Our People

Brett Thebault

Co-founder

With a focus on all things innovation, I love a technical challenge and push for disruption and commercial simplicity. I grew up in the Channel Islands in Europe, studied at Oxford University and worked for 6 years in London at Detica, a niche Analytics firm. I then had the opportunity to move to Brisbane to set up and build the EY analytics team before kicking things off with Aginic.

Marty Conneely

Co-founder

Born in Brissy, started out as a chartered accountant but rarely do that anymore! Loves new technology and learning how it's applied to businesses. I think its awesome that my job is meeting people, understanding their business and coming up with solutions. Try to have fun and aiming to be the office table tennis champ (still a fair way off!!!).

James Hayes

Chief Executive Officer

James is an experienced agile coach and delivery manager with an impressive track record of helping teams and organisations across the world find pragmatic ways of improving the way they deliver for their customers. James is able to help people quickly make improvements in a fail safe way and keep the momentum of change up over the long term.

Richard Glew

Chief Technology Officer

Rich is a proven executive, leader, coach and mentor, with more than 20 years of IT experience, including over ten years in senior management roles with The Walt Disney Company, CTO of LiteracyPlanet, Principal Consultant with ThoughtWorks and Head of Data at Coles. He has a deep specialisation in leading and coaching digital product teams to high performance and working with clients to devise and deliver their Digital Strategy.

Dale Freya

Director

Dale is a software engineer and data analyst specialising in web development and business intelligence using modern cloud technology. His experience includes building systems to scale for hundreds of millions of users. He has worked for both public and private sector organisations across industries such as health, recreation, entertainment, video games, education, and defence.

Pietari Keurulainen

Associate Director

Finnish designer with 10+ years experience in digital. Gets excited about designing innovative and user-centered digital experiences and empowering teams to utilise design thinking to create better digital products. Loves playing sports, gaming and drinking a good cup of coffee.

Carl Buckeridge

Analyst

Carl can make numbers dance, uncover their secrets, and explain their insights to anyone from the board room to the pool room. He has a strong background in the practical application of advance analytics and machine learning techniques. The awesome people and the exciting engagements make Aginic a great place to be!

Nathan Bowen

Data Analyst

20+ years’ experience in data management and business intelligence projects. I enjoy making data easily accessible to everyone by crafting libraries of beautifully curated data so consumers, analysts, and scientists can do what they do best and derive insights. In my spare time I like to combine my love of food, coffee and outdoors with my Suzuki Jimny beach adventures.

Samantha Scott

Manager

Commerce and Digital Business graduate who enjoys challenges presented from working across new and different tools and technologies. Has a keen interest in exploring relationships across data sets and translating them into simple, effective insights and actions for organisations. Loves having a social team environment because of the awesome vibe it creates in the office whether we’re working on a project or catching up over some table tennis.

Vivian Shih

Manager

Actuarial graduate who prefers to do maths with a calculator. Loves creating positive impact through client engagements. Motivated by learning new technologies on the job. Enjoys travelling to different cities for work. Thrive on our family-like team dynamic.

Christine Dixon

Lead Analyst

I came to analytics via biomedical research, including drug screening, biophysics and genetics, with a heavy focus on science communication. Data isn't interesting by itself; you need creativity to build the transformations, metrics and visualisations to turn it into meaning. Show me your data and let's build a story together.

David Bishop

Lead Analyst

Mathematician and (semi-professional) musician with an unashamedly niche sense of humour. Strengths are statistics, programming, and working with large datasets. Driven by constantly reading, learning, and finding new novel ways to solve problems. Could literally talk for hours about footy if required. Loves the social and friendly work culture, and always up for banter.

Mark Boongaling

Senior Analyst

Mechanical Engineer turned IT data analyst and programmer. Strengths include process automation, documentation and communicating the complicated in a simple manner. He has a passion for seeing people have their 'light bulb' moment either from learning something new and novel to unsurfacing new insights in their own data. He is an avid rock climber, tennis player and baker. When he is not solving problems on the computer he can be found solving problems on the wall or in the kitchen.

