Our advisory board

Anna Reid is a Fulfillment Centre Site Lead at Amazon, where she leads Amazon's Fulfillment Centre based at Ravenhall in Melbourne. Prior to joining Amazon, Anna was GM of Operations and Supply Chain at Kinrise, GM of Manufacturing at Asahi Beverages, and has also worked for HJ Heinz and George Weston Foods.

Anna completed her graduate studies at the Australian National University, with a double degree in Systems Engineering and Information Technology, and has an MBA from the Melbourne Business School. Anna is passionate about Industry 4.0, with a focus on supply chain resiliency, employee engagement, and sustainability. 

Patrick Blanchard completed his graduate studies and PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. In 1999 he joined Ford Research & Advanced Engineering with his work focusing on the development of materials and manufacturing technologies for vehicle mass reduction. 

From 2009 to 2019, he led an R&D team tasked with concept design and development of class A and structural composite components destined for a wide variety of Ford and Lincoln vehicle programs. Since 2019, he assumed the role of Technical Leader for Advanced Polymer Systems directing a broad range of projects in support of longer-term automotive fuel economy, emissions and sustainability targets.

Vonda Fenwick joined SEMMA as the CEO in September 2019. She has more than 30 years in the manufacturing sector across a broad range of industries including aerospace, automotive, coatings, electronics, engineering, fibreglass, food, sheet metal fabrication, petrochemicals, plastics, rubber, scientific equipment and steel industries. Vonda has held senior management roles to GM level in SME’s with 12–200+ employees.

Vonda was an inaugural Board Member of SEMMA in 2003 and has worked with manufacturers including BHP, Orica, General Motors Holden as well as complex, high tech SME’s in aerospace and analytical equipment. Vonda has participated in various government-industry forums including the Federal Government Strategic Industry Leaders Group for the Science Industry.

Dr Karl-Heinz Füller studied mechanical engineering at the University of Stuttgart (Germany) and at the George-Washington University (USA). He has worked for more than 25 years for Daimler AG in the various research topics of materials, processes and concepts. Previously he held management positions in the materials (CFRP), concept development (BIW) and manufacturing areas.

In his current position he is involved in setting up research projects with Startups and ARENA2036 and is responsible for future exterior concepts and new materials, especially in the context of sustainability. Dr Füller has received several awards for new material innovations and has presented as guest speaker at many national and international conferences. In 2017 Swinburne appointed Dr Füller to an Adjunct Professorship.

With over 35 years in the pharmaceutical and bioscience industries, Lusia Guthrie is an experienced executive, company founder and medtech entrepreneur. She has a passion and proven track record in bringing innovative products to global markets, embracing the entire process from company formation and capital raising, through concept and product development to launch. She commenced her career as a Medical Laboratory Scientist before joining the Manufacturing Division of Faulding Pharmaceuticals, where she attained the position of Director of Operations. 

In 2004 Lusia founded medical technology innovation company, LBT Innovations Limited (ASX: LBT) where she served as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director until 2016. The company has won two Medical Design Excellence Awards (MDEA) for its automation/AI products for infectious diseases testing. MDEA is the premier awards program for the medtech industry in the US, which recognises significant achievements in medical product design and engineering that improve the quality of healthcare delivery and accessibility

Lusia is actively engaged with industry, government and academia through various board and advisory roles in the healthtech sector. She currently serves as: Chair, BioMelbourne Network; Non-Executive Director 4DMedical Ltd (ASX: 4DX); Chair, Australian Lung Health Initiative Pty Ltd; and is a Member of the Innovation Taskforce for the Victorian State Government. 

Brad Horden has end to end supply chain responsibility for DuluxGroup, inclusive of customer service, procurement, manufacturing, distribution and the supporting activities of supply chain planning, engineering and supply chain finance. In addition, Brad also has responsibility for IT and Safety and Sustainability for DuluxGroup.

Prior to joining DuluxGroup in November 2006, Brad had a number of senior supply chain roles within multinational consumer product companies including Group Manufacturing Manager for Asaleo Care (previously SCA Australasia), Logistics Director for Campbell Arnott’s Australia and National Operations Manager alongside a variety of other operations roles for Snack Brands Australia (previously Frito-Lay Australia). 

Brian Hughes has worked with composites since 1989 and is the owner and Managing Director of Composite Materials Engineering (CME). CME is well known for its innovation and willingness to develop and introduce new technology and is now recognised as a global supplier of moulded composite parts to a diverse industry and customer base. Brian has a strong background in business and commercialising new technology and matching technology to products and markets.

Dr Matthias Meyer is General Manager at Marand Precision Engineering. Marand is a solution provider for automation and turnkey, and a manufacturer of high-precision components and tools for aerospace, defence, automotive, rail and energy industries.

Matthias studied mechanical engineering at Clausthal Technical University in Germany and received his PhD from Braunschweig Technical University while he was working at the German Aerospace Centre DLR. Matthias has a strong background in carbon composites and automation and has worked in executive positions in industry and research. 

Siemens is the largest industrial software company in the world, and Samantha Murray is their first Head of Software based in Australia. Samantha joined Siemens following a successful 25-year career in senior positions across the Asia Pacific with companies such as Microsoft, HP and SAS, where she managed teams responsible for designing, selling and implementing enterprise software solutions within commercial and public sectors. 

Samantha’s strength in sales and leadership across the region will be  invaluable at a time when there is increasing demand for advanced software that can help integrate data, processes, business systems and, ultimately, people in an extended enterprise. Samantha works with Australian industry of all sizes to build capability and develop the tools needed to compete with anyone in the world on the journey to the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0. 

Dr Zipper has an academic background in materials science and engineering with an emphasis on engineering materials, materials characterisation and materials processing. For the last 20+ years, Dr Zipper has had senior leadership, commercial, business development and marketing roles primarily in scientific research organisations, including over 15 years in CSIRO. 

Currently Dr Zipper is Director CSIRO Manufacturing Business Unit. Prior to that he has held a number of different roles in CSIRO including the Director for the CSIRO Services Business Unit for five years.

He has experience in business management, research management, science leadership, research portfolio management, strategic capability planning, business development and commercialisation experience in research organisations. 

He has experience in a range of research areas and sectors including chemicals, materials, mining and minerals processing, polymers / composites, metal production, manufacturing, service industries, packaging, aerospace and automotive.