I am a technology innovator with over 30 years of research and development experience having created many world first and award winning products across a wide variety of industries. In that time I have founded several technology based businesses and have held the positions of chief executive officer, chief technology officer, managing director, technical director, R&D manager and software engineer.

The combination of my talent for real-time system design and development, my passion for intuitive and ergonomic user experiences and my drive to be the best in whatever I do, means that I’m in my element when I’m assembling and leading a talented multi-disciplinary team as we create a visionary new product from the spark of an idea.

On the creative side, I am a sound designer and mixer, audio engineer and music composer. I’m also a film producer having produced a feature film released in 2020, along with a number of award winning short films. I have also produced the world first VR Comic Book, released on Steam in 2017. I dabble in graphic design, and am an aspiring writer, director and video game creator.

Over the last few years I’ve been working with my business partner and son Simon Narai, at our companies Monarc Media Labs and Zenso, developing an acoustic health and collaborative performance system, as well as a completely new concept in digital audio workstation for film audio post production. We are also launching several new iOS apps in early 2021.

Finally, I have a passion for space technology, exploration and research and a love of all things science and science fiction. This is at the heart of what drives me to work at the forefront of technological development – the opportunity to turn science fiction into reality.

• Winner “Award of Merit” and Finalist “Humanitarian Award” for “The Veiled”, Accolade Global Film Competition, 2017
• Official Selection for “The Veiled”, First Glance Film Festival, Philadelphia, 2017; Real Film Festival, Newcastle, 2017; ACCTA Social Shorts, 2017; Montreal World Film Festival, Montreal, 2016
• Winner “Desk Controller category” for “Tango 2”, Resolution Awards, 2012
• Winner “Best product of show” for “The Smart Console” at AES, San Francisco, October 2005.
• Winner “Australian Design Award” for “The Smart Console”, April 2005.
• Winner “Award for Innovation in Media” for “The Smart Console” at NAB, Las Vegas, April 2005.
• Winner “Australian Design Award” for “Postation II”, April 2002.
• I was awarded two university prizes for my work in practical laser physics during my undergraduate degree.

Founding Partner

Zenso uses the principles of Zen and Enso to create digital experiences for humans. We are modern digital architects, enthralling storytellers and technology innovators. We are the perfect blend of technical skill, analytical focus and passionate creativity.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Company Establishment including: Initial company set-up, budget and cash-flow preparation.

Technology Evaluation and Management including: Evaluating technologies, components and systems for use in our current and future products and IT systems.

Research and Development management including: Product specification and design including software, electronic, mechanical, ergonomic and UI design, Project planning, alpha and beta test coordination, as well as supervising documentation and technical support.

Main programming languages: C# (Unity), Kotlin, Swift

zenso.group

Co-Founder / Chief Technology Officer

Monarc Media Labs is creating media technology that empowers deep creative expression.

RESPONSIBILITIES AS CTO

Technology Evaluation and Management including: Evaluating technologies, components and systems for use in our current and future products and IT systems.

Research and Development management including: Product specification and design including software, electronic, mechanical, ergonomic and UI design, Project planning, alpha and beta test coordination, as well as supervising documentation and technical support.

I’m also very hands on with software and am responsible for overall software architecture and development across all of the subsystems.

Main programming languages: C, C++, C# (.NET, Unity)

RESPONSIBILITIES AS CO-FOUNDER

Company Establishment including: Initial company set-up, locating and fit out of premises, budget and cash-flow preparation.

Monthly Reporting and Board Meetings.

monarc.media

Founder / Managing Director

Transmedia Entertainment was a leading-edge transmedia studio, specialising in immersive storytelling, compelling universe creation, film, TV & game production, mobile apps, ergonomic UI design and general tech development.

ACHIEVMENTS

My achievements include: successfully securing and developing a variety of transmedia projects including the worlds first Immersive Cinematic Virtual Reality Comic Book, a unique VR Game Show to help Qantas Super members engage with their super, an interactive audio visual installation for the Sydney Vivid festival as well as many other innovative VR applications and two award winning short films.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Company Establishment including: Initial company set-up, locating and fit out of premises, budget and cash-flow preparation.

