Mehrdad Baghai

Before joining the CSIRO, Mr Baghai was the Chairman and CEO of a healthcare technology startup in Los Angeles and led their commercialisation efforts. Previously, he was a partner in the Sydney and Toronto offices of McKinsey and Company and co-leader of the Firm's worldwide Growth Practice. He served clients in the technology, media and financial services sectors and specialised in strategies for turbulent environments. Mr Baghai is co-author of The Alchemy of Growth, an international best-seller that has been published in ten languages. As an attorney, he has been called to the state bar in New York and Massachusetts and was an associate with Coudert Brothers in New York and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in Los Angeles.
Mr Baghai's public sector experience includes an economist role with the World Bank where he helped to negotiate a structural adjustment loan for Morocco and the UN Secretariat where he led a project aimed at reducing bureaucracy. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Unicef Australia and he has worked on Swiss-sponsored social and economic development projects for the education of children in Albania.
Mr Baghai received a B.S.E. with highest honours in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University, where he also completed a joint degree on public policy at the Woodrow Wilson School. He continued his education in public policy at Harvard where he completed an M.P.P. as a Kennedy Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government.
Mehrdad Baghai also completed a J.D. with high honours from Harvard Law School where he specialised in negotiation and international contracting, served as Training Director of the Mediation Program, and was Harvard Commencement Orator. He received multiple awards at both Princeton and Harvard for academic achievements as well as for campus leadership.

Speaker Topics Include:

Practical Insights for Building the Enduring Business
The Alchemy of Growth