Scott Needham Email & Phone Number

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Co-Founder and Growth Leader: Spearheaded the co-founding and growth of the advisory, scaling from 2 to 20 FTE and boosting revenue from AUD 0 to 3.5 m+.Strategic Leadership: Directed recruitment and managed a team spanning 5 states and territories in Australia. Designed a comprehensive business strategy and customer value proposition across strategy and culture design, client capability building (hackathons, accelerators, incubators), and commercial problem-solving.Innovative Project Methodology: Developed a novel project methodology addressing "wicked problems," resulting in 90+% on-time, on-budget project delivery record.Operational Excellence: Oversaw business processes, operations, and HR management, introducing learning and development programs, staff bonus initiatives, and comprehensive company policies.Client Expansion: Played a pivotal role in expanding the client base to 30+, including prominent names such as Mars Foods, World Wildlife Fund, University of Queensland, CSIRO, Australian National University, Integrity Systems Company, Meat and Livestock Australia, Seafood Industry Australia, Hort Innovation, and more.Award-Winning Business: Cultivated a company culture and processes that garnered 7 prestigious awards for client work, including the Design Institute of Australia's "Company of the Year Award" in 2021, 5 Good Design Awards, and 1 ANZ Circle Award in 2021 and 2022.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Strategic Leadership: Director of Company providing strategic direction. Delivered resource allocation and execution advice to operational leaders. Project Management: Managed significant investment projects with key clients, developing client relationships and internal delivery team capabilities. Team Building and Mentorship: Identified and recruited consultant expertise required for project delivery across scientific, economic, human behaviour and design disciplines as well as general industry expertise.

Sydney, Australia

Executive Leadership: Led the ANZ team at Xinova LLC, a USD 150 m investment company with clients including PepsiCo, Honda, Funai, and other $1 b+ multinational corporations. Achieved an annual revenue of AUD 5.5+ m while overseeing client project design and delivery.Established Strategic Partnerships: Identified and cultivated relationships with key universities, including UNSW, CSIRO (AU), Harvard (US), Stanford (US), several Indian Institutes of Technology (India), KAIST (Sth Korea), and McGill (Canada), as well as individuals. These initiatives contributed to building ~10% of the Xinova inventor network, consisting of 12,000 inventors across 118 countries. Managed relationships with 50% of the organisations’ top 10 inventors.Service Design: Designed the ANZ service offering and played a key role in developing content to an Innovation-As-A-Service (IAAS) digital platform.

Singapore

Concept Design and Partnership Negotiation: Conceived and executed the TDC concept, and successfully negotiated a SGD 10 m partnership deal with the Economic Development Board (EDB) in Singapore.Strategic Team Building and Network Partnerships: Spearheaded the recruitment of 5 full-time employees and negotiated contracts with 8 partners providing prototyping capabilities in food, chemistry, and consumer goods.Investment Pitch Leadership: Led the delivery of over 20 pitches resulting in the successful raising of AUD ~12 m in investment. Funds supported proof of concept, prototypes, and business models generated by the TDC.

Sydney, Australia

Executive Leadership: Led and managed a team of 20 FTEs comprising investment analysts, scientists, and patent attorneys across 7 countries (India, Sth Korea, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Israel, US). Functioned as 1 of 3 Global Heads of Investments for a fund valued at USD 655 m.Strategic Investment Design: Formulated investment theses and crafted IP portfolios with a substantial USD 150 m budget. Focus areas included recycling, 3D printing, eco-friendly chemicals, rechargeable batteries, sustainable packaging, carbon sequestration, agri-technology, and other innovative sectors.Network Growth: Designed a comprehensive strategy for expanding the inventor network. This involved travelling to other countries to advise in-house staff and recruit new individuals and organisations. Global Client Relationship Management: Initiated and nurtured key client relationships, initially in the ANZ region and later expanding globally.Revenue Generation: Successfully delivered USD 5+ m in revenue, including securing an annual revenue stream of USD 3+ m through a High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) portfolio license to MPEG LA.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Network Establishment: Designed a comprehensive strategy for building a network of inventors. This involved crafting inventor and institution sales pitches, defining and negotiating contract terms, educating experts in the art of creating intellectual property in response to well-defined problems.Strategy and Process Design: Co-designed the investment thesis and asset review and selection process. Participated in multi-country reviews, invention acquisition, and patent filing process.

Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

Revenue from Research Services: Delivered AUD 5-7.5 m through commercial research initiatives in Engineering. Successfully negotiated contracts for 12 Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage awards, totaling AUD 42 m.Intellectual Property Management: Oversaw the intellectual property and commercialisation strategy for a portfolio comprising over 50 patent families.Licensing Revenue Generation: Generated AUD 2+ m in licensing revenue from teaching materials, superconductor materials, medical devices, microwave technologies, and novel polymer advancements.

Port Kembla

Diverse People Management: Managed up to 100 production FTEs and 10 technical FTEs (direct reports). Continuous Improvement Initiatives: Identified and led process improvement activities with production and management staff resulting in a 10-30% increase in annual prime output. Successfully re-negotiated packaging contracts, leading to an annual cost savings of AUD 50 m. Chaired a business restructuring committee, contributing to a cost reduction of AUD 18 m over 3 years.

Port Kembla

People and Process Excellence: Operations Co-ordinator supervising 250-300 staff on a 24 hour, 7 days per week operation. Facility included soften and descale, bright anneal, various thickness reduction mills, belt grinding, and side trim equipment, with packing and despatch to domestic and international customers.

Port Kembla

Research Capabilities and Lab Management: Trained in an Electrochemistry Laboratory. Responsible for conducting testing and reporting on the relative corrosion rates of various experimental metallic coatings. Wrote manuscripts based on experimental work for publication in internal and international peer-reviewed journals. Operated a 25-meter-long experimental metal coating line facility for the production of experimental coatings on 20cm wide continuous strip.

Education record

Phd, Electrode Materials Used In Li-Ion Batteries

Mmgmt

Be (Hon 1), Materials Engineering

Education record

Activities and Societies: Graduate of AICD, Refresher Course in 2021