Women on Boards Networking Event

Mentor biographies

Andrew Rentoul

Andrew is a partner with Blake Dawson Waldron. His key area of practice is corporate advisory where he advises a wide range of clients in major transactions and commercial matters. In addition to specialising in mergers and acquisitions, corporate regulation, infrastructure projects, resources and government projects, Andrew advises directors on corporate governance practices.

He is a regular presenter on corporate governance, directors' duties and probity, and advises a range of private and public sector boards on these issues.

Tony Denholder

Tony is a partner with Blake Dawson Waldron. He practices in the corporate and resources team and has nationally recognised expertise in native title law. Most recently, Tony was one of the lead lawyers on the development of a $1.4 billion alumina refinery in Gladstone, Queensland.

Tony is actively involved in industry associations, for example as Vice President of the Queensland branch of the Australian Mining and Petroleum Law Association (AMPLA). He is also currently a member of the Griffith University Law Faculty Practical Legal Training Advisory Committee. In 2002, Tony was named as one of Australia's legal "Young Guns" in a national legal publication. He holds a post graduate law degree from Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

Anne Gately

Anne Gately has recently been appointed as Director – Marketing Communications at Blake Dawson Waldron. She is responsible for the team which delivers the firm's external branding and profiling through the worldwide web, the media, print and electronic publications, and public relations activities. With more than 16 years experience in professional services marketing in Australia and South East Asia, Anne has developed programs and run projects to position a range of brands and organisations for maximum impact. Anne's background includes 13 years in the education and arts sectors and she places great value in improving leadership and management skills of all Australians but particularly of women. She actively pursues opportunities to practise what she preaches and is a regular speaker at conferences, motivational session and training programs.

Anne is a non-executive director of the Australian Institute of Management and of The CyberInstitute.

Anne's formal qualifications are MA (SYD); Dip Ed (UNSW); Dip Drama in ~d (Newcastle-on- Tyne, UK). She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and is also on the Board. She is a member the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Colin Ryan

Colin Ryan has had substantial experience as a partner (and Managing Partner) of a major international accounting firm and as a member of Boards and other Committees. He is a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce (University of Queensland), a Fellow, Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants and a Fellow, Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Board Memberships

  • Brisbane Airport Corporation Ltd and Chairman, Finance Audit and Risk Management Committee
  • Chairman, Tomato Technologies Ltd
  • RP Data Ltd
  • Softlink Ltd

Community

  • Chairman, Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation
  • Member, Health and Medical Research Council Queensland
  • Chairman and Royal Childrens Hospital & District Health Council

Previous

  • Deputy Chairman, Port of Brisbane Corporation; Chairman, Audit Committee; Member, Commercial Committee; Member, Strategy Committee, Managing Partner, Arthur Andersen, Queensland (1982 – 1987) and Partner, Arthur Andersen (1979 – 1987), Member, Board of Management, MBA School, University of Queensland (1987 – 1992), Chairman, Royal Children’s Hospital Board (1983 – 1992).

Dr Neil Flanagan

Dr Neil Flanagan is a best-selling author; a management strategist; and a conference, keynote, and motivational speaker. His other interests are the 3R’s—Rugby, Red wine, and Revolutionising people’s thinking.

Neil’s current book, The Management Bible, is one of Australia’s best-selling business books. It features in another of his management resources, The Online Manager (just visit justasktom.com for a free tour).

Conference organisers have labelled Neil’s entertaining and informative presentations as must-have inclusions to their programs. The Boards of private-sector and non-profit organisations, cooperatives, and Government-owned corporations have all benefited from his expertise as a strategist and facilitator.

Neil is a Board member of Karuna, the hospice and palliative-care provider whose mission is to improve the comfort and quality of life for dying people and their families and friends.

