About Us



Providing Opportunities for Talented People

Vision

To maximise South Australia’s long‑term economic contribution, the ILF manages its cash flows and investment portfolio with prudence and discipline, ensuring the fund’s value keeps pace with inflation and its capacity to operate in perpetuity is protected

Purpose

The Industry Leaders Fund strengthens South Australia’s value‑adding sector by developing courageous, high‑calibre CEOs and MDs. Through grants for advanced study and ongoing professional development, the ILF accelerates the growth of existing and emerging leaders, helping expand the state’s economic base, create jobs, and build a strong head‑office culture. We believe in learning for the common good and support those who share that commitment.

Are you eligible for a grant?
Michael Clayton, Cameron Bacon

ILF Scholars Network

The Industry Leaders Fund Scholars Network (ILFSN) brings ILF Scholars into a connected, high‑calibre community dedicated to strengthening South Australia’s leadership landscape. Established in 2013, the Network curates refined development experiences, premium events, and meaningful peer connection that elevate strategic thinking and support high‑performing organisations. Supported by generous partners and guided by an accomplished committee, the ILFSN has become a defining benefit of the ILF program and a growing force in shaping the state’s future leadership.

Our Board

David Heaslip

Kris Lloyd AM

Mark Canny

Richard Colebatch

Paul Haysman

Stephen Ludlam

Michael Tamasi

Andrew Downs

Mark Nykiel

Shaun Westcott

David McNeil OAM

Richard Barrett

Industry Leaders Chairman's Foundation

The Industry Leaders Chairman’s Foundation was created to expand the ILF’s impact by giving individuals and businesses a flexible way to invest in South Australia’s future. Every contribution directly supports emerging leaders who will drive the state’s economic growth.

As a registered Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR 1), the Foundation accepts tax‑deductible donations and bequests, tailored to each donor’s intentions. It is administered by the ILF with no fees, ensuring 100% of every contribution goes to successful applicants.

Funding is limited to courses delivered by recognised Australian educational institutions, including those with offshore components.
Sample bequest wording is available for download, and donors are encouraged to seek professional advice to ensure their arrangements meet personal and legal needs.

Home

David Heaslip

Honorary President

In the first ten years of his career, David worked on the family farm in the mid north of South Australia. He then completed a business degree at the University of South Australia as a mature-aged student.

David went on to work for one of Australia’s largest seafood wholesalers, selling product within Australia and subsequently into Europe. He later held a role as Sales Manager for a division of AWA that serviced mining and transport companies, before joining the Century Group as General Manager. He is presently Managing Director and controlling shareholder of the Century Group.

In his current role, David is continually changing the business model of the Century Group. Century is expanding as a result of developing capability and entering new markets and expanding the group via business acquisition. Through Century Engineering and Liquitek the Group provides design, engineering, and manufacturing solutions and also water treatment services to some of Australia’s critical asset owners in mining, defence and power and water utilities in Australia.

David is also involved in community organisations providing services to sport and business.

Kris Lloyd AM

Honorary Deputy President/ Treasurer

Kris Lloyd is Director and Head cheesemaker of Woodside Cheese Wrights, established in1994, a specialist cheese maker of goat, cow and buffalo cheeses, based in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia. Kris is self-taught and is supported by a passionate team of cheesemakers.

Kris has pioneered a style of cheese making in Australia that creative and innovative. Her recent interests include the incorporation Indigenous Australian Ingredients in her cheeses including Native Australian Green Ants.

Kris founded CheeseFest&FERMENT Festival in 2006, a festival designed to raise awareness of specialty cheese and local food and beverage businesses in the State.

Woodside Cheese Wrights has won numerous cheese awards including Grand Dairy Award in 2004 and 2011.

In 2016 Kris’s Anthill Cheese topped with Native Australian Green Ants scored number 11 from 3021 other entries at the World Cheese Awards, judged in San Sebastian, Spain. Kris is an International Cheese Judge and local wine and food Judge.

In 2010 Kris won the Telstra Business Women’s National Award for Business Innovation.

2012 Kris was inducted into the prestigious International Cheesemakers Guilde des Fromagers, in France.

Kris was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2020 Queens Birthday Honours list

Kris is one of the South Australia’s Food and Wine Ambassadors and is a fervent supporter of the Industry as a whole.

Role and hopes for ILF
The main focus of the ILF is something that I am very passionate about, and that is “leadership.” Good leaders show great respect for others, they are fearless, good listeners, visionaries, excellent communicators and supporters of their community. The ILF assists leaders to realise and reach their full potential by providing funding for further leadership development.

