About Brian
Brian has spent over two decades helping Australian businesses navigate international growth, most recently as Senior Trade Director-Americas for Global Victoria, based in San Francisco, and previously as District Manager for the Australian Trade Commission, founding offices in Phoenix, AZ and Fresno, CA.
Across those roles, Brian's Americas portfolio contributed to more than $3 billion in export outcomes. But the real story isn’t the figure - it’s the pattern behind it: again and again, the Australian businesses that succeeded in the US weren't the ones with the most information, they were the ones with the clearest understanding of their own readiness, their risks, and their priorities.
That observation became the founding idea behind Empower Export Advisory. Brian started this firm to work directly with founder-led Australian companies, not as a traditional export consultant delivering reports, but as a strategic partner helping founders build the clarity and capability to succeed internationally on their own terms.
My Approach
Most exporters today don't suffer from a lack of information. Between market reports, trade missions, and export guides, there's no shortage of data available. What's missing is the strategic understanding to act on it, to sequence decisions correctly, prioritise the right risks, and execute with confidence.
I built Empower Export Advisory around a simple belief: export success cannot be outsourced. Founders own the vision, the commitment, and the decisions. My role is to work alongside you, bringing the US market knowledge that sharpens your thinking, strengthens your decisions and keeps your strategy on track.
What strikes me about the Australian founders I've worked with is how genuinely innovative and commercially sharp they are. They've built products and businesses that can absolutely compete in the US market. What they're missing isn't vision or capability, it's the specific knowledge of how the US business environment works: the regulatory landscape, the commercial norms, the right channels and partners. My role is to provide that layer, not to remake what they've built, but to help them bring it to the US market on their own terms.
That's why I work with a small number of founder-led businesses at a time. Each engagement is built to strengthen your understanding and your capability, not to create dependency. The goal isn't for you to need an advisor forever, it's for you to walk away from our work together with the clarity and confidence to lead your own international growth.
There's an old saying that captures this well: give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to fish and you feed them for a lifetime. That's the philosophy behind every engagement at Empower Export Advisory.
Ready to work together?
The Export Readiness Diagnostic is the best way to start.