Dr Cherrell Hirst

AO MBBS, BEdSt, DUniv(Hon), FAICD

Dr Hirst is a medical practitioner and for almost 20 years was Director of the Wesley Breast Clinic where she was a strong promoter of breast cancer screening to the community. Dr Hirst is Chancellor of Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Chairman of the Brisbane Girls’ Grammar Board of Trustees and Peplin Biotech Limited and has recently assumed the Chair of Hutchison’s Child Care Services. She is a Director of Suncorp Metway Limited, Australasian Medical Insurance Limited, Opera Queensland and the Breast Cancer Network of Australia. She was named “Queenslander of the Year” in 1995 and was became an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1998.

Barry O’Sullivan

Executive Coach and Company Director

Coaching has a key role in leadership development and will be my core activity over the next 5 years

I currently undertake only not-for-profit Board appointments. However, my coaching clientele includes many corporate and government directors.

  • A senior partner in KPMG up to 30 June 2001 and now applying 34 years of Big 5 experience to coaching.
  • Performance indicator at KPMG was to be ‘a critical sounding board’ for CEOs of major clients
  • In 3 years as an executive coach, has won appointment to coaching panels of 3 Queensland icons.
  • Clientele extends across government, corporate and services sectors and is leadership-based not technical/functional-based.
  • One to one coaching of over 100 leaders (of which 40% to date are women)

Directorship philosophy

In my career with KPMG I worked with hundreds of boards of directors and attended thousands of board meetings. That experience left me with a clear list of positives and negatives that new directors should be aware of:

Lindsay MacDonald

Lindsay MacDonald is a partner in a family grazing business at Blackall in Queensland. She has been active in local community organisations over many years and held office-bearing positions in a number of organisations, having been Secretary and President of the Barcoo Pastoral Society, Branch President of the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association, and held all positions in the Blackall Forum Women’s Public Speaking Club.

Lindsay has a particular interest in communications issues as they affect Rural and Remote Australia. Lindsay served on the Telecom Australia Consumer Council at National level for five years from 1987, and conjointly on the Austel Consumer Council for two years. She was on the board of the Regional Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (Networking the Nation) since its establishment in 1997 until its conclusion in March 2004. In October 1999 Lindsay was appointed to the Steering Committee of the Regional Summit called by the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. John Anderson, and served on that committee for 12 months.

At a local community level, Lindsay was recognised as a Consumer Champion (one of three who have made a difference in the field of telecommunications) in the publication “In the Consumer Interest – A Selected History of Consumer Affairs in Australia 1945-2000”

In 2002 Lindsay was awarded the inaugural Asia Pacific Information and Communications Technology award for “outstanding contribution to the development of Information and Communications Technology in Regional Australia”. In April 2003 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for “distinguished service in gaining telecommunications services for isolated Australians.”

Helen Gluer

Helen took up the role of Chief Financial Officer for Brisbane City Council in August 2001. As Chief Financial Officer (and Divisional Manager for the City Governance Division) Helen is responsible for maintaining a clear focus on management of the city’s financial and physical assets. Brisbane City Council has an annual budget in the region of $ 1.5 billion. Helen is a Director of the Gladstone Port Authority and Chair of the Authority's Audit Committee

Nerolie Withnall

BA, LLB (University of Sydney)

