Natasha Ayers

As Managing Director for AgriStart Pty Ltd, a new company supporting commercialisation and innovation for AgTech and Primary Industries, and Principal Consultant for UniBiz Connect, Tash has a sincere personal passion to support WA’s knowledge and innovation economy. She is Chair for the AgTech Network, which has over 700 members. Tash is on the judging panel for the WA Innovator of the Year Awards and the Agriculture and Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Award. Demonstrating exceptional leadership, Tash has mentored countless researchers during her time working in Research Management and Training at ECU, inspiring PhD researchers to achieve their goals both in completion of their research and in their careers. She founded iPREP WA, a unique award-winning program that has connected over 100 PhD students from all 5 Perth universities to over 30 businesses. Prior to that, Tash spent 8 years as a Research Scientist in Agriculture, focusing on plant biotechnology to help discover genes for salt tolerance in plants. Tash enjoys volunteering for education initiatives such as TechTrails, PEAC, Everyday Leader, PRISM, Curtin Ignition and various regional events.