After almost 4 years of taking responsibility for The Churchill Club, it’s with mixed emotion that I announce I’m moving on from the role. With a young family and new opportunities beckoning, I’ve decided it’s time to step aside and make way for a new leadership team to progress the Club further. This is not goodbye as I do intend to hold a different role within the association.

Since taking over from Brendan Lewis in 2015, I’ve proudly achieved:

• Formally incorporating the Club as an association and appointing the first Committee
• Hosting 35 events on topics ranging from AR to fintech through to genome sequencing and robotics
• Unearthing over 300 tech trends from panellists including Chief Inventor of REA Group Nigel Dalton, GM of Big Data Analytics at Telstra Mark Moloney, Executive Director of Research for Melbourne Health Professor Ingrid Winship, Chief Executive of The Clean Energy Council Kane Thornton, CEO of ITS Australia Susan Harris, and so many more
• Hosting our first annual Top Tech Trends Debate attended by 180 guests
• Quadrupling the membership base and creating strong partnerships with fantastic organisations who support us, including PwC, Holding Redlich, Luminary, Burninghouse, Avion Communications, and Grant Thornton
• Receiving grant funding from the City of Melbourne business grants program to assist us in implementing a new website and membership CRM that will enable us to better serve our members.

Currently taking expressions of interest to get involved

The Churchill Club has come a long way, and we intend to keep the momentum going – we have our Top Tech Trends Debate (the highlight of the year) already scheduled to take place in 3 September.

So, we are now seeking expressions of interest from members and the wider community to take a more active role in the Club.

As I can attest, being involved in this organisation affords opportunities that are rarely offered inside a traditional career structure. Benefits include:

• Access to influencers in the business and technology community, both here in Victoria and in Silicon Valley
• An inside running on the latest tech trends as they emerge from an array of perspectives and personalities
• Develop connections within government at both state and local levels
• Forum to regularly hone your presentation and moderation skills
• An opportunity to catapult your personal brand and profile through network connections.

Our AGM has been tentatively scheduled for Thursday 18 July at 6pm. If you would like to put your name forward to be elected as part of the new Committee, then please contact me directly. More details on the AGM to follow shortly.

For more information about the changes outlined, we welcome you to please reach out to either myself or one of our Committee members: Susan Keyes-Pearce, Natalie Khoo, Toby Norgate, Pete Bauld or Peter Nolle.

My departure from the role will be staged to ensure a smooth transition as the Club moves forward. I can share with you that our event next Thursday 20 June, Proteins of the Future, will be the last event I moderate so I encourage you to come along. It will be a fascinating discussion led by the likes of psychologist Dr Matthew Ruby, Lord of the Fries co-founder Amanda Walker and insect guru, Olympia Yarger.

We hope to see you there.

Best,

Bec Kempster
CEO