Speakers

Chris Barter

Co-Founder and Partner, King River Capital
Chris Barter is a seasoned venture investor and accomplished finance leader with a long track record of building profitable businesses and generating strong returns. His extensive global experience and network has aided his portfolio companies with business development, capital raising and market expansion strategies.

Even before co-founding King River, Chris has long been a dedicated global venture capital investor. He launched two fund management platforms along with partners that collectively raised in excess of US$600 million. He has also led investor syndicates in multi-stage software ventures via CKA Capital and other entities, resulting in 28 early to mid-stage investments in verticals including fintech, AI-enabled businesses, and digital healthcare.

Chris spent the first nineteen years of his career at Goldman Sachs, where he was a Partner based in Frankfurt, London and Moscow. He was co-Head of the European Financial Institutions Group in the Investment Banking Division, and in that role co-founded a fund management business which today commands a multi-billion dollar market valuation.

Chris serves on the boards of Ariadne Australia (ASX:ARA), CNG Fuels and FinClear, and is on the advisory board of GreenSync. He also serves on the President’s Leadership Council at Brown University.

Chris obtained a BSc in Physics from Brown University and an MSc in Physics from Harvard University.

Fay Bou

Managing Director, Allegro Funds

Fay Bou has over 15 years’ diverse private equity investing and business strategy and operations experience in Australia, the U.S. and Asia. Fay is currently a Managing Director at Allegro Funds. Allegro is an independently owned Australian fund manager investing primarily in mid-market businesses within Australia and New Zealand. Allegro has managed more than A$1 billion FUM since 2008 and is currently investing from Allegro Fund III, which has c.$400 million in committed capital from local and international investors including large Australian and New Zealand superannuation funds and institutions. Allegro specialises in transformational capital, applying capital, expertise and a distinctly hands-on approach to investing in businesses requiring transformation. Allegro is the most recognised and awarded turnaround team in Australia being awarded Australasian Turnaround of the Year Awards in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2017. Prior to Allegro, Fay worked in the private equity strategy of PAG, one of Asia’s largest alternative asset managers with approximately US$25B funds under management, where he focused on identifying and evaluating control and structured minority investments in China and South East Asia. Prior to PAG, Fay worked as a VP at Babcock & Brown (B&B) where he helped to establish B&B’s US private equity practice and during the GFC, he was assigned with strategic roles to reorganize, restructure and divest legacy businesses in the energy, real estate and transportation sectors. Before joining B&B, Fay was an Associate Director at Pacific Equity Partners (PEP), Australasia’s largest private equity firm with US$6B FUM. Prior to PEP, Fay was an analyst at Port Jackson Partners, a management consultancy.

Fay is currently on the board of Carpet Court New Zealand, Ngahuia Group – the owner of Hannahs and Number One Shoes in NZ, Healthy Life and Endeavour Learning Group.

Fay received a B.Sc in Business Information Technology from the University of New South Wales, where he was a Co-op Scholar, and an MBA (Wharton) and MA (Lauder Institute) from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Macquarie Scholar and a Leonard Lauder Fellow. Fay has also completed the Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance and Investment at FINSIA.

Neil Bourne

Managing Principal, Eaton Square
Neil Bourne has been working with growth stage technology businesses for over 15 years, in venture capital and corporate finance.

He chooses his clients so as to work with passionate individuals and teams engaged in building Australia’s next generation of successful technology-enabled growth businesses. In his advisory work, he focuses on helping develop business strategies, capital raising and exits.

Drawing on broad professional experience (Engineer/ Management Consultant/Venture Capital/Corporate Advisor) with hands-on experience with successful (and not so successful) investor-backed business, Neil uses his analytic skills, experience, networks and quirky sense of humour to build long-term relationships.

Neil holds a BSc in Electronic Engineering from Reading (UK) and an MBA from the Australia Graduate School of Management.

Genevieve Gregor

Partner, Colinton Capital
Genevieve Gregor is a founding partner at Colinton Capital. Prior to this role, Genevieve spent 20 years working for US investment banks, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. She was Managing Director and Co-Head of the Australian Special Situations Group at Goldman Sachs, a lending and investing platform where she lead investments across a range of industries. Genevieve is the Chair of Dimeo Facility Services, a leading commercial cleaning and facility management services company. Genevieve was the former Deputy Chancellor, member of the Board of Trustees and chair of the Finance and Investment Committee for Western Sydney University.

Rajeev Gupta

Alium Capital
Rajeev Gupta has 20 years of experience analysing, advising, investing and building technology companies.

Rajeev began his investment career at Goldman Sachs, where he worked for almost a decade in the investment group and risk arbitrage group in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York with a focus on listed and unlisted technology companies. Rajeev then utilised his technology investment experience as a portfolio manager at both Tribeca and Merricks Capital, where he ran global technology investment funds. He then built his own 25-person technology startup called Geckolife, before establishing Alium Capital in Sydney. Rajeev has an Honours degree in Finance, Law and Econometrics from the University of Sydney.

