Building a high-quality brand and business requires persistence, innovation, and acute attention to detail, especially when working overseas with multinational luxury brands.

Mitchell Bacha has worked in global organisations such as Valentino, Diesel, CELINE (LVMH Group), and HUGO BOSS for over 20 years in countries such as Australia, China, Hong Kong (China) and Singapore. Trusted among his industry peers, he has a reputation for expertise in brand positioning, business development, and building organisational excellence. To achieve this, he employs a combination of in-depth strategic review of the business, gap analysis, and setting a clear vision for the company to thrive. Mitchell takes a hands-on approach to inspire teams to give their best, both in developing themselves and the brand. He firmly believes that “Great companies are those who do the simple things to a very high level.”

Recently returning to Australia after leading the revamp of Valentino as CEO of Greater China, where he elevated the brand positioning, negotiated a major network expansion, filled strategic gap markets, and built a sophisticated team that produced exceptional results. He was able to leverage creative and out of the box ideas to stand out from the competition. Mitchell deeply believes in strong branding, internal marketing, cross department collaboration, continually building a positive culture of innovation, and always moving forward. This philosophy propelled his career from starting on the retail shop floor as a retail sales assistant to becoming the regional CEO of globally respected brands.

With SUMParts Mitchell is currently working with organisations that aim to leverage his deep branding knowledge and business success to grow their business in Australia and across Asia Pacific

Whether it’s leading a turnaround or moving into the expansion phase of your business Mitchell has the experience to guide your next steps.

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Sarah is an approachable Architect and, much to her amazement, an architectural entrepreneur. She grew up in her parent's architecture practice and now has two business brands of her own - Value Architects Group and Architect GP.

Sarah is a Generalist having worked in urban design, education design and residential architecture. She is also a qualified high school teacher, sessional academic at Monash and Melbourne Universities, and is a mentor to students and graduates.

Sarah's work is about making it as normal for someone to see an architect about their home as it is for them to see a doctor about their health.

What Sarah does best is listen, engage and workshop in real time. Whether with her clients or her students she brings issues and solutions to life through dialogue and illustration. Sarah brings the experience of Architectural design into people’s homes long before the project is built. And that means confident clients and better outcomes.

She is a member of ArchiTeam, the Parlour Collective, and is registered with the Architects Registration Board of Victoria.

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Website

Samuel Power is an experienced finance professional that supports individuals & businesses to achieve their financial and property goals through personalised strategies and expert guidance. He supports customers through the entire financing process focusing on education, clear communication, & exceptional service. Sam has worked across Australia's largest financial markets of Victoria and New South Wales for some of Australia's largest lenders. This experience allows him to tailor recommendations and solutions to all customers, regardless of their complexity and requirements.

Loan Market Website

LinkedIn

Michael Kenihan is a sports physiotherapist, business manager, administrator, entrepreneur, innovator, teacher and thought leader in the health and sport sectors.

Michael is now a director, owner and manager at Melbourne Stem Cell Centre and the stem cell laboratory Magellan Stem Cells. Additionally, Michael, with business partner and founder Gareth Adams, has a started a technology app R-U-Ontrak to assist individuals track their progress towards a meaningful goal, such as recovery from an injury. The app helps users build a community of support to keep motivated and tracks activities using progress milestones.

Michael published his book “The Health Practitioner’s Journey” in 2023, a four-stage career plan that takes a health practitioner from graduation through to financial and personal success. It is the perfect companion for every health practitioner no matter where you are along your career journey.

The Health Practitioner’s Journey

Michael’s website

Michael’s LinkedIn

Gareth Benson is an Amazon overnight bestselling author and commercial and intellectual property lawyer. He has delivered workshops at Charles Darwin University and RMIT University on Contract Law, Digital Innovation, and Intellectual Property.

As a practising lawyer admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria, Gareth serves on several boards, including The Youth Mill, Melbourne Metropolitan College (MMC), Kangaroo Global, and Dance for Abilities. He specialises in protecting and commercialising intellectual property, with expertise in Trademarks, Patents, Designs, Copyright, and digital content commercialisation.

Gareth draws on experience with corporate and government agencies, advising startups, entrepreneurs, and property developers. He is passionate about education, the future of work, and protecting Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP) to foster a united Australian identity.

His recent revision of his book Ideaology (Ideaology 2.0) explores the dynamic IP environment caused by advances in AI technology. Released in August 2024 it became an Amazon bestseller overnight.

Ideaology 2.0

IP Assist Website

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Sevan is an experienced and driven accountant and business consultant, Sevan has been part of the Alexander Spencer team for over 20 years, and a director for over a decade.

Alexander Spencer Website

Andrew Baxter is one of Australia’s most trusted business, marketing and communications advisors. He is passionate about helping companies unlock topline growth through sharp strategy and executional excellence. Andrew has worked with many of Australia's largest companies, brands and government bodies, from his time as the CEO of two of the country's biggest communications agencies, Publicis, and Ogilvy, and as a Senior Advisor at KPMG. He now sits on a number of boards, including as Chair of Australian Pork and the Deputy Chair of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, is a Senior Advisor to Australia's largest private equity firm, BGH Capital, and the Founder of the 24HR Business Plan.

LinkedIn

Website

The 24 Hour Business Plan Website

Dr. Maja Green is a highly accredited research scientist with a reputation for executing studies seamlessly and to a level of outstanding accuracy. Originally living in Gothenburg, Sweden, Maja now has over 15 years of research experience in Melbourne, Australia. Her studies range over multiple health topics, inclusive of elderly frailty, oncology, neurocognitive performance, postoperative pain and chronic pain.

LinkedIn

Solaris Research Institute