The ARCH Magazine | Issue 3 | 2010 Autumn

Research at Bond

AUTUMN | 2010

Rules of Play:

bondies

keep Aussie sporting spirit alive 108 Bondies Who cares?

WIN a Fill us in on life A humanitarian Special edition Autumn 2010 Montblanc pen after graduation career choice 01

The hunt is on How to attract a headhunter

Vice-Chancellor’s Research atLetter Bond

Autumn 2010

Contents

CONTACT US

Editorial enquiries:

Features Up there, Cazaly

the true meaning of sport at Bond

Office of Development Bond University Gold Coast Queensland 4229 Australia Ph: +61 7 5595 4403

12 Planet earth 4 sale

combatting climate change

17 The hunt is on

how to attract a headhunter

20 Family ties

when women lead the family firm

Alumni 30 Who cares? NGO Bondies

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To join The Arch mailing list please email development@bond.edu.au

33 Sam Strauss: Learning to fly 36 Meet a mentor 38 Perry Cross: Still standing

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41 Class notes: 108 Bondies 46 World alumni chapters

30 Campus 4 Campus news 14 New wine tourism course 25 Soheil Abedian: Caring by nature

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Et Cetera

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Back in 1993, before ‘corporate social responsibility’ or ‘triple bottom line’ had become commonplace in executive conversations, the late John Bell, CEO of fashion retail giant Esprit, made a case to The Age newspaper that a business could only differentiate itself in the marketplace by its ethics.

“IN BUSINESS today, service is

not an issue, it’s something you have to have. Price and styling are all dictated by the market. The only issue left is what you stand for,” he told the newspaper.

‘What you stand for’ is integral to the Bond education, whether you are studying business, journalism, architecture or medicine. We require every Bachelor degree candidate to undertake studies in either ethics or contemporary legal issues, and our growing suite of higher education research programs is focused on achieving tangible outcomes, because it is our philosophy that a key purpose of research is to contribute new knowledge to the community.

And although it was not our original intention, this issue of The Arch has become a testament to the many Bondies who are demonstrating, in their own ways, what they stand for.

Researchers in the Faculty of Business, Technology and Sustainable Development are finding new ways to fight global warming by ‘recycling’ buildings; we track down Bond alumni who have dedicated their careers to humanitarian pursuits; business entrepreneur Soheil Abedian tells us philanthropy should be as natural as breathing and our sporting heroes reveal benefits beyond medals. Meanwhile alumnus Perry Cross shares the story of

how, after suffering massive injuries during a rugby game that left him quadriplegic, he overcame a series of challenges to become the first Australian in his condition to study a university degree on campus, forged an international career as a motivational speaker, and launched a charity to find a cure for paralysis.

It gives me a great sense of personal pride to see the impact that Bondies across the globe are having on their industries and their communities. At Bond, of course, the issue of what we stand for is simple: it’s our people. We stand for our students, our alumni, our staff and our community.

I hope you enjoy this issue of The Arch and find it informative, entertaining and inspiring. And perhaps you will let it challenge you. What do you stand for?

Professor Robert Stable Vice-Chancellor and President

3 Vice-Chancellor’s letter 28 The inaugural Bond University annual fund 40 Competition: WIN a Montblanc fountain pen

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What do you stand for?

Campus

news

Bond team overturns murder conviction

Students and staff from Bond have successfully petitioned for a retrial for Graham Stafford the man who was convicted of the 1992 murder of Leanne Holland.

Bond criminologist Paul Wilson co-wrote, with former detective Graeme Crowley, a book on the original case, Who Killed Leanne, in 2005. Wilson then invited senior teaching fellow at Bond, Joe Crowley, to petition to the Governor and then appeal for Stafford.

For two-and-a-half years, Joe Crowley and a team of students from the Faculties of Law and Humanities & Social Sciences have worked pro-bono on the petition for a rehearing on Stafford’s case, eventually achieving success on Christmas Eve in 2009.

The issue has now become a landmark case, and Wilson and Crowley are waiting to hear whether or not Stafford will once again be charged with the murder of Leanne Holland.

Medical Bondies represent ‘coming of age’ The newest members among the ranks of Bond alumni include the 59 inaugural graduates of the University’s

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undergraduate medical program.

We are thrilled to announce that each of these Bondies has secured an internship placement in local or interstate hospitals, a testament to the hard work of both students and teachers.

A medical program was a long-term dream for Bond and, when the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine opened in 2005, it represented a ‘coming of age’ in our University’s academic offering. Providing the first private undergraduate medical program in Australia and offering the first medical program to be completed in less than five years, it continued Bond’s tradition of excellence through innovation.

Staff and students recently won the BioSMART ‘Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning’ award, and the National Heart Foundation Biomedical Research PhD scholarship.

Bond will welcome Professor Mark Hirst as the new Dean, Faculty of Business, Technology and Sustainable Development, in July this year.

Professor Hirst will build on the excellent relationships that have been forged between the Faculty and businesses across Australia to further develop Bond’s reputation and contribution to the business community.

In addition, Professor Hirst will oversee the finalisation of Bond’s accreditation with the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business.

The Association is the preeminent academic accreditation body for business schools. Gaining this recognition will confirm Bond’s position as one of the leading business schools in Australia.

Research centre to inform public policy Bond University’s newest research centre, the Centre for Law, Governance and Public Policy, will officially launch in June 2010.

The Centre will conduct project-based interdisciplinary research to inform public policy and promote law reform. Its members have expertise in constitutional law, criminal law, public policy and human rights.

Professor Patrick Keyzer of the Faculty of Law is the Centre’s Foundation Director. It draws on researchers from across Bond, including Joel Butler, Gerard Carney, Anne Cullen, John Farrar, Ray Gordon, Tina Hunter, Amy Kenworthy, Ken Levy, Damien Lockie, Michael Lupton, Geraldine Mackenzie and Jodie O’Leary.

Hotel, Resort and Tourism school turns one Bond celebrated the first anniversary of the School of Hotel, Resort and Tourism Management (HRTM) in January this year.

At the anniversary celebrations Professor Elizabeth Roberts, Head of the School, said she was particularly proud of the HRTM School’s academic team, its close partnerships with tourism organisations, and its track record of placing students in positions across the tourism and hospitality sectors.

During its first year, the School created the Executive and Regional Advisory Board, which meets biannually and provides

New research school “supportive, intellectuallyrich”

support in the form of scholarships, prizes and employment opportunities for students and alumni.

The School recently celebrated the graduation of its first postgraduate students, in the Master of International Hotel and Resort Management program.

Prof. Richard Hays takes HSM helm In a significant appointment, Professor Richard Hays joined Bond University as the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine in December 2009.

Professor Hays was previously Chair of Medical Education and Head of the School of Medicine at Keele University in the UK. He was also Foundation Head of School, Foundation Chair of General Practice and Rural Medicine, and Chair of Medical Education at the James Cook University Medical School.

He intends to build on Bond University’s many existing strengths in teaching and research, and his key objective will be maintaining and developing the Faculty’s position at the cutting edge of the discipline.

Professor Hays’ appointment has enabled the Faculty’s former Dean, Professor Chris Del Mar, to focus on his role as Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Research.

Bond’s new Graduate School of Research (BUGSR) was established to cater for higher degree research (HDR) students at Bond, ensuring they were well provided for.

Research is integral to Bond University’s objective of promoting academic excellence and providing the best possible student experience.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, Professor Garry Marchant, says the Graduate School aims to “create an ethos of cooperation and support for research students through improving communication, encouraging interdisciplinary research and fostering innovative and entrepreneurial commitment to applied research in collaboration with industry and government.”

He says that by improving communication between all research stakeholders, “we are looking to enhance the distinctive character of the Bond University Higher Degree Research experience.”

The Head of the School, Professor Anne Cullen, says the BUGSR will offer “a high level of personal support while establishing an intellectually rich research environment for the benefit of all HDR candidates.”

Bondies host camp for disabled kids A group of 31 Bond students hosted a special pre-Christmas holiday camp late last year for 20 intellectually and physically disabled Gold Coast children.

Students volunteered part of their holiday time to care for children with Down’s Syndrome, Autism and Cerebral Palsy, keeping them entertained with a jam-packed program of sport, theatre, adventure and games.

The children lived on campus for three days under the supervision of the Bond volunteers, who took responsibility for their wellbeing. Highlights of the camp were a trip to Seaworld, a cruise on the amphibious Aquaduck, and a special visit from the Queensland Fire Department.

The holiday camp is the only one of its kind to be hosted by an Australian tertiary institution. It was instigated in 2008 by five Bond students, Alex Smith, Will Marsh, Andrew MacAlpine, Henry Norris and Patrick McNamee.

