MEET TEC CHAIRS

Biography:

Mr. Beech has held senior executive positions in corporate and operations roles in the mining, energy and technology industries in Australia and overseas over 30 years.

Mr. Beech held numerous senior executive positions at Orbital Engine Corporation between 1987 and late 2002 including Chief Financial Officer, President of Orbital's US based Marine Business Unit and General Manager of Orbital's Australian based Engineering Services Business Unit. Mr. Beech was also an Executive Director on the board of the NYSE and ASX listed parent company of Orbital between 1992 and 2002 as well as a director on several Orbital joint ventures and subsidiaries.

While at Orbital, John was involved in the negotiations of technology licenses with a value in excess of $200 million, raised capital in excess of $250 million, listed Orbital on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and negotiated long-term system sales and engineering services contracts with a value of over $400 million.

Prior to joining Orbital, Mr. Beech was Corporate Planning Manager at the State Energy Commission of Western Australia (SECWA) for four years and held a range of finance roles over eight years at Rio Tinto Zinc (formerly CRA) and its various subsidiaries.

Mr. Beech is presently a principal of a consulting firm (John Beech & Associates Pty Ltd) specialising in assisting companies to commercialise their technologies into global markets. John has been a director of publicly listed companies and is presently on the advisory board of several private companies.