Alliance Award Winners and New US Ambassador - AmCham CEO End of Year Message

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December 2021

The Inaugural AmCham Alliance Awards Gala celebrated excellence in the fields of: AI, Biotechnology, Clean Energy, Digital Economy, Quantum, and Space. The finalists were an exceptionally talented group of trailblazers with strong connections to the United States and Australia. Thank you to the almost 600 members and guests who signed up for the event. It was a very special night where we also celebrated a new Lifetime Honorary Member (only AmCham’s second one in 60 years), Hugh Burne. You can read more about Hugh’s 50 years of service to the Chamber . We also celebrated many long time AmCham members who have been supporting Australia-US connections for 40, 50, or even 60 years. The long time companies present at the Awards Ceremony received trophies and recognition from AmCham Chairman Dr Brendan Nelson AO. That same night, the acting US Ambassador, Chargé d’Affaires Mike Goldman, launched the new report series by KPMG and AmCham. These reports will dive deep into each of the six identified future industries over the course of the next 18 months. And finally, at the end of the evening, we announced the new Fulbright Professional Alliance Scholarship, funded through the generous contributions of attendees and with the support of several donors. If you would like to see photos from the evening, . To see a full list of winners click .

On the night of the Gala, we also announced our new GM in Victoria, Tully Smith and new National Academy Lead, Evelyn Labrum. Evelyn is based in Sydney but will oversee the AmCham Global Leadership Academy in all six cities where it operates.

 

Allow me to close by thanking all of you, the AmCham Family, for your partnership, engagement, and commitment to the alliance throughout a challenging year. Here’s to a safe, healthy, and happy Christmas break, and we look forward to seeing you at one of our exciting events in early 2022, such as our or our events in , , and .

 

Yours sincerely,

 

April Palmerlee

Chief Executive Officer

American Chamber of Commerce in Australia

 

(02) 8031 9000

[email protected]

I’m delighted to welcome these new members and here are links to their websites:

Member Spotlight

Tully Smith joins AmCham as General Manager VIC

 

Tully Smith joined the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia as General Manager in 2021. Having built his career in Corporate Affairs he is an experienced Company Director and a seasoned executive who has held leadership roles in government, sport and business, including for top ten ASX companies.

 

Australian born, Tully is a steadfast supporter of the Australian US alliance. With an entrenched belief that the freedoms enjoyed across both our countries today are only possible because of the sacrifice of so many Australians and Americans before us. Tully believes that today the alliance has never been stronger or more important, it is this passion that Tully brings to the role at AmCham.

 

In 2020 Tully left his role in corporate affairs with Telstra Corporation to embark on an entrepreneurial venture. Not his first rodeo, Tully has been involved in a number of start-ups as a founder, board member and investor.

 

Success as a strategist has seen Tully twice included as a member of the Ipsos Reputation Council, considered as the definitive list of the worlds most influential communicators. A passionate member of the community, Tully sits on a number of not for profit boards and his work has been recognised with a Prime Minister of Australia’s Award for Service to the Community.

 

Tully will be based from the Melbourne CBD office located in International Chamber House, in his home state of Victoria. Tully lives in Melbourne’s West, one of the fastest growing communities in Australia, with his partner Agnes and their three adopted dogs.

Member Spotlight

Eleni Sideridis

Managing Director | 3M Australia and New Zealand

 

Eleni started her career as a lawyer in the product liability group of the law firm, Clayton Utz. In 2001, she moved to an in-house legal role at 3M Australia. Eleni has held various ANZ and APAC leadership roles during her 20-year career at 3M including APAC and ANZ Legal Counsel in addition to subject matter expert roles for Labour and Employment, Healthcare, and Data Privacy.

 

Eleni currently holds a dual role at 3M Australia. She has served as ANZ General Counsel since 2011 and was appointed ANZ Managing Director in October 2021.

 

Childhood dream job?

My childhood dream job would have to be a career in medicine or the medical sciences. Whilst my career and studies took a slight detour when moving to law after an honours degree in medical science, I did end up in a dream job for a prominent science-based company. 20 years later, I am proudly still with 3M.

 

Favourite movie?

The Shawshank Redemption with its simple but powerful message: the journey is more important than the destination, and, even in the most hellish of circumstances and environments we can develop a rewarding and worthwhile existence based on hope, perseverance, and compassion. This is one of the few movies that I can watch repeatedly.

 

What historical event do you wish you were either a part of, or were able to experience?

The signing of one of the most important legal documents, the Magna Carta, which was a turning point in human rights.

 

Who do you most admire?

The frontline workers and other essential workers that leave the safety of their homes each day to help others knowing that they themselves are at risk.

 

Dream dinner companion?

Marie Curie would be an inspiring dinner companion. Not only did she develop the theory of radioactivity and pioneered the use of radiation to treat cancer, but she was also a wife and a mother. I would ask her what advice she would give young females considering a career in STEM, her views on work life balance, and so much more.

 

Best advice you ever received?

Paint the worst-case scenario and cover it.

Company Spotlight

Ground-breaking platform builds digital twins that help farmers maximise yields, optimise sustainability

CSIRO, Microsoft, Agronomeye

 

A collaboration among Australian ag-tech startup Agronomeye, Microsoft, and Australia’s national science agency CSIRO will aim to unlock the full value of on-farm data, enabling farmers to optimise profitability and sustainability.

 

The new platform will bring together disparate data sets to help farmers see a fuller picture of their own property, above and below the surface.

 

This new platform takes real-time data and puts it into the hands of farmers in a way that is easy to use and simple to interpret – so they can confidently make critical decisions, like matching their sowing timetable to soil moisture profiles or planning water catchment systems based on the natural flow patterns of their properties.

