Judges

Lucinda Ardagh

LUCINDA Ardagh has been public relations and fundraising manager at the St Vincent de Paul Society since March 2005.  

She has a BA in communication and literature, post grad in business and a BA in arts management and is an affiliated member of the Fundraising Institute of Australia, the Public Relations Institute of Australia and the Australian Institute of Management.

During the past 12 months, Lucinda and her team launched the inaugural Vinnies CEO Sleepout that bought together 100 business leaders and raised more than $480,000.

Gavin Ball

THROUGH his Vorian Investment Group. Gavin Ball has spent the past 20 years investing and managing a variety of businesses in many different and varied markets.

Businesses in the group include Star3 Media, Onhold Magic, Magicorp, Search Group, and a new business producing an exciting transition video product called Voovi.

During his career, Gavin has started or been involved in the start-up of businesses, including Professionals Property Plus Real Estate, Mortgage & Finance, RightPeople online testing, Sonic Telecom (merged into Allphones), and the Allphones Group.

Greg Caust

GREG Caust is general manager corporate and agribusiness WA at the Commonwealth Bank.

Mr Caust has been involved in the finance industry for more than 20 years, working in various capacities and locations across Australia with the bank, and now leads a team of finance professionals that service the top end of WA’s business community.

He has a bachelor of business in accounting and economics and a masters of business administration specialising in finance, part of which was completed in Berne, Switzerland.

Anthony Connor 

ANTHONY Connor is a partner of Gadens Lawyers, a top 10 Australian commercial law firm with particular expertise in banking, property, corporate advisory and financial services. 

Mr Connor specialises in corporate, commercial and banking law. He has worked both internationally and as an in-house counsel in one of Australia’s largest banking organisations.

Kellie Croxon

KELLIE Croxon is an experienced public relations practitioner in all areas of communication who established Clarity Communications, one of Perth’s leading corporate communications companies, more than a decade ago.

Working with clients such as AMP, Telstra, James Hardie, Rio Tinto and the European Space Agency, Ms Croxon has extensive experience working on national campaigns and issues for blue-chip companies. She has mentored small business start-up operators and public relations graduates and has worked at Curtin University as a lecturer and PR tutor. 

Doug Durack

DIRECTOR of public affairs at The University of Western Australia, Doug Durack has 35 years’ experience in media and public affairs positions in the public and private sectors. 

In his current role he is responsible for a group delivering services in external relations, communications, online information, marketing, advertising and events.

Frank Edwards

FRANK Edwards has been chief executive officer of the City of Perth since April 2002. Before this he was executive manager customer services and then chief executive officer at the Town of Kwinana.

Before entering local government, Mr Edwards was a career Army officer rising to the rank of colonel. In the Army he served in command, staff and instructional postings in Australia, the US and Papua New Guinea.

He is a graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, holds a bachelors degree from the University of New South Wales and a graduate diploma in strategic studies. 

Fiona Lander

FIONA Lander is general manager corporate affairs and organisation development at Perth Airport. She has 15 years’ experience in senior state and commonwealth government roles, and joined Perth Airport in 2010. 

Ms Lander’s role encompasses corporate affairs, human resources, information technology and corporate risk. She has an executive masters in public administration.

Steven Landry

STEVEN Landry has been managing director of ATCO Australia since November 2010. 

ATCO Australia owns and operates $1.4 billion worth of assets in Australia, including three power stations, ATCO Gas Australia, the largest reticulated gas infrastructure distribution system in Western Australia, and ATCO I-Tek Australia, a technologies company specialising in business systems solutions. Mr Landry spent 27 years with Chrysler Corporation including as CEO of Chrysler Canada, president of Chrysler Europe, and head of North American operations before joining the ATCO board in Calgary, Alberta.

David Macgeorge

DAVID Macgeorge has recently been appointed to the position of director – Western Australia & Northern Territory for Bis Industries, which is wholly owned by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.   

The division specialises primarily in mining services, fixed infrastructure and logistics services to blue-chip companies and has numerous operations spanning both states.

He has held senior management positions across the mining services, materials handling and logistics space. Mr Macgeorge recently completed a residential advanced management program at INSEAD in France.

Richelle Moran

RICHELLE Moran is a member of the business advisory team at the Small Business Development Corporation, and as a CPA with a strong accounting and tax background she brings a wealth of experience to this role. 

Ms Moran is also the SBDC franchising specialist and has a particular interest in industrial relations and business structures. She has a bachelor of business and post-graduate diploma in business from Curtin University.

Chris Pok

CHRIS Pok joined Singapore Airlines in 2001 as purchasing executive in Commercial Supplies Department. He also had stints at internal audit and network revenue management departments before being appointed staff assistant to the chairman and ceo in management office in 2007. 

Mr Pok was posted to Jakarta in 2010 as commercial manager Indonesia, and in March this year took up his current posting as manager Western Australia in Perth. 

He holds a bachelor of business administration (Hons) degree from National University of Singapore.

Mark Pownall

MARK Pownall is executive editor at WA Business News, a new role that involves managing the editorial team and writing in-depth news and views about Western Australia’s business scene.

Mr Pownall has more than 20 years’ experience in newspapers and online media in Perth and London, including seven years as editor of WA Business News. 

He has a bachelor of commerce from UWA and a graduate diploma in English from Curtin University.

Matthew Woods

MATTHEW Woods joined KPMG in March 2009. He has more than 16 years’ experience specialising in advising companies, directors, providers of debt and equity and other stakeholders on distressed businesses, assets and special situations. 

Before joining KPMG Mr Woods was the managing director of a boutique corporate consulting and investment company that consulted to and invested in distressed large private and small-cap public companies. Previously, he was a partner in a mid-tier national accounting firm, specialising in corporate recovery and formal insolvency appointments.