MEET THE JUDGES
Judges from both Australia and Chile are currently being finalised. They will be experts in export market development, Latin American market needs and cross-border transactions. Confirmed Judges so far are profiled below.
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Contact us if you are interested in being involved as a Judge for this or future programs.
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AUSTRALIAN JUDGES
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Grame Barty
Grame Barty and Associates
Ann Bowering
Managing Director
National Stock Exchange
Harris Gomez
Managing Director
Harris Gomez Group
Tim McLennan
CEO
QUT Bluebox
Grame Barty is an experienced technology entrepreneur, senior Government executive at the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, and a senior executive with multinationals in private enterprise. Over a 12 year period he was the inventor, founder and managing Director of a Perth based software technology company, HarvestRoad Limited, that employed 270 staff and raised $27m in equity. In 2008 he joined Austrade and based in Los Angeles was responsible for Austrade’s operations in trade and investment facilitation in North America and Latin America. In 2013 he became responsible for Austrade’s Emerging and Growth Markets offshore teams and then Executive Director International Operations leading 700 Austrade staff in 80 global locations.
Ann Bowering has considerable experience in the Australian capital markets and a strong management background. Her career has consistently focused on the opportunities and economic activities of the Energy and Resources sector and, in more recent times, the emerging Cleantech and Sustainability sector. A Chartered Accountant, having worked with KPMG Melbourne, Sydney and Houston, Ms Bowering has a suite of professional and personal competencies that are highly complementary to the role of director of NSX Limited. At KPMG Ms Bowering worked on more than 30 unique transactions totalling over $12 billion of capital raisings, and merger and acquisition transactions for clients such as AGL, Bluescope Steel, Tabcorp and Lend Lease. She was a leader of the firm’s Risk Management practice.
Harris Gomez is the Managing Partner of Harris Gómez Group. Harris has been helping Australian technology and service providers enter and operate in the Latin American Region for over 20 years. In 2001, he founded the Harris Gomez Group and was the first Australian Law firm to have an office in Latin America. His expertise is focused on common law and Latin American cross-border issues in areas including mining, energy, technology, corporate matters, employment, taxation, intellectual property and business ventures. His understanding of both the Australian and Latin American legal and business cultures makes him a priceless link between the two regions. Harris is currently the President of the Australia Chile Chamber of Commerce and the Treasurer and Company Secretary of the Australian Latin American Business Council.
Tim McLennan has over 25 years of experience in technology and research innovation and commercialisation sector. He has first-hand involvement in leading industry sectors such as resources, METS, energy, water, automation, aerospace and technology funding. Tim was previously the CEO of the International Energy Centre and prior to that held senior roles in CSIRO including, Director of Business Development and Commercial for CSIRO's mineral resources Flagship including establishing CSIRO's Chilean operations. He has extensive experience in the Australian METS sector including roles as a Board member of Austmine Ltd and has held board positions of the Australian Federal Government's Council of Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR), the Australian Latin American Business Council (ALABC), the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence and the Queensland Futures Institute.
Dr Orlando Jimenez
Executive Director
CSIRO Chile
CHILEAN JUDGES
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Mauro Mezzano
Co-CEO
Vantaz Group
Lode Verdeyen
CEO
Engie Factory Chile
Cleve Lightfoot
Head of Innovation
BHP Billiton
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Dr Orlando Jiménez is Executive Director for the CSIRO Chile Research Foundation. He is an Oxford University graduate and senior research associate with over 20 years of experience in public and private sectors implementing large scale, multi- stakeholders initiatives in Latin America.
Mauro is an Industrial Engineering graduate of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, and holds an MBA from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Santiago. He is co-founder of Vantaz Group, a Management Consulting and Services firm with a focus in the Mining Industry. Starting in 2000, the business now has offices in Chile, Australia, Perú and the USA. Before starting Vantaz, he did work in EY Consulting and in Mineduc at a World Bank sponsored project. Mauro has been part of Endeavor since 2008, a volunteer from 2010 and Director of Endeavor Atacama since 2013; is a former director of Auscham and is a member of Minnovex.
Lode is the CEO and mentor of Engie's Chilean incubator and is a corporate venture capitalist. He has also held Board positions in various companies.
Lode was previously General Manager in the Electricity and Gas sector managing more than 1000 employees), in different continents and cultures with leadership, strategy and negotiation skills and a strong technical and financial background.
Cleve Lightfoot is the Head of Innovation for BHP Billiton and is based in Santiago.
Cleve studied Metallurgical Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) and arrived in Chile in 1999 to participate in the joint venture formed between Codelco and BHP Billiton. He is director of the Advanced Mining Technology Center at the University of Chile, partner and past director of the Institute of Complex Systems of Valparaíso and was director of the company Copper-4-Energy.