  • Director, Campbell Brothers Group (listed on ASX) and Chair of the Audit and Compliance Committee
  • Director, Pan Australian Resources NL (listed on ASX)
  • Director, Alchemia Ltd (listed on ASX) and Chairman of the Audit and Risk Management Committee
  • Director and Board Chairman, QM Technologies Pty Ltd a privately owned technology company with operations in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne
  • Local Director and Board Chairman, Snow Factories Pty Ltd ACN 104 643 209, a company substantially owned by interests in Dubai, involved in the artificial production of snow
  • Director, Major Sports Facilities Authority, the statutory body which owns Suncorp Stadium, Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre (formerly ANZ Stadium), Sleeman Centre, Brisbane Entertainment Centre and Dairy Farmers Stadium, and Chairman of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee (Queensland Government appointment)
  • Consultant (former partner), Minter Ellison Lawyers
  • Member, Takeovers Panel, the statutory body established under the Corporations Act to adjudicate on disputes arising in relation to takeovers and changes in control of Australian corporations (Federal Government appointment)
  • Member, Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee, a statutory committee established under the ASIC Act to advise the Minister on the operations of corporate laws and their on-going reform, and Convenor (chairman) of its national Legal Committee (Federal Government appointments)
  • Council (board) member, Australian National Maritime Museum, which owns and operates the Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour, Sydney (Federal Government appointment)
  • Board Member, The Brisbane Institute
  • Board Member, National Seniors Foundation
  • Board Member, Centre for Rugby Studies
  • Trustee, Queensland Museum Foundation
  • Member, Australian Institute of Company Directors
  • Former Chairman (1997 2002), Queensland Museum Board (Queensland Government appointment)
  • Former board member of the Brisbane City Council Holding Entity Advisory Board (a committee established by the BCC and chaired by the Lord Mayor to act as the holding entity and reporting body for the business units within BCC commercialised under the National Competition Principles)
  • Former Chairman, Brisbane Transport (one of the commercialised BCC business units, responsible for the bus and ferry transport services in Brisbane)
  • Former Director, Brisbane Festival
  • Former Director, Darling Downs Bacon Co-operative Association Ltd and Darling Downs Foods Ltd

Dr Gary Deed

Graduating from the University of Queensland in 1985 with a M.B., B.S. Dr Gary Deed is the Director of the Clinical and Natural Health Centre Pty Ltd that provides consultation in nutritional and complementary therapies. Gary is a Fellow of the Australiasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, a member of the National Herbalist Association of Australia, Board member of Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine and is both the President and Director of Diabetes Australia, Queensland.

Gary is a passionate and experienced lecturer; he currently lectures at the University of New England and was a lecturer at ACNMs Brisbane campus for six years. Gary continues his relationship with ACNM as the Australian Medical Association's representative on ACNMs College Council. Gary brings with him vast knowledge of the Natural Medicine industry as well as current trends in both education and practice. Gary has a firm commitment to improving his own education and skills and has recently extended his commitments by assisting families with autistic persons in Malaysia at the request of the Catholic Mission.

Bronwyn Morris

Chairman, BCom, FCA, MAICD

Bronwyn, originally appointed a QR Board Director between July 1995 and March 1997, was subsequently appointed QR’s Chairman in July 1999. She is a non-executive Director of Colorado Group Limited, Stanwell Corporation Limited and the Office of Economic Development for the City of Brisbane Limited. She is also Treasurer of the Gold Coast Hospital Foundation, a member of the Gold Coast District Health Council and a Councillor of the Queensland Library Foundation.

Bronwyn is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years experience providing audit and corporate services to a range of business and industry sectors. She is a former partner of KPMG and worked with that firm (and its predecessors) in Brisbane, London and the Gold Coast. Bronwyn is a former Chairman of the Queensland State Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and has served on both the State and National Councils of the Institute. She is a former Director of the Queensland Office of Financial Supervision.

Directorships

  • Queensland Rail (Chairman, Member of Audit and Compliance Committee, Member of Risk Management Committee, Member of Remuneration and Succession Committee)
  • Colorado Group Ltd (Chairman of Audit Committee, Member of Remuneration Committee)
  • Stanwell Corporation Limited (Chairman of Audit and Risk Management Committee)
  • Office of Economic Development for the City of Brisbane Limited
  • Councillor, Queensland Library Foundation
  • Member, Compliance Committee of the WorldMark South Pacific Club, a Managed Investment Scheme developed and managed by Trendwest Resorts South Pacific Pty Ltd
  • Former director, Queensland Office of Financial Supervision (Member of Audit Committee)
  • Treasurer, Gold Coast Hospital Foundation
  • Member, Gold Coast District Health Council

Ross Dunning AC

Ross Dunning is currently Chairman of the Port of Brisbane Corporation and the Gladstone Port Authority. He is also a Non-executive Director of Toll Holdings Limited, Brisbane Airport Corporation Limited, and Australian Infrastructure Fund Limited.

