Board of Directors

Michael Sargent

Mike Sargent is a Director of MA Sargent and Associates, providing strategic corporate consulting services to industry, with a particular focus on the information technology, energy, environment and utilities sectors. Prior to this he was Chief Executive of Transfield Energy Group, and before that was Chief Executive Officer of ACTEW Corporation from November 1991. Mike has 40 years experience in the electricity industry in Australia, USA and Canada.

Mike Sargent has had a long involvement with innovation, being author of nearly one hundred papers covering technology, information technology, quality, and corporate management and leadership topics. He established the framework for the encouragement, management and commercialisation of innovation in SEQEB and ACTEW, a model widely copied in the public sector. Significant technologies commercialised through this process include:

  • Automatic telephone answering destination routing (which subsequently became the basis of the Telstra 13.. number system)
  • Advanced micro-controllers for SCADA systems,
  • Advanced wastewater treatment system (CRANOS), and
  • TRANSACT Communications FTTC broadband system.

Mike was also Chair of the organisation, which established the framework for advanced computing in Australia, now managed by APAC (Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing), and has been a member of strategic committees for a number of major research organisations such as the Australian Research Council and CSIRO.

Mike is an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.

David Gaul

David Gaul is a Non-Executive Director and co-founder of CEA Technologies. Before forming the company, David spent 22 years in the Royal Australian Navy.

David is a Foundation Fellow of the AICD, served as councillor of AICD ACT and the ACT Division of the Australian Business Chamber. David has served as a member of the ACT Government's various business advisory boards over the last 10 years. Other forums he has served include: The Reserve Bank of Australia Small Business Committee, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Industry Policy and Innovation Committee, Canberra Business Council Executive, Australian Science Festival Board, ABL Defence Industry Committee of Council, Governor of the Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering, Member of the Cooperative Research Centre for Sensor Signal and Information Processing (CSSIP) Board and member of the IR&D Board's COMET/ICIP Committee.

Other current business positions include:

  • Director, Epicorp
  • Director, Seeing Machines Ltd
  • Chairman, ANU Connect Ventures, administering a $30m Canberra Region Pre-Seed Fund.

 In August 2002, David became a Companion of Engineers Australia. David was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2003 for his service to Australian Defence and was named Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 in the Technology, Communication, E Commerce and Life Sciences category. David has recently been awarded as an 2009/2010 Australian Export Hero.

David was born in Sydney in August 1946 and resides in Canberra with his wife. He has four adult offspring and five grandchilden. Interests other than his family include reading, music, ballet, genealogy, numismatics, woodworking, fishing and boating.

David O'Rourke

David O'Rourke is the former Managing Director of RICHARDSON:O'ROURKE, an award winning Company established in Canberra in 2002 and recognised as a Business Capability Partner in the fields of:

Project & Program Management;
Strategy & Business Improvement;
Enterprise Technology; and
Marketing & Communications

David moved-on from RICHARDSON:O'ROURKE in mid 2009 and established another rapidly growing company: Projects Assured, which specialises in providing high-quality Independent Assurance, Value Management, Risk Management and Project Turnaround services for large-scale and high risk Projects and Programs.  David is also a non-executive director and/or advisory board member for four other Australian companies.

David grew-up in Canberra. He is an experienced civil engineering executive, with 11 years' service as an Army Officer within the Corps of Royal Australian Engineers and an accomplished ICT and construction project and program manager who has earned a reputation for excellence in project/program delivery and project/program assurance for Government and commercial organisations.

David has personally delivered projects and programs totalling over $130 million throughout his career and undertaken independent project reviews and assurance for Government and commercial projects totalling more than $3.6 billion.

David holds a Bachelor of Computer Science and a Master of Business & Technology from the UNSW. He is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI), an active and vocal member of the ACT business community, and is an elected ACT Branch Committee Member of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA). 

David is a keen golfer and member of the Ainslie Football Club.  He is married with three school aged children.

David is passionate about helping businesses and Government to deliver on their potential.

Ken Kroeger

Ken Kroeger is the founder of Catalyst Interactive, an internationally recognised supplier of simulation based training, which was sold to multinational KBR in 2008.

A long career in business and computing has provided Ken with insight into diverse industry sectors and technologies. Prior to moving to Australia, Ken worked with Canada's federal government, the Canadian Royal Mounted Police and Southam News where he enjoyed roles in research and development, evaluating emerging technology and the design and implementation of new business, manufacturing and aviation related systems.

Ken is currently the CEO at Seeing Machines, a company globally recognised for their facial visualisation software, serves on the board of directors for several companies and enjoys helping local startups establish and grow their businesses.

He is a keen, long time, cyclist and spends his spare time with his young family or riding Canberra's surrounding roads and trails.

Ken studied business and systems analysis at Carleton University and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.