Sydney Christmas Party 2011 at Bistrode CBD

Thank you Tommy for the pictures and clip.

Melbourne Pre-Christmas Drinks Function 16 Dec 2011

The Pre-Christmas Drinks function in Melbourne was held at Bok Choy Tang Restaurant at Federation Square. The weather was perfect for holding this function outdoors. Everyone gathered at the venue and had a great time catching up as a company.

At around 6.30pm, Jess announced that the "Director's Award" winner for Melbourne this year was Chris Studdert. Congratulations to him. There were also Appreciation awards presented to Wendy Keith and Cassandra Loo. Following this, Paul had presented a beautiful and interesting speech about the Company direction with some background of current environment of Online Payments.

Apart from director award winner, we were also very excited to hear of the engagement of Cassandra Loo and Eric Wong, they’ve set the date as January 2013. 

On the second half of the afternoon, we started our Kris Kringle activities. As we had a small group in Melbourne where the people were generally kind, there wasn’t a lot of “stealing” happening during the game, and people were happy to receive their own K.K present.

The function continued on and drew to a close around 8.00pm. Thanks again to Cassandra for organising the event.

C Smart Sydney Xmas Party 2011

The Christmas party in Sydney was held at Bistrode CBD on Dec. 16, 2011. First on the programme was the announcement of this year's Directors awardees. Congratulations to Wendy Baker, Michael Lam, Warren Easton, Sandra van der Walt and Chris Studdart, with special mentions to Wendy Keith, Antony Smith, Joy Curva and Cassandra Loo.

Like last year, the party really kicked into gear when we started the Kris Kringle. It started out slow with people seemingly happy to pick their own gifts. But after breaking for the main meal, the carnivore in everyone seemed to have been awakened. Not sure where the Christmas spirit was in the room after that, as people stole gifts one after the other, and again and again. Ned Kelly would have been proud. All in good spirit, of course. Thank you Techie and Steve for organizing the Kris Kringle.

The above video was beautifully compiled by Tommy.

The Wedding of Doreen and Eric

Doreen and Eric became husband and wife on November 12 in the beautiful gardens of Centennial Park. Here is the happy couple with Doreen's father. As you can see, Doreen was such a beautiful bride. They then treated their guests to a sumptuous dinner aboard a twilight cruise around Sydney Harbour.

Antony on the Green

Great to see Ant up and about. Notice the C Smart shirt he is wearing.

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.

Doreen and Eric, Engaged

C Smart International is pleased to announce the engagement of their favorite employee, Doreen Cheng to Eric Wai. Doreen works as a business analyst currently assigned to St. George Bank, and Eric works as a stockbroker for a prestigious firm.

A spring wedding is planned for later in the year. Best wishes to you both.

Whitewater Christmas

C Smart International staff went whitewater rafting at the Penrith Stadium to celebrate the Christmas season. Their paddling and swimming skills were put to the test as shown by these clips shot by Techie. Listen carefully to the expert commentary provided by Techie, Sharnie and Jeff.

Everyone enjoyed a delicious barbeque afterwards. As a surprise, the directors presented all staff with an Apple IPAD as Christmas gift. It was a very generous gift, and we would like to thank all the bosses.