Speaker Biographies

Sanjeev Gupta is the Executive Chairman of GFG Alliance, a collection of global businesses and investment owned Sanjeev and his family. GFG Alliance has three core industry brands; LIBERTY Steel Group, ALVANCE Aluminium Group and SIMEC Energy Group. Besides its industry brands GFG Alliance holds investments in financial services and property held within a Family Office. Sanjeev and his wife Nicola are also the founders of the GFG Foundation – a registered charity that aims to develop industrial skills among young people. GFG Alliance has revenues of $20bn and employees 36,000 people across 30 countries.

Born into a family of industrialists in Punjab, India, Sanjeev was educated in the UK and graduated with an MA in Economics and Management from the University of Cambridge. He founded Liberty House Group in 1992, while still an undergraduate, as a global commodities trader, growing rapidly across different geographies for over two decades.

In 2015 Sanjeev started his industrial journey buying and restarting his first steel mill in the UK. Since then he has built an international reputation as an ambitious and visionary industrialist acquiring and building major assets in metals, engineering, mining, and renewable energy spread across the world with a particular focus on the UK, Europe, Australia and the USA.

Sanjeev’s strategy is based on long-term investment focused on economic, social and environmental sustainability. At the heart of this are his low-carbon GREEN strategies (GREENSTEEL and GREENALUMINIUM) which combine metal recycling with renewable energy. In 2019 Sanjeev announced Liberty Steel Group’s ambition to become Carbon Neutral by 2030 – the most ambitious target of its kind by a major steel producer.

Progressing his vision of combining renewable energy with metal manufacturing, his energy group SIMEC, has a growing portfolio of assets in solar, wind, hydro, bio-diesel, biomass and waste-to-energy.

Sanjeev has also set up JAHAMA – the property arm of GFG Alliance – to provide property management and development services to members of the GFG Alliance that have considerable property portfolios.

Sanjeev is a major advocate of community development in areas where his businesses are active. He supports the building of industrial skills among young people through the GFG Foundation which he established with his wife Nicola in 2016. Liberty, SIMEC, JAHAMA and GFG Foundation are all part of the GFG Alliance working together to build sustainable industries.

Sanjeev and Nicola live in Dubai with their three young children.

Samuel Maresh is Country Leader of GE Australia, where he is responsible for the development and execution of market business strategies, strengthening stakeholder relationships, managing enterprise risks, and building GE’s brand in Australia.

Preceding his time at GE, Sam worked in the energy and resources sector, holding management roles at Rio Tinto and with the Victorian and New South Wales Governments. He also spent time in academia, researching climate policy and emission trading in the United Kingdom where he authored a range of publications.

Sam serves as a director of several GE subsidiary businesses in Australia and is a Director for the Australian Industry Group, a member of the CSIRO’s Manufacturing Advisory Committee, and a member of the Business Council of Australia's Energy and Climate Change Committee.

Born in Melbourne, Sam holds a Science Degree from the University of Melbourne, a Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management from RMIT University and an Executive MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

Married to marine scientist, Professor Emma Johnston AO, the couple has two young children and are currently based in Sydney where Sam is an active volunteer surf lifesaver at the local beach.

Frank Seeley AM FAICD – entrepreneur, innovator, businessman, philanthropist, family man, employer, friend. The founder of Seeley International and its Chairman, Frank Seeley AM FAICD, is an Australian success story.

Frank founded Seeley International in 1972 – now Australia’s leading manufacturer of heating and cooling systems. After successfully developing the first all-plastic portable coolers, Frank went on to develop all-plastic rooftop coolers. This wasn’t just a breakthrough for Seeley; it was a breakthrough for the entire industry.

Frank is committed to the rebirth of Australian consumer products manufacturing and has a philosophy of vertical integration. This means that most of the materials and production of Seeley International products is kept within Australia. Today, Seeley International employs more than 500 people, has manufacturing operations at Lonsdale, South Australia and Albury, New South Wales with sales offices in each mainland state.

Frank has more than thirty years Board experience, sitting on a number of Boards including the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association; Samaritan’s Purse, and AGA (Australian Gas Association) to which Frank brings to the Board broad knowledge gained from some 20 years’ experience running his own company as the Managing Director; and most recently Executive Chairman for Page 2 Seeley International.

Frank has built his business from the ground up and has incredible business acumen. Frank has extensive experience in the gas industry, working alongside industry bodies including the AGA to continually develop more and more efficient gas heaters.

Trish is a non-executive director of listed, private and government boards in the high-tech manufacturing, transport and infrastructure sectors, and trusted advisor with Slingsby Taylor. Her executive engineering career was in the global resources & energy sector and prior to that, in defence science and national infrastructure projects. She was a minister in the South Australian Government and is a recent National President of Engineers Australia. Trish currently serves on the executive council of AiGroup’s Advanced Manufacturing Forum and recently led the establishment of the Heavy Industry Low-carbon Transition CRC, which brought together over $200m in industry and government funding to de-risk heavy industry’s pathways toward net-zero emissions and greener products.

Trish is a non-executive director of K-TIG Ltd (ASX:KTG), developer and manufacturer of patented, high productivity welding technology, and Hypersonix Launch Systems Ltd, an aerospace company developing reusable, hydrogen-powered engines and launch vehicles, based on scramjet technology and hypersonic performance. She also serves on the boards of Flinders Port Holdings, which operates seven Australian ports and a container terminal, the national rail regulator, ONRSR, and she chairs Building Communities (Vic) Ltd which is redeveloping housing in three suburbs of inner Melbourne as part of a $500m public-private affordable housing project.

Professor John Spoehr is Pro-Vice Chancellor - Research Impact at Flinders University. He is also Director of the Australian Industrial Transformation Institute.

John is leading the establishment of the Factory of the Future facility at the Tonsley Innovation District in collaboration with the South Australian Government, BAE Systems Maritime Australia, CISCO and a range of SME’s and technology partners.

Part of this network of capabilities is the new Flinders Digital Transformation Lab at the Tonsley Innovation District.

He is one of the authors of ‘Manufacturing Transformation – High Value manufacturing for the 21st century’