“The main aim of the holiday camp is to give the parents of these children a much-needed respite, so it was really quite humbling to hear the feedback from the parents – I think they enjoyed the few days to themselves as much as we enjoyed the camp,” co-organiser Alex Smith said. “The support we received from the community was also incredible.”

Vice-Chancellor’s Quality Award winners The Vice-Chancellor Quality Awards recognise Bond University academics and general staff members for excellence in teaching, research, postgraduate supervision and outstanding service. Congratulations to the 2009 winners: • Dr Sonya Marshall, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine: Research Excellence •

Dr Ahmed Khalid, Faculty of Business, Technology and Sustainable Development: Postgraduate Supervision

•

Joel Butler, Faculty of Law: Teaching Excellence

•

Russell McPhee, Bond College (pictured): Teaching Excellence (Bond College)

•

Dr Dell McStay, Faculty of Business, Technology and Sustainable Development: Outstanding Service (Academic)

•

Kirsty Mitchell, Career Development Centre: Outstanding Service (General)

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CAMPUS

Bond welcomes new dean

Education

Up there, When Bondies play sport, the pursuit of excellence means so much more than the medals they win.

IT WAS the 1956 National Mile Championships, and the

Melbourne Olympic Stadium was alive with the excitement of the 22,000 spectators who had gathered to watch long distance champion John Landy smash the world record by becoming the first runner in history to run a mile in less than four minutes.

At the third lap Landy was well in control of his race but, as he reached the corner, his dreams of breaking the world record were shattered. Without warning, fellow runner Ron Clarke clipped a competitor’s heel and tumbled to the ground.

The runners frantically leaped over the falling Clarke, but as Landy jumped, the sharp spikes of his running shoes tore into Clarke’s arm.

And as the crowd watched on, astonished, Landy pulled up, jogged back to check on Clarke’s injuries, and apologised. Then with Clarke once again on his feet and apparently unharmed, Landy urged him back into the race and began to chase the field of runners that was now well beyond him.

With only a lap and a half left of the race, Landy caught the field and, against all odds, passed it and won the 1956 Australian National Mile Championships.

John Landy’s act of chivalry cost him the world record but it gained him the respect of a nation that even now, more than half a century later, remembers him as the hero of one of the finest sporting moments in the 20th century.

Sport is the glue that brings so many communities together, providing social outlets and a sense of belonging Dan Carey (left), Shanon Zunker (middle) and Isacc Capa.

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Judith Brinsmead

Education

Sport means more than medals “Sport means more than medals” proclaimed the headline of a story in Melbourne’s The Age in November last year. Picking up on a debate between the Australian Olympic Committee and the Federal Government’s recommendations in the Independent Sport Report, the Age argued that the cost of winning Olympic gold (currently $15 million per gold medal) was not necessarily what Australia sought from its sporting heroes.

“The nation’s self-esteem is surely neither so low nor so brittle as to require this level of investment, and it is money that in some instances could be more wisely spent,” the Age suggested.

Sport contributes a lot more to Australia’s wellbeing than gold medals every four years.

Bachelor of Business student James Roberts is a recipient of the ADCO Sports Excellence Scholarship at Bond. He is also a Commonwealth Games contender, the fourth-fastest Australian in the 50-metre freestyle swimming event, and outAndrew Cooney paced Olympic silver medalist Eamon Sullivan in the 100-metre freestyle event at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Speedo International meet in Canberra late last year.

Roberts sees sport as an important part of Australian culture. “We live in the best place on earth with great climates, facilities and There is no doubt that Australia is a general love of the outdoors,” he says. “We a sporting nation, and we participate in and are all proud to be Australians and there support our favourite games and teams in is nothing better than to see an Australian equal measure. The breadth of the nation’s person or team come out on top.” response to the League salary scandal that ADCO Constructions sponsors 10 Sports has shattered the Melbourne Storm club as Excellence Scholarships at Bond, offering this issue went to press is testament to the students a cash bursary across two years of importance that Australians attach to sport... study, plus a 10 percent reduction in the cost and to fair play. of their tuition. For Roberts, receiving the Australia’s sunny, temperate climate, robust scholarship has eased the pressure of some economy and stable political environment of his study expenses, and helps fund the have created conditions that allow sporting many trips he makes each year to compete in excellence to flourish, and flourish they have. swimming events.

From Don Bradman to Cathy Freeman, and Chairman and joint owner of ADCO, Judith Roy Cazaly to Ian Thorpe, Australians have Brinsmead, says sport is “the glue that brings excelled at sport throughout the decades.

Shanon Zunker so many communities together, providing Many of Australia’s folk heroes are social outlets and a sense of belonging to sporting heroes, but none take hold of our individuals and families.” Beyond medals, collective imagination better than those “sport and competition encourage people to work together, who, in addition to their talent are characterised by their noble building a sense of goodwill, fostering personal, leadership and sportsmanship - a quality we like to call ‘mateship’- and those team or individual goals, and instilling a sense of pride.” who find themselves cast in the role of the old ‘Aussie battler’.

John Landy was one. Another case-in-point is Cliff Young, the 61-year-old potato farmer from Victoria who showed up at the Westfield Sydney-to-Melbourne Ultra Marathon in 1983 wearing overalls and gumboots, and went on to win the This is not to say the pursuit of excellence (or medals) should 875-kilometre race and Australia’s heart. In the same year, we be overlooked, but that very pursuit requires dedication, almost burst with national pride when a team of sailors aboard commitment and discipline, Brinsmead points out. And these a yacht named Australia II won the America’s Cup away from are qualities that are catalysts for success not only in sport, but the New York Yacht Club for the first time in 132 years. Prime also in business and in life.

Minister Bob Hawke jubilantly declared on that day, “Any boss Roberts, for example, is particularly interested in the who sacks a worker for not turning up today is a bum.” marketing side of business, and says he wants one day to own These are the stories that we love to tell: the sporting hero his own business. Dedication, commitment and discipline will who goes above and beyond to help out a rival; the battler certainly aid him in this quest. “It can be hard to juggle study who makes good against all odds. And it is these stories

Sport enhances Australian folk history

With Bond being such a multicultural university, sport … can help bridge gaps between cultures and build relationships

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Sport can contribute to business success

and swimming,” he concedes. “It’s all about getting the right balance, which I am still working on, but Bond has been very supportive along the way.”

Bond’s Professor of Sports Management in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine (HSM), Shayne Quick, says that while juggling sporting competition with university studies can be challenging, it is also often in the students’ best interests.

“Research has shown time and time again that due to the demands on their time, student athletes have exemplary timemanagement skills,” he explains. “The discipline to train and compete often transfers to a similar discipline in the timely completion of academic requirements.” And, we could add, to business success.

Many of Australia’s business leaders were involved in sporting excellence programs before entering their successful business careers. “Golfer Greg Norman exemplifies success on and off the sporting green, with multiple million-dollar enterprises bearing his name all over the world,” Brinsmead points out.

“Gold medal Olympian and retired Australian athlete Herb Elliott, AC, MBE, is ranked in the top most influential people in Australia. Setting a new world record for the minute mile in 1958, Elliott went on to become the CEO of sportswear giant Puma and is currently Chairman of Fortescue Metals Group.”

And as a highly successful business leader herself, Brinsmead’s views on the issue are straightforward. “ADCO views a dedication and commitment to sport as a precursor to both a healthy life and successful business acumen,” she says. “We encourage our staff to be fit and healthy and provide a personal trainer to assist with their fitness goals.” ADCO also sponsors Surf Life Saving Australia, the Sydney City to Surf run, and supports the Gold Coast’s North End Aquatic Club.

Brinsmead has been following Roberts’ progress with interest.

“Developing an ongoing relationship with the scholarship recipients is an area I am particularly involved in,” she says of her involvement with Bond. “Each scholarship holder has my mobile phone number, and I make myself readily available to offer advice, support and encouragement and – importantly – facilitate connections in the business world for them that will augur well for their future success.”

Sport is a tool for social integration Of course, the benefits of participating in sport are not limited to those who compete and excel at national and international levels. The obvious benefits of participating in sport at any level relate to physical health and wellbeing. And these benefits, Professor Quick says, translate into an enhanced ability to cope with the demands and stresses of daily activity.

In addition, “There are psychological and social benefits of playing sport that give rise to a feeling of personal wellbeing, and aid social coherence,” Professor Quick says. “Not only do I feel good about myself and my ability to perform a certain skill, I can also do it in the company of like-minded others.”

Shanon Zunker, Assistant Manager at the Bond University Institute for Sport (BUIS), agrees. “It is widely thought that participation in sport and an active lifestyle can enhance students’ learning while studying. I strongly agree and cannot emphasise enough the health benefits of exercise and sport to students and all members of the community,” he says.

