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Meet some of the team

Elula’s team and advisors bring a wealth of experience and strong leadership from all over the world.

Sarah Russell

Co-Founder / Co-CEO

The serious one – someone’s got to be! Our Kiwi expat with that independent, wake up and make sh*t happen type of vibe. Strong instincts, thorough, honest, and down to earth. She’s super impressive!

Sarah is the co-founder and co-Chief Executive Officer at Elula. Sarah has over 20 years’ experience in banking across strategy, technology, data science and operations and has held senior executive leadership roles.

She is an experienced senior leader, proficient at bringing together business, technology, strategy and data science to enhance customer experiences. Prior to founding Elula, Sarah held senior roles at CBA with a career spanning a range of roles across ASB Bank, Old Mutual and AMP.

Sarah holds a Master of Commerce degree in Economics from University of Canterbury.

Josh Shipman

Co-Founder / Co-CEO

Tech-entrepreneur with a commercial mind and a knack for explaining concepts in layman’s terms. Challenges the status quo and questions absolutely everything(!). We all work with this lunatic – we love him coz he’s funny and crazy.

Josh is the co-founder and co-Chief Executive Officer at Elula. Josh has 20 years’ experience across the technology, banking and payments sectors and has held senior leadership roles.

Josh has a successful career across both banking and start-ups. Prior to starting Elula he was Head of Automation at CBA and held senior roles in information security implementing real time fraud detection.

Josh commenced his career at HSBC, before going on to co-found, build and exit a UK tech-start-up that delivered a secure data exchange to UK banks and law enforcement agencies.

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Colin Adamson
Chief Customer Officer
With over 20 years of experience in banking, Colin knows a thing or two about what our customers need, and he ensures everyone gets the most out of our products and services. Colin is addicted to customer success and coffee. In fact, he has up to 10 cups a day. Being Scottish, he also appreciates good haggis.

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Jon Stevens
Head of Client Insights
Lover of physics, machine learning, maths, economics, and he’s a badass chess player but by far the worst handwriting in the office. When he’s not ‘Data Science-ing it up’, at night you can find him keeping his love for D&D alive.

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Andrew Stokes
General Manager Customer Operations
A people person and a true believer that having the right people on your team leads to success. Andrew has a wealth of banking experience and has lived in four countries. He’s big on keeping fit and manages to find time for running, pilates, gym, golf, and most importantly, his wife and two teenage boys.

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Dina Kazemi
Grad Software Engineer
Dina’s all about computers and coding. But we discovered she also knows a thing or two about archaeology and speaks three different languages. The strong team spirit at Elula reminds her of soccer, her favourite sport.

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Ian Narev
Strategic Advisor and Investor
An All Black tragic and an old mate of ours from CBA.

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Glen Aiton
Chief Operating Officer
American by birth. Adopted by Scottish parents. Grew up in the Bahamas. Left home to live and work in London. A lot has helped to shape Glen, including a dedication to non-profits he is passionate about. With a 35+ year career in banking, he’s got the know-how to keep our vision on track.

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Paul Rubenstein
Strategic Advisor and Investor
He’s a lawyer, strategist, investor, and Managing Partner at Arnold Bloch Leibler, Sydney. Plus, he makes a mean chicken soup. Is there anything this powerhouse can’t do?

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Julia Renouf
Data Engineer
She’s toured the world and been on adventures. We’re fortunate she’s now made Elula her home. Julia holds a Mathematics and Statistics degree. Data is her thing, and she’s also super passionate about promoting women in STEM.

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Toby Harradine
Software Engineer
Who can’t get enough of programming? Toby! He codes all the time. Did we mention coding? And when he’s not coding, he’s eating Asian food. But then it’s quickly back to coding.

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Diviya Thilakeswaran
Data Scientist
With a Master’s in Data Science and a Bachelor of Psychology to her name, is there anything Diviya can’t do? She believes psychology and Data Science go hand in hand and when she’s not studying human behaviour, she’s playing the piano, listening to jazz and building computers.

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Brayden Morris
Project Manager
Software Engineer, planner, builder, and fixer. Not to mention an absolute boss at Pentago. Brayden pushes the boundaries and then some!

