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Chris Knight - CEO and Managing Director - Opteon
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Chris Knight

MBA, M BUS (PROP), AAPI CPV, MRICS

Chris has been with Opteon since 2006 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the national business in July 2016. Prior to this he was CEO of the largest Opteon member firm.

Committed to delivering strategic business solutions, Chris recently led the business strategy to integrate the Opteon group of companies into a new corporate structure, and the acquisition of two property businesses in New Zealand. He is preparing the business for further expansion into software driven professional services solutions, as well as strategic acquisitions into other non-property sectors.

Chris has qualifications in Accounting, Real Estate, Valuations, a Master of Business (Property) and Master of Business Administration (MBA). He is a Certified Practicing Valuer with the Australian Property Institute (API), councillor on the API Victorian Divisional Council, as well as being a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Cliff Rosenberg

Cliff Rosenberg joined Opteon’s Board of Directors in December 2020.

Cliff is an active investor, advisor and board member in the technology sector.

He is a member of the Anacacia Capital Business Advisory Council, and a non-executive director on four listed companies: Nearmap (ASX), TechnologyOne (ASX), A2B (ASX) and Bidcorp (JSE).

With a passion for the start-up space, Cliff was instrumental in helping start, and grow, Australia’s leading online restaurant booking platform, Dimmi.com.au, which was sold to Tripadvisor in 2015; and was an early advisor to Afterpay, and on the board from IPO in 2016 to mid 2020.

In 2009 Cliff was the first employee for LinkedIn in the Asia Pacific region and was MD for Australia NZ and South East Asia from 2009 to 2017. He was also the MD of Yahoo! Australia NZ from 2003 to 2006.

Cliff holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in business and information systems and is a member of the AICD.

Jeremy Samuel

Jeremy Samuel joined Opteon’s Board of Directors in December 2020.

Jeremy is the founder and Managing Director of Anacacia Capital. He is responsible for the overall management of the firm and chairs the investment committee.

He holds an MBA from Yale University School of Management and Arts/Law degrees from the University of New South Wales.

​Jeremy has led investments into small-medium enterprises (SMEs) across a range of industries including in consumer, services and industrial businesses. He is the former Chair of ANZ’s private equity management committee and was previously a strategy consultant with Booz Allen (now PwC Strategy).

Jeremy is currently the Non-Executive Chair of Anacacia portfolio companies Duncan Technologies, Sureway and Pump Haircare, and was the former lead director for Anacacia’s successful investments into the following businesses:

  • Appen
  • Lomb Scientific
  • Home Appliances
  • Yumi’s Quality Foods

Jeremy has also been a director of other companies, including Big River and Direct Couriers.

Jonathan Bloxsom - Opteon

Jonathan Bloxsom

FAPI CPV

Jonathan joined Opteon in 2009 and has served on Opteon’s Board of Directors since July 2010. Jonathan is a Certified Practicing Valuer with accreditations in both the valuation and economy streams of the Australian Property Institute. Jonathan provides advisory services to clients including utility providers, local councils, government departments as well as private property owners.

Leslie Butterfield - Opteon

Leslie Butterfield

Leslie was appointed a Non-Executive Director of Opteon in October 2017. Leslie has a wealth of international and local experience in corporate advisory, corporate finance, project management, business development and strategic planning, with a focus on technology and advanced manufacturing based businesses. Leslie is currently a Non-Executive Director of ASX listed Vivid Technology Limited, RKF Engineering and the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation.

Leslie has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York. She is an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, a member of the University of Technology, Sydney’s School of Engineering Industry Advisory Network and the Australian Institute of Arbitrators & Mediators.

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Lisa Billington

Lisa Billington was appointed Company Secretary in November 2016 and General Manager Corporate Services in September 2017. In addition to being Company Secretary, Lisa leads the legal, marketing and people and culture teams, and manages franchise relations and compliance. She believes that growth and stakeholder value will be driven by creating the best employee and client experience at Opteon.

Before joining Opteon, Lisa worked at law firms Maddocks and Clayton Utz and in-house for an education and media company. Lisa is a commercial lawyer with over 12 years’ experience, specialising in mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance.

Lisa holds a current practising certificate, a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Science (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and completed the Governance Institute of Australia’s Certificate of Governance Practice in April 2017.

Michael Renshaw - Opteon

Michael Renshaw

Michael is the Chair and Non-Executive Director of Opteon. With almost 30 years’ senior management experience, Michael possesses a strong understanding of international markets, strategic management, mergers and acquisitions and profitable growth at the Board, CEO and Senior Executive level.

Michael is CEO of Trilon Group, a North American based infrastructure consulting firm with annual revenue exceeding $300m. Michael was the Chief Growth Officer at AECOM, the worlds’ largest integrated design and construction firm with annual revenue of US$20 billion and a workforce of 56,000. Michael was also the CEO and Managing Director of Cardno, an engineering, environmental and management services company. At that time, Cardno was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (an ASX200 company). He also previously served as an Independent Director on the Board of Nasdaq listed NV5 (NVEE) a compliance, technology and engineering firm providing solutions to public and private infrastructure.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Business (Hons) and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School.