Board roles
How Do We Grow?
How Do We Manage the Risk?
These are two of the key questions in business, and a board has to answer both to survive and excel. I bring experience, wisdom and pattern recognition from 15 years advising more than 1000 businesses. I have chaired peer advisory boards since 2012, and I am an engineer with an MBA in entrepreneurial management, including corporate governance.
Your Board Needs Someone Who
- Reads the operations behind the numbers
- Has sat beside owners and founders through growth, investment rounds, acquisitions, exits and crises
- Can judge whether a technology is feasible before the company bets on it
- Knows for-purpose organisations as well as companies
- Will have the conversation the room is avoiding, and keep the meeting productive afterwards
What I Bring to the Table
- Financial literacy with operations behind it
- 15 years reading the financial statements, funding acquittals and management reporting of more than 1000 businesses, and advising on acquisitions, business valuations and financial performance. Much of my work is financial, and I built my own financial optics software to do it. I read a set of accounts the way an operator does, asking what happened on the floor to make that number. I also help clients with government grants, tenders and contracts, and with raising money from banks, lenders and investors.
- Strategy and growth
- A good strategy is a specific and coherent response to the true constraints, and it starts with insight into the true nature of the situation. I have worked on growth strategy, market expansion, succession and exit with hundreds of businesses, and sat with their owners while they carried it out. My clients have achieved multimillion-dollar exits, significant investment rounds and international expansion. Sometimes a business is held back by its business model. I have changed a client's business model more than once, and the strategy that follows works because it starts from how their business actually runs.
- Risk
- People and culture risk, operational risk, compliance and crisis response. I spent 8 years in production, maintenance and engineering roles at BlueScope Steel, Ford, Cargill and North Parkes Mines. The work covered capital projects, process improvement, safety and environmental compliance. So I know what operational and people risk looks like before it reaches a board paper.
- Technology and AI
- An engineering degree and 15 years advising and mentoring technology companies, so I can judge whether a technology is feasible, and what adopting it at scale will take. Expert in Residence at the University of New England SMART Region Incubator from 2020 to 2025, where I advised more than 200 founders in technology, health, environment, agtech and the creative industries on commercialisation. Guest lecturer in the UNE Graduate Certificate in AI and Innovation.
- Governance
- MBA in entrepreneurial management, including corporate governance. Since 2012 I have chaired peer advisory boards and advised boards and leadership teams on governance, strategy, risk and financial performance. I hold the line between governance and operations, and I know which side of it a question belongs on because I have worked both.
- Sectors
- Manufacturing, FMCG, retail, wholesale, health, technology, science, agriculture, professional services, not-for-profits and social enterprises. My family is in agriculture and I live in regional NSW, so agricultural and regional businesses are familiar ground, and they are one sector among many.
Board Experience
- Chair, peer advisory boards
- 2012 to present. Boards of business owners running companies from early stage to $50M in turnover, giving independent counsel on strategy, finance, people, growth, risk and performance. Members act as non-executive advisors to each other's businesses, with structured reporting, accountability and strategic review. I run the table: set the agenda, keep the discussion productive, and make sure quieter members are heard and hard topics are not avoided.
- Board Member, Zondii Pty Ltd
- 2024 to present. An agtech company.
- Board advisory, multiple organisations
- 2012 to present. Governance, strategy, risk and financial performance across manufacturing, FMCG, retail, wholesale, health, technology, science, agriculture, professional services, not-for-profits and social enterprises. I facilitate strategy and planning for boards, for profit and for purpose.
- Expert in Residence, University of New England SMART Region Incubator
- 2020 to 2025. More than 200 founders advised on commercialisation, growth and building teams. Led more than 10 year-long Entrepreneurs Leverage Programs on strategy and scaling.
- Operations
- 2004 to 2012. Production, maintenance and engineering leadership roles in manufacturing and resources at BlueScope Steel, Ford Motor Company, Cargill and North Parkes Mines.
- Education
- MBA, Entrepreneurial Management (including Corporate Governance), Australian Institute of Business. Bachelor of Engineering (Materials), First Class Honours, University of Wollongong.
How I Work in the Room
I'm often described as straightforwardly useful, as I know the difference between what sounds good in theory and the nuance of what happens in reality.
I read the papers properly, and I come with the questions the numbers raise. I say what I see, and I say it in a way that keeps the room with me. My style is relational and grounded, comfortable in boardrooms and in the practical grittiness of operations, and I am trusted to have the honest conversations others avoid.
As well as running businesses, my clients serve on national advisory boards and the boards of ASX-listed companies, and chair international organisations. I'm the person they call when they need scaling guidance or are in a crisis, so I know what a growing company is likely to do next, what its board should ask, and how to hold competing interests together with clarity and care.
Board and Advisory Roles
If your board is looking for a director with this mix, I'd like to hear about it. A board CV is available on request.
Start a Conversation