Victorian State iAwards Gala Dinner

Executive Director, Innovation, Digital and Bio Economy, Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions

Andrew is the Executive Director for the Innovation, Digital and Bio Economy branch within the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions. His role is to drive innovation policy and foster the growth of knowledge industries in the State, such as digital technology, biotechnology and professional services.

Andrew is an innovative senior executive with proven strategy and implementation skills. He has a strong capacity to lead creative thinking, problem solving and successful business development. Andrew has led a state statutory body as CEO (Trade and Investment Queensland) and had leadership roles in innovative business units both within major corporations and in stand-alone start up companies such as Better Place Australia, Australian Vinyls Corporation and Onesteel Ltd.

He has also worked offshore for the Australian Trade Commission in Singapore and San Francisco.

Andrew has a passion for putting Australian business ideas on the map.

CEO, Girl Geek Academy

Sarah Moran is CEO and co-founder of Girl Geek Academy, a movement to help inspire one million women into technology by 2025.

Sarah established Girl Geek Academy in 2014 alongside her four fellow co-founders Lisy Kane, Tammy Butow, Amanda Watts and April Staines, as a place to learn, connect and inspire change. Girl Geek Academy programs are for girls from the age of five right through to 95.

Helping inspire a generational shift in the way political leaders, schools, young girls and professional women think about and practice STEM, Girl Geek Academy has trained more than 1000 teachers in #MissMakesCode, the world’s first hackathon for girls aged five to eight. That equates to a reach of more than 10,000 students in Australia now exposed to STEM education from the age of five.

Girl Geek Academy is also behind Australia’s first all-women hackathon, #SheHacks, and Australia’s first all-women makerfest, #SheMakes. An Anthill Smart 100 finalist, it partnered with the Victorian government to deliver a hackathon tackling family violence in Australia and launched the world’s largest all-women incubator. Always innovating, this year the academy broadened its youth focus with a cyber security pop-up workshop for tweens, aged 9-13.

In 2018, Sarah won the Australian Women’s Weekly Woman of the Future award in the Entrepreneur and Business category and was awarded the QUT Young Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alumni Award. Sarah is also a finalist for Cosmopolitan Woman of the Year. In 2017 Sarah joined the panel on the Network Ten and Foxtel Lifestyle topical news show, Common Sense.

An active community contributor, Sarah works with the Leonardo group and Science Gallery Melbourne, is a member of the Victorian Minister’s Advisory Council for Gender Equality, an ambassador for Brisbane City Council’s youth program, Visible Ink, and is a member of the Future of Work Summit advisory board. She also sits on the VicHealth Youth Taskforce and is a VicHealth champion.

CEO, Blamey Saungders hears

Michelle is a leader with over 20 years’ experience in healthcare in Australia and New Zealand. She is passionate about working alongside her people to create engagement and inspire performance.

Michelle is CEO of Blamey Saunders hears, the award-winning tele-health and hearing aid company based in Melbourne. She leads the organisation in meeting the challenge of championing a digital healthcare model that enables clients to take control of their hearing using online tools while providing access to varying levels of partnering clinical support.

Engineer and DevOps Manager, Blamey Saunders Hears

Yaniv Kaufman oversees the design, development and production of new products, including Facett, at Blamey Saunders Hears. He combines creative client-centred design with cutting edge technology.

Yaniv began his Bachelor of Computer Science at Haifa University, Israel at the age of 15 before moving to Australia where he completed a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (honours) at the University of Melbourne. Before joining Blamey Saunders Hears in 2014, and in parallel to his University studies, Yaniv pursued research in the fields of Neuroscience and Numerical optimisation at the University of Melbourne, and research in Optics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA.