Professor Andy Koronios, PhD

CEO & MANAGING DIRECTOR
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Professor Andy Koronios is the CEO and Managing Director of the Australasian Space Innovation Institute (ASII). He is an Emeritus Professor at the University of South Australia. Andy was previously CEO & Managing Director of SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre, which transitioned to ASII effective 1 July 2026.

Andy has previously held the positions of Dean: Industry & Enterprise at the University of South Australia and Head of the School of Information Technology & Mathematical Sciences at the University of South Australia.

He has extensive experience in both commercial and academic environments and his research areas include data quality, information management & governance, data analytics and the strategic exploitation of information.

Andy has led the establishment of several research concentrations, labs and research centres. Andy was the lead in the successful bid for the SmartSat CRC established in 2019 and is instrumental in SmartSat’s transition in 2026 to an enduring national entity, The Australasian Space Innovation Institute (ASII). He is also a Founding Director of the Andy Thomas Space Foundation, established late 2020.

Andy is a Professor of information systems and holds academic qualifications in Electrical Engineering, Computing and Education as well as a PhD from the University of Queensland. He is internationally known for his work in data quality, he has been an adjudicator for the European Corporate Data Quality Awards for several years, and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Information Quality.

Andy has worked both as a consultant as well as a professional speaker on IT issues in Australia and Southeast Asia and has over thirty-five years’ experience in the academic environment. He is a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society, a Founding Fellow of the International Institute of Engineering Asset Management, a Distinguished Speaker of the ACM. He was recently appointed member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).

Andrew Beveridge

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
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Andrew Beveridge was formerly the SmartSat Chief Operating Officer and a member of the SmartSat Executive Management Team for the duration of the bid process and establishment phase.  Having held previous roles with the University of South Australia, he has extensive knowledge of external funding sources with significant experience in supporting the pre- and post-award management of research grants and major research initiatives.

Dr Carl Seubert

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
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Dr Carl Seubert is a passionate space engineer and technologist driving development programs to enable future missions. Carl was the Chief Researcher of SmartSat CRC since 2021, where he architected the research portfolio of over 150 projects, established lasting international collaborations and created Scarlet Lab for spacecraft autonomy and formation flight R&D.

Prior to this Carl spent nearly a decade at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he led technology programs as a senior Guidance and Control Engineer and managed the spacecraft Formation Control Testbed. He has worked on future Mars landers and Earth observation missions, and his control algorithms are headed to Jupiter on the Europa Clipper mission. He leads the Australian team for the Takahē radar mission concept with NZ and is Board Chair for the NSW Space Research Network.

Karen Baxter

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CEO

Karen Baxter has a career in executive support across the public and private sectors, including global corporations, start-ups, not-for-profit organisations and government. Her recent career has included EA roles within the SA Government’s investment and entrepreneurship sectors, as well as with the South Australian Film Corporation. Karen has worked closely with C-suite executives, boards, senior government and industry stakeholders, with a focus on building effective relationships and supporting organisational priorities.

Lt Gen Larry D James USAF (Ret.)

STRATEGIC ADVISOR
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Lt Gen Larry D James (Ret.) is the Strategic Advisor for Australasian Space Innovation Institute and a Professor of Practice for Space Innovation at Monash University in Melbourne Australia. A Strategic Advisor for SmartSat CRC prior to his role at ASII, he provides advocacy, technical advice, and support for research and technology development.

At Monash he engages with senior university leadership to further space curriculum expansion and development; help build government partnerships both domestically and globally; build research collaborations and opportunities; and support indigenous student development programs.

Prior to this assignment he served as Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 2013 to 2024. As the Laboratory's Chief Operating Officer, he was responsible for the day-to-day management of JPL's resources and activities with an annual budget of $2.6 billion. This included managing the Laboratory's solar system exploration, Mars, astronomy, physics, Earth science, interplanetary network programs, and all business operations.

Prior to his retirement from active duty in 2013, Lt. Gen. James was the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) at the Pentagon. He was responsible to the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Air Force for policy formulation, planning, evaluation, oversight, and leadership of Air Force ISR capabilities and led more than 20,000 ISR officers, enlisted and civilians across the Air Force ISR Enterprise. Across his 35 year Air Force career he served at all levels of command, including Commander of 14th Air Force, responsible for all US military space operations.

