Speakers
Emily Barker
Transaction Lead – Middle Market, Macquarie Group
Emily Barker joined Macquarie Bank in 2022 with a focus on deal structuring for growth capital in the Middle Market team. Emily has over 10 years’ experience working with both public and private companies providing capital solutions across a broad industry set; both in Australia and the US. Prior to joining Macquarie, Emily held leadership roles across Credit & Lending at HSBC North America following other credit positions at Australian Major Banks.
Michael Batko
CEO, Startmate
Michael Batko started his career in corporate (Finance @ American Express, consulting @ PwC/KPMG) before he worked at two of the largest Australian marketplaces MadPaws, a marketplace for pet sitters, and Expert360, a marketplace for independent consultants. After taking Expert360 through a 14 million Series B he joined Startmate, Australia’s most ambitious accelerator, as Head of Operations where he ran the program for the past two years and is now leading the organisation as CEO.
James Cameron
Partner, AirTree Ventures
James Cameron is a Partner at AirTree Ventures focusing on early-stage and growth-stage investments in Australia and New Zealand with a particular interest in software and fintech.
James has led AirTree’s investments in A Cloud Guru, Mr Yum, Open Insurance, DroneDeploy, Zepto, Lawvu, Athena and Secure Code Warrior. Before joining AirTree, James spent 15 years working overseas. He was Vice President at Accel Partners, the VC fund behind Slack, Dropbox, Facebook and Spotify.
James co-founded a SaaS investment research software platform, BipSinc, where he still serves as an Advisor. James holds an MBA from Stanford and undergrad degrees in Computer Science & Law from UNSW.
Jared Connor
Director, EY
Jared Connor is a Director in EY’s Financial Services Practice in Sydney. Jared has been servicing the alternative investments industry for more than 12 years with a focus on private equity and venture capital.
Jared has served clients in multiple EY offices, including Los Angeles and Boston, where he serviced prominent alternative asset 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 Jared to develop a comprehensive skillset on the challenges which present around valuation of companies at various stages in their life cycle.
James De Flumeri
Managing Principal, Trident Debt Capital Advisors
James De Flumeri is the founder and Managing Principal of Trident Debt Capital Advisors – an independent debt advisory firm based in Sydney that services corporate, private equity, securitisation and property borrowers.
James is one of the most experienced debt advisory professionals in the Australian market having either led or been intimately involved with the 70+ debt raisings and refinancings Trident Debt Capital Advisors has completed since it was established in 2014.
Prior to founding Trident Debt Capital Advisors, James held senior roles across various debt capital market and corporate & institutional banking disciplines, with over 20 years of experience across a broad range of lending products.
Theodore (Ted) Dow
Managing Director, Paddington Street Finance
Ted Dow has over 25 years of professional experience in funds management and banking.
He was most recently the Chief Investment Officer of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), a $10 billion “green” sovereign wealth fund with a mandate to invest on a commercial basis in clean and renewable sources of energy and low carbon projects. Prior to the CEFC, Ted held executive positions at DIF Capital Partners, Babcock & Brown, AMP Henderson and Westpac Institutional Bank. He has completed over 60 transactions globally with an aggregate value of $45 billion.
Ted holds board positions with DIF Capital Partners, JIDA Capital Partners (China-focused renewable energy fund), Freetips.com.au (online sports tipping) and the Federal Government’s National Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment.
Ted holds a number of degrees including: MBA, University of Queensland: MFM, Manchester Business School (UK): PGD, Kansai Gai Dai University (Japan) and Magna Cum Laude Honours BA Economics, Boston University and speaks both Japanese and Spanish.
Alex Downie
Associate Director, Glow Capital Partners
Alex Downie is an Associate Director at Glow Capital Partners. Alex has previously worked in the management consulting and private equity industry. Prior to joining Glow, Alex worked at Pacific Equity Partners as an Associate. Prior to that, she worked at McKinsey & Company as a Business Analyst and at Goldman Sachs and the ACCC as a Summer Analyst. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours, Economics) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney.
Hugh Dyus
Partner, Navis Capital Partners
Hugh Dyus is a Partner of Navis, focused on listed equity investment and fund management activities. He is the Portfolio Manager and an Investment Committee member for Navis’ listed equity funds. He joined Navis in 2015 to establish a new investment strategy focused on investing in Asian private equity backed companies through the listed equity markets.
Prior to joining Navis, Hugh was Head of Asia at Macquarie Investment Management for their private equity fund, co-investment and secondary investment activities. He has also worked across the Asia Pacific region as a private equity investment professional and as a M&A investment banker.
Hugh has resided in Asia since 1990 after working earlier in Johannesburg, New York and London. He has a Bachelor of Economic Science degree and an MBA from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Hugh plays international level Masters squash and has previously won his age group at the Asian Squash Masters Championship.
Lisa Fedorenko
Investment Manager, Alberts
Lisa Fedorenko is passionate about helping create a fairer world through increased diversity and sustainability. Lisa joined Alberts in 2021 after a decade of investing experience. She began her career in equity research sales at Credit Suisse before moving into a range of finance roles spanning value investing (at Montgomery Investment Management), venture capital (at Reinventure), and venture debt (at Marshall Investment Management). She brings a strong track record across both her operational and investing experience. Lisa holds a B Comm/ B Sc majoring in advanced mathematics, computer science, and econometrics, from the University of Sydney and completed her final semester at HEC Paris. In her spare time, Lisa does aerial acrobatics, paints, and spends time with friends and family.
Damian Fox
Partner, Carthona Capital
Damian Fox has a wealth of experience in venture capital and investment banking. He began his career in 2011 as an Investment Banker in the Investment Banking Division of Macquarie Group in both New York and Sydney, and joined Carthona Capital in 2014.
Carthona Capital is a hands-on, proactive, and thematic venture capital investor based in Sydney, Australia that invests globally.
Carthona Capital was founded in 2014 when a group of like-minded venture investors came together to invest on a deal-by-deal basis. Since then, Carthona Capital has shifted to a more traditional venture capital fund structure, and is now deploying its third fund with approximately $400m in funds under management from a mix of Institutional (Superannuation), Family Office and High Net-worth investors.
Kylie Frazer
Co-Founder and Partner, Flying Fox Ventures
Kylie Frazer is a Co-Founder and Partner of Flying Fox Ventures, an early stage investment firm, supporting Australian and New Zealand founders with global ambition. Flying Fox has over 45 startups in its portfolio and has enabled hundreds of folks to start or turbocharge their investment journeys.
Kylie brings empathy to the founder experience, having founded two technology businesses. She has almost two decades experience as a corporate transactions lawyer (M&A, capital raisings, and IPOs) and is a capable company director.
Andrea Gallenca
Head of Private Markets, Sales – Australia, Apex Group
Based in Sydney, Andrea Gallenca oversees Apex Group’s Private Markets’ sales operations in Australia. Andrea brings more than 18 years of experience in the private funds industry, with a focus on Fund Administration, Trust and Corporate Services. Prior to joining Apex, Andrea was Head of Sales at Alter Domus Australia where he built and managed multi-service and -jurisdictional relationship with clients across APAC and EMEA. He previously worked as Director of Global Business Development at TMF Australia.
Apex Group offer a comprehensive range of services including fund administration, corporate services, agency services, credit and structured product services, depositary services, wealth administration, domiciliation, and management company services, thus providing you an easier, faster, and more streamlined process.
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 and New Zealand’s first and leading private equity and venture capital publisher. The company is working to develop this position to serve the entire private capital investment community in the two countries.
Simon Horne
CEO, Angel Loop
Simon Horne is an Angel Investor and currently manages Australia’s largest not-for-profit Angel Investor network AngelLoop.org. Previously he had 15 years international entrepreneurial experience having started a number of businesses in Asia and more recently in the US. The most successful was the silicon valley startup BlueJeans where he joined as employee #1 and helped formulate the idea, assisted in getting the initial funding and was part of the foundation team in 2009/10. The cloud-based Video Conferencing platform has gone on to raise USD175Mil from valley VC firms including Accel Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Battery Ventures & Norwest Venture partners. It employs over 600 people and exited to Verizon for USD500Mil in June 2020.
Simon sits on the boards of a number of high-growth potential startup businesses. He is actively engaged in preparing promising local startup business for growth and investment as well as cultivating the sources of early stage capital through the support and formation of new Angel Investor groups.
Simon has been an Australian delegate to the UN on communications (International Telecommunications Union) especially in the area of accessibility and has written four international standards and holds two patents.
Simon holds an MBA as well as a STEM degree (Mechanical Engineering) and was a pioneer in VoIP and Video Conferencing where he helped maintain a number of Open Source projects which are still in use around the world.
Christian Jensen
Director and Portfolio Manager, CVC Emerging Companies
Christian Jensen is an investment professional with over 20 years’ experience across a broad range of asset classes. After completing degrees in commerce and law at the University of Queensland he commenced his career with Ernst & Young in 1997 and completed his qualification as a chartered accountant in 2000. He joined CVC Limited as an analyst in 2001 and worked primarily with private, expansion stage companies. In 2007, he joined Macquarie Bank, and later co-founded a boutique global listed equities fund manager – Nanuk Asset Management – before returning to CVC in 2014 to refocus on private expansion stage investments. Christian has experience across both public and private company investing and is a director of a number of private and public companies.
Christopher Koeck
Investment Director, Allegro Funds
Christopher Koeck is an Investment Director at Allegro Funds, an Australian owned private equity firm with over $4bn in assets under management.
Allegro specialises in transformation investing, providing capital and expertise to businesses experiencing dislocation or headwinds as well as partnering business owners to drive transformative growth.
Chris has 12 years of experience in private equity and corporate finance.
Chris joined Allegro in July 2014 as an Investment Analyst. During his time at Allegro, Chris has had responsibility for deal sourcing and execution as well the monitoring of several portfolio companies via his role as a director. Chris is currently an alternate director of ASX listed Best and Less Group Holdings and recently served as a director of Ngahuia Group and Journey Beyond.
Prior to joining Allegro, Chris started his career PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2011 as a Consultant in the Sydney Deals team.
Martin Lakos
Division Director, Macquarie Wealth Management
Martin Lakos has been one of Macquarie’s leading media spokespeople for over 15 years and a public speaker for over 8 years. He is a regular economic and market commentator on the major Australian TV networks as well as CNBC and Bloomberg.
Known for his ability to clearly explain complex economic issues and market trends, Martin is passionate about a broad spectrum of issues and can confidently address an extensive range of topics – from big picture macroeconomics and current trends, to interest rates, investor strategy and what’s happening in key global markets.
He frequently gives presentations or facilitates panel discussions at conferences around Australia, providing a personalised approach to the key issues facing a specific industry group or business.
Having literally grown up in the finance industry where he worked for school holiday pocket money, Martin has always been fascinated by the economy and investment markets. His financial career spans 43 years, having started on the Australian Stock Exchange trading floor in 1979 and he has held roles in Macquarie since 1994, including heading up the Asia institutional sales desk. He was appointed a Division Director of Macquarie Bank in 2006.
When he is not addressing conferences or the media, Martin is a senior investment adviser with Macquarie Private Bank, advising clients and their families on a full range of wealth strategies.
He also devotes his spare time to not-for-profit groups and is a board member of Epilepsy Action Australia, is on the Australian Stockbrokers Foundation organising committee and was on the The George Gregan Foundation for 15 years until it recently concluded its activities. He spent nine years on the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation corporate fundraising committee with three years as chairman and has emceed at the Gala Ball event.
Jeremy Larkin
Executive Director, Private Equity, IFM Investors
Jeremy Larkin joined IFM Investors in November 2019 and leads the firm’s Long Term Private Capital strategy. Prior to joining IFM Investors, Jeremy spent more than 25 years as a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank and was one of Australia’s leading senior investment banking practitioners. During his time as a senior investment banker he advised global and ASX listed companies, state and federal governments, and domestic and global private equity and infrastructure investors.
Recent notable transactions included advising Link Group and its consortium partners Morgan Stanley Infrastructure and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia on the A$1.6 billion acquisition of PEXA, Link Group on its £888 million acquisition of UK based Capita Asset Services (and attendant A$883 million equity raising), the Government of New South Wales on its granting of a long term concession for Land & Property Information for A$2.6 billion, Qube Holdings in relation to the A$12.8 billion public market acquisition of Asciano (and attendant A$494 million equity raising) and NSW Electricity Networks on its A$10.3 bn acquisition of Transgrid. He also advised Carlyle on its A$2.9 billion take-private of Coates Hire and CVC-backed Merlin Entertainments’ A$244 million take-private of Living & Leisure Australia Group.
