For more information, contact UTS DVCEEP Operations Unit: anna.yiasemides@uts.edu.au.
Current Members
Nicky Sparshott (Chair)
Nicky is the Chief Transformation Officer at Unilever since March 2023. Prior to this appointment, Nicky was CEO of Unilever Australia & New Zealand and Global CEO of luxury retailer, T2 Tea. She has over 25 years of experience in developing and building brands, growing businesses, and transforming infrastructure and culture. She has worked across a broad range of organisations including Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company, P&G and George Patterson Y&R.
Recognized for her depth and breadth of expertise across FMCG, Retail, Luxury, and Ecommerce, Nicky also brings broader based category experience spanning food, beverages, health care and personal care.
Nicky holds a Masters in International Business, which has been supported by significant global management experience across Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe, USA and the highly diverse markets of Asia. She is currently completing an Executive MBA in Change, through INSEAD.
Nicky is a Non-Executive Director on the boards of World Wildlife Fund Australia; Global Sisters; and the Australian Food & Grocery Council and sits on the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute Australasian Advisory Board. She is also a National Member of the Champions of Change Coalition and a Founding Member of the B-Team Australasia and Climate Leaders Coalition. She is a passionate advocate that businesses today must drive sustainable agendas that positively impact both people and the planet and in doing so be a true force for good.
The best advice she has ever been given was "when you are dancing on thin ice you may as well tap dance" and that is how she lives her life with her husband Graeme and their two children, Keira & Lachlan.
David Anderson
David Anderson was appointed as the ABC’s Managing Director in May 2019 for a five year term.
Prior to his appointment, David served as Director Entertainment & Specialist from February 2018, expanding his previous role as Director Television to be responsible for all ABC radio music networks (triple j, Double j, Classic FM, Country and Jazz) podcasts and specialist radio content (Radio National) as well as broadcast television networks (ABCTV, ABC Kids, ABC Comedy, ABC ME). This also includes all on-demand products and services (iview, ABC Listen, ABC Kids Listen, ABC Kids), and the relevant network web and apps.
David has enjoyed a successful career in the broadcast television and media industry for nearly 30 years, with a long history as television executive and a strong track record in television production and commissioning successful programs across all genres.
Prior to his tenure as Director Television, David was the Director of the ABC’s Digital Network and Strategy & Planning divisions. in his capacity as Director of Strategy & Planning, David worked to refocus expenditure in the organisation towards audience-focused content, products and services; and as Director of Digital Network, David was afforded the opportunity to lead the organisation’s digital transformation by looking at ways to engage new audiences online and creating a personalised and connected online network.
David also maintains positions on both Screenrights and Freeview Boards.
Dr Shane Canney
Shane was appointed to the role of Chief Air and Space Program at the Defence Science and Technology Group in July 2022.
Dr Shane Canney completed his PhD in experimental physics at the Flinders University of South Australia in 1997. He joined Electronic Warfare Division of Defence Science & Technology Organisation (DSTO) (now DSTG) in March 1999 as a research scientist. His work was focussed on the modeling, simulation and performance assessment of maritime EW systems.
From December 2001 until June 2014 he worked in Maritime Operations Division / Maritime Division at DSG. Throughout his time in the maritime domain he has focused on applying S&T in the area of surface ship combat systems, specializing in modelling, simulation and analysis.
In April 2010, Shane was promoted to Research Leader Surface Ship Operations and transferred to the role of Research Leader Combat and Mission Systems in Weapons and Combat Systems Division (WCSD) in DSTG in July 2014. Shane was the Australian National Representative for TTCP MAR Group from 2013 – 2015.
Shane then moved into the role Research Leader Weapons and Combat Systems Assessment (WCSA) in WCSD prior to being appointed to the new position of Program Leader – Counter Improvised Threats in November 2016.
In late 2018, Shane returned to the position of Research Leader Integrated Combat Capability Assessment (RLICCA) in WCSD where he was responsible for the Modelling, Simulation, Analysis and Experimentation activities relating to the ADF’s joint integrated combat capability. Shane was the Australian National Representative for TTCP WPN Group from 2018 – 2020.
