AGM 2011 in Canberra

The Annual General Meeting was held in Canberra from Oct. 13-16, in time with the annual Floriade Festival. The attendees and their families were welcomed with drinks at the Rydges Hotel lobby on arrival. It was great to catch up with the C Smarters that we do not see often.

The formal sessions were held on Friday, where we had an abundance of presenters. Aside from the directors, the other speakers were Awen, Steve, Richard and Gina. We are looking forward to perusing the new Infobase site, which Awen previewed.

A highlight was the formal dinner at the War Memorial. We had a very moving tour of the place, followed by a beautiful meal underneath the war planes. The light and sound show was eerie, and did scare the living daylights out of a few of the kids.

The following day was the AGM Challenge held at the Australian Institute of Sports. Everyone had fun running around like mad men, completing brain teasers, sporting tasks, photo assignments and obstacles. It was an exceptional day. The tour around the institute was an eye opener. Good to see where our taxes contribute to, and hats off to all our athletes.



Congratulations to the winning Guatemala team, and well played to everyone else .

The AGM was a great success. Thank you Paul, Matt and Sharnie. Also, thank you to Zoran for compiling the above video.

Amir Rafique joins C Smart

"I have around 7+ years of Java / J2EE experience, mainly in the financial domain i.e. cards and payment processing. In addition to programming, I have keen interests in software architecture and project management. Before joining CSmart, I was working with Clear 2 Pay. I am very excited on joining CSmart and am looking forward to upcoming challenges.

When not working, I love to watch movies, enjoy food and hangout with friends."

Hunter Valley Wine Tour

Leanne Walter has never been to the Hunter Valley. As she is about to finish her short stint in Sydney, a group of us decided it was a good enough reason to go on a wine tour of the Hunter Valley. Tracey Rose even flew in from Melbourne to join us. We visited 4 boutique wineries, and after tasting approximately 35 wines, we were a very jolly bunch. Great having you in Sydney Leanne. Come back soon.

Introducing Golnaz Tahayori

Golnaz is a recent graduate of the University of Technology (UTS), Sydney, studying her Masters in Information Technology (IT). With a background in Software Engineering, she moved to Australia 4 years ago from Iran. She liked it so much she decided to stay.

Since being in Sydney, she has worked for McKinsey & Company and has done academic work at UTS as a Research Assistant/Teaching Assistant. Golnaz’s professional overseas experience includes programming as well as some consulting work for leading companies in Iran.

Golnaz enjoys watching movies and hanging out with friends in her free time. She likes to travel and explore new places and learn and experience different cultures.

Golnaz joins C Smart as an Associate Analyst.

HP Masterchef

HP is conducting its own Masterchef competition. It is really just a ploy to have people supply food for its fortnightly "Under the Clock" meetings. After much coercion, Wendy agreed to represent the Testing team, and Charles, the C Smart team. The secret ingredient was strawberries. Wendy prepared a white chocolate cheesecake, and it looked as good as it tasted. Charles baked a Strawberry Coffee cake. It may not look pretty, but it was yummy. Sadly, neither won. They lost to Ken Jones' Strawberry Sponge cake. The upside though is neither will need to cook again for the succeeding rounds. C Smart Masterchef competition, anyone?

Introducing Ishtar Shi

I graduated from Monash University with a masters degree in Business Information Systems. My interest in IT did not develop until I started my university study. During my six-year study in IT, I eventually took my first step onto this beautiful world and will explore more and find my own path.

I enjoy watching films, listening to rock music, reading sci-fi/fantasy, history and psychology books. Also I am a huge anime fan. Practicing Karate-do is my favourite way of maintaining fitness. Travelling to new places, experiencing different cultures and communicating with people of different backgrounds always make me happy.

C Smart International Launch Functions

It is time to say goodbye to Card Smart Consulting, and welcome C Smart International. The official launch of C Smart International was held on Thursday, 19th May 2011, with simultaneous functions held at the Cruise Bar in Sydney, and the Aquarium in Melbourne.

There were more than 250 clients and guests, divided between the 2 cities, who joined us in celebrating the evolution and achievement of C Smart International.



The directors, Paul Lemaire in Melbourne and Matt Holani in Sydney, spoke about the company's future direction, which will not only focus on Cards and Payments, but also on Core Banking, Transaction Switching, Consulting, and Online Banking. This reflects the services that we are currently providing the global financial services industry.



We have received very positive feedbacks from our clients. The celebrations lasted well into the night, and fun was had by all.