Through this assistance the ILF has seen many scholars reach the next level in their careers and leadership journey.

My hopes are that we continue this good work of uncovering and discovering future leaders that are progressive and passionate individuals that will grow the prosperity of our great State South Australia.

Leadership is a never-ending journey, having the skills to deal with the disruptive nature of our times has never been more important and relevant. It is so incredibly important to stay fresh and alive as leaders always.

I commend the ILF in providing this opportunity for so many scholars in the past and for those to come in the future.

Mark Canny

Honorary Immediate Past President

Background
Mark Canny began his industrial career with Tubemakers BTM Kilburn in 1985. Two years later, he became Purchasing Manager at Hills Limited in Adelaide.

In 1989, Mark moved to Wales and spent six years as Managing Director of Hills UK (a wholly owned subsidiary company of Hills Australia). The UK business designed and manufactured clotheslines and garden sprayers that were sold in the UK, Western Europe and Scandinavia.

Mark returned to Australia to head up the Home and Hardware Division of Hills. The business manufactured and sold consumer durable products under the brands of Bailey, Hills, Kelso and Triton, The Division had 550 staff in factories in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane and logistics operations in each Australian state and the north and south islands of New Zealand. There were three R&D teams totalling 40 staff and a sales and marketing team of 60 spread across Australia and New Zealand.

In 2007 Mark became the CEO of Intercast & Forge, Australias largest independent iron foundry operation. The Adelaide and Sydney foundries produced 70,000 tonnes pa of iron castings with primary markets being automotive and rail track systems. The key shareholder was the Sydney based private equity group CHAMP Ventures. The Sydney operation, together with the automotive supply contracts, was sold in 2010 to an Australian automotive supply group. In 2012, the Adelaide foundry was sold to its largest rail customer, a French based industrial group.

Since the 2012 sale, Mark has undertaken a number of project roles, with a focus on manufacturing and marketing strategy.

Role and Hopes for ILF
Mark believes that the future for business in South Australia lies with great management and leadership.

We have a great standard of living in South Australia, and to maintain that, we must innovate at all levels especially our business models. Our future lies in high value added niche businesses and this requires outstanding leadership.

My hope is that the ILF can help to foster a pride in business leadership and a community wide desire to develop and nurture our potential leaders. The ILF can only be a catalyst but this is a critical role in the process.

Richard Colebatch

Honorary Board Member

Background
Richard has a long history of contribution to industry through senior board and committee roles in a number of national and local industry associations including the Australian Industry Group, the Plastics Industry Association and Business SA. These roles have included being an office bearer up to the level of president on at least two occasions.

He has always been passionate about developing his leadership skills through formal one-off training programs such as the Company Directors Course and by continuous improvement through membership of The Executive Connection (TEC). He says that following through the TEC processes is like doing a working MBA. He is an avid reader of leadership books and keeps himself up to date in current affairs developments in order to be able to make fully informed leadership decisions.

He believes that the cornerstone to success in business leadership is applying energy and effort from establishing a vision to implementation, in an ethical way. His motto is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you “. If you wish to be successful, some of the best money invested will be spent obtaining the best professionals to provide the best advice possible.

Roles and Hopes for ILF
If we are to develop a suite of modern, profitable, growing, wealth-creating industries for the benefit of South Australians we need to leverage our leaders and those with real leadership potential and help them grow. He believes the team-based approach of the ILF is an outstanding way to developing the leaders we need to create head offices and wealth-creating industries in South Australia. The ILF is an excellent incubator for aspiring and current leaders to leverage themselves from each other, to grow success as individuals and as a group.

Leadership Views
Aside from the developmental opportunities the ILF offers to fund, he would highly recommend joining Toastmasters. He found the experience to be one of the most beneficial activities he has ever completed, and the cost is minimal. Toastmasters is all about positive improvement through better listening, thinking and speaking. Different clubs have different characteristics and are at different stages of development. The secret to gaining the maximum benefit is to choose a club that is best suited to you, and to do that he recommends visiting three clubs before deciding which one to join.

Richard believes a true leader is someone who has the wisdom to see what is required, the ability to inspire those who need to act to achieve the aim and the courage of his/her convictions to overcome all obstacles.

