Meet the MAD ambassadors:
We are driven to scale and support our portfolio companies from our first meeting to exit.
Help entrepreneurs reach their full potential, to inspire & fuel extraordinary companies, and to create sustainable global impact.
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Trena Blair
Trena is a highly accomplished global businesswoman and professional speaker who effortlessly transverses corporate and entrepreneurial communities transcontinental. A global citizen, Ms. Blair has lived and worked in Australia and the USA during her executive career, and since 2014 has focused on global expansion strategy development and execution.
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Lindley Edwards Ph.D
Lindley is a specialist adviser in M&A, divestments, fund raising, strategic consulting and licensing for growth in public and private companies, undertaking corporate transactions as well as focusing on social impact work across the globe. Lindley holds a PhD in Philosophy as well as two undergraduate degrees and several post graduate qualifications. She is a Senior Fellow of FINSIA plus admitted to the Australian Business women’s Hall of Fame.
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Peter Hillary
Peter Hillary is a mountaineer and the son of Sir Edmund Hillary. He works with foundations to provide health, environment and education services for the people in the Himalayas. He is on the board for seven Himalayan foundations around the world and is committed to caring for the people and communities, encouraging young people to adventure in the out of doors (to challenge themselves and learn about themselves in the process) and to being a good steward for our planet.
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Rachael McLennan
Rachael’s mission is to ensure governance and leadership excellence within the Australian charity sector, to drive greater social and environmental impact. She is the CEO and co-founder of People for Purpose, she was the founding CEO of Australian Philanthropic Services and currently serves on the Board of the Menzies Foundation for Leadership, the Advisory Councils of Raise Foundation, Generation Australia and is an Ambassador for the National Centre for Childhood Grief.
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Michelle Falzon
Michelle has more than 25 years experience in marketing and communications, including several years specialising in event marketing for globally renowned speakers and thought leaders. She has developed a unique combination of skills and experience to help you leverage your content, communicate your message and reach your market.
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David Thomas
David Thomas is well known in the Australian financial services industry for his long term experience in the wealth management sector in London, Hong Kong and Sydney. Over the past 20 years, working in his own business, he has been involved in a wide range of financial services activities for Chinese, Asian and Australian based clients.
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Adrienne Bateup-Carlson
Adrienne is a brand strategist with extensive global creative experience in senior roles with leading international agencies. She has delivered significant strategic projects in 8 countries including: 100% Pure New Zealand, Nike China pre 2028 Olympics, Mastercard Priceless Beijing, Vodafone culture change in 5 countries. Guest lecturer at Peking University and the University of Hong Kong, she also contributed to global thought leadership for Interpublic Group and Weber Shandwick.
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Sarah Pirie-Nally
Sarah bridges creativity, technology and impact to drive human capability and performance. In Chief Design Officer roles she has harnessed emerging tech to drive transformative change for large organisations. Sarah co-created the MBA in Design Thinking at RMIT and authored The Wonder Mindset, inspiring a new way of thinking and educating future leaders. She cofounded Wonder & Wander + Wonderlab; driving innovation and community growth and also founder of SHE EVOLVES; championing neurodiversity, mental health, and design.
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Peta Slack-Smith
Peta is a leading advisor in the Australian ag, food & fibre sector. A guide to business, industry, and government leaders through times of change, threats to reputation and social license, new operating environments, and changes in consumer and stakeholder expectations. Peta's experience covers public & private sectors at state and federal levels, ASX-100, ministerial office, member & advocacy organisations, statutory authorities, and start-ups bringing diverse perspectives and insight to the table.
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Ryan Levesque
7-time Inc. 5000 CEO, 2-time #1 Best-selling Author, and has generated over $100M in revenue, selling two of his companies. His work is featured in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and Forbes. Today, he serves as a Strategic Business Advisor to impact-driven companies, writes a weekly newsletter offering Unconventional Business Advice to over 100,000 subscribers, and is working on his next book.
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Piers Grove
Piers is a founder, leader, and advisor in the impact startup ecosystem. He is CEO of StartSomeGood, Chair of EnergyLab, Executive Director of Boomerang Labs, and Managing Director of Rocket Seeder. A long-standing Governor of WWF-Australia, he has also launched initiatives like Impact Ventures and the Impact Collective, supporting startups tackling social and environmental challenges. Piers champions innovation in clean energy, circular economy, and biodiversity, helping build scalable, purpose-driven businesses that drive measurable impact.
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Giles Gunesekera OAM
With over 30 years of leadership experience in the global financial and social impact sectors, Giles combines financial strategies with social justice to generate impactful investments that align with the UN SDGs. His leadership also extends to roles on the UN Advisory Boards for Climate & Health and Sustainable Finance, where he advocates for global sustainability and equitable growth. Giles has received an Order of Australia for his significant contributions to social welfare and community service and is currently an Industry Fellow at the University of Technology, Sydney.
