Arete Podcast with Richard Triggs

In this episode of the Arete Executive Podcast, I talk to Mushfiq Rahman. Mushfiq Rahman has worked in diverse roles in his career – from owning his own computer services business to working in the energy, resource, and infrastructure sectors in senior executive roles. He is currently Executive General Manager for Valmec Limited, an energy resources and infrastructure service group, providing cons...

My guest today has had an interesting and varied career, starting with the UK Navy, where he flew helicopters among other duties, and working through a range of roles in Australia and New Zealand, before settling into his current role as CEO of DBM Vircon. DBM Vircon is a global 3D modeling steel and concrete detailing company with sister and parent companies in the USA. Listening to Mark speak, y...

Some people have a vibrant energy about them that you can’t help but like, and today’s guest is one of those people. Judah Rowe is a serial innovator and a key player in two family-owned businesses, Hybrid-Ag and Vard Group. Hybrid-Ag ‘transforms food for health’ by providing quality nutrients for the agricultural sector, and Vard Group was born out of the Covid-19 outbreak, initially supplying ha...

Our guest for this episode is Bruce Youlden, the MD of Educare: a multi-disciplinary health practice incorporating, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, speech and social work. Bruce is responsible for 35 clinicians and staff, and has the additional responsibility of having to cope with an incredible rise in demand. Bruce made an interesting transition from running a school to being an educational/...

Have you ever wondered what happens to your computer hardware when you don’t need it anymore? We speak to someone whose company offers a landfill-free recycling solution, and the all-important peace of mind that sensitive data will be erased thoroughly. Since Shane Mulholland founded Greenbox in 2000, he has seen it grow into one of the leaders in the marketplace with five facilities across Austra...

It’s very hard to sum up the career and life of Terry Aronson… what hasn’t this man done? Starting out in Sydney with his own highly successful construction company, Terry made the decision to go to the US to broaden his horizons. Despite his success in business, the US authorities would only issue him with a green card if he had a skill that was more unique than running a business. Luckily for Te...

We’ve got a real all-rounder on the latest Arete podcast. Mark Edmonds is currently a business mentor with MRE Consulting and the part-owner of the Ocean Grove Chalet motel, with the most incredible range of senior-management experience outside of his current ventures. He’s chaired numerous boards across different sectors, he’s worked as a national sales manager, and he even landed a senior-manage...

John Perry has gone through everything you could imagine on his executive journey. He’s been a CEO in a high-pressured corporate environment and he’s built up his own SME from scratch. It was interesting to hear why he decided to start up on his own having been so successful in larger organisations. Nowadays he is Managing Director/Founder of Conquest Capital and is very keen to keep the business...

What an enthusiastic and innovative guy we have on the show this week. Mick Carter is the CEO of Beyond Clarity: a company that provides ambitious and unique technology solutions across Australia. In Mick’s words “we help the world become a bit greener and a bit safer”. Mick shared a load of interesting stories about the products he has brought to market down the years, including a concept to turn...

We’ve got a super-interesting story from our latest guest, Stijn Koppers. Stijn is the CEO of Banpu Energy Australia - a renewable energy resource and technology company with operations in 10 different countries around the world - but the way he got there is a story in itself. As a high flyer in his native Holland, he landed his first major job with Shell, but initially refused their offer of a ro...

We have quite a range of subject matter on this episode of the Arete podcast. Tony Eyres was our esteemed guest: a man just as comfortable in the boardroom as he is out on the farm. Tony is director of his own company, Rounding Up, which helps deliver growth for Australia’s food and agribusiness sector from independent farmers to big corporates. He is also a non-executive director of an Atech star...

Our latest guest is a real visionary. As Principal of Onyx Online Law, Jeanette Jifkins pioneered digital legal advice and remote working long before COVID made it fashionable. Onyx Online Law is a boutique firm specialising in commercial and corporate law with a focus on businesses in the digital space. Jeanette tells us how Onyx has grown in the last few years, and how she’s shaken up the board...