Sport provides students with an outlet from the rigors of study, Zunker continues, and can help develop winning attributes in

It can be hard to juggle study and swimming. It’s all about getting the right balance … but Bond has been very supportive James Roberts

Sporting excellence at Bond University Meet some of the Bondies currently studying under an ADCO Sports Excellence Scholarship, and keep an eye out for them at national and international events (L-R): James Roberts Sport: Swimming Alumni year: 2009 Studying: Bachelor of Business Amy Levings Sport: Swimming Alumni year: 2010 Studying: Bachelor of Journalism Chris Ashwood Sport: Swimming Alumni year: 2010 Studying: Bachelor of Forensic Science Debbie Savage Sport: 800 metre running Alumni year: 2010 Studying: Bachelor of Sports Science Greg Fyffe Sport: Swimming Alumni year: 2009 Studying: Bachelor of Exercise Science Aaron Scully (absent from photo) Sport: Boxing Alumni year: 2009 Studying: Bachelor of Sports Management Autumn 2010

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that demonstrate just how important sport – complete with competition, the pursuit of excellence and the occasional hard knock – is to Australia’s emotional as well as its physical health.

Research Education at Bond

individuals such as teamwork and problem-solving.

Moreover, it is a great social integration tool. “With Bond being such a multicultural university, sport is the one thing that many young people share in common, and can help bridge gaps between cultures and build relationships,” he says.

Up there Cazaly “Sometimes in the heat of battle, when Australian soldiers burst from their trenches… in the midst of the chattering machine guns, the grenades, the screams and imprecations, you could hear it yelled, right in the middle of the battle thunder: ‘Up there, Cazaly!’”

Peter FitzSimon, Kokoda, 2004

Sport is important at Bond

Research has shown time and again that … student athletes have exemplary time-management skills Professor Shayne Quick

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Marion Feracci

Former Australian Rules football champion Roy Cazaly was famous for his high-flying marks despite his small stature, and “Up there Cazaly!” was the phrase his teammate Fred Fleiter would yell as Cazaly went for a mark. The phrase became a catch-cry used by Australian troops in World War II, and was immortalised in song by the Two Man Band in 1979.

Greg Fyffe

Sport helps build ‘good spirit’ Zunker has watched Bondies compete at university games for many years, and he says they are distinguished by their “good spirit”, a characteristic that was rewarded in 2007, when Bond won the Spirit of the Games trophy. “Bondies enjoy themselves while remaining impartial and fair to others,” Zunker says.

Which brings us back to the quintessentially Australian themes of mateship, hard work and a fair go that John Landy embodied so well. These qualities comprise a little of what Bond means when it claims the education its students receive is international in focus, but uniquely Australian in character.

“Bond graduates are enthusiastic, well tooled and insightful,” Professor Quick says. “They have had an education which has encouraged them to question, debate and problem-solve.”

Likewise Brinsmead has worked alongside several Bond graduates, and says she has always been impressed by their maturity and prowess in their chosen field. “Former Olympic and Commonwealth Games swimmer Andrew Baildon was the very first recipient of a sporting excellence scholarship at Bond, donated by the University’s inaugural Chancellor,” she says.

“I have had the pleasure of watching him grow his business over many years, developing several successful swim schools, becoming a leader in the community and an inspiration to so many young swimming enthusiasts.”

Sport is a powerful recruitment tool And all of this is not before time. The opportunity to participate in sport at both recreational and competitive levels, and the support received for that involvement, has become increasingly important to universities’ reputations in recent years. “I think that the availability of sporting and recreational opportunities at any given university is becoming more of a concern to current and prospective students when they choose where to study,” Zunker explains. “Sport is a powerful recruitment tool.”

Chorus: Up there Cazaly, in there and fight Out there and at ‘em, show ‘em your might Up there Cazaly, don’t let ‘em in Fly like an angel, you’re out there to win Up there Cazaly, you’re out there to win In there and at ‘em, don’t let ‘em in Up there Cazaly, show ‘em you’re high Fight like the devil, the crowd’s on your side

Professor Quick says universities with robust sporting programs benefit from branding and positioning, based on their athletes’ reputation and performance. Likewise student-athletes benefit from universities that are committed to supporting and resourcing their sporting programs, finding it easier to successfully integrate their academic and training priorities, and to manage the often-competing expectations of their school and their club.

Bond is steadily positioning itself to become a global contender in sporting participation and excellence. Sport at Bond University is growing, both in terms of research and facilities.

Moreover, Professor Quick says Bond’s location and resources provide it with the potential to become the leading sportingacademic institution in Australia.

However, Zunker contends that to cater for high-level athletes and draw even more student-athletes to Bond, improvements to some of the sporting facilities should be considered. In response to this need, Bond has made sporting facilities and resources a major recipient of its inaugural Annual Fund campaign, currently underway, during which Bond students, staff, alumni and supporters are encouraged to donate to specific fundraising needs at Bond. See page 28 for more information on the inaugural Annual Fund.

“Bond’s sporting achievements to-date are outstanding, and I believe that we can reach even greater heights in the sporting arena by investing in our facilities and instilling more professionalism into student sport,” Zunker says.

“When you consider what we are doing now with what we have, just imagine what is possible!”

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Sport is an important part of the life and culture at Bond, with 28 sporting clubs on campus from Aussie Rules to Water Polo, alongside a Sport and Recreation Department that comprises the Sport Centre, student sport representatives from the BUIS, and Campus Life and Student Sport Office staff members. “Our professional expertise in these areas provides the foundation for a bright sporting future for Bond University,” Zunker says.

In the academic arena, students can take courses in sports management, sport science and exercise science. Students who are interested in the management or business of sport will take the former, while students interested in athletic or elite performance will take either of the latter courses. Students who take the sports management course take half their classes in sport-related subjects and spend the remainder in the businesses school, ensuring they receive a well-rounded education. And all the courses, Professor Quick says, “are very much contextualised within the dynamic environment of the Australian Gold Coast.”

In 2009, Bond University took out the Doug Ellis trophy at the Australian University Games. The trophy ranks the competing universities’ performances at the Games per capita, based on the university’s overall size. Of the 41 other universities, Bond was placed as the top performing university in Australia.

Perhaps the most telling sign of the growing interest in sport at Bond was that 26 teams of Bondies competed at the 2009 University Games. Bond was represented at the Games with teams in athletics, AFL, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, cycling, golf, handball, netball, rugby, soccer, squash, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, tenpin bowling, touch football and volleyball.

“Coming into the Australian University Games, the students showed a lot of interest in our sporting clubs after Bond took out the Population Cup at the Northern University Games on the Sunshine Coast in July last year,” Zunker says. “The opportunity to compete in the Uni Games while at home [on the Gold Coast] was too irresistible for most, and we were able to turn that interest and energy into medal-winning teams.”

The Population Cup is the regional equivalent of the Doug Ellis Trophy, and Bond has won the cup for a record six times.

In 2009, Bond did not take a big team to the competition, so the Cup win was a testament to a remarkable performance.

The beach volleyball teams, for example, won all three divisions and also placed second in two of them, placing Bond in five of the six possible finalist teams.

“Needless to say the medal ceremony was a little boring for most, but Bond enjoyed the moment,” Zunker laughs.

Research

Planet

How will we respond to this challenge? And how can we minimise the social, environmental and economic impacts of climate change?

Exploring ‘adaptive reuse’ of old buildings

through passive design, and will therefore deliver long term operational efficiencies.

In addition, older buildings often provide social benefits, such as intrinsic heritage values. They can retain attractive streetscapes, add character, and provide status and image to an organisation. Older buildings are often in advantageous locations in city centres and close to transport. Refurbishment is said to generate approximately 25 percent more employment than new building construction.

Buildings are more than simply shelter: they are major assets, and form a significant part of facility management operations. In Australia, the value of our constructed environment Human beings are unique is estimated at close to $2 trillion, Dr Langston and the adaptive reuse in that we are the only animals representing about 44 percent of Linkage Project team have developed the nation’s net worth. that use our culture as our a method for identifying the However, construction of primary means of adapting to ‘intervention point’ in a property’s life non-residential buildings in our natural environment cycle, when its useful life – as opposed to Australia adds only about its physical life – is nearing an end. Based 1 percent to the nation’s stock of on 64 completed adaptive reuse projects commercial buildings, while the from around the world, the predicted intervention points and sector’s energy use generates almost 10 percent of the nation’s the actual intervention points have been highly correlated. greenhouse gas emissions.

