Adelaide Connected

Originally from Iran, Dr Rosh moved to Australia in the mid-1990s as part of the Bahá’í community, which faced severe persecution in her home country. Despite arriving with limited English, she completed high school, learned the language and went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Dental Surgery from the University of Adelaide in 2000. Today, Dr Rosh has more than 20 years of experience in cosmetic...

Originally from South Africa, JC is a Chartered Accountant who has lived and worked in Bermuda and New York before relocating to South Australia in 2024. He is now a Manager within the external assurance practice of PwC Adelaide whereby he leads various audit engagements from a diverse range of clients across the Australian territory with the purpose of building trust in society and solving import...

In this episode we have the pleasure of chatting with Spencer McKinney. Originally from the US, Spencer has lived and worked in Fiji, England and Wales before moving to Adelaide in late 2025, with his wife and young family, to work in project management as part of Mott MacDonald's defence team. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and kids, learning the piano, hitting the gym,...

In this episode, we chat with Joshua Newnes. Originally from Mumbai, Josh has forged a successful career in copywriting and advertising, working across several multi-national creative agencies in the Middle East and India before moving to Adelaide in 2018. As a Senior Creative at Fuller, Josh is responsible for creative concepts, scripting, brand narratives, messaging and punchy copywriting, using...

In this episode, we chat with Amerdeep and Poornima, also known as Nima, who arrived in Adelaide from India in mid- 2024. Adelaide quickly felt like home for the married couple, who made the move with their two young boys, Arjun (10) and Aryan (6). Amerdeep brings over 18 years of experience in the power and energy sector and Nima has re-trained in childcare, has worked in HR and sales and is now...

In this episode, we sit down with William Van Ausdal, Head of Sustainability at Flinders University. Originallyfrom the United States, William has worked in Oregon, California, Auckland and Wellington before moving to Adelaide in 2019 (after tasting some of Adelaide's famous sparkling shiraz!) We chat to William about his early life growing up in the US, what prompted his move to Adelaide, his...

Welcome back to Season 5 of the Adelaide Connected Podcast! In this episode we sit down with Ansley Easterlin.       Originally from the US, Ansley has lived and worked all over the world including in New York, Augusta, the Cayman Islands, New Zealand and Alaska before moving to Adelaide in late 2023. Since arriving in Adelaide, she has worked with the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation...

In the final episode of season four, we are thrilled to be chatting with Rashpal Bhatti. Originally from Britain but having recently been in Singapore for the last 14 years, Rashpal moved to Adelaide in September 2024 with his family. Rashpal has most recently led BHP’s Maritime team as Vice President, responsible for delivering the safest vessels at the lowest cost to BHP’s operations. In the las...

In this episode, we are thrilled to be chatting with JD Sheard. JD (John-David) is the Co-founder and Partner of Eastend Ventures, Founder and Managing Director of Virtca Capital, and Non-executive director of several prominent technology and not-for-profit organisations. Originally from Canada, JD has spent the past two decades living and working throughout Canada, the United States, the United K...

In this episode, we chat with Dr. Jessica Bohorquez, Civil Engineer at Aurecon. Originally from Colombia in South America, Jessica moved to Adelaide in June 2017 by herself. Dr Jessica is passionate about creating water curiosity and solving our water challenges. She is a water engineer delivering infrastructure projects for private organisations, water utilities and government. Dr Jessica has dev...

In this episode, we chat with Anish Kamboj, Construction Engineer and Estimator at Bardavcol. Originally from India, Anish Kamboj moved to Adelaide, South Australia in mid-2022. With a bachelor degree of technology, civil engineering already under his belt he enrolled in the University of Adelaide to study a master's degree in construction management which he completed last year. Anish has rec...

In this episode, we chat with Donna Ferris, Founder and Director at Tess Search Partners. Originally from Armagh in Northern Ireland, Donna moved to Australia with her young family in 2020, two weeks before the borders closed due to covid. Donna was very fortunate to discover her passion soon after she graduated from university and is now the Director of TESS Search Partners, an executive recruitm...

