Arthur Hayes is a highly experienced retail industry specialist with a strong track record in leadership, team building and company development.

Arthur was one of four founding members of the supermarket group Foodworks in 1997. As CEO for the company he created teams, structures and systems that saw Foodworks grow into a highly profitable group of 97 stores with sales of over $400 million.

Prior to establishing Foodworks, Arthur spent 20 years as the owner/operator of two supermarkets, one of which received an award for Best Independent Supermarket 1992. For six years Arthur led the Retail Service Division at Composite Buyers (CBL). During this time he established an industry benchmark Quality Advantage (QA) program with 1000 staff members successfully completing the course.

Arthur has also held a number of management positions outside of the retail food industry including: Co-founder and operator of Australians Studying Abroad (ASA); Founding Faculty Secretary of Architecture and Building RMIT; Principal Director of the Melbourne Hotel; and part-time Economics and Management lecturer at RMIT.

Arthur is an accredited ODI facilitator and holds a Bachelor of Economics Degree.

Axel Hass has a wealth of experience in senior management positions in the information technology and telecommunications industries. He brings a broad international perspective to ESP having lived and worked in both Europe and Asia.

From 1999, Axel was Chairman and CEO of Deutsche Telekom Asia based in Singapore. A key achievement in the role was the management of Deutsche Telekom’s multi-billion Euro investment into five national Asian Telecom companies.

Prior to joining Deutsche Telekom, Axel spent 25 years with Siemens Nixdorf where he held various national and international sales and marketing management positions. In 1995 Axel became a member of the Executive Board of Siemens Nixdorf AG and head of the Asia Pacific operations.

During the past 20 years, Axel has held numerous non-executive board positions for IT&T and venture capital companies including: Siemens Nixdorf UK, Siemens Nixdorf France, Siemens Nixdorf US, Siemens Nixdorf Japan, Siemens China, SI System Intergration, Globe Telecom Philippines, Celcom Telecom Malaysia, Satelindo Indonesia and WBB Berlin.

Grant Calvin has extensive experience gained over 30 years of working for, managing, and advising companies in the areas of management and processes; sales and marketing strategy; retail and supply chain operations; and systems infrastructure and strategy.

Grant has proven management consulting experience across a range of vertical industries. Key client groups include several international oil companies, retail companies, research operations, financial institutions, management consulting companies, Internet business operations in retail and finance, and hardware/software infrastructure companies.

Grant’s extensive career has encompassed working for Andersen Consulting as an Associate Partner; Director of Olivetti’s International Retail Business Unit; and senior management roles in the development of global retail and telecom initiatives - he was the founder, President and Chairman of the IFSF (International Forecourt Standards Forum).

Grant has lived in the UK, Italy and the USA and has worked in most mature global markets in his roles with multinational corporations. He has had considerable experience organising and addressing retail conferences, and developing retailing and systems infrastructure trends for leading international retailers.

Joerg Kalisch has 20 years experience across a wide range of roles in the information technology and management consulting industries. He has held positions in sales, marketing, project management and business development.

Joerg began his career with Siemens Nixdorf and held a variety of roles in Germany and Asia. From 1994 he was Executive Manager, Line of Business IT Services based in Beijing with responsibility for project managing large scale projects in key markets. In 1995, he moved to Thailand as Vice President Partner Business & Market Development where he held the responsibility for the development of indirect sales channels throughout Siemen’s key Asian markets. In 1998, he took the position of Vice President Division Transportation for Siemens Business Services Asia Pacific. In this role Joerg managed the sales and marketing solutions portfolio for airports, airlines, railways and shipping.

Since 1999, Jeorg has held the position of Managing Director of Dexteritas Pte Ltd., a business consultancy for European start-ups in Asia. He has also held the positions of Director for mSE Pte Ltd a logistics and supply chain consulting firm; and Managing Director of Realtech System Consulting Pte Ltd, a technology consultancy company.

Joerg’s key area of focus is business planning, start-ups and operations and he has established a wide business network across the Asia Pacific region. He has represented clients in a large number of industries but has a strong focus on the IT sector.

Joerg is currently based in Singapore.

Kevin is one of the most experienced organisational development and change management consultants in the Asia Pacific region. He has supported many of the world’s major corporations including Siemens, BP, Mobil, Cabot Petrochemicals, Chevron, Rohm and Haas.

