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Board of Directors
Guy Russo
Non-Executive Chairman
Guy Russo is an accomplished business leader with a strong commercial and customer-focused background working in Australia and internationally. In addition to being Chairman of SomnoMed, he is Chairman of Guzman y Gomez Mexican Kitchen (GYG), Australia’s fastest-growing restaurant business. He is a Non-Executive Director of Scentre Group (ASX: SCG), which owns and operates Westfield Living Centres in Australia and New Zealand and Chairman of OneSky, an international charity for children living in poverty in Asia.
Previously, Guy has served as CEO, Wesfarmers Department Store Division (Kmart & Target); Managing Director, Kmart Australia & NZ; President, McDonald’s Greater China; CEO McDonald’s Australia Ltd and Chairman of Ronald McDonald House Children’s Charities.
Guy is perhaps most well known in Australia for is his leadership in turning Kmart into the largest and most profitable retail department store in the country. He has been a member of YPO since 2006, served as a member of the Business Council of Australia, and won industry awards for leadership in diversity in employment.
Neil Verdal Austin
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director
Neil Verdal-Austin was appointed CEO in November 2018 and Managing Director in August 2020. He has more than twenty-five years of experience with various medical distribution and manufacturing companies, where making a difference in people’s lives has become his passion. Prior to this appointment, Neil was SomnoMed’s CFO for 10 years and was instrumental in the company’s development from a small entity with revenues of less than $5 million and total staff of fewer than 50 people to a global company operating in 28 countries, generating some $70 million in revenues and employing over 500 people worldwide. He has not only excelled as CFO, but he also took direct management responsibility for the APAC region, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea, for four years from 2014 to 2018.
His experience includes systems development and implementation, business acquisitions, strategic planning, reporting and operations management. Before joining SomnoMed®, Neil worked at LifeHealthcare, the largest Australian healthcare distributor of medical products and devices and served as CFO and a key stakeholder at the Orthomedics Group, a large medical distributor in South Africa. During that appointment, he was a key figure in the leadership team and instrumental in all commercial aspects of that business, its processes, acquisitions, financial performance and operational excellence.
Neil completed his studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa and is a Chartered Accountant (Australia).
Hamish Corlett
Non-Executive Director
Hamish Corlett is a founder and director of TDM Growth Partners, a leading private investment firm specializing in long term investments in high growth companies globally. TDM made its first investment in SomnoMed in April 2010 and has been a substantial shareholder since October 2012.
Prior to TDM, Hamish worked as an investment manager at Caledonia Investments, a global fund manager. He has extensive experience in North America and Europe in addition to Australia.
Hamish is also a Non-Executive Director at QBiotics Group Limited, an Australian life sciences company.
Hamish holds a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours Class 1 (Accounting and Finance) from the University of Sydney and a Graduate Diploma of Counseling from the Australian College of Applied Psychologists.
Hilton Brett
Non-Executive Director
Hilton is an Operating Advisor at TDM Growth Partners (TDM), a private global investment firm founded in 2004, with offices in Sydney and New York, which invests in fast-growing companies run by passionate management teams.
Hilton is a Non-Executive Director of Guzman Y Gomez Mexican Taqueria (GYG), and Pacific Smiles Ltd (PSQ:ASX).
Prior to joining TDM, Hilton was the Co-CEO of Accent Group Limited (AX1), formerly RCG Corporation Ltd, which is the regional leader in the retail and distribution of performance and lifestyle footwear in Australia and New Zealand. Hilton joined RCG in 2006 when the business had a market capitalisation of $8m. Over the 12 years from 2006 to 2018, the team grew the business to an $800m market capitalisation and delivered total shareholder returns in excess of 25% CAGR.
Hilton has over 25 years of experience as CEO of multiple consumer businesses with proven skills in growing the businesses and delivering outstanding returns for shareholders.
Hilton holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Post Graduate Diploma in Accounting (University of Cape Town, South Africa).
Karen Borg
Non-Executive Director
Karen has held senior roles in FTSE 100-250 medical device, technology, consumer products and government services organisations.
Karen is currently the Chief Executive Officer for Catholic Healthcare Ltd and, prior to this, was the CEO of Healthdirect and the inaugural CEO of Jobs for NSW. She was also the former President (Asia Pacific & Middle East) of ResMed (ASX: RMD) and held several senior roles with Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices in Australia and the United States. Karen began her career in the fast-moving consumer goods sector and worked for Goodman Fielder, Nestle and Revlon in global business development and marketing.
Karen is on the Board of Optiscan Ltd (ASX: OIL) and was previously on the Board of The North Foundation and Interim Chair of the Australian Vaccine Research Alliance.
Karen has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney and was a NSW finalist for Telstra Business Woman of the Year 2017.
Michael Gordon
Non-Executive Director
Michael was most recently the CFO of Rokt. Rokt is a high-growth marketing technology company with more than US$200m in sales, more than 300 employees and offices in Sydney, New York, Tokyo, Singapore and Auckland. Michael remains an advisor to Rokt.
Prior to Rokt, Michael was the Group CFO and MD of Group Services for Greenlit Brands Pty Limited. Greenlit Brands grew from a turnover of A$250m (Freedom) to a A$2.4 billion vertically integrated retailer based in Australia and New Zealand and included the brands Freedom, Snooze, Fantastic, Plush, OMF, Best & Less and Harris Scarfe.
Prior to Greenlit Brands, Michael spent ten years with PricewaterhouseCoopers in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Australia, specializing in the Retail industry with experience in Audit, Taxation M&A and IPO’s.
Michael is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Accounting (University of Witwatersrand, South Africa).
Amrita Blickstead
Non-Executive Director
Amrita Blickstead is currently the Chief Operating & Marketing Officer at eBay Australia & New Zealand as well as a member of the Executive Leadership Team. Amrita leads multiple teams across Strategy, Operations, Marketing, Advertising, Monetization & Consumer Selling. Other roles held during her time at eBay include Director of Small & Medium Business (SMB) & Shipping, Head of SMB, Senior Manager of Pricing, B2C Strategy & Seller Experience and Manager of Cross Border Trade. Amrita is responsible for helping drive the short-term and multi-year strategy of the business. She provides thought leadership to all business units, drives operational efficiencies and manages resources in line with key business objectives.
Prior to eBay, Amrita was a management consultant with Port Jackson Partners, advising on strategic issues predominantly in the retail, electricity and building materials industries.
Prior to her role with Port Jackson Partners, Amrita has also held roles with Eli Lilly and Company as a marketing associate, Ventracor Limited as a biomedical engineer and Cochlear Limited as an engineer.
Amrita holds a Master of Business Administration (Harvard Business School, U.S.A.) and Bachelor of Mechanical (Biomedical) Engineering (University of Sydney, Australia).
Terence Flitcroft
Company Secretary
Terence Flitcroft was a Director of SomnoMed® from 1995 until May 2003. He is a Chartered Accountant with broad commercial and financial experience and has acted as a director and company secretary for a number of private and public companies.
Terence provides company secretarial and accounting services to the Company on a contract basis. He is a Director of Winchester Associates Pty Limited, a licensed investment advisor.