From January 2020 until October 2020, Shane was Acting Chief Maritime Division in DSTG where was responsible for the leadership of all maritime science and technology programs. Shane was then promoted to the Chief Maritime Domain Program position in October 2020 where he led the maritime domain program pilot as part of DSTG’s reform program.
Shane was appointed as Chief Weapons and Combat Systems Division in DSTG in April 2021 until June 2022. In this role, Shane was responsible for all weapons and combat system science and technology capabilities as well as the application of these capabilities to deliver impact for Defence. Shane led DSTGs High Speed Weapons, Sovereign Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance, Directed Energy Weapons and Disruptive Weapon Effects STaR Shot programs.
Kerryn Coker
Kerryn Coker was appointed Co-Chair for Arup Australasia region, encompassing Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, in April 2021. Responsible for strategy implementation and business performance delivered by 3,000 engineers, designers and consultants working across the built environment in region, she also sits on the global management executive overseeing the performance of the 18,000 person strong global business.
As part of her role Kerryn has led the execution of our global sustainable development strategy in Australasia, aligning business and project outcomes with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Trained as a Civil Engineer, Kerryn joined Arup in London in 2004 as a Façade Engineer where she has designed and delivered innovative sustainable façade solutions including King’s Place in London and 1 Bligh Street in Sydney. She moved into multidisciplinary leadership, responsible for delivering complex projects such as 8 Chifley Square in Sydney, and NewActon Nishi in Canberra, then moving into operational leadership role.
Kerryn serves as the Chair of Consult Australia’s Champions of Change Coalition, advocating for progressive leadership in accelerating gender equality. She is a prominent figure in the built environment industry, frequently presenting on critical issues such as sustainable development, regenerative and nature-based design, future cities, women in STEM and leadership referencing her own experience role modelling a shared approach to senior leadership roles.
Jeff Connolly
Jeff Connolly is the CEO at Thales. For more than 30 Years, Jeff has held senior management and governance positions in Australia, Asia and Europe. He has broad B2B and B2G experience supplying customers with technology based product, systems, solutions and services which drive sustainable outcomes through operational efficiency and global competitiveness.
He passionately advocates development of ‘home grown’ Australian , future oriented capabilities in advanced manufacturing, engineering, innovative technology and use inspired research.
He has played an integral role in driving Industry 4.0 adoption in Australia, Chairing the Prime Minister’s Industry 4.0 Taskforce – and was recognised for his contribution via his Adjunct Professorship at Swinburne University of Technology.
Jeff recently Chaired the Federal Government’s University Research Commercialisation Taskforce and is currently a Panel member tasked with proposing the framework for an overarching long term NSW Industry Policy.
He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, National Australian Industry Group Victorian Branch Council President and National Director, Director of the European Australian Business Council.
Matthew (Matt) Halliday
Matt Halliday was appointed Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer in June 2020. He joined Ampol in April 2019 as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Ampol, Matt enjoyed a successful career with Rio Tinto.
Matt is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia and an MBA from London Business School.
Matt is married and has two daughters and a son.
Dig Howitt
Dig Howitt was appointed Chief Executive Officer and President of Cochlear Limited in January 2018.
Dig joined Cochlear in 2000 and was appointed to the Executive team in 2002. He has held several positions including SVP Manufacturing and Logistics and President Asia Pacific.
Prior to joining Cochlear, Dig worked as a consultant for the Boston Consulting Group and held general management positions in Boral and Sunstate Cement.
Dig holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Sydney and a Masters of Business Administration from Stanford University in the United States. Dig is also a Fellow of Engineers Australia.
Dig is married to Kate and they have a son and daughter. He swims to keep fit.
Vanessa Hudson
Vanessa Hudson was appointed Qantas group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director in September 2023.
Ms Hudson was previously Group Chief Financial Officer for four years, including through the pandemic and airline's recovery.
