Are you new to Armidale? If yes, where are you from?

Yes, I’m new to Armidale, Brisbane before that for seven years. Prior to that I was in the Netherlands for three years, Sydney for two years, Singapore for two years, Sydney for four years, Navy for 11 years and Bowral/Nowra NSW for my formative years. A bit nomadic.

Tell me about yourself and how you arrived at this point in time?

My research is in mathematical finance which is basically looking at ways of creating, pricing and managing the risk of innovative financial products for trading in financial markets, including options, collateralised debt obligations, etc. on stocks, bonds and commodities. So, all the things that helped cause the 2007-08 financial meltdown. I have been lucky enough to work for several investment banks that were very active market traders of stocks and bonds, as well as for BHP who was obviously very active in commodities. Close relationships between academe and industry are essential for continued research in this field, especially when trying to manage the risk of thousands of open financial positions as well as the risk of default on these obligations. The computational demands are enormous, so we look for approximations to manage risk in real time. I have worked at several universities with strengths in this area including UTS, UQ and Bond throughout the academic part of my career, which were all great.

Why UNE?

The last five years has seen my research transition to gaining a better understanding of the behaviour of agricultural commodities and other financial instruments of interest to rural enterprises. There is also a great deal of opportunity for large-scale investments in rural enterprise and regional activities, so bridging the link between investment opportunities and funding sources for superannuation and pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and private equity is my current area of focus. UNE offers me the opportunity to build on this research program while helping build UNE Business School to be an institution of choice for high-performing undergraduate and postgraduate students in the future. I was a Masters student here during the 1990s and hope the next generation of graduates gain as much from a UNE degree as I did.

What are your plans/priorities for the UNE Business School?

UNE Business School has long been known as a centre of excellence in agricultural and resource economics and this will continue to remain the foundation block for the School’s teaching and research objectives. But we also have staff possessing fantastic skills and experience in finance and accounting, management, HR, marketing, organisational leadership and business innovation. Our performance in these areas has plateaued for a number of reasons but there appears to be sufficient clear air for us to accelerate our research performance in these fields while maintaining the current high level of teaching excellence. Industry engagement will also be a focus for us in the next few years. For instance, the SMART Region Incubator offers us a unique link with enterprises in the development stage while we have other linkages with large multinationals and large universities seeking collaboration in regional economics, business leadership, marketing and value chains. Finally, we are focused on growing the UNE brand offshore so there will be renewed efforts to enrol high-quality foreign students into our flagship programs.

Do you have hobbies/interests outside of work?

I like to run. A lot. Slowly.

Anything else you’d like to share with us?

As the Business School renews its research profile I encourage other UNE schools, local industries, researchers, start-ups and potential students to engage with us in any way you can. We are very open to collaboration in all forms and are on a mission to redefine the way business is done in the regions.