started his career in Investment Banking, mostly based in London working for Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan in senior management positions. 

Mark has been the CEO of ASX200 companies and is now a Chairperson, NED, advisor and mentor to many Australian companies in the listed and private space at various stages of development. 

Kirsten is the Chief Executive Officer of GRACosway, an ANZ-wide consulting firm specialising in public affairs, corporate financial communications and investor relations, where she is responsible for its overall management, strategic direction and development. Kirsten leverages more than 20 years’ experience in public policy, government relations and communications to deliver expert counsel to clients and colleagues. She is a strategic thinker, a problem solver and a respected leader at the top of her field.

Kirsten’s work with clients across the health, property, infrastructure and financial services sectors is informed by a deep understanding of the political, policy and regulatory landscape. As a trusted long-term advisor, Kirsten has a reputation for creativity and clarity.

In addition to her leadership role, she provides strategic counsel to clients, among them Ovarian Cancer Australia on a pro bono basis, Scentre Group and CPP Investments.

Kirsten is a director of Clemenger Group, the parent company of GRACosway, and the firm’s Perth subsidiary, GRA Partners, as well as its New Zealand subsidiary, GRC Partners + Porter Novelli. She served as a director of the Hunter Medical Research Institute for seven years until December 2023.

Kirsten has a Bachelor of Arts (English) from the University of Newcastle (NSW) and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Sydney.
 

Dr Kylie-Anne Richards leads the Investment Research team at Future Fund, focusing on high-impact research to inform portfolio decisions. Formerly, she served as the Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Board Member at Fortlake Asset Management, and Board Member at IAM Funds . She has also held roles such as Head of Financial Engineering (Asia Pacific) at Macquarie Group in Hong Kong, Co-Founder at QTR Capital, a proprietary trading business, and Head of Indexation and Quantitative Trading Research at CLSA in Sydney.

In addition to her full-time industry role, Dr Richards is a tenured senior lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), where she contributes part-time to research and teaching in sustainable finance, green finance, statistics, quantitative mathematics, and high-frequency finance. She has developed and lectures in Sustainable Finance subjects for the Master of Finance, MBA, Executive MBA, Master of Financial Planning, and Microcredential programs. An internationally published academic, her research has appeared in top-tier journals such as Energy Economics, Annals of Actuarial Science, International Journal of Financial Engineering, Statistical Inference for Stochastic Processes, and Global Finance Journal.

Dr Richards completed her PhD at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) School of Mathematics and Statistics, receiving the prestigious QRSLab Boronia Managed Funds PhD Scholarship in 2011. She also holds a Master of Finance (Financial Engineering) from The University of Hong Kong, as well as a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics and Statistics) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from The University of Melbourne.
 

Roger has been responsible for developing and leading the implementation of Bupa’s sustainability, strategic communications and government engagement work since 2019. He is a strong believer in driving progressive change while ensuring care for our people, planet and communities.  

This is Roger’s second period at Bupa, having previously held the position of General Manager, Corporate Affairs, APAC, where he was instrumental in the launch of the Bupa brand in Australia and New Zealand. He has also held senior leadership roles with the Victorian Government's Department of Health and Human Services, Treasury Wine Estates and Cadbury/Kraft Foods. Roger’s considerable international experience includes roles for Telefonica Europe and for the British Government as Special Adviser to the Minister for Science, Technology & Innovation, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Secretary of State of Culture, Media & Sport.

Roger holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Studies, and a Master of Political Studies (Hons.), from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. In 2022, Sustainability Magazine named him one of the world’s Top 100 Sustainability Leaders.

He has previously held Board positions at Wine Victoria, the Wine Communicators of Australia, and has recently been appointed to the National Board of the Y (formerly YMCA) Australia.
Roger is the proud father of two children. He is a passionate supporter of both Manchester City FC and the New Zealand All Blacks. He enjoys film, music, travel and wine!
 

Vanessa is an experienced pathology leader and manager. She has been responsible for operational management of several laboratories, collection centers and leading a private company. She has been in her role in NSW Health Pathology since Oct 2018. Prior to this, she was the acting laboratory manager at a NSW Health Pathology laboratory, and spent over 10 years working in private pathology in Australia largely in management roles and about 20 years in pathology in New Zealand and Nepal. 

Vanessa was looking for a new challenge and to use her skill set and experience to make a difference at a strategic level. She is a Fellow of NZIMLS, Member of AIMS, has advocated for the pathology profession for over 30 years and wanted to continue this advocacy for scientific and technical health professionals as a pathology leader. Vanessa works collaboratively with all portfolios in NSWHP and at all levels of the orgainisation.

Global experience gained in leadership and market shaping roles in mining, energy, civil aerospace, construction and technology. Leading industry pioneering solutions driven by complex requirements and technology drivers. 

Hester currently leads the growth pillar within Aurecon, delivering clear pathways to growth grounded in market analysis and client insights. 

Joanna Wyganowska is a nationally registered business psychologist, certified executive coach, organisational performance consultant. Joanna has over 20 years professional experience in organisational culture change, leadership development and coaching, human centred design and leading the people side of change to enable enterprise transformation. 

As a strategic partner, advisor and coach working with senior executives and supporting leaders and teams at all levels, Joanna has contributed to the success of national and multinational organisations across a multitude of industries, nationally and internationally, including private enterprise, government, higher education and not-for-profit. 

Joanna has previously worked as part of the UTS MBA in Entrepreneurship teaching team where she coached MBA student teams undertaking strategic consulting projects for ‘real-world’ business clients.

