Chris Gilbey

Chris Gilbey is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for early stage ventures.

He emigrated from the UK to Australia in 1972. He started work at Albert Productions in 1973 and over the next 20 years became one of the most influential executives in the music industry in Australia. He worked with and helped shape the careers of a host of Australia's most famous contemporary music artists including: AC/DC, InXs, John Paul Young, The Church, The Saints, Keith Urban, Tommy Emmanuel, Noiseworks, Gangajang. He also represented some of the world's leading publishing catalogues, including those of Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

Chris was the initiator and co-founder of the principal music industry charity, The Golden Stave Foundation and was awarded the Order of Australia in 1992 for his contribution to charity and the music industry.

In the 1990's he became fascinated with the possibilities of the internet and wrote a book predicting the disruption of the traditional music business, and the rise of music downloads and file sharing.

He moved into the tech sector and became CEO of digital signal processing company, Lake Technology (ASX), in 2001. He engineered the sale of the company through a friendly take over to Dolby Laboratories (NYSE). He then consulted to Dolby in the US, and developed a strategy to increase Dolby's global licensing revenue by focusing on ways to improve business to customer integration in the key manufacturing markets of Japan, China and Korea.

In 2006 he co-founded Vquence, a company that captures metrics on Internet video viewership.

Chris consults to the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science on business engagement. This has already led to a spin-out business for hydrogen manufacture. He also teaches a practical course in the Arts Faculty at the University of Wollongong on transitioning into business.

He recently ran a research project (The Transition Project) that focused on the skills that PhD graduates would need in order to become more valuable to industry. He teaches a course on leadership for the Australian Institute of Music (AIM).

Chris is a co-founder of a new company that will provide technology to people recovering from knee replacement operations that will help them return to mobility faster.