He occupied the position of Chief Executive Officer of Evans Deakin Industries Limited from August 1994 until June 2001, following lengthy service in the Public Sector areas of the Queensland Government. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of Evans Deakin Industries Limited in June 1995 and was appointed Managing Director from August 2000. In March 2001, Mr Dunning was appointed as a Non-executive Director of Downer EDI Limited, an Australian Public Company which acquired Evans Deakin Industries in February 2001. He retired from this Board at the AGM in October 2003.

Ross served as Chairman of Pacific Power and of Powercoal in the period 1 January 2001 until July 2003. He continues to assist in the finalisation of two (2) remaining Pacific Power contracts, expected prior to December 2005. He was Commissioner for Railways in 1989 and had occupied several senior management positions in the period 1976-1989. His expertise in areas of project management and railway electrification is nationally recognised.

Ross has occupied positions as Chairman of the National Public Works Council and The Capital Works Task Force Committee, Deputy Chairman of the Brisbane South Regional Health Authority, Trustee of the Queensland Government’s Superannuation Funds. He was inaugural President of the Australasian Railway Association 1995-97 and Chairman of the Queensland Cultural Centre Trust.

Lynette Palmen

Lynette Palmen is the Founder and Managing Director of Women's Network Australia. Established in 1991 the organisation now boasts a membership in excess of 1200 with over 35,000 women benefiting from its existence annually.

Lynette is a business educator and facilitator, her understanding and empathy is insightful. Many turn to her for direction, motivation and inspiration. She gained this understanding after many years in the financial and investment industry. So much was her concern for the needs of women to come to terms with their own destiny she developed seminars and workshops to educate them in the world of finance and investment planning. Her ability to niche market products and services for this industry earned her recognition and accolades within the financial markets.

Board Appointments

  • Board Member Ministerial Taskforce on Work and Family Deputy ChairPremier's Council for Women
  • Chair The Lord Mayor's CEO Challenge Board Member Queensland Institute of Medical Research
  • Co-Chair The Lord Mayor's Business and Domestic Violence 'Crossing the Boundaries' Strategy
  • Board Member Advisory Committee for the Centre for Movement Education and Research, Griffith University
  • Board Member QUT Brisbane Graduate School of Business Advisory Committee

Dr Sheila O’Neill

Dr Sheila O’Neill is a Women’s Health Physician. She is currently Clinical Director of The Betty Byrne Henderson Women’s Health & Research Centre at the Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital.

She is also the General-Secretary of the International Menopause Society and a past President of the Australasian Menopause Society. Her major research interest is ageing in women and she is a principal investigator for the LAW study (longitudinal assessment of ageing in women) which is a 5 year observational study of ageing in a cohort of 500 Brisbane women. She is on a number of advisory boards including the Medical & Scientific Advisory Committee of Osteoporosis Australia and is actively involved in medical education.

Kylie Hill

Kylie is an economist who works as an investment advisory with Goldman Sachs JB Were. She is an independent director with UnitingCare, Queensland, which provides services to the community under the brands of UnitingHealthCare (incorporating the Wesley, St Andrews and Sunshine Coast Hospitals), Lifeline Community Care and BlueCare. It is the second largest employer in Queensland and has revenues of over $600 million.

Kylie is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an associate with the Australian Securities Institute. She has worked with Goldman Sachs JB Were since 1996, prior to which she worked as an economist with Econotech and as a policy advisor to the Commonwealth Government.

Kylie completed her Economics degree at the University of New England and then went onto a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours at the University of Melbourne and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance from the Securities Institute of Australia. She has also studied at the University of California, Santa Barbara, under the Education Abroad Program.

Kylie has a strong interest in equestrian events as both a spectator and participant and ran the Gold Coast Half Marathon in 2000. She also has a keen interest in farming and intend to acquire some land for this purpose in the near future. Kylie is an active participant in the Plan International Foster Parents Scheme, a founding member of the Gracemere Book Club and a member of the Queensland Writers Centre.

