Australia

Lindley is a specialist adviser in merger, acquisition, divestments, fund raising, strategic consulting and licensing for growth public and private companies.

She has a track record of successful advising to private and public companies. Previously Lindley was a State Manager (Vice-President) with Citibank. Prior to this position she spent nine years with Macquarie Bank and was an Associate Director with the Corporate Banking Division. Lindley has also worked on a secondment basis for Boston Consulting Group and for the Victorian State Government Project.

She is an accountant and a Fellow of FINSIA. Lindley holds two undergraduate degrees, one in Accounting and the other in Banking and Finance. She also holds a Graduate Diploma in Governance of ASX Listed Companies. Lindley is a non-executive Director and Advisory Board member of various organisations.

Lindley has been a state finalist in the Telstra Businesswomen's awards for Private Sector less than 100 employees. In the year 2000 Lindley was admitted to the Australian Businesswomen's Hall of Fame.

Contact Lindley Edwards

Karen Dado has spent over twenty years providing management consulting and corporate advisory services in the health care and life sciences sectors.

She spent 15 years with Price Waterhouse Coopers in their London and Sydney offices, advising health and biotech clients. Karen has extensive experience in undertaking: strategic reviews, commercial feasibility studies, cost benefit analyses, due diligence and risk audits in the health, life sciences and technology sectors. Clients have included private equity firms, universities and research institutes, health authorities, rural research and development corporations, industry associations, pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies.

David Duckett is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and spent over 10 years with Andersens during which he was involved with clients in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia as well as in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

In 1975 he commenced an 18 year involvement in the international food industry, including 7 years with Goodman Fielder. During this period he was Head of Taxation and later Head of Strategic Planning, both global roles.

Throughout his career David has had extensive involvement in Mergers & Acquisitions as well as capital raisings, structured finance and other areas of corporate advisory activities.

David is also a non executive director of a number of mid-size private companies.

It is this experience and expertise he brings to AFG Venture Group.

Michael Fay is an international education specialist who has lived and worked between Asia and Australia for over 25 years. He continues to be a leading member of Australia's international education and training sector and was the co-founder and Managing Director of Insearch Language Centre at the University of Technology Sydney from 1987-1999. Insearch has been one of the major success stories of Australia's international education sector and was the first public private partnership in international education in Australia. In 1997 Insearch Language Centre won the Citibank award for “Best Australian Service Activity in Asia”. In 2000 Michael was made a Fellow of UTS for his contribution to the profile and reputation of the university.

Michael advises a varied group of public and private sector educational and media organisations as well as government departments and peak industry bodies. His focus areas are on strategic marketing strategies, establishing and managing offshore education sector investments and building cross sector networks and linkages. He is active in M&A work in the education services sector.

Gordon Hart has been running Venture Group Equities as Managing Director since 2004. During this period he has raised in excess of $200 million. He brings to the role over 30 years experience in the stockbroking industry, having worked with stockbrokers Bridges Son & Shepherd, Paul Morgan & Co, BT Stockbroking, Bain and Co and for the past 10 years was co-owner of Shaw Stockbroking.

Through Venture Group Equities, Gordon provides a range of corporate advisory services including mergers and acquisitions, equity raisings, advice on restructures and path to market advice and implementation. Additionally he has experience in finance, IPO's, investor relations, project development and corporate strategy with listed and unlisted emerging companies.

Glen Robinson's experience and expertise lie in the manufacturing, processing and distribution areas, with specific emphasis on business management and strategic planning. Glen has more than 20 years' experience in management consultancy and has worked with a wide range of industries from agriculture, government through to manufacturing, distribution and service industries. He gained his South East Asian experience as chief executive officer for the Asian subsidiaries and joint ventures of a major international manufacturing and marketing organisation. Glen sits on the board of many Asian related business organisations and has for many years advised a number of Foreign Investment Boards in the ASEAN region.

Andrew Bald brings over 25 years experience in merchant banking and corporate finance. He has advised and assisted a number of private and public (i.e. ASX listed) companies with their financing requirements (both debt and equity), over a variety of sectors including natural resources such as coal, gas and gold, IT and food/agribusiness.

Prior to operating within the corporate finance environment, Andrew gained 16 years experience with a range of international investment and merchant banks advising mainly ASX top 200 companies on managing their balance sheet and trading risks via the use of derivatives as well as working with the respective corporate finance departments on large project financing transactions.

Andrew has started a number of companies including the Pisces Group (founder and CEO), which was formed in August 1995 to commercialise marine aquaculture in NSW. The Pisces project, located on the east coast of NSW, north of Pt Stephens, ran for more than 8 years with a project budget in excess of $10M. The company successfully farmed Snapper and Mulloway and developed new markets for aquaculture product in Australia and overseas. Andrew was an inaugural member of the NSW Minister's Aquaculture Advisory Council.

Andrew was also the founding CEO of a vineyard and wine making operation located in Beechworth, Victoria, which is now successfully producing wines as the Indigo Wine Company.

He is currently an advisor to Sports Drug Testing International, a newly formed but rapidly growing drug testing company with contracts including the ICC (Cricket), IRB (Rugby), Cycling and AFL and works as a consultant to Indigenous Business Australia, a Federal Government body which provides funding assistance to business owned and managed by Indigenous Australians.

Mitchell Brown has a degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Sydney where he majored in Economics, Finance and Agricultural Economics. He has also completed a Master of Applied Finance and Investment at FINSIA, and is an alumnus of the Asialink Leaders Program.

Mitchell primarily focusses on the agribusiness/food, IT&T and resources sectors.

David has over 25 years experience in international business as an attorney, in software licensing, corporate advisory and business strategy, Asian market expansion, change management and corporate responsibility.

