Matt Clarke - Groov
Matt is an accomplished technology entrepreneur who grew up wanting to be a professional athlete. He hasn’t grown up yet.
With over 25 years experience building businesses from the ground up as a sales rep, a channel manager, a country manager, a CEO through to founding technology companies in Australia and the USA, Matt loves nothing more than helping customers solve big problems.
Having represented his country at 2 different sports, Matt intimately understands that happiness enables high performance. Nowadays he is passionate about helping organisation, teams and employees succeed by embracing wellbeing as their default way of working.
Tash Menon - MASH
Named Best of the Best Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 by B&T, called ‘Mighty Mouse’ in the advertising and marketing worlds by Forbes, nominated as Entrepreneur of the Year finalist by CEO Magazine, and named a ‘Woman to Watch in 2021’ by Campaign Asia.
Her business, MASH, was founded in 2018 and curates and connects clients with referral-only freelancers in the communications and creative profession.
Working with some of the world’s leading minds in creative services and high profile global clients, MASH positions itself as highly inclusive, creating bespoke teams to meet client needs.
Dan Mills - William Buck
As a leader at William Buck, Dan wants to ensure that everyone knows its ok to talk about mental health issues and to reach out if they need help.
Dan has often found times in his life where he loses perspective and lets the pressures of everyday life (work, kids, family) build up. Dan reflects that sometimes we need that someone to talk to bring you back down to earth and refocus you on what’s important.
Dan thinks we’re getting so much better at talking about mental health and being conscious of what that means for people…but we can do so much better.
What better way to create awareness and raise funds than by jumping out of a plane!
Simon Green - Palo Alto
Simon Green is president, Japan & Asia Pacific (JAPAC), of Palo Alto Networks. In this role he is responsible for driving revenue growth, market momentum and overall business strategy for the company in the region.
With over 20 years of experience as a technology industry decision-maker, Simon has held several leadership roles in high-profile digital businesses.
Simon has also fulfilled multiple roles during 14 years at NetApp, rising to become Senior Vice President and General Manager for Asia Pacific, based in Singapore.
Mental well being is important not just for him, but for staff and he's glad to be able to show support'
Peta Sarlos - Kolmeo
Peta has a diverse background in leading and supporting teams with a career including time in a variety of industries including Real Estate, Technology, Aviation, Marine, Media and Hospitality. She has a love for creating strong, people-focused cultures and developing talent.
Peta spent the first 10 years of her career managing hotels and leading teams, which gave her great insight in to people management and operations. This has driven her passion and commitment to partnering with business leaders to achieve their strategic and operational goals.
Peta is passionate about creating a workplace that people love, where they can be creative and innovative, whilst building really great products.
Alana Bloom - Employment Innovations
Alana has been working at Employment Innovations for 8 years in various HR capacities, and now Head of HR. At the heart of any HR role is a company’s people and they're passionate about helping businesses grow a happy and healthy workforce.
Alana feels a strong alignment between the work that the Black Dog Institute does, and it is Employment Innovations goal to impart the important work being done into more workplaces across Australia.
Alana has been exposed in many ways, personally and through people close to me, to the impacts of mental illness states that she honoured to be taking part for cause so close to her heart.
Michael Warnock - Daltrey
Michael is the Commercial Director for Daltrey, a fast start cyber security development company with its headquarters in Sydney. Michael’s various roles have taken him all around the world and he has been fortunate through that to have experienced many different countries and cultures.
In January this year, Michael lost his best mate to suicide and wants to do his bit to try and make a difference and increase the profile of the institute.
Michael says that the day is about stepping out of his comfort zone and facing his own demons; if his participation in the skydive can change one life, then that’s a positive.
Nick Stehr - HLS Healthcare
Born on the Mid-North Coast of NSW and growing up in Castle Hill Sydney, Nick identified early that he wanted to be a leader. Self identified as the ‘class clown’ at school, Nick immediately landed a management role at a fast-food restaurant. Married at 20 to Melissa, together they built a business from a one-man operation to more than 30 people, with 3 Australian offices
Today Nick and Melissa have a growing portfolio of businesses and are driven by the impact they can have on people and their life.
Nick and his family have lived with mental health challenges, which continue to be daily reality. This cause is close to their hearts.
Steve Manley - Palo Alto
Steve is the regional vice president for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ} at Palo Alto Networks. He is responsible for leading Palo Alto Networks growth and expansion efforts in the region.
Steve has over 26 years of experience in the technology and IT Sector. Before joining PaloAlto Networks, Steve held numerous leadership positions at Net App including Vice President of APAC Glocal Accounts, Vice President for ASEAN and ANZ. Steve has held numerous leadership positions working across the UK and Ireland.
