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Home About Curtin Learning and teaching Science & Engineering School of Electrical Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences School Advisory Board

School Advisory Board

Julie Edwards

Judith Edwards

Judy Edwards is an accomplished senior executive with a career characterised by strong leadership, commitment and exemplary service in the government, not for profit, health and community sectors.

Michelle Sandford

Michelle Sandford

Tedx Speaker, Australian Computer Society WA Chairman (retired), Microsoftie and Board Director for FutureNow.

Adam Gangemi

Adam Gangemi

Adam Gangemi is a well-respected expert in the field of decarbonisation, boasting more than 18 years of expertise within the energy and carbon sectors.

James Richardson

James Richardson

As a Director at PwC James is part of the leadership for a national team of around 60 actuaries.

Mark Micire

Mark Micire

Mark is a business leader, program manager, research scientist, start-up founder, and first responder with a distinctive record of innovation in advanced robotic systems and technologies.

Marie Smyth

Marie Smyth

Marie is an accomplished business and people leader with a strong track record of building relationships, developing people and driving commercial success.
Doug Bester

Doug Bester

Doug, founder and Managing Director of Sentient Computing, leverages 35+ years in tech operations and SME management to deliver top-tier digital solutions

Hamish Tedeschi

Hamish Tedeschi

Hamish Tedeschi has spent the last 20 plus years building and running successful technology companies in both the UK and Australia.

Jonathan Fievez

Jonathan Fievez

Jonathan has a passion for sustainable technology and the power of the ocean. He combines these passions at Carnegie Clean Energy, leading the company, and its European subsidiaries, as CEO since 2018.

Tim Birrell

Tim Birrell

Tim Birrell is currently Head of Mathematics at Penrhos College and has been a teacher in Western Australia for over 30 years.

Wilson Tucker

Wilson Tucker

Wilson Tucker currently serves in the Western Australian Parliament as a Member for Mining and Pastoral Region.

Caitlin Lomax

Caitlin Lomax

Caitlin is an experienced producer with a strong background in games, VR, AR, and marketing / digital production and fell in love with technology after developing her own computer game at age 13.

Rachel Falzon

Rachel Falzon

Rachel is an executive consultant with a focus on strategic planning and business operations. Her background spans over 15 years across defence, rail and the production sectors.

Jemma Iles

Jemma Iles

Jemma is the Chief Futures and People Officer for Peritas, a national Engineering Design Consultancy and has been leading innovation, transformation and people experience programs in the public and private sector for over 15 years.

Lee Bolden

Lee Bolden

Lee Bolden is the Manager of Mineral Processing Innovation at BHP with over 25 years in the mineral processing industry working in various commodities in Australia, Chile and New Caledonia.

Natasha Blycha

Natasha Blycha

Natasha is one of the world’s pre-eminent Live Contract experts and is recognised in Chambers as a global fintech expert with technical product design experience and deep legal understanding as a co-author of the seminal 2022 Oxford text on SLCs and 2024 Springer Digital Asset text.

Judith Edwards

Judy’s experience includes leading policy and organisational change across a range of sectors and working on a variety of projects at any one time.

In her career, Judy has worked in general medical practice, served as a member of state Parliament and been the Minister for the Environment, Government of Western Australia. She was also the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Alzheimer’s Research Foundation.

Judy currently chairs an advisory board at Curtin University, engaging the community and industry and promoting digital transformation. She is a Board member of a national mental health not-for-profit organisation (Grow) and is actively involved in a range of other local community service organisations. She kayaks for relaxation in her spare time.

Michelle Sandford

Michelle is an Industry Board Advisor for the STEM education sector. She lives at the heart of the developer community and helps drive awareness and engagement as an AI influencer.

She advocates for STEM, the Games Industry and Developers. She presents at around 50 Conferences and Events around the world on Technology, Learning to Code, Open Source and Responsible AI. Michelle judges hackathons and encourages the next generation into technology careers.

Adam Gangemi

As Managing Director at Super Smart Energy, an energy and carbon advisory firm, Adam spearheads initiatives aimed at fostering sustainability while driving commercial success. With a comprehensive focus spanning mining, oil and gas, industrial, and manufacturing sectors, Adam’s leadership underscores the fusion of profitability with environmental stewardship.

Under his guidance, Super Smart Energy has emerged as a trusted ally for businesses across diverse industries, offering cutting-edge solutions designed to mitigate carbon emissions, enhance energy efficiency, and yield substantial cost savings.

James Richardson

James has been at PwC since 2010. Over that time, he has worked in numerous “traditional” actuarial roles in insurance including reserving, pricing, capital and risk management, and “non-traditional” roles which utilise the actuarial skillset to make sense of future uncertain environments across various industries working with other skill areas such as strategy, operations, etc.

James qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia in 2015, specialising in general and health insurance. James has financial acumen and is able to make sense of future uncertain environments, performing detailed analytical work and drawing insights from this in plain English.

More broadly, James currently chairs the Accountants and Actuaries Liaison Committee and is a member of the Actuaries Institute Health Practice Committee.

Mark Micire

Mark is experienced and confident in navigating diverse organisational relationships, from small businesses to federal government agencies. For over twenty years, he has worked in technical and program management roles in large commercial, small business, academic, and government organisations.

