Born Global: London

A veteran in biotechnology, Alek Safarian’s no stranger to London – he was raised and grew up in the city before migrating to Australia. And so two years ago, his decision to relocate back to where he came from – a city full of life and filled with exciting happenings like the nature of biotechnology – was a no brainer.  

Rachel Scheel is the Global Culture and Employee Engagement Leader at GE Healthcare, based out of London. Leaving Australia for the UK 12 years ago, Rachel’s international experience resonates with many other global Australians – she initially planned to relocate overseas temporarily which ended up becoming a permanent/ long-term move.

A believer of change is a good thing, John McClusky fits in and stands out naturally in the global banking world where changes are constant and sometimes disruptive. John is the General Manager, Head of London Branch at the National Australia Bank. He’s one of the driving forces powering and building connections between Australia and the UK through financial services.

Originally from Sydney, David Tompsett initially moved to the UK in 2006 for study and subsequently landed himself an exciting gig – at global job board Indeed as a Strategy and Operations Business Partner based out of London.

Sir Michael Hintze AM has always lived up to the hypes of being a global Australian. He moved to London 35 years ago and established a global multi-strategy asset management firm, CQS. He maintains ties with Australia through his support for Advance, his philanthropy and MH Premium Farms, a diversified agricultural business in Eastern Australia.

Since 2015, Martin, who was amongst the UK’s Maserati 100 Entrepreneurs and Top 50 UK innovators by Penrose, has been the engineer behind some international big brands, providing them with insights to help them to build the right content for the right audiences.

Jeannie Lopes is one of the Australians who have chosen London as their adopted city. She’s amongst the Australian diaspora back in 1990 who has witnessed the growth of the Aussie expats population in London with close to a tenfold increase from 24,000 to over 200,000.

Having moved to London in 2015 in bid to experience the London ride, she’s now the Software Engineer at Conde Nast International. And sometimes, she wears a different hat, she’s the co-founder of Node Girls London – a dedicated learning platform for women, non-binary and trans people to learn JavaScript and Node.js.

As the senior editor at The Economist Intelligence Unit of The Economist Group, Elizabeth is always at the forefront of what’s happening in the health space. She also moderates various roundtables and panels at summits on different trending topics.

Advance, the leading global network of offshore Australians, demonstrated the strength of the country’s diaspora at its UK relaunch in London on July 10, attended by a number of high profile Australians.

Australian molecular biologist Professor John Mattick AO is among many devoted scientists behind the genomics research. He recently relocated from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Australia to the UK to take up the position of Chief Executive Officer of Genomics England, .

Andrew Grill is a practical futurist who is determined to lead businesses and individuals to stay one step ahead of others. He is also a professional public speaker and presenter, a calling he discovered after taking part in a public speaking competition in Adelaide more than 25 years ago.

Hayley Sudbury is a strong believer in diverse and inclusive communities in the workplace. Hence, WERKIN – an acronym for ‘We Are Kin’ – which denotes the idea of building a community within a workplace was born.

Former Australian lawyer Charlotte McMillan has come up with a digital solution, Storychest – a digital journal capturing our precious moments in life and enabling us to privately share them with family and friends. She launched the consumer app on Apple’s iOS App Store in Dec 2017 and is working to make it fully accessible to users of other platforms.

British hydrologist Christopher Rhodes chose to go to University of Wollongong in 2013 for a year’s study abroad experience as part of his Bachelor of Science degree.

The latest exhibition at London’s illustrious Victoria and Albert Museum — The Future Starts Here — is the work of Australian architect-turned-curator Rory Hyde. Melbourne-born Hyde is keen to examine where our society is headed and how objects and technology affect our lives.

Leanne Kemp is the founder of startup company Everledger, a global enterprise that uses the best of emerging technology to track the provenance of high-value assets, asserting supply chain transparency for the mitigation of risk and fraud for banks, insurers and open marketplaces. 

On a particularly chilly London afternoon, escaping the cold by stepping into the other-worldly lobby of the Ham Yard Hotel in Soho was a welcome experience. The large open fireplace emanating heat and the spectacularly bright pieces of art covering the walls were a stark contrast to the grey of outside.

Supun King-Jayawardana moved to London nearly two years ago, for reasons both personal and professional. He now heads up the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Innovation Lab in London.

From looking at her very exotic, well-curated Instagram page, it’s not hard to tell that Hermione Underwood was ‘born global’. Basing herself out of London, Hermione is sitting at the helm of many businesses.

With more than 2.1 million members and assets of $AU120 billion, AustralianSuper is the largest pension scheme in Australia and it has now a formally established presence in London, led by Trish Curry. 

As director of the BFI London Film Festival, Clare Stewart is making significant contributions to the city’s cultural life. By revamping the festival’s program and introducing new initiatives to champion diversity and new talent, she is bringing her love of films to an ever-growing audience.

Brett Graham began his career serving seafood by the water on the New South Wales north coast. Now he has joined the elite band of Michelin-star chefs and his London restaurant – The Ledbury – is one of the best in the world. The secret? His down-to-earth Australian take on hospitality

It’s a long way from Sydney’s western suburbs to the Royal Opera House stage in London. This Australian ballet dancer has made the jump, thanks to his shining talent and pure force of will. But things might have turned out very differently. Once upon a time, he wanted to be a drag racer.