CHAIRMAN - Mr Peter Harley BComm, FCPA, FAICD

Mr Peter Harley is a qualified accountant with 30 years commercial experience. From 1986 to 1996, he was an executive director of smartcard and transit system supplier ERG Ltd. In that period, ERG grew from a small company with few staff and $1 million turnover, to become an international leader in its field, with sales of $170 million and offices in Australia, Europe and Hong Kong. Since leaving ERG, Mr Harley has consulted to a number of companies, providing advice on strategic planning, acquisitions and marketing. He is a director of several companies including the venture capital fund, Foundation Capital Ltd. He is also the Chairman of Western Australia's largest Internet services provider, iiNet Ltd.

Antonio Cantoni, BEng (Hons), PhD

Professor Antonio (Tony) Cantoni is an internationally recognised authority in telecommunications, with a career distinguished by many achievements, both academic and commercial. In addition to his roles as both a researcher and board member of ATcrc, Professor Cantoni is Director, Telecommunications, Electronics and Networking Research Group (Professor of Telecommunications, University of Western Australia) and a consultant to Altamar Networks, Mountain View, California. As Foundation Professor and Director of the Australian Telecommunications Research Institute, he succeeded in establishing the Cooperative Research Centre for Broadband Telecommunications and Networking and was its founding CEO. He is a recipient of the Marconi Premium of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Professor Cantoni was recently involved in the foundation of the Western Australian Telecommunications Research Institute, a joint-venture between the University of Western Australia and Curtin University in Perth, WA.

Gregory Crew, BE (Hons), M Admin

Mr Greg Crew retired in 1995 after spending almost 40 years in the telecommunications industry in Australia, Hong Kong, and the UK. He was Managing Director of Hong Kong Telephone Company Ltd and Chief Operating Officer of Mercury Communications Ltd. He was appointed the first Chairman of the Australian Communications Industry Forum Ltd (ACIF), and currently holds a number of directorships. Mr Crew has been awarded an honorary DSc from the Open University of Hong Kong.

Jhong Sam Lee, BS (Elec Eng), MS (Elec Eng), DSc (Elec Eng)

Based in the United States, Dr Lee was a professor of electrical engineering from 1965 to 1974 in the area of communication, information, and coding theories, first at George Washington University and, later at the Catholic University of America. He was an expert consultant to industries and government (US Naval Research Lab). Dr Lee is President of J. S. Lee Associates, Inc., a US company he founded in 1976 for R&D work in the field of communication technology. He has been invited to preside over the revitalisation of a number of technology firms in Korea and has performed successfully as: Chairman of SeoHwa Telecom Co. Ltd., (1999-2000); President of Hung Chang Co., (1998-1999); and President of Dae Young Electronics Industrial Co. Ltd., (1985-1986). In May 2000 he founded an R&D company in Korea, called Advanced Technology Systems, Inc., for the development and manufacturing of interference cancellation systems for CDMA wireless system applications. Dr Lee co-authored (with Dr L.E. Miller) a highly popular book, CDMA Systems Engineering Handbook, (1,300 pp), Artech House (1998), which has been translated into the Chinese language and was published in February 2001 in the Peoples Republic of China. He has authored or co-authored over 80 papers in the IEEE publications, and he holds several patents. Dr Lee is internationally renowned in the field of communications and was elected a Fellow of the IEEE for his contributions to spread spectrum communications.

Akhtar Kalam

Professor Akhtar Kalam received his BSc and BSc Engineering from Calcutta University and Aligarh Muslim University, India in 1969 and 1973 respectively. He completed his MS and PhD at the University of Oklahoma, USA and the University of Bath, UK in 1975 and 1981 respectively. He has worked with Ingersoll Rand and other electrical manufacturers. He has held teaching appointments at the University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq and Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education, Rockhampton, Queensland before moving to Victoria University of Technology in 1985 where he is currently the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Science and is the Head of the Werribee Group of Campuses.

He is regularly invited to deliver lectures, work on industrial projects and examine external theses overseas. His major areas of interests are power system analysis, control, protection and cogeneration systems. He has been actively engaged in teaching Energy Systems to undergraduate and postgraduate students and in providing professional courses to the industry both in Australia and overseas. He regularly offers professional development courses on Power System Protection and Cogeneration & Gas Turbine Operation to the Electricity Supply Association of Australia (ESAA). He also runs a postgraduate distance education program on Power System Protection for the ESAA.

He has conducted research, provided industrial consultancy and published over 250 articles on energy systems and written over 15 books in the area. Professor Kalam is a Fellow of IEAust, IEE and a member of IEEE.

Laurie Mackechnie, BE (Elec), MEngSc, PhD, MAdmin

Dr Laurie Mackechnie has over thirty years experience in the Information Technology and Telecommunications industry, during which time he has held executive management, marketing, finance and engineering roles. He has had accountability for a diverse range of business areas in the technology sector. These have included the management of profitability, corporate structuring, outsourcing, and the management and commercialization of research and development programs. He is currently a principal of I Level Management Group, a consulting firm specialising in the management of technology infrastructure. Dr Mackechnie has held senior positions with Telstra, AWA, Datacraft and Plessey Pacific Telecommunications.Telstra, AWA, Datacraft and Plessey Pacific Telecommunications.

Professor Doug McEachern,
BA (Hons) Adelaide, MA Adelaide, PhD Leeds, FASSA

Professor Doug McEachern is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at The University of Western Australia.  Prior to his appointment with UWA, Professor McEachern was the Executive Director for Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences at the Australian Research Council (ARC) from February 2001 to October 2003. He is the immediate past chair of the Humanities and Social Sciences discipline panel of the Australian Research Council, and member of the ARC's Research Training and Careers Committee.