2021 Graduate Management Awards

Chris Jacko

Director & Auxiliary President

Chris Jacko is a GAICD, and MBA graduate from The University of Queensland, where he was recognised with the Community Impact Award, and Dean’s Commendation for Academic Excellence. Having co-founded the MBAus podcast, MBA Success, as well as playing an active role in the Graduate Management Awards (GMA) sub-committee since 2020, Chris brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm to the MBAus Board.

Chris has also completed a Bachelor of Business Management from The University of Queensland, and has worked in the telecommunication and technology industries in various sales, product management, and General Management roles.

Learn more about Chris on LinkedIn. 

Amin Kashanchi

Auxiliary President

Amin has worked in the energy sector for the last 15 years on capital projects, program delivery, asset management, operation and business transformation. He has previously worked for several energy operators including Royal Dutch Shell.  Amin is accredited Project Manager (IPMA, APM), Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng, NER) and Registered Professional Engineer in Queensland (RPEQ).   Amin is an MBA graduate from The University of Queensland where he was award the Collaboration Excellence Award. Having been the Chair of the MBAus 2019 Conference Committee, Amin was instrumental in bringing this event to the public, as well as coordinating the merger with GMAA to bring together the best elements of both organizations.

Amin completed a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Technology Sydney, and being heavily involved with few other associations including Australia Institute of Energy (AIE),  Project Management Institute (PMI),  Engineers without Boarders (EWB) and Engineers Australia

Christopher Bryce

Operations Manager

Christopher Bryce is the Operations Manager of MBAus. At the beginning of his Managerial career, he has stepped into an important role at an important time.

Whilst MBAus is going through organisational change, Christopher is excited to be a part of that challenge and is making the most of it.

Sylvia (Argyro) Dionisopoulos

Secretariat & WA Chancellor

Sylvia has over 20 years’ experience in Adult Education, Training and Assessment. She is a qualified Learning and Development Professional. Holds a Bachelor of Adult Learning and Development (BAL&D), Diplomas in; Business (Front-line Management), Training and Assessment systems and Diploma in TESOL.

Sylvia started her career as a computer operator in 1989, she worked at ANZ Bank for 8 years operating / managing Automatic Cartridge Systems (ACS) – Silos (Robots). Sylvia is a Director / Manager of her own company registered as ‘Modkinetic Training and Consulting’, she develops resources and delivers Training / Assessment to various organisations and RTO’s in the higher education and VET sector.

In 2019, Sylvia assisted International students and managed a ‘live’ research and analysis project for the MBAus (formerly GMAA). This project created awareness  and prompted Sylvia to join the Board and contribute to recognising and rewarding academic excellence.

Kyle Arthars

5-Star Ratings Program Director & NSW Chancellor

Kyle Arthars has an extensive background in education management, international education, operations and human resources management and quality assurance – with an emphasis on programme design, delivery, monitoring and management. Holding an MBA from the University of Newcastle, undergraduate degrees in Laws and Information Systems, a range of vocational qualifications in business, auditing and education and experience designing, delivering and managing education programs across 9 countries globally – and catering for Australian based programs for international clients from a wider range of nations.

Kyle has over a decade of management experience in the education sector ranging from Higher Education, through Vocational, English language and non-accredited corporate training in both private and public providers and for domestic and international students.

Brian Jones

Treasurer & Victorian Chancellor

Brian Jones has forty-two years’ experience in corporate, professional accounting, taxation, audit and business advisory fields. He has been in practice as an accountant, business adviser and forensic accountant since 1989.

Prior to this he was with BP Australia and BP Finance Australia for six years in accounting policy and systems, corporate accounting and corporate treasury roles. Brian also worked for Touche Ross in London, Birmingham and Geneva. He also spent three years in brand management.

He now specialises in strategic planning, taxation, management and forensic accounting. Brian has worked in a wide variety of industries ranging from international to small business.

As well as holding an MBA, Brian has an Honours degree in Economics from University College London, is an FCA (Fellow of CAANZ) and an Accredited Business Valuer and Accredited Forensic Accounting Specialist.

Brian has been involved with MBAus (and GMAA) for over 20 years becoming National President. He became President of the Victorian Chapter in 2004.