David Liddiard
Co-Founder and Director, Biripi Capital
As an Aboriginal Australian, David Liddiard is passionate about Closing the Gap between the opportunities that exist for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the rest of the community, particularly in the areas of economic security, education, employment, health, and wellbeing.
He is committed to facilitating opportunities for improvement through Indigenous traineeships, apprenticeships, and mentoring.
In 2009 David was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in the area of Minority Supplier Diversity, and In 2014 I received an OAM for services to Indigenous youth, sporting and employment programmes.
Founded in 2020, Biripi Capital is a 100% Aboriginal owned equity company which has set itself bold and ambitious plans to ‘change the game’ of Aboriginal business in Australia.
Sharon Lim
Founder, Interest Alignment Management & Content Chief, She Loves Tech
Sharon Lim connects the dots in the Asia Pacific private equity and venture capital ecosystem through content, research and events. She founded Interest Alignment Management (IAM) in 2012 to help clients with investor communications, capital introduction and roundtables facilitation.
At She Loves Tech, Sharon is responsible for conceptualising themes and agenda for a series of events including the annual conference since 2021. She identifies and engages with changemakers including 2021 Nobel Peace Laureate Maria Ressa while growing the community for the world’s largest startup platform for women and technology.
Sharon has also been leading content creation at Singapore Venture and Private Capital Association (SVCA) by engaging with members and industry leaders through interviews, webinars, podcasts and in-person events since 2019. Through her work, Sharon also engages with a growing community of family offices as well as family-owned businesses in the region especially on succession planning and investing.
Sharon broadened her horizons from journalism and ventured into the conferences business at PEI Media. As a journalist, Sharon has covered private equity, energy markets and shipping at Dow Jones Newswires and S&P Global Platts.
Devon Long
General Manager, Australia & New Zealand, Regrow Ag
Devon Long is a strategic and creative problem solver, with demonstrated experience in identifying, designing and realising new product and service opportunities. GM, Australia & New Zealand at Regrow Ag, Devon’s ability to balance customer experience, strategic considerations, and nuanced business requirements has contributed to a successful career in technology services. Devon regularly handles ambiguity, and helps teams focus on the right level of detail when it comes to crafting, building and commercialising highly complex products and services.
Michael Manikas
Co-Founder and Director, Biripi Capital
Michael Manikas is a proud Biripi and Worimi man, descendent from the Cook and Syron families. He is passionate about Indigenous engagement, particularly in the built environment, social impact issues, sustainability, and family. Michael is a father of three girls and loves coaching their sports and getting involved in their musical interests.
He has almost 30 years’ experience in the construction and not-for-profit space, and currently holds advisory positions with Western Sydney University and UTS, plus is the Deputy Chair of Property Council of Australia’s NSW Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
Founded in 2020, Biripi Capital is a 100% Aboriginal owned equity company which has set itself bold and ambitious plans to ‘change the game’ of Aboriginal business in Australia.
Sarah Nolet
Co-Founder and General Partner, Tenacious Ventures
Sarah Nolet is an internationally recognised food systems innovation expert, the CEO and Founder of AgThentic, a global food and agriculture strategy firm, and Co-founder of Tenacious Ventures, Australia’s first dedicated agrifood tech VC firm. Sarah has been instrumental in building the early stage agtech ecosystem in Australia — from advising dozens of startups, designing accelerator programs and consulting to established agribusinesses, to helping industry, universities and government develop and implement forward-looking initiatives in food system innovation.
Sarah is also the host of the AgTech…So What? Podcast, and Co-founder of Farmers2Founders, a national innovation program that supports Australian primary producers to commercialise inventions and new businesses, as well as gain early access to emerging technologies.
Sarah holds a Masters in System Design and Management from MIT, and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Human Factors Engineering from Tufts University.
