Our Team
Will Schmitt
Co-Founder and Non-Executive Director
Will is an Australian-American global innovation expert, international business adviser, Board Director and innovation academic. He has 17 years of experience helping governments, international organisations and companies harness the power of innovation processes to tackle protracted global challenges. He is currently a Non-Executive Director with the firm while serving in the New South Wales Government’s Senior Executive Service.
He is also a Non-Resident Agrifood Innovation Fellow at The Australian National University (AFII - Agrifood Innovation Institute) and a member of AgriFutures Australia’s Emerging Industries Consultative Committee.
Will was recently a Partner - Managing Director (2022-2024) with FoodShot APAC, an innovative Australian non-profit shaping and investing in APAC regional food and agricultural innovation.
Prior to his current roles, from 2008-2018, Will held senior innovation advisory staff positions at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and The World Bank and led a major innovation advisory service to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). He has lived and worked in the United States, Australia, France, Kenya, Nigeria and South Sudan. He has conducted major projects and advisory engagements in Madagascar, Tajikistan, Mali, Argentina, India, Indonesia, and the Pacific.
Beginning in 2010, Will was a co-founder of LAUNCH, an award-winning global accelerator program and partnership between NASA, Nike and USAID focused on the biggest challenges in global development. LAUNCH attracted >USD $100M in external finance for its portfolio innovators. Will has also taught and designed curriculum for courses in entrepreneurship, innovation and global development at Georgetown University and Swinburne Business School (Swinburne University of Technology) in Melbourne.
Charlotte Kennedy
Co-Founder and Principal
Charlotte is a former diplomat and trade adviser with experience across the Asia Pacific region. She was also recently a Partner, Strategy & Futures for FoodShot Global (APAC) which helps catalyse investment and growth in system-changing R&D, deep tech and startups to make our food system healthier, more sustainable and more equitable.
Charlotte enjoys helping governments, corporations, and research institutions understand how to build vibrant innovation ecosystems and how to design economic incentives and partnerships (particularly beyond borders) to drive innovation within an economy.
Charlotte previously served as an advisor at the World Bank in Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, served as an Australian diplomat, worked on trade and investment strategies and relationships at federal and state government levels and has also worked to develop policies and messaging for Kevin Rudd as part of the Kevin07 political campaign. She was also a freelance editorial contributor for the Economist Intelligence Unit writing economic and political risk forecasts on the Asia Pacific region. Her publications have appeared the Guardian, Foreign Policy, Survival, The Lowy Interpreter, The World Bank blogs and the EIU subscription service.