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Trent Blacket
Trent has had extensive experience in the United States (Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, New York) in legal and commercial roles, and as an investor, across the EMT sectors. He is also co-founder ofcentr.com with Chris Hemsworth and Quadrant Private Equity. Trent has deep involvement with several non-profit organisations including the US Development Board of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
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Anna Sayer
Anna is a specialist in values-aligned investment. She brings 20 years of relationship, fundraising and investing experience from global institutional asset managers Throughout her career she has managed trusted account relationships with family offices, institutional investors, wealth platforms and investment consultants.
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Steve Pirie-Nally
Visionary leader, wellness enthusiast, and seasoned entrepreneur with a passion for transforming lives and businesses. Steve co-founded Unleashed Travel which was named one of Australia's BRW 100 fastest-growing startups, Pioneered Wonder & Wander, combining innovation consulting, travel, and learning to inspire a new way of thinking and being. He also founded Wonder Lab, Auckland's first wellbeing by design centre.
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Tina Tower
Tina is a bestselling author, sought after speaker and high performance business coach. She started, scaled and sold multiple businesses and won multiple awards in the process including My Business Magazine awards, the Australian Small Business Champions and the 2014 Telstra Australian Young Business Woman of the Year. Tina's mission is to help women to grow their businesses to have a life that they love, while their families and communities prosper so the world becomes a better place.
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Mark Rowland
Mark is the Chief Collaboration Officer at Greenhouse, a Sydney based climate action ecosystem and has dedicated the next decade of his life to support climate action and achieve the UN's goal of keeping global warming to less than 2 degrees from pre-industrial levels. Mark has spent his life studying, researching & enabling change in corporations, communities and accelerators. He is a four time multinational CEO who has worked with several of the world's leading brands to successfully implement new brand & strategy rollouts on a global scale.
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Michelle Duval
As a pioneer into new forms of learning, Michelle helped found the field of professional coaching in Australia in 1997 and became a leading voice forging developmental and transformational coaching worldwide. She has co-authored two international handbooks on coaching, is featured in 20+ books and sought out by media as a leading voice in the field. She has coached thousands of individuals locally and internationally including several unicorn founders.
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Jane Slack-Smith
Jane is a national multi award winning mortgage broker. She has worked with thousands of individuals and businesses and is passionate about helping people realise their financial freedom. Jane is the author of the highly acclaimed books, courses and podcasts. Jane brings a unique and creative perspective to business and is motivated to help other entrepreneurs create freedom and abundance in their lives.
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Claire Mula
Claire is Scaling Up coach and is an advisor to portfolio investors, incubators and Government innovation arms in both the Australian and German innovation ecosystems. Claire founded a tech-platform for the retail sector and has held executive and board roles in blue-chip media and manufacturing firms including Procter & Gamble and Fairfax. Claire is currently an Industry Fellow at the Transdisciplinary School, UTS and authored several publications on entrepreneurship and scaling.
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Binowee Bayles
Binowee is a dedicated advocate for social change, driven by a profound passion for making a difference in her community and Australia more broadly. With a background in financial services, cultural educational and community outreach, she has led numerous initiatives aimed at promoting sustainability and social equity. Binowee believes in the power of grassroots movements and actively collaborates with local organisations to empower marginalised voices. Her tireless commitment to creating a better world inspires those around her, making her a respected leader in the pursuit of positive change.
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Dale Beaumont
Dale is the author of 19 best-selling business books and the founder of Business Blueprint, an education company helping entrepreneurs build the business of their dreams. He has trained over 50,000 people and he has personally worked with over 2,500 businesses, across dozens of industries. Dale also launched Bizversity, the #1 ranked 'Business Growth' app in the AppStore and the winner of five awards.
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Charlotte Connell
Charlotte is an award-winning sustainability leader. As Climate Tech Ambassador for Greenhouse and Director of Impact for Climate Zeitgeist, Charlotte works at the nexus of climate innovation, investing and corporate demand. Charlotte founded The Sustainability Collective to democratise sustainability so that all businesses can create positive change for people, planet and a prosperous future.
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Jayne Gallagher
Jayne is passionate about connecting people to where their food comes from and the people who catch it, grow it, make it, and sell it. She has a wealth of experience in starting, expanding, and growing food businesses in both Australia and around the world. She’s skilled at spotting and turning new opportunities into success, creating strategies to enter markets, fostering innovation and adept at handling multicultural negotiations.
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Emma Coath
Emma is a respected Australian agrifood business leader passionate about advancing solutions for global challenges like food security, sustainability, and health. She connects entrepreneurs and researchers with investment and market opportunities, leveraging her deep network and industry expertise to drive collaboration and knowledge exchange. Currently, she serves as Executive Chair of Rocket Seeder and Non-Executive Director of The Impact Club, Australia’s first impact investing network. Emma has received multiple scholarships and honours for academic excellence and business innovation.