Ruoran Huang

Senior Data Scientist

I was always fascinated by coding, what can be done with code felt like magic. But after high school I somehow ended up in engineering, during which I discovered a passion for data analytics. After 7 years as an engineer in the mining industry, I finally found the courage to make that career jump, combining my passion for coding and data. It was the best career decision I have ever made. These days I love learning new tech, getting insights from data, seeing how my skills can help improve business processes, and just having fun nerding out.

Alexandra Wolfer

Analyst

Likes solving data mysteries with my trusty fellow data-detectives. Studied psychology, business and econometrics across North America and Australia with forays into peri-operative research, behavioural economics, gender disparities in finance and cognitive neuroscience. She likes to surf, ski, hike and flow.

Camila Carvalho

Analyst

As a Process Improvement engineer, I enjoy to solve problems with data and support business to make informed decisions. I advocate that data should tell a story, provide insights and answer questions to improve the decision making process. Passionate about learning new skills and being frequently challenged, I enjoy to be part of the data and coding community where I keep to top of the latest trends in the industry. A way I get excited to combine my values with my job is supporting new starters through mentorship.

John Walsh

Data Analyst

Experienced consultant, solution designer and project manager in application, server and desktop virtualisation technologies. Now thrives on uncovering secrets and telling stories with data that can have positive impact for people. Hates waste, loves finding efficiencies and is happiest operating between the poles of technical and creative work.

Lara Varoni

Data Scientist

With a background in Applied Mathematics and Information Technology, I've turned Data Consultant. I am energised by working in a collaborative environment connecting different skills and finding solutions for complex problems. When not solving business problems using data, I am outdoors exploring, either running, hiking or being in contact with nature.

Sam Sharrock

Analyst

A passionate Commerce and Business Analytics professional, with experience in Accounting, turned Financial & Performance Analyst; now Data Analyst. Loves tackling big challenges head on, creating awesome outcomes and constantly learning new tools and technologies along the way. Driven by his passion for analytics and how it shapes the world around us, Sam strives to deliver the best possible data driven solutions. Alongside his passion for analytics, Sam loves tennis, guitar and long (dog) walks on the beach.

Surbhi Kumari

Analyst

Passionate about STEM and learning, Surbhi combines analytical and people skills to synthesise data into purposeful insights. She has experience with BI dashboarding and machine learning.

Ethan Jessen

Data Analyst

Beginning my journey as a Data Analyst Consultant. I enjoy data problems and making decisions whilst discovering solutions to help businesses. Extremely excited to learn new skills and develop into a versatile and strong Data Analyst. I love coding and being a part of a growing data community. Everyday is a new opportunity to grow and learn.

Isabella Peel

Analyst

Commerce graduate whose career started in tax advisory but decided to make the (very) smart move to data analytics. I love how data analytics allows me to work in a technical way but still approach problems with a creative flair. I’m originally from West Yorkshire, England but moved to Australia almost 10 years ago. Even though I've lived here for some time I still have a strong accent and a love for English Breakfast Tea. 

Jeanne Molyneux

Data Analyst

Data enthusiast transferring 9+ years of interpersonal skills and communication into a career as a Data Analyst. Excellent track record of customer satisfaction and long lasting client relationships. I use my analytics skills while leveraging my creative background to convey information in a dynamic and effective way.

Jerry Zhou

Data Analyst

An aspired data analyst transitioning from an economics and finance background. My past experience has led me to a wide range of skills including quantitative analysis and data-orientated decision-making, as well as soft skills necessary for understanding business problems and managing stakeholders.

Jordan Negri-Lennard

Analyst

Jordan loves machine learning, exploring data and uncovering the stories it tells. Previously studied mathematics in the UK and has a keen interest in the field of health. Outside of work hobbies include going to the gym, 4wd’ing and researching new things.

Liam Crowley

Data Analyst

As a current quantitative analytics student, I love taking big problems and breaking them down into smaller pieces. I use my creative thinking processes from music production along with my quantitative background and channel them into a diverse range of data problems. With the creative thinking skills I have built in music production over the past 6 years, along with experience in software languages such as SQL, Python and R, I'm able to be flexible and adaptable to any consulting challenge I face.

