# Beau Leese

> Beau Leese is the Sydney-based Australian co-founder and Co-CEO of Practera, which helps universities and employers organise experiential learning. Previously a Deloitte Consulting director and CSIRO strategy leader, he helped develop CSIRO’s Strategy 2020 and co-found its ON accelerator. His work now spans industry projects, employability programmes and widening access to introductory professional experience.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Practera
- **Organizations:** Practera, Intersective, CSIRO, Deloitte Consulting, CSIRO ON
- **Nationality:** Australian
- **Education:** Bachelor of Laws, Master of Marketing, Certificate in Executive Leadership
- **Known for:** Led development of CSIRO’s Strategy 2020., Co-founded the CSIRO ON accelerator programme., AFR BOSS Young Executive of the Year recognition in 2013.

## Career timeline

- **Before 2015** — Director at Deloitte Consulting, followed by Head of Strategy, Innovation & International at CSIRO.
- **2013** — Recognised as an AFR BOSS Young Executive of the Year.
- **2015** — Joined Intersective full time at the end of the year.
- **2017** — Named among the CSIRO ON Team members receiving the CSIRO Support Excellence Award.
- **2018** — Intersective raised a $3.75 million Series A led by Main Sequence Ventures; Practera supported the Adelaide Engage pilot.
- **2019** — Worked as Study Queensland education innovator in residence and wrote about student talent for business growth.
- **2024** — Presented an ACEN conference session on quality benchmarking for student-industry projects.
- **2025** — Participated in the AGCAS conference launch of Horizons for widening participation students.

## Achievements

- Led development of CSIRO’s Strategy 2020.
- Co-founded the CSIRO ON accelerator programme.
- AFR BOSS Young Executive of the Year recognition in 2013.
- Member of the ON Team recognised with the 2017 CSIRO Support Excellence Award.
- Co-founded Practera with Wes Sonnenreich and Suzy Watson.

## Latest updates

- **2025-06** — Participated in the launch of Horizons at the AGCAS annual conference.
- **2025-02** — Publicly discussed an LSE pilot of AI feedback in employability skills modules; the reported improvements were programme findings, not independent proof of causation.

## Links

- Website: https://practera.com/
- LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/beauleese

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/beau-leese
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-12