Maria MacNamara

Maria is the CEO and Co-Founder of Portal Global, which was launched in Sydney 30 years ago and is now operating in Abu Dhabi. 
 

She is Chair of the Information Sharing Committee of the AUKUS Forum, an Industry Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney,  and a Non-Executive Director of Spark Festival. 
 

Maria has held roles at World Wide Technology in the United Arab Emirates, as Chief Executive Officer of Advance.org, Australia’s global diaspora organisation and in Government Affairs and Innovation Strategy in Australia and New Zealand at Kyndryl. 
 

Maria was also Chief Executive Officer of the Space Industry Association of Australia, an Adviser to Senator the Hon. Arthur Sinodinos AO, the Acting Director of Policy and Strategy at WIRO in the Department of the NSW Government led by the Hon. Victor Dominello and Head of Strategy for the Digital Transformation Agency within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. She has launched three startups and exited two. 
 

Maria formerly served as a member of the Asia Pacific Advisory Board of Serco, as a member of the Western Sydney University Infrastructure Committee and the Advisory Council for the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police. She chaired the Strategy Board for the ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience and was a member of the Board of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce. 
 

Maria is a member of the International Women’s Forum (Australia) and the Royal Society (NSW) and was a founding member of the Montessori Children’s Foundation.
 

She has a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology Sydney and completed the Deep Dive Program delivered by Tel Aviv University and the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce.