Our GameChangers

Dr Abigail Allwood is at the cutting-edge of space exploration. She is one of only seven principal investigators developing innovative instruments to accompany the Mars 2020 Rover expedition. Not only is she the first Australian, but also the first woman scientific lead on a Mars mission.

Adam is the CEO and Founder of Gilmour Space Technologies, a venture-funded rocket company in Queensland, Australia that is developing a new breed of hybrid launch vehicles for small satellite/payload customers.

Adeeba Kamarulzaman graduated in Medicine from Monash University and received her training in Infectious Diseases at the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, Victoria, Australia.

Dr Jianhua Zhao and Dr Aihua Wang have dedicated their remarkable careers to the advancement of solar cell technologies.

ADVANCE ENERGY AND RESOURCES AWARD WINNER 2018 Alexandra Readhead works with governments of developing countries to strengthen their laws, institutions and capabilities to address tax avoidance in the extractive sector.

ADVANCE SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD WINNER 2018 Renewable energy entrepreneur Alexie Seller lives in Bangalore in India, where she co-founded the social enterprise Pollinate Energy, bringing life-changing sustainable products such as solar-powered lights, water purifiers, clean cookstoves and mosquito nets to families in India’s urban slums and Nepal’s rural communities.

ADVANCE SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD WINNER 2016 Dr Alison Thompson is a humanitarian incident commander running refugee camps, field hospitals and resiliency hubs in natural and man-made disasters around the world for the past 22 years.

ADVANCE SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD WINNER 2017 Andrew Harper has been working with refugees since the 1990s when he worked in Turkey during the first gulf war for UNHCR.

To meet crisis day in and day out, Executive Director and CEO of Crisis Action, Andrew Hudson, says honesty, trust and personal communication are constant allies.

ADVANCE CLEAN TECHNOLOGY AWARD WINNER 2014 “What makes Andrew such a visionary in the clean tech industry is his powerful mix of strong technical expertise combined with his natural business and marketing talent.

ADVANCE ALUMNI AWARD WINNER 2018ADVANCE ASIA ADVISORY COMMITTEE Angelica Cheung has played an integral role in the development of China’s fashion industry. Upon joining Condé Nast China as the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue China in 2005, Angelica Cheung spearheaded the launch of the publication and for the past thirteen years, has led its growth to international acclaim.

ADVANCE ARTS AWARD WINNER 2019 Angelica lives and works between Paris and Sydney.

Global exploration experience ranging from greenfields exploration to advanced project execution in mining and exploration.

In 2005 Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in recognition of their 1982 discovery that a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, causes one of the most common and important diseases of mankind: peptic ulcer disease.

Dr Bart Kolodziejczykis a nanoscientist and inventor intent on busting his brilliance out of the lab and into the world of commercialisation. Bart is addressing health, energy and climate change issues by innovating new technologies.

ADVANCE AUSTRALIAN GLOBAL ICON AWARD WINNER 2014 Born in Sydney, Australia, Baz Luhrmann has captured popular and critical imagination internationally with a diverse range of award-winning projects in film, opera, theatre, and music.

ADVANCE COMMERICAL CREATIVES AWARD WINNER 2017 Betty Who was born in Sydney and raised as a classical cellist, until moving to the US in her adolescence to study music.

Brett Solomon is co-founder and Executive Director of Access, a new global movement for digital freedom with offices in New York, Brussels, Santiago and Tunis.

ADVANCE ARTS AWARD WINNER 2018 Brook Andrew is an interdisciplinary artist who examines dominant narratives, often relating to colonialism and modernist histories.

Professor Bryan Gaensler is an award-winning astronomer and author who is internationally recognised for his groundbreaking work on dying stars, interstellar magnets and cosmic explosions.

ADVANCE CLEAN TECHNOLOGY AWARD WINNER 2015 Cameron is an academic and entrepreneur.

A suit-wearing eco-warrior armed with a strategic mind and commercial rigour, Caroline Angoorly has earned her stripes operating, developing and financing large energy infrastructure projects.

