Global Access Partners (GAP)
53 Balfour St, Chippendale
NSW 2008 Australia

Catherine Fritz-Kalish
General Manager (+61 2) 8303 2416

Peter Fritz AM
Group Managing Director, TCG (+61 2) 8303 2425

Lisa Middlebrook
Executive Manager, Strategy & Policy (+61 2) 8303 2429

Olga Bodrova
Senior Research Analyst (+61 2) 8303 2416/20

Leighton Jenkins
Project Director, First 5000 (+61) 412 799 899

Helen Hull
Editor, First 5000 & Open Forum (+61) 8303 2434

For a full list of GAP team members, please click here.

Catherine Fritz-Kalish is co-founder and General Manager of Global Access Partners Pty Ltd (GAP). GAP is a proactive and influential network which initiates high-level discussions at the cutting edge of the most pressing commercial, social and global issues of today. Through forums, global congresses and government advisory boards, GAP facilitates real and lasting change for its stakeholders, partners and delegates, sharing knowledge, forging progress and creating input for government policy. Over the past few years, GAP has established a number of national consultative committees across a range of industries which are working to shape the face of the Australian business and policy environment, and to provide input and knowledge into a global dialogue.

Catherine's broad business experience includes coordination of a number of international initiatives as part of the annual programme for the small and medium sized enterprise unit of the OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development), at headquarters in Paris, France; marketing and brand management within all 7 divisions of the George Weston Foods Group; and just prior to establishing GAP, working within the TCG Group of companies particularly in the area of startup incubator establishment.

Catherine holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of New South Wales, and a Masters of Business in International Marketing from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Peter Fritz AM is Group Managing Director of TCG - a diverse group of companies which over the last 39 years has produced many breakthrough discoveries in computer and communication technologies. In 1993, some of the 65 companies in the Group were publicly floated on the Australian Stock Exchange as TechComm Group Limited (now called Utility Computer Services UXC), with great success. Another former TCG company floated on the New York Stock Exchange in November 1997 for US$600m, making it the largest technology company to be established in Australia until that time. Peter's innovative management style and corporate structuring has lead to the creation of a business model which is being copied by many successful entrepreneurs, and has become part of university undergraduate and masters programs in business management in Australia and around the world.

Peter Fritz chairs a number of influential government and private enterprise boards and is active in the international arena, including having represented Australia on the OECD Small and Medium Size Enterprise Committee. He is the holder of six degrees and professional qualifications, is a recipient of the Order of Australia, and has received many other honours. Today, the TCG companies, and entities with TCG roots, employ well over 6000 people with a turnover in excess of $1.3 billion annually.

Olga Bodrova has been working for GAP since its inception, playing an active role in the company's rapid development as a dynamic and influential public policy think tank. In her role as Research Analyst, Olga is responsible for developing and coordinating GAP's research programmes and the production and presentation of all reports and publications (print and digital). She also manages data analysis activities across all GAP business units and provides data intelligence to GAP's executives and key stakeholders to support informed decision making. An essential part of her role is to oversee the development of online projects and websites for GAP and its partner companies, including policy discussion and blogging site, Open Forum, and an emerging business network for top Australian medium-sized enterprises, First 5000.

Prior to joining GAP, Olga enjoyed a professional career in the media and the arts industry, having worked as a journalist and project manager for several European publishing houses and artistic organisations. She has produced a series of radio programmes for the Russian State broadcasting services and SBS Radio Russian Language Program, and has been an active member of Moscow and Sydney boards of La Società Dante Alighieri, an international organisation promoting the Italian culture and language.

Olga holds a Masters Degree in Musicology from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire and a postgraduate degree in Media Arts & Production from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Lisa Middlebrook is Executive Manager for GAP's brand-new initiative - a series of annual Growth Summits. She is responsible for external relations, programme development and general management of the Summit. She also manages the Summit's steering committee and helps guide the Summit's long-term task forces.

Prior to assuming her role as Executive Manager, Strategy & Policy, at GAP in September 2009, Lisa spent two years as Director of the Federal Labor Business Forum, handling external relations and business affairs. Immediately prior to that, she served as the Director of Business Development at the Lowy Institute.

Lisa spent six years with the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and Progressive Policy Institute in Washington DC where she was a Senior Adviser on trade policy and was also responsible for external relations with the corporate community and non-profit foundations. She was instrumental in helping establish political relationships for Australia with regard to the US/Australia Free Trade Agreement. Prior to the DLC, she served at the Australian Embassy in Washington working on US Congressional Relations and trade issues.

Lisa is a graduate of the University of California Los Angeles (political science and international relations) and serves on the Board of Directors of the Johnny Warren Foundation and the organising committee for the Steve Waugh Foundation.

Leighton Jenkins has joined GAP in July 2010 as Project Director of First 5000 - an exclusive online business alliance for leading Australian small and medium size enterprises.

Leighton is an experienced business leader, marketing consultant and start-up business coach. He has over 25 years' business experience across marketing, sales, channels and operations. This includes the development of the Microsoft Windows desktop business in Australian and APAC in the early 1990s. He has general management experience in the SME market at Optus and SAP. In 2006 he founded the Jenkins Partnership a firm that consults to SME companies with high growth expectations, as well as Australian corporations in the fields of IT&T, Banking and Retail industries. He has a strong interest in innovation and the commercialisation process.

Leighton has BSc (Hons) from the University of East Anglia, an MBA from the Macquarie Graduate School of Business, and is an active Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and the Australian Marketing Institute.

Helen Hull is the most recent addition to the GAP team, joining in March 2011 as Editor of First 5000. An exclusive online magazine and business networking platform, First 5000 was officially launched on 20 October 2010 at NSW Parliament House in Sydney and is available via free subscription to senior executives from the top 5000 most entrepreneurial and successful medium enterprises in Australia. Helen is responsible for writing articles, news updates and features to educate and support the First 5000 community. Her role includes interviewing Australia's political and business leaders to gather insights on the SME market, as well as assisting experts with their contributions.

In July 2011 Helen took on the role of Editor of Open Forum which includes developing online content and connecting Open Forum's bloggers with readers and stakeholders, as well as delivering a range of online engagement services to GAP’s partners. She is also in charge of moderating all forums and discussions to ensure GAP’s online communities remain independent platforms and safe spaces for the free exchange of exciting ideas.

Helen has ten years experience working across publications in the areas of finance, news, sport and property. Most recently she was journalist at AdNews, serving the advertising, marketing and media industries. Helen was senior finance journalist and acting editor of finance website Egoli, producer at Yahoo!7 and is the former editor of Australian Property Review.

Helen holds a Bachelor of Arts (Journalism, Politics and International Relations) from Deakin University in Victoria.

For more information about participating at Open Forum and First 5000, or to discuss another online engagement project, please contact Helen at hhull@globalaccesspartners.org.

+61 2 8303 2416

61 2 9319 5754

PO Box 978
Strawberry Hills
NSW 2012
Australia

For more information on GAP, please email us at info@globalaccesspartners.org

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