Our Investment Committee

Profile of Nathan Goonan

Meet Nathan

Nathan Goonan is the Executive General Manager, Group Strategy and Development at the National Australia Bank. Nathan re-joined NAB in 2013, and is EGM of Group Strategy and Development with responsibility for the Group’s corporate strategy and M&A activity globally. He is an experienced executive, and has led many major strategic initiatives for the Group over this period, including most recently playing a leading role in executing the divestment of the UK business.

Prior to his current role, Nathan was EGM of Corporate Affairs at NAB with responsibility for the Group’s communications, community and government engagement. Prior to re-joining NAB, Nathan was with Goldman Sachs in their FIG M&A teams and has also spent time as the CEO of an agricultural investment fund. Nathan originally began his career at NAB in 2004 in the Mergers & Acquisitions team.

Outside of work Nathan is kept busy with three children (all under four years old) and enjoys spending time back on the family farm in Dederang in the North East of Victoria.

Profile of Cath Carver

Meet Cath

Cath Carver is Executive General Manager, Client Coverage at National Australia Bank. Cath’s previous roles at NAB include Acting Chief Customer Officer – Corporate and Institutional Banking and Executive General Manager, Corporate and Specialised Banking.

Before joining NAB in January 2016, Cath was Senior Managing Director, Institutional, Australia at ANZ Bank. Cath joined ANZ as Managing Director of Corporate Finance in 2005 before moving into Capital Markets in 2008, as the Global Head of Capital Markets. In 2010 she re-located to Hong Kong where she led the team responsible for providing debt capital markets solutions to ANZ’s Institutional and Financial Institution borrower base in 14 countries.

Prior to joining ANZ, Cathryn held senior management roles at Westpac: as Global Head of Capital Markets, General Manager Corporate Finance, and General Manager Global Industries Group. Cath’s career has also included six years with Macquarie Bank as Head of Capital Markets.

Outside of her day-to-day work at NAB, Cath is Deputy Chair of The Australia-Sino One Hundred Year Agricultural and Food Safety Partnership (ASA100) and a member of Chief Executive Women, an organisation representing over 300 of Australia’s most senior women leaders.

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Profile of Bill Bartee

Meet Bill

Bill Bartee serves on the NAB Ventures Investment Committee. He is also a co-founder and Partner at Blackbird Ventures. Prior to Blackbird, Bill co-founded Southern Cross Venture Partners after helping to build early stage investing at Macquarie Bank. Bill was also the CEO of Mantara, a company that makes high performance, content-based message routing systems.

Bill has led investments in and/or served on the Boards of several market leading companies including Seek, Altium and Telera. Bill is a mentor at Startmate, Muru-D, and a Principal Lecturer at University of Sydney teaching lean start-up methodology to computer science, engineering and graduate students. He also helped design and deliver the first two accelerator programs at CSIRO.

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Profile of Leigh O’Neill

Meet Leigh

Leigh O’Neill is the Customer Executive, Business Direct and Small Business at the National Australia Bank. She leads a large team comprising direct and digital business customer services and relationship management for NAB’s small business customers.

Leigh has more than 16 years’ experience in financial services across the UK, US and Australia. Before her current role, Leigh was the Executive General Manager, Micro and Small Business at NAB. In this role she established the NAB Small Business Customer Advocacy Council, a group of industry influencers, representatives and business owners who provide strategic advice on NAB’s small business customer strategy and issues facing business customers. Leigh is also a member of the NAB Ventures Investment Committee.

Leigh has also held the role of General Manager, NAB Private Wealth Victoria where she led the team which provides highly personalised wealth solutions to high net worth clients.

Leigh is a strong advocate for corporate responsibility and has been a proponent for many of NAB’s programs around diversity and financial empowerment for women. Passionate about the arts, she is currently Chair of contemporary dance company Chunky Move and a Director on Melbourne Theatre Company’s Foundation Board. She is also a keen runner and has completed several marathons.

Leigh holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) from Nottingham University, Financial Planning Certificates and an Australian Diploma of Financial Services. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has completed the Executive Development Program at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Profile of Rob Webb

Meet Rob

Rob Webb is the General Manager, Customer Service and Third-Party Technology at the National Australia Bank.

Before joining NAB, Rob was General Manager at CBA based in Hong Kong, leading their investment into international businesses. Rob was in charge of developing a regional execution team with a focus on digital strategy. Notably, Rob helped develop South Africa’s first fully digital bank, Tyme Bank, a CBA subsidiary. Prior to this, Rob was also responsible for scoping, planning and delivery of work into NetBank, Mobile Banking and CommSec, as well as leading the software development team at CommSec. Rob started his career as a mine geologist based in Western Australia.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science (Geology) from the University of Adelaide.

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Profile of Leigh O’Neill

Meet Michelle

Michelle Sherwood is the Executive General Manager, Digital and Experience at the National Australia Bank.

Before joining NAB in October 2018, Michelle held senior executive positions at Qantas, IAG and Telstra, where she led several large high-performing sales, product and marketing teams. She has broad expertise across a range of industries and disciplines, including customer experience and advocacy, human-centred design, digital strategy and management, data commercialisation, business transformation, brand and marketing communications and CRM.

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NAB Ventures Team

Need to get in touch with us?

We’re here to help. You can contact us at nab.ventures@nab.com.au, remember to include the following details in your email to us:

  • Your name
  • Contact information (email address and phone number)
  • Website address
  • A description of your venture

If you have a pitch deck or other information that outlines your venture, please attach it as well.

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