Guest Interviews

Chris Robb is the author of the book ‘Mass Participation Sports Events’; a highly sought-after International Speaker; High Impact Consultant and CEO of Mass Participation World.

Chris’s life reads like the pages of a novel. His amazing journey has allowed him to impact the lives of millions of people by creating and delivering mass participation sports events across three continents.

While there have been countless highlights, including working on the Sydney 2000 Olympics and meeting Sir Richard Branson at his home on Necker Island, Chris came from humble beginnings, growing up poor on a farm in Zimbabwe.

It is Chris’s belief that our greatest opportunity to grow and learn often comes from times of extreme pressure. Along the way, he discovered that events he initially perceived as “disasters”, were in fact gifts. These significant moments taught Chris many valuable lessons that have helped him to be successful in business and to help others to achieve success.

His first business was started with a few thousand dollars, six months after emigrating to Australia. The business grew into a multi-million-dollar international company which was then sold to IRONMAN.

He has been at the helm of some of the biggest mass participation events, including the Singapore Marathon, with 60,000 participants and 5,000 staff and volunteers.

www.chrisrobb.asia

Tracy Angwin is a solutions expert, media commentator and popular keynote speaker and the driving force behind Australian Payroll Association.  

Tracy is also the bestselling author of ‘The Payroll Revolution’ (2013) and ‘Profit from Payroll’ (2015).  She is sought out for her commentary and guidance on all payroll topics including why employers get payroll wrong, optimising the payroll function and the future of payroll.

A self described ‘corporate escapee with an obsession for improving payroll compliance and efficiency’, Tracy is a big picture industry innovator on multiple fronts.

As founder and CEO of Australian Payroll Association, which provides payroll advisory as well as payroll training and qualifications, she delivers thought leadership to the industry, employers and partners.

She is the host of the ‘Talking Payroll’ podcast available on itunes, soundcloud and at www.austpayroll.com.au

Tracy is driven by a belief that payroll is a business critical function that can have devastating financial and emotional consequences if botched.  It is impossible to have a high performing, motivated and engaged workforce, if payroll isn’t correct and delivered on time. 

Tracy is on a mission to help employers get payroll right.

As a thought leader in the field, Tracy’s efforts have led to Australia’s first nationally accredited payroll qualifications, the Certificate IV in Payroll Administration and Diploma of Payroll Management.  These qualifications are part of the Australian Qualifications Framework and pave the way for the payroll industry to finally lift its professional standards and attract new talent.

www.austpayroll.com.au

After 40 years in the corporate world as at 31 May 2020, Bruce has now officially retired from all corporate and executive work.

Using the disruption caused by COVID-19, Bruce decided to step down from his last role that has seen him working for the past 4 years in Shanghai as a FIFO worker, on behalf of Luye Medical Pte.

And reflecting on his career, who could have asked for a better ‘swan-song’ role – managing the complex relationship between the Chinese based Luye Medical and the US based Cleveland Clinic Foundation concerning the development of a campus of private hospital facilities in downtown Shanghai.

After his ‘first retirement’ when he stepped down from his CEO role at Medibank Private in 2013 that led he and his wife moving interstate from Melbourne to Bellingen in the mid north coast of NSW, initially his time was split between living & operating the fantastic B&B, the Lily Pily Country House coupled with local community work in the Bellingen Shire and a variety of NED (Non-Executive Director) and advisory roles across the health and insurance sectors.

Eventually selling Lily Pily, and whilst doing some executive leadership work for Healthe Care Australia, following their acquisition by the Chinese Luye Medical Group, and before Bruce knew it, he was busy working with a small team from HCA bringing the Australian private health care knowledge & expertise into the rapidly growing China private hospital market.  

This role then grew into establishing a long term collaboration agreement with the Cleveland Clinic, one of the US’ top hospital groups, and then managing that contract between the Chinese and US teams, a very interesting time to be doing this.

Prior to this, from 2010-2011 Bruce was the Non-Executive Director of Ambulance Victoria and The General Manager of Alfred Heath from 1995-2002, establishing The Alfred Hospital as one of Australia’s busiest emergency and trauma centres. Incorporating the state’s largest Intensive Care Unit and is home to multiple statewide services with Victoria’s only heart and lung transplant service, the Victorian Adults Burn Service and the Victorian Melanoma Service. Patients come to The Alfred for speciality services like comprehensive cancer care, respiratory medicine, cardiology and cardiovascular services and in patient and community psychiatry care.

With international travel unlikely for the foreseeable future, Bruce decided it was time to step down from all corporate executive work with his main focus that will be again working with my local community, undertaking some local property developments and spending as much time with Jeannette, his family, friends and on the surf board at his favourite beach break at Arrawarra Headland, NSW.

