The AROSE Team

Director, Chair

Deena has been a full time Non Executive Director for the last ten years, largely in global, growth stage technology businesses. Her current board roles include ASX listed ProMedicus, and the Geneva based Global Health Initiative, GAVI. Deena also chairs the International Advisory Board of the ARC Centre of Excellence on Automated Decisions and Society, based at RMIT. In addition to her technology sector board roles, Deena chaired the Australian Broadband Advisory Council (2020-2022) and has also chaired the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee (2015). Previous board roles have included Infrastructure Australia and Export Finance Australia. Before her board career, Deena has worked as an in house legal counsel and as a partner at law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques followed by a ten year senior executive career as a Group Managing Director at Telstra. In 2011, Deena established Telstra’s corporate venture capital arm, Telstra Ventures.

Director, Chief Executive Officer

Jason is a globally recognised technology executive with more than 25 years’ leadership across the energy and space sectors. He served as Vice President of Technology and New Energy at Woodside Energy, and held multiple senior executive roles at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration including Director of Advanced Exploration Systems and Chief Technologist for Space Operations.

Director

Anthony is a Chartered Accountant, Registered Company Auditor and co-founder of Green Nova, a technology and venture company focused on developing downstream satellite data applications to deliver productivity improvements, environmental impact, and climate resilience. Anthony was previously a Partner at KPMG and EY, and established and led EY’s Global Space Technology business as the Global Head of Space Technology. This was preceded by over 30 years of experience spanning regulatory assurance, innovation, and digital transformation across the Energy and Natural Resources sectors.

Director

Giacinta (Gia) Parish is Director of the Defence & Security Institute and Professor in the School of Engineering at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and has held various academic and leadership roles, most recently Associate Dean, Research in the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor Research. In 2022 she was also a visiting researcher at CSIRO. Professor Parish has authored and co-authored around 130 international publications, with around 2600 citations, and was an inaugural Women in Technology WA ‘20 in 20’ award winner in 2018. As well as Director of UWA Defence and Security Institute she is currently a member of the Advisory Board for the UWA International Space Centre.

Director

Jim is Executive Director and co-founder of Nova Systems. In addition to his role at Nova Systems, in September 2018 he was appointed inaugural Chief Entrepreneur for South Australia by the Premier to advocate for economic growth in the State. Jim stepped down from this role in February 2021. In 2023 Jim was recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours List and made an Officer (AO) in the General Division for distinguished service to business, particularly the defence capability industry, to the public sector, to aviation history, and to the community.

Director

Professor Martin Van Kranendonk is the Head of the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Curtin University. Martin joined Curtin in 2024, after 15 years at the Geological Survey of Western Australia in Perth and then 12 years at the University of New South Wales in Sydney where he was Director of the Australian Centre for Astrobiology.

Martin is one of the world’s leading experts on the early Earth, including crustal evolution and ancient tectonics. His team investigates the habitats and biogenicity of the earliest signs of life on Earth, and the role of hot springs in the origin of life. This knowledge is used in his current role as Program Manager of the LifeSpringsMars sample return mission concept to retrieve samples of hot spring silica from the Columbia Hills, Mars for return to Earth to search for signs of ancient life.

Director

Samuel Forbes is an accomplished engineering and technology executive, with an entrepreneurial mindset. He has some 14 years’ experience overcoming the challenges of operating in remote and harsh environments. Samuel is currently the Director of The Australian Space, Automation, AI and Robotics Control complex (SpAARC); a Fugro development co-funded by the Australian Space Agency.