For over 20 years, Kristian has worked in collaboration with Government, Defence and Commercial industries, guiding teams to accomplish complex modernisation tasks in challenging environments. These leadership roles have included working with the US DoD, NATO, the Australian Defence Force and Australian Defence Industry. Kristian's work is built on a strong background in telecommunications, engineering development, systems engineering, security, program office and operations management. As the Chief Product Officer at Penten, Kristian guides the strategic development and execution of our comprehensive product portfolio. With a passion for tech innovation, Kristian leverages his leadership skills to guide cross-functional teams, fostering a culture of creativity, customer-centricity, and results-oriented focus. Throughout my career Kristian has consulted to the Australian Government and led the delivery of the secure communication capabilities to the Commonwealth, running numerous projects, testing and operational activities in benign and hostile environments. Kristian's technology specialisations include networks and security, cellular systems, satellite communication networks, tactical radio and Electronic Counter Measures systems. Kristian is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD), hold a Master of Systems Engineering, and a bachelor’s degree in Information Systems (Honours) and a range of industry qualifications.

I am excited to be working with the LC4 team to provide support and insights in working with both industry and academic partners to progress the delivery of S&T initiatives. I bring over 25 years’ experience in research, development and enterprise, together with established networks, across both university and commercial sectors. I provide significant experience in research management, business development, commercialisation and establishing and growing partnerships to translate research and knowledge. Before joining Para Bellum solutions, I was the Director, Research Office for both UniSA and Flinders University. Prior to this, I was the inaugural CEO, Water Research Australia, and led the functional transition from a CRC to a public company, which is regarded as a world leading research knowledge broker.

Dr. Gerald Bolding received the B.Eng. (Electronic Engineering) degree with distinction from the South Australian Institute of Technology (1988) and a PhD in Digital Communications from the University of South Australia (1997). He worked at the University of South Australia (87-96) in the field of Digital Communications, at Auspace Ltd (1996-2007) as a technology specialist in digital modem development (both in Australia and the United Kingdom) and as a unit business manager. Dr Bolding held a Board position at the Defence Teaming Centre (South Australia) from 2004 to 2007. Dr Bolding joined Defence Science and Technology Group (2007) and his current position is Senior Scientist Satellite Communications, Information Sciences Division. Dr Bolding’s research interests include Military Satellite Communications and Communications Signal Processing. Dr. Bolding has 17 scientific publications, is a Member of both the IEEE and Engineers Australia, an Adjunct Senior Industry Fellow of the University of South Australia and was recently the Project Lead for Project CHORUS undertaken in collaboration with the SmartSat CRC.

Ben is a Quantum Technologies Researcher within the Quantum Technologies group at DSTG. Since leaving academia and joining DSTG in 2020, Ben has worked on a number of quantum timing and sensing projects, including the development and deployment of next-generation optical atomic clocks on a naval vessel as part of the international RIMPAC exercises in 2022.