THE SBE AMBASSADORS
Wendy Simpson
Founding Chair & Ambassador, SBE Australia
Chair, Wendeo
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Having experienced first-hand the difficulties faced by women entrepreneurs in raising capital in Australia Wendy worked with a team of local business leaders and Springboard Enterprises in USA, to establish its highly acclaimed accelerator program in Australia. Hence, SBE Australia was founded.
Wendy is a serial business and social entrepreneur and investor and serves on a number of boards, including World Vision and the General Sir John Monash Foundation. Wendy was the first woman to run TNT International’s global airfreight operations; the first female Senior Vice President Asia Pacific of Alcatel, and the Victorian Government’s first, and only female Trade Commissioner for North Asia. Wendy was instrumental in developing the Telstra Business Awards, ensuring one award category for women which then became the Telstra Businesswomen’s Awards. She also helped establish the Australian Council of Business Women and the International Women’s Federation of Commerce and Industry.
In 2013 Wendy received an Order of Australia Medal for her service to the community through a range of women’s and youth organisations. That same year she was inducted into the Australian Businesswoman’s Hall of Fame and featured as one of Australia’s 100 Women of Influence by the Australian Financial Review.
Bill Trestrail
Ambassador, SBE Australia
CEO, Market Momentum Pty Ltd
Sydney Australia
Bill is the owner and CEO of Market Momentum Pty Ltd, which was established in 2011 to assist early stage technology companies to increase momentum, penetration and corporate professionalism. Market Momentum focuses on developing and supporting the founders in their personal, leadership and management development as their business scales. Bill has worked closely with over 40 start-ups from Australia, US and Canada over the last 10 years.
Prior to establishing Market Momentum, Bill was a senior executive in the high tech industry for 20 years working across the Asia Pacific region holding a variety of roles including Vice-President Asia Pacific, Managing Director, Sales and Marketing Director. Bill has strong experience in building and leading high performance teams to execute market creation and revenue goals.
Bill Qualified as a Chartered Accountant and worked in that field with KPMG before moving into the computing industry. Bill has served on a range of government research and early stage company boards over the last 20 years. Bill was in the founding team that established SBE Australia and served on the founding board for over five years.
Topaz Conway
Former Chair & Ambassador, SBE Australia
Investible Climate Fund, Investment Committee
New South Wales, Australia
Topaz Conway has been growing businesses for over 20 years, including two of her own. She started working with start-up companies in Seattle, USA in 2000, as a Founder, CEO, Venture Capitalist and finally as an Investor. Her experience spans a number of industries, including IT, e-commerce, bio-engineering, and med-tech. Her current investments include IOT, hi-tech, software, and respiratory protection and she continues to guide these and other companies through investment, development, manufacturing, product launch and exit, in the US and Australia. In addition to having been co-Founder and Chair of SBE Australia from 2014 until 2018, Topaz is Director of StartupAUS, Cicada Innovations, and is an Advisor to Australia's Accelerating Commercialisation Program and ARIAC (Alberta Research & Innovation Advisory Council). She is immediate past Chair of PAFTec Pty Ltd, a respiratory protection device company and was a Director on the Telstra Industry Advisory Board until 2016. With all her hats, Topaz is continually seeking and supporting Australia’s top innovation companies.
Sheryl Frame
Ambassador, SBE Australia
Cofounder & Director, VentureX HQ
Perth, WA Australia
Sheryl has been a strategic business consultant for over 30 years. She has held numerous senior management and board positions in Australia and overseas. Her extensive in-depth technology, marketing, strategic planning and business skills have underpinned her success in advising, guiding and mentoring innovation and commercialisation a wide range of early-stage companies.
Sheryl is also vigorously committed to the representation of women in enterprise and government. She served on the Board of AWISE (Australian Women in IT, Science and Engineering), she has served on the committee of Women in Technology, WA (WITWA) since 2006, and is a Board Member of SBE Australia. Sheryl is also a Director of StartupWA.
Sheryl previously served on the SBE Board.
Amy Millman
Ambassador, SBE Australia
Entrepreneur in Residence
Washington DC, USA
Amy is a passionate advocate for women entrepreneurs building Big Businesses Starting Small. In 2000, Amy founded Springboard Enterprises in the US, to accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial women-led companies through access to resources and experts. She served as President for 21 years, creating the programming, managing the organisation and building a global network of investors, industry experts, influencers and innovators. During her tenure, the portfolio of companies numbered over 800 that transformed industries and created over $27 Billion in value for investors, clients and customers through revenues generated, equity raised, IPOs and sales to strategic acquirers.
Amy built her career in Washington, DC at Congressional Quarterly, the US Department of Labor and as a lobbyist for corporate and industry groups. In 1993, she was appointed as Executive Director of the National Women’s Business Council, a US federal government commission, and served in that role from 1993-2000.
Amy is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and holds a Masters degree in Public Administration.
Noga Edelstein
Co-founder, UrbanYou
2017 SBE By Springboard Enterprises Alumna
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Noga is the Co-Founder of UrbanYou, a platform to book trusted, pre-screened household services in real-time. UrbanYou was named one of Westpac’s Top 200 Businesses of Tomorrow, and as one of the Top 25 Female-Founded Startups to Watch. In July 2018, UrbanYou merged with OneFlare, to create Australia’s No 1 destination for trusted, reliable household services available on-demand. Formerly a corporate lawyer, Noga has worked in top-tier firms in Sydney and London along with Yahoo!, Foxtel and IBM, and has served on the Board of a number of community not-for-profit organisations.
Noga is a 2017 program alumna and went on to swiftly close a $1M Series A round for UrbanYou. Frequently sought out by aspiring female entrepreneurs to share her experience Noga is committed to supporting women in their journey to build big, scalable companies.
Noga previously served on the SBE Board.
