Board of Directors

Chairman - Denis Page FCA, FAICD
Denis Page was a Partner of Ernst & Young for over 26 years and served as Office Managing Partner of the Canberra practice for 18 years until February 1997. He was subsequently appointed a Senior Partner of that firm. Following his retirement in 1999, he established Denis Page Management Pty Ltd to provide consultancy services such as general business consulting, business planning and strategic advice relating to growing business assets to clients.

From his experience in a wide range of industries covering both large and small corporate bodies, Denis has a comprehensive understanding of capital structure and equity wealth management and creation as well as grasping the value of long term planning and commercial best-practice.

Denis holds a number of directorships of public and private companies including Chairman of MCS Property Ltd, a Melbourne-based company specialising in property syndications throughout Australia and acquisition and ongoing management of those properties. He is also Chairman of Totalcare Industries, a Government Business Enterprise providing commercial laundry, waste disposal, instrument sterilisation and other health and hospitality-related services, as well as facility management, public works management, property maintenance, fleet management.

Denis is a Director of private companies operating in the following industries:

  • Information Technology,
  • Cleaning Services,
  • Investment Companies,
  • Real Estate Investment & Development,
  • Trustee Investment,
  • Tourist and Recreation,

In addition Denis is Chairman of an emerging IT company delivering Training Programs to the Public and Private Sectors throughout Australia as well as offshore contracts.

Denis is also a member of the Board of Cantrade, a body established by the ACT Government to promote business opportunities for Canberra and to assist to develop long term strategic plans for the Territory and Region.

Deputy Chairman - Mike Sargent, AM BE(Hons) PhD HonFIEAust FTS FAICD
Mike Sargent is a Director of MA Sargent and Associates, providing strategic corporate consulting services to industry, with a particular focus on the information technology, energy, environment and utilities sectors. Prior to this he was Chief Executive of Transfield Energy Group, and before that was Chief Executive Officer of ACTEW Corporation from November 1991. Mike has 40 years experience in the electricity industry in Australia, USA and Canada.

Mike Sargent has had a long involvement with innovation, being author of nearly one hundred papers covering technology, information technology, quality, and corporate management and leadership topics. He established the framework for the encouragement, management and commercialisation of innovation in SEQEB and ACTEW, a model widely copied in the public sector. Significant technologies commercialised through this process include:

  • Automatic telephone answering destination routing (which subsequently became the basis of the Telstra 13.. number system)
  • Advanced micro-controllers for SCADA systems,
  • Advanced wastewater treatment system (CRANOS), and
  • TRANSACT Communications FTTC broadband system.

Mike was also Chair of the organisation, which established the framework for advanced computing in Australia, now managed by APAC (Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing), and has been a member of strategic committees for a number of major research organisations such as the Australian Research Council and CSIRO.

Mike is an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. Currently he has a major assignment with the Brisbane City Council to establish the City of Brisbane as Australia's pre-eminent online city, a project involving development of advanced concepts in megaportal implementation, as well as innovative platforms for community and business development.

Bob Williamson, NICTA
Robert C. Williamson received a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Queensland in 1990. Since then he has been at the Australian National University where he is a Professor in the Research
School of Information Sciences and Engineering. He is the director of the Canberra Laboratory of National ICT Australia, vice-president of the Association for Computational Learning Theory, and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Machine Learning Research. His scientific interests include signal processing and machine learning.

David Gaul, CEA Technologies
David Gaul is President and co-founder of CEA Technologies, a Canberra-based electronic system design company which commenced operations in August 1983.

After 18 years of operation, CEA now has offices in Adelaide, Melbourne and San Diego and a combined total workforce of more than 130 people. It develops leading-edge technology in communications and radar systems, active and specialised antennas, sensor processing and modelling, systems integration and design, display software and data fusion. Forty per cent of income is generated by exports worldwide.

In 1991 CEA won the National and ACT Small Business of the Year Awards and the National Award in the Non-Manufacturing category. In 1993 it won the Canberra Times Employer of the Year Award for companies employing less than 50 staff. In 1994 it won the ACT Exporter of the Year Award and received a Highly Commended in the Defence Quality Awards. In October 1996 CEA won the Exporter of the Year Award in the Small to Medium Business category in the ACT and in October 2000 the Exporter of the Year Award in the Small to Medium Manufacturer category of the ACT Chief Minister's Export Awards.

David is a Foundation Fellow of the AICD and has served as councillor of the ACT Division of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the ACT Division of the Australian Business Chamber. He is currently a member of the ACT Government's Business Advisory and Regulatory Review Team (BARRT).

