Entrepreneur Finalists
Tim Simon
Tim Simon
Serial Founder – Portfolio of medical clinics, property and building businesses
Tim is a Serial Founder, building and scaling successful medical clinics and managing a portfolio of 40 CBD properties. He has established himself as a highly effective operator, recognised for his entrepreneurial drive, commercial acumen, and ability to grow businesses across competitive markets.
Ellie Vaisman
Ellie Vaisman
Founder & MD of Procon Materials
Ellie is the Founder of Sourci, ProBoard, and Procon Materials, and has been recognised globally as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree. He is a proven entrepreneur with a track record of building influential brands, driving innovation, and leading high-growth companies across competitive markets.
Marco Cantarella
Marco Cantarella
Co-Founder of Tanto Security
Marco is the Founder of Tanto Security, one of Australia’s fastest-growing cybersecurity companies and ranked Number 5 on the CRN Fast 50. He is a dynamic entrepreneur recognised for driving rapid growth, delivering cutting-edge security solutions, and leading a high-performance organisation in a highly competitive market.
Rachelle Sassine
Rachelle Sassine
Founder & Head of Strategy of Perceptiv Media
Rachelle is the Founder of Perceptiv Media, a consultancy dedicated to helping businesses scale fast through strategic growth frameworks and high-impact advisory. She is recognised for her ability to accelerate performance, optimise operations, and guide organisations through transformative expansion.
Dean Leibbrandt
Dean Leibbrandt
Co-Founder of Nakie
Dean is the Co-Founder of Nakie, a sustainability-driven business that has planted millions of trees, saved millions of tons of plastic, and achieved strong profitability. He is recognised for combining environmental impact with commercial success, leading initiatives that deliver both positive change and business growth.
Christopher Fennell
Christopher Fennell
Co-Founder of North Star
Chris is currently the Co-Founder of Northstar and previously the Founder of Braze Australia, a business he successfully built and sold back to its parent company in USA. He is recognised for his entrepreneurial expertise, strategic vision, and ability to scale businesses to achieve impactful outcomes.
Declan Burton-Clark
Declan Burton-Clark
Cash Flow & Trade Finance Specialist of Plutus Finance
Declan is the Founder of Plutus Business Finance, a leading business loan brokerage. He is recognised for his entrepreneurial leadership, driving growth, and delivering tailored financial solutions that empower businesses to thrive.
Terry Mefsut
Terry Mefsut
Founder of Composed Digital
Terry is the Founder of Composed Digital, a leading Braze reseller. He is recognised for his entrepreneurial leadership, driving digital marketing innovation, and delivering impactful customer engagement solutions.
Daniel Lazarus
Daniel Lazarus
Co-founder and Director of Partnerships at Industrias Services Group
Daniel is the Founder of Industrias Services Group, a leading provider of solar asset solutions. He is recognised for his entrepreneurial leadership, driving growth in renewable energy, and delivering innovative, high-impact solutions across the sector.
Emerging Salesperson Finalists
Chris Dracos
Chris Dracos
Enterprise Account Executive – NSW Public Sector, Higher Education & Utilities at Veeam
Chris works at Veeam Software, the global leader in backup, recovery and data management solutions. He partners with organisations across the NSW Public Sector, Higher Education and Utilities, delivering modern data protection across Cloud, Virtual, Physical, Kubernetes and SaaS environments, achievements that have seen him recognised as a two-time Presidents Club recipient and Global Exec Fast Starter at Dell.e the ProGradian spirit and drive to excel.
Sean Thompson
Sean Thompson
Senior Enterprise Partnerships at Uber
Sean works at Uber, one of the largest companies of our time. As part of the Senior Enterprise Partnerships team, he works with the most recognisable organisations across ANZ to deliver tailored transport and meal solutions at scale, building strategic partnerships that drive efficiency, elevate employee experiences and solve complex operational challenges, achievements that earned him the coveted Values Award.
Joshua Smythe
Joshua Smythe
Channel BDM – Cyber at Sektor
Josh is a Channel BDM at Sektor Australia, driving growth in their emerging cyber division with a focus on SentinelOne. He helps organisations secure their cloud, endpoints and identities with AI-powered protection, 24/7 threat hunting and managed services. Josh brings a proven history of excellence to the role, an ex–Rising Star winner, 4× Best Salesperson across four different companies, and the driver of $10M in self-generated revenue.
