Non-Executive Chairman

KEVIN CHIN

Kevin has extensive experience in “hands on” strategic and operational management having served as CEO, CFO and COO of various companies across a range of industries, including solar energy, software, traffic management, education, funds management and vocational education.

He also has significant international experience in private equity, buyouts of public companies, mergers and acquisitions and capital raisings as well as funds management, accounting, litigation support and valuations.

Kevin is the founder of Arowana & Co. (Ärowana), a diversified investment group with operations across Australia, NZ and South East Asia. Arowana has listed companies on the Australian Stock Exchange and NASDAQ as well as unlisted companies. Arowana International Limited, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, is the largest shareholder in VivoPower International PLC (“VivoPower”). Kevin is primarily responsible for delivering annualised returns in excess of 30% to investors across Arowana’s investments, and has been since its formation in 2007.

Over his twenty year career, Kevin has held a number of strategic and operational leadership roles and was also previously with Lowy Family Group, J.P. Morgan, Ord Minnett, PWC and Deloitte.

Kevin holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of New South Wales where he was one of the inaugural University Co-Op Scholars with the School of Banking and Finance. He is also a qualified Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of FINSIA, where he was a lecturer in the Masters of Applied Finance programme.

Independent Board Member

SHIMI SHAH

Shimi has been actively involved in investing and venture capital for over 20 years and has made over 50 investments in early and expansion stage transactions, of which many have been successfully exited with superior returns for investors in Europe, the US, and the Middle East.

Shimi is the Chairperson of Carousel Solutions, a technology and business advisory group, focusing on assisting companies navigate expansion into and out of the Middle East and Europe, build diversified businesses, appoint high profile and ROI driven boards, and provide efficient technology solutions to mitigate security risk and increase productivity.

Shimi is also an active independent director and advisory board member. She currently holds an advisory board role with StartAd, the New York University in Abu Dhabi’s accelerator initiative. She is also a board director of Bboxx, a $25m revenue distributed energy business. Shimi also chairs the leading kid’s club design company called Worldwide Kids Club. Additionally, she is part of the advisory committee for the Green Gateway Fund, a $250m clean technology and sustainability fund. Shimi is a firm believer in social capital and CSR, and sits on the board of the Pay It Forward Foundation based in the US.

Shimi was previously CEO at FORSA LLC, Managing Partner at Partnerships UK (PUK), Chief Investment Officer at Hanson Capital, and has worked at 3i and Citigroup.

Shimi holds Masters in Management from Queens’ College Cambridge and Bachelor of Science degree from King’s College, London, in Management and Economics. Shimi is an active member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO) in Europe and Africa.

Independent Board Member

PETER SERMOL

Peter has over thirty years experience in institutional finance.

Peter is the co-founder of North Star Solar Ltd, a company focused on installing UK rooftop solar PV and battery storage, which developed a model to install renewable technologies without any need for government subsidies.

Prior to this, with his proven track record in trading distressed debt, Peter ran the Toronto office of Amstel Securities, a Dutch regulated brokerage firm, for eight years. During this period Peter expanded the office to focus on uncovering and seeding uncorrelated investment opportunities. Taking a sector agnostic view, investments ranged from Latin American NPL’s, financing Canadian property developers, Australian non-conforming loans, US viatical life insurance policies, to US non-prime auto loans. During this period he also served as CEO of an online media distribution company.

Previously, Peter has worked with specialist brokerage and advisory firms, including Anca Capital Partners and Amstel, as well as co-founding his own brokerage firm, Global Markets Ltd trading Asian Convertible Bonds and GDRs.

Peter studied marine electronics at the Merchant Naval College, Greenhithe.

Interim Chief Executive Officer

ART RUSSELL

Art is an experienced CFO with over 25 years of global experience in financial management, business performance improvement and turnaround across a diverse range of industry sectors. He has worked extensively in the private equity investment space, on both sides of the investment transaction.

Art was previously CFO of APC Technology Group PLC, a business listed on AIM of the London Stock Exchange, successfully turning around the business following significant loss, near business collapse, and management change. APC provides design, specification, and distribution of specialist electronic components and systems, lighting technologies and connectivity products to the defense, aerospace, industrial, real estate, logistics and healthcare sectors.

Prior to joining APC, Art was CFO of a UK based KKR private equity investment in the aviation sector, responsible for financial management of a £250m turnover international business through to successful exit to a FTSE 100 PLC.