This research now forms the basis of a new ARC Discovery Dr Langston believes it will take many decades before the Project application that aims to identify characteristics in new energy efficient strategies of new building construction can building design that will lead to a high adaptive reuse score later make any significant difference to the Australian Government’s in the building’s life. greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Adaptive reuse, Dr Langston insists, needs to be planned at the Therefore, he advises, “Rather than simply build less, we outset. “If this is done wisely and routinely, it will provide should be more strategic on where to build and how to make a means of realising sustainability objectives without reducing the most of existing resources.” investment levels or economic viability for the industry,” he Dr Langston is the Chief Investigator in a Bond University-led says. “Adaptive reuse is the future of the construction industry.”

Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project into the strategic assessment of building adaptive reuse opportunities, working beside research partners Deakin University, the Uniting Church in Australia and Williams Boag Architects.

In the past, older buildings have faced demolition due to physical, economic, functional or some other form of obsolescence. The concept of ‘adaptive reuse’ that Dr Langston and his team are exploring is to leave the basic structure and fabric of the obsolete building intact, and change its use.

Plan for the future

In the face of compounding climate change predictions, Bond University is leading a national research project to develop the ultimate recycling model: ‘adaptive reuse’ of obsolete buildings to generate social, environmental and economic savings.

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT climate change

Can human beings adapt?

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and global warming are not new but they are certainly, pardon To mitigate such a disaster, the Stern Review warned that the pun, heating up. Like it or not climate change, like death $US9 trillion would need to be spent, and we only had between and taxes, has become an unavoidable reality for every human 10 and 15 years in which to act. To save our economies, our being, not to mention the two billion species of other life forms homes, our environment and our very social fabric, we would with whom we share this planet. need to decarbonise our power sector by between 60 and In 2006, Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the British Government 70 percent, end deforestation completely, and make deep cuts in Economic Service, presented a report to the Prime Minister our transport emissions. and the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the Human beings are unique in that we are economics of climate change. Nicknamed the only animals that use our culture – our the Stern Review, many believe this report clothing, buildings and infrastructure – as Finding an represents the most detailed economic analysis our primary means of adapting to our alternative use for of climate change ever conducted. And the natural environment. We make culture our [a building] generates environmental buffer. news is not good. Climate change, the report even more of a valuefound, had the potential to cause economic, “Biological evolution has protected the polar bear from arctic cold with dense fur and social and environmental damage on add than simply a scale with the two World Wars and Great salvaging materials for has given the duck webbed feet for swimming.

Only humans make layered, tailored clothes Depression of the 20th century. recycling from and igloos in the Arctic and live with minimal In a recent paper titled ‘The Sustainability a demolished site clothing under light, thatched shelters in the Implications of Building Adaptive Reuse,’ tropics,” explains archaeologist Brian Fagan Bond University’s Professor of Construction Dr Craig Langston (Ancient Lives, 2007). and Facilities Management in the Mirvac Throughout history that buffer has become School of Sustainable Development, Dr Craig increasingly elaborate and, today, its removal Langston, summarised a number of the Stern would render us almost helpless.

Review’s findings: This being the case, it is not surprising that perhaps the most • Our global economy will shrink by 20 percent prominent and permanent indication of our culture, our built • Up to 200 million people will be made environment, demands 40 percent of the world’s resources and refugees through floods and droughts generates a proportionate amount of waste.

• Sea levels will continue to rise for The advent of climate change has been pronounced the most at least another 100 years important challenge facing humankind and, indeed, other life on • Approximately 40 percent of our wildlife our planet. species will become extinct Climate change adaptation is the next and necessary phase in • Water shortages will impact on a sixth the cultural adaptation of humankind. of the world’s population

Economic, environmental & social benefits Keeping a building’s materials largely in place and finding an alternative use for the facility generates even more of a value-add than simply salvaging materials for recycling from a demolished site. Dr Langston says breathing new life into existing buildings in this way carries with it economic savings, environmental benefits, social benefits, and helps to retain our national heritage.

For example, the cost of converting a building is generally less than that of new construction. Rehabilitated space can be created more quickly than new space, typically taking half to three quarters of the time necessary to demolish and reconstruct the same floor area. This shorter development period reduces the overall costs.

Environmental benefits from adaptive reuse arise through the recycling of materials, reuse of structural elements and the reduction in generated landfill. Of course, these also translate into cost advantages for the owner. Moreover, Dr Langston points out that many older buildings were constructed in such a way to reduce energy consumption in heating and cooling

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4 Sale: renovator’s delight

Conversation

of going to see where it’s grown and how it’s done is a good experience for people.

JC: That’s why wine tourism experiences take place not only at the cellar door, but also at restaurants and cafes, art galleries, festivals, and events like winemaker dinners, wine appreciation events, vintage releases and trade shows. Organised wine tours and wine trails are also expanding across many wine regions.

TM: By giving people a good experience of wine, you can imbue them with some enthusiasm for wine and a yearning to know more. Here at Sirromet, we believe that every customer who comes here and has an enjoyable experience through wine tourism will become an ambassador for us – or at least for wine.

FORWARD,

not

Most Bondies have fond memories of Thursday nights spent at Don’s Tavern. But this year’s crop of students and teachers has taken the dubious tradition of university drinking one step further: now, it’s on the curriculum.

The skills you learn in wine tourism also help you develop visitations to any other facility that you’re managing Terry Morris

BOND’S NEW

Wine Tourism course started this year, introducing tourism and hospitality students to this burgeoning market, and helping them to gain insights into what is fast becoming, in the tourism industry, a global phenomenon.

Students study the development and operations of Australian and international wineries and wine regions, and make site visits to a number of vineyards and cellar doors. All in the name of a good education, of course.

Professor Jack Carlsen, who heads up the subject, and Queensland entrepreneur and winemaker Terry Morris of Sirromet Wines, sipped, swirled and swapped ideas by the vines on a late summer afternoon.

ARCH:We all love a good drop. But tell us a little about wine tourism and how it differs from just selling wine.

TM: I suppose if you’ve seen the film Sideways you can understand better than I could describe it …

JC: Wine tourism is about providing a unique experience in a wine region, through a creative combination of landscape, lifestyle and local flavours that appeal to visitors.

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TM: Wine has probably got a bit more romance to it than, say, cabbages. The way it’s grown, and the history of it … A large proportion of the western world enjoys wine, so the experience

JC: Wine tourism is a growth sector, and interest in visiting wineries for day trips or even overnight stays in wine regions is increasing. Skilled and knowledgeable staff are essential for providing quality wine tourism experiences, so this subject was seen as an important addition to the Hotel, Resort and Tourism Management program at Bond. Our goal is that students will develop a better understanding of wine tourism and wine tourists, as well as an appreciation of the wine tourism sector.

TM: Quite often a hotel or guesthouse uses its wine list as a marketing tool, saying, “This is one of the reasons you should stay with us, because of our excellent wine list featuring local wines.” So it’s important to educate the future members of the industry to ensure they know what they’re talking about.

JC: So if graduates of the course find themselves working within a wine region, they’ll have the ability to make the most of the opportunities that wine tourism presents.

TM: The skills you learn in wine tourism also help you develop visitations to any other facility that you’re managing.

Learning to look after someone in wine tourism is going to help you if you go and get a job at Dreamworld, or if you’re running a hotel at Uluru or Cradle Mountain.

JC: I recently completed a study that mapped wine tourism, and it’s clear that a broad variety of professions are involved in creating the setting for wine tourism. For example architects, designers, marketing professionals, technical professionals and now educational institutions, like Bond, are all involved in helping to deliver wine tourism experiences.

ARCH: Does that make winemakers entrepreneurs?

JC: Not necessarily. Winemakers are essentially primary producers who are focused on making quality wine in a very competitive and challenging environment. It is extremely rare to find a winery that can afford to be innovative and entrepreneurial.

TM: But winemakers are in business, so I think they should be entrepreneurs, they should be developed personalities. Some of the greatest names in wine have been great entrepreneurs, and Wolf Blass is probably the best example of that.

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Professor Jack Carlsen (left) and Terry Morris in the Sirromet cellar

sideways

ARCH: Why introduce a wine tourism subject at Bond? Is this just an excuse to enjoy a drink?

Career

JC: The cellar door should provide a unique and memorable experience so that visitors not only purchase wine, but remain loyal to the winery and tell their friends about the winery and the wine region they visited.

TM: That’s right. You’ve got to make your customers feel very welcome, give them a ‘feel-good’ experience. And then you need to get their details so you can stay in touch with them.

Professor Jack Carlsen

JC: I agree that wine tourism does present an opportunity for creating new products, services and packages for specific markets. Denis and Trish Horgan have done well at Leeuwin Estate in the Margaret River, WA, through their world famous wines, the concert series, the hosting of wine tourism conferences, events, festivals and other great experiences.

