Australia's Leading MBA Conference

Emilio Romeo was appointed CEO & Managing Director of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand in January 2016 following eight years as a member of the ANZ leadership team.  He is member of the Leadership team for Market Area South East Asia, India and Oceania.  

Emilio was formerly the Director, Telstra Customer Unit where he was responsible for securing and building Ericsson’s strategic partnership over five years.  Prior to this he was the Director, Vodafone Hutchinson Australia Customer Unit and Director, Hutchinson and 3GIS Customer Units.  

An active contributor to the industry, bilingual Emilio is also a Board Member of the the European Australian Business Council, the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (including Chair of the Finance Committee) and the Melbourne Networked Society Institute (The University of Melbourne) in an advisory capacity. 

Darrell Wade is the co-founder of Intrepid Travel and Executive Chair of the Intrepid Group, the world’s largest provider of adventure travel experiences.  In 1989 Darrell and his best mate Geoff Manchester created a style of travel that would benefit travellers and the places and people they visit.  

During the course of his career, Darrell has been recognised as a leader in entrepreneurship and as a passionate advocate for sustainable tourism. He spearheaded Intrepid’s climate management programme, with the company realising its goal of becoming carbon neutral in 2010. Darrell was selected as one of the first group of Australians to complete Climate Project training with the Hon Mr Al Gore. In 2016 Darrell he was one of 17 Australian business leaders to sign a statement of support for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

His achievements include winning the NAB SmartCompany Award, and being named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002. Darrell is a board member of Melbourne-based social enterprise Good Cycles, a mentor for the University of Melbourne’s entrepreneurship programme, and he is also on the Executive Committee of the World Travel and Tourism Council. 

Katherine Jackman is an Investment Analyst with life science venture capital firm Brandon Capital. Prior to joining, Katherine was based in academia working in the field of experimental stroke. She spent 5 years at Weil Cornel Medicine NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital as a NHMRC CJ Martin and American Australian Association Sir Keith Murdoch fellow, before returning to the Florey Institute in Melbourne. During her time in academia she published 19 research papers and secured nationally competitive research funding.

Katherine has a Bachelor of Science degree with first class Honours from The University of Melbourne, a PhD in Pharmacology (University of Melbourne) and will complete her MBA at Melbourne Business School in May.