Dr. Darryl Gauld OAM

Auxiliary President & Queensland Chancellor

Dr Darryl Gauld is in his 4th decade in educational leadership and management roles. In addition to having worked as a School Principal since 1994, he has taught learners from most countries at primary, secondary, and tertiary schools, RTOs/TAFEs, higher education providers, universities, through to large corporations, since the 1980s.

After joining the GMAA (Graduate Management Association of Australia) Inc in 2000, Dr Gauld became a Fellow and the Vice-President. His award-winning Doctorate produced an Effective Teacher Model that has been published and presented, nationally and internationally.

Maxwell Gratton

President

Maxwell Gratton is an award-winning three-time CEO (Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Football Federation Victoria, and Basketball ACT), underpinned by a Bachelor of Arts (Sports Administration) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA), both earned from Victoria University.

Prior to his current appointment as a CEO in the arts and entertainment industry, Maxwell successfully led not-for-profit organisations within the area of sports management and organised numerous major sporting competitions and events for thousands of players/members, registrations, and development programs.

He has extensive experience in managing strategic and operational plans, along with a strong track record of stakeholder and volunteer engagement, community consultation, marketing and communication, business development, and sponsorship management.

Maxwell is a Board Member (Associate) of the Chapel Street Precinct Association, and the Chair of the Victoria University Alumni Advisory Panel. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders.

Tysen Woodlock

Head of Business Affairs

Tysen is a science and law graduate, and admitted to practise law in Victoria. He joins MBAus after having worked in academia, retail and the transport industry.

He is completing a Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Swinburne University. He applies design thinking and lean methodologies to many of the business challenges he confronts.

Dhugal Ford

Director – Human Capital

Deloitte Consulting 

Dhugal Ford is a Director of Human Capital at Deloitte.  He is a passionate leader and HR expert with 17 years’ experience working in a global business, consistently delivering across a number of challenging projects and technical disciplines. More than five years leading through complex change programmes, most recently as part of the leadership team on a successful global HR Transformation. Dual degree qualified in Business and Psychology, with an energetic, genuine style and demonstrated ability to perform in unclear and unfamiliar circumstances.

Dr Brendan Markey-Towler

Senior Advisor – Behavior Innovation

Dr Brendan Markey-Towler is a Senior Advisor at Evidn (formerly Behavior Innovation), a behavioral science startup based in Fortitude Valley with global operations in population-level behavior change. Prior to joining Evidn, he held various academic postings as a behavioral, institutional and evolutionary economist at the University of Queensland and the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub. His first book “An Architecture of the Mind” was published by Routledge in 2018, and his second book, co-authored with Nicholas Johnson of the World Economic Forum, entitled “Internet, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain” will be published by Routledge in late 2019. He has published and spoken extensively on behavioral, institutional and evolutionary economics, particularly in relation to technology adoption. He holds a PhD and a Bachelor of Economics with First Class Honours and a University Medal from the University of Queensland.

Jake Carroll

Chief Technology Officer – Research Computing

University of Queensland

Jake has been instrumental in working with University of Queensland researchers to create innovative and cutting edge research computing infrastructure to allow UQ researchers to stay ahead of the curve. Jake was recently recognised for this work with a UQ Award for Excellence.

Dr Michael Kane

Director Innovation & Economic Strategies

Economic Development Queensland

Dr Michael Kane is the Director Innovation at Economic Development Queensland, a state government commercialised business unit for residential, urban and industrial development through property and infrastructure partnerships. Dr Kane’s role is to lead innovative approaches to planning and development for EDQ and the state of Queensland

Libby Marshall

CEO & Founder

Steam Capital

In December 2017, Libby Marshall launched Steam Capital with a vision to transform the way people prepare for their careers and revolutionise the way employers attract, select and employ talent.  Libby proposes the future of work is all about people taking control of their careers, being empowered to create their own success and the success of others, unafraid of a new era where adaptation, ambiguity and change are constant.   Libby is the Managing Director of the Australia New Zealand MBA Directors Forum, a MBA Coach at the University of Sydney Business School, the University of Queensland Business School, lead consultant for the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) Asia Pacific Conferences and a Non-Executive Director of MS Queensland.  In 2019, Steam Capital’s signature program – Masters in Me™ – was selected for inclusion into the University of Auckland MBA career leadership program.

