About :

Hello, I’m Benny.

I’m a Gunakurnai & Wotjobaluk man.

Born and raised in Melbourne, I now reside in Darwin with my effervescent and rebellious partner Rachel and our bougie-ass designer dog, Maggie.

Rach and Maggie give me vitality. I love them dearly.

I’ve done 31 laps around the sun, but others tell me that this isn’t my first life.

Having zigged and zagged all over the place, I’m now best described as somewhat of a wildcard.

My work has spanned the intersections of film, media, culture, planetary health, Indigenous rights, politics, economics, technology, and education.

I was a better than average athlete who invested more in my teammates than myself. I was a coach's dream and nightmare. Sport is a great classroom and canvas. Life is a paradox.

My athletic resume includes being contracted to the Melbourne Stars and captaining both the Victorian & National Indigenous Cricket Team’s. I am the youngest captain in Northcote Cricket Club’s history and have been recognized with a Life Membership.

Atop of the summit, I was also the Chief Hydration Officer for the Casuarina Rowdies Women’s Premier League team in 2021 and 2022. I took this job too seriously and in the process of doing so, fell in love with Football/Soccer.

Like Robin to Batman, I have primarily worked alongside founders and CEOs. This has been one of the few constants in an ever-changing and evolving professional life.

Now, I’m in the process of founding Buck and taking on Gotham.

Born out of optimistic discontent, Buck is a venture fund and studio for the other side of the tracks.

We are on a mission to be the go-to partner for outsiders with a generational conviction and cause.

We (will) invest in underdog founders addressing problems and maximizing opportunities that have been generations in the making.

Before Buck, I was the Co-CEO and Deputy CEO at AIME, Advisor to the Global CEO at SEEK and Director of Strategy & Investments at First Nations Futures.

I am currently a Board Director at Victoria University Online and an Advisor Bright Moon Trust.

Since the beginning of covid, and for myriad reasons, I decided to intentionally explore and prioritize working independently. 

I felt a deep need to be in the world; so I can reflect, think, read, wander, drift, sit, love, listen and learn. 

This allowed me to prioritize being accessible to the evolving needs of frontline communities and collectives, and social entrepreneurs doing important work.

I long for the humility and growth that is synonymous with new and not-so-familiar environments. Working independently has enabled me to seek them out.

As an innate story holder, maker and teller, I have been writing, reporting, producing, and corresponding for an array of domestic and global publications - including VICE, CH4, Network 10, The Guardian, IndigenousX and The Saturday Paper. 

Holding and telling stories is a gift.

I have infrequently co-hosted The Project, been a voice of reason across shows like ABC’s Q&A, and moved ideas with institutions such as the The Wheeler Centre, Monash School of Media, Film & Journalism, and the Social Good Outpost at Griffith University. I have also had the privilege to work on incredible productions, including the four-part docuseries, The First Inventors.

In 2023, I was a Walkley Finalist, Australia’s version of the Pulitzer Prize, for a story showcasing the entirely preventable scourge of rheumatic heart disease in the remote Aboriginal community of Doomadgee. 

I have benefited deeply from rollicking through the ‘School of Life’. Now, in 2024, I have finally been ready to formally learn for the first time since high school. I am now a graduate of Melbourne University’s Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship and Airtree’s Explorer program.

Buck is the natural culmination and evolution of my work. A generational vehicle that will further enable me to be the human-bridge between what is and what can be - at scale.

If you’re working on a BIG idea or have an important story that needs to be told - anywhere in the world - then please get in touch. And if you’re not working on a BIG idea, then I’d invite you to do so.