Claudio Maggi Campos
Head, Competitive Development Division
CORFO
Claudio Maggi Campos is Head of the Competitive Development Division of CORFO
MEET THE MENTORS
Mentors from both Australia and Chile are currently being finalised. They will be experts in export market development, Latin American market needs and cross-border transactions. Confirmed Mentors so far are profiled below and they will assist Finalists to develop their market entry plans and build additional connections in Latin America.
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Contact us if you are interested in being involved as a Mentor for this or future programs.
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AUSTRALIAN MENTORS
Victor Perton
Founder
The Australian Leadership Project
John Wood
Director
Australian Latin American Business Council
Elizabeth Castro
Australia Latin America Advisory
Rod Arenas
Food Innovation Australia Ltd (FIAL)
Dr Antonio Castillo
BiotechBridge
Geert Slachmuylders
Chief Innovator
Turbulent Hydro
Ian Brown
Ian Brown Group
Rafael Gracioso Martins
Managing Partner
Outroll Ventures
Victor joined the Bar in 1984. His passion for good public policy, law reform and human rights saw him elected to the Victorian Parliament as the Member for Doncaster from 1988. Victor retired at the 2006 election. In February 2009, Victor was appointed by the Governor in Council to be the Victorian Commissioner to the Americas based in San Francisco and generating Foreign Direct Investment and Exports throughout North and South America.
Victor founded The Australian Leadership Project with the mission to "celebrate, understand and improve Australian leadership." and has published the “The Case for Optimism: The Optimists’ Voices” to give voice to the yearning for a positive approach to leadership and life.
Victor sits on the Boards of Yarra Valley Water, Lifeguard Health Networks, the Global Integrity Summit & the Australian Centre for Financial Studies.
John Woods currently consults on trade and investment matters involving Latin America.
In addition he is lecturing and coordinating International Policymaking in Practice – a subject in the University of Melbourne’s Masters in International Relations program.
John’s extensive skills and expertise on Latin America result from his service as Australia’s Ambassador to Peru from 2010 to 2014, where he re-opened the Australian Embassy in Lima. This was the culmination of John’s 42 year career with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). He also served as Australia’s Ambassador to Venezuela from 2000 to 2003. He directed Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean Section in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Canberra between 2006 and 2010. Prior to his Ambassadorial postings, John served in New Delhi, London, Cairo and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Elizabeth Castro is a Professional Diplomat and accomplished executive with over 27 years experience in a variety of professional, commercial and senior executive and administrative roles spanning the government, international trade and commercial sectors.
She has a broad experience in Government national and international policy making and advise, public relations, country representation, strategic planning, international trade, international business development, management, administrative processes and events coordination.
Elizabeth works as consultant and was previously the Consul General of Peru in Sydney, having served in consular and diplomatic missions in Chile, Hungary and Germany.
Rod Arenas is the General Manager, Commercial at Food Innovation Australia Ltd (FIAL), one of the Australian Government's six Industry Growth Centres. In this role, Rod leads FIAL's national strategies in building capabilities, creating connections and sharing knowledge. To deliver national & global projects, sector development improvement, analysis, future modelling and industry transformation. Rod brings extensive industry insights with more than 10 years’ experience as senior strategic buyer and national category management with high profile branded products, including Pacific Brands, Mitre 10, Clark Rubber, Australian United Retailers & Alibaba’s T-mall Global. He has also worked in e-commerce and marketing management at large FMCG organisations within retail, shipping, international trade documentation and banking.
Dr Antonio Castillo, BEng PhD is a Chilean-Australian biotechnology engineer and director of BiotechBridge, a consulting firm specialising in strategic business connections between the medtech, agtech, and aquaculture industries in Australia, Chile and Israel. Antonio has 15+ years of experience in research and technology innovation and has worked in industry and academia in Chile, Germany, Israel, USA, and Australia. He arrived in Melbourne as a skilled migrant in 2014 and has since collaborated as an expert advisor in innovation with the Victoria State Government, the Consul General of Chile, and medtech companies. In 2015, his pitch for the start-up medtech company WaveBiotech was ranked # 7 at the MedTech’s Got Talent Challenge --Australia’s largest medtech start-up competition. Antonio has a PhD (molecular genetics) degree from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, an MSc (biotechnology) from Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and a BEng (aquaculture) from Universidad Andrés Bello, Chile.
Geert Slachmuylders is an international entrepreneur, recently recognized by MIT as an innovator under 35, that works on sustainable technologies. He founded Turbulent together with Jasper Verreydt and build a new kind of turbine and a team around it in a little over 2 years. Turbulent is currently developing projects in Chile, the EU and SE-Asia. His creative approach to problem solving comes from the combination of his electromechanical engineering background and the business skills he acquired as a company founder. Always ready to work with other companies on product development and market validation to push the limits of innovation.