Dr. Nico Adams

Director

Future Factory 

Nico Adams is Director of the Factory of the Future and an Associate Professor at Swinburne University of Technology. He supports Australian manufacturing companies in exploring and leveraging modern information technology, the Industrial Internet and Industry 4.0 to develop new products, services and business models.  Prior to his appointment at Swinburne, Nico was the IMCRC Program Lead for Industry 4.0 and Digital Transformation, where he co-created the widely used futuremap innovation diagnostic as well as a senior research scientist and product manager in CSIRO’s Data61 business unit. Through these roles, Nico has developed a deep understanding how manufacturing companies think about the role of digital technologies in their businesses and how to formulate and implement strategies allowing manufacturing businesses to take advantage of digitisation. He holds degrees from the Universities of York and Oxford.

Iain Pepper

Chief Executive Officer

Study Loans Australia 

Iain has spent most of his career in the personal finance sector with a particular interest in start-ups and businesses undergoing transitional change.  What excites him about these environments is the opportunity to work across multiple functions with like-minded people, that care about what they do, are happy to challenge the status quo and see real results for real effort. Iain has worked for several financial institutions, including Societe Generale, Citibank, GE Capital and La Trobe Financial, leading several innovations to the mortgage lending, insurance and consumer finance markets in the UK, Europe and Australia.

Jacyl Shaw

Global and Australian Practice Director

Digital Lab, GHD Digital

With over 20 years’ experience delivering innovation and consulting programs, projects and services with multi-sectoral clients from higher education, industry, start-ups, accelerator hubs, government and research agencies, Jacyl is the Global and Australian Practice Director, Digital Lab at GHD Digital, a global professional services firm with 10,000+ people and 200 offices worldwide. Jacyl has a BA, LLB and LLM and a Masters of Enterprise and sits on several boards. She is the 2018 recipient of a scholarship from Chief Executive Women and the Harvard Club of Australia to participate in an executive education program about ‘The Future of Work in the Digital Age’, delivered by Harvard Business School.

Jacyl creates and delivers new value creation initiatives and ways to foster “innovative and creative” thinking and doing. At GHD Digital, she executes upon a corporate digital innovation strategy that includes Smart Seeds an award-winning global innovation program for clients, stakeholders and communities across 15 + cities worldwide.Prior to GHD Digital, Jacyl was Director Engagement at Melbourne Connect- a capital and cultural transformation project creating an innovation district on the former Royal Women’s Hospital site. She has been a corporate lawyer, Supreme Court Judges Associate, worked abroad and founded several start-ups.

Cameron Stone

Chief Information Officer

Virgin Australia 

Cameron Stone is Group Chief Information Officer of Virgin Australia, the leading airline of Australia. Cameron joined Virgin Australia in 2013 and as CIO carries the responsibility for leading Technology across the Group, which includes TigerAir, VA Regional Air, Cargo and Velocity Frequent Flyer.

Prior to joining Virgin Australia, Cameron was Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Aurizon, Australia’s largest rail freight operator. He was also Head of Legal, Australia and New Zealand for Lexmark Australia after holding Senior Technology roles at Suncorp, Bank of Queensland and Queensland Health.  Cameron holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Business Law from the University of Southern Queensland, an Associate Diploma in Civil Engineering from Queensland University of Technology and a Diploma of Business in Frontline Management from the Australian Institute of Management. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time outdoors paddle boarding and hiking with his wife. They take every chance they get to travel internationally and pursue adventures hand in hand. Cameron loves Texas BBQ and is on a lifelong quest to cook the perfect brisket

Dr Sue Keay

Research Director

Data 61, CSRIO 

Sue set up the world’s first robotic vision research centre, and now leads CSIRO’s Data61 Cyber-Physical Systems program. Last year, she developed Australia’s first Robotics Roadmap highlighting how advances in robotics, computer vision, sensing (and AI) will impact on every sector of the Australian economy.

With a PhD in Geoscience and an MBA, Sue combines science with business. She has interests in entrepreneurship and disruptive technologies, and started QUT’s social robotics program. Sue serves on the Board of the CRC for Optimising Resource Extraction and the Expert Advisory Panel of Queensland.AI. She is a judge for the James Dyson Awards and the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes, and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Sue has been recognised as one of RoboHub’s 2018 “Women in Robotics you need to know about”, as one of Queensland’s most influential people (Courier Mail’s Power 100), as a Superstar of STEM (Science and Technology Australia), and is responsible for bringing the Grace Hopper Celebration to Australia