She has also served as Qantas Chief Customer Officer, with responsibilities spanning all aspects of the customer experience and strategy.
Joining Qantas in 1994, she has held a variety of senior commercial, customer and finance roles across the Group, in Australia and overseas, including Executive Manager of Sales and Distribution, Senior Vice President for Qantas across the Americas and New Zealand, Executive Manager of Commercial Planning and Executive Manager for Product and Service. In these various roles her responsibilities ranged from sales channels, revenue management and network planning, to transformation in catering, airports and networks.
Vanessa has a Bachelor of Business and was admitted as a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in 1994.
Borislav (Bob) Kotic
Bob Kotic is a senior executive leader with experience as CEO, COO and CFO across numerous sectors, including financial services, higher education and manufacturing.
Bob has been an executive member of several leading Australian organisations at critical moments in their respective strategic transformations. His CEO experience was with Lumley Life Ltd and AMPAC Ltd, a challenging joint venture between AMP and Westpac initiated post the 1987 equity market crash.
Most recently Bob served as CEO of Community Alliance Credit Union, now the Illawarra Credit Union.
Bob has diverse experience as a CFO in three industries, highlighted by serving as CFO of ING Australia Group Ltd and Group Financial Controller of AMP in the lead up to AMP’s demutualisation.
He then transitioned to higher education as CFO of the University of Sydney. He was the first non-academic to become part of the Senior Leadership Group of the University and was subsequently promoted to Deputy Vice-Chancellor and COO.
Bob also served as Vice President, Administration at the National University of Singapore.
Bob’s community engagements include directorships at KU Children Services and The Salvation Army’s Illawarra Advisory Board, as well as serving as Interim CEO of NSW’s Livestock Health and Pest Authority (LHPA). Bob was recently Interim Director of Operations at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP).
Bob is a UTS alumnus, graduating with a Bachelor of Business Studies Degree (Accounting). He also has a Master of Economics Degree (Finance) from Macquarie University.
Sarah Liu
Sarah Liu, founder of TDC Global, is an international thought leader, speaker, trainer and facilitator on next generation leadership, diversity and inclusion, and the future of work.
Having represented Australia in the G20 YEA since 2017, Sarah also served as an APAC advisor to the Japanese Prime Minister’s Cabinet and sits on the judging panel for Forbes Awards. Sarah is invited to train leaders around the world across private and public sectors on leadership transformation and is an appointed regional partner for Google, lead trainer for National Women in Construction, Engineering, Media and Technology across AUNZ.
Whilst she manages a diverse portfolio of career and businesses, there is only one common thread across them all and that is to see more women in leadership and to transform the way we work.
Jaana Quaintance-James
Jaana is the CEO of the Australian Fashion Council, the peak industry body for the entire fashion and textile value chain in Australia from manufacturing through to brands and retail. A seasoned leader in sustainability and commercial strategy, Jaana has dedicated her career to driving impactful change within the global fashion industry and has track record of delivering market advantage through sustainable practices and innovation.
Prior to joining the AFC, Jaana was the Chief Sustainability & Sourcing Officer at Global Fashion Group, the European listed parent of THE ICONIC, where she delivered significant commercial and sustainability benefits. Prior to GFG Jaana led sustainability at THE ICONIC, delivering “Considered”, a ground-breaking way for customers to shop by their sustainability values and earlier, led ethical sourcing at David Jones following its acquisition by Woolworths South Africa.
A graduate of the Institute of Company Directors, Jaana also serves as a Board Director of The Social Outfit, the social enterprise fashion brand which employs refugees and newly arrived migrants in their manufacturing and retailing operations in Sydney.
Craig Ritchie
Craig Ritchie is an Aboriginal man of the Dhunghutti and Biripi nations. He is an independent advisor and researcher and until August 2023 was the Chief Executive Officer at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). Craig joined AIATSIS as deputy CEO in April 2016, and formally appointed CEO in May 2017. Prior to joining, Craig has worked in other senior roles in the Department of Education and Training 2011–16 in roles heading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher education, higher education access and participation for people from low-SES backgrounds, and international student mobility, as well as founding director, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in the ACT Government. In addition to his two-decade public sector career, Craig has extensive experience in the community sector, including as CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) – the peak advocacy body for Aboriginal community-controlled health services.
