People
The people in the room.
Judges, mentors and faculty who have built, backed and run companies, and who give their time to the next generation of Australian tech.
Judges
An independent panel.
Seventeen judges from venture capital, corporate Australia, law, recruitment and science read every entry and give structured feedback. Some of the 2026 panel:
- Adam Powick Former CEO, Deloitte Australia
- David Rowe Head of Ventures, 1835i
- Kate Mahady Partner, FB Rice
- Sean Garvey Partner, Odgers Berndtson
- Andy Wildblood Chief Sales Officer, Team Global Express
- Melina Georgousakis Medical research scientist and social entrepreneur
- Jacqui Rowlands Think & Grow
- Pijush Mukherjee Oracle
Masterclass faculty
Workshops run by people who do it for a living.
- Pricing for scale Marc Orchard CEO, Planet Startup
- The AI playbook for scale-up leaders Tim Griffiths Equity Room
- Mastering your pitch Mike Shervington Masterclass facilitator
- Are you fundable? Nick Roberts Executive Co-Founder, Scalare Partners
- Proving and protecting innovation Kate Mahady Partner, FB Rice
- A past winner’s story Natalie Ho Roam Technologies
Mentors
A pool of more than 200 mentors.
Experienced entrepreneurs, business builders, corporate leaders and commercialisation experts. Each one is matched to a semi-finalist and volunteers their time to give objective guidance.
The team
Run by Scalare Partners.
- Carolyn Breeze CEO, Scalare Partners
- Giles Bourne Co-founder Partner, Scalare Partners. Former CEO of BluGlass, the 2013 winner, and now runs ATC judging.
- Penelope Hills Program Manager, ATC
- Keriana King Head of Ecosystem, Scalare Partners
- Angela Parajo Content Producer, ATC