Business Advisory Board

Bryony Binns

Lawyer and Gadens Lawyers Partner

Bryony is a partner of Gadens Lawyers, and has been practicing labour law for over 20 years. Prior to this, she held partnership roles at global consulting and legal firms. Her expertise lies in labour and wage compliance, with a particular focus on managing personnel cost and risk in commercial transactions.

Bryony is an alumna of the University of Wollongong and her qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Law and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. She also holds a Master of Arts (International Relations) from the University of New South Wales (2008). She is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and has been nominated by her peers for inclusion in Australia's Best Lawyers (Employment Law) since 2014.

Natalie Chapman

Managing Director, gemaker

Natalie co-founded and directs gemaker: a team of STEM commercialisation experts helping Australian researchers and innovators to impact global markets. She is also Corporate Communications Manager for ASX-listed Alkane Resources, and Chair of the Advisory Committee to the School of Chemistry at UNSW. Previously, Natalie was Leader of Business Development and Marketing at ANSTO, General Manager of Commercialisation at the Smart Services CRC, and a Director of Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia. She holds a BSc (Hons) from UNSW and a MCom (Marketing) and an MBA from UOW. In 2018, she received the UOW Alumni Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 

Since 2011, Natalie has led the gemaker team to deliver more than 200 major projects for innovative businesses, research organisations and government. This includes training hundreds of researchers in industry engagement and helping clients secure $210M funding in grants and investment. In 2017, gemaker won a NSW Telstra Business Award. Recent highlights include developing the winning application for a NSW Government grant to deliver the National Space Industry Hub, and collaborating on the Survey of Commercialisation Outcomes from Public Research, enabling benchmarking and informing policy and practices to enhance knowledge and technology transfer across Australia and New Zealand.

Bill Delves

CEO, South Bank Corporation

Bill Delves is the Chief Executive Officer at South Bank Corporation, an independent statutory authority to manage the development and management of the integrated South Bank Precinct in Brisbane. South Bank is a world class sub-tropical precinct of 42 hectares, with assets of over $1 billion, which continues to attract over 14million visitors annually. Bill was appointed by the Queensland State Government to this position in 2017 and has seen great success in the role.

Bill is people oriented leader, he inspires teams to achieve. He balances the ability to generate growth and drive business development with a strong financial acumen. This has created sustainable change for a wide array of businesses. He is recognized in professional services for his experience in accounting, consulting, and business leadership. With over 30 years’ experience, he has provided tailored business advice and led large professional services teams locally and globally at both EY and KPMG. More recently he has stewarded the place management of the iconic South Bank Precinct in Brisbane.

Bill is also an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Wollongong.

Kylie Gillett

Head of Performance Optimisation, Transurban

Kylie is the Head of Preformance Optimisation for Transurban, one of the world’s largest toll-road operators that specialise in innovative engineering, safety, and technology solutions.

Previously, Kylie was the Director of Governance and Board Secretary for Infrastructure Australia, an independent statutory body with a mandate to advice on nationally significant infrastructure projects and policy.  Following changes to its legislation, Kylie was recruited to establish and lead all governance and operational requirements to support IA as an independent statutory authority. She was well placed to do so, after almost 8.5 years with Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, the peak body for the infrastructure sector. The organisation was established in FY06 with Kylie joining shortly after in July 2006. Kylie supported the CEO and Board to develop the organisation from infancy to a highly credible adviser and commentator on infrastructure related matters - through building strong relationships with industry and governments.

Kylie is an alumna of the University of Wollongong, graduating in 2013 with an Executive Master of Business Administration. She also holds a Bachelor of Business administration from Charles Sturt University.  

Patrick Jin (Chao Wei Jin)

CEO, DMFC Corporation & UOW School of Business Honorary Fellow

Patrick is the CEO of the DMFC Corporation, a global leader in renewable clean power with operations in the US and China. DMFC develops and manufactures direct methanol fuel cell based power systems that use methanol, combining a fuel cell and a traditional battery to provide a high-power solution that significantly reduces operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions in telecom, oil & gas, security & surveillance, personal portable and other off grid segments. 

Patrick is a venture partner with Cedarlake Capital, a leading Chinese private equity firm that manages USD 3 Billion investment portfolio with focus on new energy, new intelligence and consumer sector.  In addition to Patrick’s honorary fellowship with UOW to develop exchange programs between UOW and Chinese academic institutions, Patrick is also teaching on a part time basis at Shanghai Social and Science Academy to postgraduate students on applied finance. 

Previously, Patrick was the Managing Director China of US Fortune 500 company Owens Corning and also had a lengthy and successful career with BlueScope Steel, Shanghai, China. He started as an intern at Port Kembla, and progressed to become the President at BlueScope Coated Steel in China. 

Prior to studying an MBA with UOW, he had a degree and a career in Medicine, but opted for a career change soon after, in Business where he has stayed ever since.

Debra Murphy

CEO, Regional Development Australia Illawarra

Debra Murphy is CEO of Regional Development Australia Illawarra, where she has led economic development projects that have provided a catalyst for change in the region and united education, industry and all levels of government in a shared vision of sustainable growth and prosperity.

Previously, Debra held senior management roles with BHP Billiton, Thiess and the Australian Industry Group. She was formerly a Management Consultant with BizVoice and also served as CEO of the Illawarra Business Chamber where she negotiated a merger with the NSW Business Chamber, developed the Illawarra First initiative and established a million-dollar research fund.

Debra has an MBA (with Merit) from the University of Wollongong and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in 2019. She is a committed partner for the University in several current initiatives, from the Blue Economy to the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Smart City Strategy, and is a tenant and supporter of SmartSpace, a long-standing member of the former UOW Community Reference Group, and a former UniCentre board director.

Benjamin Stevenin

CEO and Co-founder of RimaOne

Benjamin Stevenin is CEO and a founder of RimaOne that produces ACADEM, a solution dedicated to Higher Education institutions that supports them in their qualitative processes. Building on his vast experience in research and development and process automation, Benjamin has been instrumental in producing solutions for higher education institutions to automate the collection and updating of all the variable data required to assess and manage quality of teaching, learning and research through many different statistical reporting for various internal and external purposes, including accreditations, rankings, and surveys.

Since creation of ACADEM, he has supported the implementation of the quality and accreditation processes within higher education institutions in more than 40 countries. His experience with more than 150 projects has given him an extensive vision of the problems facing higher education. Benjamin has also been involved in different projects with two of the international business accreditation organisations, the European Quality Improvement System (or EQUIS), managed by the Brussels-based European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), and the US-based Association of Advanced Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

Lauren Wise

General Manager Corporate Services and Company Secretary, IMB Bank

Lauren has worked with the IMB Bank for over 18 years and is currently the General Manager Corporate Services and Company Secretary. Lauren’s extensive experience at IMB has included roles with responsibility for Legal Services, compliance and regulatory projects, as well as oversight of People and Culture and IMB’s Human Resources operations. Prior to joining IMB, Lauren practised as a solicitor in a local Illawarra law firm.

Outside of her work, Lauren enjoys her involvement as a committee member of Illawarra International Women’s Day Inc. Lauren is an alumna of the University of Wollongong, and her qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts (English), Bachelor of Laws and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice. Prior to joining the Advisory Board, Lauren served on the UOW Community reference Group from 2018 – 2021.