Industry Development

When it comes to great websites, excellence is subjective and the goal posts constantly shift.  I was the national Chair of Judges for the Australian Web Awards  from July 2014 to July 2016. These are Australia’s major awards to recognize excellent websites.

I’m also a Judge for the WA IT&T Awards (WAITTA), and have been judging these awards for over 15 years. These are now called the Incite Awards, run by the WA IT&T Alliance.  I was also a Judge for the Yellow Pages eCommerce Awards.

Building the web and Internet industry is important to me. I was the President of the Western Australian Internet Association (WAIA) from 2004-2008, and 2012-14.  Over the years, WAIA grew to become the Internet Association of Australia (IAA). Amongst other things, the IAA runs the IX Australia Internet Peering Exchange services.  This helps keeps the Internet infrastructure used by Internet Service Providers in Australia and New Zealand fast, functional and affordable. We need viable and profitable ISPs and we need fast Internet. IX Australia helps a lot, but the ‘compromise camel’  of the NBN could have been a lot better. It’s such a shame that the original vision of the national fibre network was not built.

I was a member of the Information Industry Forum, and was a founding board member of the Information & Communications Technology Industry Collaboration Centre.

In 2015, I also did a stint on the Board of the Agribusiness Council of Australia. It’s an interesting sector, especially as agribusiness transforms in the digital age.

Advisory Work
In my business advisory work, I’m a digital strategist, strategic marketer and a strategic trouble-shooter. My clients tell me they value my experience, commercial creativity, clear thinking and straight-talking.

I’ve been involved in 18 different SME (Small-Medium Enterprise) businesses over the past 40 years, and worked through 7 different business exit strategies. I’ve gathered substantial experience in how to successfully build, scale (or not) and sell different SME businesses. I’ve also learnt how not to sell a business, and I’m happy to share these experiences with others…

In The Media
I’ve appeared as a specialist commentator on online business and the Internet in the press and on various radio and television programs including news bulletins, Today Tonight and A Current Affair. I was the Internet Expert on ABC TV’s Can We Help program’s “Ask The Expert” segment.

Internet Business Corporation (IBC)
From 1995 to 2008, I was the Managing Director of the Internet Business Corporation Ltd (IBC), a business I founded, built and successfully operated for 13 years and sold in 2008. In this time, my team and I consulted with and advised many of Australia’s leading organisations in how to discover, understand and successfully use the Internet for business.

At IBC, we built a team of clever web marketers, web designers and web developers who built and launched hundreds of successful online business websites. We also started, built and ultimately sold the digital marketing agency, Tentacle.

Business Publishing & The Internet
Prior to the online world, I was the founder and Editor of Business Directions magazine, a nationally distributed magazine for business owners we ran from 1987 to 1995. The purpose of Business Directions was to tap into the expertise and experiences of business owners and share these learnings amongst others. During this time I had the opportunity to meet and interview many business leaders and influential thinkers; my favorite highlights including Robert Kiyosaki, Edward De Bono and the Body Shop’s founder Anita Roddick.

In 1990, I published The Success Book, a 460 page hard-back anthology featuring inspiring stories of the challenges, struggles, failures and successes of fifty Western Australian-based quiet achievers in business.

Back in 1993–1995, my publishing company was selected for the Federal Government’s Best Practice program. As part of this, we conducted extensive studies into emerging technology for electronic publishing, electronic marketing and online business. This was during the very early days of the commercialisation of the Internet. The insights gained during these studies led to the development of he Internet Business Corporation Ltd (IBC).

In 2001, I participated in an extensive study tour of Silicon Valley, USA organized by the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

This provided many fascinating insights… especially in the wake of the  huge dot.com tech bubble bursting.  The Hype Cycle was right in the Trough of Disillusionment.

Seminars, Workshops & Training
I’m a qualified trainer with a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment in the workplace. I enjoy helping non-technical business owners understand online business trends and tools. Over the years, I’ve been a workshop presenter and keynote conference speaker, and have presented Internet business seminars and workshops throughout Australia, New Zealand and in the USA.

Over the years I have been a member of different business groups. I’m a past Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, a past Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and and a past Fellow of the Customer Service Institute of Australia.

Family, Fun and Freo
I live in Perth, Western Australia. I’m married to the gorgeous Jane, and we have three wonderful children. I enjoy travelling, fishing, scuba diving, getting fit, cooking, cycling, and wine tasting.  I follow the Fremantle Dockers AFL football team. (And yes, it can be bloody hard to be a Dockers supporter.)