Curtin Commercialisation Advisory Panel (CAP)
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The Curtin Commercialisation Advisory Panel (CAP) is a group of early-stage venture and innovation experts who provide guidance to support the development and growth of new commercial opportunities emerging from the Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship pipeline.

Panel members

Adam Yap

Adam Yap

Andrew Glucina

Andrew Glucina

Anna Guerrero

Anna Guerrero

Bill Tai

Bill Tai

Denise Goldsworthy

Denise Goldsworthy

Ivana Deng

Ivana Deng

Katharine Giles

Katharine Giles

Kemal Anbarci

Kemal Anbarci

Larry Lopez

Larry Lopez

Marvin Liao

Marvin Liao

Matt Macfarlane

Matt Macfarlane

Rob Nathan

Rob Nathan

Rob Newman

Rob Newman

Rod Hayes

Rod Hayes

Shahira Gardner

Shahira Gardner

Shannon Finlay

Shannon Finlay

Contact us

If you have a technology or research outcome that you feel could be commercialised, the first step is to disclose it to the Curtin Commercialisation team. Reach out to a member of our friendly Commercialisation team today to start the process.

Contact us

Adam Yap

Co-Founder, HealthEngine

Adam Yap is an entrepreneur, business strategist and product leader best known as the Co-Founder of HealthEngine, one of Australia’s leading digital health platforms. He has extensive experience building and scaling technology-driven businesses, with expertise spanning product development, strategy and innovation. Adam specialises in solving complex challenges that combine technical, commercial and strategic considerations, translating these into practical and actionable solutions. His approach is grounded in Lean Startup methodologies, first-principles thinking and a strong focus on execution and continuous improvement.

Andrew Glucina

APAC Innovation Ecosystems Manager, Woodside Energy

Andrew Glucina is APAC Innovation Ecosystems Manager at Woodside Energy, working at the intersection of industry, research, and venture to accelerate technology adoption and commercial outcomes. With a background in process engineering and experience across upstream oil and gas, Andrew focuses on translating technical capability into deployable solutions that improve asset performance and reduce emissions intensity. Andrew has led cross-sector collaborations with universities, startups, and global partners to progress offshore energy, decarbonisation and circular economy initiatives.

Anna Guerrero

CEO & Co-Founder, Clove

Anna Guerrero is the Co-Founder and CEO of Clove, an AI-powered platform that helps users turn saved recipes into personalised meal plans. Prior to founding Clove, Anna was an early employee at Canva, joining in 2014 and holding leadership roles including Head of Content & Discovery. In this role, she focused on global acquisition strategies and improving how users discovered and engaged with creative assets across the platform. Anna’s experience spans technology, product growth, content strategy and user engagement.

Bill Tai

ACTAI Global

Bill Tai is a venture capitalist and technology entrepreneur who has been investing in startups since 1991. Over his career, he has backed more than 20 companies that later became publicly listed, including early investments in Canva, Zoom and Dapper Labs. Companies he has been involved with at their starts surpassed $1 Trillion in aggregate market value in 2021. Bill is Chairman of ACTAI Global and is an Adjunct Professor at Curtin University.

Denise Goldsworthy

Chair of the Board of Directors, Gascoyne Gateway Limited

Denise Goldsworthy is an experienced non-executive director and former C-suite executive with extensive experience across the manufacturing, infrastructure, mining, defence, technology and innovation sectors. Her background includes full profit and loss accountability and significant experience working across both executive leadership and board governance environments. Denise has worked with a range of private, public and NFP organisations and is recognised for her strategic decision-making and leadership across complex operational and organisational challenges.

Ivana Deng

Senior Policy Advisor to Hon. Stephen Dawson MLC

Ivana Deng is a Senior Policy Advisor covering innovation, the digital economy and space industries within a State Ministerial office. She previously oversaw strategic programs for the WA Data Science Innovation Hub. Her multidisciplinary career spans health data science, veterinary medicine and surgery, corporate communications, government strategy and most recently advising on policy settings and support mechanisms to uplift emerging industries.

Katharine Giles

CEO & Managing Director, OncoRes Medical

Dr Katharine Giles is the Chief Executive Officer of OncoRes Medical and has extensive experience across venture capital, commercialisation and medical technology startups. She joined Brandon Capital Partners in 2012 following her role as an Investment Manager at Stone Ridge Ventures, specialising in seed and early-stage technology investments. Kath is a Non-Executive Director of Sonic Healthcare, has startup experience across medical applications, diagnostics and fitness technologies and is a registered medical practitioner.