Joanna has a reputation for pursuing excellence, putting the ‘human’ at the centre of strategy and driving actionable solutions that deliver measurable results. She is pragmatic, authentic, flexible and solution oriented. 
 

Professor James Wallman is the Dean of the Faculty of Science. He is an entomologist with an international reputation in the biology of flies and their forensic application, and has contributed to science governance for many years through various leadership roles in universities and professional societies. He has received an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning for his work in entomology, among other awards.

Before his commencement as Dean in January 2021, James was Head of the School of Life Sciences at UTS. He also served previously in leadership roles in the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health at the University of Wollongong.

As one of the nation’s few forensic entomologists, he has been responsible for the forensic entomology casework for Australian police jurisdictions, working in this field for more than 30 years. James has published extensively in top journals, and enhanced the public understanding of entomology through many media interviews and documentaries, in which he has explained the vital role of flies in the environment and in human affairs.

He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Science of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales.

James holds a PhD in entomology and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Adelaide.
 

Distinguished Professor Alaina Ammit is Professor of Respiratory Pharmacology in the School of Life Sciences and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science. These positions are held collaboratively with the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, where Alaina serves as the inaugural Director of the Woolcock Emphysema Centre, Australia's only research centre dedicated to the fight against chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 

Distinguished Professor Ammit has an international reputation for her research elucidating the mechanistic basis of inflammation in chronic respiratory diseases. Graduating with BAppSc (Biomedical Science) from UTS (then NSWIT) in 1984, Alaina went onto complete both her MSc (1990) and PhD (1996) studies through the University of Sydney. She received prestigious fellowships to support her postdoctoral studies, including an NH&MRC CJ Martin Fellowship. 

Returning from her postdoctoral position at the University of Pennsylvania, she was appointed Lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney in 2002 and on the strength and success of her research and teaching, was appointed Associate Dean (Research) 2006-2010, promoted to Professor in 2014 and Head of the Respiratory Research Theme (2013-2016). 

She was recruited to UTS in 2016 in a collaborative research position in the School of Life Sciences and as the inaugural director of the Woolcock Emphysema Centre. Alaina has served as Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science at UTS since 2018 and was appointed Distinguished Professor in 2022.

Dr Andrew Groth is Director of Industry and Research Partnerships for the Faculty of Science at the University of Technology Sydney. 

Andrew holds a PhD in Chemistry and was previously the Global Director of Research and Development at Memcor Products in Siemens Water Technologies, as well as Research Group Leader in Nanostructured Materials and Stream Leader of High Throughput Polymer Science at CSIRO.  He has expertise in polymer and synthetic chemistry, materials science, water and wastewater treatment, membranes and manufacturing technology.   

Andrew has always been driven by a desire to see his and others’ research applied to benefit the economy, employment and the environment. This is why he is passionate about bringing the UTS deep skills, facilities and research outcomes to our industry partners and strengthening the workforce and productivity of Australia.

Philip A. Gale is Deputy Dean of Science and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Technology Sydney. He earned his BA (Hons) in 1992, MA, and DPhil in Chemistry from the University of Oxford. After a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin, he returned to Oxford as a Royal Society University Research Fellow in 1997 and later moved to the University of Southampton in 1999. There, he progressed to Senior Lecturer in 2002, Reader in 2005, and Personal Chair in Supramolecular Chemistry in 2007. He served as Head of Chemistry from 2010-2016. In 2017, he joined the University of Sydney as Professor of Chemistry and Head of the School of Chemistry, later becoming Associate Dean (International) in 2020 and interim Dean of Science in 2022.

In February 2023, Phil became Deputy Dean of Science at UTS. A highly cited supramolecular chemist, his work focuses on molecular recognition, sensing, and anion transport. He has an h-index of 91 and over 33,000 citations. Phil has received numerous awards, including the Royal Society of Chemistry Corday Morgan Medal (2005), the RSC Supramolecular Chemistry Award (2014), and the 2018 Izatt Christensen Award. He holds a DSc from Oxford (2014).

Phil is editor-in-chief of Coordination Chemistry Reviews and serves on various advisory boards. He was a member of the EPSRC College and the ANR Laboratories of Excellence Jury (2011-2018), and the European Research Council Consolidator Grant Panel (2013-2019). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, the Higher Education Academy, and the Royal Society of New South Wales.
 

Professor Wilhelmina Huston is a molecular microbiologist with a world wide reputation in the field of sexually transmitted infections. She is also a committed educator with research and academic development outcomes in higher education teaching and learning in Science. Professor Huston’s research has made significant contributions to advancing our knowledge, novel treatments, and diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections and the serious sequelae associated with these infections. She has published 98 peer reviewed international journal articles, with 3660 citations and a h index of 27. She has been recognised as a research leader by her peers, via awards and nominations, including the 2020 ASM Frank Fenner Award, the 2012 Wesley Researcher of the Year, and 2012 Young Tall Poppy Award.

Professor Huston is an alumni The University of Queensland where she graduated with her PhD in Microbiology in 2004, after completing BSc Honours (First class) in 1999. Professor Huston undertook postdoctoral research at The University of York, UK, and returned to Australia to a Research Fellowship at Queensland University of Technology, and was soon after awarded the highly prestigious NHMRC Peter Doherty Research Fellowship. In 2011, she was awarded a tenured teaching and research position at QUT, where she also completed the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education. In 2015, she joined UTS to establish a world leading Chlamydia culture facility, and commence research into pelvic inflammatory disease in partnership with Family Planning NSW. Her academic leadership and passion for teaching during this time has resulted in her undertaking various leadership positions at UTS, including currently the Associate Dean Teaching and Learning for the Faculty of Science.