About

Jackie Taranto has over 30 years of business experience, strong connections to federal and state governments in Australia and overseas (including Germany, India, China, Israel and the USA), and an extensive network of business contacts in Australian industry, research and education.

In 2000, Jackie founded Hannover Fairs Australia which built and launched CeBIT Australia, the number one technology and innovation business event in the Asia-Pacific region for 14 years.  She was nominated in The Australian’s Top 50 Most Influential People in IT and telecommunications in Australia, in 2013 and 2014.

From 2009 to 2017, Jackie was a board member of the German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the last four years also as vice-chair.  She has led numerous international trade delegations to Germany, China and India, including Federal and State Ministers, research organisations and corporate executives.

In 2014 Jackie founded MI, a new company based in Sydney, which specialises in developing business platforms that strengthen ties between the business community, research institutions and government policy.

Graham Smith is a business professional with over thirty years’ experience and with qualifications in Electrical Engineering and Masters of Business Administration (MBA). 

At Telstra Corporation he originally held roles as Project Engineer, Engineering Manager and Bid Manager as the organisation began to competitively bid for construction work in the deregulated environment. Following this he worked with Ric Birch as Technical Director for the opening of Crown Casino in Melbourne, where he developed a taste for the events industry.  He then moved into technical marketing roles for NEC and Siemens, before joining Hannover Fairs Australia as Marketing Manager and later Business Manager, where he managed extensive digital marketing campaigns and partnerships with industry and government for CeBIT Australia.

Graham has extensive experience in event management, project management, engineering, business development, media, marketing and contract negotiation, with a sound understanding of technology and how it drives competitive advantage.