School of Business, Law and Entrepreneurship

Our strategy for research and teaching is informed by industry. The Swinburne School of Business, Law and Entrepreneurship has an Advisory Board and each degree or course has a Course Advisory Committee comprising of industry experts to inform curriculum development. 

Industry Advisory Board 

Chair

Lesley Gillespie OAM

Lesley Gillespie OAM is the co-founder of Bakers Delight, the largest national chain of bakeries in Australia with over 700 bakeries operating throughout Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Her achievements include being a finalist in the Prime Minister’s Award for Community Partnerships – Bakers Delight and the Breast Cancer Network of Australia 2004, being named Boroondara Citizen of the Year 2002 (shared with her husband Roger) and being awarded an OAM in 2006 in recognition of her work in business and philanthropy. 

She is also a joint owner of the Victorian grocery outlet chain, Not Quite Right, and patron of the Margaret Pratt Foundation which supports research into transplanted organ rejection. In November 2018, Lesley was awarded an honorary doctorate from Swinburne in recognition of her contribution to business and the community. 

External members

David Banger

David Banger is the Founder of CHANGE lead Practical Digital and authored DIGITAL IS EVERYONE’s BUSINESS | A Guide To Transition in 2019. He began his career at the Commonwealth Bank whilst completing his MBA at Swinburne. 

David’s former roles include CIO of John Holland Group, KPMG Director and National Head of IT, in-country CIO for Microsoft’s subsidiaries in the UK and Ireland, and management consultant at IBM London and Cap Gemini Melbourne. Also as an Adjunct Professor, David has lectured to undergraduate and postgraduate students at Swinburne since March 2015. 

Michael Edwards

Michael Edwards is the General Manager of Boeing Research and Technology – Australia and carries executive responsibility for the delivery of Boeing’s research portfolio in the region.

He oversees a highly collaborative research program focused on the growth and prosperity of the Boeing Australia business units. Prior to joining Boeing in 2011 Michael worked with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, including an overseas posting as Senior Technical Advisor to Boeing based in Seattle.

Mitzi Gillian

Mitzi Gilligan holds a BSc/LLB (Hons) from Monash University, an LLM from the University of Cambridge and an LLM (Intellectual Property) from Monash University. She has been practising as a commercial and regulatory lawyer since 1990, including in the United Kingdom from 1993 to 1997.

She was a partner of Minter Ellison from 2000 until she left in February 2014 to become one of the founding principles of Hive Legal. She served on the Melbourne High School Council from 2009 to 2013 and has been on the board of Justice Connect (formerly PILCH) since 2006 and as chair since December 2010.

David Knowles

David Knowles is a Partner/Executive Director at Pitcher Partners Melbourne. He specialises in providing auditing and advisory services to large and growing private businesses and closely held ASX-listed companies.

He has a particular focus on dynamic and growing companies and assist them to define their growth objectives. He helps them get ‘investor-ready', assists them pursue growth opportunities including mergers and acquisitions or transition through generational change.

Mark Korda

Mark Korda is one of Australia’s leading specialists in business recovery and restructuring, and together with Mark Mentha established KordaMentha. Mark has worked on many of Australia’s largest insolvencies including Ansett. Before founding KordaMentha in 2002, Mark was a partner with Arthur Andersen and a member of the Australian Executive Committee and Board of Partners.

Mark is a director of Collingwood Football Club and chairs the Finance and Governance Committee. In November 2018, Mark was awarded an honorary doctorate from Swinburne in recognition of his contribution to business and the community.

Nicole Lamond

Nicole Lamond is the Founder of Universal Village, a fair trade tea company that has launched the Qi Tea and Eloments Vitamin Tea brands, achieving ranging in major chains across Australia and the UK. Nicole has both bootstrapped business and completed successful capital raising rounds, achieving consistent business growth.

Nicole has been a proponent of Fair Trade since 1998 and was a founding board member of the Fair Trade Association of Australia and NZ. In 2019 she was a Dynamic Business Top 10 Entrepreneur of the Year, a finalist in the Women’s Agenda Emerging Business Leader of the Year and a winner of the Swinburne University Impact Award

The mission for her business, Universal Village is to help accelerate the world's transition to a living wage for all through Fair Trade.

Rachael Powell

Rachael is responsible for Xero’s customer success, people experience, marketing and communications functions globally. She has previously held positions in strategy, marketing, talent management and channel development across online and technology businesses.

In her current capacity, she brings together her dual passions; delighting our customers and nurturing our people. Rachael believes that customer experience must resonate from the inside-out and advocates for positive engagement programs to effectively mobilise the business strategy at scale. She has a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology, a Masters in Business Administration, and a Bachelor of Business (Accounting and Marketing).

Tristan Sternson

Tristan Sternson is the CEO of ARQ Group, a leading Australian digital tech services and solution provider, well known for the many digital solutions and experiences they have created for many leading Australian and international companies and government departments.

Tristan is an expert in data and analytics, having spent more than the past 15 years focused purely on mastering solution to give organisations greater insights through data. Tristan has architected and lead major programs of work in Australia and the UK, on some of the largest, most complex, and leading-edge data analytics, data warehouse, data migration, data integration, business intelligence, marketing and customer analytics and end-to-end information management programs. Tristan is also a keen pioneer of new technologies and approaches managing and utilising data, information, big data and predictive analytics, and has been an expert panellist and presenter at a variety of industry events.

Genevieve Timmons

Genevieve Timmons is currently Philanthropic Executive for the Portland House Foundation, a private family foundation with a charter to assist people to move out of disadvantage. She is Chair of the Inner North Community Foundation, a director of the George Hicks Foundation and council member for Philanthropy Australia. Not-for-profit board engagements include the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture and the Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership.

Genevieve is a Senior Fellow of the Johns Hopkins Fellows in Philanthropy Program, and also a Fellow of Leadership Victoria. Genevieve has been active in philanthropy and grant making for over three decades, pioneering approaches to contemporary giving programs and promoting thought leadership around generosity in Australia and New Zealand.