Munashe Mazonde

Data Analyst

With a strong mathematical & economic background, I have applied my skills to a wide range of industries, including financial services, e-commerce and marketing before entering the technology space. I enjoy working at the intersection of technology and business where uncovering findings from the data drives impactful change within organisations. My skills include delivering advanced data analysis and data storytelling. I have an interest in learning more about machine learning models. My BI toolkit includes Qlik, Tableau, Power BI and Looker among others, which I have used to deliver data-driven insights in previous projects.

Praveana Shanmugam

Analyst

I’m an analyst with a background in Mathematics. The challenge to solve complex problems using data drives me to continuously learn. I enjoy combining technical skills with soft skills to derive simple and elegant solutions. Outside work, I enjoy exploring new cuisines and nature walks.

Ranjitha Srinivas

Data Analyst

A Data Analyst with experience working with large data sets to find trends and insights. Skilled at using Excel, SQL, Python and Power BI to analyse data and create reports. Experienced at presenting findings to stakeholders and making recommendations based on data analysis.

Siddharth Bharal

Data Analyst

I am passionate about using data to drive insights and decisions. I have a strong background in mathematics and computer science, and have honed my skills in data analysis, statistical modeling, and machine learning through academic training and practical experience.

Yuji Sekiya

Head of Design

Originally from Japan, based in Brisbane. With over 15 years of experience working as a digital creative/design leader for startups, independent & global creative agencies, and consultancies. Passionate about creating meaningful human-centred solutions, and solving complex problems by combining the power of creativity and technology. Outside work, I'm passionate about photography, illustration, soul/hiphop music, and film.

Emma Freya

Senior DesignOps Manager

Qualified Swedish chef with experience in financial planning; turned developer; now designer. Loves creating awesome stuff. Enjoys turning concepts to beautiful pieces visualised on the web. Engaged by learning new things on the job everyday. Energised by our social work culture.

Jordie Peters

Principal Product Designer

I solve complex problems with software for early stage business, enterprise & government departments, with over 6 years of experience. I've worked across a diverse range of industries, from autonomous mining systems, to booking platforms for ferry trips and accessible accomodation options.

Abigail Hua

Senior Designer

A creative at heart with a penchant for words and design. Abigail enjoys delving into various fields to curate unique solutions fit for purpose. She loves cross-functional collaboration and exploring different user experiences as the digital space continues to grow.

Vinnie Crema

Senior Designer

With over 10 years of experience in design and marketing. Vinnie is an all-rounded professional, constantly looking for ways of leveraging visual experiences to increase brand equity across organisations.

Ethan Wong

Designer

Blending an analytical background in Commerce (Finance & Accounting) with a keen eye for design, I love being able to talk with different people everyday, understanding their wants and needs to devise intuitive, easy-to-use solutions that enhance their lives. Love learning about all things design & fashion related, as well as getting a climb in at the local bouldering gym

Lilien Ho

Digital Designer

With a background in graphic and accessories design, Lilien has a strong track record of working with clients to successfully deliver on both a business and user needs level. Lilien has a passion for all things design, and is striving to utilise her years of design experience to work with organisations and advocate for functional and user-centred design solutions.

Bradley Hart

Designer

I am Bradley, a designer at Aginic. I have graduated university with a Bachelor of Creative Industries, majoring in Interactive and UX Design, and minoring in 3D Design. I love creating user interfaces and deciding how to best layout all the information that will lead to an excellent user experience. In my spare time I enjoy playing Mario games, watching motorsport and keeping up with the latest tech

James Lee

Designer

A product designer who's growing to love the startup space! Super keen to explore the world of ed-tech and health-tech and see how I can be making a difference with design thinking and user research. Love working in cross functional teams as it teaches me to be adaptive and rely on my teammates. In my off-time, I enjoy staying active with sports and playing music.

Lily Yang

Designer

I am a UX/UI Designer with a background in legal and administration. I have loved drawing and creative things since I was a little girl. It was curiosity that led me to the field of UX and it is the perfect match for my personality and skills, as I am not only passionate about illustrating beautiful UI but also about designing solutions that can make a difference in people’s lives.

