School for Social Entrepreneurs Australia Announces New Chair
2 April 2013 at 10:10 am
The School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) Australia has announced the appointment of its new Chairperson.
Philanthropist Paul Bide will join the Board at SSE Australia replacing outgoing Chair, Jan Owen AM.
According to SSE, Bide has a wealth of experience in finance and markets, philanthropy and as an advocate for the development of Australia’s budding social entrepreneurs and their enterprises.
His voluntary work has focused on social enterprise financing with Social Ventures Australia and now, SSE Australia says he will apply his experience to supporting the personal and professional development of the entrepreneurial individuals behind the ventures.
SSE Australia chief executive Celia Hodson said she was looking forward to welcoming Bide to the SSE Board to help the organisation scale and attract investment to social entrepreneurship in Australia.
“As SSE Australia grows and develops its learning programs nationally we are very pleased to have the impressive skills and experience of Paul to lead our wonderful and committed Board members to achieving our mission of transforming the talent of Australia’s social entrepreneurs into real social and environmental outcomes,” Hodson said.
Bide started his career at the Reserve Bank of Australia after graduating with an honours degree in Economics from the University of Western Australia. He subsequently spent 13 years at Bankers Trust, then another 10 years at Macquarie Bank where he was an Executive Director and Head of the Debt Markets Division.
He was a member of the Market Governance Committee of the Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA) from 2005 and its Chairman and member of the AFMA Board from 2007 until he left the finance industry in late 2009. He has recently joined the Advisory Board of the Australian Office of Financial Management.
SSE Australia runs practical learning programs for entrepreneurial individuals who have an idea or start–up venture with a social or environmental benefit.
Current SSE Australia Board members include: Michael Combs, SSE Fellow and Founder of Career Trackers; Doug Taylor, CEO of United Way; Allan English of the Allan English Foundation; and Alastair Wilson, CEO of the SSE in the UK.