TM: Business is all about getting your name out there: if you’re an entrepreneur and you’re creating interest and people are talking about you, that helps get your brand out there. If you have a memorable brand, you get repeat business.

ARCH: What are some of the tangible benefits that the rise of wine tourism brings to the industry?

TM: For us, the biggest benefit of wine tourism is a greater acceptance of wine as a beverage. At present in Australia, there is a growing generation of people brought up on alco-pops; vodka cruisers and this type of thing. They need to be educated on the joys of drinking nature’s finest beverage, and a great way to do that is to get them to visit a class winery where they can experience wine and enjoy it in favourable conditions.

JC: I would estimate that in Australia, wine tourism generates sales of wine, merchandise, food and beverages at wineries approaching $1 billion a year, based on Tourism Research Australia data and trends.

The wine industry was very proud when the value of wine exports exceeded $1 billion, but the industry failed to recognise or celebrate the same success in wine tourism.

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I guess this is a hangover (pardon the pun) from the days when most of the economic benefits of wine tourism were captured by tourism operators and non-winery businesses. But I think this is changing as wineries begin to realise how they can share in the benefits of wine tourism.

ARCH: What should wineries be doing to reap those benefits?

TM: When the wine tourism students visit Sirromet, we can show them the A to Z of winemaking. We can show them how to assess a wine for faults, different varietals, and give them a basic understanding of wine. But we also hope to develop in them a yearning to know more about wine. And then to make that yearning part of their character.

ARCH: What about beyond the cellar door?

JC: Successful wine tourism regions have critical mass of tourism accommodation, restaurants, galleries, cafes and other attractions that showcase the food, wine and culture of the region. I would argue that not just cellar doors but also farmhouse doors, kitchen doors and studio doors are important ingredients for successful wine tourism.

TM: And keep up the regular communication. Bond University is a pretty good example of how they are developing a program to stay in touch with their alumni, through regular newsletters, special offers, keeping in touch. For wineries it’s the same: don’t be afraid to sell!

Terry Morris and Bond University “My granddaughter went through Bond and we were very happy with her experience. More recently I was asked to become a member of the Board of Trustees, which I was delighted to be able to do, I felt very honoured.

“Since then I’ve got to understand more about the University and I’m very enthusiastic about what it’s doing. It’s that emphasis on can-do, on getting things done. Bond is a beautiful place, it has a wonderful feeling about it. And the staff are all enthusiastic: they’re wanting to excel, wanting to do new things.

I think Bond is a unique institution. It’s small, as universities go, but it’s the jewel in the crown of independent universities in Australia.”

thehunt Recruitment experts reveal their top tips for attracting the attention of a headhunter.

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I would estimate that in Australia, wine tourism generates sales of wine, merchandise, food and beverages at wineries approaching $1 billion a year

JC: Market conditions in the wine industry are increasingly challenging, as exports become more competitive and the trade is dominated by the larger wine corporations. So it is essential for the smaller wineries to make the most of the opportunities that wine tourism presents and encourage other wineries to increase their offerings, creating a ‘virtuous circle’ of wine tourism growth.

Career

the high school dance or waiting in the playground hoping to be selected on the right sports team, it’s always nice to be in demand.

As we grow up, playing tunnel ball and doing the Macarena may lose their allure, but the desire to be wanted rarely gets old. And for many people, high on their wish list is a longing for the professional respect, remuneration and senior roles that generally follow the attentions of the modern-day headhunter.

“Everyone loves the headhunter phone call,” says Sally Mills, CEO of digital executive recruitment firm La Volta.

“People who are approached by headhunters are normally more senior, and that means that hopefully the headhunter has done their homework on them; they’re gathering information as they go to see how successful that person is.

And for anyone to have their success recognised, yes, I think it’s quite a buzz for them to be tapped on the shoulder.”

What’s more, “there are certain roles that you’ll never hear of, they’ll never be advertised, and you’ll only get that role if a headhunter finds you.”

It’s a jungle out there Tribal headhunting – literally cutting off the head of an enemy and keeping it as a trophy – has been practised throughout history and across the globe. Corporate headhunting is a little less brutal to the individual, but equally widespread.

A corporate headhunter is an executive recruiter, someone who is employed by a major company to seek out a ‘difficult to find’ individual whose skills place them in high demand.

At times, the executive recruiter may even seek out these

high-demand individuals from a competitor’s firm, What we quite literally hunting are looking for is the key people in one corporation and luring them someone who is elsewhere. This leaves the a high achiever. first corporation without its That’s when they leadership: the recruiter has, would come into in effect, lopped off the head our radar of the organisation.

Bond University’s Sally Mills Employment Services Manager, Kirsty Mitchell, says headhunting is about “identifying a talented individual in the industry and then approaching them with an opportunity.”

She says the difference between a headhunter and a standard recruiter is that a recruiter would normally be engaged if a candidate contacted them in response to an advertised role; whereas in the case of a headhunter, they generally make the first contact.

To hear Mills talk, the game really is about the hunt.

“Headhunters actually identify and actively follow top performers along their career journey,” she says.

The call of the wild If receiving a call from a headhunter represents not only a validation of your achievements but also impressive new career opportunities, it’s no wonder most executives long for the phone to ring.

“Headhunting is all about opportunity,” Mitchell says, “so for professionals, being noticed by a headhunter is not only an indication that they are performing well in the industry but also that they have developed a successful profile within their field of expertise and, as a result, have access to more opportunities.

“Being headhunted is about success that you haven’t needed to seek out. It reverses the traditional approach that candidates have to their employment strategy, as career opportunities come to them.

“Many senior managers that I have worked with often haven’t applied for a job since they were in their 20s. Once they became successful, they would get approached by others and their careers progressed in that manner.”

Setting the bait But to enjoy the fruits of all this headhunted bounty, a professional must first attract the eye of the headhunter.

How do they incorporate this into their career strategy?

“I don’t think people should strategically plan for the executive search process,” Mitchell warns, “it tends to be a byproduct of professional success and accomplishment, as opposed to an end goal in itself.”

Mills says that as a headhunter, she starts noticing people when their achievements stack up. “It’s all about outcomes, achievements,

only work in your role but on your own development and the what people do,” she insists. To catch her eye, Mills says the advancement and future of your industry. person does not have to be “mega senior” but, instead, “what “Ensure you are networking and maintaining relationships we’re looking for is someone who is a high achiever. That’s within and across industries. Forge relationships with senior when they would come into our radar.” leaders in your industry and make sure that your professional Results are the key, she insists. “We would look at what their reputation and profile is strong and responsibilities were but really, consistent.” at the end of the day, did they Some executives even go to the deliver? And that could mean Get involved in relevant extent of hiring public relations anything: from sales targets, professional associations, attend and firms to build up their professional to deals made, to professional profiles, Mills says. “They’re not achievements, depending on present at conferences, contribute to necessarily thinking about being the role.” industry journals and forums headhunted, but they know it’s Kirsty Mitchell important for their profile to be seen.”

Other ways to build a profile Of course, in the quest to gain include public speaking, writing columns and blogging, Mills the attentions of a headhunter there is always the danger of continues. In addition, she advises joining the boards of a going too far and scaring them off. number of firms, because “that ups your profile and you start “Avoid being demanding and arrogant in your abilities,” rubbing shoulders with the right people.”

Mitchell warns. “It is a competitive market and you need to And, “fly first class on aeroplanes and sit in the VIP lounges,” have the track record but also the people-skills to communicate she laughs. those abilities effectively.”

Mills agrees. “It’s such a fine line,” she says, “I think you have to be very careful of how you promote yourself in a resume or anywhere online.”

For example, any resume that starts off with grandiose statements about the candidate is an instant turn-off for Mills.

In particular, “anyone who’s got the title ‘serial entrepreneur’ next to their name, that doesn’t appeal because it’s meaningless.”

Likewise, “If you’re touting yourself around all the networking places, that can go down the wrong way. Some senior executives Step 1: Generate outcomes are very careful of what functions they go to because they don’t want to be seen to be connected in the wrong areas.”

“Headhunters are always looking Name-dropping is another no-no for Mitchell. “If Bill Black for high achievers, we want to align thought you were ideal for the role and suggested you call ourselves with top performers,” says the company and let them know, then Bill Black would have Mills. “If you are producing impressive contacted his networks at the company and made the outcomes, it’s likely we’ll be watching approach himself.”

The Internet and the advent of online social media, you and we’ll be tracking you.” particularly websites like LinkedIn.com, have created lucrative new opportunities, if used professionally, for people hoping Step 2: Build your profile to further their careers. They have also generated new pitfalls.