Paul Thornton

Head of Adaptive Delivery (Agile Chapter Chair)

Paul was one of a small number of people who instigated Sky's (UK) move to Scrum and the digitisation of their services (such as Sky Go, Sky News, and the award winning Sky Sports app), across web and mobile (this was later mirrored by Foxtel so you can thank him for Foxtel Go!). He has a wealth of experience having worked for leading bluechip companies (Trinity Mirror, Elsevier, Sky, UKTV) over the past 20 years and comes from computer science, software engineering, web development background - still loves to dabble with new tech when given the chance. Being a long term believer and practitioner of agile principles and extreme programming practices over the past 14 years, has given him the ability to oversee the success of large and complex agile programs whilst also coaching the improvement of the team's technical practices.

Ariane Bisson

Agile Project Manager

Freshly arrived in Brisbane for the warm weather and cool vibes, Ariane has gained 10+ years experience in organisational transformation in Canada, leading large-scale transformation programs in the context of enterprise-wide agility implementation, digital shifts, mergers and acquisitions, technological change, and organisational design optimisation. Naturally drawn by the human aspect of a change, she thrives on working with leaders and their teams to help them build sustainable changes while contributing to their behavioural and cultural evolution. Yogi and ocean lover, she’ll never say no to an acai bowl!

Daniel John

Senior Adaptive Delivery Manager and Agile Coach

With over 10 years’ delivery experience across a range of different industries, including construction, video games, mobile apps, and government, DJ brings a wealth of knowledge. He is passionate about continuously improving how teams work together and enabling them to deliver great results.

Frank Valks

Enterprise Agile Coach

Experienced (~30 Years) technical IT practitioner and using my enterprise agile delivery coach role to get the best out of people, creating high performing teams who produce high quality deliverables. This includes large scale programs (~3000 People) and executive leadership coaching. Like to work with people who are passionate and together we try to solve complex problems in innovative ways.

Jasmine Gardner

Delivery lead

Jasmine is a delivery lead with a background in project coordination, facilitation and team management. She is experienced in facilitating team cohesion within projects, keeping the team aligned and with direction for project delivery and has the ability to analyse and reflect on processes and tasks to achieve organisational and customer aligned outcomes. Jasmine has been the delivery lead for several projects within Aginic helping to drive continuous improvement within the project team within the Department of Education (NT) project and advocating for consistent and clear team communication within large project delivery teams. Jasmine spends her time playing DnD, video games and having her cats run along the keyboard

Sarah Kenyon

Delivery lead

Sarah has been in the facilitation space for years with a focus on entrepreneurship and professional development. Coming from a background in program coordination and owning multiple businesses she has a knack for keeping tabs on the big picture, developing a solid strategy and being the team’s biggest cheerleader. Within Aginic, Sarah has been the delivery lead on multiple projects ranging from education, health, digital experience and insurance. She will continue to empower the team and drive change. Sarah will often go by “Sheriff” and throw out some cringe Western puns from time to time. Yeehaw!

Dong Zhou

Lead engineer

I am a senior engineer with expertise at GIS and asset management for more than 15 years. I have been helping out building a few startups from the ground and have experience of Desktop, Web and mobile applications architecture designing and implementations and I am passionate about cutting-edge technologies such as Rust, WebAssemblies and Web3 etc.

Sam Kosky

Lead Engineer - Data & Product

Sam is a Lead Data Engineer specialising in data pipelines across Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud. Sam specialises in systems utilising IoT.

Tim Findlay

Senior Data Platform Engineer

A team focused hands-on engineer that loves solving thorny data problems. Strong full-stack background with specialisation in data and a passion for open source technologies. Hobbies include electronics and IoT along with Cycling.

Abhilash Kale

Data Engineer

Working as a Data Engineer at Aginic. A data guy with a history of working and having expertise in Big Data Pipelines. I enjoy solving data-related problems using software engineering-related solutions and I believe that both fields are incomplete without each other.

Aiden Carey

Engineer

Aiden is an Engineer with experience in building conventional and AI web applications as well as implementing the infrastructure those applications sit on. They are passionate about understanding and solving people's problems, no matter the difficulty.

