Senior Lecturer, Management and Entrepreneurship, Southern Cross University
Owen grew up on a large livestock farm in rural NSW and began his entrepreneurial journey at aged 15, hustling for gigs around the Hunter Valley and Western NSW. He studied marketing at Newcastle University, supporting himself by playing music up and down the east coast of NSW. After graduating with a business degree, Owen’s first non-music gig was for Newcastle City Council, supporting the implementation of a new financial management information system. He moved to Brisbane to pursue a music career and founded an entertainment management business. Upon moving to Northern NSW, he started working for the Federal Government in customer service and was involved in several service innovation and technology projects for Centrelink. After time spent in the UK implementing ‘back-office’ improvements for local government, he went back to university to study composing, subsequently releasing an album and producing television commercials. In 2010, he started working for Southern Cross University, managing accreditation projects. Eventually, he became the Executive Officer for the business school, focused on leading executive education programs, product innovation and developing strategic partnerships. In 2019, he led the development and delivery of the Structuring for Success program at the Sydney School of Entrepreneurship and Southern Cross University’s new Bachelor of Business and Enterprise. In early 2021, Owen graduated with his PhD which examined the purpose and legitimacy of public business education. He is now a full-time academic and was responsible for writing and teaching the university’s first interdisciplinary design thinking unit, Create: Innovate: Change and leading the implementation of a new university-wide major in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Owen has produced a range of research across higher education policy, entrepreneurship and service design. He is currently on a project investigating digital connectivity in Australian agriculture and is the chief investigator for an industry grant focused on implementing circular economy principles for the Australian meat processing industry. He also recently received funding from Festivals Australia to examine co-creation in community music. Owen also maintains his connection to the creative industries through live playing, session work, and as a business partner in a performing arts school.