Lachlan Williams
Lachlan Williams
Manager – Space Rentals at Atco
Lachlan is a Manager for Space Rentals at ATCO Structures, where he has spent over five years progressing through internal sales, sales representative and now management roles. He drives major modular infrastructure projects across Western Australia, recently achieving an exceptional milestone of 22 buildings sold in a single month, including a standout $13M contract secured in one deal.
Shrabani Majumder
Shrabani Majumder
Senior Account Executive at Equinix
Shrabani is a Senior Account Executive – APAC Networks at Equinix, one of the largest data centres in the world. She has consistently been a top performer, driving exceptional sales outcomes across the Asia-Pacific region and delivering strategic solutions to some of the world’s largest network clients.
Chris McAuliffe
Chris McAuliffe
Public Sector Account Manager at Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Chris is a Public Sector Account Manager at Amazon Web Services (AWS), having progressed through roles at Premiere Global, Oracle and NetApp. He has consistently delivered outstanding results, earning recognition as a Top APJ Performer, driving cloud solutions for major public sector clients across the region.
Sophie Hudson-Farlow
Sophie Hudson-Farlow
National Account Manager at George Weston Foods
Sophie is a National Account Manager at George Weston Foods, where she has spent over seven years progressing through nine promotions while driving exceptional commercial outcomes. She manages major retail partnerships responsible for an impressive $230M in retail sales, all while balancing a high-performance career and being a dedicated mother of two children.
Lara Lee Wood
Lara Lee Wood
Future-Proofed Workplaces Specialist at Cisco
Lara is a Future-Proofed Workplaces Specialist at Cisco, one of the largest and most influential technology companies globally. As part of a newly formed global team, she drives new business growth across ANZ by helping organisations create smart, sustainable and people-centric hybrid workplaces. Lara operates at the intersection of design, technology and employee experience, achieving an exceptional 138% of target in just 18 months.
Priya Sethi
Priya Sethi
Client Relationship Manager at InfoTrack
Priya is a Client Relationship Manager at InfoTrack AU, recognised for consistently elevating client experience and driving commercial outcomes. Her career spans Tyro, Exetel, ADMA and now InfoTrack, where she has built a reputation as a constant star performer across every organisation she’s contributed to.
Georgie Duignan
Georgie Duignan
Renewals Manager at Okta
Georgie is a Renewals Manager at Okta, a global leader in identity and access management, where she has excelled over nearly five years. She has been recognised as an Outstanding Performer and received the Grow the Business Award, standing out among 6,000 staff globally for her exceptional contribution to business growth and client success.
Jordan Perkins
Jordan Perkins
Enterprise Account Executive at Abnormal Security
Jordan is an Enterprise Account Executive at Abnormal AI Security, where he partners with major organisations across Australia to strengthen their cybersecurity posture. He is recognised as a leading Account Executive and a respected thought leader in IT security, driving strategic adoption of AI-powered protection across enterprise environments.
Rising Star Finalists
Paris Wong
Paris Wong
BDM at Webjet
Paris started her career at Webjet.com.au and has significantly superseded targets truly embracing what it means to have the ProGradian spirit and drive to excel.
Jordan Graham
Jordan Graham
Sales Account Support at My Muscle Chef
Jordan works at My Muscle Chef, one of Australia’s fastest-growing FMCG businesses, which recently raised $100M.
Andrew Papadopoulos
Andrew Papadopoulos
Sales Support Lead at Vault Cloud
Andrew works for Vault Cloud, an AIIA award-winning cloud security company.
Solomon Hamid
Solomon Hamid
Sales Executive at Gartner
Solomon was working for Vocus, the second-largest ASX telecommunications company in Australia for the Award nomination and is now at Gartner.
Ethan Elliott
Ethan Elliott
BDM at Programmed
Ethan works at Programmed, a facilities management company with 30,000 staff and 10,000 customers.
Marcus Delios
Marcus Delios
Channel Enablement Specialist at Wavelink
Marcus is part of the team at Wavelink, Australia’s leading IT distributor.
Visharl Siriwardena
Visharl Siriwardena
Key Account Manager at SpinMaster
He works at Spin Master, a multi-category global leader in children’s entertainment.
Marcus Rouhanna
Marcus Rouhanna
Senior Account Manager at Kaseya
Marcus works at Kaseya, one of the largest global IT platforms.
Nicola Korck
Nicola Korck
Business Development Officer at MoneyTech
Nicola works at Moneytech, used by 120,000 businesses for their lending needs.
Lucas Borg
Lucas Borg
Sales Engineer at Stow
Lucas works at stow Group, a warehouse management powerhouse in Australia, ensuring anything delivered comes from them.