Deepanshu Jain

Data Engineer

Experienced Wrangler with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Skilled in Microsoft Excel, Statistical Data Analysis, Databases, Data Science. Strong analytics and communication professional with a Master of Analytics focused in Data Analysis | Business Analysis from RMIT University.

Ian Ferguson

Senior Data Engineer

Senior Data Engineer with a background in software engineering data solutions. I love finding ways to make life easier for those working with data. I look forward to working with a team to find creative ways to solve difficult problems. Outside of work, you can find me being active, usually playing a sport or exercising.

Natasha Dronova

Engineer

Professionally, I love discovering insights from complex data. Personally, I say "Yes" to every opportunity that comes my way and chase the ones that try sneaking by: I'm an avid language learner, tennis player, teacher and puzzle solver. I love learning new technologies every day and enjoy working in a team on innovative projects!

Paul Tran

Engineer

First and foremost a tinkerer, previously working as a Data Scientist with a background in Biomedical and Mechatronics Engineering. I am naturally curious about all things tech and I strive for innovation and continuous improvement in all parts of my life and love to continue honing my skills. In my spare time I love fishing, cooking and gaming with friends. 

Surabhi Nigam

Data Engineer

Surabhi is a data engineer and your go to guide for wine, food and all things tech. She's passionate about creating reliable and reusable solutions. With her experience with diverse tech stacks and extensive global exposure, she brings creativity and ingenuity capabilities to problem solving. She has a crazy appetite for food and she'll never say no to a cup of coffee.

Ariel Goh

Engineer

Coming from a doctorate in Computational Neuroscience research, I am passionate about machine learning and predictive analytics, and have a keen interest in developing elegant, powerful, and efficient data-driven solutions to complex business problems. I am also an aspiring Computer Scientist and love programming and coding. Outside of work, I am crazy about escape rooms, and enjoy playing squash and card+board+video games.

Daniel Duff

Engineer

Computer science graduate with a passion for problem solving and all things nerdy. Loves to sit down and wrap his head around a problem before jumping in and getting it developed. Has already learnt so much and is excited to learn even more from our friendly team.

Ben Forbes

Commercial and Community Lead/Manager

A passionate marketing professional who loves looking at the bigger picture. A background in tourism, health and manufacturing industries, and a love for the arts (especially music). Continually motivated by the role data analytics can play in shaping our world, and learning from the best in the biz here at Aginic.

Jeff Dunbar

Head of Support

I joined Aginic back in 2019, ah, the simpler times. I look after the IT systems for internal staff and am the first point of contact for external clients requiring support. Prior to Aginic I have worked in a broad-range of industries, from Video Games to an ISP to Gaming to Mining. When not solving the world’s problems, I can be found playing video and board games, pinball or at my weekly Parkrun ritual.

Sally Greenwood

Head of Aginic Ventures

With a background in technology, leadership, delivery, coaching and consulting, it’s fair to say I really enjoy working closely with good people. Luckily, Aginic is filled with a rare mix of kind and supremely intelligent folk! A big fan of change and positive impact, I actively seek out opportunities to support ideas that help the community at large. Leading Aginic Ventures is a huge challenge that taps into the full breadth of my experience and supports my passion for positive change.

Margie Iliescu

Partner Coordinator

Margie is a Certified Scrum Master with experience in applying Scrum principles and practices in a number of different organisational settings. Margie’s background has included work on large scale process transformations in complex regulatory environments and in software development and data analytics projects. She is passionate about using an Agile mindset and ways of working to help teams and individuals thrive.

Catherine Pook

Bookkeeper

I love numbers and I love money, so I added the two together and became an accountant. I get the biggest appreciation out of looking after emerging entities and helping them grow. Combine the amazing team at Aginic and Aginic Ventures, and I find that work is not at all taxing! Outside of work, I divide my time between drinking coffee and hanging out with my kids.

Rhys Cheng

Business & Operations

Born and raised in Singapore, live and breathe Agile. Started out in biotech, then spent some time in logistics operations, and ended up studying mathematics. Absolutely passionate about solving problems to empower teams to be successful, and swear by 'people over process'. Obsessed with coffee!