Celebration of Entrepreneurship Programme 2022

G U E S T entrepreneurs

Donna Naylor Donna has 20 year’s combined experience as a Career & Employment Educator and brings an engaging and empathic approach to career development which carries through to how she interacts with the student’s she supports in her role as Careers Outreach Manager with Study Gold Coast. In 2019, Donna piloted the Careers Outreach program for Study Gold Coast. Since this time, it has grown to be a high demand service for local education organisations and students. Careers Outreach supports Gold Coast students to better understand their career pathways, providing them with the knowledge and tools to plan for their future.

Andrew Freeman Dr Andrew Freeman is a specialist

Michelle Gilmour Michelle Gilmour is a director at Gilmour Space, a leading space technology company that is building and launching Australian-made rockets and satellites to orbit from Australia. Michelle spent over 16 years in the banking and media industries before joining the executive team at Gilmour Space as head of Marketing & Communications. She graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Banking & Finance, and has an Honours in Finance & Economics from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

Michael Metcalfe Michael is the Founder of Kynd, a Gold Coast startup that is reimagining the ‘care’ industry. Kynd empowers people of all-ages and all abilities to choose and use the right carer, based on unique needs. It introduces a high-value, low cost model with locals caring for locals, using mobile apps. A serial entrepreneur, Michael founded Snotels in 2010 and launched the world’s first ‘alpine only’ hotel brand with 30 sites across Europe. He has advised investors and family offices across the Middle East, Europe and Asia and mentored startups with the Branson Entrepreneurship Centre.

Peter Grant Peter graduated from Somerset College in 2002 where as a senior he was Starkey house captain. He is an experienced civil engineer who is considered an international thought leader in safety digitization and injury prevention. He is currently the CEO of Foresight Group, an innovative workers compensation provider that deploys safety technology to over 18,000 US companies in high risk industries, rewarding proactive businesses with lower premiums. Peter was vice captain of the Somerset 1st IX rugby team and has continued his passion for the sport by competing for USA in the 2019 Touch Rugby World Cup. He also recently won the USA Touch national championship as a member of the New York team.

Adam Hickey Well regarded in the property sector as an innovator and strategist, Adam Hickey is the Founder and Managing Director of Newlink Property Group. Since its inception in 2020, the company has delivered, or is in the process of delivering, 17 projects with a combined value of approximately $330m. Offering an end-to-end development management service as well as being a developer in his own right, Adam’s philosophy on business is simple. During Adam’s tenure as a Development Manager for Australia’s largest ASX-listed developer Stockland, he was involved in some of South East Queensland’s most prominent developments including North Lakes masterplanned community and business park and Foreshore Coomera.

Dermatologist, accredited Mohs Micrographic Surgeon and the owner of The Skin Centre, The Skin Centre Derma Spa and co-owner of BLOC Cosmetics. Dr Freeman was the first Dermatologist based on the Gold Coast to perform Mohs Micrographic Surgery, the gold standard in skin cancer surgery that has the highest cure rate and lowest recurrence rates of any skin cancer treatment. He performs his Mohs Surgery using a custom-built laboratory at both Pindara Private Hospital and Pacific Private Hospital, and is a visiting Dermatologist at Gold Coast University Hospital.

Jack Ray Jack was born and raised on the Gold Coast where he attended Somerset College. In 2005 he graduated from Bond University with a Bachelor of Business Law. Following graduation from university, Jack worked as Development Manager for the publicly listed Consolidated Properties Group and Trinity Funds Management Group in a role which included the construction management and leasing of several Coles and Woolworths anchored shopping centres. Prior to becoming Executive Director of Ray Group in 2009, Jack was Ray Group’s Director of Sales based in both its DP Village Mount Hotham and Salt Village, Kingscliff project marketing offices.

Nick Richards Nick is a former corporate banker turned Entrepreneur, who describes himself as a dedicated generalist. In his career he has started, scaled and exited multiple companies in the product, ecommerce and outsourced servicing spaces. He also serves on multiple boards and is an advisor to several startups across the globe. His current focus is Jitsy Club, a grappling and Jiu Jitsu apparel business, which just released an officially licensed range of Netflix - Stranger Things gear. He also has 2 startups in “dark mode” which are currently in the process of a seed through capital raise. He’s passionate about entrepreneurship, especially amongst kids and teens. He also loves Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and cats.

Tomas Steenackers Tomas has over 20 years’ experience in the veterinary and healthcare sectors with a focus on value chain synergy and business integration. Tomas was the Founder, CEO and Managing Director of National Veterinary Care which he developed and took to listing on the ASX (ASX:NVL) in 2015 with 34 veterinary businesses. Since listing, Tomas grew the business to a thriving market leading organisation of 103 veterinary clinics across Australia and New Zealand supported by 5 training facilities and complementary managed services. Prior to founding NVC, Tomas was the General Manager of Specialty, Emergency, and Pathology for Greencross Vets and has held senior roles with Terry White Management and Mayne Pharma.

Ben Hayden-Smith Ben Hayden-Smith has worked extensively throughout Asia and Australia/New Zealand over the past 20 years. Ben was previously a partner in More Super, an Australian based provider of compliance services for financial planning businesses and accounting firms until the company was sold to AMP. He is currently on the board of Arrow Health, a private medical group based in Melbourne. Ben is an adjunct lecturer at Bond Business School, where he teaches business model design and entrepreneurial finance. Ben has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and North East Asian Economies from Macquarie University and a Master of Business Administration from Bond University. He is often paddle boarding in the ocean or snowboarding in the mountains.

Steve Haslam Steve didn’t realise it at the time but as far back as he can remember, as a young boy, he was obsessed with nature and made sure he was in nature as much as possible. Now Steve 50 years old and with an established business and investments in place, he finally has the opportunity to embrace his passion. Steve is the founder of Quoll Headquarters, a 160 hectare fenced nature reserve of old growth forest, complex ecosystems and endangered species. A sanctuary of significance for generations to come.

Yasmin Grigaliunas Award-winning Yasmin Grigaliunas, CEO and Co-founder of the World’s Biggest Garage Sale (WBGS), is on a mission to turn Australia’s circular economy aspirations into reality while at the same time providing social good. In 2017 she ditched a lucrative salary to commit full-time to her role as CEO and Co-founder of WBGS, a Brisbane based impact enterprise designing solutions to commercialise the circular economy through the activation of dormant goods for good. Through this work, WBGS provides employment pathways and opportunities for disadvantaged youth. Yas is living proof that we can make a positive impact on people’s lives and the future of the planet.