One of WA’s greatest tech success stories will further lend her expertise to Curtin University students in a bid to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs as part of a new Adjunct Professor appointment at the Faculty of Business and Law.
Olivia Humphrey is already the Entrepreneur in Residence at Curtin, and this week delivered the opening keynote at their Ignition program as well as a fireside chat for female founders.
As part of her additional role the founder of video streaming service Kanopy will now contribute to student and staff learning and research programs.
“Olivia has carved out an impressive career building a video streaming service from the ground up, so we are very lucky to be able to share her expertise with tomorrow’s leaders in the tech world,” said Curtin Professor and Pro Vice-Chancellor Nigel de Bussy.
“As part of her new role, Olivia will be delivering guest lectures and working with students in a bid to help inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs and show them anything is possible for truly innovative start- ups.”
Olivia said she was honoured to further expand her relationship with Curtin, saying she was most excited to work with the leaders of tomorrow.
“When I founded Kanopy, it all started from one idea and a business book on loan from the Scarborough library,” Olivia said.
I am thrilled and honoured to be able to work with the bright young minds at Curtin University to help nurture the bold ideas that may turn into the next great start-up of the future. I look forward to supporting the important role Curtin plays in developing entrepreneurship and innovation both within the University and in the wider community.
Olivia Humphrey
Olivia boot-strapped the company from inception in 2008, won both the WA Innovator of the Year (Growth) Award and Telstra’s Businesswoman of the Year (WA – Growth) in 2012, before uprooting her young family away from Perth to open Kanopy’s head office in San Francisco.
She spent the next seven years scaling the business across the USA and into Europe. Olivia sold the company in 2019 and moved back to Australia in 2020, securing the platform as one of the great Australian tech success stories.
Since returning to Perth, Olivia has served as Non-executive Director on Curtin University’s Commercialisation Advisory Board and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Curtin University. She is an Advisor for act media ventures, is actively investing in films focussing on female stories, and was awarded the 2020 Advance Award for Education which recognises the work of remarkable global Australians making an extraordinary impact on the global stage.
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You can listen to Olivia’s entrepreneurial story on episode 41 of the Startup West podcast.