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Colin Campbell
Head of Operations
An all-round delivery machine. Keep Calm and Carry On Delivering – just feed him Jaffa Cakes.

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Lucia Zapata
Scrum Master
The Messi of Computer Science. A Data Scientist, Visualisation Designer, and Scrum Master – she’s our Argentine dynamo.

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Stanislav Pyzhov
Data Scientist
A Data Scientist and fully fledged opera singer to boot! We love singing the praises of this man. He’s obsessed with the complexity of data modelling. In fact, he loves tackling all sorts of complex tasks, which could explain why he speaks five different languages, writes music and plays guitar.

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Huy Nguyen
Data Engineer
A Data Engineer with a Master’s in Data Science and a love of coffee. In fact, he’s has drunk so much, it now has the reverse effect of improving his sleep. Huy also loves basketball and hiking. He’s always full of energy and passion for all things data.

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Josh Glover
Senior Software Engineer
A brilliant software engineer who loves puzzles, everything art and solving a Rubik's cube is his version of squeezing a stress ball. Not only does he write clean code (and let's you know about it!), he also has the neatest handwriting in the office.

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Suraj Gulabani
Head of Data Engineering
Officially the coolest job title on the planet, Suraj has the eye of a hawk and has a reputation for quality - broken data and misplaced nulls don't stand a chance against him - and he throws in a healthy dose of creativity while he's at it.

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Jonathan Cook
Chief Data Officer
We call him ‘Cookie’. He is cycling mad and loves numbers. He’s always analysing and measuring performance, looking to create the best possible experience for our clients. Cookie injects positive energy into everything he touches. He’s electrifying.

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Rory Angus
Data Scientist
Rory can engineer the perfect cheese platter, and he knows a bit about data as well. This guy is so generous; he spends his time mentoring postgraduate Data Scientists. And he’s from Byron, so he’s super chillaxed.

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Majella Villahermosa
Information Security and Operations Manager
Bringing the Zen (when everyone around you is a Data Scientist, engineer, and math nut).

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Peter Brotherhood
Data Engineer
The smallest details in data excite Peter. A lot. In fact, he’s an axe-wielding data maniac who loves spending weekends camping. This man also pioneered wearing shorts in the office. And you must try his salted caramel chocolate brownies.

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Eliza Harrison
Data Analyst
A problem-solver at heart. When she’s not exploring solutions, she’s exploring vintage stores and design. Eliza is obsessed with visualising data. Earl Grey is her favourite tea. Green is her favourite colour. Nature is her favourite place. We think she’s ace.

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Toby Ruby
Head of Engineering
German engineering at its best. That’s all you need to know.

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Thibault Dubois
Data Scientist
Solving problems and finding patterns in challenging subjects is what drives this guy. He’s developed his programming skills working in academics with biologists, developing modelling tools for the study of animal behaviour. Thibault likes games, animals, and talking about games and animals.

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Gabriel Versace
Operations Engineer
Loves data and uncovering great solutions for customers. Yes, he is related to the Versace family. No, he doesn’t get any free clothes. But there’s more to Gabriel than a famous surname. His passion for data has taken him all sorts of places, including volunteer work abroad.

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Ryan Siva
Data Engineer
A background in business analytics, AI engineering, plus an obsession with basketball. Ryan shoots hoops most days of the week and runs rings around customer retention problems using AI. Ryan is so hungry for success, he eats three lunches a day.

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Ben McKinnon
Data Scientist
Ben prides himself on understanding truth in numbers and how to solve the most complex of problems. In fact, he takes problem solving and fashion to the extreme. You can easily spot him, he’s the one wearing a bright gold Versace robe in the office. Whatever makes him comfortable, we say.

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Zac D'Agostino
Data Scientist
Mathematics and data are just one side of Zac. He’s also an absolute boss at video games and an aficionado of vintage Japanese cinema. What’s more, his attention to detail not only makes him an excellent operations engineer but also a master model car builder.

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Maria Li
Data Analyst
Our eagle-eyed analytical expert. Maria used to work in investment banking, where she managed risk on the trading floor. Now she manages to juggle life at Elula and a four-year-old at home.