World Class Marketing Communications Specialist Joins Advance Board 

Monday 19th March 2007 , New York City

“World Class Marketing Communications Specialist Joins Advance Board”

Advance today announced the appointment of Liz O’Connell to the Advance Board of Directors effective immediately.

President of Advance Chris Aitken said ,  “Liz has been involved with Advance for a number of years in several different capacities. She was the San Francisco Chair in 2005/2006 and played an integral role in the production of the Advance 100 Global Australians summit in Sydney last December”.  

 In addition to this role, Liz also oversaw Advance’s activities during G’day USA 2007, including the high profile Aussie Innovation Shoot Out in New York  supported by the Australian State governments.

“Liz’s background in marketing and communications are a great addition to the Advance board – we are delighted to have her firepower on the team going forward” said Chris.

Liz will take responsibility at Board level for developing the global communications suite of Advance and for raising the profile of the organisation in Australia and around the world.

“The Advance 100 Global Australians Summit was a great debut in Australia and we will be maintaining the high profile the organisation built over that event.  With our communications programme  , we want to build  a stronger bridge from Australia to its citizen overseas for the benefit of our country. We will also help connect like minded Australians to each other, wherever they may live around the globe to facilitate business, research and social exchange.  I have loved working with Advance and I look forward to these new developments” said Liz.

ABOUT LIZ O’CONNELL

Originally from Perth, where her family own boutique winery Mandalay Road, Liz has worked in the US and Japan in marketing and PR since 1992.   Liz O’Connell is the owner and founder of South food + winebar which will open in San Francisco in August this year.  South food + wine bar is a partnership between Liz O’Connell, New Zealander Anna Weinberg and Australian celebrity chef, Luke Mangan and will focus on serving contemporary cuisine and boutique wines from down under.  Prior to starting South, Liz O’Connell was Vice President and executive team member at Foster’s Wine Estates Americas, owner of leading global wine brands like Penfolds, Beringer, Rosemount, and Wolf Blass. Liz joined the Americas’ headquarters of Southcorp Wines, Australia’s largest premium wine company in 2001. She became Vice President, Communications and PR in 2003 and was then hired by Foster’s to run Corporate Affairs after its takeover of Southcorp in June 2005. 

During her tenure at Southcorp/Fosters, she was Chairwoman of Wine Australia USA and sat on the Communications Council of the California Wine Institute. In addition to her Advance board seat, she continues to sit on the Wine Council of Copia, the American Center for Food Wine and the Arts.

Liz speaks Japanese and lives in San Francisco with her South African husband Clint.

ABOUT ADVANCE
Advance is a community of Australian professionals overseas headquartered in New York City, with established chapters in London, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington DC with several others in formation around the globe. Advance recognises the importance of maintaining connection with the one million Australians in our diaspora making their mark in boardrooms, science laboratories, arts institutions, classrooms and communities worldwide. We provide online and live services and events in major industry sectors, enabling Australians abroad to be informed ambassadors-at-large who open doors and opportunities for Australia and Australians across the globe. Advance is an independent not-for-profit and registered charity in the United States.