Leonie Walsh was appointed to the inaugural role of Victorian Lead Scientist in mid-2013. In this capacity Leonie represents Victoria on the Forum of Australian Chief Scientists and the newly formed Ministerial Advisory Council for the Future Industries initiatives. Prior to taking on these positions Leonie had accumulated more than 25 years of technology leadership experience in a broad range of industrial applications both locally and globally in companies such as Dow Chemical, Henkel and Visy with a focus on the development and commercialization of technology. Leonie Walsh has received a BSc and an MSc from Swinburne University, an MBA (Exec) from the Australian Graduate School of Management and is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. Leonie recently received an Honorary Doctorate (HonDUniv) from Swinburne University of Technology.