 About the Speakers
 Nicola Watkinson, General Manager – The Americas
THE AUSTRALIAN TRADE AND INVESTMENT COMMISSION (AUSTRADE)
Nicola Watkinson serves as Austrade’s General Manager, The Americas, responsible for trade and investment initiatives across priority sectors in the USA, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Brazil. Prior to this role, she served as the Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner for North America. Nicola also acts as the Deputy Consul General for Australia in New York.
Nicola joined Austrade in 2003 following a career in the private sector in the UK and with the Victorian Government in Melbourne. Nicola’s career in Austrade spans Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner for South Asia, Consul General Frankfurt, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, West Europe, Global Head of Investment and Senior Investment Commissioner for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
She has also worked in North Asian markets with a particular focus on Japan, China and Korea. Nicola has sat on the advisory board of groups such as CSIRO (Australia’s premier research organisation), Industry Capability Network, Australia China Business Council and Australian Business in Europe.
 Mark Gustowski, Chief Executive Officer
QUT CREATIVE ENTERPRISE AUSTRALIA (CEA)
Mark has worked with innovative, fast-growth and creative businesses for over 15 years within both the private and public sectors and has designed, developed and delivered accelerator style programs for Australian businesses nationally and internationally.
With over a decade of corporate advisory and management consulting experience, Mark has supported businesses through the development of B2B and B2C strategies, marketing and sales strategies, IP strategies, channel management and identification, capital raising, corporate structuring and partnering.
Mark has also been involved in the development of four start-ups and has successfully run his own commercialisation advisory firm supporting fast-growth and innovation based companies prior to joining the CEA team.
Previously, Mark has been responsible for driving international business development for a major UK based design and engineering firm including working on major projects such as London2012 and more recently has assisted the iconic Tonino Lamborghini brand build an Australian presence.
Across Australia Mark has worked with over 1,500 businesses across almost all industry verticals and currently sits on the Advisory Board of a number of creative industries, innovation, FMCG and technology companies.
Mark is passionate about supporting Australian businesses compete in global markets, has been an Australian Anthill Maven judge, is a Victorian Leaders Forum mentor and following his BAppSci completed the Venture Capital Executives Program at the HAAS Business School (UC Berkeley) on a Victorian Employer’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) scholarship.
 Jo Dillon, Head of Development & Production
SCREEN QUEENSLAND
Jo Dillon has worked in the development and production of high-quality scripted and unscripted international screen stories for over fourteen years. She was appointed Executive Vice President, Content, at Screen Queensland in 2014 with a remit to lead an eight-person team responsible for investment in talent, high-quality screen stories and businesses and to provide strategic leadership, and creative and operational direction to the organisation to grow a successful screen industry. She is passionate about working with diverse and talented storytellers to create screen stories that attract cast, finance and audiences and has brought commercial and creative know-how to the development of hundreds of projects – most recently in her current role and her previous position as Development Executive at Screen Australia. In the UK, Jo was Head of Development at Emmy-winning production company Yipp Films, responsible for developing factual narratives for network television and establishing the company’s first drama slate. She worked in development for independent feature film producers, notably Ipso Facto Productions, as a script and story consultant working on feature films, shorts and documentaries, and as an assessor for a number of UK investors and screen agencies. Jo is a former UK national newspaper journalist and broadcast commentator.
 Meg O’Connell, Producer
LUDO STUDIO PTY LTD
Meg O’Connell has worked on over twenty hours of broadcast television. She recently produced the International Emmy® Award winning and AACTA® nominated ABC ME show DOODLES for Ludo Studio, and was the development manager on BLUEY which is the most watched show on ABC TV. At Ludo she works with company directors Daley Pearson and Charlie Aspinwall to develop their slate of projects including a six-part drama for Stan and an eight-part series she co-created with Beatrix Christian (PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK). She is currently producing two digital series: ROBBIE HOOD for SBS On Demand and CONTENT for ABC iview. CONTENT is a digital series set entirely on a mobile phone and is the first of its kind to be made in Australia. In 2018 Meg was awarded the Screen Queensland Mentorship Fellowship of $20,000 to be mentored by producers in the US and the UK.
 Moderated by Marc Orchard, Director of Startups
BDO AUSTRALIA
Marc Orchard is the Director of Startups with BDO in Brisbane. He is passionate about helping world class entrepreneurs creating the exceptional companies of tomorrow. Marc’s goal is to create the professional service firm that startups always wished they had, and position BDO as the #1 professional service firm for startups and scaleups in Australia.
Marc is the founder of our “BDO for Startups” program, Australia’s first professional service offering built specifically for startups. The BDO for Startups team are committed to helping early stage, high growth companies survive the ‘trough of sorrow’ and create successfully, global facing companies. This program is being beta tested in our Brisbane office, before a national roll out in 2020.
Marc joined BDO in 2018 and was previously the Brisbane City Manager of Fishburners, and CEO of his own Financial Planning firm VEVA Wealth Management.
More panelists to be announced soon.
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