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.

Trina is a well respected business owner operator of the L & M Group of Companies and an experienced, qualified non-executive director with a background in training, education, sport, employment, retail and governance.

Trina’s business interests are located on the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Wollongong. Highly sought after for both her business and governance acumen, she holds the position of Chair of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Gold Coast committee. She is also Chair of Arcadia College and Ohana for Youth and director of the Spot Academy, The Gold Coast Sporting Hall of Fame and Sports Gold Coast. Trina also co-founded Women in Power – empowering women.

Trina’s volunteering has seen accolades as an Outstanding Volunteer to the Indigenous Community and has received a 20 year Leadership Award from the City of Gold Coast. She is an avid advocate for youth education and development and Gold Coast sport and business.

Trina has a Bachelor of Human Movement Studies majoring in exercise physiology and sports medicine, and 3 sons that played football.

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.