Meet the Team

	Col Duthie I am a facilitator; I enjoy bringing groups of people together to work through challenging problems or engage in conversations about the things that matter most. My background and experience in education, community development, social enterprise and business have given me an appreciation of how people work together to help improve their working lives and make a positive contribution to society at the same time. In recent years the focus of my work has been in strategic planning and implementation, as well as continuing to support Executive Teams and Boards in their efforts to improve the effectiveness of their organisations. I have loved learning from others over the years, an expression of this is the collection of books that form an ongoing resource for my thinking and work. Maria and I complement urban living by experimenting with the simple life; travelling and living in a caravan as often as work and family permits. (www.duthie.net.au) You can read about some of my musings and ideas on my blog.	Make the World Better Contributions Ergo allocate a significant proportion of profit to a fund with which we support projects and people who are ‘making the world better’. Twice a year, our staff collaborate in a process to identify and select projects to support which are profiled next to their bio’s below. The Ergo “Make the World Better” Scholarship Having both appreciated the community and support when residents at Jane Franklin Hall during their University years, Col and Derek setup a scholarship for returning JFH students, with a focus on demonstrating “a commitment and motivation to “Make the World Better” through their own extra-curricula activities and efforts outside of the college” The in-augural award will be made in 2011.

	Derek Winter Prior to joining Ergo in 2004, throughout 12 years working in the IT industry I developed a reputation for being a problem solver both for my clients and within organisation’s I’ve worked for. The experience of working for clients across several countries and diverse industries honed the skills of analysis and discovery to get to the crux of business issue’s and an ability to design and improve new processes and systems. This experience proved vital in my involvement in a number of start-up ventures and a solid background and training ground for my Governance and Leadership role at Ergo as a Consultant and Director. I am focussed on continuing to help our clients improve their businesses through facilitation of better decision making, the effectiveness of IT teams and process improvement. In a nutshell, “Helping people and organisation’s get out of (unproductive) ruts into (productive) grooves”. More broadly, as well as keeping pace with my 5 young children I have a passion to explore how values driven organisation’s can transform business to create a better day at work for people and a better future for the world.	TEAR Australia works in partnership with local organisations around the world including churches, relief and development agencies and community-based organisations, which are working with the poor in their communities. They seek to build effective relationships with these partners grounded in mutual respect, trust and accountability. TEAR gives priority to programs that strive to involve the most marginalized and exploited members of each community, regardless of their religious or political beliefs. Specifically we supported the provision of a well or water system to enable better health, improved hygiene and greener vegetables for an entire community. For more information go to the TEAR website NewHope Care runs “Dinner Tonite”, a free wholesome meal in a friendly environment for individuals and families in the Whitehorse community who are in need a meal with others! Dinner Tonite is open every Saturday and caters for over 100 people each week. For more information go to the NewHope Care website.
	Maria DiCocco Maria joined the Ergo team in mid 2008. Her part time role includes office management, admin and support for the directors of the company. She has both education and counseling qualifications and recently spent a number of years working in the community service sector. When not working her favourite thing is to spend time with her partner Col (featured above) and their four children. Good books and good chocolate also feature as favourite pastimes.

	Jeff Allen Jeff plays ultimate frisbee and enjoys sports in general, he also likes the latest gadgets and seeing what technology has to offer. He has a degree in computer science with 5 plus years experience. Jeff develops software solutions that help organisations run more effectively.	The Social and Financial Empowerment of Adolescents (SOFEA) project in Bangladesh is a BRAC initiative aimed at providing adolescent girls with financial and social support to enable them to empower themselves. This group has remained vulnerable and highly underrated in terms of its potential to bring about immense positive change. These girls can change not only their lives but also that of the communities in which they live through their impact on future generations: their children. For more information go to the SOFEA project or The Girl Effect websites.

	Christer Anttila When he’s not at work you can find Christer enjoying outdoor activities like mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing and camping. Christer studied economics, organisation theory and marketing at Lulea Technical University, worked with IT-System Support and IT-Systems Administration for the Swedish Road Administration and moved on to work as a IT-Systems Administrator and Developer for the Swedish Air force. He has worked for over 6 years at Telstra developing and perfecting work management systems for Satellite, Mobile, Wireless broadband and telephony installations. He is now part of the Enterprise Reporting team at Rio Tinto working on data warehouse and reporting solutions.	Guide Dogs Victoria is a not-for-profit organisation that provides training and support services to vision impaired and blind Victorians to enable them to become more independent, better oriented and more mobile within the community. For more information go to the Guide Dogs Victoria website.

	David Speed David enjoys playing cricket and watching sport. He studied Multimedia Software Development at Swinburne University and his contribution to Ergo is that of a software developer.	The 20th Man Fund is a dedicated group of professionals and volunteers from various “walks of life”, who have come together to make a difference in the lives of the homeless and disadvantaged. The 20th Man Fund’s work is based on the belief that: “Every child, young person & family has a right to a future free of poverty, discrimination and abuse”. For more information go to the 20th Man website

	Chris Rogers Chris enjoys spending time with his family – and with five young children, his house is never boring. His favourite leisure times usually involve some combination of outdoor life, friends, food, astronomy, science fiction and sport, with volleyball and squash among his regular sporting hobbies. Extensive travel through Europe, Africa and the Middle East sparked in him a fascination with other cultures and history. Chris completed a degree in computer science in 1995, and in his subsequent years as a software developer, he has maintained and fueled a hunger for life-long, ongoing learning. He has gained significant experience in software analysis and design as well as implementing windows, linux and web applications. He revels in the creation of quality software and in both process and team improvement.	The 2h Project is a not for profit Australian development organisation working with local communities overseas to bring help and build hope for the poor and disadvantaged. Their present focus is in the nation of Cambodia, in rural, remote and urban environments covering four broad areas of development; micro-enterprise, land and housing development, medical initiatives, training and education. For more information go to the 2h Project website

	Bruce McCarthy I have been fortunate over the past 28 years to work with some very exciting and successful companies starting with Apple Computer at the time of the release of the Macintosh in1984. Since then I spent time at IBM and various software vendors such as Banyan ,Applix, Commvault and CALUMO. My roles in this time have included; VP Asia, Managing Director Australia and New Zealand, Director of Sales and Partner Relations, General Manager and Sales manager. My current position Director of Sales at Ergo Business Solutions is an exciting one and I look forward to helping the business grow. It’s early stages but we have already partnered with a couple of best in class software solutions to assist our customers improve their decision making, data analysis and planning capabilities.

	Mark Micallef