I am pleased to announce today the appointment of four new Senior Investment Commissioners.
The continued ability to win overseas investment into Australia is a critical determinant of our future prosperity and these Commissioners will play an important role in the Government's national investment attraction framework.
The new Commissioners are Mr Robert Hunt, Ms Joanne Wood, Ms Nicola Watkinson and Mr Tak Adachi. They will spearhead Australia's investment attraction effort in key markets in the United States Europe and Asia, and will be based in San Francisco, Shanghai, Frankfurt and Tokyo respectively.
Today's announcement comes on top of the recent appointment of Mr Garry Draffin as Chief Executive Officer of the revamped Invest Australia and the launch last December of the Government's national investment framework Global Returns.
The implementation of national strategic framework for investment attraction and promotion meets an important election commitment.
The national framework being implemented by Invest Australia entails a rolling three year marketing plan and has established priorities for pursuing investment promotion in information and communications technology; biotechnology and nanotechnology; and investment facilitation concentrated on energy and mining.
Work is also continuing with the state and territory governments and the private sector to better secure a coordinated approach to investment attraction.
A brief profile of the Investment Commissioners is attached.
19 March 2003 INVEST AUSTRALIA - SENIOR INVESTMENT COMMISSIONERS
Mr Robert Hunt - Senior Investment Commissioner, United States
Mr Hunt has extensive experience in marketing to the ICT industry. He worked for a number of IT software companies before joining Austrade in Los Angeles. After almost ten years with Austrade in various roles, Mr Hunt joined PriceWaterhouseCoopers as Director of Business Development/Technology where he managed the company's national business development programme targeting emerging small/medium Australian technology companies. More recently, Mr Hunt has managed his own company which markets software globally.
Ms Joanne Wood, Senior Investment Commissioner, China
Ms Wood lives in Hong Kong and has had over 20 years experience in the Asia region. Ms Wood's private sector experience includes management of mergers and acquisitions in the Chinese market, having conducted her own mergers and acquisitions advisory service. Her educational background includes degrees in economics and languages, a diploma in education and an MBA from London Business School.
Ms Wood was the chair of the Chinese department at Essendon Grammar School in Melbourne before taking up a position with a strategic management consulting company in Beijing. She then moved to Hong Kong to join an investment bank before moving to the Union Bank of Switzerland to work on European and American mergers and acquisitions. Later, as a director with Jardine Fleming and GE Capital (both in Hong Kong), Ms Wood continued her focus on international finance and business development.
Ms Wood is fluent in Mandarin and also speaks German, French and Portuguese.
Ms Nicola Watkinson, Senior Investment Commissioner, Europe
Prior to joining Invest Australia, Ms Watkinson was based in Frankfurt as the Investment Manager for the European Office of the Victorian Government. An important focus for her role had been to develop a new proactive marketing strategy for investment attraction to the State of Victoria from the Scandinavian region. Prior to this posting, Ms Watkinson worked in various areas of the Victorian Department of State and Regional Development in Melbourne, including the Office of Manufacturing and the North Asia Branch where she was Director. Ms Watkinson has also held a number of positions in the private sector in the United Kingdom including with the electronics company, Quantum Pursuits Limited where she established the company's European sales office in Germany and managed the international launch of its new entertainment game.
Ms Watkinson has been a board member of several bilateral business councils including the Australia-Korea Business Council; the Australia-Taiwan Business Council and the Australia-China Business Council.
Mr Tak Adachi - Senior Investment Commissioner, Japan
Mr Adachi has 15 years experience in banking and management consulting with a particular emphasis on Australia-Japan partnerships.
Mr Adachi joined Anderson Consulting as a summer intern while studying for his MBA, becoming a full-time consultant upon completion of his studies. He was involved in a variety of projects in areas such as organisational strategy and mergers and acquisitions. Mr Adachi has also worked with Jones Lang La Salle, Macquarie Bank and Deutsche Bank where he held the position of Director of global markets.
Mr Adachi studied in both Japan and Australia, obtaining a Bachelor of Law degree from Tokyo and an MBA from the AGSM at the University of NSW.