Kathryn Campbell

Kathy is a highly skilled and well-respected accounting and business information systems professional with extensive experience across a range of public and private sector organisations. Kathy has significant industry experience in financial services, private and public health, professional services, utilities and distribution.

Kathy serves as a Non-Executive Director with the Gladstone Area Water Board, UnitingCare and Uniting HealthCare. She is a member of UnitingCare’s Governance Committee and Uniting HealthCare’s Audit and Risk Committee. Kathy has recently completed six months as Interim Chairperson of Uniting HealthCare. She is a member of the South East Queensland Regional Electricity Council and works part time as a Principal Consultant with Acumen Alliance.

Kathy is a CPA, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and, in 2000, was named Executive Woman of the Year by Women in Information Technology.

Margaret Keech MP

Member for Albert
Minister for Tourism, Fair Trading and Wine Industry Development

Margaret Keech was first elected to Parliament in 2001 as the Member for Albert.

Mrs Keech has a strong small business, community service and education background. She is a qualified teacher, has a Master of Arts, a Bachelor of Economics, and Graduate Diplomas in Teaching and Applied Linguistics. Immediately prior to entering State Parliament, Mrs Keech was a lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology.

She was Labor Caucus Secretary before being elevated to the Beattie Ministry, a member of the Scrutiny of Legislation Parliamentary Committee, chair of a Budget Estimates Committee A and chair of the Ministerial Aquaculture Committee.

Tom Barton MP

Member for Waterford (1992)
Minister for State Development 2001-2004
Minister for Employment, Training and Industrial Relations 2004

Before entering State Parliament Mr Barton’s career spanned both the union movement and business. He went on to become the General Secretary of the Trades and Labor Council from 1990 to 1992 and was also a member of the ACTU Interstate Executive for the same period.

His business appointments include founding director of Sunsuper – the largest private sector superannuation fund in the state, trustee of Gosuper, trustee of Q-Super, director of Queensland Investment Corp and chairman of the Queensland Electricity Supply Industry Superannuation board. Tom’s other directorships included chairmanship of Meeanderham Pty Ltd, which managed a 186 room international hotel in Townsville and the Workplace Resources Centre, a management consultancy.

Tom was also Deputy Chairman of the Office of Economic Development for the City of Brisbane, which assisted businesses to set up in Brisbane and promote business in the city, interstate and overseas.

Before taking up his new appointment, Tom was formerly the Minister for State Development in the second Beattie Government and Police and Corrective Services Minister in the first Beattie Government. He was the Minister for Environment and Heritage in the third Goss Government.

Sandra Sampson

  • Fellow of Australian Institute of Banking and Finance
  • Associate Australian Compliance Institute
  • Diploma of Financial Planning
  • Certificate of Superannuation Management
  • Authorised FPA CPD Assessor

Competencies

Sandra has more than 30 years experience in various aspects of the Financial Services industry. In the last 13 years she has focused primarily on the Financial Planning area, working as a Financial Planner, a Regional Manager of a sales force of 12 planners, the Compliance and Training Manager for a large regional bank with some 250 proper authority holders, and manager of a niche Financial Planning operation. For the last 3 years, she has operated her own consultancy business specializing in compliance and training matters. She has strong competencies and knowledge based on experience in establishing, managing and restructuring financial planning practices, and in best practice compliance processes.

Sandra also has a long history of volunteer involvement in the sports industry, particularly tennis, squash and golf. She is currently on the board of Womensport Queensland, which is embarking on a complete governance re-structure. In recent years she has been on the board of Women’s Golf Australia and has been State President of Women’s Golf Queensland.

