Advisory Board

With a background as a lawyer and diplomat and now a Distinguished Research Fellow at the National Defense University in Washington, James Clad was U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia Pacific Security Affairs from 2007-09.

Earlier he was Professor of South and Southeast Asian Studies at Georgetown University?s School of Foreign Service and, concurrently, Director for Asia-Pacific Energy at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

He has also held positions at the Far Eastern Economic Review; at St. Antony?s College, Oxford; the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Harvard?s Center for International Affairs. His 1991 book, Business, Money and Power in Southeast Asia (Harper Collins, 1991) critiqued highly leveraged Asian capitalism; a later book, After the Crusade (Madison, 1996), delivered a realist critique of US foreign policy during the 1990s. More recent publications include book chapters analyzing Sino-Indian relations, Chinese influence in Asia, and US-India strategic convergence.

Professor Clad will be focused on providing advice to AFG Venture Group in the area of the Asian energy sector.

Lance is an experienced corporate advisor, with over 18 years in the financial markets industry.

Lance provides financial and strategic assistance to emerging and growth companies, ranging from corporate advice, acting as venture catalyst, commercialisation, advisory and consulting services.

Through his work with business incubators including CSIR, Lance has been instrumental in identifying and developing products and emerging technologies and progressing viable projects from concept through to commercialisation.

Prior to becoming a Director of UBS, Lance successfully took Lorenzani and Coogan Inc, a stockbroking firm, ranked number one derivatives research and trading house by Financial Mail, from pre-seed capital to exit in 4 years. During this time, Lance was involved with the full spectrum of client transactions from retail through to creating sophisticated wholesale institutional investment products.

Lance holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental & Geographical Sciences from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Rawdon Dalrymple graduated with first class honours from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and following a period lecturing at Sydney University, joined Australia's diplomatic service from which he retired in 1994. He was one of the architects of the Asian Development Bank and served on its Board. He spent a total of seven years in Indonesia where he was Australian Ambassador from 1981 to 1985. He was Ambassador to the United States from 1985 to 1989 and his last assignment was as Ambassador to Japan. In addition to various business and governmental appointments Rawdon was a Visiting Professor at the University of Sydney from 1995 to 2002 where he taught courses in International Relations. He recently published a book, Continental Drift: Australia's Search for a Regional Identity (Ashgate Publishing). Rawdon brings to AFG Venture Group his extensive network and insight into major Asian issues.

Ron Davenport has had more than 20 years experience in Canberra working in various Australian Government Departments and with the then Confederation of Australian Industry (CAI), the major employer association. Ron initially spent a number of years with the Departmentof Trade and was involved at a senior level in negotiations of trade policy with the ASEAN Governments. During his time with CAI, he was the Executive Director of the ASEAN Australia Business Council and the bilateral Business Councils with Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. Over the years Ron has built up an impressive network of contacts throughout ASEAN.

Michael is currently Group General Manager for Spotless Group Ltd. The group has a turnover of AU$1.7billion. His principal role is to look at growth options and business priorities for each of the operating divisions within the group. Prior to this Michael ran the Tourism and Leisure group for four years and previous to this he was the inhouse corporate counsel for the group. He has also been a lawyer in private practice.

S.H. Harjono Kartohadiprodjo is a well respected Indonesian businessman with significant experience in shipping and trading. He is also a shareholder in a number of major Indonesian joint ventures including some associated with BHP and ACI from Australia and the international shipping and leisure group P&O. Harjono brings to AFG Venture Group a particular insight into the workings of the Indonesian business community.

Dr Simon Longstaff is the Executive Director of the St James Ethics Centre. Established in 1989, the Centre is an independent forum, based in Sydney and Melbourne, for the promotion of business and professional ethics. Operating both in Australia and abroad, the Centre provides a neutral, confidential setting in which ethical questions can be raised, ethical problems explored, and ethical dilemmas resolved. One of the Executive Director's roles is to encourage the process of integrating ethical considerations into the strategic thinking of the management community and those who advise and regulate them.

Dr Longstaff was inaugural President of The Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics and is a Director of a number of companies. He is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum and a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Foreign Policy Association, based in New York. His first book, Hard Cases, Tough Choices was published in 1997. He is currently preparing a second on the role of conscience. Simon Longstaff is a columnist for The Australian.

Dr Longstaff serves on a number of committees, some of which include:

• Accountants Superannuation Fund Nominees Pty Ltd
• Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA) Ethics Working Party, Chairman
• Professional Standards Council, NSW and WA
• Australian Commercial Disputes Centre Limited: Mediator Accreditation Board, Chairman
• BHP, Global Conduct Committee
• Energy Australia, Ethics Committee
• MLC Life, Code of Conduct Committee, Independent Chairman
• National Professional Engineers Registration Board