Lt. Gen. James received his Bachelor of Science in Astronautical Engineering (1978) from the US Air Force Academy (Distinguished Graduate) and his Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics (1983) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. He was also a Draper Fellow at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, MA. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and serves on the National Committee of the Australian Space Diversity Alliance and the Industrial Advisory Board for the iLaunch Trailblazer Program.

Peter Kerr

FLAGSHIP PROGRAM DIRECTOR: NATIONAL DEFENCE
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Mr Peter Kerr is a Defence innovation specialist for the Australasian Space Innovation Institute, following seven years in a similar role at SmartSat CRC. This role is focused on ensuring research and innovation activities are aligned to Defence technology priorities and supports industry development across the space value chain.

Prior to this he spent 34 years working within the Defence Science and Technology Group and defence industry. His early career focussed of HF RADAR including being involved in the major Jindalee evaluation trial in 1986 and the first procurement phase for the Jindalee Operational RADAR Network (JORN).

His S&T career has focused on the fields of Radio Frequency (RF) sensors and RF communications, predominantly satellite communications. He was the Principal S&T Advisor to Defence for Military Satellite Communications from 2000 until 2010. He was the Defence S&T lead for the Satellite Systems CRC that built, launched and operated FEDSAT from 1998.

He has held corporate positions in international engagement, the Scientific Advisor to the Joint Capabilities Group and to the Chief of Joint Operations (CJOPS). He also played a key role in reforming the Defence innovation system following the release of the 2016 Defence Industry Policy Statement.;

Fabrice Marre

SENIOR EARTH OBSERVATION SPECIALIST
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Fabrice Marre is an Earth Observation and geospatial professional with over two decades of experience in Australia and overseas. Fabrice holds a Master's degree in Remote-Sensing and image processing from Paul Sabatier University in France and a Bachelor of Science in Electronic and Computer Science.

He has been involved with Earth Observation research projects with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), and was head of Research and Development for a listed geospatial company, leading the research, development and commercialisation of innovative 3D and AI derived geospatial products.

At SmartSat CRC and now ASII, Fabrice leads a portfolio of Earth Observation projects and the technical development of a shared national digital infrastructure for Australian agriculture. His expertise includes GIS, remote-sensing, data-fusion, digital twin, real-time 3D rendering and computer vision. Fabrice has also contributed to environmental and sustainability projects and volunteering missions for indigenous community empowerment, illegal logging monitoring, and large-scale post-disaster remote-sensing management. His purpose is to contribute to the building of a more resilient future by leveraging advanced Earth Observation technologies and connecting people.

Dr Mohammad Dehghan-Shoar

SENIOR DATA SCIENTIST (SPACE TECHNOLOGIES)
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Dr Mohammad Dehghan-Shoar is a geospatial and AI specialist with over a decade of experience across research and industry in New Zealand and Australia. He holds a PhD in Earth Science from Massey University in New Zealand, specialising in physically based modelling and physically informed machine learning, alongside a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.

His doctoral work developed neural networks coupling radiative transfer modelling with deep learning to retrieve vegetation traits across sensors and scales. His technical work spans hyperspectral, multispectral, microwave and lidar data from spaceborne, aerial and proximal platforms, and he has led research and development projects across agriculture and horticulture covering crop and pasture monitoring, yield and quality prediction, and decision support. Dehghan-Shoar has also led the technical development of the synthetic population underpinning ALMA (Aotearoa's Large Scale Multi-Agent simulator), a five-million-agent digital twin of New Zealand, using large language models to generate individual activity diaries for movement simulation. That work has been applied to infectious disease spread and to the health effects of urban heat islands, and was recognised with the Trailblazer in AI Innovation award at the inaugural Aotearoa AI Awards.

Laura Fries

COPORATE SERVICES MANAGER

Laura joined the Australasian Space Innovation Institute following on from her role at the SmartSat CRC. Her career has been varied and has spanned a number of industries across Australia, South Africa and the UK. Prior to joining SmartSat CRC, Laura provided executive support to the Board of an association in the independent primary school sector. Laura holds a Bachelor of Arts in English.