Kemal Anbarci

VP & Managing Executive, Chevron Technology Ventures

Kemal Anbarci serves as the Managing Executive and General Manager of Venture Capital at Chevron Technology Ventures, the longest-running and continuously operating corporate venture capital (CVC) arm in the energy industry. He has held this position since 2013. With over 30 years at Chevron, Kemal has held diverse roles spanning engineering, technology strategy, and commercial functions. He holds a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey; an M.S. in Operations Research; M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from Pennsylvania State University; and an MBA from the University of California, Irvine. Kemal is passionate about advancing innovation in energy and fostering strategic partnerships that shape the future of the industry.

Larry Lopez

Principal, Atherton Ventures

Larry Lopez has been financing technology and early-stage ventures since 1986 and has been involved in more than 1,200 transactions ranging from micro-financing early-stage ideas to facilitating large-scale exits. Through Atherton Ventures Management, he supports founders and innovative ventures with expertise in business building, venture capital management, strategic planning and execution. Larry is a General Partner at AC Ventures, an Australian VC fund focussed on early-stage investments. AC Ventures has invested in 13 companies including 8 that have female founders.

Marvin Liao

Investment Committee Member, Sukna Ventures

Marvin Liao is an investor and former startup operator with experience across venture capital, accelerators and technology investment. He currently runs Sukna Holdings and was previously a Partner at Diaspora VC, Game Groove Capital and 500 Startups, where he led the San Francisco-based accelerator program and invested in seed-stage startups.

Matt Macfarlane

Chair: icetana.ai (ASC:ICE) & PetRescue, Director: AgriFutures & Data Farming

Matt Macfarlane has worked across organisations of varying sizes as an advisor, co-founder and principal. He currently serves on several boards, including AgriFutures Australia, as Chair of icetana Ltd (ASX:ICE), and as Chair of PetRescue. Matt brings expertise in strategy, innovation (particularly AI) and governance, supporting organisations and industries undergoing technological change. He has invested in 30 startups as an angel or VC and worked with hundreds of founders.

Rob Nathan

Founder & Managing Director, Upstart Investments

Rob Nathan is the CEO and Founder of Australian Tenders and has more than 30 years of experience in the technology sector. He was awarded the Pearcey WA Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2019 INCITE Awards. Rob is actively involved in supporting the Western Australian startup ecosystem through initiatives including West Tech Fest, the Plus Eight Accelerator and Curtin Accelerate. As an angel investor, he has invested in more than 30 WA startups across the past decade including GeoMoby, Electro.Aero, eNautic, Earflo, Fleetsu (exited), Workmetrics and BankVault.

Rob Newman

Venture Advisor, Venture Skills

Rob Newman is an experienced startup and scale-up executive with a strong track record of expanding Australian technology companies into global markets. He has worked across both Australia and Silicon Valley, most notably serving as CEO of Nearmap during its expansion into North America. Under his leadership, Nearmap became a market leader in Australia and grew to become one of the largest providers of aerial location intelligence in the United States prior to its acquisition by Thoma Bravo in 2022.

Rod Hayes

Independent Director, Buurabalayji Thalanyji Aboriginal Corporation

Rod Hayes began his career as a Chartered Accountant before moving into the utilities and infrastructure sectors, where he has worked since 1996 across both power and water industries. His senior management experience includes strategy development, infrastructure planning, organisational capability building and leading significant change initiatives. Rod has extensive experience translating strategic priorities into coordinated operational outcomes. Rod was the inaugural MD of WA regional power provider, Horizon Power, before he founded the Balance Group which focused on the development and delivery of technical solutions for hybrid power applications.

Shahirah Gardner

Investment Director, Tall Order

Shahirah Gardner is a fintech founder, venture capital investor and mentor. She is co-founder of Finch, a data platform that provides major Australian banks and financial services with transaction data intelligence, analysing more than $2 billion in transactions each month. Across her career she’s built and scaled data and payments products for both B2C and B2B, and today she backs and mentors founders from seed to Series A. She’s also a yoga and breathwork teacher, and is passionate about helping founders manage startup stress through nervous system regulation.

Shannon Finlay

Manager Research & Development, Rio Tinto

Shannon Finlay is the Manager of Research & Development for Rio Tinto Iron Ore, where she leads the strategy and delivery of innovation initiatives that improve operational performance and create long-term business value. With more than 15 years’ experience in mining, spanning research and development, digital transformation and technology strategy, Shannon is passionate about connecting operational challenges with emerging technologies and research. She has built strategic partnerships with universities, industry and the start-up ecosystem to accelerate innovation, translate ideas into practical solutions, and deliver sustainable improvements in productivity, capability, and the future of the resources sector.