After growing up in Sydney, Kiama and Canberra,  I then studied Political Science, Philosophy and Comparative Religion at the Australian National University with a view of a having a very different career to what I ended up having!

Deciding I needed some 'life education' for a year or so, I embarked on what was supposed to be a brief sojourn in restaurants to fund my travels. That turned out to be a very successful 12 year career managing award-winning fine dining rooms around Australia, Canada, London and Scotland.

Along the way I read quite a lot of C19th European novels and poetry, Zen masters and generally aimed to cultivate the lost arts of being a gentlemen: sports cars, conversation, tailored suits, the classics, art, horse riding, martini's, windsor knots, that sort of thing....

After returning to Australia after several years overseas, I left the restaurant game, and moved onto event management and organising conferences for organisations like the then Murray-Darling Basin Commission, which led naturally enough to contracting to government clients on a range of projects such as program and project management, and even arts policy (though I was never meant to be a cog in a policy wheel).

Along the way I studied human nature, and found I wanted to make an active contribution to the society I lived in, and found I had a knacked for bringing people together.

Parallel to all this I established Schmooze and the Young Professional Alliance - the latter since wrapped up after three years operation: that was aimed at being a peak body for professional groups around Australia to facilitate awareness and coordination and cooperation, but was also akin to rounding up cats).

The networks were a practical application of my philosophy, and the instinct of fostering the conditions for collaboration and a good synthesis of my previous experience.

If you've an idle moment, you can read an interview conducted in 2007 by a University of Canberra communications student here (PDF) which explores my influences and thoughts on life and business.  Hopefully she's gone to a successful career despite that assignment!

I'm very happily married to Edwina, and our scruffy mate Harry makes up the family. My pleasures in life include good wine, the arts, military history, travel and a dry chilled martini, stirred, naturally.

Thanks for popping by.