Adrian Herbert

Managing Editor, Private Equity Media
Adrian Herbert has worked as Managing Editor of Private Equity Media since 2006 and led a management buyout of the business in 2012.

Private Equity Media is Australia’s first and leading private equity and venture capital publisher and is seeking to further develop this position to serve the entire business development community in Australia and New Zealand.

Brendan Hill

Co-founder, HDPartners
Brendan Hill has a unique mix of management, investing and consulting experience. He co-founded HDPartners with Felix Danziger in 2012, backed by a small number of high net worth investors. HD specialises in investing in consumer businesses and brands. It employs an ‘owner operator’ model where its partnership with founders/management teams extends to HD taking specific day to day operational management roles.

Philip Latham

Senior Partner, Navis Capital
Philip Latham is a Senior Partner of Navis, a member of the Investment Committee, and a director of Navis Capital Australia.

Philip joined Navis in 2008, where he sources Australian and New Zealand transactions, leads investment teams in making, monitoring and exiting investments, and sits on the boards and executive committees of Navis portfolio companies including Device Technologies, Mainland Poultry and Modern Star. He has been active in private equity since founding Lend Lease Development Capital in 1994. Philip subsequently founded and built RMB Ventures, where he managed numerous mid-market buyouts and exits. Previously, he worked for The Boston Consulting Group in Sydney and for British Railways in the UK.

Philip holds an MBA from London Business School and a BSc Hons in Mechanical Engineering from Birmingham University. He is also a Chartered Engineer and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and has founded and served on the boards of a number of not-for-profit organisations.

Jaddus Manga

Director, Financial Services, EY
Jaddus Manga is a director, financial services, based in the Sydney office of Ernst & Young. Jaddus has been servicing the alternative investments industry for more than 15 years with a focus on private equity and venture capital.
As a director, Jaddus has served clients in multiple EY offices, including over five years in San Francisco and Los Angeles where he serviced prominent venture capital and private equity managers. His experience in different jurisdictions has enabled him to gain experience over a wide range of investment structures, strategies and regulatory frameworks that align with the complexities of global private equity and venture capital fund managers. This has also enabled Jaddus to develop a comprehensive skillset on the challenges which present around valuation of companies at various stages in their life cycle.

Tom Matthews

Partner, Pemba Capital
Tom Matthews has over 15 years of experience in private equity, principal investment, investment banking and middle market advisory and valuations.

Tom joined Pemba in 2015 and has led a number of transactions across Pemba’s areas of sector focus. These include HR3, JobReady, Vital Software, VETTrack, Esher House, EmployGroup, Smart Loyalty and THREE60. Tom represents Pemba on the board of ReadyTech and Marque Group.

Tom joined Pemba from Sovereign Capital, the UK ‘Buy & Build’ specialist private equity fund, where he was based in London and focused on investing in mid-market consolidators in the healthcare, education and business services sectors. Tom was previously with the Investment Banking Group at Macquarie Bank Limited, which focused on principal investment opportunities across a variety of sectors.

Prior to Macquarie, Tom gained substantial transaction experience at Deloitte Corporate Finance both in Sydney and London. Tom’s primary areas of expertise at Deloitte Corporate Finance involved business valuations, independent expert’s reports and corporate advice.

Annabelle Mooney

Annabelle Mooney is currently the National Leader of PwC’s Financial Sponsors Group however she is just about to join J.P. Morgan in September as Managing Director and Head of its Commercial Banking and Specialised Industries in Australia (a business focused on mid-cap clients). Previously, Annabelle spent 4+ years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch leading their sponsor coverage team. Annabelle has experience across a broad range of M&A related activity in Australia and internationally, encompassing acquisitions, divestments and IPOs – both in big-cap and small-cap/growth capital.

David Odgers

Executive Director, IFM Investors
David Odgers is responsible for sourcing, structuring and negotiating new private equity investments, managing existing investments, as well as fundraising. David has more than 20 years of experience in private equity, consulting and business leadership roles. He joined IFM Investors from Bain Capital, where he was an Operating Partner with responsibility for investments in MYOB, Retail Zoo and Camp Australia. Prior to joining Bain Capital, David held senior management roles at eBay as Sales and Marketing Director, and at The Nuance Group as COO. Earlier in his career, David spent 10 years as a management consultant, chiefly with Bain & Company, where he worked in Europe, the United States and Australia on a range of industries and strategic issues for private equity and corporate clients.

Brett Owen

Investment Director, Potentia
Brett Owen joined Potentia in 2019 as an Investment Director and has over 15 years’ experience in M&A across various sectors.

Most recently, Brett was a Vice President at Safanad, a US$2bn mid-market private equity firm based in New York with offices globally. Brett was involved in all aspects of the investment process including deal sourcing, transaction negotiation and execution of control private equity investments, as well as capital raising of equity and debt, strategic planning and add-on acquisitions. He led over US$3bn of transactions in various sectors.

Before joining Safanad, Brett was part of the investment banking team at Citigroup’s Melbourne office where he worked on multiple M&A transactions totaling over US$5bn. Prior to Citigroup, Brett was part of the Corporate Finance team at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he was involved in multiple M&A transactions.