Technology Evaluation and Management including: Evaluating technologies, components and systems for use in our current and future products and IT systems.

Research and Development management including: Product specification and design including software, electronic, mechanical, ergonomic and UI design, Project planning, alpha and beta test coordination, as well as supervising documentation and technical support.

I’m also very hands on with software and am responsible for overall software architecture and development across all of the subsystems.

Main programming languages: C# (Unity), C, C++, Node JS, Objective-C, Java

transmedia-entertainment.com

Chief Technology Officer, 2005 – 2012

Co-Founder / Chief Executive Officer / Chief Operating Officer, 2003 – 2005

Smart AV was a Sydney based company designing and manufacturing patented control surfaces for digital audio and video workstations.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Winning Best Product in “Desk Controller category” for “Tango 2”, Resolution Awards, 2012

2011, Developing Tango 2, a second generation touch screen based control surface, from concept to production prototype in a 9 month period.

2008, Developing Tango, a touch screen based control surface, from concept to production prototype in a 9 month period.

2005, Developing the Professional Series Smart Console from concept to production prototype in a 9 month period.

Winning Best product of show for The Smart Console at AES, San Francisco, October 2005.

Winning an Australian Design Award for The Smart Console, April 2005.

Winning an Award for Innovation in Media for The Smart Console at NAB, Las Vegas, April 2005.

Developing the Elite Series Smart Console from concept to production prototype in a 12 month period, 2003.

RESPONSIBILITIES AS CTO

Technology Evaluation and Management including: Evaluating technologies, components and systems for use in our current and future products. Considering and planning for product life cycles and finding suitable replacement components and sub systems.

Research and Development management including: Product specification and design including software, electronic, mechanical, ergonomic and UI design, Project planning, alpha and beta test coordination, as well as supervising documentation and technical support.

Software interface management and development including: Liaising with Digital Audio Workstation manufacturers, engine interface communication and protocol specification and development and debugging.

I’m also very hands on with software and responsible for all physical and virtual UI development.

Main programming languages: C, C++

RESPONSIBILITIES AS CO-FOUNDER / CEO / COO

Company Establishment including: Initial company set-up, locating and fit out of premises, budget and cash-flow preparation.

Sales and Marketing management including: Preparation of marketing materials , trade show planning and attendance, product demonstration, establishing international dealer network.

After the successful console launch I wanted to focus exclusively on product development so my founding partner and co-founder took over as CEO/COO and I became CTO.

Technical Business Consultant

Macquarie University’s Centre for Lasers and Applications (CLA) was established in 1988 as an Australian Commonwealth Special Research Centre. It is one of Australia’s leading research organizations. Research interests within the CLA range from fundamental laser and optical physics, through laser technology and engineering, and on to related applications.

RESPONSIBILITIES

I performed a business analysis for the development of a business plan for the medical commercialisation of a patented Yellow Laser system developed by the Centre for Lasers and Applications at the university.

The business analysis included: market analysis including market size and segmentation, competitor analysis along with a detailed product review and drafting of the product specification.

I also performed a systems engineering analysis with estimated costs and timetables to take the product from its current state to full production.

Co-Founder / Chief Operating Officer

Established in November 2001, AV Media was set up as a member of the Fairlight Group of companies. AV Media purchased DSP Media’s IP and is focusing its development on three major areas: V motion – a video hard disk recorder / player, AV transfer – a utility software program for audio and video file conversion and AV edit – a windows based digital audio and video workstation. These three products have since become the core of Fairlight’s new product line.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Keeping the key members of the DSP Media R&D team together while successfully managing the transition from DSP to AV Media / Fairlight.

Developing several new products innovative products.

Returning a profit within nine months of company start in a difficult economic and business climate.

RESPONSIBILITIES

I set up and managed the company consisting of a team of seven R&D engineers and production staff. My duties included budget and cash-flow preparation, liaising with worldwide Fairlight sales offices, new product specification and design, project planning, production management along with marketing and trade show planning and attendance and product demonstration.

