Anne has over 25 years’ experience in the health, medical research and policy sectors. She is responsible for leading the development and implementation of major policies and programs to enhance medical research capacity in NSW, and raise the profile of NSW research and development nationally and internationally. She is responsible for the NSW Medical Device Fund and NSW Commercialisation Training Program – both have been critical to accelerating the development of NSW intellectual property and the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs in NSW. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Physiology and Pharmacology) (Hons) and an Executive Masters of Public Administration.

Rupal Ismin is COO of Deteqt, with a career spanning Sydney, San Francisco, and Chicago. With 15+ years scaling early-stage ventures and leadership roles across Australia and the US, she was launch Director of the Sydney Knowledge Hub ( University of Sydney), served as interim launch head of Quantum Australia, and been a board member of the Sydney Quantum Academy. She has helped ventures grow from founding one of Australia’s early ecommerce startups to senior roles in tech and research commercialisation.

Danielle is an investor at Main Sequence Ventures, a deep-tech fund with $1B under management and investing in companies solving global challenges including decarbonising the planet, enabling the next intelligence leap, and supercharging industrial productivity.

Her passion lies in AI, robotics, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, decarbonisation, and sustainable textiles. Danielle is particularly interested in how groundbreaking deep tech research can be commercialised to achieve global impact. She is deeply committed to supporting founders in their journey to commercialise technology that solves global problems and creates lasting impact.

Danielle holds degrees in both Law and Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Sydney, where she was awarded the University Medal for her work on computer vision for autonomous vehicles. Prior to joining Main Sequence, Danielle worked as an AIOps software engineer at Accenture, undertook extensive policy research in Artificial Intelligence, and co-founded Tech for Social Good, an NFP that empowers the next generation of impact tech leaders across industries.

Dr Leong Mar is the Head of the Commercialisation at the University of Sydney. Leong has over 25 years commercial experience in both the private and research sectors and hands on experience throughout the whole innovation lifecycle from inventor, to co-founder, mentor, advisor and non-executive director of new ventures. Prior to joining the University, he spent over 8 years at CSIRO commercialising technologies in number of industry sectors and played a key role in guiding a spin-out from launch to IPO in 5 years. He has sat on the Uniseed Investment Committee since 2018 and on the Investment Subcommittee for the NSW Physical Sciences Fund since its inception in 2019. Leong also boasts 10 years at DuPont, global science corporation. Leong holds a BSc (Hons) and Ph.D. in Chemistry from UNSW

Lisa Linssen is a Commercialisation Ventures Advisor at University of Sydney. In this role she provides specialist support and advice to inventors wanting to create a start-up using university intellectual property. Lisa is instrumental in providing tailored solutions from within the Australian ecosystem in the areas of innovation, commercialisation, startup, technology, and IP. She has over 25 years of experience in leading and developing businesses across various sectors, including coatings, automotive, and defence.  
Lisa is also a startup mentor across several organisations, where she supports early-stage innovators and researchers to translate their ideas into market-ready solutions.
Lisa has a Master of Intellectual Property, specialising in technology transfer and intellectual property commercialisation and graduated from the Company Directors Course through AICD. She was also the General Manager of RingIR, a company that developed real-time detection systems for hazardous materials. Lisa has secured and delivered several multimillion-dollar contracts with government and industry partners (total value $30M).  

Natasha Rawlings is a Commercialisation Ventures Advisor in the Commercialisation Team at the University of Sydney. Natasha is a tech entrepreneur who has led, founded and mentored early and mid-stage tech start-ups particularly those with a research background. Natasha was also a deep-tech early-stage investor at Uniseed, the oldest running investment fund in Australia and has held several board positions in early-stage start-ups. 
Before start-up, Natasha was a marketer and product developer holding top management positions in Australian and UK companies including Marketing Director of International Masters Publishers (publishing), Guthy-Renker (cosmetics and fitness), and was a Senior Manager in corporate innovation/ new revenue streams at News Corporation in the UK. Natasha holds a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology, Sydney and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Jane believes great ideas; research impact and successful organisations are based in empathy and partnerships. By building mindsets that can reframe problems, foster creative empowerment, experimentation, curiosity and inquiry, individuals and organisations can safely challenge traditional ways of working, strategy, processes, products and services.
Jane is passionate about working with research entrepreneurs – Australia’s futurists – to explore translation possibilities and commercial potential of their research and inventions. As Commercialisation Program Manager, Jane has designed and delivered programs to build commercialisation capacity – including the flagship PERIscope Commercialisation Award. She is currently acting Director of the Sydney Knowledge Hub. Her career spans many roles in innovative startups and multi-national eg Cochlear.

Kai Man Yuen is the Program Lead at INCUBATE, the award-winning startup program at the University of Sydney. Graduated with a Master of Science and Master of Business Management, he co-founded a platform SGNZ (Science Grad New Zealand) to help science graduates make the most informed decision about their career. He advocates the need to have the backbone of frameworks and models at the start of your entrepreneurial journey.

Alex Romero is part of the team at Main Sequence, where she helps build and invest in deep-tech ventures tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges. Previously she has worked closely with founders and cross-border partners, bringing experience in early-stage venture capital in Australia, an academic background in science, and a career spanning sales and marketing across the design and finance industries, as well as entrepreneurial experience in Europe.