Bede Moore Founder and Director, Jakarta
Bede Moore is an Australian entrepreneur living and working in Indonesia. Bede is a founder of Vela Asia, a logistics and e-commerce support services company operating in Indonesia. Previously, Bede co-founded, and worked as Managing Director of the Indonesian e-commerce company, Lazada.co.id, and served as a Senior Associate in the Boston Consulting Group’s Jakarta and Melbourne offices.
He has been living and working in Jakarta since 2011, where he has been fortunate to witness the growth and development of Indonesia first hand. As a student, Bede studied Indonesian history, receiving his BA from Harvard and then an MPhil from Leiden university, where he received honours for his research focusing on the relationship between Australia and Indonesia during the struggle for Indonesian independence.
Bede has written extensively on Asian politics, business and history in various publications such as The Jakarta Globe, Crikey!, the Harvard International Review and ABC News. As both a student of, and contributor to, the Australia-Indonesia relationship, Bede is committed to helping young people from both countries to enjoy similar experiences.
Karina Akib Co-Founder and Director, Jakarta
Karina currently works in Jakarta as an Associate for Boston Consulting Group. Moving to Indonesia originally to learn more about her family heritage, she realized how vibrant the country was and how important it is to Australia. This importance has been even more obvious since working as a consultant advising several Australian companies looking to enter or grow their operations in one of the most vibrant regions in the world.
Karina is passionate about social entrepreneurship and prior to joining BCG, she led a product launch at Jakarta based social business RUMA which uses mobile phone technology as a tool to develop the livelihood of individuals at the base of the pyramid and also lead business development as a Director at the Inaugural Global Social Change Film Festival in Bali.
Chris Urbanski Co-Founder and Director, Sydney
Chris Urbanski is a Manager in the Commonwealth Bank’s Group Strategy team in Sydney. Prior to this role Chris worked for the Boston Consulting Group in Australia where he worked extensively on mining projects in Queensland and Western Australia.
Chris developed a lasting connection to Southeast Asia as a high school student in Jakarta for three years. He completed a combined B. Ec/B. Asian Studies (Indonesia Specialist) at the ANU which included study at the Gadjah Mada University of Yogyakarta and the Muhammadiyah University of Malang as part of ANU’s Year in Asia Program. Chris also spent a semester at the University of Asia and the Pacific studying Philippine politics and language and went on exchange to the National University in Singapore to study business and economics in Asia. Chris is proficient in Indonesian and Filipino.
Beyond the classroom, Chris volunteered as an interpreter to provide emergency disaster relief in Indonesia in 2006, worked as a guest radio commentator for popular Jakarta station Hard Rock FM, and interned as an investment banking analyst with Deutsche Bank in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Nikkola Pickering-Rodda Event Logistics Coordinator
Nikkola currently works for Austraining International on an Australia Awards Scholarship program, based in Canberra. Prior to this role, Nikkola worked in the fields of refugee resettlement and cross-cultural research. Nikkola completed a BA in Politics and International Studies in 2009, and Honours in Anthropology in 2012.
Nikkola received a Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Award in 2010, taking her to the much loved city of Yogyakarta for a year. It was here Nikkola developed a love for Indonesia, studying at Universitas Gadjah Mada, and working on a KKN development project in Kasongan, Yogyakarta. Since then Nikkola has worked to promote youth engagement with Indonesia as an Asia Literacy Ambassador with the Asia Education Foundation.
Nikkola has long term interests in cross-cultural engagement and international education. She is very excited to be part of the CAUSINDY team!
Edgar Myer Operations Coordinator
Edgar Myer has a BA (Hons) from The University of Melbourne. He developed an interest in Indonesia following anthropological fieldwork in Flores, focusing on aid and development work, in 2012 and returning there in 2013. He has also worked as a senior academic language advisor in the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the State Islamic University in Jakarta. He is currently studying law at The University of Sydney.
Tim Graham Communications Coordinator
Tim Graham is currently completing a Bachelor of Arts and Commerce in Management and Indonesian Studies at Monash University. He is the Director of Communications for the Australia-Indonesia Youth Association, and currently works in Marketing for SitePoint, one of Australia’s first internet businesses.
He began studying Indonesian at high school in 2004, before completing a Bachelor of Arts and Commerce in Indonesian Studies and Management. Tim has studied and travelled in Indonesia, and has appeared as a representative of AIYA—and young people in the bilateral relationship—on radio and in print.
Jess Laughlin Sponsor Liaison
Jessica Laughlin works in the Commonwealth public service and is a member of the Australia-Indonesia Youth Association (AIYA). In 2012 she established the ACT Chapter of AIYA. Jessica has lived and studied in Indonesia and has completed fieldwork in East Java. She has also worked as a editor at the East Asia Forum and as an Indonesian language translator for the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. She is excited to be a part of the organising committee for CAUSINDY 2013 and looks forward to welcoming delegates to her adopted home city of Canberra.
Grace Dong Program Assistance Coordinator
Grace Dong is currently studying Arts/Law at Monash University, majoring in Indonesian Studies. Amongst her many experiences in Indonesia, Grace has undertaken short-term studies at Gadjah Madah University, and volunteer English teaching in Bali. As a result, she has developed a love of travelling in Indonesia and Indonesian culture. She has visited several high schools in Melbourne, promoting Indonesian language as a subject and is passionate about seeing more young Australians learning Indonesian. As a volunteer at CAUSINDY, Grace is excited about welcoming the delegates and speakers, and seeing development in the strengthening of the Australian-Indonesian relationship.
Heath Jamieson
Heath is a final year Bachelor of Commerce (Finance/Economics) student at The University of Melbourne. He has also studied part of his degree at The University of British Columbia and Gadjah Mada University. Last year, he was an Australian delegate at the G20 Youth Summit held in Washington DC. Heath has a passion for cycling and was in the Australian Mountain Bike Orienteering Team who attended the World Championships in Hungary, 2012.
This summer he will spend time in West Sumatra hosted by the Indonesian government as part of the Australian Indonesian Youth Exchange Program. Heath is in the process of launching The Language Barrier, a youth–led organisation aimed at increasing motivation for language education in Australia. He looks forward to learning learning more and further discussing the role of education in the bilateral relationship through CAUSINDY.
