Hi there,

I’m Mal Walker and I’m so glad you’ve found AIEA.

All I’ve ever wanted to do is to help worthy people succeed in this competitive business world. Like just about all effective sporting coaches, I love to work with people who are potentially far better players than I ever was or could be.

I had a 20-year sales and management career in Information Technology with ComputerVision, Sun Microsystems and Silicon Graphics, amongst others. My last role as an employee was VP-APAC at Mincom Limited, now part of the ABB Group.

In semi-retirement, I founded GreyHair Alchemy (in 2002) as a platform to help well-experienced executives and managers to find meaningful work as interim managers. Even back then in the early 2000’s, the age bias was rife and so the name GreyHair was a deliberate choice. 

In 2013 I formed the Australasian Interim Executive Association and I eventually closed GreyHair in 2019 to devote myself fully to the volunteer role as AIEA's leader.

As you will see on these pages, AIEA is an institute, a guild, a fellowship, a business association, a talent pool of executive and managerial expertise.

Similar to AICD, CPA and other business organisations, AIEA provides networking, training and support services to its members. But AIEA is not academic. It is intensely business focussed. It is here to help these experienced managers find more work AND help business owners and HR Managers slash the cost of hiring them.

All I really want to do is to help ‘Freelancers’ get the recognition they deserve. Actually, you could say that I’m a freelance junkie. I’m consumed by them and their future.

In fact, the only thing I love just about as much as I love telling the AIEA story is helping other people learn to tell theirs.

That’s why I developed AIEA. And that’s why I’m writing this blog.

If ‘be my own boss’ is on your bucket list – or if, like me, it’s the only thing you’ve ever really wanted to do–you’ve come to the right place.

Why AIEA?

When I was deciding what to call us, I knew I wanted a name that matched the excitement I feel just thinking about what we’re building here.

I wanted something that would identify each of us as a freelance warrior, a business revolutionary.

Because I believe, down to my soul, that the freelancer matters. We are important. We can change the world.

A person with business experience and the opportunity to deploy it is a force in the world.

So, we’re AIEA. We’re willing to put the work into being incredible at what we do. We know that the difference between success and failure is staying with the hard stuff and figuring it out. We know we are stronger together.

I truly hope that you decide to join us.