Associate Director
As Associate Director of the ICC, Jasmine is responsible for exploring new and more effective ways of doing business every day.
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.
Program Lead
Vasco's sweet spot is a mix of business development, project management and strategy.
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.
Marketing Communications Lead
Daniel brings a passion for startups and experience in marketing strategy to support the team.
Daniel has worked in corporate and media companies for the last 14 years across marketing, branding, communications, sales, innovation and insights in local and national strategic roles.
He brings his stakeholder relationship skills, along with a network and passion for startups to help grow the ICC and Venture Catalyst brands, and drive applications for its programs.
He has completed the Slingshot and Venture Dorm accelerator programs, has a strong interest in space and has previously supported the social enterprise industry.
Administration and Project Officer
Julia Collins has been working at UniSA since 2016 and joined the ICC team in July 2018 to provide administration and project support.
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.
Digital Officer
Alex Ferrabetta is the brains behind all things digital for the ICC.
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.
LeapSheep
Kirk Drage is the Chief Executive and Co-founder of LeapSheep, a subscription advisory and startup building platform that aims to revolutionise the rate of startup success.
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.”
User Experience Strategist, UX Researcher, UX Architect
Melissa Cooper works with businesses to build customer focused products.
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.