Five leaders he most admires are:

  • Sir Eric Neil, who is a great South Australian who has created more wealth in South Australia than most South Australians will ever realise.
  • Winston Churchill, who led Britain through its darkest hours.
  • Ronald Reagan, who had the strength of conviction to challenge the air traffic controllers when they threatened to bring the USA to a halt and bring the dispute to a successful conclusion for the benefit of the travelling public.
  • Bob Hawke, who took on the Australian Federation of Air Pilots to ensure air travel would be available and affordable to most Australians.
  • Charles Copeman, who led the necessary changes required at Robe River to ensure the ongoing viability of mining iron ore in Western Australia against extraordinary challenges from the media, unions and our State and National political leaders at that time.

Paul Haysman

Honorary Board Member

Background
Paul Haysman commenced his professional career with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., Chartered Accountants in 1981. Paul worked primarily in the areas of taxation and general business services, and a highlight of his time with what was to become KPMG, included a three month secondment to Goroka, in the highlands of PNG.

In 1985 Paul joined Philmac Pty Ltd where he held the positions of Finance Director, and Director and General Manager, before being appointed Managing Director in December 1995, a position he held until his departure in October 2002.. Philmac is a world leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of fittings and valves for water and gas pipeline systems. With its head office and manufacturing facilities located in North Plympton, South Australia, Philmac has branches in each state of Australia, and an extensive network of agents around the world.

In addition to his responsibilities at Philmac, Paul was co-opted by the international parent company to manage all of the global Group’s activities in Japan and Korea, which included the establishment of an office in Tokyo. He was also seconded to a sister company in Switzerland during 2001 to advise them on enterprise improvement opportunities.

In October 2002 Paul acquired Hillmark Industries Pty Ltd, a company primarily involved in the development, manufacture and distribution of specialised cleaning products for domestic appliances. In October 2008 the majority of the business, including the Hillmark brand, was sold to Selleys, a division of Dulux Group Ltd.

Paul went on to acquire further business interests over the next decade as well as taking on various Board roles.

Role and Hopes for ILF
Paul firmly believes that an important element of future economic and social success for South Australia will be good leadership. In Paul’s view the ideal leader would have the grace and humility of Nelson Mandela, the creativity and vision of Steve Jobs, and the energy and healthy disrespect for authority of Fred Hollows.

Stephen Ludlam

Honorary Board Member

Steve Ludlam is a global submarine expert who was Chief Executive of naval shipbuilding company ASC Pty Ltd from 2010 to 2014. Before moving to Adelaide to take up this role, Steve was President of Submarines at Rolls-Royce plc in the United Kingdom, where he led the successful modernisation of the country’s nuclear-powered submarine program.

Steve’s career began with Rolls-Royce as a development engineer working on nuclear submarine programs. He became General Manager of the Submarine Nuclear Reactor Test Establishment and held several Executive Vice-President roles in the Marine Sector of Rolls-Royce. His final position in Rolls-Royce was as President of Submarines part of the senior executive.

Steve holds a master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering. He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, UK, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineers in 2010. He has been voted one of Engineers Australia’s 100 most influential engineers on four separate occasions.

His current assignments include advice on industry development and governance in a variety of sectors.

Role and Hopes for ILF

South Australia’s industrial capability, the talents of our workforce and our leaders have made significant contributions to Australia’s economy over many years. Our heritage is significant, and my determination is that we continue to grow our workforce talent and our leadership capabilities to further develop South Australia and the national economy.

Our ability to do things differently is driven by our industrial leaders. My hope is that the contribution made by the ILF facilitates the growth of our leaders and their businesses through our encouragement and support for their continuing education and through our mentoring program.

Michael Tamasi

Honorary Vice President

Michael Tamasi currently works as an Executive Advisor & Senior Leadership Coach & Mentor having held the previous role as Managing Director & Director of New Castalloy which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Harley-Davidson. Michael was a Senior Executive with Harley-Davidson/New Castalloy for over 19 years.

Michael started his working career with General Motors Holden as a Fitter and Turner then studied and worked his way up through Senior Management roles within South Australian Manufacturing companies. Michael is a proud South Australian and, apart from a stint working at Harley-Davidson plants in United States, has accumulated over 30 years’ experience within the South Australian manufacturing network.

Michael has also been part of Ai Group South Australian Branch Committee for over 14 years and has previously held the position of Vice President.

Leadership View
Michael believes that leadership development is a never ending curve and is a strong supporter of the Industry Leaders Fund and the opportunity that is presents to South Australian leaders and future leaders.

Strong leaders with vision that are constantly striving to improve themselves through training, development and mentoring are critical for business growth and ultimately the growth of the State. The ILF gives these leaders that opportunity.

Andrew Downs

Honorary Board Member

Andrew founded the SAGE Group in 1994 and remains instrumental in establishing the ever expanding business portfolio of SAGE, responding to emerging market opportunities and needs.