Rowena McNally

One of the original directors of Burnett Water, Rowena's other positions held include Sugar Industry Commissioner, Chair of the Sugar Authority, and also Chair of the Mount Isa Water Board and Chicken, Meat Industry Committee

Professor Beth Woods

Foundation Professor of Agribusiness at the University of Queensland’s Gatton Campus. She has a background in agricultural extension and research management in Queensland, specialising in field crops and horticulture. She was formerly a member of the CSIRO Board and is the current Chair of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.

Pat Conroy

Pat Conroy was admitted to practise as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1965. Soon after, Pat and her husband moved to Mount Isa where they commenced their own private practice. Throughout each of her four pregnancies, Pat continued working, using her share of partnership profits to pay for childcare. From the beginning, Pat found attendance at legal conferences to be a means of preventing professional isolation but her interests outside the law have also been considerable. She served for a brief period on the Mount Isa City Council and was instrumental in establishing the first Aboriginal Legal Aid Office in Mount Isa.

Pat was also the Founding President of the Mount Isa Welfare Council. After moving to Gympie, Pat was appointed Vice-President of the Women’s Refuge and was the Founding President of the Detached Youth Organisation. Pat then moved to Brisbane where she practised full-time for eleven years. In 1996, Pat was appointed as a Director of SEQEB and is currently on the Council of the Queensland Law Society and Qld Power Transmission Corp.

Elizabeth Jameson

Elizabeth is a corporate/commercial lawyer who has provided legal and related advice and assistance to a large range of both for-profit and non-profit organisations. She combines her legal experience with her wealth of practical experience as a member of a large number of boards. She currently chairs Queensland Biennial Festival of Music Ltd and is a board member of Brisbane Girls’ Grammar School, Association of Independent Schools of Queensland and the Council of the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Annabelle Chaplain

Annabelle Chaplain is Chairman of the Office of Economic Development for the City of Brisbane Ltd, Chairman of Honeycombes Property Group Pty Ltd, Deputy Chairman of South East Queensland Water Corporation Ltd and a director of Hyne & Son Pty Ltd. In 2002, she joined Sunsuper Financial Services Pty Ltd as a director and also became a member of the Financial Taskforce established by Brisbane City Council to review its proposed North South Bypass Tunnel Project. A fellow of the Institute of Company Directors, she has over twenty years experience in banking, most recently as a member of ABN AMRO Australia’s Management Committee as head of its Public Sector Client Management business from which she resigned in 2002. Annabelle holds an MBA from the University of Melbourne, a Diploma from the Securities Institute of Australia and an Arts Degree majoring in Economics and Mandarin Chinese from Griffith University.

Sallyanne Atkinson AO

B.A.Hon., F.A.I.M., F.A.I.C.D.

Sallyanne Atkinson is special representative for Queensland, South East Asia in the Queensland Government. She is currently a director of several public companies and associations including APN News and Media, ABC Learning Centres Ltd (Chair), The Australian Ballet, Binna Burra Pty Ltd, The Australian Ireland Fund, the Waltzing Matilda Centre at Winton (Chair), Brisbane Writers Festival and was Deputy Mayor of the Olympic Village for Sydney 2000. Sallyanne is the former Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Australian Senior Trade Commissioner to Paris and Chair of Queensland Tourism.

As directly elected Lord Mayor of Australia’s largest local authority, with a billion-dollar Budget and a workforce of 7000, Sallyanne was responsible for major structural and fiscal reforms in the Council and a change of image and attitude for the city.

Internationally she has represented Australia to the International Olympic Committee, in major trade and business forums such as the OECD and the International Chamber of Commerce and spoken at conferences in Europe, Asia and the United States.

She was the Leader of the Brisbane bid for the Olympics of 1992, a member of the Melbourne and Sydney Olympic bidding committee and was a founding member of the Committee to Organise the Games in 2000.

Previous board directorship include; Caltex, Tricare, Barclay Mowlem, Fujitsu and Austa Energy. A journalist by training, Sallyanne has written two books on Brisbane and numerous articles for newspapers and magazines.

