Steering Committee

Nat is the Head of Partnerships at AgFunder, one of the most active VC’s in agrifoodtech alongside AgFunderNews, which reports on the evolution of the world’s food and agriculture systems, analysing the people and technologies improving human and planetary health. She brings more than 20 years’ experience in commercial partnerships and marketing, having previously held roles at Rabobank (North America and Australia), IMG, Tennis Australia, Foster’s Group and the Seven Network. During her time at Rabobank, she developed and led the strategic direction for the bank’s innovation platform FoodBytes! in North America based in New York, before launching the platform in Europe and Asia Pacific. Nat lives in Melbourne with her partner and two girls.

Brad is a Western Australian farmer who has gained widespread recognition for his pioneering data-based farming methods, solidifying his position as a leading figure in Australian agriculture. His innovative use of precision agriculture techniques and data analysis has propelled him to the forefront of the industry.
In addition to his work as Director at Bungulla Farming, Brad also currently serves as the non-executive chairman of Origo.ag, an AgTech company specializing in manufacturing and services.
In 2016, Brad’s exceptional achievements were honored when he received the prestigious Australian Cropping Farmer of the Year award. This recognition is a testament to his unwavering dedication and invaluable contributions to the farming community.
Through his expertise and innovative approach, he is reshaping the future of agriculture in Australia and beyond, ensuring sustainable and efficient practices for generations to come.

Richard is the General Manger of Business Development at Harvest Road Group, a diversified agribusiness committed to delivering Australia’s best sustainable produce to the world. Richard is passionate about AgriFood investing and during his time at Harvest Road has supported the company’s growth in its core beef, seafood and horticulture operations as well as emerging sectors including methane reduction and alternative proteins. A recent Chair of the Future Farmers Network, Richard also plays an active role in connecting, educating and empowering young people in agriculture.

Michael is the Managing Director for the APAC region at SVG Ventures|THRIVE. He launched his first company at 21 and four more across different industries over 15 years. Prior to joining SVG Thrive he led AgriFood Tech at BDO Australia, advising various AgriTech and AgriBusiness stakeholders
Recognised in the InDaily 40 under 40 awards and his TEDx talk on redesigning the food system, Michael uses his entrepreneurial expertise to help AgriFood Tech startups commercialise and scale their innovations.
Michael is also a co-organiser of the South Australian AgriTech Meetup Group, and Steering committee member for EvokeAg, where he is passionate about growing the AgriFood tech ecosystem.

Oli has been a grower in McLaren Vale since 2015, and founded the SA AgriTech Meetup, bringing together a community of more than 1,700 developers, farmers, and entrepreneurs interested in the agricultural technology space to develop novel solutions in Agtech.
Oli is VP of Special Projects at FarmLab, and has been working with Meat & Livestock Australia and the Clean Energy Regulator for the past two years to scale soil carbon baselining and decarbonize supply chains.

Vandana brings experience in entrepreneurship, innovation, investment and agrifood tech accelerator management. She began her career in financial services and has relationship management and investment advisory experience across multinational banks. After her own successful startup journey, she led the design and delivery of entrepreneurship training programs at a leading VC in Singapore.

She has been instrumental in the establishment of Southeast Asia’s first impact focused agrifood tech accelerator GROW, in partnership with AgFunder. As ID Capital’s Chief Operating Officer she oversees the investment, consulting and advisory business as well as ecosystem building via the Future Food Asia platform.

Vandana is a qualified CFA, holds a certificate in Agriculture Technology and has completed a strategy program at INSEAD. She is actively engaged in building capabilities to support growth in the Singapore and ASEAN agrifood ecosystem.