Cameron Stephenson

FINANCE MANAGER

Cameron Stephenson is an internationally experienced finance executive, with over two decades experience driving growth in innovative technology companies. Cameron has been CFO / Finance director in listed IT companies in Europe, Asia and Australia and most recently he’s come from the University of Melbourne’s Research, Innovation and Commercialisation division.

Here he held a variety of roles including Finance and Operations Director and acted as a commercial advisor to start-up companies coming through the university ecosystem. Cameron has a Bachelor degree in Economics, an MBA from UNSW as well as Company Director’s accreditation from the AICD.

Madison White

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
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Madison White is the Marketing & Communications Manager for the Australasian Space Innovation Institute. Madison joined ASII’s predecessor organisation, the SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre, in February 2022 and acted as the Marketing & Communications Coordinator until its cessation in 2026.

Prior to this, Madison worked briefly in the charity sector following a four-year stint working for the South Australian Government at Defence SA and the South Australian Space Industry Centre. During this time, Madison contributed significantly to marketing and administrative activities for the South Australian Space Mission; Kanyini and the campaign for the Australian Space Agency to be headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia.

Before working in the public sector, Madison worked as a journalist for a range of regional publications, including The Loxton News and The Weekender Herald. In 2018, Madison completed the Australian Radio School ‘Introduction to Radio’ course, earning the student of the year award. She has worked as a volunteer journalist for with Radio Adelaide 101.5, Fresh FM 92.7 and the former Hills Radio 88.9.

Madison has nearly 10 years working within the Australian space industry and is a passionate advocate for connecting other sectors to the benefits of space technology. She holds a Bachelor of Media and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Adelaide (2014), and in 2025 completed the Online Digital Marketing Strategy and Leadership course through the University of Melbourne’s Business School.

Tuul Machlay

PROJECT OFFICER: INNOVATION PROGRAMS

Tuul Machlay is the Project Officer: Innovation Projects for the Australasian Space Innovation Institute (ASII). Tuul continues on at ASII after joining the SmartSat team in May 2020. Before joining SmartSat, Tuul worked at University of South Australia in Research Development roles.

She has experience managing internal grants schemes and with the development of grant applications across various external funding schemes. Prior to this, Tuul worked at the National Commission for UNESCO in Mongolia as Programme Specialist in the capacity of overseeing all culture and development-related projects and managing the development, implementation, and monitoring phases of the projects. Tuul holds both a Bachelor and Master of Arts degree from the University of Paris Nanterre (Paris-X). Tuul completed the International Space University’s Southern Hemisphere Space Study Program in early 2025.

Vanessa Spock

PROJECT OFFICER: PARTNERSHIPS & BUSINESS GROWTH

Vanessa Spock is the Project Officer: Partnerships & Business Growth, for the Australasian Space Innovation Institute (ASII). Vanessa continues on at ASII after joining the SmartSat team in May 2025.

Before joining SmartSat, Vanessa worked globally in both technical and commercial-based roles in the Media & Technology sector for most of her career. She holds a post-graduate diploma in Management from the University of London as well as a Bachelor of Science in Experimental Physics & Pure Mathematics from the University of Adelaide. Vanessa grew up primarily in the Pitjantjatjara lands of South Australia.

James Peake

GEOSPATIAL DATA ENGINEER
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James Peake is a Geospatial Data Engineer at ASII with more than 15 years of experience in the geospatial industry including 5 years specialising in data engineering. With a Bachelor of GIS from Flinders University, his expertise spans the design and implementation of cloud-based workflows, large-scale data processing pipelines, and geospatial data solutions.

Shivani Shah

RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEER
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Shivani joined the SmartSat team in March 2025 as a Research Software Engineer. She is an experienced software engineering and data science professional with over nine years of experience designing and delivering practical, technology-driven solutions across backend systems, full-stack web applications, data workflows, and research software platforms.

Her expertise spans Python, backend and full-stack development, database management, API development, data analysis, and simulation-based software platforms. She has successfully contributed to projects involving satellite imagery analysis, digital engineering, mission visualisation, and data-driven decision support. Shivani is passionate about continuous learning, creative problem-solving, and applying emerging technologies to real-world challenges. As a Research Software Engineer, she uses her technical expertise to support innovation, improve efficiency, and contribute to impactful research and technology projects at the Australasian Space Innovation Institute.