Main programming languages: C, C++

Co-Founder / Chief Technology Officer, 1999 – 2001

Co-Founder / Managing Director, 1991 – 1999

Digital Studio Processing (dSP) was a pioneering player in the global digital audio post-production market. Its primary product was the Postation, a combined hard disk based audio editor, video player and mixing control surface.

DSP Media was the post venture capital form of Digital Studio Processing. It was a global company with offices in Los Angeles, London and Sydney with over 40 employees.

ACHIEVEMENTS

I managed the growth of the company from 6 staff with an annual turnover of $500k (from primarily Australian sales), to a company with 25 staff and an annual turnover of over $4M from a global distribution network.

Successful capital raising to grow the company further.

Developing two new products in very fast turnaround times. The core team consisted of 6 software engineers, 4 electronic hardware engineers, 3 mechanical engineers, 2 documentation engineers and several external consultants and manufacturing and design companies.

The main product was our second generation audio production station, Postation II. It was developed in a record time of 9 months from first concept to delivery of the first production unit.

We also evolved our disk based video recorder to be a standalone product called V motion. The V motion was redesigned in a 6 month period using a newly developed hardware video board.

Winning an Australian Design Award for Postation II, April 2002.

RESPONSIBILITIES

As Managing Director I was responsible for developing the strategy for growing the company, particularly getting the company established as an exporter. I setup distribution channels in Japan, UK, Germany and the USA.

The company applied for three successful government R&D grant applications (totalling around $1.5M over four years). In addition to my managerial duties I also led the R&D team and was a lead programmer. I continued to attend trade shows and travelled extensively for both product demonstration, sales, installation and on site research and development catering for specific customer requirements.

During 1999 we decided that additional capital was required to grow the company and I was heavily involved in preparing the information memorandum and securing the deal to raise $2M capital for expansion.

Upon successful capital raising, I moved to full time CTO to allow me to focus solely on new product development.

Product germination, product and design specification, project timelines, budget and cash-flow preparation, liaison with external design and production consultants, R&D staff management, along with programming and debugging.

Main programming languages: C, C++

In addition to my technical duties, I had sales and marketing duties both in preparing technical marketing materials as well as product demonstration at both trade shows and clients facilities.

Finally, I also had boardroom responsibilities, both reporting to and chairing board meetings, and I was also heavily involved in the raising of a second round of finance (US$4M) for the company’s continued growth.

Spinifex Technologies was setup as a software consultancy / contract company.

Co-Founder / Managing Director / Lead Programmer, Dec 1990 – June 1995

In June of 1995, the founder of Digital Studio Processing Pty. Ltd. passed away and I was asked by the remaining shareholder to take over as Managing director. I accepted and this was the reason I withdrew from my PhD studies.

Development of the software for a world class audio product from initial concept through to commercial product while undertaking PhD studies in Laser Flow Cytometry.

As Managing Director and Lead Programmer, I was responsible for contract negotiation, design specification, allocation of tasks to the two other programmers, liaison with potential customers, application debugging, trade show attendance and product demonstration.

Main programming languages: C

JMC Academy of Audio Engineering was a Sydney based Audio Engineering school, and now a global media education business.

Digital Audio Course Developer / Lecturer, Nov 1991 – Dec 1993

I developed, wrote and taught JMC’s first digital audio engineering course and delivered the lectures and tutorials.

Time Delay Studios was an owner operated recording studio based in Sydney.

Owner/ Audio Engineer, Nov 1988 – Dec 1992

As well as successfully managing my first small business, during this period I also designed and developed a computer music midi sequencer for use in the studio which evolved into digital audio workstation software that was to become the basis for Digital Studio Processing’s Digital Audio Workstation.

Set up and management of a small recording studio, primarily for recording demonstration tapes for unsigned recording artists and groups.

Capital purchase decisions, studio design and wiring, studio acoustic design, audio engineering, music composition, advertising and bookkeeping.