School Advisory Board

The Board plays a key role in the School's education, research and engagement activities. It assists and helps develop strategic relationships with business, government and the community.

The Advisory Board is comprised of industry leaders working in various senior roles from a range of sectors who assist the School to fulfil its mission and vision.

Professor Aron O'Cass

Dean, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University

Professor Aron O'Cass is a world-renowned expert in marketing strategy, innovation and new product development, brand management and data analysis, and a champion of industry engagement in higher education. Aron has expertise in bringing together insights from strategy, firm resources and capabilities, and examining their effect on branding, value creation, innovation, and firm performance in the context of goods and services which converges on both the firm side and customer side regarding theory and practice. He has conducted research in a wide range of industry (small-to-medium enterprises, large firms, manufacturing, services, tourism and politics) and country contexts, especially in Asia with research in China, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Iran and other countries.

Aron has published over 130 articles in leading international journals. He has guest edited special issues in the Journal of Product Innovation Management, British Journal of Management, Industrial Marketing Management, European Journal of Marketing and Journal of Business Research. He has been a Chief Investigator on major grants, served on the Australian Research Council College of Experts, and as a Member of Excellence in Research Australia, Excellence in Research Evaluation Committee. He has supervised over 40 Research Higher Degree students to completion. Overall, his published works have received more than 20,000 citations. He has a H-index of 69 (Google) and is rated in the top one per cent of research productive marketing scholars globally for both career and single year impact.

Craig Scroggie

Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, NEXTDC, and Chair, La Trobe Business School Advisory Board

Craig Scroggie is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of NEXTDC, Australia’s leading Data-Centre-as-a-Service provider. Prior to becoming CEO in June 2012, Mr Scroggie served on the Board of Directors since IPO (2010) as a Non-Executive Director, including as Chairman of the Audit and Risk Management Committee.

Mr Scroggie has more than 25 years’ experience in the ICT industry, having held senior positions with Symantec, Veritas Software, Computer Associates, EMC Corporation and Fujitsu. Prior to joining NEXTDC, Mr Scroggie was Symantec’s Vice President and Managing Director for the Pacific Region.

Mr Scroggie is a graduate of the University of Southern Queensland and holds an Advanced Certificate in Information Technology, a Graduate Certificate in Management, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management, a Master of Business Administration; and is a graduate and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

In 2013 Mr Scroggie was awarded the University of Southern Queensland Faculty of Business & Law Alumnus of the Year and in 2015 was inducted into the ARN ICT Industry Awards Hall of Fame.

Anne Marie Baldwin

Executive General Manager -Talent, Culture and Capability, NBN

Anne Marie Baldwin is NBN’s Executive General Manager of Talent, Culture and Capability with employees and partners spread across Australia Anne Marie is responsible for leading NBN’s people strategy relating to capability, talent , culture and diversity and inclusion, to drive future growth by continuously meeting changing customer and community needs. Anne Marie is a purpose and values driven executive that is dedicated to working with NBN’s people in creating the workforce where they can thrive professionally and personally, while delivering value for customers, community, and business.

Prior to her current role, Anne Marie held senior HR, safety and transformation roles across logistics, postal, retail and health industries. She approaches HR with a commercial mindset and is experienced in leading, directing and managing multiple programs across large organisations, delivering outcomes to customers and team members alike. Anne Marie is passionate about developing teams and individual team members to be highly successful and effective. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Occupational Therapy) from La Trobe University and a Master of Business from the Swinburne University.

Gerard Mullins

Founder and Managing Director, Mullins Advisory Pty Ltd

Gerard Mullins is an experienced business leader who has had executive roles with Pacific Dunlop, Australian Defence Industries, and Illinois Tool Works. He founded ASTA Solutions Pty Ltd and grew that business over 15 years, leading to a successful sale in 2014. Gerard has over 25 years’ corporate business management experience within the manufacturing, information technology, and building and construction industries. This experience is augmented by various qualifications in business leadership and administration, building and construction, technology management, risk management and governance, company directorship and management best practice.

Gerard holds directorships in the not-for-profit sector and is on the boards of multiple private unlisted companies. He is a graduate and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders and a Chartered Manager (Chartered Management Institute).’

Caroline Patton

Founder and CEO, Accuteque Global Pty Ltd

Caroline Patton is Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Accuteque and The AVR Lab. As a mother of three and with the support of her husband, Caroline has built the Accuteque business over 18 years with a focus on helping reshape other businesses, enabling them to be more sustainable. She is passionate about delivering quality outcomes and providing people with a positive experience when it comes to change and transformational programs.

