GI Challenge Mentors 2026

Olivia is the founder of The Outside Leader, where she helps family-run manufacturing businesses grow through fresh thinking and collaboration. She understands the unique challenges family businesses face and is passionate about helping them thrive without losing what makes them special.

With an Executive MBA from RMIT and a board role at the Food & Agribusiness Network, Olivia brings both big-picture strategy and practical know-how. She works alongside teams to spark new ideas, strengthen decision-making, and bring innovations to market, so SMEs can stay competitive while staying true to their family values.

Associate Professor Saskia de Klerk is an expert in International Business and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems at the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC). She has previously served as the Discipline Lead for Marketing, International Business, and Tourism, and is currently a Core Researcher at the Australian Centre for Pacific Island Research (ACPIR). She also holds positions as an Adjunct Professor at North-West University in South Africa and as an Adjunct Senior Fellow at UNSW.

Khayt is Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer of Mindstar, one of Australia’s first telehealth platforms and now a leading mental health and wellbeing company trusted by clients such as Woolworths, Mirvac, Dan Murphy’s, BWS and Australian Retirement Trust.

Before co-founding Mindstar in 2014, Khayt spent a decade at Virgin Australia, surrounded by entrepreneurship at its best, where she held senior roles in capability, culture, and people advisory and leadership.

Matt Barmentloo grew up on the Sunshine Coast and later completed a Bachelor of Business in Finance and Accounting at QUT, before spending more than five years living and working in Guangzhou China, Melbourne, and the United Kingdom. During that time, he worked across a range of business and finance roles, including two years in the UK as Finance Manager for a music record label. In 2020, he returned to the Coast and founded Cultured Group, a fractional CFO business, which he exited in September 2025. He is now the founder of Salty Spaces, a coworking space on the Sunshine Coast, and President of the Sunshine Coast Young Chamber of Commerce.

Mark Yeates is an educational innovator, entrepreneur and professional question-asker who has spent 35+ years proving there’s usually a better way. Creator of the Human Future System (HFS), he connects education, industry and communities so humans stay ahead of technology, not behind it. Mark designs learning ecosystems, builds unlikely partnerships and occasionally terrifies spreadsheets with ambitious ideas. Passionate about AI, robotics and future capability, he believes innovation isn’t about shiny gadgets—it’s about better people. If everyone leaves a meeting slightly inspired and slightly wondering, “Can we actually do that?” then Mark considers it a successful day indeed. Probably coffee helped too.

Natalle Sutton has more than 30 years’ experience across Australia, Hong Kong and the Middle East. She is a strategic leader who brings people, strategy and innovation together to deliver meaningful organisational transformation.

Known for thinking at both a big-picture and human level, she has led large-scale, multi-million-dollar initiatives that connect education, industry and community, developing high-performing teams, strategic partnerships and future-focused environments that create lasting impact. One of her defining achievements was leading the vision and delivery of the Infinity Centre. In recognition of her leadership and contribution to the region, Natalle was named the 2025 Sunshine Coast Outstanding Business Woman of the Year.

Dev Singh Batra is Managing Director of SanskAI, a full-stack AI R&D agency on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. His clients include AccomAssist and a handful of national chambers. While most businesses rent standardised software, Dev builds them bespoke agentic systems that use intelligence as a utility. A strategist before a technologist, he turns business goals into software, then back into plain language that both the board and human team can follow.

Dev studied at the University of Melbourne and built his early career across agri-tech and fintech before becoming a partner at Australasian fund Scale Capital. A FWD Fest speaker, he has since turned his focus to the Sunshine Coast: to the operators and founders preparing the region for 2032, and to the next generation coming through Generation Innovation.

Summer has spent the past 14.5 years with Youi Insurance and is currently Head of Sales, leading high-performing sales teams and driving strategic growth.

Alongside her corporate career, she is co-owner of The Lounge Aesthetics, with clinics across Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. She was recognised with the Insurance Business Australia Pacific Rising Stars Awards in 2025 for her leadership and industry impact.

Summer is passionate about leadership, business growth, and community connection. As a board member of the Sunshine Coast Business Women’s Network, she is dedicated to mentoring entrepreneurs and emerging leaders to build confidence, find their voice, and unlock their potential.

Andrea Levinson is a founder, Leadership Advisor and former corporate executive with more than 25 years’ experience helping leaders and organisations navigate growth, change and complexity.

Her career spans senior leadership roles with organisations including Michael Hill and Executive Performance Partners, and she now leads her own consultancy, partnering with executives and teams to build high-performing, human-centred workplaces. Andrea also holds a Masters in Organisational Psychology.

Passionate about entrepreneurship and the future of work, Andrea is excited to help young people back themselves, think differently and turn great ideas into action.

Luke Hawley is the CEO of Buy Local Sunshine Coast, a community-first platform helping local businesses build visibility, trust and meaningful connections.

With more than 20 years’ experience in marketing, Luke brings a practical blend of global brand strategy, education and local business insight. His career includes working with Procter & Gamble across major consumer brands and teaching marketing at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

As a Generation Innovation mentor, Luke supports emerging entrepreneurs to clarify their message, understand their market and build confidence in how they show up.