Biography: Partner, New Electric Partners, focusing on new supply chains in critical battery minerals and rare earths, covering upstream mining and downstream processing. Also represent Australian developers of hydrogen, CCS and renewables projects. Heavy focus on promoting cross-border investment and supply chain development between Korea and Australia. Originally a commercial lawyer with leading law firms in Melbourne and Hong Kong. Formerly Executive Director Macquarie and CEO of Macquarie Securities Korea Limited with a specialisation in derivatives. Later Senior Consultant to Macquarie in renewables and mining. Ross has also ran a number of small businesses in Korea across f&b, craft beer production and functional fitness.

Biography: Peter Hildebrand is Mt Isa born and Melbourne / Brisbane bred, completing his high school years at Brisbane Grammar School in 1985 followed by an Economics degree at the University of Queensland. Since then he has pursued a career in hospitality which has taken him from the Gold Coast to Hong Kong, Perth, Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, Fuzhou, back to Hong Kong then to Shenzhen and on to Seoul.

Much of his early hospitality career was spent in marketing roles which culminated in a role in Shanghai where he held China/Taiwan marketing responsibility for the Hyatt hotels in the region. He then moved into hotel operations in 2006 opening Hyatt on the Bund in Shanghai and then opening Westin Fuzhou (Fujian) prior to his second Hong Kong stint where he was General Manager for W Hong Kong from 2011 to 2018. Following his time at W Hong Kong Peter rejoined Hyatt in October 2018 as pre-opening General Manager of Park Hyatt Shenzhen, successfully opening the hotel in July 2019 and since establishing it as a social and business hub in the heart of Shenzhen’s Futian district.

He commenced in August 2022 as General Manager of Grand Hyatt Seoul. Peter is married to DukSoon, a Korean national and has a 16 year old daughter Isabella who attends Seoul Foreign School. He holds an EMBA from Rutgers State University of New Jersey and among other hobbies is a passionate road cyclist and sailing enthusiast.

AustCham Vision: Working at the helm of one of Seoul’s most prominent hotels puts me in a position where I meet many people and am able to influence and connect with people. As an Australian living abroad I have felt a growing urge over the years to contribute to the Australian cause in whatever way I can and I believe being involved in supporting the growth of commerce between Australia and other nations is the most effective bridge between the countries and peoples. In the context of Korea and Australia then, involvement with Austcham is the obvious choice.

My first few months on the ground in Seoul have made it clear to me that Austcham is a very active and professional group here. My intention would be to find ways to contribute and to be proactive in finding ways to promote Australian culture and commerce, boost the image of Australia, make connections, support events with the venue I operate as much as possible, and also support Australian companies trying to enter or grow their footprint in this country. That could be in food and beverage or the many other products and services that we purchase as a business.

Biography: Chris is responsible for the ongoing development of CBRE’s workplace strategy practice and methodology in Korea to ensure continued success in delivering innovative solutions for clients. Skilled in collaborative leadership and business development, Chris has over 15 years of international & domestic experience across real estate & workplace, consumer goods, and finance sector, where he has led business growth, strategic planning, operational change, and coached teams.

Chris is capable of executing a wide array of work scopes and projects and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from both Korea and the United States. Prior to joining CBRE, Chris built his career at a large French-Korean consumer goods company developing, leading and managing overseas retail business, improving internal processes, and establishing local strategic partnerships.

At CBRE, Chris has developed workplace strategy and change management programs for business stakeholders moving to a more human-centric and research based workplace for firms in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, banking, and technology industry. This hands-on experience involved delivering executives interviews, workshops, surveys, communications programs and other activities engaging multiple stakeholders.

AustCham Vision: If given the opportunity, I would like to contribute my experience, knowledge, and network developed working with multinational and Korea domestic companies, non-profit organizations to enhance AustCham’s awareness in Korea and promote the interests of AustCham Korea and member firms.