Caroline has consulted at senior levels in multinational companies and is a specialist in business strategy, organisational design, operating rhythms, IT solution sourcing and delivery. She is a highly competent, successful and professional leader with experience across a range of industries including management consulting, professional services, membership organisations, finance, banking, insurance, superannuation, airline, petroleum, retail, logistics, utilities and telecommunications.

Jim Serafim

Head of Property Finance, Bank of Melbourne

Jim Serafim is a senior executive with more than 36 years’ experience across the financial services industry, including property finance, business and personal banking, credit and lending. Jim has held a variety of senior leadership roles, including the position of Head of Property Finance at Bank of Melbourne which he has maintained since 2002. A strategic thinker with demonstrated capabilities to transform the businesses he is involved with via effectively developing and executing plans to achieve commercial goals. He is a leader who collaboratively shares ideas, knowledge, and experience when it comes to delivering best in class commercial outcomes. Described as a trusted professional who ensures exceptional business performance, he is both well regarded and respected in the Melbourne property market. With his breadth of experience and consistently strong results, Jim is a commercial changemaker with a demonstrated ability to impact the future success of any brand or organisation he becomes involved with.

Luke Wilson

Principal, LCW Advisory

Luke Wilson operates a policy and regulatory consultancy business from Wodonga and is also a member of the Regional Advisory Board for La Trobe University’s Albury-Wodonga campus. Luke was Victoria’s inaugural Cross Border Commissioner, from 2018 to 2023, and had previously led state departmental agriculture, resources and energy portfolios including biosecurity, fisheries, game, animal welfare and mining regulators, as well as the regulatory practice, policy, research and service areas. In each of these roles, Luke has led policy development on many of the key issues facing Victoria's agriculture industries and rural communities.

Luke previously worked as an energy and transport access regulator in South Australia, in economic consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers, in policy analysis with the Commonwealth and as an operational forester in Myrtleford as well as Alabama (United States) and Nova Scotia (Canada).

Anthony Haberfield

General Manager, Operations, NAC Consulting

Anthony brings over 25 years of international experience in developing organisational strategy and executing large transformations in the financial services sector across the Asia Pacific region. He brings extensive capability in strategy development, project management, procurement, business process outsourcing, commercial management and driving simplification of complex businesses by leveraging emerging technology. Anthony holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) and a Master of Business Administration from Deakin University. He is currently the General Manager at NAC Consulting and is a Non-Executive Director of private equity firm Blackhawk Growth (BLR.CSE) and spatial technology firm SPARC AI (SPARC.CSE). Anthony is passionate about developing talent and providing unique experiences to continue personal growth.

Nhung Mason

Client Group Lead – Products, Australia & New Zealand, Accenture

Nhung has over 20 years of consulting experience working hand in hand with clients to shape and drive large scale business and digital transformations. Nhung sponsors Accenture’s Cross Cultural Diversity program. Nhung’s passion is in understanding industry specific needs and trends to support her clients to shape and deliver to their corporate strategy. Her experience has been in exploitation of digital to improve speed to market, customer experience, empowering the workforce, real time decision making, analytics and reducing cost to serve.

Andrew Buay

Vice President, Group Corporate Sustainability, Optus & Singtel

Andrew Buay leads sustainability for Optus and the Singtel Group across social impact, climate, and the environment, ESG governance and stewardship. He is a coach in the company’s leadership and talent program and mentor to start-up founders in the Singtel Group Future Makers social innovation program, supporting the development of technologies to address societal issues. He is a committee member of the Singapore National Council of Social Services 4ST Strategic Committee to drive transformation of the Singapore social services sector, and co-chair of the Singapore Business Network on Disability.

Prior to these, Andrew held diverse senior positions across the SingTel Group in Singapore, Australia, and the Philippines. These included Group Consumer CIO, MD Optus Technology and Products, MD Optus Wholesale and Satellite, COO at Globe Telecom Philippines, CEO of Singtel Multimedia Group and VP of Singtel Consumer Marketing. Andrew also founded SingTel Ventures in 1997, a S$150m technology investment fund.

Nicole Rooke

Head of Planning and Execution, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd

Nicole has over 15 years’ experience in Financial Services and is currently the Head of Planning and Execution for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. Nicole’s background is in Finance, Investor Relations, Strategy and Planning. Nicole is a passionate supporter of purpose led strategies. Her work involves sharing the Bank’s globally recognised shared value strategy with various stakeholders internally and externally and challenging the BEN Group on strategy development, delivery, and execution. Based in Bendigo and raised in regional Victoria, Nicole has first-hand experience in the positive impacts that purpose led strategies can have on communities, corporates, and individuals.

