Advisory Board

Steven Cole has 35 years of professional, corporate and business experience through senior legal consultancy, as well as a range of executive management and non executive appointments.

His extensive boardroom and board sub-committee experience includes ASX listed, statutory and proprietary and NFP organisations covering the industrial, financial, educational, professional services, health and resources sectors.

Ben is a Partner in KPMG’s Perth Tax practice. He has over 11 years of tax and corporate advisory experience across a variety of industries.

He has worked with some of the leading global and national oil and gas players, including the companies servicing this industry, providing advice on tax structuring, financing, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, capital gains tax and international tax.

He has recently been working closely with a number of major global players regarding an investment into the Asia-Pacific LNG and CSG industries. Ben is a joint leader of KPMG Perth’s Japanese Business Practice and is a member of the KPMG’s national Energy and Natural Resources tax group. He also provides support to KPMG’s agribusiness clients, in particular in relation to managed investment schemes for forestry and non-forestry projects.

Vicki Robinson (nee Allars) holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia. She worked as a lawyer for Clayton Utz from 1998 to 2003, becoming a Senior Associate for the firm in 2002.

In 2003, Vicki joined Wesfarmers Limited as Legal Counsel. In 2007, Vicki took the position as General Manager of Energy Generation Pty Ltd, a remote power generation business in the Wesfarmers Energy Division. Vicki went on maternity leave from this position in late 2008 and is currently working three days a week for Wesfarmers Limited as Legal Counsel. Vicki joined the board of the Black Swan State Theatre Company in early 2009.

Nicki has over 20 years experience in the administration of State taxes.

She began her career as a stamp duty assessor, before moving to the policy and legislation area of State Revenue. She currently juggles life as a busy mother of primary school aged children with her role as the Director of the Legislation, Training and Review Division.

Her responsibilities include the design of amendments to revenue and grant statutes administered by the Commissioner of State Revenue and assisting the progress of these through the Parliament. She also oversees a small team of specialised officers who determine objections under revenue and grant statutes, and subsequent reviews to the State Administrative Tribunal and courts. More recently, Nicki’s responsibilities have expanded to include staff training and external customer education programs.

Evan has experience in the areas of Government and Higher Education. His skills are in areas such as surveying and mapping, account management, senior management, marketing and business development.

He joined Curtin University in February 1998 following a 32 year career with the Commonwealth Public Service initially in surveying and mapping and concluding as Regional General Manager Western Australia/South Australia for the Department of Administrative Services.

Evan is now the Director External Relations, Curtin Business School; he is responsible for creating links with industry, marketing, market analysis, careers and alumni. Before commencing the position with the Curtin Business School in January 2008, Evan occupied positions within Curtin University as Director University Development and Director Strategy and External Relations in the Office of Strategy and Planning.

Evan is very involved in community and business activities. He is Past President of the Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and was a foundation committee member of St Basil’s Aged Care Services. Currently he is a Governor with the American Chamber of Commerce (WA) and a Board member of the Hellenic Community Aged Care. Evan is also a member of the Business Policy Committee for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA. Evan was recently been appointed Deputy Chair of the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) Business Policy Forum and as an Honorary Life Member of the Hellenic Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA (Inc).

Dale Pinto is an Associate Professor and Head of the Tax Department in the School of Business Law at Curtin University.

He has published widely in national and international refereed and practitioner journals in the areas of taxation law, electronic commerce and international tax. Dale Pinto has a demonstrated background in the science and technology of learning and has been involved in developing eLearning systems and technologies in university and corporate environments. Dale has presented at conferences at national and international forums. While undertaking his doctoral studies at the University of Melbourne he presented a forum on eLearning methodologies and strategies.

During his career Tony has held a number of senior leadership roles.

These roles have included the Dean of the University of Adelaide and Head of Research at the Workplace Research Centre at the University of Sydney. Additionally he has held the position of Visiting Professor at Stanford University where he taught MBA students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Tony obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Management from the University of Western Australia. Tony has published widely in the areas of change management, leadership, organisational commitment, workplace trust and emotional intelligence. Tony has over 100 publications including a substantial number of refereed journal articles in the aforementioned areas of expertise. Tony's most recent book, Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim is co-authored with Professor Steve McShane from the University of Western Australia and has become the best selling management text throughout Australia.

Tony has been active in the area of consulting in Australia and overseas. In Australia his clients have included ANZ bank, BHP, QANTAS, Nespresso, Main Roads Western Australia, Westrail, Hunter Area Health, and Centrelink. Additionally, he has conducted projects in London with a number of international organisations including Norwich Union, Royal Sun Alliance, Midland Bank, Guinness Brewing and London Underground. He has presented the findings of his consulting at high level forums such as the American Academy of Management, British Academy of Management, the International Work Psychology Conference and the Australian Industrial and Organisational Psychology Conference.