Simon Pither
Managing Partner, Quadrant Private Equity
Simon Pither joined Quadrant Private Equity in May 2008 from Melbourne-based mid-market private equity fund, Advent Private Capital. Prior to this Simon worked for Credit Agricole Indosuez Private Equity in London, investing in mid-market private equity and mezzanine opportunities.
Simon works in the Quadrant Growth Fund, currently investing the $530 million QGF2, and is on the Board of QGF1 and QGF2 portfolio companies across consumer, healthcare and technology sectors.
David Potter
Head of Business Development, Apex Fund Services
David Potter is Head of Business Development in Australia for Apex Group, one of the largest global providers of outsourced administration services to private equity and other alternative investment firms globally.
Previously a chartered accountant, David has over 30 years’ experience across a broad range of operational accounting and consulting roles. David has focused on business development in fund administration services since 2016.
Pete Seligman
Search Investor
In late 2012, after a 15-year career spanning engineering, investment banking and general management, Pete Seligman co-founded Alpin Group to acquire, operate and grow small businesses in Australia. Alpin acquired its first business in June 2013 and over the next four years acquired four more.
Pete acted as CEO for three of those businesses, for periods ranging from six months to three years, after which he managed his own succession and remained on the boards of each as a non-executive director.
This owner/operator experience gave Pete the mix of autonomy/accountability he was seeking, opening his eyes to the world of small business and the global ‘entrepreneur through acquisition/search’ community. He is now leveraging his own search and owner/operator experience to back other aspiring entrepreneurs as search investors, playing his part in supporting the critical global transition of small business ownership from baby-boomers to the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Darren Smorgon
Managing Director, Sandbar Investments
Darren Smorgon is Managing Director of Sandbar Investments. Previously, Darren had a 16 year career as a Director, member of the advisory board and partner at CHAMP Private Equity, one of Australia’s largest and longest established Private Equity firms. At CHAMP he led the acquisition and portfolio management of companies including Study Group, LCR Group, and oOh!media.
He is currently the Chairman of Hub Australia, a Non-Executive Director of Total Drain Cleaning and a Non-Executive Director of ASX listed Swift Networks. He also Co-founded Arrowpoint Capital, where he sits on the Investment Committee, and of Polemos, a web3.0 Gamefi platform. He is involved in several philanthropic initiatives including being the inaugural Chairman of Nextthink, and the Chairman of the Allocations Committee of the JCA.
Anthony Ward
Advisor, Biripi Capital
Anthony Ward is an experienced executive and board advisor with a career focus on the growth and development of businesses through organic and M&A paths, with solid capital raising and business IPO and sale experience.
As an advisor and advocate for Aboriginal businesses, Anthony was an instrumental part of the advisory team to launch Biripi Capital, Australia’s first, for Aboriginal owned for purpose private equity/direct investment companies.
Anthony has proven leadership and practical experience in matters of impact investing and ESG.
Heidi Wilson
Transaction Lead, Macquarie Group
Heidi Wilson joined Macquarie at the start of 2021 following over a decade of M&A and capital markets experience for public and private clients across a diverse industry set in the UK, US and Australia.
Since joining Macquarie Heidi has leveraged this experience to provide funding solutions to support all stages of growth as well as a seamless execution experience.
Heidi develops an in-depth understanding of client’s business and the industries they operate in to provide the right capital solutions through a long-term growth partnership.
Olympia Yarger
CEO and Founder, Goterra
Olympia Yarger is a climate action warrior, a maggot farmer and founder of the Insect Protein Association of Australia. She even had a fly named after her by the CSIRO (Hermetia Olympea, a soldier fly species from the Daintree rainforest); and was recently named ACT Australian of the Year 2023.
The founder of agritech start-up Goterra, Olympia is an insect farming pioneer and has developed an innovative waste management system that uses maggots to process food waste and reduce greenhouse gases.
Her ‘Maggot Robot’ system houses larvae of the black soldier fly inside portable units. Food waste is fed to the maggots and, similar to a worm farm, the larvae’s excretions become fertiliser. The maggots themselves become protein-rich feed for livestock and aquaculture.
It’s already being used by Woolworths and in Sydney’s Barangaroo precinct. So far, Olympia’s system has processed more than 35,000 tonnes of waste and saved more than 66,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
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