He is the CEO of The DLA Group, an IT consulting, software distribution and development company and a partner in Santa Clara Group with experience in management consulting, M&A and venture capital markets.

David is a serial entrepreneur having assisted in and built several startups in Australia, the US and Hong Kong.

David has a legal background in IT and Intellectual Property protection. He is an experienced adviser on intellectual property negotiations, agreements, licensing with local and multinational groups. David sits on several other international advisory boards, as well as serving on the Boards of several Australian based charities.

Dirk is a consultant and Entrepreneur in Residence with AFG Venture Group and is a specialist in Information Technology and software. With a background in advisory services, turnarounds and venture creations and exits, Dirk has founded and built a number of successful software and other businesses.

These include Medinet, a supplier of e-commerce services to medical doctors in South Africa. The company went on to claim an industry leading position and in December of 1996 it was sold. In 1997 Dirk founded Integrated Technology Holdings Ltd, which developed leading healthcare technologies in South Africa and was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in February 1998. In 2000 Dirk founded X/procureTM Software South Africa and Pro-Pharm. X/procureTM allows pharmacies and other healthcare providers to procure any of their pharmaceutical and other stock requirements making use of a software exchange or portal and Pro-Pharm is the largest windows based point of sale and dispense system in South Africa. Dirk has spent the past two years as joint CEO of Cipla Nutrition, responsible for developing a range of nutrition products.

Dirk also has a successful litigation strategy practice and is known for his strategic thinking and overseeing the implementation of successful strategies.

Sunil has over 28 years in Corporate Banking and Trade Finance and Entrepreneurial business experience holding senior management positions in Citibank (Asia and Australia), Commonwealth Bank and EFIC (Australia's Government Export Credit Agency). As well as acquiring and operating multiple small businesses in the early 2000's including an assignment as chief executive officer of a start up media technology Joint Venture in the late 90's.

Sunil transferred with Citibank from India to Australia in 1990 after having worked in Singapore and Hong kong and has continued to maintain an extensive network of decision maker contacts across banking, Government and Industry in Asia and Australia.

On an Associate basis he joined AFG Venture Group in 2011 to focus on assisting businesses that wanted to build regional operations to grow, particularly in the key areas of:

• Opportunity analysis and market entry/exit strategies
• Business implementation which includes assistance to develop distribution channels as well as identify, select and set up joint ventures and partnerships
• Procuring regulatory approvals in country
• Financing and structural advice

Selwyn has over fifteen years experience in the management consulting and investment advisory industries and ten years in shipping and transport. Specialising in strategy development and business planning, Selwyn has successfully started and exited two startup ventures in Hospitality and Technology.

Selwyn is a senior fellow at the Melbourne Business School where he completed his MBA with distinction and is currently an adjunct fellow teaching the Managing New Ventures and Integrative Projects MBA elective. He also holds a degree in Marine Engineering and a Chief Engineers License in Marine Engineering from the UK and Australia.

Graham Libbesson has commerce and law degrees. He has been a chartered accountant for over 30 years, specialising in taxation, management, M&A restructuring, and funding (equity and debt). He was senior tax partner and managing partner at PKF Sydney.

Currently, he is involved on a part-time basis with Pitcher Partners, Sydney as leader of the ICT industry focus group; and is active in consulting regarding tax matters, particularly in relation to transactions, for the ICT industry.

Graham has significant practical experience in the ICT sector, by advisory and hands-on director roles with private and listed software and IT services companies. He advises in relation to transactions, management, valuations, due diligence and tax for the sector.

He was a director of two international software companies, eServGlobal Limited (ASX and AIM) and ComOps Limited (ASX). He is Chairman of Each Coast Minerals NL (ASX) and Artemis Resources Limited (ASX). He is a director of various private IT companies.

Michael joined the Group in 2006. His vision for building sustainable business enterprises has been a product of his years as a successful entrepreneur.

Michael founded the Dashing Printing Group in 1980 which grew from a start up to a group of 18 retail and outsourced outlets with 130 employees. It was sold to a listed company in 2000.

Michael specialises in assisting "baby boomers" who own small and medium sized businesses plan their exit strategies. In many cases these business owners require assistance in preparing their businesses for sale. Michael has access to many new migrants into Australia who seek to invest in or buy various business activities to assist in their visa processing.

Michael serves on the board of many and varied organisations and has extensive expertise in Start Up Incubators. He has been the President of the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Information Industry Business Advisory Board for the NSW DSRD and is an assessor for the Australian Technology Showcase.

He is the Regional Director for the World Presidents Organisation (WPO) and an International Board Member. He is a Director of the national committee for the Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council.

John Weste is a seasoned international business executive, having held executive positions at Andersen, Gartner, Tata Consultancy Services, and Korda Mentha, with over 25 years "hands-on" expertise in executing major change programs at a variety of global and local business entities. John brings to an organization strong leadership capacity and capability coupled with deep functional expertise in strategy development, articulation and execution, operational design and process streamlining, technology design and application, change management program development and implementation, and performance management and control. John has an extensive background of experience across a number of industries including Banking and Financial Services, Professional Services, Retailing, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Higher Education, Process Industries, Oil and Gas, ICT, and FMCG. John is also a regular presenter/ contributor on strategic management and technology issues across the globe to individual companies, at external conferences, and in the general media.

John has an enviable track record of execution success with notable achievements including:

• Building a highly profitable management consulting practice as Lead Partner for Andersen in Central Europe;
• Executing a business transformation program at a global banking group head-quartered in India;
• Executing a complex post-acquisition integration program across 7 European countries for a global FMCG group;
• Re-building a core international business within a major global IT firm;
• Re-structuring a major European pulp and paper business in order to avoid potential liquidation; and
• Building a "start-up" manufacturer into a major European heating systems business.