Dr Alex Birrell has worked in the Australian technology sector for over 15 years. After starting her career as a veterinarian, Alex undertook a PhD in diabetic medicine at the University of Sydney. While completing her PhD, she was the manager of a research unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital undertaking work in renal medicine, cardiovascular disease and hypertension and organ transplantation. During this time Alex worked with medical companies such as CSL in their late stage product development programs.

In 2002 Alex won a Chief Executive Women's Scholarship to do an MBA at the AGSM. Following the MBA, Alex moved to PricewaterhouseCoopers in Financial Services. In this role she worked closely with a number of private and listed companies in the strategy, due diligence, operational reviews, licensing and risk management. In 2007, she took the role of vice president of operations in a public unlisted biotechnology company developing a drug for the respiratory market. Alex is currently a Director, Commercialisation at the ATP Innovations - Australia's largest concentration of entrepreneurs. Alex works with high growth technology companies to build value by developing a robust strategy, securing investment, gaining customer traction and accessing government support.

Recently Alex was invited to join the working party to review the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace (EOWW) Act.

Sue Klose was appointed publisher of Carsguide, News Limited's national print and online automotive division in January 2010. Sue is responsible for overseeing the newly formed division's operations, and developing and implementing national editorial and marketing strategies. Sue is also a board member of CareerOne, News Limited's online careers joint venture with Monster Worldwide.

Prior to her appointment at Carsguide, Sue was News Digital Media's director of corporate development overseeing growth opportunities including acquisitions and investments, as well as mobile applications for content. Under her leadership the corporate development group completed investments in travel comparison site Wego.com, comparison shopping site Getprice.com.au and participant sports site SportingPulse. Sue also played a key role in the creation of the CareerOne joint venture with Monster Worldwide.

Sue joined News after seven years with the Tribune Publishing in Chicago, most recently as director of planning with responsibility for the strategic planning process and critical cross-business unit projects for Tribune's newspaper businesses. She also served as director of business development for the Chicago Tribune and director of strategy for the Tribune's classifieds business where she played a key role in identifying, negotiating and integrating several key online classified partnerships.

Sue holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelors degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Sara has over 20 years international experience in senior client facing and middle office roles in the banking and finance industry and now has her own firm, saralucas.com.au where she leverages her experience from the finance sector for emerging entrepreneurs.

Previously with Macquarie Bank, Sara managed key partnerships with a portfolio of ASX 20 clients, and internally across multiple Macquarie divisions. Her recent achievements include the successful divestiture of Macquarie Margin Lending NZ at an above market price premium, leading a c$100m loan finance de-risking project, and leadership of a sales team driving loan volumes of $2bn+ pa. During that time, the GFC was responsible for the emergence of a number of critical B2B and B2C strategic and operational issues, the majority of which were negotiated and resolved under her stewardship.

Sara has been a Marketing and Capital Raising Adviser to hedge fund Freshwater Capital Management, advising on efforts to raise the firm's initial seed capital, and establish the compliance infrastructure and investment philosophy. She also served as National Manager of Rothschild Australia Asset Management's Key Accounts group, taking a lead role in designing and implementing key account management methodologies and leading the team to drive 180% growth in fund net flows over three years. Other leadership and management positions Sara has held in wealth management were with BT Financial Group, TTG Hong Kong, AON Consulting UK, MetLife UK and Lloyds Life UK.

In working to build sustainable, high value operations, Sara focuses on growth opportunities, where the investment and risk to undertake and complete deals and secure partnerships are balanced by significant long term gains for both parties.

Sara is married and lives in Sydney with her young family of 3 boys.

Janet is a consultant, coach and operational leader who has spent the last 9 years at McKinsey & Company (USA). Most recently, Janet was Director of Professional Development for McKinsey's West Coast Practice, a COO role where she led the 10-person team responsible for people development and deployment. In this role, Janet was responsible for most aspects of the practice's operations - including staffing, revenue management and strategic planning, and spent the balance of her time leading special projects on behalf of the Managing Director. During her tenure, the practice achieved record financial results, based on key initiatives around staffing and capacity management, while maintaining scores on key attitudinal/morale surveys.

Prior to this, Janet was a senior Engagement Manager - leading teams and serving clients on marketing, sales, and organization issues across a variety of industries including Energy, Financial Services, and Retail & Consumer Products.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Janet was a Regional Sales Manager with Procter & Gamble, and a marketing manager for McDonald's restaurants.

A Canadian by birth, married to a Kiwi, Janet has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management (with Distinction) and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia.

Melissa is a General Partner at SeaPoint Ventures, a US based venture capital firm focused on early stage technology investments. She is the cofounder of 7Software, an enterprise software company providing web based applications for corporate e-procurement. As CEO, Melissa managed the company from inception to a successful acquisition by Concur Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNQR), resulting in a 10X return to investors. Previously, Melissa was the CEO of Northwest Supply, an industrial products manufacturer and distributor, where she managed the company to an acquisition, resulting in a 15X return to investors.

She was the founder and President of the Northwest Chapter of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and a member of the board of the Alliance of Angels. Melissa served as a lecturer at the University of Washington's Graduate School of Business where she taught courses on venture capital and entrepreneurship. Melissa is a founding member of the Sydney Angels, a group focused on investments in early stage companies.

She is an active angel investor, who has structured and led financing rounds for technology and consumer goods focused companies. Melissa served as a board director on several US based venture backed technology companies as well as a director on the University of Washington, Bothell's Business School Advisory Board. Melissa holds a Masters degree from Stanford University and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Washington. Melissa relocated to Sydney in 2009.