ADVANCE TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AWARD WINNER 2015 Carolyn McGregor, is a Research Chair in Health Informatics at Ontario Tech University – and an expert creating techniques to find patterns in numbers.

Cat Thao Nguyen is a trailblazer. Cat Thao (Nguyễn Cát Thảo) is the Managing Director of Global Ready LLC, a consultancy that assists organisations and individuals to lead inclusively in a globalised world.

A paradigm shifter in the global independent music industry, Charles Caldas has earned his reputation fighting to ensure artists share in the profits from the digital music revolution.

A healthcare entrepreneur and innovator leading an ASX-listed pharmaceutical company focused on delivering disruptive precision oncology products.

Dr Christian Thompson AO is a contemporary artist whose work explores identity, cultural hybridity, gender & history. Christian himself made history when he became the first Aboriginal Australian to be admitted into the University of Oxford in its 900-year legacy.

ADVANCE GLOBAL AUSTRALIAN AWARD WINNER 2014ADVANCE ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AWARD WINNER 2014ADVANCE BOARD MEMBER Chris is a Partner at the venture capital firm DCVC, which specialises in deep tech and data-driven science and engineering companies.

Christopher Doyle is an award-winning cinematographer. Works like Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love have been met with international critical acclaim, and have found a firm footing in Chinese cinema and international cinema in the West.

A global industry leader in wireless technology and communications, and Senior Vice President and GM at Intel, and Chair of NASDAQ-listed Intuitive Surgical.

ADVANCE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE AWARD WINNER 2018 Dalene Wray is the managing director of OBE Organic and is driving change, innovation and digital adoption in the Australian beef industry.

ADVANCE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE AWARD WINNER 2016 Dr Dana Cordell is a Research Director at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

ADVANCE FINANCIAL SERVICES AWARD WINNER 2019 Daria is Chief Executive Officer at Bankingblocks, a European wholesale banking and payment provider, serving global fintech and payment companies.

Professor Daryl Williams is the inventor and scientific pioneer of a new family of scientific methods for powder characterisation. Every solid drug substance developed globally in the past 15 years will have been tested for stability and moisture uptake using the instruments he has developed.

Australian advertising executive and the founder and chairman of Droga5, an advertising agency headquartered in New York City with an office in London.

ADVANCE LIFE SCIENCES AWARD WINNER 2016 Professor David Fidock’s major achievements in the life sciences have been the discovery of how the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum acquired resistance to the first-line antimalarial drugs chloroquine and artemisinin.

Professor David Hunter is undoubtedly the leading epidemiologist on cancer globally. His work at Harvard University uncovered genetic associations and gene-environment associations for breast and prostate cancers, and he has initiated and been a lead investigator in a series of large scale research studies to determine the links between genetics and cancers, in the USA, in Africa, and now the UK.

A manufacturing revolutionary, Dr David Pender has designed and run some of the most advanced manufacturing facilities in the world. He has started them up, debugged them and brought them to full capacity.

David is the Director Of Rehabilitation Innovation at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, a Coach at the Entrepreneurship Lab (ELabNYC) Bio & Health Techand the “Chief Mad Scientist” at Not Impossible Labs. He is a physical therapist with a PhD in Neuroscience and worked as a clinician in Australia, before moving to the United States to study computational neuroscience at Harvard Medical School, MIT and NYU.

David Sinclair, Ph.D. is a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Founding Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging at Harvard. He is also a Conjoint Professor at the University of New South Wales, Honorary Professor, University of Sydney, and Co-Chief Editor of the journal Aging.

ADVANCE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE AWARD WINNER 2019 Australian chef, author, television presenter, and restaurateur, David Thompson is considered by many to be the world’s leading authority on Thai cuisine.

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AWARD WINNER 2018 Derek runs Carbon Nexus, Deakin University’s globally unique, $34m carbon fibre research facility.

