Originally from Cowra in central western NSW, I have lived and worked in Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne, London and Boston. Raised on a farm, I studied economics at UNE in Armidale (and Honors at Melbourne Uni) before becoming a stockbroker at JBWere. After 10 years in finance I completed an MBA at Oxford in the UK as part of my plan to build a career leading people. Since then I have worked for 4 companies with the last two as CEO. They were all small/medium sized companies that were in transition or growth and had a strong service component. My focus on client service is a significant part of how I lead and informs my view on what drives good companies.I have recently raised a search fund to acquire a small/medium-sized company in Australia or New Zealand and have partnered with SMEVenture to assemble investors and the ecosystem to support me. Areas that I follow to potentially buy a company within include; IT, Cyber and privacy services, energy transition and resource management, training and technical services. My scope is wide open and geography is flexible.Each of the four companies I have led over the past 17 years were in different industries but had a common element of combining service and tech-enablement to grow. I have steered teams through multiple crises during that time including natural disasters, COVID19, a banking crisis and reputational issues.I am a subject matter expert in reputation management and people strategy and a published author (with McGraw Hill) of "The Leadership Mind Switch" which is a book inspired by leading multi-generational teams.I sit on the board of The Equine Network which is a membership organization for competitive equestrians and The Ability Network which serves the community for people with disabilities. I am part of the AICD and have completed the Company Directors Course (2024).
Listed skills include Strategy, Business Development, Management, Leadership, and 25 others.