I’m the Entrepreneurial Futurist – and I’m all about helping business owners, entrepreneurs and corporations to future proof themselves. The easiest way to share some of what I’ve done in a way that’s easy to read and probably sums me up better than long flowing paragraphs of rhetoric is my brag list below:

• Started my working life as a Commercial Diver and bought my first business at the age of 18.
• I’ve been an author for 20 years
• Written 13 bestselling business and personal development books sold in over 65 countries.
• I’m officially Australia’s #1 Small Business author.
• My books have been translated into 10 languages, from Russian to Nigerian, Chinese to Vietnamese.
• I’ve been published by two leading publishers, Allen & Unwin and Simon & Schuster.
• Officially Australia’s #1 Small Business author.
• And now I’ve taught over 600 people to write their first book.
• Been a professional speaker in various guises for 35 years.
• Delivered over 500 presentations in 25 countries.
• My clients have included the European Union, CBS, INC.com, Hewlett Package and many more.
• One of my recent speaking gigs was a tour of the UK teaching businesses about international sales.
• Presented everywhere from Mexico to Iran.
• Been interviewed in the media 500 times.
• And I’m a frustrated zoologist, having been bitten, scratched, attacked and chased by animals in every corner of the planet.
• And I’ve never written a children’s book.

   

If you’ve got a project that you’d like to work on with me, whether it be a speaking job, a consulting gig, a media opportunity or a coaching requirement – drop me a line.

 www.andrewgriffiths.com.au

Rob Nankervis is a business consultant, advisor and executive coach.

He specialises in guiding Founder/Owners, CEOs and senior executives in driving growth, overcoming performance challenges, and building value in their mid-size organisations.

Prior to starting his coaching business, Rob was a Director in Ernst & Young, an equity Partner in a leadership advisory firm, a company director, and has also held commercial and consulting leadership roles.

With qualifications in accounting and business, Rob is a Fellow of CPA Australia, the Institute of Company Directors, and the Governance Institute. He is a Certified International Coach with Scaling Up, a Certified Executive Coach, the author of upcoming book Propelling Performance and his regular Rob’s Insights leadership column, and a speaker on leadership, performance and growth.

He has been appointed to the Global Advisory Board of Scaling Up.

www.robertnankervis.com

Anoushka is an experienced CEO, Board Director, International speaker and certified Coach, with a 20-year career across Australia, Asia, Europe and Africa.

A connector of people, culture and opportunities, she is passionate about inclusive leadership, future of Work and emerging economies.

She is the CEO of the Australia India Chamber of Commerce; founder of GlobalCQ, an award-winning organisation that connects employers to diverse talent; Director of the health-tech business, Allevi8; and Director of the Fin-tech group, Anglo African Investments. Anoushka heads TiE Women in Australia, a global network that supports and funds women led businesses.

Anoushka is the former CEO of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Australia-Vic, preceded by more than 10 years heading finance for an International French law firm in China. Her past experience includes working with UNESCO, Mondelez and l’Oreal.

Ned Coten is the CEO of EngageRM, a sports technology and CRM scaleup with a widespread client base across Australia and the US. He is the President of Basketball Australia and sits on the Competitions Commission of basketball’s world body, FIBA.

Ned Chairs the Advisory Board for The Contenders, one of Australia’s leading brand strategy agencies and owns and operates two successful self storage businesses. He has investments in Aged Care, Property and Technology, while continuing as an active mentor for aspiring business leaders.

Ned has extensive experience in leadership, sports management, consumer branding, sales and marketing. He is a former CEO of a number of Australia’s leading sports organisations and has operated multiple businesses as a CEO, Investor, Board Chair or Director over the past 30 years. Ned holds an MBA from the University of NSW and has written a book on branding and marketing for sport.

While attending the Australian Institute of Sport, Ned represented Australia at the 1983 World Junior Basketball Championships in Spain. He had a brief career in the National Basketball League and co-founded the Goldfields Giants in WA’s State Basketball League. He holds relationships across sport and business within Australia and globally and remains a passionate and committed volunteer, with continuous service throughout his life.

Ned has been happily married to Hilary since 1994 and has two adult sons. He resides in Melbourne, Australia.

Glen Carlson is an award-winning entrepreneur and co-founder of Dent. Dent is a multi-award winning business and leadership development company with structured training programs facilitated by successful business speakers and mentors. Glen and his team are best known for helping business owners develop an unfair advantage in their industry by effectively creating what he calls a ‘personal monopoly’. Dent believes there has never been a better time to build a thriving business and a respected personal brand doing something you love.

• Global company with a team of 50 across 12 different timezones
• 9th fastest growing company in 2014
• 3,500+ business have completed Dent’s flagship 12 month program – Key Person of Influence
• Produced over 500 business authors

For more information, please visit: 

https://www.dent.global/