Idris Shamsi

Chief Information Officer (Technology), RACV

Idris is a Technology Executive with over 25 years of international experience spanning multiple industries, including legal, media, FMCG, energy and financial services. In that time, he has led a number of transformational initiatives across all facets of IT and has built the capabilities required to sustain them. Idris is passionate about developing great teams and combining them with great technology to solve complex problems to deliver exceptional experiences.

Jeannie Sim

Chief Information Security Officer, The Department of Justice and Community Safety, Victoria

Jeannie Sim is the Chief Information Security Officer of the Department of Justice and Community Safety, Victoria. She is the Executive Director in charge of Data Security, Privacy and Information Management.

She has over 25 years of experience as an IT executive in both public and private sectors in Australia and abroad. Her experience spans across nine sectors including airlines, mining, banking and finance, superannuation, telecommunications, renewable energy, public transport, entertainment and health.

Hacia Atherton

CEO & Founding Director, Empowered Women In Trades; Director, Atherton; Deputy Chairwoman, CPA Australia Emerging Leaders Network

Hacia Atherton, is a dynamic leader and advocate for women's empowerment in male-dominated industries, blending strategic corporate leadership with impactful social entrepreneurship. She brings a blend of financial expertise, strategic acumen, and a profound understanding of positive organisational psychology. At the helm of Empowered Women In Trades (EWIT), Hacia drives a vision for equitable workforce participation to elevate women's representation in skilled trades to 30% by 2030. EWIT, under her leadership, bridges women, educational institutions, and industry, facilitating pathways into trades careers while ensuring workplaces are female-friendly.

Concurrently, in her strategic role at Atherton, a global pioneer in sterilisation and infection control, she navigates through governance and operational challenges, ensuring continuous improvement and nurturing company culture.

Her role as Deputy Chairwoman at CPA Australia's Emerging Leaders Network underscores her commitment to nurturing young professionals in the finance sector. With a Master's in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Melbourne, Hacia is on a journey to intertwine wellbeing science with practical applications in professional and personal realms.

Alexis Ewing

Executive Director Infrastructure Services, Cenitex

Alexis Ewing is a visionary leader with an impressive track record of driving technological advancement and delivering exceptional results. With extensive experience in technology leadership, she drives the strategic direction and evolution of services in critical domains such as cloud, security, and networks. Prior to joining Cenitex, Alexis held significant leadership positions at Accenture as Director Technology Delivery for 2 years and at Telstra as Head of Cloud Delivery and other senior roles for 15 years. Her IT career spans multiple decades and industries including telecommunications, banking and finance, energy, insurance, retail and airlines. Throughout her career, Alexis has cultivated a reputation for building robust capabilities and fostering a strong team culture.

Alexis holds a Bachelor of Science degree, a Graduate Diploma in Management Systems, and a Master of Information Systems.

Beyond her professional achievements, Alexis actively promotes diversity and inclusivity within the technology sector, particularly encouraging women to pursue careers in the industry. Her dedication to creating an inclusive environment further amplifies her influence and impact in the field of IT.

Professor Axel Schulz

Deputy Dean, Research and Industry Engagement and Professor of Management Accounting, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University

Professor Axel Schulz is Deputy Dean Research and Industry Engagement and Professor of Management Accounting in the La Trobe Business School at La Trobe University. Prior to joining La Trobe, Axel was a Professor at Monash University, where he served in several roles including Head of Department of Accounting. Prior to this, he held appointments at The University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales.

Axel specialises in behavioural accounting with a focus is on the design of management control systems, performance measurement systems and incentive system design. He has published in leading international and national accounting journals including the Journal of Accounting Research, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Journal of Management Accounting Research, Behavioural Research in Accounting and Accounting and Finance. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of International Accounting Research. He has also reviewed for Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting Organizations and Society and other international refereed journals.

Associate Professor Michael Volkov

Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University

Associate Professor Michael Volkov is the Associate Dean Learning and Teaching in the La Trobe Business School at La Trobe University. With over 20 years’ experience in higher education and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, he places students and staff at the centre of his endeavours. Michael has received several awards for his contribution to education including over a dozen Vice-Chancellor and faculty teaching, learning and service awards; the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Distinguished Educator Award (2015); Australian Awards for University Teaching (2013 and 2020); and the Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education Award (2018).

Michael is regularly invited to present at other institutions and serve on expert and advisory panels in matters of learning and teaching, accreditation, curriculum design and strategy, and appointments. His research focuses on consumer behaviour and teaching and learning, with publications appearing in leading international journals including European Journal of Marketing, British Journal of Educational Technology, Education + Training, Journal of Marketing Management, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, and International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning. He is co-author of the leading international textbook, Principles of Marketing, with Gary Armstrong, Sara Denize and Philip Kotler.