During his public service career Craig was one of a growing number of Indigenous Commonwealth Government agency heads and a founding member of the APS Indigenous SES Network. He is an Honorary Senior Fellow at the university of Melbourne. Craig studied English literature, history, classics, and education at the University of Newcastle, has a post-graduate qualification in management from the University of Canberra, and is currently completing his PhD at the Australian National University. His thesis topic is Culture and Policymaking: Towards Better Aboriginal Policy and explores the cultural basis of contemporary policymaking and researching the culture-based enterprise transformation with a focus on policymaking systems in Australia.
Allison Rossiter
Allison Rossiter is the CEO at Genetic Signatures. Ali started her career in the IT department at Pfizer UK while completing her BSc(hons) Computing & Informatics degree, and a dissertation on the electronic data capture of clinical trials at the University of Plymouth. After working as an Integration Engineer for Nortel Networks she pivoted, and for more than 22 years has served in the health sector.
Ali has held senior leadership positions at Roche, and has a uniquely in-depth view having worked in all three Roche divisions - Pharmaceuticals, Diabetes Care and Diagnostics. Her career has taken her to four countries, UK, Canada, USA and Australia and she has worked in all areas from product design and development, sales and marketing, Government affairs, through to country leadership. Her final role in Roche was as Managing Director, Roche Diagnostics Australia, where she worked for more than five years, pioneering and executing a company and cultural transformation, as well as leading the Roche Australia COVID efforts to bring testing, and peace of mind, to Australians.
Rooted in her Northern English values of honesty, hard work and making a difference, she believes that fortune favours the bold and so is curious, courageous and likes to turn talk in to action. She considers herself a lifelong learner and has a great interest in cardiac and women’s health, as well as the animal kingdom, being a frequent visitor to Taronga Zoo.
Ali is a graduate from Oxford Said Business School, a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Young Presidents Organization, and serves on the board of SwissCham.
She is married with three sons and a dog, and she loves a nice glass of red wine, good music, long walks and ballet dancing.
Scott Wharton
Scott is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Smartgroup, an ASX 200 company offering salary packaging and novated leasing, whose client base employs more than 1.5 million Australians. Scott joined Smartgroup in July 2023 and has more than 20 years' experience in financial services and regulated industries, with a strong track record leading and transforming organisations.
Scott has held executive positions in a number of organisations including as a Group Executive with Commonwealth Bank, and as a Managing Director with Citigroup in Hong Kong and New York.
Scott is a Fellow and Adjunct Professor (Industry) at the University of Technology Sydney and a member of the Vice-Chancellor's Industry Advisory Board, is a Board Director of Supply Nation and an Ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation. Scott holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney, a Bachelor of Laws from UTS, an Executive MBA from INSEAD and an Executive MBA from Tsinghua University.
Steven Worrall
As Managing Director, Steven Worrall is responsible for Microsoft’s overall business in Australia. He ensures the company meets the needs of its customers and the more than 11,000 partners and independent software vendors that sell or build on the Microsoft platform.
Steven joined Microsoft in March 2014 as Director, Enterprise and Partner Group, responsible for driving business growth and building strong customer and partner relationships in the Australian Commercial and Public Sector markets. In this role, Steven worked with organisations to drive innovation and business improvement through the application of technology in many areas, including productivity solutions, mobility and cloud services. Previously Steven worked for IBM for 22 years and held a number of marketing, sales and general management roles in the services, software and financing segments of the organisation. Most recently, he led IBM’s software business in Asia Pacific region where he built organisational capability in diverse markets across the region and drove the business towards more cloud delivered services. Steven holds an Honours degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s in Business Administration. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and lives in Sydney with his wife and three children.