Roger Allen - Chairman

Roger W. Allen has over 30 years experience in creating and growing businesses in the IT & Telecommunications industries around the world. Roger has been recognised by the local Australian Industry through its highest awards and is well known internationally as a leading figure from the Australian industry.

In 1987 he won the Information Industry Achiever of the Year Award. Roger was the first chair of the Australian Information Industry Association from an Australian company. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society and Vice-President of the Asia Pacific Information Industry Organisation. He has served on two Prime Ministers’ Science and Technology Councils and both Victorian and New South Wales Government Advisory Boards. He was appointed in 1990 as Deputy Chairman of the Australian Trade Commission (AUSTRADE) for 7 years, and also served as an adjunct professor in the Centre for Entrepreneurship of the Graduate School of Business at Swinburne University, Melbourne and guest lectures at INSEAD (Singapore) and Melbourne University. Roger has a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Economics and Fine Arts and a Master of Arts with honours in Philosophy at Melbourne University.

In early 1990s, Roger was the chief executive and a major shareholder in the Computer Power Group Limited, one of the largest independent IT&T companies originated in Australia and operated globally. Under the guidance of Roger, the company grew to over $300 million in annual revenue and from a 6 person staff to more than 3,000 personnel. Roger relocated to the US and led Computer Power’s US business, which was later sold in 1995 to Interim Technology, a large US computer services company, for three times the value then ascribed to it by the Australian market.

Presently as Chairman and founder of Allen & Buckeridge (A&B) since 1996, an Australian venture capital firm specialising in early and expansion-stage investments in the information technology, telecommunications and digital media industry, Roger has extensive experience in selling Australian IT products and services in the USA, Europe and Asia. With $250 million of venture capital under active management, A&B has invested across 30 innovative companies. Roger serves as a Director of several A&B portfolio companies and has extensive experience in commercializing and globalizing R&D and innovative ideas by nurturing and expanding these businesses and entering the international markets.

Apart from A&B, Roger also has a significant personal investment portfolio that invests in early stage venture capital. He is a very active investor and provides extensive mentoring and assistance in areas of strategic planning, board and management recruitment and marketing relationships.