Our Team

Peter Devine has been CEO of Uniseed since 2006. Peter has extensive experience at board and executive management levels in the commercialisation of early stage technologies, having held senior R&D, business development and commercialisation positions in a number of Australian companies and Australian universities.  Before joining Uniseed, Peter was Vice President of Business Development at Progen Industries Ltd.  He was Research, Development and Commercialisation Manager at Brisbane-based PanBio Pty Ltd from 1996 to 2000 and also worked in business development at UniQuest Pty Ltd.

Peter holds a PhD from the University of Queensland and received the Dean’s Prize for his MBA Studies at the Australian Graduate School of Management.  He received a Centenary Medal in 2003 for outstanding contribution to the business of biotechnology.  He is a Graduate and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Markets) and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance from Kaplan Professional. In 2011 & 2012, Peter was named on the Kaplan High Achievers Honour Roll.

In 2018, Peter was named No.5 on the Global University Venturing Powerlist as one of those changing the face of university venturing.

Interview with Peter – March 2019

Melissa is passionate about delivering leading technology innovations to the market and achieving successful commercial outcomes. Throughout her career, Melissa has worked at the interface between industry and academia and brings a broad strategic perspective with a focus on technology performance and aligning intellectual property assets with commercial strategy.

Prior to joining Uniseed, Melissa has had experience across a range of sectors including a fermentation food-tech start-up where she was responsible for engagement strategies and building high-growth international commercial partnerships, a Rural Research and Development Corporation seeking to maximise the return on R&D investments and the University of Sydney to support the commercialisation of University generated assets.

Melissa holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from Monash University, a PhD from the University of Melbourne, a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from Macquarie University and a Master of Intellectual Property Law from the University of Technology Sydney. Melissa is also a Fellow of the Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

John is responsible for working closely with the University of Melbourne’s Research, Innovation and Commercialisation group (RIC), in identifying new investment opportunities, and also covers Uniseed’s overall biotechnology opportunities.

John brings extensive industry experience as a Biotechnology Manager with a focus on the strategic design and implementation of drug development programs. John’s previous roles have included Pharmaceutical Development Manager at BioDiem Ltd, where he was responsible for managing the preclinical, clinical and regulatory aspects of BioDiem’s drug development programs, and Preclinical Development Manager at Amrad Corporation Ltd where he was responsible for the management of preclinical drug development projects. His experience extends from drug discovery, to the phase I-II clinical phases of drug development. John has a PhD in Neuroscience and a Post Graduate Diploma in Drug Evaluation and Pharmaceutical Science, both from the University of Melbourne and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Interview with John – March 2019

Alex graduated with a BSc in Biology from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2019, and completed her Honours in Biotechnology at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. While undergoing her studies, she worked in sales and marketing for companies as diverse as American Express and Studio Cerocomacero, an independent Spanish interior design firm.

She has also participated into social and environmental projects, working on non-for-profit causes in various countries in Central America and Africa and co-founding an NGO to support Syrian refugees in 2015.

In late 2019 she moved to Australia and started working for Inventia Genetic Technologies, a biotechnology enterprise attached to the Queensland institute of Medical Research.

Alex joined Uniseed in July 2021

John Green is the Company Secretary of Uniseed Pty Ltd. John has a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce degree, is a Certified Practicing Accountant, Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors. In 1994 John was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to undertake post-graduate studies at the National University of Singapore. John is a former International President of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and Chairman of the Institute’s Professional Standards Committee.

John has more than twenty five years general management and company secretarial experience, mostly at a senior management level, in both government and private sectors. He has held a number of Board appointments and was Group Company Secretary of ANL Ltd from 1989 to 1994. John also conducted a very successful international business consultancy prior to taking up his present appointment as the Group Company Secretary of Melbourne Enterprises International Ltd.

John has combined his general management roles with an active academic career. He has more than twenty years academic experience in the university sector as a part-time law lecturer, faculty member, course advisory committee member and academic consultant. John was one of the foundation lecturers and course designers for the Centre of Research and Development at the Australian Graduate School of Management at the University of New South Wales. Recently John has been a consultant to the Asian Centre for Professional Development and the Central Law Training (UK) involved with the preparation and presentation of professional seminars in South East Asia.

Richard is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years experience in public practice and commercial roles for both listed and unlisted entities. Richard has acted as either CFO or financial controller in businesses spanning a wide range of industries including funds management and investment, research and development, consulting, media, retailing, manufacturing, and agriculture.