Fuel tank services company Leighton O’Brien has announced the appointment of Professor Dan Hunter to the company’s board as a non-executive director.
An experienced IT strategic advisor, Professor Hunter is the Foundation Dean at Swinburne Law School in Melbourne.
Leighton O’Brien chairman Michael McDonald said Mr Hunter’s experience in IT strategy made him an attractive choice for the board, which intended to choose someone with the ability to guide the company’s strategic technology development.
“Dan’s skill set in IT strategy and transformative IT projects is a valuable addition to the Board and complements the Board’s existing commercial, legal and R&D experience,” Mr McDonald said.
“The timing of Dan’s appointment fits perfectly with our strategic growth plans.”
“Our data analytics platform is at the heart of our global growth trajectory, underpinned by our market-leading leak detection, wetstock monitoring and fuel restoration technologies.
“We’re delighted to have Dan on board and look forward to the strategic and intellectual rigour that Dan brings to further our technology competitive advantage in the global oil industry.”
Taking up the position immediately, Mr Hunter said Leighton O’Brien was entering an exciting period, as it evolves into a data analytics technology company in the retail fuel industry.
“I am incredibly excited to be joining Leighton O’Brien at this stage in its development,” Professor Hunter said.
“The company has the most sophisticated intellectual property in the industry, and there are untold opportunities in combining this expertise with recent advances in sensor technology, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence.”
Mr Hunter is internationally reputed as an expert in internet law, intellectual property, and cognitive science models of law.
With a PhD from Cambridge, as well as computer science and law degrees from Monash University and a Master of Laws by research from the University of Melbourne, Mr Hunter has taught at QUT Law School, New York Law School, the University of Melbourne Law School, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Cambridge University and Deakin University.
He has been a judge for the resolution of domain name disputes for the World Intellectual Property Organization and is the recipient of a Fulbright Postgraduate Fellowship, a Fulbright Distinguished Chair, a Smithsonian Fellowship, an American Council of Learned Societies Research Fellowship, a Herchel Smith Research Fellowship in Intellectual Property Law and a Science Commons Fellowship.
He is also the co-founder and CTO of Scapegrace Pty Ltd, an education technology firm.