Dean's Advisory Council

Dinanath (Dina) Kholkar is a respected leader and Global Head of Partner Ecosystems & Alliances at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), where he drives the re-imagination of TCS and its customers as successful ecosystem players. With over three decades of experience, Dina has held various leadership roles within TCS, delivering strategic value and building businesses.

Previously, Dina managed the $5B Analytics & Insights business, establishing TCS as a leader in this field. He also led TCS' $2B Business Process Services (BPS) and Business Analytics unit, successfully managing the Financial Services vertical within BPS and serving as the CEO & MD of TCS eServe.

Dina is a staunch advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and has championed numerous initiatives in this space. Notably, he has led the WILL forum, established an All Women Centre in Riyadh, supported the Avasara Academy for girl child education, and actively promotes the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate risk mitigation.

Beyond his professional endeavors, Dina holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering and provides industry leadership to the IEEE Pune section as the Chair of Industry Relations and Membership Development. He serves on the Board of Governors of AIT, Pune, is an active member of the VJTI alumni association, and contributes to the Dean's Advisory Council at UNSW Sydney. Dina's expertise spans domains such as education, sustainable agriculture, smart cities, and culture & heritage.

Guy is CEO of WSP in Asia Pacific and is a member of the firm’s global executive team, leading a team of 11,500 people across a dozen countries. WSP is a global engineering and environmental services firm employing 66,000 people.

Guy was formerly CEO and Managing Partner of MinterEllison Lawyers and Managing Partner at PA Consulting Group. His earlier career as an engineer was in the telecommunications, transport, and electricity industries. He has worked in over 25 countries, held several global roles, and lived in Asia for eight years.

Guy is an experienced director, spanning listed and private companies, educational institutions and not for profit organisations.

He is a member of the Business Council of Australia, chairs its Infrastructure & Housing Committee and is a member of the BCA’s Energy & Climate Committee. Guy is a Director of the Green Building Council. He is a member of UNSW Business School Dean’s Advisory Committee. At UTS he is a Fellow of the University, Member of the Finance Committee and an Adjunct Professor.

Guy is an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Guy holds a BE in Electrical Engineering from UNSW, MBA from UTS and has completed the Advanced Management Program at INSEAD.

John Baxter commenced working for the Australian inventor Arthur Bishop in 1977, while completing his PhD studies in Mechanical Engineering in the field of vehicle dynamics at UNSW. John’s subsequent 33 year career at Bishop Technology Group Limited involved automotive product and process R&D, IP management, marketing of automotive steering technology and international IP licensing. He was the inventor or co-inventor for many of Bishop’s international patent families and has authored and co-authored numerous published technical papers in the field of automotive steering and the related field of vehicle dynamics.

John was a member of the Australian Government’s Advisory Council on Industrial Property (ACIP) for IP Australia for the period 1994 – 2000.

Since 2004, John has been a member of the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the Faculty of Engineering at UNSW and has also been a director of a small Australian defence technology company.

John left Bishop at the end of 2009 and, since then, has been a Senior Commercial Counsel at Baxter IP, specialising in IP commercialisation and, in particular, the structuring of patents and licence agreements to maximize the commercial value of the IP.

John is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) and of the Society of Automotive Engineers Australasia (SAE-A), and an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia.

Since his university days John has been a co-trustee of his family’s two philanthropic trusts: the Percy Baxter Charitable Trust and the Baxter Charitable Foundation, and has also chaired the former philanthropic trust since 1999. See baxtercharitabletrusts.org.au

Dr Marlene Kanga is a chemical engineer and was appointed to the University of NSW Faculty of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Committee in April 2023.

Dr Kanga is an experienced non-executive director and is on the Board of Endeavour Energy, Business Events Sydney, Standards Australia and a past member of NSW Smart Sensing Network, the boards of Innovation Science Australia, Sydney Water Corporation and Engineers Australia, where she was Chair and National President in 2013. She is a Past President of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations. She is Chair of the global IChemE Safety Centre advancing complex system safety engineering, a director of iOmniscient Pty Ltd which has developed advanced video analytic technologies and Rux Energy Pty Ltd which is commercialising new materials for hydrogen storage.

Dr Kanga is an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia, an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK), a Foundation Fellow of the International Science Council, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr Kanga is the Engineers Australia 2018 Professional Engineer of the Year and has been listed among the Top 100 Women of Influence in Australia and the Top 100 Engineers in Australia.  She is an Officer of the Order of Australia “for distinguished service to engineering, as a global leader and role model to women.”

Sarah is a mining engineer with a focus on digital transformation, Industry 4.0 and the integration of technology and autonomous solutions into mining operations. She has global experience with open pit and underground operations and a detailed knowledge of autonomous solutions across the mining value chain for all business functions. Sarah has worked globally on Digitization & Autonomous Programs and has conducted detailed Business Impact and Operational Readiness Assessments for the implementation of autonomous and enabling technologies across multiple mining operations.

As a mining technology specialist, Sarah has a strong understanding of emerging technologies and experience in the facilitation of negotiations between the solution vendor and mining companies to maximise organisational outcomes.

Her professional history includes roles with Hitachi, GoldFields, Rio Tinto and BHP and most recently KAZ Minerals. Sarah has on-going involvement with MassMin, GMG and ISO Automation Standards groups.

She is a board member of the AusIMM Education Endowment Fund and serves an ongoing role as mentor and speaker for Women in Mining and Engineering, as well as a representative and speaker at conferences such as AIMEX, CIM, Optimising Mine Operations Conference, WMC World Mining Congress, Mine Automation and Communications Conference and MinExpo.

As founding Managing Director of EG’s Urban Planning business and one of the leading rezoning experts in New South Wales, Shane takes responsibility for all operations and projects undertaken by the Property Advisory division.

Shane has extensive rezoning experience and brings a combination of practical know-how and value creation skills to projects he is involved in. His focus is working closely with clients on property uplift strategy and implementation and has worked on multiple rezoning projects including some of the largest land-use changes in both size and value in Sydney and New South Wales.

Shane has been involved with over 200 rezonings and 1,000 DAs completed over the past 16 years, with a 98% success rate. Recent project include; Little Bay, Riverstone, Tempe and Wonderland NSW.

He was previously a director of a private company managing over AU$200 million in property development in NSW and the ACT.

Shane completed his PhD in Planning on “Quantifying the Rezoning Effect” at the University of NSW in 2013 and lectures part-time at the University of Sydney in several Engineering Courses.