The Board

Chief Executive Officer

Dr Charlie Day

Email: crbday@unimelb.edu.au

Phone: 03 8344 3186

Charlie has been the leader of Melbourne Ventures, the technology commercialisation company of the University of Melbourne, since its foundation in 2004. Melbourne Ventures provides specialist professional services to assist University of Melbourne academics with the commercialisation of their intellectual property, both through the creation of spin-off companies and through licensing deals. Melbourne Ventures is also responsible for management of the University of Melbourne's patent and trademark portfolio, and provides a range of other services to the University community related to innovation and commercialisation.

Charlie has held board positions with a number of early-stage technology companies, and has served on the commercialisation advisory boards of a number of Cooperative Research Centres. He has also been a member of the Investment Committee of Uniseed, a joint venture pre-seed venture capital fund which brings together The University of Melbourne, The University of Queensland, The University of NSW, and the superannuation fund Westscheme.

Prior to coming to the University of Melbourne, Charlie was a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group involved in developing strategic advice across a range of industries including airlines, banking, and software development. Prior to this Charlie was a consultant with Hagen & Co, an innovative startup consulting company focused on manufacturing process improvement.

Charlie has a degree in Classics and an honours degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Melbourne, along with a doctorate in jet engine design from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

 

Director

Mr Ian Marshman, Senior Vice Principal

Mr Ian Marshman was appointed at the University of Melbourne in March 1999. In this role he is accountable to the Vice-Chancellor and Council for the overall administration and management of the University. Ian Marshman has specific responsibilities for co-ordinating the management of the University's financial and physical resources, its students and staff programs, University compliance, planning and quality assurance activities. He has specific responsibilities for the development of administrative information technology-based systems.
Mr Marshman was first appointed at the University of Melbourne in 1990. First as Registrar (Academic) and from 1994 as Academic Registrar, he has been a member of the University's Senior Management Team with particular responsibility for the University's academic and student programs, external relations and planning. Over this period he has played major roles in reform of the University's administration, the implementation of new administrative systems and processes, the development of the Melbourne Scholarships program, the significant expansion of support services for students and the management of University's quality assurance and improvement activities.
Mr Marshman is Chair of the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre Management Committee and in 1998 was a convenor of the Australian University Games co-hosted by the University of Melbourne and Monash University.

Director

Prof Peter Rathjen, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)

Professor Rathjen, is the newly appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) in April 2008 after spending two years as Dean of Science since 2006.
He was previously Foundation Executive Dean of the multi-campus Faculty of Sciences at the University of Adelaide, which has 2400 undergraduates, 600 PhD students, and annual research earnings of around $80 million. Major achievements during his time as Dean of Sciences at Adelaide include reorganising the Faculty from 18 departments to four schools to facilitate cross-disciplinary interactions, reorganising the undergraduate curriculum to improve links between research and career outcomes and increase student demand, and recruiting research leaders to help renew the Faculty’s scientific base.
Professor Rathjen is internationally recognised in stem cell science. His expertise and leadership, together with an outstanding biomedical environment at Melbourne, will contribute to positioning the University as an international leader in stem cell research.
His research interests are founded on a fascination with the processes by which different cell types are induced from stem cell precursors during development of the mammalian embryo.
“I am passionate about the importance of quality in higher education and research, and engagement with the community that supports our activities.”

Director

Mr Allan Tait, Chief Financial Officer (Commercialisation)

Allan Tait is the Chief Financial Officer (Commercialisation) at the University of Melbourne. He joined UMEE in March 2000 as Chief Financial Officer. In June 2005 he was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer to lead the integration of the private university into the University of Melbourne. Commercialisation at the University of Melbourne encompasses technology transfer, consultancy, curriculum licensing, customised corporate education programs and commercial advice.
From 1997 to 2000 he was CFO and then CEO of Gadens Lawyers (Melbourne), a top ten national legal firm. Prior to joining Gadens, he was a partner in the corporate finance group at PricewaterhouseCoopers, specialising in privatisation and mergers and acquisitions. He was also the finance director of the local investment banking subsidiary of the Toronto Dominion Bank.