Derek is a Manager in Deloitte’s Healthcare Advisory team, with broad health sector experience across State and Commonwealth health departments, public, private and not-for-profit health service providers, diagnostic services, justice health, primary and community health services, and private equity investors.

Derek specialises in financial and operational performance management and improvement, commissioning and contestability, business planning, accountability, and performance management, and due diligence, feasibility reviews and business case development.

Brent McPherson has spent over 25 years in the supply chain sector, managing clients and teams in both local and regional roles (APAC), covering many industries and sectors. Over the past 10 years, his main focus has been on the healthcare sector. From a commercial perspective, he has worked in start-up organisations concentrating on the marketing and sales strategies. Having studied in several fields, such as business management, international trade, supply chain and sales, he brings a unique perspective to his role. Brent is Sub Regional Business Development Manager, Australia & New Zealand, for World Courier, an AmerisourceBergen company.

Nathan oversees business development, collaboration activities, and manages the client pipeline at Cell Therapies. He has over 20 years’ experience within the cell therapy and biopharma industries, with strong expertise in cGMP clinical and commercial manufacturing.

Before moving to Australia in 2015 and joining Cell Therapies, Nathan made several career stops at multinational companies in the US. He worked at GlaxoSmithKline’s U.S.

Biopharmaceuticals facility, participating in multiple technical transfer projects, before joining BioReliance, where he led the expansion of their cell banking business.

Subsequently, Nathan worked at Mesoblast, managing process development and manufacturing support of phase II and III clinical trials for an allogeneic cell therapy product. Finally, he worked at Genzyme as the Associate Director of Global Cell Banking Operations before joining Cell Therapies.

Nathan graduated from Pennsylvania State University in the US with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. He now calls Australia home.

Erik Schmidt is a Senior Policy Adviser in the Victorian government’s Department of Jobs, Precincts & Regions (DJPR). His work in DJPR has dealt with the state’s trade policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the associated challenges with air and sea freight, and disruptions in the Australia-China trading relationship. In his roles preceding DJPR he has served as an Economic Policy Adviser at the Department of Premier & Cabinet, and as a Data Analyst for the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) in Bangkok. He holds a MA in International Business from the Cologne Business School, Germany, and a BSc in Finance from Santa Clara University in the USA.

Margaret Staib is a non-executive director of the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the Australian Royal Aeronautical Society, and member of the Industry Advisory Board for the Centre for Supply Chain and Logistics at Deakin University. Margaret was recently appointed the Northern Territory Defence and National Security Advocate and Chairs the Strategic Defence Advisory Board for the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.

She is a non-executive director of CEW and ACT Chapter Chair, and a member of the Industry Advisory Board QinetiQ Australia. Margaret is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and is a member of the RAAF Active Reserve.

Margaret commenced her professional career as a military logistician with the Australian Air Force, after completing a Business Degree at the University of South Queensland. Her military service included holding the position of Commander Joint Logistics and Commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy.

From the Air Force, Margaret continued her executive career as the CEO and Managing Director of Air Services Australia, the air navigation, and air traffic management organisation for Australia. There, she led significant transformation in air safety, air navigation technology and cultural change. She has subsequently pursued a career as a Non-Executive Director.

Her expertise is in defence, national security, transport and logistics, aviation and aerospace, cultural change and organisational transformation.

Sean is a Partner in Deloitte’s Healthcare Advisory team and specialises in large-scale multi-year, multi-initiative program and service evaluations, digital health/health innovation strategic planning, benefits frameworks and business cases. Sean has a particular interest in the use of innovative technology and data to facilitate better understanding and management of health and human services clients and system performance.

Prior to entering consulting, Sean spent almost five years’ as a molecular virologist within the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne.

Most recently, he has leveraged this experience in directly supporting the Victorian COVID-19 response and strategic planning for the establishment of a local ecosystem for production of RNA therapeutics and vaccines. Sean’s project work has included engagements across public, private and not-for-profit clients in Australia and Canada.