Dave McKeon is a skilled agribusiness professional with proven track record in both organisational and industry leadership.
Dave’s leadership skills and proven ability to drive outcomes have resulted in business improvements and major industry reform. An active contributor to initiatives and organisations that deliver value to Australian farmers and regional communities, Dave is passionate about the role innovation can play to help ensure sustainable farm production and agribusiness in Australia.
Dave is Head of Thomas Elder Sustainable Agriculture at Elders Ltd, where he leads innovation activities across major themes such as AgTech, Carbon Farming, Research and Extension.
As a recognised industry leader, Dave’s previous roles have included CEO of Grain Growers Ltd, senior management positions in the National Farmers’ Federation and the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, all building on his early career in farm management. Dave has also served on a wide range of senior industry and government advisory committees and is currently a Board Director for Agribusiness Australia. Dave holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Agriculture) and Bachelor of Agribusiness from Charles Sturt University and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Phil Morle is a partner at Main Sequence where he leads the Feed 10 billion People challenge. He’s passionate about delivering healthier people and a healthier planet, leading him to develop an interest in a number of adjacent areas such as decarbonisation, synthetic biology, new materials, and recycling. Since joining, he has led the firm’s company creation program called Venture Science, developing notable startups such as v2food, Samsara Eco and Eden Brew.

Sarah Nolet is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Tenacious Ventures, a venture firm focused on decarbonizing the food system and building a resilient, profitable future of agriculture. Sarah regularly publishes her insights on the future of the industry and the realities of scaling a venture firm to thousands of followers, and is a respected advisor to agrifood tech companies in the Tenacious Ventures portfolio and beyond. Sarah is also the host of the podcast AgTech…So What?, where she digs into the “so what” behind the latest food & ag innovations.

Liam is the Executive Director for Agribusiness, Food and Trade (AFT) at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) and is WA State Government’s Executive Sponsor for evokeAG. 2024.

Liam has over 25 years’ experience of working in various leadership roles with the public and private sectors in Australia and internationally, including as acting Deputy Director General at DPIRD, Executive Director at Ernst & Young (WA), KPMG (Ireland) and with the consultancy arm of the Irish Trade Board.

Liam comes from an agribusiness family background and is passionate about how government and industry can collaborate to support the WA agrifood and beverage sector for a sustainable future.

Liam has published a series of trade/press articles and thought-leadership pieces in Australia and Ireland on growth, sustainability and competitiveness.

Liam is a Graduate of the Institute of Company Directors (GAICD), Chartered Management Accountant and has business, and economic qualifications from Harvard Business School (U.S.) and University College Cork (Ireland).

For the last six years, Peter has been the General Manager for Meat & Livestock, for the Craig Mostyn Group. This includes the operation Linley Valley Pork, and operating three pig farms with a total of 12,000 sows, and associated growout facilities.
Peter’s career in Agribusiness spans over 28 years, which has given him broad and extensive experience in both production and processing systems. Peter has a long history of strong business and financial management experience across numerous organisations, within the Agribusiness industry.
Peter also has 35 years’ experience in the food industry, in many different capacities, including regulatory, inspection and sales and marketing roles. He has also been responsible for developing sales and marketing strategies, and the pricing, promotion and distribution of new business initiatives.
Peter’s experience across a wide range of agricultural businesses has led to extensive transformational change, including the development of frameworks for identifying the governance, strategic and operations compliance risks and facilitating meaningful decisions regarding company management and risk appetite.

Shifka is a strategic advisor and project manager with the Israel-Australia Chamber of Commerce (IACC). She leads all agriculture activities for the Chamber and connects people in the agritech and food tech space.
Shifka’s opinion and knowledge of plant and animal science, agriculture and food tech have allowed her to work with some of the world’s leading agriculture government departments, companies and VCs.
A young entrepreneur herself in medical devices, strategic market entry, and analysis, Shifka is committed to incubating and scaling innovative start-ups by identifying the economic and strategic opportunities locally and globally through her deep and broad market knowledge. She proactively enables collaborations to support sustainable growth plans for scale-up’s products and services locally and globally with local industry and government.
Shifka is also passionate about the environment and organisations’ ESG responsibilities.
Shifka and was born and raised in upstate New York and is a dual US/Israeli citizen. She currently lives in Israel and has one wonderful son. Her inquisitive mind, go-getter attitude and willingness to listen and work across industries and cultures have helped her gain deep insights into the needs of future societies and industries.

