Our Board
Nicholas Mitaros
Executive Chairman
Nick Mitaros is an Australian lawyer with more than 35 years’ experience in both the government and private sectors.
Nick’s legal career has included roles as a Managing Partner of national law firm Clayton Utz (Darwin), member of Clayton Utz national Board of Directors and Clayton Utz Consultant 2002 – 2019.
Since 1998 Mr Mitaros has held the position of Australian Resident Director of the Jerambak Group, the pastoral holding interests of the Government of Brunei Darussalam. In this role Mr Mitaros regularly travels to Brunei and hosts Ministry delegations in Australia.
Nick has served on various Boards including as Non-Executive Chairman of global commercial real estate services organisation, Colliers International (North Australia).
Nick is a director of The Hellenic Initiative Australia Not for Profit organisation of prominent leaders of the Greek diaspora focussed on economic development programs designed to encourage entrepreneurship and investment in Greece.
Denise Goldsworthy AO
Director
Denise’s prior executive career included roles as Managing Director of Dampier Salt, Managing Director of HIsmelt, Chief Commercial Officer Autonomous Haul Trucks and Director Major Projects for Rio Tinto. She is a highly experienced non-executive director and advisor on research, technology and innovation. Denise is a proven senior executive with experience in the manufacturing, infrastructure, mining and technology sectors. Recognised as a master of constructive questioning, she utilises expertise in business engagement and system design to achieve reliable outcomes.
Denise also owns and manages a small consultancy, Alternate Futures (AF) which was established specifically to work at the interface between Australia’s research organisations, tech-start-ups and industry, facilitating connections between problems and solutions, addressing translation, system and cultural issues enabling both sides to see and understand the needs of the other with the aim of establishing commercially viable partnerships that achieve impact.
Denise is currently Chairman of the Board at ChemCentre WA; an NED for Western Power and ASC; Chairman of the Board of Gascoyne Gateway Ltd; Chancellor at Edith Cowan University; Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Navy Clearance Diver Trust (NCDT); and a member of the Cooperative Research Centres Advisory Committee (CRCAC).
Among Denise’s honours is being named the 2010 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year. She is also a member of Chief Executive Women (CEW), was inducted into the WA Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011 and in 2020, was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished services to business, particularly to technological innovation and research in the mining and manufacturing sectors.
Nick Liveris
Director
Nick Liveris is a business executive with a decade of experience in management consulting (McKinsey & Company) and investment banking (Merrill Lynch). Mr. Liveris is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business (2012) and the University of Michigan (2006). In addition to his Director role at Leichhardt, he also serves as a Director at Botanical Water Technologies, and is currently the CFO of NOVONIX Limited, a lithium-ion battery materials and technology company.
As a corporate advisor, Mr. Liveris’ focus has been on leading large-scale business transformations and assessing investment opportunities for private equity firms. In this capacity he has mobilized teams of 100+ personnel, worked directly with the C-suite and frontline teams of Fortune 500 companies on billion-dollar turnarounds, helped create and coordinate hundreds of top-line oriented business projects, and has assessed many markets for direct investment opportunities. His experience advising has crossed many industries with a focus on natural resource and advanced manufacturing companies. Mr. Liveris is now directing his expertise on early stage companies in growth-oriented, sustainability focused markets.
Joe Bishop
Director
Mr Bishop is a mining finance and investment management professional with over 20 years of experience in mining spanning operations, investment banking and private equity.
He holds a BE (mining engineering) and a MComm (Finance) from UNSW, with experience across a wide range of transactions having financed mining projects in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Kyrgyz Republic, Guatemala, Canada, USA and Australia.
Mr Bishop has completed due diligence on hundreds of mining projects and structured capital investment in the form of listed/unlisted equity, convertible notes, royalties, high yield debt, bridge loans, mezzanine finance, project finance, corporate loans, working capital, acquisition finance, commodity prepayments, performance/environmental bonds and financial guarantees.
In his current role as Principal of the RCF Opportunities Fund, Mr Bishop is responsible for originating, negotiating and managing the Funds’ Australian based investments.
Peter Edwards
Director
Peter Edwards is the Managing Director of the Victor Smorgon Group, a family-run operating and investment company in Australia.
Peter oversees the Group’s activities in industry sectors spanning: Funds Management, Agriculture, Waste, Property, and Resources.
Peter was appointed Managing Director of The Victor Smorgon Group in 1996 after 8 years in various roles in Smorgon Steel; at the time, Australia’s second largest steel producer behind BHP, manufacturing long products, downstream steel processing, and sales to Industry, and Retail.
Following the strong philanthropic philosophy of the Victor Smorgon Group, Peter also has a historic and ongoing involvement in philanthropic activities.
Peter was appointed to the Leichhardt Board in March 2022.
Scott Nicholas
Chief Executive Officer
Scott Nicholas is an experienced CFO having been responsible for the financing and development of several resource projects in Australia. Scott has led major debt and equity greenfield and development financings for resource projects and negotiations for offtake, construction, and operational agreements. Scott was most recently CFO at Australian Potash Ltd and MACH Energy overseeing these projects progress from greenfield assets to development and operational assets.
With a Law/Commerce degree from Murdoch University, Scott is a Chartered Accountant and a Senior Associate of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.
Scott joined Leichhardt in September 2022 and was promoted to CEO in February 2024.