Advisory Board

NSW Leaders has engaged a highly qualified and respected Advisory Board to assist in strategic direction provide strategic insight, support and connectivity to the broader network. This Advisory Board includes:

Kerry Chikarovski

Kerry Chikarovski is a former NSW Liberal Leader and first woman to lead a major political party in New South Wales. She is also the founder and Director of Chikarovski & Associates, a government relations, community engagement and stakeholder relations consultancy, which she founded in 2003, whose expertise spans a wide range of industries including financial, government, community, property and technology startups.

Knowing the ins and outs of working with government and its departments, has seen her assist a wide range of clients achieve success in circumstances where bureaucracy has been challenging to navigate. Removing these roadblocks via sound policy and strategic approach is what Kerry is widely known for in the industry.

Kerry holds a number of non-executive board roles including, NSW Waratahs Rugby Union, Our Watch, Adopt Change and the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. She is the Chair of NSW Women’s Rugby Union, an ambassador for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, and a mentor with the Minerva Network, supporting professional sportswomen on and off the field.

Michael Crismale

Michael Crismale is Founder - Executive Chairman and President Matrium Technologies Pty Limited and Chairman of Board and Finance, Audit, Risk, Remuneration and/or Compliance Committees. Fellow Member of Australian Institute of Company Directors, Member of Chartered Accountants in Australia and New Zealand, with background in corporate accounting, taxation, business strategy advice, specialising in sports administration, "not for profit" and corporate governance. Michael has extensive experience in developing businesses to reach their full potential through strategic direction, sales, marketing and general management.

He is recognised as a leading figure in administration across a number of sports and dedicates a significant portion of life to the love of sport. Current executive and non-executive roles include Matrium Technologies Pty Ltd, Matrix Bloodstock Pty Ltd, Racing New South Wales, Emjay Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd, JSA Financial Services Pty Ltd and Sydney Football Club Pty Ltd. Previous roles include Australian Turf Club, Surf Life Saving Australia and the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust.

Todd Greenberg

Todd Greenberg is regarded as one of the most accomplished sports administrators and leaders in Australia. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) as well as a director of the Australian Athletes Alliance (AAA) and a director of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA). Todd is also a non-executive director of Venues NSW, the owner, coordinator and promoter of a portfolio of publicly owned sports and entertainment venues in NSW.

As the CEO of the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA), Todd provides the leadership for the collective and representative voice of past and present male and female elite domestic and international cricketers in Australia. Prior to his time at the ACA, Todd spent 5 years as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Rugby League (NRL) & occupied one of the highest profile CEO roles in the country.

Prior to his time at the NRL, Todd held several distinguished roles, including six years as CEO of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and seven years as General Manager of Commercial Operations at ANZ Stadium – one of the premier stadiums in Australia and home of the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Clare Pearson

Clare is the CEO at Little Wings, commencing her tenure in 2019; she has dedicated her career to the not-for-proﬁt sector. Most recently she has fulﬁlled roles as CEO in the anti-human traﬃcking and dis-ability industries. Clare is a qualiﬁed psychologist, specialising in child and adolescent welfare, and is passionate about working in community-based projects aimed at making a difference in the lives of children and their families.

Following her training, Clare worked in positions of senior leadership in both Australia and the United Kingdom, establishing new projects of purpose and developing, leading and inspiring teams in executing innovative programs in the areas of child protection, early intervention, disability and education.

More recently, Clare authored a book titled, Threads of Hope, with the goal of celebrating the lives of human traﬃcking survivors. Ultimately, shining a light on the devastating scars humans have battled, the survivor stories of triumph and the incredible work, passion and intervention offered by Australians in creating change, raising the voice of those unable. Clare is a strong believer in the power of people, whereby a united effort can effect meaningful and signiﬁcant change on a local and global level.

James Paulsen

James initially worked in investment banking and private equity for several years assisting private companies access new opportunities, capital and exit strategies. He also founded Enterprise Angels, one of the first cloud based business angel networks in Australia.
In 2006 he founded Queensland Leaders, a platform based business initiative to work with leading private companies to assist them become national and international market leaders.

After the success in Queensland, he established the Leaders business platform across Australia, New Zealand and the UK through the International Leaders business. James studied accounting at QUT and then completed an MBA with Bond University. His focus for the last 25 years has been to assist private business owners achieve their best through access to expertise, experience and inspiration.

Angela Vithoulkas

Angela Vithoulkas is a multi-award-winning business owner who has forged a successful career in public, business, and corporate life. Angela’s business experience spans more than 30 years, having bought, sold and built dozens of businesses and employed hundreds of people. As a Customer Service Strategist, Angela now shares her expertise and her proven systems to help business owners be more profitable and grow their businesses just like her.

Angela is also the founder, executive producer and host of SME TV, a new YouTube Channel dedicated to giving SMEs a voice. Angela’s many awards include NSW Entrepreneur of the Year as well as Telstra Women’s Business Owner of The Year. In 2017 Angela was named one of Australia’s Top Nine Influential Female Entrepreneurs. Angela has also served as a twice elected City of Sydney Councillor, representing and advocating for businesses in Sydney.

Craig West

Craig is a strategic accountant with over 25 years of experience advising business owners. As a CPA in public practice, his background provided invaluable experience in business owners' key issues of concern. After gaining two masters degrees in Capital Gains Tax, Craig formed a solid view that business owners were unprepared and unaware of the steps required to prepare a business for exit. Craig now acts as a strategic mentor for mid-market business owners and has written four critically acclaimed books on employee incentives, succession planning, asset protection and exit strategies. Craig's practice Succession Plus is Australia's largest Business Succession and Exit Planning firm.

Craig was appointed Executive Chairman of The SME Association of Australia in 2014, Australia's largest small business organisation.
His awards include the 2014 Exit Planner of the Year at the Exit Planning Institute Annual Conference in Texas, USA. For the development of an innovative exit planning process to help business owners maximise business value and achieve a successful exit. And has been received an Australian wide award for the Employee Share Ownership Plan of the Year, twice for developing a proprietary structure - a Peak Performance Trust.