Make sure your public profile is Mills says that being inappropriate, over-opinionated or failing to be inclusive on social networking websites can do significant high, it is professional, and it steers damage to a professional reputation. clear of controversy, aggression “People can over-network,” she explains. “Especially in the and over-inflated ego. days of social media, it’s so easy to damage your profile quite quickly. Everyone’s got a point of view, but you need to be Step 3: Share your knowledge inclusive and mindful of other people.”

Alerting the prey

Lure a headhunter in 3 steps:

Cutting to the chase But if a professional has achieved significant outcomes in their career, made solid contributions to their industry and carefully managed their reputation but still the headhunters have not come knocking, what can they do to get noticed?

Both Mitchell and Mills agree that public profile can be key to getting noticed.

“Get involved in relevant professional associations, attend and present at conferences, contribute to industry journals and forums,” advises Mitchell.

“Demonstrate that you are a thought-leader, that you not

A generous, inclusive attitude goes a long way. “Especially in the social media space,” says Mills, “sharing your knowledge and expertise is a good thing. Being part of a charity is also good, but do it for the right reasons, not just because you want to put it on your resume. That can stand out as well.”

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WHETHER yOU’RE standing against the wall at

Research

FAMILYTies After millennia spent behind the scenes, women are rising to the top of family firms in ever increasing numbers. Recent Bond research sheds new light on their experiences.

THE FAMILy business model is the oldest and biggest

a study of successful chief executive officers (CEOs) in family run firms in 2002. They identified four distinct phases in business model in the world. Since the dawn of trade, family businesses have dominated commerce. In fact until very recently, the preparation for and administration of family-business leadership: learning the business, learning our business, learning family businesses were the only kinds of businesses. The term to lead our business, and learning to let go. ‘family business’ is a modern distinction.

However, the significant skew in family businesses toward When the family-owned company Kongo Gumi closed its male leaders meant the study was heavily weighted toward men. doors in 2006, it ended more than 14 centuries of continuous In fact, there was only one woman in the data set. This raised operation. The Japanese company had been in the business of the question in Barrett and Moores’ minds as to whether or not building Buddhist temples since the year 578, making it the women were afforded the same sequential preparation process oldest family-operated business in the world. as men along the road to Kongo Gumi’s final president, the top.

Masakazu Kongo, was the last The resulting study was in a line of 40 family-members published late in 2009 as who led the company during its a book, Women in Family 1428-year life.

Business Leadership Roles: Two generations earlier, Daughters on the Stage. By Kongo Gumi’s 38th leader was analysing 13 international cases the company’s one and only of women in family business, female president, Masakuzo’s Professors Barrett and Moores grandmother Yoshie. Yoshie began to uncover patterns in the Professor Ken Moores Kongo’s leadership was a oneway women attained leadership off departure from in their family businesses, and the traditional to learn why, in some circumstances, they failed to do so. practice of passing the reins to a male heir, and Not the least of the study’s insights was the discovery that it was born of extraordinary circumstances while the path to leadership for women was neither as strategic when her predecessor committed suicide. nor as sequential as the process identified for men, most women Yoshie Kongo’s preparation for nevertheless did manage to find their way through each of the leadership in the family firm was four phases identified in the earlier study. informal, incomplete and unexpected.

And most importantly, they were equally equipped for success Nevertheless, she developed the when they reached the top. business as capably as any of its male leaders, overseeing the reconstruction of Shitennoji’s five-story pagoda after it was hit Family-owned businesses outperform their publicly-owned by a typhoon in 1934. Masakazu counterparts with higher returns on investment, better profit Kongo reportedly said of his margins, more stable earnings and better cash-flow and earnings per employee.

Probably the most telling characteristic that defines a family business, and separates it out from other businesses in which family members work or even lead, is the intention to continue the business across generations.

“If you or I start a business and engage members of our families, it is in one sense a family business,” Professor Moores says. “But does it really have all of the characteristics that we grandmother, “If anyone is typically associate with a family business? Has it formulated a superhero in our family, it’s her.” the intention to carry across into the next generation? I would suggest not.

“So intentionality becomes a critical distinguishing feature to separate a family business from any other business.”

Many family businesses are a far cry from the tiny ‘Mom According to a new publication by and Pop’ storefront operations we may often envisage. “They family-business experts Professor Ken transcend all of the size categories, from the largest firms to Moores (Director of Bond University’s indeed the smallest firms,” Professor Moores says. “More of Australian Centre for Family Business) them are small, simply because more businesses are small. But and Professor Mary Barrett (Professor of a significant percentage of family firms is owned and operated at Management at the University of Wollongong’s the top end.

School of Management and Marketing), “News Corporation, the Packers, Linfox and VisiCorp: they Yoshie’s path to leadership was representative are all significant family firms, both public and private, in of the differences between men and women Australia. And of course when you take it to the world stage, when taking the helm of the family business. you’re talking about Walmart, Ford, BMW, Samsung … all of Professors Barrett and Moores conducted those are family-controlled companies.”

Families within businesses can create good, bad and even ugly business practices

Defining the family business

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20

Identifying the path to leadership

Research

Females and family dynamics

22

“Families within businesses can create good, bad and even ugly business practices,” Professor Moores says. “The good can indeed become great, while the bad and ugly can turn nasty, and endanger the survival of the enterprise.

“In many cases, the founders of businesses are enthusiastic, visionary, busy people who take their family members along with them.

But they don’t always spend time explaining to the family what their longer-term intentions are.”

For example, whether or not the business will be handed down to male heirs.

Cultural and sociological traditions have often dictated the roles of women in family businesses and, until relatively recently, it was widely assumed that only the male members of a family would take the helm of the family business. Male succession is no longer an instinctive assumption in contemporary Western society, although it does remain the predominant outcome in family business leadership.

However, this will not likely be the case forever. Female leadership of family businesses is growing at a considerable rate.

“It’s not necessarily outstripping the men,

but then it’s coming off a fairly low base,” Professor Moores says. “Perhaps even more importantly, the opportunities being afforded to women in family businesses have been escalating quite a lot.”

Data collected by MassMutual Financial Group and the Raymond Institute found that between 1997 and 2002, the proportion of family-owned businesses with female CEOs doubled. More than a third of family owned businesses (34 percent) said their next CEO could be a woman, up from 25 percent in 1997.

Female business leadership in the all-important start-up phase of a business is a significant growth area. “Women entrepreneurs are emerging as a very significant force in the starting up of new businesses,” Professor Moores says.

Moreover, “The whole idea in many cultures of ‘primogeniture’, the firstborn son assuming leadership when the incumbent steps down, has been jettisoned in favour of choosing the best person for the job.

“Even in cases of very male-oriented industries, such as transport or trucking for example, when the businesses have grown and become more sophisticated, their leaders may not be dealing with trucks so much as with managing people and managing finances, and those are skills at which women are equally adept.”

So with women coming out of the kitchen and emerging from the HR department, how are they being prepared for family-business leadership, and what does this mean for the company employees and stakeholders?

Daughters on the stage

There are no shortcuts.

Being Michael’s daughter, I have had to prove myself more than anyone else, which is a good thing Emma Hill

Bondy Emma Hill with her famous father, Michael Hill

In their 2009 study, Professors Moores and Barrett identified four key circumstances that illustrated the manner in which women came to lead the family business, and then explored how that journey impacted on their leadership styles. They used a showbiz metaphor to best explain the process.

‘Stumbling into the spotlight’ was the title given to women who unexpectedly found themselves leading the family business.

‘Building your own stage’ described women who came from a family business background but, instead of leading it, chose to create their own firms. ‘Directing the spotlight elsewhere’ grouped a category of women who led the family business precisely by not appearing to do so. And ‘Coping with shadows’ was the title given to women who must deal with an earlier leader.

None of these categories necessarily fit the ordered, sequential and strategic four-phase journey to the top that Barrett and Moores identified in 2002 as being a common experience of men (learning the business, learning our business, learning to lead the business, learning to let go). Nevertheless, they found that the women did tend to pass through each of those four stages, albeit in a less defined manner.

The end result was that by the time women attained leadership of the family firm, they were equally as equipped to lead it as their male counterparts. However, they often faced challenges in building a case for legitimacy among employees, shareholders and most importantly other family members, since their career progress was not as easy to define.

Building a case for legitimacy “Legitimacy for leadership typically means that you’ve earned your credentials in terms of your prior development for that particular role,” Moores explains. “And most women typically haven’t been afforded that sort of neat, sequential development, so often it’s not as obvious that they are ready for the role.

They may therefore need to project their talents a little bit more obviously, in order to achieve that.”

Bond alumnus Emma Hill, daughter of the Michael Hill who gave his name to the international retail jewellery empire, prepared for her current role as Deputy Chair (and her aspiration of becoming Chair) in a thorough, if non linear, manner.