 

Agronomeye is now looking to make that same capability accessible to farmers across Australia through their AgTwin platform, which delivers a detailed “Digital Foundation” of the complete farming system combined with next gen modelling capabilities and dynamic overlays.

 

At CSIRO’s Boorowa Agricultural Research Station, the AgTwin platform is used to present a rich collection of data channelled through CSIRO’s Senaps platform and Microsoft Azure FarmBeats. Azure FarmBeats is a research project from Microsoft Research that has developed into a complete data integration and aggregation platform in the cloud. It brings together multiple agricultural data sets – including data sourced from in-soil and on-farm sensors, satellite imagery and drones as well as Bureau of Meteorology data, which can be analysed using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

 

Lee Hickin, CTO, Microsoft ANZ said; “Agriculture is one of Australia’s primary industries that now has the opportunity to reimagine many practices thanks to access to up-to-date and reliable insights. AI and data combine to deliver real-time insights, visualised in an intuitive way, allowing individual farmers to use technology to develop an accurate digital twin of their farm and use that to plan what to plant, when to harvest, and how to manage the environment.”

 

Member Spotlight

Adele Fiene | ANZ

Adele Fiene has taken the role at ANZ as the new State General Manager for Business Banking SA/NT.

 

Adele has 18 years experience at ANZ across various roles and and brings a strong community focus in SA and NT to her new role.

Air Marshal (Ret’d) Warren McDonald AO | Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin has confirmed that Air Marshal (Ret’d) Warren McDonald AO, CSC, former Chief of Joint Capabilities for the Royal Australian Air Force, has been appointed as chief executive of Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand (LMANZ).

 

His new role at LMANZ is effective immediately, and comes following a career of over 40 years in the RAAF.

Network News

Joe Biden has nominated Caroline Kennedy as his ambassador to Australia

 

President Joe Biden has nominated Caroline Kennedy as the next US Ambassador to Australia. Kennedy is the sole surviving child of former US president John F. Kennedy. Besides being a part of one of the most well-known American political dynasties, she also served as Ambassador to Japan (2013-2017), the first female to hold that position. Should she be confirmed by the US Senate, Kennedy would be the second woman to hold the title of US Ambassador to Australia. The most recent US Ambassadors to Australia were:

 

Genta Holmes: 1997-2000

Edward (Skip) Gnehm: 2000- 2001

Thomas Schieffer: 2001-2005

Robert McCallum, Jr.: 2006-2009

Jeff Bleich: 2009-2013

John Berry: 2013-2016

Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr.: 2019-2021

 

The current head of the US Mission is acting ambassador Michael B. Goldman, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Caroline Kennedy's nomination must now be formally approved by the Senate before she can move to Australia and take up the role. This could be a slow process. The Biden administration has nominated 80 ambassadors so far, but only 13 have been confirmed. There are currently 180 empty ambassador positions.

BHP to proceed with Unification proposal

BHP

 

BHP has announced a final Board decision to unify BHP’s corporate structure under its existing Australian parent company, BHP Group Limited.

 

The Board believes unification is in the best interests of BHP shareholders. It will result in a corporate structure that is simpler and more efficient, reduces duplication and streamlines BHP’s governance and internal processes. A unified structure will also improve flexibility for portfolio reshaping to maximise shareholder value over the long-term, including facilitating a simpler separation of the Petroleum business.

 

Boeing Uncrewed Teaming Aircraft Advances Flight Testing

Boeing

 

Boeing Australia has expanded its flight-test program of the Boeing Airpower Teaming System, with two aircraft successfully completing separate flight missions at the Woomera Range Complex recently.

 

The first Loyal Wingman aircraft developed with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) demonstrated a range of key characteristics during the test flights to continue to expand the flight envelope. A second aircraft also successfully completed its first flight mission.

 

“It is so exciting seeing two aircraft in the air as the Loyal Wingman continues to excel in the flight-test program,” said Air Vice-Marshal Cath Roberts, RAAF Head of Air Force Capability. “This opens up significant capability agility for Air Force, particularly with features such as the reconfigurable nose.”

 

Aussies have mixed priorities in protection of essential services - PwC Community Attitudes Survey

PwC

 

Australians are increasingly concerned as cybersecurity incidents and data breaches continue to rise. However, when it comes to essential services such as water, gas or electricity, telecommunications, transport or hospital and healthcare, Australian consumers still value privacy just as equally as access to essential services. A new survey by PwC Australia of over 2,000 Australian consumers was conducted to gain their insights on cybersecurity in relation to the country’s critical infrastructure assets and understand how it impacts their everyday lives.

 

According to the survey, Australians are just as concerned about a cyber attack involving their sensitive personal data being stolen (42%) as they are about a cyber attack that disables an essential service (41%). This is particularly pronounced among Australian youth with 42% of those aged 18-24 more worried about their personal data being stolen compared to 37% aged 65 and over. In contrast, nearly half (47%) of Australians aged 65 and over were more concerned about an essential service being impacted by a cyber incident. Australians living in regional and rural areas rated continued access to essential services over data privacy compared to those in capital cities.

 

New Director Identification Number requirements now in place

Mazars

 

Directors of new and existing Australian entities need to take action. From November 2021, new and existing Directors of Australian companies will need to apply for and verify their identity as part of the new statutory requirements which assists regulators to track and combat illegal company phoenix activities.

 

AmCham Jobs Board

 

As a member benefit, AmCham members can now advertise vacancies on the AmCham .

 

To advertise please email the following information to :

 

Job title, location, link to the job advertisement (your preferred employment agency website or your company website) and the close date for applications.

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