Life Fellow Brand Hoff AM FAICDLife on risk and innovation

Brand Hoff FAICDLife has made extraordinary contributions to the world of business, entrepreneurship and innovation. Currently a director at EpiAxis Therapeutics, he has been recognised for his generosity in assisting start-ups and building the innovation ecosystem in the Canberra region. He has also shown commitment to nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur Brand Hoff FAICDLife has served on many boards as a director during his 50-year career in IT and says what he’s found most exciting is seeing the next generation of start-up companies and the innovation that they contribute to society.

“It's an exciting area. It always has been. I started my career at age 19, working for the federal government, Treasury, and was offered programming training. My career went from there till I retired.”

He says one of the ways directors can ensure the company is innovative and that it embraces new technologies is to encourage the CEO to come forward with new ideas. “If you have innovative directors around, you'll get innovative culture in the company.”

Hoff, who has served as a director of NICTA, the Australian ICT Centre of Excellence, Taggle Systems, SNAPeWallet and MyTaggles, founded Tower Software in 1985, which was his “proudest achievement” as a director. The company was later acquired by Hewlett Packard.

His advice for entrepreneurs is to take a greater degree of risk while they are young. “If it doesn't work out, you can always get a proper job.”