Mr Maher is one of Australia’s leading executives and was named 2015 Australian CEO of the year ahead of Alan Joyce (Silver) – Qantas, and David Thodey (Bronze) -Telstra.

Mr Maher is a global tech entrepreneur with a particular passion and knowledge of the startup ecosystem. Mr Maher is also passionate about football and philanthropy and heads Sports Gold Coast’s football committee.

Having built and exited a number of highly successful tech companies around the world (including the NetStar group where he together with Allen & Buckeridge and Baring Private Equity Partners were the 100% shareholders), Mr Maher relocated to the Gold Coast under an economic attraction request from Gold Coast City Council to assist in diversifying the Gold Coast economy and stimulating the innovation sector.

Mr Maher serves on a number of boards, is chairman of the Gold Coast Innovation Hub who are committing $20 Million to sports innovation and is currently executive chairman of multi award winning Network Management Software company Opmantek. Opmantek has been QLD ICT exporter of the year for the last 3 years , is a 2016 Winner of the American Business awards and was Australian ICT exporter of the year in 2015. Opmantek has over 130,000 organisations using their software around the world with a new organisation implementing an Opmantek product every 6 minutes making them possibly the fastest growing business software company in the world.

In addition to his business acumen, Mr Maher:
– was a state Representative footballer as a junior (wing/midfield)
– Is a licensed junior coach
– Skied for Australia as a junior
– Has served as President of 3 football clubs in the past.
– Has two children that play football (a boy and girl, both NPL standard).
– Has been a major sponsor of football at the Gold Coast for the last 3 years.

 

Mark is a highly successful technology business owner with executive levels of experience in project delivery, sales, people management, financial management and business strategy developed over 30 years. His experience within private and publicly listed enterprises has enabled a broad-based, innovative approach to resolve challenging issues, meeting goals and furthering strategic initiatives.

Mark was a major part of the success and growth of “Supply Chain Consulting” who in 2005 were listed in BRW as the 20th fastest growing company in Australia and for the period 2005 to 2009 with Oxygen Business Solutions (now UXC Oxygen a CSC Company).

Mark has considerable international experience including being part of the Australian High Commission in London and the head of operations for the Asia Pacific Region for HCL Axon. Mark’s early career was as a meteorologist in the Royal Australian Navy where he saw active service in Somalia – Operation Restore Hope.

Mark has played football since the age of 5 and still continues to play the game he loves today. While in the Royal Australian Navy Mark was honoured to represent the Australian Services football team. He is passionate about the game and the development of young footballers. Mark has been a player, coach, team manager, supporter and football administrator for over 45 years and currently holds the voluntary position of Secretary of Gold Coast Over 35 Soccer.

 

Nick was born on the Gold Coast and studied a Bachelor of Business at Griffith University. Nick established his own business LETZ LIVE at 18 years of age which now services over 1,000 students each year, providing working opportunities around the world. Nick has also established an in-house travel agency (specialising in youth and corporate travel) and a UK migration firm. At 31 years of age Nick, has staff in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom managing a multimillion dollar turnover.

 

Richard is a Chartered Accountant and Director with KPMG with 17 years’ experience in providing advisory, accounting and assurance services to clients both within Australia and internationally.  KPMG are a leader in the provision of professional services to registered clubs and professional sporting organisations across Australia. As part of KPMG’s National Sports Network Richard has extensive knowledge of the challenges facing organisations in the sporting industry and offers a range of advisory services to sporting franchises. Richard works with several high profile sporting organisations and clubs on the Gold Coast and Nationally. During his time in the UK, Richard had a lead role in providing professional services dedicated to elite athletes, retired sports professionals, musicians and media personalities.

 

Rebecca Yang is General Manager for Business Development China for the MiiGroup. Rebecca brings a wealth of connections and reputation in dealing with Chinese investors. Rebecca graduated from the University of Queensland with Bachelor’s degrees in Property Studies and international tourism management. She has worked for major investment and development companies in China and also worked for Mega Harvest International (Brisbane) as a Chinese buyer’s agent. Rebecca has strong connections to business groups in China, is an experienced translator and an experienced projectmanager with excellent communication skills.

 

Sophie is the Director of Think Communications after founding the consultancy in January 2016. She has 12+ years of experience providing communication, investor relations and marketing support across a range of industries including financial, mining, engineering, sports, business services and education, both in Australia and the United States.
Prior to founding Think, Sophie was based in the United States working for Fortune 500 company, Peabody Energy, as part of the global communication team, managing the company’s large-scale global digital communications campaign.
Sophie was born and raised on the Gold Coast and holds a Bachelor of Communication Degree, majoring in Public Relations, from the University of Queensland.