The Australian Maths Trust (AMT) has announced a significant change in its leadership team, with outgoing chair Geoff Shuetrim handing over the role to David Williams, and the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer, Danny Pikler.
Thank you, Geoff
Geoff Shuetrim is stepping down after almost 10 years on the AMTT Board, including the past two years as Chair. Reflecting on his time in the role, Geoff described it as an extraordinary pleasure and a real honour to help the organisation deliver the experiences it brings to Australian students in mathematics and informatics.
While Geoff is stepping down as Chair, he isn’t stepping away from AMT altogether. He plans to stay involved with the organisation, including as a contributor to the Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) committee.
Geoff leaves the AMT in a strong position. 2025 was a standout year for the organisation, shaped by the impact of IMO 2025, the launch of the AMT alumni network, growth in specialist staff supporting the volunteer network, and the establishment of the Australian Informatics Olympiad Committee. New long-term sponsorship support from Jane Street and Optiver also strengthens AMT’s capacity to invest in its mission in the years ahead.
Welcome, David
Taking over as Chair is David Williams, who has been closely involved with AMT for close to three years, including time on the Board and finance committee, and a period as Deputy CEO working alongside Mike Clapper.
David has spoken about the importance of the mathematics and informatics community around the Board table, naming fellow Board members Professor Norm Do, Dr Ben Burton, Dr Sally Tsang and John Bament as key to keeping AMT connected to its grassroots, volunteers and community.
He’s also highlighted the enormous contribution of AMT’s volunteers and the growing alumni community as central to what makes the organisation work, describing them as the foundation of AMT’s unique ability to create problems, run competitions, nurture talent and support students through to Olympiad level.
Introducing our new CEO, Danny Pikler
AMT is delighted to announce that Danny Pikler will be joining the organisation as CEO towards the end of this year.
Danny brings 12 years’ experience building and growing a business in student science education, along with a background as a science graduate, graduate teacher and classical pianist. He also has a personal connection to AMT, having taken part in a mathematics summer school with Deputy Chair Norm Do back in 2004.
Building on a strong foundation
Alongside these leadership changes, AMT is also welcoming four new Directors to the Board. Together with a staff team recognised for the way it delivers AMT’s competitions and Olympiad programs, the organisation is well positioned to build on the momentum of 2025 and continue its mission to develop a nation of creative problem solvers.
Looking ahead
The next phase for AMT will be about broadening the organisation’s reach and impact, a task the incoming CEO, the Board and wider community will work through together in the months ahead. As David Williams put it, success will depend on the continued commitment of AMT’s volunteers and alumni, who remain, as he described them, the secret sauce of the organisation.
AMT thanks Geoff Shuetrim for his years of service and welcomes David Williams and Danny Pikler as it heads into this next chapter.
Full Video Transcript
Geoff Shuetrim, outgoing Chair, AMTT Board
Hello, I’m Geoff Shuetrim, the outgoing Chair of the Australian Maths Trust Board. And with me here today is David Williams, who will be the incoming Chair of the AMT.
Today, we’d like to share with you some important changes in the leadership of the AMT, including the change in the Chair of the Board. Perhaps most excitingly, we have a new CEO who will be starting with us in coming months. We also have four new directors that’ll be joining the Board. David will be able to share more details of that with you in a moment.
I am coming to the end of almost 10 years on the AMTT Board, and it’s been an extraordinary pleasure for me to have served in this way over that period of time. It’s been a real honour to Chair the Board in the last two years, and to be involved in assisting the organisation to deliver the extraordinary experiences that it brings to Australian students in both informatics and mathematics.
Though I’m stepping down as the Chair of the Board, I will remain within the AMT community, and I look forward to being a contributor to at least the CAT committee in coming years.
As I step down as Board Chair, I’m confident that the AMT is in a great position. 2025 was an amazing year for us. The impact of the IMO 2025 is still being felt in the changes it’s made to the energy of the organisation and the way in which we’re impacting students around Australia. There are many other changes that have happened recently that put the organisation in a great position for the future.
Our AMT alumni network has been set up. We have more staff than ever, with specific mathematics and informatics expertise to support our volunteer network. We have just set up the Australian Informatics Olympiad Committee to engage in the design and ongoing improvement of our informatics program into the future. We’re well positioned for the future with the new and long-term sponsorship support from both Jane Street and Optiver, and I look forward to seeing the impact that has on our capacity to invest in the mission of the AMT in coming years.
As I step down as Chair, I’d like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the people that have supported me in this role, in particular, the members of the Board, an extraordinary group of individuals with total commitment to this organisation and its mission. I’d also like to thank the staff and the executive team who have shown total commitment to the organisation as well, stepping up wherever required to deliver on the extraordinary things that we have made possible over the last couple of years. I’d also like to make special mention of Mike Clapper, who returned to the role of CEO of the Maths Trust through 2025, and I’d like to thank the many people of the Australian Maths Trust community that have provided me with counsel, with their wisdom, with their experience and support. People like Peter Taylor, Jacqui Ramagge, Cheryl Praeger, and others.
And finally, I’d like to thank David Williams. We’ve worked very closely together over the last few years. He’s been a great support, a problem solver, a mentor, and an invaluable part of the support network that I’ve relied on. I have every confidence in his ability to take this organisation forward to achieve great things in coming years.
David Williams, incoming Chair, AMTT Board
Geoff, thank you for your very kind words, and thank you to the Board for their belief and support in me.
It’s been a journey now for almost three years, being on the Board and the finance committee, stepping off and being the deputy CEO working with the one and only Mike Clapper, which was a brilliant year, a brilliant time to get to know the organisation. And at the end of that, coming back onto the Board, and now assuming the role of Chair.
I wouldn’t be able to do this, and I wouldn’t want to do it, without having the real strength of the mathematics and informatics community around the Board table with me. So Professor Norm Do, Dr Ben Burton, Dr Sally Tsang, John Bament, those people have the connections back into the grassroots, the volunteer, the community, and that’s the only way this is going to be successful. But it will be successful.
What else I saw during my time on staff was the enormous contribution of the volunteer community, and now supplementing that is the alumni community. These two are really the secret sauce of AMT. These are the moat around the organisation that gives us this unique ability to create problems, run competitions, nurture talent, and take kids through to Olympiads. But beyond that, we want to now broaden what we do, and that will be the challenge for the incoming CEO, for the Board, for the community now over the coming months, to work out exactly what we do want to do and deliver it with perfection.
As Geoff mentioned earlier, the exciting news is appointing our new CEO, and I’m delighted to announce that Danny Pikler will be joining the Australian Maths Trust towards the end of this year. Danny comes to us after spending 12 years doing a startup and floating a business that specialised in student education in science. So he comes from the STEM world. He’s a graduate in science. He’s a graduate teacher. He’s a classical pianist. But he also comes to us with the understanding of innovation, with the understanding of growth. He participated back in 2004, having taken part in a mathematics summer school with Deputy Chair Norm Do back in 2004. So he has a great understanding and affinity for the organisation, and I think this is going to be a most exciting phase that we go into.
So as I said, it’s the next phase that is going to be so exciting. Having Danny on the team, having the new Board around us with four new directors, and having the staff who have been running the organisation with such aplomb, and so renowned in the way they are delivering our competitions and our Olympiad programs. But the next phase is going to require not just the team I’ve gone through, but we’re going to need to have our volunteers stick with us, stick with the commitment, the alumni to play their part and step up when opportunities arise, because they are an amazing group of people.
So it’s the next phase that I’m so excited about and being part of, and I hope you will also be part of that.