Ian is a professional non-executive director, an innovation consultant and an entrepreneur with global commercial experience across industries. Ian has taken various early stage science and technology (Sci-Tech) projects and created successful businesses. Ian is currently Chairman of Perth Angels, a facilitator for the ON Program, a national innovation accelerator powered by CSIRO and an Entrepreneur in Residence at INSEAD (Europe's #1 ranked business school). Ian has an MBA and he is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Ian has lived and worked in London, Milan, Gothenburg, Melbourne and Perth and has worked on significant projects throughout Asia, Japan and the US. His experience covers chemicals, ceramics, medical, healthcare, engineering, resources, agricultural and food technology.
Rafael Gracioso Martins is the Founder and Managing Partner of Outroll Ventures, a Venture Capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs grow globally.
Rafael is an experienced Information Technology professional with almost a decade of experience in software development, app development and IT Management. He is also a Master Generalist, with advanced knowledge in a wide range of topics ranging from Science to Business, and how to connect seemingly disparate topics into sustainable high growth Ventures.
Rafael holds a Bachelor of Business Entrepreneurship form RMIT University and a Master's in Information Technology from Harvard University.
CHILEAN MENTORS
Ramiro Mesina
Ausmintec
Ramiro Mesina is an Australian Civil Engineer and graduate from the University of Wollongong with over 17 years for International commercialization, sales and business development experience. He lived in Australia for 27 years before moving to Chile in 2009 and has held senior roles in sales management activities spending the early part of his technical sales and business development career commercializing Australian technology in South East Asia, Europe, Middle East and North America. He is the founder of Ausmintec, a Chilean based mining technology, sales, marketing & special projects management company that provides in-region business support to companies seeking to enter the local market. He has helped a number of Australian companies establish operations in the region and has helped qualify and deploy an extensive network of resellers and partners in Chile, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico. He is a recognized sales and business development professional formally supporting well known Australian Tech companies Fluidintel, 4TEL, Trakblaze, VersaDev & Diamond Grid.
Eduardo Valente Neto
Partner
EY Consulting SpA
Eduardo has more than fifteen years’ experience working with leading companies across Latin America and Asia Pacific. Today he is based in Santiago Chile and leads the business and technology consulting practice at EY Chile.
He graduated in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Uberlândia and with a MBA at EAESP (School of Management) FGV Sao Paulo. Eduardo has a strong experience in business strategy and business development.
Specialties: Digital Strategy, ITOT Strategy, Data Analytics, Operating Model Design, Strategic Cost Reduction, operational excellence and business strategy model.
Michael Hayes
Chile Country Manager
Agora Partnerships
Michael is an experienced professional with more than 15 years intense professional activity in the areas of strategy, corporate development, marketing and transformational project management with the major insurance groups in Latin America and world class strategic consultants.
Specialist in commercial, strategic and operational planning; the creation of new companies, channels and alliances; the definition of the operating model; marketing and brand development; mergers and acquisitions (M & A) for top international companies.
Cody McFarlane
Business Development Manager
Harris Gomez Group
Cody McFarlane is Business Development Manager with the Harris Gómez Group, an international and multidisciplinary firm specialising in cross border transactions between Australia and Latin America. Originally from Canada, Cody has been helping foreign technology and service companies navigate the commercial and legal aspects of growing their business in Latin America over the last 6 years. During that time, he has developed an extensive network of commercial contacts in various countries and routinely assists senior management teams with their strategic plans. He has a deep understanding of the mining, infrastructure, industrial, oil & gas, agriculture and water markets. He is regularly invited by foreign embassies to present to visiting delegations.
Arturo Errázuriz
Partner and Managing Director
E&A Group
Mr. Errazuriz studied Economics at Pontificia Universidad Católica of Chile, and is Master in Science in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics, United Kingdom, being a Chevenning Scholarship from the British Government.
Professionally he has worked primarily in the areas of Energy and the Environment. He currently holds the position of Partner and Executive Director of Errazuriz & Asociados, company dedicated to provide engineering services and technology supply for the energy, mining, water and transport sectors, collaborating with major international companies.
Alongside this, between April 2009 and April 2015, Mr. Errazuriz was a Board Member of NuevoSur, Waste Water Treatment Company in the region of Maule, Chile. Moreover, since 2009, he assumed the presidency of the Sustainability Committee of the British Chilean Chamber of Commerce and act as Board Director of the Corporate Leaders Group for Climate Change Chile (CLG Chile). Previously he was Regional Director for the Andean Region of EcoSecurities, a leading trading company for the carbon credits market, directing the company's operations in Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.