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Mr Randeep Agarwal - Acting President
Ms Yasmahne Hanel - Acting Vice-President
Mr Madhu Nair - Treasurer
Mr Binod (BK) Singh - Secretary
Kritika Bansal - Administrative Assistant
E: aibcqld@aibc.org.au

GPO Box 2434
Brisbane QLD 4001

P: 07 3138 7402
F: 07 3138 4097
E: qld@aibc.org.au

Congratulations to Professor Arun Sharma President (Qld) AIBC

Premier's Special Award for India partnerships builder

One of the State's most senior academics has been recognised for his major contribution and leadership in strengthening Queensland's relations with India, receiving the Premier's Special Award at the 21st Premier of Queensland's Export Awards.

Premier Anna Bligh said that Professor Arun Sharma, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and President of the Australia India Business Council (QLD), was an outstanding candidate for this prestigious award.

"The Premier's Special Award goes each year to an individual or organisation that has made an outstanding contribution to Queensland's export profile and success, and this is certainly true of Professor Sharma," Ms Bligh said.

"Professor Sharma has been a strong advocate of Queensland - India trade relations and promoting Queensland as a leading destination for study in India and the wider global market. 

"His work has contributed to a growing and thriving international education and training sector in Queensland, with the State hosting more than 16,000 Indian students alone at the end of August 2010.

"The direct economic benefit of international education and training to Queensland's economy is approximately $2.7 billion, and an estimated 17,000 full time equivalent jobs.

"Additionally, and probably with even more importance, there are the lasting diplomatic, cultural and trade relationships formed through the presence of intentional students in our communities," Ms Bligh said. 

Congratulating Professor Sharma, the Premier said that his academic speciality in research, commercialisation and entrepreneurship see him play a leading role in developing the State's and Australia's research capability in information and communication technology.

"Queensland's research and development commitment will continue to grow under our new Queensland Research and Development investment strategy 2010 - 2020, with a focus on working with partners internationally to achieve our common goals," Ms Bligh said.

"Professor Arun Sharma will remain a key player in achieving the targets of the strategy to make Queensland a stronger and smarter state, by continuing to help form the vital connections between researchers, end users and investors in Queensland, India and across the globe.

"He is an outstanding export ambassador for our State and I congratulate him on receiving the Premier's Special Award for 2010," Ms Bligh said.

In 2009-10, India was Queensland's third largest merchandise export destination, with merchandise exports totalling $5.15 billion.

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Queensland Management Committee

Acting President                Randeep Agarwal

Acting Vice-President       Yasmahne Hanel

Treasurer                            Mr Madhu Nair

Secretary                             Mr Binod (BK) Singh

Executive officer Kritika Bansal

Ph:  07 3138 7402
Email:  qld@aibc.org.au 

Arun Sharma
President – AIBC-Qld

Professor Arun Sharma is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Commercialisation) at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

He has played a leadership role in development of Australian research capability in information and communication technology.  He was co-founder of National ICT Australia Limited (NICTA) – Australia’s national centre of excellence, and was the inaugural Director of its largest research laboratory.  Prior to establishing NICTA, he was the Head of the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales in Sydney where he co-founded the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Smart Internet Technology.

He is a member of the Queensland Premier’s Smart State Council and a member of the Premier’s Business Roundtable.  His other advisory roles have included Independent Advisory Council of the Australian Research Council (2008-2009), Interim Advisory Board of the Manufacturing Centre of the Enterprise Connect Program (2008-2009), ICT Sector Advisory Committee of the CSIRO.

His current board memberships include QMI Solutions Ltd, qutbluebox Pty Ltd, Cooperative Research Centre for Integrated Engineering Asset Management and Cooperative Research Centre for Smart Services. His past board memberships include Sugar Research Limited, Farmacule Bioindustries Pty Ltd, Australasian CRC for Interaction Design, Creative Industries Pty Ltd, CRC for Construction Innovation and the Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation. 

He received a PhD in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1990, his postdoctoral training in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1990-91) and his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in 1985. He is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
 
He is currently the President of the Australia India Business Council (Queensland Chapter).

Randeep Agarwal
BEng, CPEng, PGDBM (UNSW)
Vice President – AIBC-Qld

Randeep is a mechanical engineering graduate and a holder of post graduate diploma in Business from the University of New South Wales.

Mr. Agarwal worked in energy industry e.g. LNG/Natural gas & CSG ( Coal Seam Gas) most of his career. In Australia starting with Woodside Energy in Western Australia before moving to Shell Global Solutions in The Hague the Netherlands on secondment.  During three year secondment period in The Hague, from 2001 to 2004, Mr. Agarwal worked in a Global consulting role and extensively travelled thru Europe, South East Asia, Japan, Canada & America. Currently, Mr. Agarwal is working with Origin Energy in a principal engineering position and is based in Brisbane. Origin is a fuel integrated energy company with major interests in CSG, LNG & Renewables  (wind, hydro & solar) in Australia, New Zealand & Asia.

Mr. Agarwal also serves on the executive committee of the Australian Institute of Energy in Queensland as vice chairman.

Madhu Nair
Treasurer – AIBC-Qld

Madhu is the Treasurer of the Australia India Business Council (Queensland Chapter). He is a Chartered Accountant having worked in the Middle East, India and now Australia.  Madhu relocated to Australia with wife Ritu and son Siddhanth in 2005 to work with Ernst & Young.
 
His role as Executive Director-Assurance and the leader of India Business Group (QLD) at Ernst  & Young has provided him with significant experience working with inbound and outbound transactions. He has extensive knowledge of the regulatory and risk management frameworks in India and Australia. His clients include large and mid-sized corporations listed and unlisted across varied sectors including consumer goods, industrial products and biotech.

Binod K Singh
Secretary - AIBC-Qld

Mr Binod K Singh has been Tata Steel Representative in Australia and NewZealand since Jul-05. He is a Director in Tata Steel Resources Australia Pty Ltd (TSR), a company incorporated in Queensland, Australia.

TSR is responsible for Procurement and Supply chain of Steel Raw Materials like Coal, Limestone and Magnetite from Australia and NewZealand to Tata Steel and its Group companies.

Mr Singh is also responsible to look for investment opportunities in Steel Raw Materials for Tata Steel Group in Australia and NewZealand. He represents Tata Steel in Carborough Downs JV, a coal mine in Central Bowen Basin of Queensland where Tata Steel is a minority stakeholder.

Mr Singh has a Mechanical Engineering degree from BIT Mesra, Ranchi (1985-89) and a PGDBM (Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management) with specialization in Finance and Marketing from XLRI, Jamshedpur. He joined Tata Steel as a Graduate Trainee in 1989 and since then he has held managerial positions in various divisions of the company such as Procurement, Ocean Chartering, Supply Chain & Port Logistics, Marketing & Sales and Power Generation.

He is a strong supporter of increasing the Trade relations between Australia and India and has been an active member of Australia India Business Council (AIBC) as Secretary of its QLD Chapter.

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