What is Austrade?

Chief Executive Officer

Mr Peter O’Byrne is Chief Executive Officer of Australia’s Trade Promotion Organisation, Austrade, leading a global network in more than 115 overseas locations in over 60 countries and a domestic network comprising 18 Austrade offices and 54 TradeStart offices including eight Export Hubs. He is a member of the Trade Policy Advisory Council, Council for Australian-Arab Relations and Council on Australia Latin America Relations. 

Peter was previously Regional Director for Asia for the consumer goods company Reckitt & Colman. He led the Government owned ‘Australian Hearing Services’ through its transition into a competitive market place. Peter has been a Director of the World Federation of Proprietary Medicine Manufacturers, Director of the Grocery Manufacturers of Australia Ltd.

He is a fellow of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants, a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has a Masters Degree in Commerce.

Deputy CEO - Executive Director, Government and Corporate Services

In April 2007, Peter Yuile joined Austrade as Deputy CEO and Executive Director, Government and Corporate Services.

Peter was previously at the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry as Deputy Secretary and the Executive Director of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS). Peter has also held the position of Deputy Secretary in the Department of Transport and Regional Services where he was responsible for aviation, transport security and regional services.

He worked previously in the former Departments of Trade, Primary Industry and Energy and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and was posted to the Australian Embassy in Seoul as Counsellor (Trade) from 1989 to 1991.

Executive Director - Exporter Services

Pat Evans is Austrade’s Executive Director, Exporter Services with responsibility for the operational frontline staff in Australia.  This includes export advisers as well as staff involved in client recruitment, industry strategy, ally and partner relationships plus client service policy.

Prior to joining Austrade in May 2003, Pat had a lengthy career in educational publishing.  Over 17 years she held the following senior roles: Managing Director of Pearson Education Australia, the largest education publisher in Australia; Chief Executive Officer of Prentice Hall Australia, and Managing Director of CBS Publishing.
 
She has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta and has worked with the Alberta Government in Canada and with CSR in Sydney prior to her successful career in publishing.

Pat has worked in Canada, Turkey and Sweden, as well as in Australia where she also had responsibility for South Africa and New Zealand.

Executive Director - Finance Information and Planning

Hazel leads the division responsible for delivering financial, information and planning solutions and services across Austrade that enhance the organisation’s ability to assist Australian businesses achieve success in export and international business. She joined Austrade in 2004 as Group Manager, Analysis and Planning.

Prior to joining Austrade, most recently Hazel was the lead partner of the Strategy and Operations group in Deloitte Consulting. During her 16 years with Deloitte, she worked in senior roles in a variety of sectors with particular focus on the government, communications and energy sectors. Hazel has worked with multi-national and regional clients assisting them to establish and execute their strategic and operational plans and achieve sustainable improvement in their bottom-line business performance.

Hazel was a member of the Australia-New Zealand Management Team for Deloitte Consulting and her previous roles included Asia-Pacific Regional Education Director and ANZ Human Resources Director.

Hazel emigrated to Australia in 1989 but began her career in the United Kingdom where she held senior roles with KPMG in audit and insolvency advisory services. She has an Honours degree in Nutrition with Dietetics from the University of Surrey and is a qualified member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Executive Director - Human Resources

Marcia Kimball is Austrade's Executive Director, Human Resources with responsibility for providing the broad spectrum of HR services globally.

Prior to joining Austrade in mid 2000, Marcia was the Executive Director Corporate Development for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), having also worked in various senior management roles over a 10 year period within the broader Air services Australia organisation, formerly the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). As a General Manager, her responsibilities have encompassed HR, Information Management, Safety Promotion, Contracts and Property.

Marcia has a Bachelor of Education, a Graduate Diploma in Resource Management and post graduate qualifications at a Masters level in Commerce from the Australian National University. She began her career in education and professional development leaving the teaching service at Deputy Principal in the mid-80s. Since that time she gained experience in the fields of strategy and organisational development, HR, internal consultancy and broader corporate planning and management.

Regional Director and Executive General Manager - South Asia, South East Asia and Pacific

David Twine joined Austrade in November 2003 as Regional Director for South Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific, a region covering 40 countries from Afghanistan to French Polynesia and where Austrade has 36 points of presence and service, including a number through inmarket allies or agents. Key locations include New Delhi, Mumbai, Jakarta, Chennai, Bangkok, Auckland, Port Moresby, Noumea, Suva, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Singapore.

