Menu
Log in

Board of Directors

Richard Andrews

Chairman

Owner and Chief Executive - Cutting Edges Equipment Parts Pty Limited

More Info

Richard has been a member of the ALABC board since 2003 and was appointed Chairman in 2018.

He is the Executive Chairman of Cutting Edges Equipment Parts, one of Australia’s largest suppliers of equipment parts for the mining, construction and infrastructure industries, operating since 1960. They have a national branch and distribution network throughout Australia, with links to Latin America dating back to 1996 when they established manufacturing operations in Chile and since then have been supplying products into Latin America. They also import from manufacturing operations in Latin America and greatly value their connection with the region.

Kim Prior

Chief Executive Officer

Australia-Latin America Business Council


Valeria Alvano

Director & Company Secretary

LATAM Airlines
More Info

Ms Alvano is a skilled aviation professional, possessing extensive experience within the LATAM Airlines Group, having worked in a range of revenue, commercial, planning and strategic partnership roles.

For the previous five years, Ms Alvano has held the position of Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, based at LATAM’s head office in Santiago, Chile. Before this, her roles included Commercial Director for the South American business unit, Manager of Route Revenue for the USA, South America and Asia, Manager of Route Revenue for North America and Senior Strategic Manager for Commercial Partnerships, South America.


Julie Boden

Vice Chair

Intermodal Solutions Group
More Info

Julie has been the CFO of Intermodal Solutions Group since 2005. She is also a Certified Practicing Accountant. Julie has had a lot of exposure to Latin America over the years and her company is well represented in the region.

Julie sees great potential in building relationships with Latin America and the importance of ALABC to achieve this.

Contact Julie



Aileen Croghan

Director

 

More Info

Aileen joined ALABC as an individual member following a twenty-year career with the Australian Government in international development, foreign affairs and trade, including working overseas in the Pacific, Asia and Latin America.

This focus follows a complementary and extensive career in education and training at state, national and international level. She continues her engagement in international relations on a consultancy basis with a strong commitment to support Australia Latin America linkages.

Aileen’s most recent positions In the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade focused on the Australia Latin America relationship - including managing the Secretariat for the Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR) over a number of board terms. In this role Aileen worked with COALAR in its advocacy for the relationship between the two regions and the promotion of trade and commercial relations.

COALAR’s engagement with ALABC is longstanding and Aileen has worked closely with ALABC on COALAR's behalf, establishing close and productive relationships. Aileen now welcomes the opportunity to continue support to ALABC in its exploration and development of new networks and initiatives.

Julio Gonzalez

DIRECTOR

Andes Agile
More Info

Julio is a Chilean/Australian citizen with an MBA from Melbourne Business School & UCLA. Julio has substantial experience in business development, trade, business strategy and engineering.

Julio holds a Master’s in Mining from Melbourne University. He has worked on successful projects in BHP, MMG, Newcrest, Orica, Glencore and South32 in Australia, Chile & Peru.

Julio founded Andes Agile, a successful company supporting Australian businesses in Latin America. Julio is well known in the Latin American business community in Victoria.

Julio has actively supported ALABC by sponsoring and promoting several events. He has strong business connections in the private mining sector in both Australia and Latin America and developed good connections with the Victorian Government.

Julio is known for bringing new, fresh ideas to transform them into successful initiatives. Julio’s passion, commitment, and strong connections will enhance ALABC to strengthen business ties between Australia & Latin America.

Contact Julio

Paola Lasso

Director

Santos
More Info

Paola is an international leader with over a decade of proficiency in governance frameworks, risk management and technical mining industry expertise. She is a trusted advisor to Boards, Senior Management and Civil Society. She takes pride in delivering win-win outcomes through effective organisational analysis, stakeholder engagement from the shop floor and employee empowerment.
 
Paola is the current Upstream SA Operations Lead at Santos. She has previously held management leadership positions in health and safety, fixed plant maintenance, reliability improvement and external affairs with Catalyst Metals and Newcrest Mining. Prior to these roles, she worked together with teams across the Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand and Australia as part of OceanaGold Corporation and Kingsgate Limited to deliver her passion of transferring the benefits of mining to impacted communities. As a former senior diplomat for the Colombian government in Australia, Paola values and advocates for transparent public policy processes supportive of attracting and maintaining foreign direct investment. 
 

