National Australia Bank’s $50 million innovation fund, NAB Ventures, has appointed a well known entrepreneur and angel investor to be its inaugural Managing Director.
Todd Forest has been hired to lead the innovation fund which was established by National Australia Bank (NAB) to access leading ideas and capabilities from around the world through strategic partnerships, alliances and investments in innovative companies.
Forest has extensive experience as a successful CEO, entrepreneur and investor. He was previously the CEO of a mobile payments and data business focused on the hospitality industry, and has served as Head of MSN Asia Pacific in Singapore. Forest also worked in executive roles at AOL Time Warner and Nike in the US.
Angel Investor
He is a successful angel investor via Tasman Ventures Fund, investing in over a dozen start-up companies in the US and Australia over the past 12 years. He acknowledged NAB was embracing the challenges of digital disruption through building an innovative culture.
«I’m excited to take on this opportunity with NAB Ventures; banking globally is undergoing a digital transformation and NAB Ventures will help ensure we are able to embrace the right changes to deliver innovative solutions for our customers,» said Forest.
NAB has also appointed Melissa Widner as NAB Ventures General Partner. Widner has worked in venture capital both in the US at Seapoint Ventures and in Australia at OneVentures.
She is a successful entrepreneur who founded 7Software, a Silicon Valley based enterprise software company and is also the co-founder of Sydney based, Heads Over Heels, an organisation that supports high growth companies led by women.