Mark has also acted as a senior US government official and advisor to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on strategic, technological, and partnership development.

Mark’s executive capabilities and willingness to “get dirty” to understand problems have catalysed significant technological advancements in the breadth of domains he has explored. He has been active in the cyber-security community for over 35 years. For 25 years, he demonstrated his commitment to developing solutions for social challenges through his involvement as a search and rescue specialist.

Marie Smyth

An advocate of STEM, Marie has spent over 35 years collaborating in the private and public sectors and has held both Regional and Global Management roles during her career.

Doug Bester

For 15 years, Doug has grown the company to specialize in 3D virtual environments, digital twins and XR training, securing major contracts and fostering a skilled, community-focused team.

Hamish Tadeschi

After graduating from UWA with a Commerce Degree, Hamish moved to the UK and set up MagenTys, a specialist technology consulting firm. He grew that for many years, but decided to move his young family back to Australia in 2015.

In 2017 he sold out of the MagenTys UK and rebranded the local company to Mechanical Rock. His goal was to disrupt the technology industry and change the way that tech firms operate in Australia and beyond. In addition to running Mechanical Rock, he acts as Chairman of the Board for Integrated Marketing Technologies.

Jonathan Fievez

Earlier in his time at Carnegie, starting in 2008, Jonathan was the Chief Technology Officer and headed up the development of the CETO technology through several large-scale deployment projects in waters off Western Australia. Jonathan is also an owner and Director of Secure Energy, a company specialising in the maintenance of renewable energy systems.

In an earlier part of his career, Jonathan led the development of structural monitoring technology including crack detection systems utilised in Eurofighter, Eurocopter and A380 aircraft designs.

Tim Birrell

Tim taught at Eastern Goldfields SHS, Como Secondary College, Rossmoyne SHS, Willetton SHS and Harrisdale SHS before arriving at Penrhos in 2020. He was Head of Mathematics at Willetton SHS before returning to Rossmoyne as Head of Mathematics and it was here where Tim co-founded the Specialist Maths Honours program.

He spent two years as an Associate Principal at Harrisdale SHS. Tim has held various roles at the School Curriculum and Standards Authority principally in examination development, having been the chief examiner for Mathematics Methods from 2017 to 2021. He is also co-author of four textbooks in the Cambridge Senior Mathematics for Western Australia series.

Tim is passionate about Mathematics education for all students and in particular ensuring girls are given every opportunity to study Mathematics at the highest level.

Wilson Tucker

Within this role, Wilson started the Parliamentary Friends of Tech and Innovation, which seeks to educate MPs on the benefits of growing the Innovation sector in WA. Wilson is also a member of the Standing Committee on Public Administration.

Prior to political life, Wilson spent over 10 years working in the Software Engineering industry, holding technical and senior management positions in private and publicly listed companies in Australia and the United States.

Rachel Falzon

Rachel’s background spans over 15 years across defence, rail and the production sectors and her record includes successful programs with Austal Ships, Naval Ship Management and UGL Rail. As a female founder, she also helps advocate for marginalised groups.

She works with start-ups, SMEs and global companies to position for market success. Rachel has expertise in:
• Strategic planning
• Partnership collaboration
• Grant submissions
• Positioning for market access

Rachel holds a Graduate Certificate of Business from Curtin University and credentials in project management.

Jemma Iles

Jemma’s work includes local and state government, mining, manufacturing, construction, and engineering industries. As a leading and award-winning public sector innovator, she has founded and delivered programs that aim to build innovation capability and create a culture of creativity and inclusiveness.

She has been involved in high-value projects within the health and local government sectors, which aim to improve the quality of life of patients and citizens. Before joining this Advisory Board, Jemma was the Chairperson of Curtin University’s Discipline Advisory Panel for Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Strategy, and International Business for 3 years, with the Faculty of Business and Law. She contributed to the design and original facilitation of the Switch:
Innovation for public value Executive Education program, with Curtin’s Business School, through her previous role as CIO with the City of Canning.

Jemma is a certified Innovation Master through the Global Innovation Management Institute (GIMI). She is also a Distinguished International Assessor for The Executive Council of Dubai, with their Dubai Government Excellence Program, specialising in innovation and future foresight. Jemma is a strong advocate for innovation management and has spoken nationally and internationally on the subject.

Caitlin Lomax

Caitlin spent her early career as an international fashion model (working with brands such as Chanel, Prada, Louis Vuitton and Miu Miu), relationships across the globe were built and her programming skills trained behind the scenes. Caitlin is now settled in Australia, producing XR projects and digital experiences from games and Arduino art to augmented and virtual reality. She has spent the past 5 years as a creative powerhouse, leading producer and technical expert for high-profile clients and brands; leveraging skills, connections and experience to ensure projects are executed to the highest standards.

Lee Bolden

Lee has worked in roles across many aspects of the minerals business including positions in operations, business development, risk, engineering, commissioning and innovation.

Natasha Blycha

Founder of award-winning national tech law firm Stirling & Rose and former Global Head of Digital Law at a major international law firm, Natasha advises Legal Commissions on SLCs, DAOs, and digital assets in the UK and Australia and has been awarded the Financial Times Most Innovative Lawyer, Thought Leader of the Year, Finalist Partner of the Year, and Innovator of the Year.