Leighton O’Brien, a leading fuel software and field technologies company, announced experienced IT strategic advisor and academic Professor Dan Hunter has been appointed to the company’s Board as a Non-Executive Director.
Professor Hunter is the Foundation Dean at Swinburne Law School. He is also an experienced IT strategic advisor and startup founder. He has degrees in computer science and artificial intelligence, and has written and consulted widely about building intelligent systems, and integrating gamification within business processes.
Leighton O’Brien Chairman Michael McDonald said it was the intention of the Board to appoint a director with significant IT strategy experience to guide the strategic direction of Leighton O’Brien’s technology development.
“Dan’s skill set in IT strategy and transformative IT projects is a valuable addition to the Board and complements the Board’s existing commercial, legal and R&D experience.
“The timing of Dan’s appointment fits perfectly with our strategic growth plans,” he said. “Our data analytics platform is at the heart of our global growth trajectory, underpinned by our market-leading leak detection, wetstock monitoring and fuel restoration technologies.
“We’re delighted to have Dan on board and look forward to the strategic and intellectual rigour that Dan brings to further our technology’s competitive advantage in the global oil industry,” McDonald concluded.
Professor Hunter has overseen high-level IT projects, including digitizing the New York patent office, and is founder of several startups in the educational technology and legal services markets.
Professor Hunter, who will take up the position immediately, said Leighton O’Brien was entering an exciting period in its evolution into a data analytics technology company in the retail fuel industry.
“I am incredibly excited to be joining Leighton O’Brien at this stage in its development,” Professor Hunter said. “The company has the most sophisticated intellectual property in the industry, and there are untold opportunities in combining this expertise with recent advances in sensor technology, big data analytics and artificial intelligence.”
Professor Hunter is the Founding Dean of Swinburne Law School and Affiliate at the Centre of Transformative Innovation (part of the Faculty of Business and Law).
He is an international expert in internet law, intellectual property and cognitive science models of law. He holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge, as well as computer science and law degrees from Monash University and a Master of Laws by research from the University of Melbourne.
He has taught at QUT Law School, New York Law School, the University of Melbourne Law School, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Cambridge University and Deakin University.
Professor Hunter regularly publishes on the intersection of computers and law.
His work has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Joyce Foundation and the Australian Research Council.
He has been a judge for the resolution of domain name disputes for the World Intellectual Property Organization and is the recipient of a Fulbright Postgraduate Fellowship, a Fulbright Distinguished Chair, a Smithsonian Fellowship, an American Council of Learned Societies Research Fellowship, a Herchel Smith Research Fellowship in Intellectual Property Law and a Science Commons Fellowship.
He is also the co-founder and CTO of Scapegrace Pty Ltd, an education technology firm.