Other current business positions include Honorary Secretary of the ACT Entrepreneurship Centre Inc., board member of Epicorp Limited, Chairman of the Canberra Region Advanced Technology Manufacturers' Association (CRATMA), board member of the Capital Region Employment Council (CREC) and board member of the Australian Science Festival Ltd. He is a member of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Manufacturing Committee, a member of the Cooperative Research Centre for Sensor Signal and Information Processing (CSSIP) board and a Governor of the Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering.

He is also a member of the Defence Industry Advisory Council (DIAC) and the Australian Business Limited Defence Industry Committee of Council, as well as the ACT Government's Information Industries Development Board (IIDB).

Alex Zelinsky, CSIRO
Alex Zelinsky is the Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre for CSIRO. The CSIRO ICT Centre with 200 research professionals and a budget of $40M pa is responsible for developing ICT technologies that deliver the benefits of innovation to industry and position Australia to compete globally.

Prior to joining CSIRO in July 2004, Dr Zelinsky was Chief Executive officer of Seeing Machines Pty Limited. Seeing Machines, a high technology company was founded in July 2000 by Dr Zelinsky to commercialise research sponsored by the Australian National University and Volvo Technology. Seeing Machines is regarded as a world leader in the computer vision industry, recognized for excellence in both technology and business.

Prior to founding Seeing Machines Dr. Zelinsky was a Professor in the Research School of Information Sciences & Engineering at the Australian National University (ANU) (1996-2001). Dr Zelinsky is an internationally recognized researcher in the robotics and computer vision fields.

Before joining the ANU, Dr Zelinsky worked as a computer science lecturer at the University of Wollongong, a research scientist at the Electro technical Laboratory in Japan, and a Computer Systems Engineer for BHP steel.

Dr. Zelinsky's contributions to science have been recognized by awards in Australia and internationally. These include the Australian Engineering Excellence Awards (1999 and 2001). Australian Eureka Science Prize (2002). In October 2003 The Bulletin Magazine named him in the annual smart 100 list of influential Australians. The World Economic Forum has selected him as a Technology Pioneer for the 2003 & 2004 Forums.

Fulton Muir, ANU
Fulton Muir was Appointed Officer of the Order of Australia for Services to Commerce and the Community in 1992. He is currently a Director of T.W.T. Ltd ( Win TV Group), John McEwan House Ltd, National Prices Network, Snow Foundation Ltd, Anutech Pty Ltd, Australian Scientific Instrument Pty Ltd and Seeing Machines Pty Ltd.

Fulton holds appointments at the Australian National University including Member of Council, Chair, Finance, Chair, Governing body Bruce, Burton & Garran Halls, Audit Committee, Resources Advisory Committee and ANU Union.

He is a member of the Australian Institute of Sport-Ethics Committee, CSIRO Plant Industry Institutional Biological Safety Committee, Chair, CC of E.G.G.S. Gabriel Foundation, Salvation Army Advisory Board and Chair, Internal Audit Committee, Australian Academy of Science.

He has previously been St George Bank -Chairman's Representative, St George Building Society (ACT) -Deputy Chairman, ACT Government -Economic Adviser to Chief Minister - South East Region Economic Development Board, Westpac Banking Corporation - Chief Manager ACT, NSW Government - Commissioner for North America, Rural Bank of NSW - North American Representative, Bank of NSW - Executive Marketing Manager, Marketing Manager, UK and Europe, Assistant Manager, London, Manager, Kingsway Branch, London, Marketing Manager, New Zealand, Foreign Exchange & Securities, Victoria, Caulfield Grammar School - Teacher.

Fulton Muir was previously a Director of Montone Paint & Paper Pty Ltd, Electro Optic Systems Pty Ltd, Chair, Co-operative Research Centre, Robust & Adaptive Systems, Co-operative Research Centre - Plant Industry Advisory Board.

Professor Deborah Ralston, University of Canberra
Professor Deborah Ralston is the Pro Vice Chancellor of the Division of Business Law and Information Science and Professor of Finance at the University of Canberra. Previous appointments include Professor of Finance and Dean of the Faculty of Business at the University of the Sunshine Coast, and Director of the Centre for Financial Institutions at the University of Southern Queensland.

Deborah has a Bachelor of Economics, a Graduate Diploma in Financial Management, Master of Economics and PhD in Finance. She has taught in the areas of economics, corporate finance, credit risk management, financial statement analysis, and financial institutions management. Her research interests include the impact of financial regulation, the strategy and management of financial institutions, and regional economic development. She has published in a range of journals including the Journal of Banking and Finance, the Journal of International Financial Markets Institutions and Money, the Economic Record and is a co-author of the text Financial Institutions Management.

Deborah is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, and the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants and is also Treasurer of the Australian Business Deans Council. She is a Director of Mortgage Choice.