ICC team

For more than six years, she has led the UniSA’s flagship startup initiative, Venture Catalyst. Under her watch in 2016, the program received two Knowledge Transfer of Australia awards for ‘Best Entrepreneurial Initiative’ and ‘People's Choice Award’.

Leading a team of highly skilled staff who are passionate about bringing innovation to life, Jasmine is inspired by fostering communication and collaboration between talented graduates and entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and those with the experience to help new businesses launch and existing businesses to flourish.

With a focus on managing support programs for startups and uncovering new means of support within the university, her team has facilitated many industry focused education, workshops and events to further encourage progress.

She has been instrumental in driving and supporting a wide range of entrepreneurial initiatives within the University of South Australia, resulting in the development of a new incubator and accelerator program in the space sector. The South Australian Space Industry Centre committed $3.6M in support over a four-year period commencing in 2018 to the creation and support of startups in this field.

Prior to this role, Jasmine gained more than 15 years of policy and program experience, working in both the higher education and State Government sectors in innovation and technology knowledge transfer units. Her management of both entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in both the UK and Australia are testament to her ability to effectively unite multiple stakeholders to deliver strong partnerships that deliver exceptional results in innovation.

Vasco has degrees in Business Administration and Environmental Management and previously worked for various design and tech startups in Amsterdam, Dublin and Berlin. Vasco also has a keen interest in sustainable living and innovation. He recently moved with his wife Down Under and enjoys the Adelaideian vibe, proximity to outdoor activities, and beach lifestyle.

Samantha worked for the ABC for almost six years as a multimedia journalist before pivoting to project management rolls and strategy development in the marketing world. She has also worked with SMEs across South Australia, helping to scale their business and grow their brand.

Samantha has a deep interest in branding and buyer behaviour and is fascinated by the intersection between traditional marketing and contemporary digital strategy. She has a passion for writing and photography and loves to bring creativity to the ICC.

She loves good food and fine gin and has a beautiful golden retriever at home called Lilly.

Previously working as an Executive Assistant working in both Adelaide and United Kingdom, Julia brings to the team a wealth of administrative experience in various sectors including education, investment management, finance and engineering.

He began working at the ICC in 2018 after previous roles for the University’s digital teams working on marketing automation, web authoring and creative marketing collateral.

Alex co-founded local video game studio, Melonhead Games working as an Environment and Graphic Artist, utilizing both his marketing knowledge and digital skills.

He has a Diploma of Screen and Media, an Advanced Diploma of Interactive and Digital Media and a Bachelor of Creative Arts, Digital Media.

After 12 years at Microsoft holding many roles, including Head of Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Relations for Asia Pacific based in Singapore, Drage spent time in Silicon Valley developing Artificial Intelligence products and services before returning home to Adelaide in 2015.

Drage wants to support passionate and committed entrepreneurs with disruptive business ideas to create the next generation of hyper-growth startups.

“What’s not to love about this role?” Drage says. “Supporting early stage startups has developed into a real passion. As an entrepreneur and investor, I’ve made my fair share of rookie mistakes, it’s both highly challenging and rewarding to help founders avoid these common pitfalls. If we can focus on making brand new mistakes, we’ll either have a chance of running the gauntlet to success or at the very least, we’ll have a potential book project titled the ‘Innovative New Ways to Kill Your Startup’,” Drage says with a smile.

Drage met ICC Manager Jasmine Vreugdenburg after returning from the US and says he “seeks out” people like Jasmine who have “both a ‘pay it forward’ and ‘power connector’ mindset - fundamental elements to nurture the collaborative culture needed to support early stage companies”.

Vreugdenburg says Drage brings global experience and perspective to Adelaide, critical to helping new founders who are wanting to grow a globally successful and competitive business. “By growing founders here, we hope to build and maintain a culture of globally successful entrepreneurs in South Australia. Kirk understands the bigger picture and the global environment that current startups are competing in. He brings great awareness and his key networks to the startups we support in the ICC.”

Drage hopes to “support the development of investable startup companies and inspire serial founders” during his residency. “Our state needs to compete on the world stage to create the next wave of industry defining companies – the kind of companies that bring outsized benefits in terms of social impact, wealth creation and an entire ecosystem of jobs.”

“Our state needs to compete on the world stage to create the next wave of industry defining companies – the kind of companies that bring outsized benefits in terms of social impact, wealth creation and an entire ecosystem of jobs.”

Melissa's expertise is in customer research, innovation and solution design. She describes herself as a problem solver who fosters goal-orientated design thinking. Her passion is to create products that customers love and lead to business success.

Melissa's career spans over 15 years in San Francisco, Sydney and Adelaide.

Career highlights include joining Eventbrite as their first UX designer in 2011. As Director of UX, Melissa established a lean UX practice and built a team of 5 designers and 2 researchers. Melissa oversaw management responsibilities and created experience strategies to address company goals.

In 2015, Melissa moved to Dwolla to head up UX and Design. This role included managing UX, visual design, copy and front-end development. Together the team redefined Dwolla's core product offering to focus on a B2B audience. Key projects included a new merchant dashboard, developer portal, and on-boarding experience.

Melissa has designed user experiences for Australia's largest online publishers. While at Fairfax Digital she worked on SMH, Domain, RSVP and Stayz. At News Digital, she designed user experiences for Moshtix, news.com.au and The Australian. Melissa has also worked at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the Innovation Unit where she focussed on mobile user experience.

Mike’s career has provided him with international experiences; having worked with UK, US and Australian organisations.

Mike specialises in technology, e‐commerce, manufacturing, and service companies and has helped with business turnarounds, financial transformation and preparing them for growth and sale. Mike has been the owner and CEO of several businesses and uses this wealth of experience to advise and guide SMEs on establishing targets to achieve their objectives and vision. Mike’s methodology for driving strategy is through data and financial insights.

Mike is a key presenter of the export ready workshops on costing, pricing and risk management. This is aimed at emerging exporters, exporters looking for geographical diversification and mature exporters innovating and developing best practice. He has been an Export Award Judge since 2015.

She has been part of the management team in several Australian start-up technology companies in addition to establishing Asia Pacific distribution networks for a US technology company. Ann established her own medical device company in 1998, which has gained international recognition for introducing a new product to treat breast cancer patients. This product is now distributed around the world. She has particular skills in market entry strategy and distribution chain management.

Ann has a particular interest in medical device regulations, with experience in navigating this process in several countries including an appeal process with the US Food and Drug Administration. She has managed product development/manufacturing for several new products, with an emphasis on low-cost product development to gain market feedback. She has one approved patent and one pending patent application.

Her background includes work as an Investment Manager for SA early-stage VC Playford Capital and she is currently a Commercialisation Advisor for the Federal Government grants program, Accelerating Commercialisation, and a facilitator for the women’s network Behind Closed Doors.