TSS Business Breakfast with guests Nathan Sharpe and Grant Polwarth

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The TSS Foundation proudly presents the next event in our 2026 Business Breakfast Series, featuring Old Boys Nathan Sharpe and Grant Polwarth.

NATHAN SHARPE

Former Rugby Union player Nathan Sharpe is one of Australia’s most decorated rugby players. When he retired as captain of the Wallabies in 2012 he was Australia’s most-capped forward with 116 tests and the second most-capped player ever.

He was involved in Tri- Nations, multiple International trophies against all key Rugby Union rivals, Bledisloe cup wins as well as 3 x Rugby World Cup campaigns, running very close to a win in Sydney in the 2003 final. His durability saw him become the most-capped player in Super Rugby history at the time with 154 games for the Queensland Reds and Western Force. In his final year of international rugby in 2012, he was awarded, for the second time, the prestigious John Eales Medal, for Wallaby Player of the Year.

Nathan has been actively involved in the world of playing professional Rugby Union for fifteen years, he was also actively involved in the media and, as a result, has developed powerful communication skills and people management skills during this time. Nathan is the current President of Rugby Australia. Nathan is now actively involved in the Resource and Construction sector as a director of Talisman, a specialist mining services group supplying ESG advisory, mining advisory, mining operations expertise, team membership and frontline leadership development solutions to the mining sector throughout Australia.

Covering leadership, change management and team membership and leadership culture, Nathan combines his on-field experience and business knowledge to deliver sessions that benefit companies and their operations at the work face.

GRANT POLWARTH

A proud TSS Old Boy with two sons currently at the school and a daughter at St Hilda’s, Grant Polwarth is a mining engineer and senior resources executive whose career spans over twenty years in the Australian and international mining industry – from underground mine sites to boardrooms, and from operational troubleshooting to corporate strategy.

Grant graduated from UNSW with First Class Honours in Mining Engineering before spending his early career in a range of technical, statutory, and operational leadership roles across the Australian mining sector. Grant has been CEO of Gloucester Resources, Managing Director of Lake Coal and in 2016 co-founded Fitzroy Australia Resources as CEO and Managing Director, leading the acquisition of major mining assets from global miner Vale on behalf of US Private Equity and leading the business through growth, new mine approvals, and M&A activity.

In 2021, Grant co-founded and is a Director of the Talisman Group of Companies alongside Nathan Sharpe and the broader Talisman team. Talisman is a diversified mining services business spanning technical advisory, ESG, decarbonisation, mine operations contracting, and mine ownership.

This networking breakfast is one not to be missed. Secure your seat today.