Dr Samantha Smith: Strategy, Search & Solutions
Dr Samantha Smith is the Founder of Pinnacle Collective – a trusted strategic adviser to organisations navigating complexity, pursuing growth and solving their most important challenges.
With over two decades of experience across the private, government and not-for-profit sectors, Samantha brings a rare combination of strategic insight, stakeholder expertise and behavioural science to every client engagement. Her work spans strategy development, governance advisory, stakeholder engagement and executive search.
Samantha’s board experience informs everything she does as an adviser. As a former Chair and long-serving Non-Executive Director of the Transport Accident Commission, and former Non-Executive Director of WorkSafe Victoria, she understands how organisations work at their highest level — and what it takes to perform there.
She holds accreditation as an Organisational Culture Inventory Practitioner (Human Synergistics), the AI Fluency for Directors credential from the University of Sydney, and a Doctor of Business Administration from Monash University examining sustainability and behaviour change.
Samantha is a Fellow and Victorian Councillor of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a certified organisational coach and has served as a Judge for the Telstra Best of Business Awards since 2015.
For more details, visit her LinkedIn profile.
Dr Nives Zubcevic-Basic: Search & Strategy
As Pinnacle Collective’s resident researcher, Nives’ areas of research expertise includes human behaviour, culture and psychology.
Supporting the search practice, Nives advises on talent assessment and selection, including behavioural profiling, psychometric assessments and insights.
A Senior Lecturer and Director of the Master of Marketing at Swinburne University, Nives is at the forefront of innovative strategy, marketing and commercial research approaches and also works across the strategy and solutions side of Pinnacle.
Nives’ appreciation for solid strategic research outcomes has resulted in her publishing in a range of Tier 1 academic journals and partnering with prominent global brands – including L’Oreal, Arsenal Football Club, Zara and Google.
Simon Meredith: Search & Solutions
Simon is a talented developer and IT consultant who supports both the search and digital solutions practice at Pinnacle Collective.
With a Bachelor of Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in IT Systems, Simon has a wealth of experience in business intelligence and database management – and the secrets to powering targeted and effective searches.
Simon also blends his in-depth user experience (UX) knowledge with responsive web design/development best practice approaches to generate outstanding online solutions.
When he’s not data mining, coding and bringing IT solutions to life, Simon can be found out on the football field umpiring (and has umpired 500 + games and 10 AFL Grand Finals!).
Cathy Bryceland: Solutions
Cathy is an experienced digital professional with a background spanning the likes of Lonely Planet, Vodafone, Telstra Bigpond, SBS, SKY and the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood.
As Pinnacle Collective’s digital solutions lead, Cathy specialises in the planning, initiating and delivery of medium to large scale digital projects.
She also has a broad knowledge of marketing technology ecosystems, digital design, e-learning and content management.
Fixed on creating a digital presence to meet business goals, Cathy is skilled at driving traffic, fostering communities and maximising conversions on all manner of digital platforms.