Four RSPE Alumni and members of the Development Board share the extraordinary story of their careers

Dr Greg Clark

Greg obtained a First Class Honours degree in Physics from the University of Tasmania and a PhD in Physics at the ANU in 1968. Greg worked as a research scientist at the IBM Research Division in New York before developing a business career. Initially he was President of Technology for News Corporation with responsibility for all technology across movies, TV, online and print. He was also responsible for all technology start up companies within the group covering areas as diverse as encryption and internet games. He subsequently became the President and Chief Operating Officer of Loral Space and Communications, the world’s largest commercial satellite manufacturer. He currently is on the Board of the ANZ Banking Group and is Chairman of KaComm Communications. He has received the Australian Academy of Science, Pawsey Medal and the Israeli Government Einstein Medal. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Professor John M. Poate

John recieved a PhD in Physics at ANU in 1967 and is now the Vice-President for Research and Technology Transfer at the Colorado School of Mines. He has been a Harwell Fellow of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, Head of the Silicon Processing and Interface Physics Research Departments at Bell Laboratories, Dean of the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Chief Technologies Officer of Axcelis Technologies. John is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and Materials Research Society (MRS), MRS Past-President and the John Bardeen award winner of the The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society. He currently serves as Chair of the Director’s Review Committee for Physical and Life Sciences at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and is on the Board of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Dr Scott Rashleigh

Scott started his professional life as an Engineer with a doctorate from the University of Queensland in optical fibre technology in 1975. He has held research positions at ANU, the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC. In 1984 he founded AOFR to develop and commercialise the optical device technology and remained its Managing Director until 2005. During this period AOFR grew from a staff of one to a company supplying around 40% of the world market for optical fibre couplers, splitters and wavelength division multiplexers. Scott now provides strategic business advice to all types of early-stage technology companies through his company Executive Edge Solutions.

Dr Charles Leedman

Charles earned a First Class Honours degree in Physics and a University Medal from the Australian National University in 1977, and a PhD in Physics at ANU in 1981. Since then he’s had more than 25 years global experience in high level business consulting; financial services; multinational trade and economics; and government. He has held senior positions with major organisations such as IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Westpac, and has worked as an international economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. He currently manages a private investment company.