Steve holds a Master of Business Administration from Southern Cross University. In his spare time, Steve enjoys spending time outdoors with his four children, especially on the water.
Erin Cobcroft - Health in Mind Orange
Erin will be skydiving on behalf of the CEO and Health in Mind Orange who have her full support. Erin is a provisional psychologist and has been nominated by Health in Mind Orange as an organisation and CEO representative.
Erin states that she strives to help others in achieving their goals and in improving their mental health. Erin advises that she is also passionate about increasing mental health awareness and to demolish the stigmas that are associated with seeking help.
Erin’s reason for taking part in CEO Skydive for Mental Health is to help to raise much needed funds for mental health research to in turn increase access to mental health services.
Allan Waddell - Kablamo
Allan Waddell is the founder and co-CEO of Kablamo, a leading Australian digital product development company, with a very human-centred design practice.
Kablamo loves customer experience, academia & research, working with NFPs. He also also has Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, better known as ADHD and is extremely open with about his ADHD and mental health.
He firmly believes that the physical and mental wellness of the Kablamo team is foundational to success as a company. Allan believes that the more we talk about these issues, the more people will be willing to seek help when they need it and feel better faster.
Isabel Harris - Health in Mind Orange
Isabel is a provisional psychologist at Health in Mind Orange who is passionate about improving the mental health of regional communities and reducing the stigma surrounding mental health issues.
Isabel states that she has always admired Black Dog Institute and by doing the Skydive Isabel hopes that she can help Back Dog Institute reach more people to smash the stigma and encourage people to access mental health services.
Skydiving scares Isabel, but she says that this fear is nothing compared to the daily challenges people with mental illness face. If Isabel can face her fear of jumping out of a plane, she hopes it will encourage others to tackle their own personal challenges too.
Kevin Sher - BlackBaud
Kevin runs Blackbaud Pacific and is an accomplished senior leader with a strong background in Sales Leadership. He has natural ability to drive an efficient and sales led culture which is balanced by a genuine passion for developing high employee engagement by investing in his team and the work environment.
He is always looking for the next way to develop and grow a business, and uses his creative skills generate a number of initiatives which have also been replicated in other business units globally.
Kevin has a keen sense of humour, commercial insights and creativity and is an advocate for all things relating to mental health.
Jimmy Hyett - Flow
Jimmy works in a people industry where he says many appear to have their lives together, but all we see is the positive exterior and it’s easy to miss the ones hiding.
He also states that we often miss opportunities and that he feels that Black Dog Institute provides a sounding board and support with amazing results and he is delighted to be taking on this challenge.
David Fisher - Fulton Hogan
Over the last 30 years David feels fortunate to have been part of some fantastic engineering construction teams across Australia, PNG and USA.
During this time his industry's approach to the physical safety of the workforce has significantly improved in Australia. Suicide however was the third leading cause of death between the ages of 45 and 64 in 2017-2019. Individuals employed in the building and construction industry are overrepresented in these suicides.
David says he is taking part in this event because he believes that just like our physical safety, improving psychological safety starts with awareness, a shared understanding of this challenge, and the conversations that support the positive change that will follow.
Rob Holdsworth - Komatsu
Rob is with Komatsu in the underground mining division heading up Customer Service providing aftermarket sales and service support to mining customers. It’s dynamic and diverse, and Rob enjoys being part of the team providing support to the many customers they have spread across NSW and Queensland.
When approached to participate in Sky Dive for Mental Health Rob didn’t hesitate. Rob says mental health has become one of the prominent issues as we navigate through today’s challenging environment, and that initiatives like Sky Dive For Mental Health will further promote mental health mindfulness so we may become more aware and better equipped to support our love ones, friends and ourselves.
Special guest - Wollongong - Layne Beachley
About Layne Beachley AO
Layne Beachley is regarded as the most successful female surfer in history. Her dedication to success sees her as the only surfer, male or female, to claim six consecutive world titles between 1998 and 2003. Layne went on to win a 7th world title in 2006 before retiring from the World Tour in 2008.
Layne is an ambassador for various charities, a passionate environmental campaigner, champion of mental wellness, Chairperson of Surfing Australia and an Officer of the Order of Australia.
She recently launched Awake Academy; an online self-empowerment platform offering a no BS transformation to awaken people to detach from fear, take control and design a life they love. It includes 40 years of life lessons from a world champion, distilled into a self-paced seven-round online course, empowering people to find their edge and fulfil their potential.
Layne surfs every day, loves rosé, and her biggest weakness is hot chips.
Top fundraisers 2022