Biography: David is a senior foreign attorney at Yoon & Yang LLP, a leading full service law firm in Korea. He has over 15 years’ experience in all aspects of commercial law, both as an in-house lawyer and in private practice. Before joining Yoon & Yang in early 2022, David spent five years at the Hyundai Heavy Industries Group based in its Ulsan shipyard as a Managing Counsel. Before moving to Korea, David was a legal counsel at ASX-listed Beach Energy Limited and an associate at Cowell Clarke Commercial Lawyers in Adelaide. Between 2013 and 2016, David was a member of Football South Australia’s Disciplinary Tribunal (South Australia’s peak soccer disciplinary tribunal). David is an Australian qualified lawyer and graduated from the University of Adelaide with a double degree in law and commerce. He is a proud South Australian and has been part of the Korean community in South Australia for many years.

AustCham Vision: As an Australian with a Korean heritage growing up in Australia from the late 80s, it was always difficult seeing Australia having much of an interest in Korea (and vice versa). However, this has all changed very recently and it has been particularly exciting watching Australia shift its economic focus onto other Asian countries – including Korea. Since moving to Korea in 2017, I have been able to see first-hand, AustCham Korea’s great work in facilitating and encouraging business between Korea and Australia. Knowing there are already like-minded people at AustCham Korea, I am genuinely excited at the possibility of assisting and being part of AustCham Korea’s continuing narrative to grow Australian businesses in Korea.

Biography: Kelly is Director & Branch Representative at IFM Investors Korea, having joined IFM in 2017. Kelly has 22+ years’ of experience in the private sector and international development spanning Asia, Africa, and Europe.

She has worked in the life insurance, commercial banking, and asset management industry, as well as the UN system. Prior to joining IFM Investors, Kelly was General Manager at Samsung Life Insurance headquarters where she worked for almost 10 years. Prior to Samsung Life she worked at the United Nations Development Programme in Kenya as well as Shinhan Financial Group’s Investor Relations team. Kelly holds a BA in Western History (Korea University), an MBA from INSEAD, and is a CFA charter holder since 2004. 

AustCham Vision: It was a pleasure to serve on the Austcham Board of Directors as Treasurer for the past 4 years alongside a passionate board and executive team, and to witness the extraordinary growth of the organization during this time. During my service, AustCham instituted a detailed annual budgeting and financial planning exercise. It also invested in technology and outsourced solutions to enhance the efficiency and productivity of its staff. In 2020 we purchased software called GlueUp that automatizes events and membership billing. In 2022, we outsourced payment and bank transfer functions to a third-party firm which enabled us to liberate the Secretariat staff from time-consuming administrative duties.

To continue its expansion, the Chamber will require further investment in human resources and IT infrastructure. I would like to continue offering up my expertise to ensure that the Chamber is well-resourced and financed to fund such growth and to help sustain its current healthy financial position into the future.

Biography: Tanya Moon is a Korean- Australian corporate finance professional with a strong background in energy and resources through her prior investment banking experience and her current role specialising in decarbonisation and energy transition projects. She is an Associate Director at New Electric Partners, a corporate finance advisory firm assisting Australian critical minerals resource owners and project developers access strategic investment or offtake deals from Korea, Japan and the US.

Tanya was formerly the inaugural Investment Director at Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ) facilitating deals between Queensland and Korea such as the East West Power investment in 200MW Columboola Solar Farm. Tanya has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne with a finance and economic double major and is fluent in Korean and English.

AustCham Vision: Currently, critical minerals and clean energy transition are key focus areas for Australia and Korea. The new Comprehensive Strategic Partnership announced by Government leaders in 2021 includes both critical minerals and hydrogen as promising areas for future cooperation between the two countries. Through my role at New Electric Partners, I am assisting numerous Australian project owners secure offtake and funding from Korean investors. We have close relationships with many Korean conglomerates like LGES, SKOn, Samsung SDI and POSCO who are highly focused on securing raw material supply for various critical minerals including lithium, nickel, rare earths and graphite. These relationships enable us to facilitate deals for Australian resource owners.

Recently, New Electric Partners originated, and co-structured a deal between Lake Resources (listed on the ASX) and SK On where they entered into a long-term supply agreement for 230,000t of high-purity lithium. In addition to this deal, we represent other Australian companies in Korea including a nickel exploration company as part of the Austrade Critical Minerals business delegation.

