Professor Sakkie Pretorius is the serving Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) at Macquarie University.

Passionate about authentic leadership, prior to taking up his role at Macquarie, Professor Pretorius held the role of Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research and Innovation) at the University of South Australia. and was a former Managing Director and CEO of the Australian Wine Research Institute. He is internationally recognised as a pioneer in synthetic yeast genomics, biotechnology and translating research outcomes into innovative industry applications and has been a leader in the Yeast 2.0 consortium driving a stream of science for more efficient and eco-friendly biofuel production.

Professor Chris Matthews is an Industry Professor of Mathematics in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Faculty of Science at the University Technology of Sydney, and Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mathematics Alliance.

Professor Matthews has a deep interest in mathematics education, exploring the connections between mathematics and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges. His award-winning approaches and current work are transformative: “Maths is storytelling” with his teaching using creativity as a form of cultural expression in learning mathematical concepts.  Prof. Matthews advocates the importance of engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in mathematics to ensure they are prepared for life beyond school.

Jennifer Herz GAICD, co-founded Biointelect in 2011, and continues in the role of Director to offer end-to-end strategic commercialisation services to the biopharmaceutical sector.

At Biointelect, she has overseen more than 450 projects, providing rich and diverse experience in the complexity of life science product development. She has over 30 years of experience in commercial, business development and scientific affairs in the biopharmaceutical industry in Australia and in Europe, and has extensive Board experience with publicly listed private and not-for-profit organisations. Her experience includes successful FDA, EMA and TGA approvals and successful global launches, as well as product and company failures that provide valuable learning opportunities.

Emeritus Professor Annabelle Duncan is an Independent Director and Chair of the Boards of Directors of the Sydney School of Entrepreneurship; the Asia Pacific International College; the College of Health Sciences; the Higher Education Leadership Institute and Chairs an Expert Panel for the NSW Physical Sciences fund.

From 2014 until 2019 she was Vice-Chancellor of the University of New England, prior to which she spent 16 years at CSIRO including 6 years as Chief of the Division of Molecular Science. In 2022, Annabelle was appointed Chair of the Steering Committee mapping the AMR R&D Landscape in Australia. She was formerly a member of the board of the Regional Australia Institute, a think tank devoted to issues concerning regional Australia.  Professor Duncan is Chair of the MACSYS Governance Advisory Board.