ADVANCE GLOBAL AUSTRALIAN AWARD WINNER 2016ADVANCE TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AWARD WINNER 2016 Genevieve is the Director of the 3A Institute (3Ai), Florence Violet McKenzie Chair, and a Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University (ANU) as well as a Vice President and Senior Fellow at Intel Corporation.

ADVANCE GLOBAL IMPACT AWARD WINNER 2016 Winthrop Professor Fiona Wood AM is a Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon specialising in the field of burn care, trauma and scar reconstruction.

As a maverick of global stage productions, Garry McQuinn operates at the heart of untold stories and new audiences. Adept at strumming the tension between the creative and commercial worlds, Garry has been instrumental in opening the world of commercial theatre to Australian talent.

ADVANCE EDUCATION AWARD WINNER 2016 Dr Geoffrey Garrett is Dean, Reliance Professor of Management and Private Enterprise, and Professor of Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

ADVANCE FINANCIAL SERVICES AWARD WINNER 2018 A Rhodes Scholar who studied at Oxford, Dr Geraldine Buckingham is the youngest BlackRock executive reporting directly to CEO Larry Fink – tasked with long-term strategic thinking at the world’s largest asset manager.

ADVANCE AWARDS AUSTRALIAN GLOBAL ICON WINNER 2015 Greg Norman was labelled the “Great White Shark” by a newspaper reporter during the 1981 Masters Tournament, but he began exhibiting all the characteristics of that deep-sea creature long before that.

ADVANCE AWARDS SOCIAL IMPACT WINNER 2015 Hugh Evans is an Australian humanitarian and internationally renowned development advocate.

ADVANCE SUSTAINABILITY AWARD WINNER 2019 Hugh is passionate about the use of innovative business models to solve the world’s big problems. 

ADVANCE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE AWARD WINNER 2017 Jackie Yun was born in Sydney, Australia and is of Papua New Guinea (PNG) Chinese heritage.

ADVANCE FINANCIAL SERVICES AWARD WINNER 2015 James P. Gorman (born July 14, 1958, in Melbourne, Australia) joined Morgan Stanley in February 2006 as the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Global Wealth Management Group (GWMG).

Jane has long been committed to making a difference in the social sector, holding executive positions in organisations such as World Vision, Marie Stopes International, International Women’s Development Agency, and the Social Entrepreneurs Network, where she was the founding CEO.

ADVANCE SPORTS AWARD WINNER 2016 Jason Day is an Australian professional golfer and PGA Tour, member.

Dr Jeni Klugman is the Director of Gender and Development at the World Bank Group.

Showing that science is an innately creative endeavour, Professor Jenni Evans has forged a brilliant career merging research fields and forging interdisciplinary partnerships to tackle complex hypotheses and society’s biggest challenges.

Jennifer Nason is considered one of Australia’s most successful global business leaders and one of the most senior and influential women on Wall Street. She attributes her career trajectory to a willingness to live outside her comfort zone, a love of constant learning and calculated risk.

ADVANCE GLOBAL AUSTRALIAN AWARD WINNER 2017ADVANCE FINANCIAL SERVICES AWARD WINNER 2017 Jeremy K.

As co-founder and CEO of Purpose.com, Jeremy’s work has literally mobilised millions of citizens and consumers to help solve major global problems.

A global leader shaping film and television industry policy, Jess Conoplia has actively lead on-screen sector development, diversity and advocacy for members world-wide.

Working with his wife he made remarkable advances in solar cell technologies, and prices continue to drop.

A mineralogist-turned-microbiologist, Jillian Banfield has made outstanding contributions to our understanding of the structure, function and diversity of microbial communities in natural environments and the human body.

ADVANCE GLOBAL IMPACT AWARD WINNER 2019 Professor John Mattick AO, FAA, FTSE, is an Australian molecular biologist internationally recognised for his blend of ahead-of-its-time genomic research with world-renowned leadership of prime research institutes in Australia and around the globe.

Professor Dr McHutchison AO has played a central and critical role in developing the curative treatments for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). To develop this treatment is a remarkable accomplishment destined to improve the health of many millions of people.

An award-winning actor, director and producer who has garnered worldwide attention directing feature films such as Siam Sunset.

ADVANCE COMMERCIAL CREATIVES AWARD WINNER 2016 Justin spent his formative years in a remote aboriginal community in Queensland, Australia, working in the mines with his father and unpacking boxes at a supermarket.

Described as one of Australia’s most unorthodox and influential academic exports, Professor Justin Wolfers shifts the lens on economic discourse and the stereotype of economics in equal measure.

ADVANCE GLOBAL AUSTRALIAN AWARD WINNER 2015ADVANCE LIFE SCIENCES AWARD WINNER 2015 Karen Day AM is a distinguished malaria researcher dedicated to the improvement of global health.

In her formative years as a young teacher, Karen Thorpe was struck by the stark inequities in children’s early learning opportunities.

ADVANCE FINANCIAL SERVICES AWARD WINNER 2014 Karyl Nairn, Queens Counsel (QC), was born in Perth and is a graduate of the University of Western Australia.

ADVANCE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AWARD WINNER 2019 Kate is Co-founder, Chair, and previous CEO of Applied, the essential platform for de-biased recruiting.

A pioneer of the biotechnology industry in India and the head of the country’s leading biotechnology enterprise, Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is a highly respected businesswoman.

ADVANCE ALUMNI AWARD WINNER 2019 Dr Syarif is the Executive Director at The Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia, and the former Commissioner for Indonesia Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK) (2015-2019).

ADVANCE SPORTS AWARD WINNER 2015 Lauren Elizabeth Jackson (born 11 May 1981) is an Australian professional basketball player.

ADVANCE TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AWARD WINNER 2018 Leanne Kemp is the Founder & CEO of Everledger.

ADVANCE ALUMNI AWARD WINNER 2017 Lihua Tong is a public interest lawyer and the leading advocate in China for the rights of children, women and migrant workers.

ADVANCE ARTS AWARD WINNER 2016 Lynette Wallworth is an Australian artist whose immersive video installations and film works reflect on the connections between people and the natural world.

ADVANCE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE AWARD WINNER 2015ADVANCE ASIA ADVISORY COMMITTEE CHAIRADVANCE BOARD Australian born Michelle Garnaut is one of the most respected and recognised restaurateurs in Asia and was described by Time magazine as “an industry celebrity” as well as “the pioneer of China’s fashionable-dining scene”. With over 30 years’ experience covering every facet of the service industry, from dish washing to cooking, from waiting tables to bar tending, from marketing to management, Michelle founded the M Restaurant Group in Hong Kong in 1989 to represent her vision of the all-inclusive dining experience.

ADVANCE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE AWARD WINNER 2019 Michelle Grant is a food system and sustainability professional who has worked at the interface of research, education and practice for more than 15 years.

ADVANCE GLOBAL IMPACT AWARD WINNER 2015 Mike Cannon-Brookes is the co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian, a team collaboration software company that helps teams organise, collaborate and communicate around shared work.

ADVANCE MINING AND RESOURCES AWARD WINNER 2014 Milton is a pragmatic yet courageous leader within the coal industry.

ADVANCE ALUMNI AWARD WINNER 2015 Nasima Rahmani is the Director of the Women’s Empowerment Centre at Gawharshad Institute of Higher Education (GIHE), Kabul, Afghanistan, where she also lectures in Law.

ADVANCE COMMERICAL CREATIVES AWARD WINNER 2019 One of America’s brightest digital pioneers, Natalie Jeremijenko has been named one of the Top 100 young innovators by the MIT Technology Review, and one of the Top 40 most influential designers by I.D.

ADVANCE ALUMNI AWARD WINNER 2016 Neima Candy is an accomplished health professional whose work has had a positive impact on the provision of health services, disease treatment and prevention across Liberia.