Biography: Sandra is currently the Chief Representative of Woodside Energy Korea looking after Woodside’s client relationships and new business development for LNG and hydrogen. Prior to starting at Woodside Energy, she had a career with Samsung Heavy Industries.

Throughout her career, Sandra worked on global oil & gas projects across multiple countries including Australia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Mozambique. Sandra completed her undergraduate studies at Johns Hopkins University and graduated from Ewha Woman’s University with Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Masters of Language (Korean English Bidirectional Interpretation).

AustCham Vision: Having served on the Chamber’s Board since 2021, I believe AustCham provides a significant inter-sectoral business networking platform, whilst also playing an important role between businesses and government. As a representative of an energy company, I look forward to facilitating energy cooperation opportunities for Korea and Australia and believe AustCham will play a key role in promoting LNG and hydrogen into the future.

Biography: I have over 35 years’ of professional experience spanning government, industry, contracting and consulting. I gained industry experience in a staff role with Santos and as an in-house contractor and senior company representative for Chevron, Woodside, BHP Petroleum and Origin Energy.

I founded, grew and successfully managed an environmental consulting business of 30 staff with an annual revenue of over $6M, prior to acquisition by a global organisation. I managed a division of a publicly listed company with a team of 130 professionals and an annual revenue of over $40M providing specialist environmental services to the energy, resources, infrastructure and land development sectors in Australia and the Asia Pacific.

I have held Company Director and Board Member roles in Australia, Malaysia and Vietnam. I drove the creation of a unique and innovative environmental service company to generate, manage and deliver environmental data solutions for the resources sector. I managed the Vietnam country operations for the world’s largest sustainability consultancy, tripling the size of the business – sales, profits and headcount.

AustCham Vision: My vision for AustCham Korea, is that, building on past successes and a strong reputation with industry and Governments, the organisation creates trusted and enduring business relationships that provide invaluable support for both Korean and Australian companies. This is to be achieved by creative, innovative, and collaborative initiatives, information sharing and proactive network creation.

Biography: Known for leveraging breakthrough strategic thinking, product innovation, and an entrepreneurial spirit into sweeping business, operations, and people successes, David Westall is no stranger to delivering impressive top- and bottom-line results for start-ups, private equity firms, and powerhouses in the food and beverage (F&B) and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industries, which included 10 years with the Coca-Cola system and serving as President, Coca-Cola Korea Bottling Company.

David has served in senior-level roles (i.e., GM, CEO, President, Chairman) and is regularly sought out by top business decision makers on strategic consulting engagements—from cross-border trade and international business expansion to operational streamlining and M&As.

David identified and seized a business opportunity in which he created a complete, fully integrated export/import business to control and manage the entire value chain from Australian brand partners to Korean retail groups, online markets, and consumers. David proved instrumental in launching 2 beverage brands, several food brands, and a range of natural skincare products in Korea.

He was also called upon by the founder of Red Kangaroo Beverages to orchestrate the first-ever launch of an Australian Beverage brand company into the Korean market, and went on to completely transform the company’s existing business in Australia.

AustCham Vision: 20 years of experience working in Korea have given me a deep understanding of the consumer market. Experience across all wholesale and retail segments of the Korean market, including modern chains, and traditional traders, which show low penetration of Australian products. There exists an opportunity to further develop Australian brands in the Korean market.
My experience has allowed me to understand the intricacies and complexities that foreign companies face when trying to enter the Korean market. I have the capability to provide best practice advice to enable Australian businesses to overcome the hurdles and make doing business in Korea an easier and more prosperous proposition.
I would like to help shape Austcham Korea into an effective and best practice chamber of commerce. I have observed the young passionate Austcham team working hard to achieve their objectives, and believe I could help them achieve more with my knowledge and experience. I would see myself as a coach and when requested a hands-on team player, assisting the team to execute their Vision in the most efficient and effective way. I have enjoyed 20 years of business in Korea, and I believe it is my turn to give something back.