In this episode I talk to Glenn Shepherd: a highly successful exec who tells the story of how he managed to become the top dog of a company who weren’t even advertising the role, in an industry he had no knowledge of whatsoever. Glenn is currently CEO of National 360, a fast-growing allied health services provider (formerly known as National Occupational Therapy). When Glenn started they had 60 th...

This week’s Arete podcast really demonstrates the value of a CEO with an open mind. The CEO in question is Leanne Williams from West Gippsland Libraries in Victoria. She tells us how she delivered growth in a sector that faces more and more competition by the day, and how COVID has proven the worth of the change in company culture she pushed to deliver. Leanne credits her resilience to her upbring...

We go really deep in this week’s Arete podcast. Our guest Simone Dowding was recently voted into Inside Magazine’s top 50 businesswomen, but it was much more interesting to talk to her about her life journey than simply go through her career. Would you believe, she actually lived with the Dalai Lama in the Himalayas! Nowadays she is CEO of Storytowns: a podcasting business that showcases the stori...

Dennis Cronje tells us how he used his autonomy to deliver incredible results at InMode. As MD of ANZ, he is an integral part of a truly global business that recently floated on the NASDAQ. InMode is a serious success story, having just achieved record annual revenue of $206m and 32% growth in 2020. They are the fastest-growing aesthetic device company in the world, specialising in medical devices...

Not knowing an industry is a challenge many executives face when they climb the ladder, so we thought it would be good to speak to someone who overcame that challenge to deliver some incredible results. Our guest this week is Sean Simmons, COO of Fallon Solutions: a category leader in the trade services industry. Sean’s role is wide ranging. He has a lot of people-facing duties including training,...

It’s always good to talk to someone with such wide-ranging experience, and it’s even better when they’re incredibly successful. Cheryl Barrett is the CEO of Southern Cross Support Services, which provides NDIS care across Australia. What started ten years ago as two people in a lounge room has now grown to 1,045 staff across Australia. With Cheryl now at the helm, we talk to her about how she got...

Just how do you learn the ways of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) across the world if you’ve never done it before? Scott Douglas tells us how. The Managing Director of Asia Pacific for WernerCo gives us an insight into his rise to the top of the management tree, and the inner workings of a truly global business. He’s on the phone to the global CEO and he’s answerable to a whole host of staff and a...

In this episode I speak to someone who has accomplished a very rare thing these days: a hugely successful manufacturing operation in our own country. Where most would outsource to Asia, Scott Trenoweth and his family have proven what can be possible if you invest in local talent. The Associate Director of Thunderbox Industries recounts his journey to the top of the family business, which has grown...

We cover some heavy global matters on this week’s Arete podcast with Larry Quick: a man whose job it is to help companies understand how macro issues could affect their everyday business. The senior analyst and strategist (and acting MD) of Resilient Futures was incredibly insightful. He basically deconstructed the major systems of the world and explained why they are important to you, the busines...

Too many businesses treat health & safety as a box-ticking exercise, but if you listen to our guest this week, you’ll realise what an empowering force it can be for an organisation. We speak to Gareth Davies, MD of SafeAssure: a firm that offers specialist advice on workplace safety and environmental management systems. He knows what to do in a crisis and he also knows what to do to stop you havin...

Wouldn’t we all like to get inside the heads of our colleagues to understand why they might be resistant to change? Meg Hooper makes a living out of doing just that, and she was kind enough to share some great advice on how to understand the human side of change management. Meg is the Director and Principal Consulting Psychologist of her own firm, Carousel Consulting, and is an active member of th...

The social impact of what we do in business is becoming more and more important, so it was great to speak to someone who is making a success of marrying up the old corporate world with the socially conscious world of startups. Sandra D’Souza is the CEO of Ellect: a digital marketplace that connects small businesses with corporate buyers/investors, where every transaction has a social impact. Sandr...

If you crack change management then you’ve cracked a key component of business, so it was great to talk to Don McKenzie from the Adizes Institute about their methodology for collaborative leadership and the importance of understanding which part of the lifecycle a business is in. Don is the MD of the Adizes Australia operation and an active member of the global executive team, having previously bu...