For the past 25 years, Nicholas Wyman has sought novel ways to connect youth with the jobs of the future. Nicholas believes the ‘learn by doing’ approach has much to offer in a new world order straddling the faultlines of a ‘skills mismatch’.

With a background in international law and a heart in the marginalised communities of Indonesia, Nukila Evanty works to place people at the centre of development and communities at the core of the decision-making process.

A visionary who democratised access to educational content, Olivia Humphrey founded a new channel for streaming films to members of academic and public libraries, in turn forging a new model to monetise and distribute independent films.

Originally from Melbourne, Paul Chapman co-founded the game-changing ‘Moneytree’ platform, giving people greater control over their finances and disrupting Japan’s digital banking environment in the same beat.

ADVANCE SUSTAINABILITY AWARD WINNER 2018 Surfer and industrial designer Pete Ceglinski has been around the ocean his entire life and in 2014, with the mission to have pollution free oceans for future generations, he started the Seabin Project – a revolution to clean up our oceans’ pollution through a floating rubbish bin designed to catch rubbish, oil, fuel, detergent and micro plastics down to 2mm in size operating 24/7.

ADVANCE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE AWARD WINNER 2015 Dr Peter Carberry is a distinguished graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture and Environment awarded with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with first-class honours in 1982 and later with PhD in Agriculture in 1987 from the University of Sydney.

Peter Hall is Executive Director and Executive Chairman of Hunter Hall, the largest, and second oldest, dedicated ethical investment company in Australia.

Peter Le Lievre is a global leader in high technology commercialisation, with over 10 years of experience in the development of innovative clean technology products.

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AWARD WINNER 2017 As the CEO of Atomnaut Peter is helping Australia’s transition to a knowledge economy by bringing a new microscope to the world that could change the way materials are engineered.

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AWARD WINNER 2016 Dr Peter Rothschild is the Co-founder & Chief Technical Officer of Heuresis Corporation.

Dr Pichamon Yeophantong is Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Development and the Director of the Responsible Business Lab at the University of New South Wales (Canberra)—Australian Defence Force Academy.

As an important proponent of free speech in Malaysia and a disruptor of the media landscape, Premesh Chandran creates space for voices against corruption and government abuses.

ADVANCE SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD WINNER 2014 “New Narrative has been Prue’s brainchild and has really taken off. 

ADVANCE FINANCIAL SERVICES AWARD WINNER 2016 Rebecca Mann is a Senior Program Officer in the Financial Services for the Poor team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

ADVANCE EDUCATION AWARD WINNER 2018 Based in New York, Dr Renae Beaumont was just 21 when she began developing a computer game to help children with autism spectrum conditions crack the code of emotions and friendships – the Secret Agent Society.

ADVANCE SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD WINNER 2019 Richard Fuller OAM, is an Australian-born, U.S.-based engineer, entrepreneur and environmentalist best known for his work on global pollution issues.

ADVANCE BIOTECHNOLOGY AWARD WINNER 2014 “Richard has demonstrated excellence as a physician and oncologist through his achievements and recognition in US medicine, including his current senior position at Thomas Jefferson Medical School.

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AWARD WINNER 2015 Rodney Brooks is an Entrepreneur, Founder, Chairman & CTO of rethink robotics (formerly Heartland Robotics), also a Founder, former Board Member (’90/’11) & former CTO (’90/’08) of iRobot Corp (Nasdaq: IRBT).

ADVANCE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE AWARD WINNER 2017 I became aware half way through my PDC with Robyn Francis that permaculture was what had been lacking in my work in ‘developing’ countries such as India and Lesotho where I had worked in agriculture.

Dr Rossa Chiu is a professor in the department of chemical pathology and Associate Dean for Development at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Determined to tackle the cancer epidemic, she and her colleagues have been developing blood tests with the goal to identify cancers early, thereby reducing cancer-related deaths.