Julia Spicer OAM is a vibrant rural entrepreneur and a catalyst for change. Founder of three regional businesses based in Goondiwindi, Qld – Engage & Create Consulting, The Goondiwindi Business Hub and the recently sold House4390.  

Julia has grown the activity and impact of innovation into the farming and business communities across the state.  Julia has a particular gift for engaging woman and indigenous businesses in her work.  Julia assists entrepreneurs and business owners with the work of business plan writing, designing value propositions and attracting grant and investment funds.   

Julia’s mission is to contribute to the vibrancy and viability of rural and regional Australia by helping businesses grow. Through strategic planning, coaching and online courses; Julia does just that. 

Tash is experienced in business strategy, commercialisation, innovation and is passionate about sustainable primary industries and new technology. She comes from a WA farming family and spent eight years as an agricultural researcher and lecturer at the University of Western Australia, University of Glasgow, University of Southern California and University of Sydney.

Tash co-founded and has led AgriStart for the last seven years, helping hundreds of startups across regional Australia. She is currently Chair of the Food Technology Facility being built in the Peel region of WA. From 2020-2023 she was a facilitator in the Accelerating Commercialisation program. Tash has a PhD in Plant Biology and Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (1st Class Hons), and has qualifications in university teaching, research commercialisation, leadership and corporate governance (graduate of the AICD).

She also holds several board, advisory and volunteer roles including with Busselton Jetty Inc, Carbon Conscious Investments, South West Angels, and has been on the judging panel for the WA Innovator of the Year awards since 2015.

Suzanne Thompson – is very proud of her ancestral bloodlines, and brimming with knowledge of her culture, Australian history, and innovative ways to share her passions with others in a respectful and contemporary way.
With 20 years working in both the government and community sectors Suzanne found herself following in her cultural footsteps as a pioneer for social and economic empowerment, trade, and indigenous self-determination.
She is Founder and Managing Director of Yambangku Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Tourism Development Aboriginal Corporation (YACHATDAC) which manages a 22,000 Acre Property in Outback Central Western Queensland, she is now redefining the very idea of social enterprise and appropriate cultural trading methods that will ensure a safe and transparent economic future for indigenous people.
Suzanne also volunteers her time as the Chair of the Australian Native Foods and Botanicals (ANFAB) National Peak body and is working directly to secure indigenous interests and right in this rapidly expanding global marketplace.
She has just been appointed as indigenous advisor to the Tourism & Events Queensland board (TEQ), and interim secretary for the newly formed Queensland First Nations Tourism Council, the peak body for First Nations Tourism in Queensland.
She is currently fostering support and investment for nature-based economies, including Indigenous Land Management, Carbon Farming and First Foods & Medicines, and the recognition, protection, and renumeration of indigenous intellectual knowledge by industry.
Suzanne has also been appointed to the Central Western Queensland Ministerial Round Table for her invaluable insights and connections to Regional Outback Queensland.

Justin is an accomplished entrepreneur, Founder, and Managing Director of AgriWebb, an AgTech SaaS company that manages over 20 million livestock across 150 million acres with $50 billion in agricultural assets. Prior to AgriWebb, Justin founded, scaled and sold three companies, including AI-based asset management hedge funds. He also held senior positions at Macquarie, BlackRock and advises International Acquisition Partners & Tonnerre Investments. Justin’s sporting background includes rowing internationally for Harvard, Oxford, and Australia. Academically, Justin holds an Honors BA in Economics and Applied Mathematics from Harvard and an MBA with distinction from Oxford, where he was the OBA Scholar.

Peter is the founder of Agritech New Zealand and currently Convenor of the 2035 Oceania Summit. Peter sits on the Western Growers Innovation & Technology Centre Global Advisory Board and provides advice to a number of emerging agrifood tech ecosystems.
Peter is also a co-founder of Tauranga-based technology incubator, WNT Ventures. He’s a limited partner and has invested in several early-stage New Zealand startups.
Peter has sat on the evokeAG. steering committee since 2018 and was delighted to join the growAG. steering committee, prior to its establishment phase.
Peter is committed to strengthening the trans-Tasman opportunity through increased collaborative and partnership opportunities.