In this episode we are thrilled to be chatting with Alison Maguire.      Originally from Newcastle in the United Kingdom, Alison moved to Adelaide in January 2024 as part of a 8-month exchange program between leading UK planning firm, Turley, and local town planning firm, URPS, who has offices in Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth. Alison is a highly experienced and respected urban planner and has work...

On this episode we chat to Vibhav Pant. Originally from India, Vibhav Pant moved to Adelaide, South Australia with his young family in August 2024. With a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he has held various senior program and project manager roles in India and recently commenced in a new role as Project Manager – ICT with the Department for Child Protection with the South Australian Government w...

In this episode, we chat with Tara Moses , Chief Operating Officer at R.M. Williams. Originally from Minnesota in the U.S, Tara moved to Adelaide in January 2023 with her young family. With a background in lean transformation and manufacturing, she has held various senior management roles in the U.S and recently commenced as the COO at R.M. Williams, where she is responsible for the supply chain,...

In this episode, we are thrilled to be chatting with Yarik Turianskyi. Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, Yarik has a background in policy, communications and international relations and is what we call an ‘Arrow,’ someone who is originally from interstate or overseas and has moved to Adelaide, South Australia. Yarik moved to Adelaide at the start of 2022 to take a Senior Policy Officer role at the De...

In this episode, we chat with Travis Mahoney, former Olympic swimmer and proud 'Arrow' who made the move from Victoria to Adelaide in 2017. Originally from Bayswater, Victoria, Travis moved to Adelaide to join the world class South Australian Sports Institute’s Swimming Program in 2017 whilst also studying a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing Management at Flinders University. He is...

Originally from Kuwait, Reshmi Ramesh moved to Adelaide in February 2022 to study her Master of Civil & Structural Engineering at the University of Adelaide. She is what we call an ‘Arrow,’ someone who is originally from interstate or overseas and has moved to Adelaide, South Australia. Since relocating to Adelaide, Reshmi has worked part time while studying and after her final exams, commence...

Originally from Hong Kong, Onnie Chan has a background in theatre, arts and technology and is what we call an ‘Arrow,’ someone who is originally from interstate or overseas and has moved to Adelaide, South Australia. Onnie relocated to Adelaide at the start of 2022 to study a ‘Masters of Immersive Media Technologies’ at the University of Adelaide and quickly immersed herself in everything Adelaide...

Originally from Malaysia, John Kuruvilla started his career as a forensic accountant in Sydney. After realising how quickly technology was disrupting things, he decided to move to Adelaide in 2018 to complete a Masters program and hasn't looked back. After graduating with a Masters of IT from the University of South Australia, John successfully transitioned into the technology sector as a Cybe...

Kayla Johnson came to Adelaide from Oklahoma in the United States in 2015 to study her masters and has quickly become a passionate advocate for SA. She started as an intern with the South Australian Government where she quickly progressed to Policy & Project Officer with the Department for Education and Principal Policy Officer with the Department of the Premier & Cabinet. In her role as D...

Ben Symons is the General Manager SA & WA at Lendlease. After growing up in Country NSW, Ben found his calling in the construction industry and joined Lendlease as a graduate and hasn’t looked back. He has held multiple roles within Lendlease, starting in Sydney and Canberra and later having the opportunity to work across the business internationally in Hawaii, Alaska, Dallas and Los Angeles,...

With a Master of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Arka Ghosh moved from India to Australia in 2019. He originally settled in Geelong where he studied a Ph D in Construction Management and was awarded as a finalist for innovative breakthrough and impactful research. In 2022, Arka secured a role as Digital Assets Leader for Beca and moved to Adelaide in 2023. We chat to Arka about...

Irina is what we term an ‘Arrow’ and a ‘Boomerang’. Originally from Romania, Irina moved to Adelaide in 2002 to undertake her post graduate studies at the University of South Australia and worked in a number of engineering and project management roles including as Director, Corporate Services and Director, Engineering & Building Services at SA Health. In 2011, she took up a national role with...

Professor Simon Lucey is the Director of the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, a professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Adelaide and an 'Arrow,' someone who has moved to Adelaide to live and work. Originally from Queensland, Simon has spent time working as the Principal Research Scientist at the CSIRO in Brisbane and as an Associate Research Professor at...