“I was seven years old when my father started Michael Hill Jeweller (MHJ),” she recalls. “Dad was always home for dinner with us and, as a result, business was always part of the dinner-table conversation. I loved hearing my dad talk about the business and his vision, he gets so passionate about it that you can’t help but be inspired.”

‘Building legitimacy’ in Hill’s case meant getting to know the business from the bottom up. “To be respected and, more importantly, to have the skills required to continue the success of my father, there are no shortcuts. Being Michael’s daughter, I have had to prove myself more than anyone else, which is a good thing,” she says.

Hill started learning the family business at the age of seven.

“I started with Windex in hand, cleaning the counter glass.

I progressed to selling at age 12, and spent years mastering the art. I was the fifth-highest sales professional by volume in Australia when I was 22, and became a manager-in-training.

I then managed MHJ stores for four years.”

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Approximately 15 percent of the businesses publicly listed on the Australian stock exchange are family operated businesses. Moving through the ranks of private companies, that percentage grows a lot larger. And ultimately, “when you crank all the numbers you come out with about two-thirds of all businesses in Australia being family owned and operated,” Professor Moores says.

“Worldwide, family firms are a very significant economic force. If you have a look at the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), it considers the start-up of new enterprises. In the creation of new enterprises, family businesses are dominant players. So they are not only there in percentage terms as established businesses, they are going to continue to grow in years ahead.”

Profile

Going away & continuing differently Leaving the family firm, and even leaving the family industry, is a process on the path to leadership that Professors Moores and Barrett found was extremely common among both men and women. Moreover, it was an important step in the learning stages toward leadership of the family firm.

“The first developmental sequence is typically to go outside,”

Professor Moores explains. “Women have the tendency to have to go further outside than men: they go further away from the family business, and that therefore sometimes means they are delayed in coming back.

“But when a person does come back to the family business, there is often a need to undertake what we call, in paradoxical terms, ‘continuing differently’. They need to adapt and adjust the family business, the old strategic renewal. When a new generation takes over, that’s often the time when the business gets repositioned.

“Take for example the Packer family. Sir Frank was newspapers, Kerry was television, and James is now gaming. It’s the same family business, but every generation has repositioned it. They haven’t jettisoned the past completely, but they have repositioned it.”

In Hill’s case, ‘continuing differently’ meant taking Michael Hill Jewellers into new geographic regions. The company started in Hill’s native New Zealand, moved into Australia, and has now expanded across Canada and into the United States, a move spearheaded by Hill.

“After working in advertising for a while, I realised I wasn’t happy unless I was at MHJ,” she says. “I was appointed International Expansion Manager and then General Manager Canada. I started our business in Canada in 2002, and opened 22 stores across the nation, returning home to New Zealand five years later.

“When I was 21 years old and living in London, I set myself the goal that I wanted to establish MHJ in the UK within 10 years. As it turns out, when you are determined to achieve a goal it really comes to reality. I opened MHJ in Canada in 2002 when I was 31. Got the continent wrong, but achieved the overall objective!”

Caring

by nature

Lef to Right back: Khian Abedian, Tandice Abedian, Riaz Rezavni, Mona Rezvani (nee Abedian) Soheil Abedian, Amy Jean Linnehan Front: Soheil Abedian, Anne Abedian

Education should not be purely a source of material gain; it should be a source of service to others

More opportunities in the family The Australian Centre for Family Business Bond’s Australian Centre for Family Business (ACFB) was the first organisation in Australia to recognise the importance of the family business sector, and indeed one of the first in the world. The ACFB was founded in 1994 to enhance the prospects for family-run businesses to sustain their long term profitability. Today, it is an internationally-respected centre for research and teaching, with the biggest group of active family-business researchers in the Asia-Pacific region.

In fact, Moores says family businesses often provide women with more opportunities than they would gain in a non-family business environment.

“Generally speaking, there seems to be a wider acceptance that women could be contemplated for senior roles within family firms,” he says.

“Yes, women are being developed for family business leadership, and not necessarily as a second choice,” he continues, “although their development for those senior roles is nowhere near as organised and sequential as it is for the men.”

Moores says family businesses are more tolerant and accommodating of career interruptions by women, such as taking time off to have a child.

“There’s a flexibility for the interruption of women’s careers without it being detrimental to their ongoing progress.

Clearly this is all about child-bearing and those sorts of family responsibilities, which are seen as being particularly important and relevant in the context of family firms,” he says. “Generally speaking, females in family firms are given more opportunities than they perhaps would experience outside the family firm.”

Certainly, Emma Hill seems well on track to achieve her career goals in the family firm, and says being a woman has not hindered her professional path. “It was hard to get ahead, but being female didn’t make it any harder,” she insists.

Women in Family Business Leadership Roles: Daughters on the Stage by Mary Barrett and Ken Moores (2009) is available from Edward Elgar Publishing at www.e-elgar.co.uk.

Soheil Abedian, Bond alumnusparent and founder of Gold Coast-based property development company the Sunland Group, believes that caring for others is as simple as breathing.

And equally as important.

Soheil Abedian

TO UNDERSTAND his passion for philanthropy,

Soheil Abedian says it is important to know a little about his family background. He is the fourth-born of five children, and the entire family immigrated out of Iran in 1959, to settle in Austria. Abedian believes his father had “great vision.”

Each of the five siblings received a university education, a rare opportunity for the family’s circumstances.

“He really wasn’t a rich man,” Abedian says of his father, “but he sent us to Europe from Iran. You know Iran today: back in 1969, to send a daughter to university, that made my father a genuinely visionary person.”

Education: the key to a library Education, according to Abedian, is the key to gaining perspective on the world, and on our place in humanity.

“My parents were adamant that we learn to understand humanity and society, irrespective of where we lived and who we were associated with,” he says.

“Education is not for the sake of learning something.

Education is like a key to a massive library. The door will open and you will have the opportunity to take any books that are relevant to the knowledge you want to gain.

“My father always said that education would provide us with in-depth knowledge and understanding, to be used to the benefit of society at large.

“Education should not be purely a source of material gain; it should be a source of service to others.”

A fitting heir to his father’s philosophical legacy, Abedian has been a fervent supporter of education throughout his career. He was appointed Honorary Professor in the Graduate School of Management at Griffith University for several years, lecturing on ethics in business. Last year he returned to Griffith to launch the university’s school of architecture.

At Bond, his company sponsors the Sunland Scholarship, providing an outstanding opportunity for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander student to study at Bond. The Sunland Group’s Chairman, Terry Jackman, sits on the University’s Board of Trustees.

And most recently, Abedian made a generous donation that enabled the launch of a prestigious school of architecture at Bond, a move he says is in no way a conflict with the similar support he provided at Griffith.

“I don’t see that as a conflict, I see it as an addition to a city [the Gold Coast] that is striving for a better built form and urban landscape,” he says.

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At this point, Hill decided to take a break from the business.

She completed her MBA at Bond University, and left the family company to work in the advertising industry.

Profile

Architecture, to Abedian, is one of the few milestones that historians can use to ‘measure’ a culture. That being so, a legacy of responsible architecture is something he is determined to leave for future inhabitants of the Gold Coast, Australia and the world, not only through his own company’s activities but also by providing our future architects and urban planners with the best possible education.

“If you go through the history of humanity for maybe 20 million years, the only way to recognise different cultures and their advancement in human society is through art, literature and the built form. These three fundamental elements will enable future historians to investigate and write about what kinds of people we were.

“The launch of the School of Architecture at Bond University is timely for the Gold Coast and for Australia. Bond is the nation’s first private university, and we have this school that is educating people for better urban planning, better built form.

“And maybe in a few hundred years when we are not around, people will look at what happened here and they will conclude that we did care for our environment, we did care for our society, and we did care for Australia.”

Sustainability: a common ground

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The philosophy of demonstrating care through architecture is a place of common ground between Abedian and Bond University, a connection that was nurtured during Bond’s Professor George Earl’s visits with Abedian in Dubai.

Professor Earl is Head of Bond University’s School of Sustainable Development, and Director of the Institute of Sustainable, Healthy Communities. Like Abedian, he believes responsible architecture and urban planning is critical to building sustainable, healthy cities in the future.

Professor Earl says the Gold Coast, where students in the School of Architecture will be taking their classes, is a kind of ‘living laboratory’ for the way growth is likely to occur in the rest of the country.

“We live in one of the fastest-growing regions in Australia,” he says. “We live in a sub-tropical climate, and most of the large urban growth is going to occur in tropical or sub-tropical locations. In addition, we are on a coastal region. The pressures

of climate change on the rest of the world – rising tidal waters, those kinds of things – are already impacting on our society here on the Gold Coast.

