Our People
People who care about creating better food delivery systems are at the heart of our supply chain intelligence service.
Our board and management team have significant experience in the fresh food space and other enabling disciplines – from retailing, logistics and supply chain, production, marketing and exporting, to IoT and banking technology.
Utilising our skills, knowledge and networks, while investing in our people’s development, we are setting about finding affordable and valuable solutions for our customers, and changing the way fresh food is managed.
Management Team
Luke Wood
Chief Executive Officer | Director
Before co-founding Escavox, Luke was head of supply chain technology and innovation at one of Australia’s leading supermarket chains, following success at executive level in supply chain management with several leading retail and consulting brands.
His experience in designing and deploying emerging technology to reduce inefficiency in supply chains ranges from retail warehouse systems to oil field asset control.
He has previously founded and managed an IoT asset management company and held roles on the IoTAA executive council and the Australasian Supply Chain Institute Board.
John Paterson
Chief Financial Officer
John is an experienced CFO who started his career with a ‘Big 4’ accounting firm before moving into the global financial services industry. He spent more than 25 years in global organisations in the major financial markets of London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and New York.
After relocating to Australia, John worked as the CFO of Chartered Accountants ANZ before focussing on supporting SMEs with their strategic scale-up plans.
John has a Bachelor of Management Studies from the University of Waikato, is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow Chartered Accountant.
Nicola Sanderson
Chief Customer Officer
Specialising in maximising process efficiency, Nici has led major projects that have saved operations more than $50 million.
With more than 20 years’ experience in the UK and Australia in manufacturing and supply chain environments, Nici’s expertise is in driving business process change through data utilisation to achieve better business outcomes.
Before co-founding Escavox Nici was involved in the development and design of supply chain tracking solutions in the fresh food industry.
Christian Patterson
Head of Sales
Christian has a long history working in fresh produce and logistics, primarily as a relationship and business development manager. Adept at helping businesses reach their strategic commercial goals, Christian formerly worked at Hort Innovation Australia where he played a critical role in determining and developing the organisation’s R&D portfolio.
With an eye for detail and a passion for nurturing success, Christian has previous experience as a fleet manager with a national transport company, as well as earlier roles with produce companies and freight forwarders in a business development capacity.
Board Members
Richard McKinnon
Chair
Richard brings a 50-year career in business – comprising 30 years as an executive and 20 years as a consultant and independent director – to his role as Escavox chair which he assumed in 2023 after
service to the Board as a director.
Richard’s executive career focussed on mergers and acquisitions as an investment banker and
specialist who implemented a multi-billion-dollar acquisition strategy at National Australia Bank
(NAB). His executive career culminated with four years as the chief financial officer of NAB.
Since retiring from executive life, Richard has been an acquisition consultant and independent
director, including terms with Melbourne Water Ltd as a director, Carey Baptist Grammar School’s
finance committee as director and chairman, and Growth Factor Ltd and Responsible Gaming
Networks as their founding director.
Richard is currently co-chairman of the Advisory Board of Dahlsen’s Building Centres. He is an
honours graduate in economics, a Fellow of the Finance and Securities Institute of Australia and a
Fellow of CPA Australia.
John Dahlsen
Director
John is the immediate past chair of Escavox and remains an active director, bringing strong
leadership and governance to the Board.
His business acumen has been honed over many years in leadership roles as Southern Cross
Broadcasting chair and co-founder, Woolworths chair, ANZ director and Melbourne Business School
chair.
John has a passion for driving change in fresh food supply chains to deliver better quality products to
consumers and greater value for supply chain participants.
Chris McLoghlin
Co-founder
A co-founder of Escavox, Chris previously founded Australia’s largest organic mushroom farming company, and more recently co-founded Fable Food Co that makes products from mushrooms.
He has been a founder of several successful start-ups, as well as engaging in several consulting roles to lend his expertise in supply chain management, produce/grocery procurement, crypto-economics, primary production and supply chain automation.
In 2018 Chris won Horticulture Australia’s Young Grower of the Year, ABC Rural Australian Young Farmer of the Year and Australian Farmer of the Year (Excellence in Technology), and Australian Organic Grower of the Year.
Noel Shield
Director
Noel has extensive knowledge of the global fresh produce industry, with a career of more than 40
years – most of this time based in Asia.
During this time, he has held executive management roles and has been involved in supermarket
development/management, company restructuring and corporate development across several
industries.
Noel currently holds a consultancy and advisory position with The Farmind Corporation, Japan and is
a director of Asia Project Management Limited, Hong Kong.
In 2020, Noel was awarded the prestigious Asiafruit Impact Award in recognition of his contributions
to the growth of the fruit industry across Asia.
Craig Godden
Director
Craig has been working in the payments industry for more than 30 years. Starting at Ingenico Australia after completing a Bachelor of Computer Science degree, Craig started developing the EFTPOS system for the Australian market before progressing to business development manager and then leading the Australian development team.
A founder of PC-EFTPOS, which grew to become the largest supplier of integrated EFTPOS terminals in Australasia, Craig sold the business to private equity firm Potentia in 2019, rebranding as Linkly.
Craig remains on the board of Linkly and several other private fintech companies that he has invested in. He provides business and technology advice to help these companies grow and realise their potential.
Jackson Sobb
Director
Jackson began his career in the food and hospitality industry and has diversified his interests into the
not-for-profit, charities and manufacturing sectors.
He is a founder and CEO of InnovationClub, an investment company that directs funding toward
enviro-technology projects, such as a regional NSW pulping and product forming initiative that is
converting agricultural waste into sustainable packaging designed to replace harmful plastics.
He has founded and leads charities designed to assist defence veterans transition to civilian life, and
develop online educational platforms to promote music education, literacy and business education.
Jackson also engages in advisory roles for start-up businesses based in entertainment technology,
aquaculture, food service and hospitality, particularly in the areas of business ideation, set-up and scaling for business growth.
Media
As people want to know more about how their food is produced and handled in the supply chain, Escavox attracts keen interest from many media outlets.