Dedicated his career to life sciences and biotechnology to generate valuable products in medicine, diagnostics, agriculture and chemicals manufacture locally to feed a virtuous cycle of expanded Life Sciences innovation and commercialisation.

A fearless campaigner, advocate and writer, Samah Hadid connects her own proud Arab and Muslim heritage to the global fight for greater equality.  Samah is as articulate as she is outspoken.

Sam’s research has led to significant real-world impact. One example is the $1 trillion Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund increasing their equity mix, lowering their spending rule, and divesting stocks most exposed to the oil price, following recommendations from his work with Ton van den Bremer and Rick van der Ploeg.

A public health advocate and sustainable food architect, Dr Alessandro (Sandro) Demaio founded his career using nutrition as a platform for social change.

Founder and Principal Scientist at Other Lab, where he focuses his work on engineering solutions for energy production and efficiency.

ADVANCE GLOBAL IMPACT AWARD WINNER 2015 Scott Farquhar is the co-founder and co‐CEO of Atlassian, a leading enterprise software company that powers more than 25,000 companies to build better software.

ADVANCE ALUMNI AWARD WINNER 2014 “Senator Holland has dedicated her life to campaigning for human rights, democracy and the empowerment of women both in Australia and around the globe.

An impact investment warrior, Shuyin Tang is a pioneer bringing fit-for-purpose financing to impactful businesses in Southeast Asia.

ADVANCE COMMERCIAL CREATIVES AWARD WINNER 2015 Siobhan Reddy is Studio Director at Media Molecule, the band of creative minds behind the hugely successful and innovative LittleBigPlanet game franchise.

ADVANCE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES AWARD WINNER 2014 “As an artist himself, a composer, Jonathan understands the arts from a personal perspective.

An Australian icon in the world of Children’s Books, Sophie Blackall creates places to escape to during stormy times, and return from wiser, calmer and changed. Needless to say, her work is relevant to children and adults alike in modern times.

Sotheary Ly is the Executive Director of Healthcare Center for Children, an organisation dedicated to woman’s and child’s rights, through prevention and protection.

ADVANCE EDUCATION AWARD WINNER 2017 Susan David, Ph.D. is one of the world’s leading management thinkers and an award winning Harvard Medical School psychologist.

Dr Susan Graham leads a team of passionate engineers, plant scientists and drone operators to tackle global scale deforestation. As the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Dendra Systems, Susan uses a combination of data analytics, AI and drones to restore natural ecosystems, enabling large scale management and restoration.

Tan Le Co-founded Emotiv, in 2003 and serves as its President. Ms. Le is a technology entrepreneur.

Thomas Ko is an internationally recognised expert in oral biological drug delivery and sports medicine. During his 45-year pharmaceutical career, he has embraced the attitude he says was instilled in him while studying in Australia: to be inventive and believe nothing is impossible.

ADVANCE GLOBAL AUSTRALIAN AWARD WINNER 2018ADVANCE LIFE SCIENCES AWARD WINNER 2018 When it comes to Dr Thomas Oxley’s work, imagine a digital spinal cord that streams your thoughts.

Tim Kentley Klay is a creative and technical entrepreneur. He describes himself as a painter, designer, animator, film-maker, trouble-maker and thinker.

Working to shift the health paradigm in war-torn countries and disaster response situations, Dr Vandana Joshi is showing the world that good governance and community engagement are by far the most effective strategies to promote health.

ADVANCE ICT AWARD WINNER 2014 “Vikram is a unique candidate for this prestigious award as he is one of those rare individuals who has achieved success on a global stage, as a corporate executive and as an entrepreneur in the ICT industry.

ADVANCE ASIA IMPACT AWARD WINNER 2019ADVANCE ASIA ADVISORY COMMITTEE Yijia Li graduated from Tsinghua University in 2009 as a distinguished student majoring in Biology and received a double degree in Economics at Peking University.

Yong In Cho is a fintech expert, specialising in the payments industry, with deep knowledge of the financial technology market across Asia.