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Top alumni award goes to Seven Group Holdings CFO
Winners of the 2021 Alumni Awards, from left, Dr Haydn Dodds (Young Alumni), Ms Karni Liddell (Community Achievement) and Mr Richard Richards (Robert Stable Medal).
The University’s first cohort from 1989 is small in number but rich in individual success stories. They include Olympian Mr Andrew Baildon (Class of 1989), hotels supremo Dr Jennifer Cronin (Class of 1989), and legal figure Mr Derek Cronin (Class of 1989). Now another ‘892’ has been recognised for his stellar business career, with the Chief Financial Officer of Seven Group Holdings Mr Richard Richards (Class of 1989) taking Bond’s top alumni accolade, the Robert Stable Medal.
Mr Richards was presented with the prize at the 2021 Alumni Awards and reminisced about the special connection between the University’s first students. “We were a very small cohort, 322 people, and everyone knew everyone,” Mr Richards says. “We were forged in a crucible. First private university in Australia. We had to be risk-takers, ambitious, adaptable, entrepreneurial, probably a little unconventional and fully committed. I’m just so proud, looking back 30 years ago, that I was given that opportunity because it’s certainly given me a set of skills that has allowed me to pursue a business career that I would not have been able to achieve had I not got that exceptional education.”
Paralympian Ms Karni Liddell (Class of 2001) took the Community Achievement Award. Ms Liddell won bronze medals in swimming at the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics and went on to become a disability and domestic violence campaigner, particularly where the two intersect.
The Young Alumni Award went to Dr Haydn Dodds (Class of 2018) who took the road less travelled by medical interns, choosing to complete his practical training at a small, remote hospital in Alice Springs. He took classes in the local Arrernte language to better connect with his Aboriginal patients. The alumni awards ceremony was the highlight of Homecoming 2021 which blended online and in-person events to involve those alumni who could not make the traditional pilgrimage back to campus due to border closures.
Watch the video to see highlights from the alumni awards ceremony.
Vale dear Mrs Messel
Mrs Patricia ‘Pip’ Messel has passed away in Hobart on November 1, at the age of 96. Mrs Messel was the widow of Bond University’s third Vice Chancellor Professor Harry Messel AC, CBE. Professor Messel also assumed the role of Executive Chancellor and had a huge influence on the University’s development during the 1990s.
Mrs Messel accompanied her husband to many Bond events and was a familiar and well-liked face across campus, beautifully counteracting Professor Messel’s rather gruff tenor and imposing personality. She remained on the Gold Coast after the death of Professor Messel in 2015 and together with a few friends continued to attend lunches at the University Club. Mrs Messel is survived by her three daughters and many grandchildren, including James who graduated from Bond in 2016.