Her qualifications include a Master of Business Administration, Master of International Business, a Bachelor of Law, a Certificate in Applied Finance and Diplomas in Mineral Exploration Geoscience, Mining Processing and Mechanical Reliability and Maintenance.

Contact Paola

Harris Gomez

Director

Harris Gomez Group
More Info

Harris has over 25 years of cross border experience in corporate and business law, employment law, technology and software companies, real estate, commercial and M&A (Australia and LATAM).

He is fluent in English and Spanish, spoken and written. On the Board, he will be able to share his personal experience and the experiences of others in establishing small and large businesses abroad, and able to share the wisdom from his experience setting up Harris Gomez Group in Chile in 2001.

Contact Harris

Monica Mendez

Director

SECOS Group
More Info

Monica is a senior international leader with extensive experience across North, Central, South America, South East Asia and Europe, dealing mainly with Central Banks and government agencies in the development of new currency family projects.

Throughout her career, she has held Global Leadership roles in Program Management, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, IT Operations, Commercial and Security. Currently, she is the Chief Delivery Officer for SECOS Group.

Contact Monica

Felipe Hödar

DIRECTOR

Balance Energy Group Pty Ltd
More Info

Felipe has been the Managing Director of Balance Energy since May 2021. In parallel with this role, he works as a Business Development Latam for Evergen, an energy-tech Australian start-up based in Sydney and Newcastle, providing Software as a Service (SaaS) to battery energy storage systems (BESS).

Felipe has been involved in the energy sector for more than a decade, leading teams in several roles and helping the energy transition, working as a New Business Development Manager at Gasco, one of the most recognized energy companies in Chile and Colombia. Felipe gained considerable experience in commercial areas, new business development, marketing, designing and implementating growth strategies for companies looking to enter new markets. Previously to this role, he exercised different supply chain positions in retail (Kimberly Clark Chile) and shipping agency (Ultramar Agencia Maritima).

In addition, Felipe is also part of the Advisory Board & Angel Investor of SUNCAST, a Chilean SaaS (Software as a Service) start-up which provides artificial intelligence for renewable energy with major contracts operating in Chile and Mexico. Additionally, contributing as Non-Executive Director of ALAYP (Australian Latin American Young Professionals).

Felipe has over 15 years of industry experience in corporate sustainability and system decarbonisation. Felipe is a Commercial Engineer from The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (Valparaiso) and Master of Sustainable Energy from The University of Queensland.

Contact Felipe

Rob Whiddon

Director

Trade and Investment Queensland
More Info

Rob Whiddon was Managing Director of Trade and Investment Queensland, the international arm of the Queensland Government, for six years from 2008 to 2014.

TIQ assists Queensland business with export advice from its professional team in its Brisbane headquarters, and through its many international offices in The Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Under his stewardship of TIQ the Queensland Government opened a trade and investment office for Latin America based in Santiago, Chile, the first Australian state to have a base in the region.

As MD of TIQ he had a very close relationship with ALABC, and he continued that involvement by joining ALABC in a personal capacity after his TIQ term concluded. He has been a Director of ALABC for the past twelve months.

Now living on the Gold Coast, Rob remains involved in international trade and investment activity. As well as ALABC he is on the board of the Council On Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR) , and also on the Management Committee of the Queensland Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He received an Australia Latin America Business Excellence Award in 2013 for an “outstanding contribution to business between Australia and Latin America”.

As MD of TIQ he served on the board of Australia Trade Coast, and was Chair of the Queensland Government’s G20 Economic Benefits Working Group when the G20 met in Brisbane. He is a member of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, and of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Prior to his appointment to TIQ, Rob was Chief of Staff to Queensland Premier Peter Beattie for eleven years, and before that a Private Secretary to the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Bill Hayden.

Contact Rob

Championing Business Growth across the Pacific

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software