Brett holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne and is a qualified Chartered Accountant. He holds a Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance & Investment (Corporate Finance) from the Financial Securities Institute of Australasia with Distinction.

Justin Ryan

Managing Partner, Quadrant Growth Fund
Justin Ryan joined Quadrant Private Equity in February 2011. Prior to this, Justin was Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Alesco Corporation Limited, an ASX 200 diversified industrial company that he joined in 2004. Alesco was taken over by Dulux Corporation Limited in 2011. Before joining Alesco, Justin was a Director of Catalyst Investment Managers, which he joined in 1997. In 2003, Justin was Chairman of AVCAL.

Since joining Quadrant, Justin has been on the Investment Committee for 22 Quadrant investments of which he has led nine – five of which have been successfully exited. He remains as Chairman of CQMS Razer, Rockpool Dining Group and Motor One, and is a Director of Peter Warren Group.

Jeremy Samuel

Founder and Managing Director, Anacacia Capital
Jeremy Samuel is the Founder and Managing Director of Anacacia Capital. Anacacia manages over $600 million investing into leading small-medium enterprises (SMEs).

Jeremy is the Non-Executive Chair of Anacacia portfolio company Duncan Technologies. He was the former lead director for Anacacia’s successful investments into: Appen; Rafferty’s Garden; Lomb Scientific; Home Appliances; and Yumi’s Quality Foods.

He is the former Chair of ANZ’s private equity management committee and was previously a strategy consultant with Booz Allen (now PwC Strategy&). The Australian Government has appointed Jeremy to the committee administering the Biomedical Translation Fund.

Jeremy holds an MBA from Yale University and BA/LLB from UNSW.

Darren Smorgon

Managing Director, Sandbar Investments
Darren Smorgon is Managing Director of Sandbar Investments, a Sydney based family office with investments in Private Equity, property, equities and venture capital. Previously, Darren had a 16 year career at CHAMP Private Equity where he led the acquisition and portfolio management of companies including Study Group, LCR Group and oOh!media.

He is currently a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee of ASX listed oOh!media, the Chairman of ASX listed Swift Media, the Chairman of Hub Australia and a Non-Executive Director of Total Drain Cleaning.

Les Szekely

Co-founder and Chairman, Equity Venture Partners
Les Szekely has been an active angel investor since 1999 and has had a full time focus on startup investing since 2009. Prior to that, over a 25 year professional career with Horwath Chartered Accountants and Deloitte, Les established a reputation as one of Australia’s leading tax advisors. He has lectured extensively and authored over a dozen books on tax planning, investment and cross border structuring.

Les began investing in technology in 1999, when he partnered with Leon Kamenev to develop Hotelclub, which rivalled Wotif as the region’s leading online travel platform. Hotelclub was acquired by Cendant Corporation in 2004 and was subsequently absorbed into Expedia.

In 2008, Les provided the seed funding for Siteminder, a platform for hotels to manage the distribution of their room inventory. Les led several subsequent angel rounds until 2012, when VC Funds joined the register. Siteminder has grown to become a global leader in channel management for the hotel industry, transacting over $20 billion per year in room reservations. The business, now backed by US based Technology Crossover Ventures, has raised in excess of US$50 million. Les remains a substantial shareholder and director of the company.

Since leaving Deloitte in 2009, Les has focused full time on startup investing, both in his personal capacity and – since the launch of Equity Venture Partners (EVP) – via the EVP Funds. He is a director and/or shareholder of Alternative Media, Rezdy, Oneflare, Shippit, Snaprevise, Uptick, CL8 (formerly Drivemycar), DesignCrowd, Bluethumb and UrbanYou. Les is also Chairman of the ASX-listed Microequities Asset Management and a director of not-for-profit group 40K.

Simon Uzcilas

Director, Four Hats Capital
Simon Uzcilas has over 25 years of experience of investing in private growth companies and real estate opportunities. He has completed many equity and debt investments across a range of sectors including technology, life science, food, manufacturing, industrial services and real estate. Simon has been a director/observer on over fifteen portfolio companies and has personally bought, built and sold a specialist food manufacturing business. He holds a B.Bus, M. Comm. Law and is a CPA.

Marc Washbourne

CEO, ReadyTech
Marc Washbourne is a tech entrepreneur and CEO of ReadyTech (ASX:RDY), overseeing the software brands JobReady, HR3, VETtrak, ePayroll, My Profiling, as well as behavioural science business, Esher House.

Marc has been working with JobReady since 1999 and now heads up the publicly listed ReadyTech, with responsibility for over 3,600 customers across the education and employment sectors.

At JobReady, Marc has overseen a transition to delivering a highly scalable and secure Software as a Service (SaaS) model using state of the art, open-source technology with an agile development methodology.

Marc is highly passionate about the Australian education and employment sectors and works tirelessly to deliver better technology and productivity to the sectors while helping navigate the changing environment. Marc is committed to bringing a human approach and simplicity to complex business requirements and bridging the gap between business and technology.

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