Kevin has held a number of senior management consulting positions including Vice President, ODI Asia Pacific. In this role he was responsible for the leadership and business development of the Organization Dynamics Inc. (ODI), and an international consulting company. During his tenure with ODI he was the senior account manager for Siemens Corporation in Germany and provided services to Siemens throughout Europe, the USA and Asia.

Kevin has a special interest in the development of sustainable high performance teams and has developed them for a wide range of organisations including: Siemens Nixdorf, Hong Leong, Cabot Petrochemicals, Foodworks and Chep Australia.

Kevin is an accredited Master Facilitator (by Prof. George Labovitz, Boston University) in alignment, strategic partnering, problem solving, process improvement, customer focus and leadership. He is an accredited facilitator of the Schaffer “Breakthrough/Quick Wins” project methodology and is accredited by ACER to facilitate MBTI personality profiles. Kevin also has strong links to colleagues at the Harvard University Business School.

Michael Erwin is one of Australia’s leading executive coaches specialising in the areas of return on time, emotionally intelligent leadership and work/life balance.

Since received his international accreditation as a coach in 2005 Michael has personally coached over 3000 one-on-one hours with business owners, leaders and managers - making him one of the most experienced coaches in the country. He is also the co-author of 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Vol 3.

Michael holds qualifications in organisational psychology, marketing and coaching. Michael is internationally accredited by the International Coach Federation and is a Genos Accredited Emotional Intelligence Master Practitioner Coach.

Patrice Baranowska brings almost 30 years of international experience in the information technology sector to ESP International.

Patrice’s career includes senior sales and management positions working for a range of multinational technology companies. His extensive career includes stints working in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia.

During the last seven years, Patrice founded and managed an information technology services company based in Bangalore. Prior to this, he held a range of senior management positions ranging from sales director to CEO for Thomson CSF, Alcatel and Siemens.

Key highlights of Patrice’s career include the start-up of two companies, a subsidiary for Siemens-Nixdorf in India and the creation of an IT services company in Bangalore. Patrice has strong sales capabilities in the IT&T and Internet sectors and his particular areas of strength include building high quality teams and business development.

Patrice is based in Paris.

Rene Frei brings over 26 years senior management experience in the IT&T Industry to his role as Non Executive Director of ESP International.

Prior to establishing ESP, Rene held a number of senior management positions with Multinational IT&T companies including eight years as the Managing Director of Siemens Nixdorf.

Rene has extensive experience in leading large multinational companies, directing both country and area operations as well as establishing start-ups and joint ventures. He has held senior sales and marketing roles across multiple disciplines and technologies in the Services, Software and Hardware Industries. Having worked in Australia, Europe, and the USA, he has an in-depth understanding of international business operations.

Rene has also sat on a number of boards including the Australian Information Industry Association and was also Chairman of the AIIA Industry Development Forum.

Rene is a regular industry commentator and has been quoted in various magazines and press articles on topics about Change Management and Organisational Behaviour.

Mark Smith has over 28 years experience in strategic sales management and marketing in a variety of businesses and industry sectors.

Mark started his career in the British Army in an elite unit and moved into a business career at Rank Xerox performing in new business sales, strategic key account management and corporate marketing.

He has held general management and CEO positions at companies such as Siemens Nixdorf, Oce, Salmat, and Checkpoint Systems.

Mark has completed interim management assignments for ESP in Australia and overseas with companies in the wealth management, communications, and manufacturing and information technology markets.

Mark brings a wealth of experience in strategic sales advisory services, interim management and executive search activities.

Mark Skipper has over 30 years sales, senior management and Company Director experience in the Wholesale, IT&T hardware, software, services, Supply Chain / Logistics and Management Consulting industries.

As President & Managing Director of RedPrairie Inc in Asia Pacific he established a WOFE and successful businesses in China, then India and elsewhere in Asia. He turned around a company making losses into one that consistently outperformed its profitability and revenue targets.

For over 25 years he was a Company Director of Bronson & Jacobs a top 150 Australia Private Company, that was sold to Orica.

Having spoken at over 40 global conferences, he has considerable international experience and currently trains Australian Defence Force middle ranking Officers at various bases around Australia on Supply Chain & Logistics best practices.

Mark is a long standing Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and his current Directorships include the Supply Chain & Logistics Association of Australia and The Primary Club, a registered charity that assists disabled adults and children with sporting and recreational pursuits.