Andrew is a member of the Executive Committee of the Australian Industry Group in South Australia, a board member of the Australian Industry Group Training Group and was named Ernst & Young South Australian Entrepreneur (Central Region) of the Year in 2004.

Andrew’s vision, leadership and passion underpins the success and the culture of the entire SAGE Group. He initiated and implemented the private shareholding structure that currently exists and is actively involved in all subsidiary businesses.

Mark Nykiel

Honorary Board Member

Background

Mark has held a variety of Chief Executive and executive management roles in the Australian building products, construction materials, and mineral processing industry sectors and is the current Asia Pacific CEO at Aliaxis, a European based global leader in advanced fluid management solutions. Mark is also a  member of the Aliaxis Global Executive Committee.

Mark started his career as an apprentice Fitter and Turner in regional SA before completing a Bachelor degree in Applied Science from the University of South Australia and later an MBA from the University of Adelaide along with executive education through the Global CEO program at IESE, Wharton & CEIBS Shanghai.

Mark is also a Board member and SA State President of the Australian Industry Group , along with a Director of a number of Aliaxis operating entities and former Chairman of the Plastics Pipe Industry Association of Australia. 

Roles and hopes for ILF

Mark believes equipping current and future leaders with the opportunity to transform the way they lead, maintaining a personal commitment to learning and seeking exposure to like minded professionals is a recipe for personal growth and business success.  The ILF provides a path for leadership development orientated to what matters for you and your organisation.  The ILF scholars network provides a unique opportunity to build a critical mass of highly capable leaders which positions South Australia as a great place for corporations to invest, founders to build and employees to further their careers.

David McNeil OAM

Honorary Emeritus Member

David is one of the founders of the Industry Leaders Fund.

This initiative was born out of David’s own experience in attending the Harvard Advanced Management program early in his career.

He has experience in a variety of industries at both Managing Director and Chairman levels.

This has included both public and private companies as well as Government Boards.

Currently David is Chairman of Tyree Industries, Tycab Australia and New Zealand, Tekelek Australia and AEM Cores.

He has previously been Chairman of Sage Automation, Laubman and Pank , Electronet, The Queen Elizabeth hospital and The Motor Sport Board .

David has worked with Macquarie Bank for four years involved in business turnarounds.

As a business owner he knows the challenges that face management and the development of Human Capital.

His vision is to see South Australia as a “Head Office State” with wealth generating industries and employment growth giving opportunities to the next generation right in their own back yard.

Richard Barrett

Chief Executive

Richard Barrett has extensive experience in South Australia’s manufacturing sector, spanning industrial automation/aerospace, packaging and life sciences. He has spent over three decades promoting the state’s capacity into international markets at firm and sector levels.

An early career at Honeywell was followed by 21 years from 1994 to 2015 with US-based packaging manufacturer Scholle IPN, most recently as Vice President of a major global business unit. Despite spending extensive periods overseas, he was fortunate to be able to lead and build the entire international business unit out of South Australia’s regional headquarters, as a member of the US-based Global Executive Team.

In 2015 Richard initiated Australia’s first industry cluster for medical devices and technologies, a key strength within South Australia, but with untapped global impact. Much has been achieved since, and in 2019 Richard co-founded pharma company MedTEC Group Australia as its inaugural CEO. The company is now public, and Richard remains on the board as a major shareholder.

With family in the wine industry, Richard is a Director of wine industry biosecurity authority VineHealth Australia and maintains a keen interest in that sector.

He has previously been Advisory Board Chair of Harrison McMillan Pty Ltd and Chair of the Northern Adelaide Economic Development Board.

Leadership Views
Richard believes extraordinary leaders aren’t born, they’re made. That lifelong learning is the essential ingredient for leadership success. That great leaders exhibit humility, curiosity, resilience, drive and a continuously open mind. And that a strong commitment to their businesses, industries and communities is the foundational bedrock.

Role and Hopes for the ILF
South Australia has the capacity, environment, intelligence and agility to lead the world in several key areas of our strengths. Development of winning leadership talent and the self-belief that supports a confident head-office mentality is a key element. The ILF is here to give genuinely talented individuals the opportunity to accelerate further along the arc of their leadership careers, while supporting each other through a distinguished peer network that is second to none and highly prized.

Through the ILF’s sustained and evergreen support of an annual crop of talented leaders, Richard hopes to see a number of internationally focused, SA based head offices, led by committed South Australians establish and increase over time.