Previous experience includes ten years as Senior Vice President & CFO of a SME private equity investment firm in North America, responsible for all M&A activity, financing, and portfolio management. Prior to this, Art led finance for a private equity backed international marine and fuel distribution company, joining that business after eight years in audit, tax, and financial advisory services at Deloitte.

Art holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta. He is qualified as a Chartered Accountant in both the United Kingdom and Canada.

Head of Development, Engineering & Asset Management

DR. RICK BORRY

Rick has over twenty years’ experience as an entrepreneur, engineer and business innovator.

Most recently, Rick worked as CTO of Principal Solar, with their acquisition of Capstone Solar Conferences and subsequent re-branding as the Principal Solar Institute. Here he was responsible for company technology and solar project development.

Prior to this, Rick was a co-founder of Capstone Solar and served as a technical advisor for Solar Logic, an early-stage micro-CSP (concentrating solar power) company.

He also founded Webvent.tv, which is credited as the first web platform to build communities around online conferences and was the Chief Software Architect for Certain Software after their acquisition of his online event registration start-up, Register123.com.

Rick earned his Doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and his B.S. from Clemson University.

Rick has worked as a research associate for the U.S. Department of Energy at Lawrence Berkeley Lab and DuPont’s Experimental Station in Delaware, a National Science Foundation scholar at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, and an environmental engineering intern for Hoechst Celanese in South Carolina.

Principal (Australia)

MATT DAVIS

Matt is an experienced energy and finance professional, with a track record of developing and financing renewable and traditional energy assets and companies across the U.S.

Most recently, Matt served as a Senior Acquisitions Associate with Renewable Energy Trust Capital (RETC), where he worked on the evaluation, acquisition and financing of utility-scale solar assets in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Prior to this, he worked as a Business Development Associate with Safari Energy, a leading provider of commercial solar energy services.

Matt started his career as an Investment Banking Analyst with Stifel Nicolaus. In three-and-a-half years at Stifel, he was responsible for over $18 billion of capital raising and advisory assignments for companies in the Energy and Natural Resources and Maritime Shipping industries.

Matt received his Bachelor of Science degree in Management with a concentration in Analytical Consulting from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University.

Group Financial Controller

JAMES TINDAL-ROBERTSON

James brings extensive knowledge in managing and building finance functions, particularly in the oil industry. He spent the last six years at PetroSaudi Oil Services Ltd as Director of Finance and previously as Group Financial Controller where he set up and led the finance function of an oil drilling service group. Previously he was Major Projects Finance Director for over three years, where he led the financial management of large international engineering, procurement and construction projects of oil & gas infrastructure at Chicago Bridge & Iron Corporation. His previous roles were at Paladin Resources, Crew Gold Corporation, Smiths Group Plc and KPMG.

James has been awarded a Master Degree in Physics at the Imperial College London and he is an ACA Charted Accountant.

Engineering Associate

JOSH KRASNIGOR

Josh has 2 years’ experience in Solar (PV) Engineering, including work on over 200 mega-watts of utility-scale solar power plants. Most recently he worked for Doman Energy designing solar power plants, managing EPCs’ quality programs, and conducting performance analyses for projects in operation.  While employed with Doman Energy, Josh provided services for two VivoPower projects, NC-31 and NC-47.

Josh received his BA in Electrical Engineering at North Carolina State University with a concentration Renewable Electric Energy Systems in 2015. After graduating, he managed a non-profit project to provide solar-powered lighting to over 300 families without electricity in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.

Head of Investor Relations and Operations

JULIE-ANNE BYRNE

Julie-Anne brings to VivoPower her five years’ experience managing internal organisational functions, to support the overall day-to-day operating of teams and businesses.

Most recently, Julie-Anne was an Operations Executive at Arowana Capital, an Australian based ESVCLP. She was ‘hands-on’ in managing a food and beverage portfolio start-up company, managing all aspects of the company, and led the business to become the industry world leader in natural shelf life extension of almond milk without applying technology.

Before this transition, Julie-Anne was an Executive Assistant at Arowana International, an ASX listed investment company. Here, she worked with the various back office departments including HR, IT and Finance to assist the company in its day-to-day activities and also supported the needs of the front office team.

Julie-Anne holds a double major BA degree in History and Economics from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.