Speakers

Michael Azrak | Vice President & Managing Director of ANZ, Moderna

With a career spanning more than 27 years in the biopharmaceutical industry across four continents, Michael is a globally experienced, values-driven business leader. In 2021, Michael was appointed by Moderna as the inaugural VP and General Manager for Australia & New Zealand, establishing Moderna’s commercial and manufacturing presence in ANZ. 

Prior to commencing at Moderna, Michael returned to Australia in 2018 as VP and Managing Director for MSD ANZ. From 2015 to 2017, Michael was based in Switzerland where he led the Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa (EEMENA) region. 

Previous to this role, he led the mature brands business unit across China, Japan and the Asia-Pacific region based in China, and was also Managing Director of MSD’s South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Michael is an active voice in the biopharmaceutical industry championing key priorities to secure the future of innovative medicines and supporting diversity and inclusion in all areas. Michael was a Board Director of Medicines Australia from 2019 to 2021, during which a significant Strategic Agreement was signed with the Commonwealth. 

Michael holds a Bachelor of Land Economics from the University of Western Sydney and an MBA from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management.

David Koczkar| Chief Executive Officer, Medibank 

David was appointed Chief Executive Officer in May 2021. 

He commenced at Medibank in 2014, holding the roles of Chief Operating Officer from March 2014 and then Group Executive – Chief Customer Officer from September 2016, where he was responsible for the performance of the Medibank and ahm Health Insurance and Diversified financial portfolios, and led the start-up of the Live Better program. David was also appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer between April 2016 and June 2016. 

Prior to joining Medibank, David was Group Chief Commercial Officer at Jetstar where he was responsible for growing and sustaining the business and leading its customer facing functions across Asia Pacific, having joined as part of the start-up team, and served as a Director of Jetstar Pacific (Vietnam), Jetstar Hong Kong and NewStar (Singapore) JV airlines. 

David has more than 25 years of strategy, innovation, commercial and operational experience, including previous work in the consulting and financial services industries. David is a Member of the Council of Management for the International Federation of Health Plans. 

Stuart Elliott | Co-CEO & CO-Founder, Planet Innovation

Stuart is a technology innovation expert and business leader with over 25 years’ experience and world-class expertise in the field of advanced technology product development and commercialisation.

Stuart has been the CEO of Planet Innovation since its inception in 2009. Prior to forming PI, Stuart held senior innovation and R&D roles for global biomedical companies initiating, defining and managing the development of medical diagnostic products. Stuart holds an Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Melbourne and MBA level training in finance, marketing, strategy and leadership.

 Mara Macdonald | Investment Manager, Brandon Capital

Before joining Brandon Capital, Mara was co-founder and COO of CytoVale, a San Francisco based startup developing a diagnostic for early sepsis detection. At CytoVale Mara was instrumental in building the company from concept to clinical studies.  

Prior to this, Mara worked as a key member of an interdisciplinary team at Third Rock Ventures in the US, where she was focused on launching transformative life science companies, including Nurix and Decibel.  Earlier, she worked with ClearView Healthcare Partners where she spearheaded commercial strategies and M&A due diligence on behalf of top 10 and speciality pharmaceutical clients across diverse therapeutic areas.

Mara is currently a director of Kimaritec.

Mara has a Bachelor of Science (Chemical Engineering) from University of Colorado Boulder and a PhD from the Harvard MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology in Medical and Chemical Engineering. Mara is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

The State Library of Victoria

The Conversation Quarter

Entrance 3 via La Trobe Street