David is an international business executive with extensive experience in a spectrum of senior business roles principally in marketing, business development and senior general management. His strengths cover consultative marketing, business development, project development (capital delivery and acquisitions), alliance management, organisational leadership and general management in the international business environment - especially South & South East Asia and the Middle East which have been his primary focus for the past 10 years. David has held appointments in Brisbane, Melbourne, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Jakarta and Singapore.

Before joining Austrade David was Country President (India) for BHP Billiton and Vice President for BHP Billiton (Petroleum) for India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Prior to this he was General Manager Development (Asia) for BHP Power based in Hong Kong and Melbourne.

David has had direct involvement in an extensive range of small to mega, infrastructure, energy (power, coal, LNG), metals and minerals developments, as well as acquisitions, from concept and feasibility assessments through sanction and implementation. Earlier experience includes marketing of technical services in Australia and Asia covering construction,infrastructure, telecommunications, energy, construction, food and other industries.

David has also had wide involvement in business and industry associations across southern Asia and has authored and presented many papers and given addresses covering a range of business, commercial, geopolitical and technical subjects. He holds masters level qualifications in Engineering.

Regional Director - Europe, Middle East & Africa

Mr Wing is responsible for the operations of the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) in Europe, Middle East and Africa.  Prior to being appointed to this position in January 2008 he was Regional Director, Americas for a period of four and a half years. In 2002–03 he was acting Executive General Manager, Middle East/Indian Ocean Region of Austrade based in Dubai.

Earlier assignments were to the Australian Embassies in Washington DC and Tokyo where he was Senior Trade Commissioner and Minister-Counsellor (Marketing). In the 1990s he was also Senior Trade Commissioner and Consul-General in Atlanta and Senior Trade Commissioner in Moscow.

Prior to joining the Australian Government Mr Wing was employed in international banking with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and was also senior agricultural economist with the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation.

Mr Wing has an Honours Degree in Economics from the University of Adelaide and a Diploma of Japanese Studies from the Osaka University of Foreign Studies.  From 1974-1976 he was research fellow in Agricultural Economics at Kobe University, Japan.  He speaks French, Russian and Japanese.

Mr Wing was born in Adelaide, South Australia and is married with two daughters and two grandchildren.

Regional Director - North East Asia

Laurie has over 20 years experience dealing with Asia in corporate, advisory and government roles and has been based in Guangzhou, Beijing Taipei and now Shanghai for a total of 15 years.

He currently leads Austrade’s network of offices across Korea, Japan, mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong which includes 185 staff in 23 offices (including 13 offices in China). Austrade is the Australian Government’s export and international business promotion and facilitation agency.

Between 1994 and 2002, Laurie worked with News Corporation and its affiliates in a number of capacities and from 1998-2001 was News Corp’s chief representative in China responsible for the company's portfolio investments, joint ventures and wholly owned operations in television, Internet and related technologies in China. During this period he also served on the board of Netease, a major NASDAQ-listed Internet technology company and other News Corp affiliates.

Laurie started his career working for the Australian Government in policy roles in the former Department of Trade and later the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade dealing principally with economic and political relations with greater China. 

Before joining News Corporation, Laurie worked in a Sydney-based consultancy practice assisting numerous companies - micro, small, medium and large - with Asian market entry strategies.

Laurie is one of Australia's leading Chinese linguists and acted as official interpreter for successive Australian Prime Ministers in the 1980s and early 1990s.

A/g Regional Director, Americas
Senior Trade Commissioner, West Coast

Ms Watts is currently Acting Regional Director, Americas (January – April 2008) and is responsible for the operations of the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) in North and South America, including her full-time position focusing on West Coast USA. Prior to being appointed to her Senior Trade Commissioner role in July 2007, she was Consul General & Senior Trade Commissioner in Toronto, responsible for all of Austrade’s Canadian operations.

Ms Watts’ previous roles within Austrade have seen her undertake two previous assignments as Trade Commissioner, Tokyo and prior to relocating to the Americas region, she was Global Team Leader for ICT and Biotechnology.

Before rejoining the Australian Government 10 years ago, Ms Watts spent 8 years with KPMG Consulting in Melbourne as an Associate Director, leading a practice focused on cross-border trade and investment, mostly assisting North American clients with their investments and other business across Asia.

Ms Watts has a Degree in Asian Studies from the Australian National University (majoring in Mandarin Chinese, Indonesian and Japanese languages), a Diploma of Education, a Diploma of International Law and a Masters of Business Administration from Deakin University. She speaks Japanese and Indonesian.

Ms Watts was born in Bendigo, Victoria and is married with three daughters.