Varun Rao, PhD
Director of Artificial Intelligence
Varun earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering (Monash University) and holds certifications in Machine Learning (Stanford University) and Neural Networks (deeplearning.ai). His core engineering expertise is in Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer.
He gained valuable experience in academia, where he worked with the mining industry on control of diesel emissions. Since 2016 he has worked on data analytics and artificial intelligence for practical engineering applications in the automotive industry, from ideation through development and into deployment. His specialisation is in the field of shallow neural networks for classification and regression problems.
Varun’s main interests lie in answering two questions - "What happened in the past?" and "What will happen in the future?" He draws on his extensive knowledge of theoretical and practical expertise in data mining, visualisation and machine learning to help answer these questions.
Varun’s tool set includes Python, Keras, Tensorflow, Tableau, Power BI, Alteryx, C++ and Matlab.
Our team
Phil de Silva, MSc
Director of Data Engineering &
Digital Transformation
Phil has over 15 years’ experience as a leader in the IT and SaaS industries. His varied background includes work in digital transformation, data engineering, cloud computing, networks, security, automation and DevOps.
Phil has architected, planned and delivered data analytics and digital platforms at successful start-ups, financial services, banking, and large enterprises across Asia Pacific, North America and Europe.
He has worked with the likes of KPMG and Aconex, and has degrees in Network Computing from Monash and Swinburne Universities. He also holds multiple industry certifications in Security, Azure, AWS, and GCP.
Phil is passionate about using his expertise in IoT analytics, real time data analytics and cloud computing to solve real world problems.
Rahul Rao, PhD
Director of Data Science & Visualisation
Rahul has a PhD in engineering from Monash University, where he spent 6 years researching the use of deep learning AI techniques to predict diesel engine performance. He is also certified by Stanford University and IBM in data science, machine learning, deep learning and AI.
He then spent 4 years in the auto industry building machine learning pipelines and models of engine responses and communicating them to stakeholders to develop optimum actuator control. He has extensive experience with neural networks and tree-based models for both classification and regression. His expertise in statistics also earned him a Design for Six Sigma Black Belt.
Rahul is passionate about engineering, data, automation, and programming, and is always on the lookout for new ways of combining them to gain interesting insights and generate value.
Todd Bromwich, LLB
Advisory Committee Member - Legal
Todd is a practising lawyer advising clients across the business spectrum, with a focus on the mid-market and a broad experience in general commercial matters.
His key area of practice is taxation advisory and disputes, predominantly for multinational corporations, the not-for-profit sector and high net-worth family groups.
Todd has experience in developing and testing business process improvement systems in the legal services industry. He is committed to continually adapting to an ever-changing business and regulatory environment to meet the needs of his clients.
Urooza Sarma, BSc (Hons)
Advisory Committee Member - Biomedicine
Urooza is a final year PhD candidate at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute. After completing her undergraduate studies in Biomedical Sciences (University of Auckland), she obtained First Class Honours in Anatomy (University of Otago). It was during her Honours that she discovered her passion for cell science and research.
Urooza specialises in Reproductive Biology and Immunology, but she enjoys the overall dynamic nature of biology and the interactions between its different fields. Her current work is in the discovery of mechanisms that affect female fertility and using these mechanisms to improve health outcomes.
She is a keen science communicator, with several years of experience reporting fundamental science to non-technical audiences via radio, seminars, and social media platforms. Urooza is also a teaching associate and mentor for several undergraduate- and honours-level courses at Monash University.
Urooza is passionate about the scalability of lab-based science to industry implementation and how this can drive improved community health outcomes.
Randall Bromwich, BCom, MPA, CA
Advisory Committee Member - Finance
Randall is a chartered accountant focusing on advising clients in the mid-market where he has developed a generalist experience, assisting clients ranging from ASX listed companies, high wealth family groups, right through to high growth start-ups.
Randall brings a broad range of practising experience, having worked on assurance engagements in the oil and gas and tech start up industry while working in both Houston, Texas and San Jose, California in the past 2 years.
Randall is passionate about the developing financial and property markets, particularly in Melbourne. He is intent on working with his clients to help them achieve their goals and understand their financial health.
Simon Overend, BSc (Hons)
Advisory Committee Member - Program Delivery
Simon is a business executive with over 15 years of broad-based experience in Digital Operations, Service Delivery, Program Management, ITSM, Business Transformation, change, and HR Operations.
During his tenures at Spotless, Service Stream, KPMG and Suncorp, he has worked across complex environments managing people, stakeholders, projects and programs. His experience is underpinned by his ability to solve problems, motivate teams, and manage complex project delivery.
Simon brings to Deep Blue AI his innovative mindset to the challenges of corporate transformation, with a focus on value, passion and customer experience.