Martin Kriewaldt

Martin is a director of Suncorp and was the Chairman at the time of the creation of the Suncorp Metway Group in 1996. He is Chairman of Opera Qld Ltd, GWA International Ltd , Oil Search Ltd and the Australian Major performing Arts Group. He is a consultant to Allens Ltd and a member for the Redeemer Lutheran College Council

Fiona Guthrie

Fiona Guthrie is a member of two paid boards - Energex Retail Pty Ltd and Insurance Enquiries and Complaints Ltd. In her voluntary life, she is the Deputy Chair of the Consumers' Federation of Australia and the Chair of the Centre for Credit and Consumer Law at Griffith University (as well as being an executive member of a number of other community organisations). She has been a member of the Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council, a body advising the Hon. Ross Cameron the Federal Minister responsible for consumer affairs, since 1997. Fiona's community involvement extends back over 15 years.

In her professional life, Fiona runs her own business. She specialises in program evaluations, planning, facilitation, policy development and community consultations. She holds a B.A. (psychology) and an M.B.A. (finance).

Dr Jane Wilson

Dr Wilson has a background in medicine and finance, with a special interest in the commercialisation of research in the biotechnology sector. She has a Masters degree in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School where she studied agribusiness and the health sector. She currently enjoys a career as a company director and is President of the Australian Institute of Company Directors Qld Division. At present, she is serving as chair of Horticulture Australia Ltd, and as a director for IMBcom Ltd , the commercialisation arm of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Bligh Ventures Ltd, Nature Australia Ltd, the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and the Brisbane Riverfestival Ltd.

She is involved in a number of charitable and cultural organisations and has also served on the Qld Government Biotechnology Taskforce and the boards of Energex Ltd, WorkCover Queensland and AGEN Ltd.

Katie Bickford

Katie has been Director-Corporate with The Phillips Group in Brisbane since 2001. Her career started as a journalist before she became Public Relations Manager for CSR, Public Affairs Manager for Qantas in Queensland, Northern Territory and Japan, consultant to the Channel Nine cultural diversity campaign (including winning Riverfest from Channel 7) and National Business Development Manager with lawyers, Ebsworth and Ebsworth.

Katie was appointed as a director of the Australian Baseball Federation in 2002. Her expertise in business development, marketing and media is focussing ABF on growing its revenue streams and profiling the sport more widely in Australia.

Carolyn Barker

Carolyn Barker is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Institute of Management Qld & NT and Managing Director of The CyberInstitute Pty Ltd, the Institute's international online learning company.

She is responsible for ensuring the Institute's tens of thousands of corporate and personal members, state and territory wide, have access to contemporary management and business information and solutions, as well as 21st Century development opportunities.

Carolyn is the Managing Editor of Management Today, Australia's only national specialist management magazine and Series Editor of the Management Today's book series, a national collaboration with McGraw-Hill publishers. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and sits on the National Board of the Institute. She is Chairman of The Queensland Orchestra and the Advisory Board of the Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Graduate School of Management. She is a Board Member of the Brisbane City Council City Business Advisory Board and TheCyberInstitute Pty Ltd.

Desley Boyle MP

Member for Cairns
Minister for Local Government and Planning and Women 2004

Desley has been Member for Cairns since her election in 1998. In that time she has served on numerous parliamentary committees, including several Estimates Committees, the Gaming Review Committee of 1999 and Ministerial Legislative Committees on Employment, Education, Health, Housing, Treasury, Youth, Arts and Sports.

Desley's background is as a senior psychologist in her own practice, Desley Boyle and Associates. She holds masters degrees in business administration and psychology.

Desley has a long history of involvement in the Cairns community. From 1988 to 1994 she was an elected representative on the Cairns City Council, serving for two years as deputy mayor.

She has been President of FNQ Employment, chairperson of FNQ Family Resource Service and spokesperson for FNQ Friends of the ABC. Desley has also been a board member of many community and business organisations such as the Northern Australia Development Council and Lifeline FNQ. She holds membership in many other organisations.

Desley has three children and two grandchildren. Her interests include politics, theatre, film and contemporary music.