“So in fact our architects, our planners and our builders are living and working in a ‘living laboratory’. We can make our students touch, feel and plan our cities here in south-east Queensland, and what they learn is applicable to the rest of the world.”

At the official opening of the School of Architecture in February 2010, Professor Earl said Bond intended to become a world-leader in producing graduates that were qualified in holistic, sustainable architecture of international standard. Confirming his agreement, Abedian said, “I have no doubt that Bond has the vision to make its mark on an international level.”

Success: an instrument for service Studying architecture has been fundamental to Abedian’s success, and it has made him a wealthy man.

“Architecture is part of me,” he insists. He graduated with a Masters degree in Architecture from the University of Graz in Austria. The profession took him in an entrepreneurial direction, and he founded the Sunland Group, the Gold Coast’s pre-eminent property company, in 1983.

But Abedian’s success in architecture and property development also made it possible for him to continue his acts of charity.

“We may be one of the most fortunate companies,” he says of the Sunland Group. “During the deepest recession that the world has witnessed, in the past two years, we have actually been one of the very few that came through unscarred.”

Abedian puts this success down, in part, to the company’s philanthropic focus. “You can say our resilience is because of our intelligence or foresight, or you can see it the way I see it: that it is because we see ourselves as an instrument for giving service. And service is not limited to the house or the high-rise or the communities that we build, service is on every level. The Sunland Foundation is just one of the ways that we give part of our profit to meet different needs.”

This philosophy on giving comes, Abedian says, from nature. “Something that all of us do, every second of our lives, is breathe in and breathe out. That is fundamental to our existence. If a person thinks that they have everything to gain and nothing to give, it is inevitable that the person, exactly as though they were breathing in but not breathing out, will die.”

In fact, Abedian’s own desire to give has made him a recipient of the Certificate for Citizen of Humanity, awarded by the National Committee of Human Rights.

He was also awarded the Centenary Medal of Australia for distinguished service and achievement in the building and construction industry in 2001, and was nominated one of the 100 Most Powerful Gold Coasters in 2008.

The Sunland Foundation supports a range of activities, each of personal interest to Abedian, from cancer research to support for the families of leukaemia patients, sporting programs, and an orphanage in Sri Lanka.

the

Soheil Abedian

School of

ARCHITECTURE

Uniquely qualified architects specialising in sustainable building design.

The Foundation built the orphanage, called Light of Lanka, following the Asian tsunami in December 2004.

“It gives us enormous joy just to look at the pictures of the orphanage that I have in my office. To see these people: they didn’t have a home and now they have care and a home,” Abedian says.

Bond University: “magic” And, of course, the Sunland Foundation and Abedian himself have been of wonderful support to Bond University. Abedian’s own two children as well as his niece and nephew each attended Bond University. In recognition of Abedian’s generosity to Bond – and to his standing as an exceptional architect himself – the School was named after him: the Soheil Abedian School of Architecture.

“I believe you have to really be visionary to have any private institute which is supporting and educating the future generation,” he says of Bond. “When you look at what is happening with the public facilities we have in Australia versus the private ones, the private ones always have to be on top of it. It doesn’t matter how you look at it, you have to be at the forefront of any research that is happening, because you are private. You have to give excellent education.

“I believe Bond is doing this incredibly well. Anywhere in the world that I go and I come across Australians who have completed a law degree, I ask where they studied.

And at least 50 percent of them are from Bond University, and each one of them is the head of their law firm. That shows how advanced a good university can get, and I hope the same thing will apply in the future for the School of Architecture.

“To describe what Bond has achieved with such limited support from Federal and State Governments, magic is the best word that I can use.”

BOND UNIVERSITy launched the Soheil Abedian

School of Architecture on 16 February 2010, heralding a new era in architectural education.

Bondy Sahba Abedian, Managing Director of the Sunland Group and son of Soheil Abedian, will chair a panel of industry experts, including Queensland Government architect Chris Lee, to establish the program’s curriculum.

Sustainable architecture

Architects trained at the School will specialise in ecologically and socially sustainable built environment design.

Classes start in January 2011, with 50 places on offer for the six semester undergraduate program. In accordance with Australian accreditation standards, Bond’s architecture students will be required to complete both undergraduate and postgraduate programs before receiving their qualifications.

As with other Bond programs, the trimester schedule will enable students to fast-track their degrees, completing the two programs in just three years and four months, as opposed to the five-plus years required at most other Australian universities.

Students will experience, first-hand, the benefits and requirements of a sustainably designed building, as classes will be held in Bond’s award-winning, six-star Green Star rated Mirvac School of Sustainable Development building.

Vice-Chancellor and President Robert Stable said Soheil Abedian’s gift to Bond, which made the School of Architecture possible, was significant to the University, the Australian community and most importantly the students, as it enabled Bond to offer a unique architecture program at a time when sustainable design was critically important.

“It is through our relationships with our alumni and the generous financial support of our benefactors that Bond University continues to grow as a leader in education,” he said at the School launch, “offering students state-of-the-art facilities and global learning experiences.”

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Architecture: the measure of a culture

Giving back

The challenge: 20,000 Bondies.

3 months. $150,000. Can we do it?

3. Every gift has added value

A gift of any size will make a positive and immediate difference at Bond, helping us to improve the resources, facilities and learning experience available to our students.

But your gift will mean more than its dollar value.

Corporations and foundations often look to the number of existing donors when considering the level of support they will give to Bond. So your gift can actually help us obtain future support for Bond.

Building Bond through

4. Donations to Bond are tax deductible

Bond University is a not-for-profit institution. This means that we re-invest 100 percent of any surplus income directly back into our students, through teaching, research, resources and facilities.

It also means that if you are in Australia, any donation you make to Bond over $2 is fully tax deductible.

5. Bond is a not-for-profit institution

A Bond experience is one of the best learning experiences in Australia, with the smallest student-to-staff ratio in the nation, the highest percentage of PhD-qualified teachers, and world class facilities.

But as a not-for-profit organisation, Bond receives very limited government funding and relies on the generosity of the Bond community, past and present, to maintain the quality of education for which it has become known.

giving

Bond launched its 2010 Annual Fund this month. An annual fund is a campaign that many Australian and international universities run, but it will be a first for Bond.

to be innovators, to be entrepreneurs and to be adventurers, imbued with a quest for lifelong learning.

These characteristics set Bond graduates apart in the marketplace, and they have helped our University grow, during the past two decades, into an internationally-respected teaching and research institution, and the highest rating university in Australia.* At Bond, students are encouraged to reach for their dreams and seize every opportunity. Teachers provide the academic instruction, professional experience and personal support that enable each student to surpass their goals.

The shared experiences and friendships forged at Bond University unite our collegiate community across oceans and generations.

But great universities have always been built on philanthropy.

The best universities in the world, such as Harvard and Yale, have been built through small and large gifts from their alumni and benefactors.

From its earliest days, Bond has benefited from and relied on the generosity of its philanthropic supporters; far-sighted men and women who have given according to their means, to support the growth, development and pursuit of excellence that has made Bond University exceptional in the past two decades.

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*Good Universities Guide 2010

Where the money goes Gifts to the 2010 Annual Fund will go toward: Electronic book readers Enabling students to wirelessly download reference material without depleting the resources available to other students.

Sporting facilities Improving Bond’s sporting and recreation facilities by upgrading the sporting fields and purchasing new equipment and uniforms.

Student Opportunity Fund Enabling students to take advantage of the many opportunities on offer, such as travel to competitions, events and seminars.

If Bond helped you in your career, if Bond supported your personal growth, if Bond’s reputation impacts on your professional reputation, if Bond was a learning experience you think others deserve, please give generously to ensure our future success.

Why? Bond is a not-for-profit institution, re-investing all surplus funds directly back into students. Bond receives only limited government funds, and relies on philanthropy to provide its students with the best education possible.

Donations over $2 are tax deductible in Australia.

Five good reasons

to give back to Bond in the Annual Fund 1. Enhance the investment you made in your degree

Your Bond degree is a valuable component of your professional success, and you will carry Bond’s reputation with you throughout your career. By investing in your university, you can increase the brand value of your degree.

At the same time, you will be helping students today and in the future make the most of their time at Bond, just as other graduates before you helped you.

2. Keep Bond University the highest rating in Australia

Bond is the highest rating University in Australia according to the 2010 Good Universities Guide. This publication is Australia’s only definitive guide to university performance, and bases its ratings on feedback from the recent graduates among each university’s alumni.

By supporting Bond students through the 2010 Annual Fund, you will provide additional leverage to ensure the future reputation, prosperity and performance of your university.

How to donate Donate online: www.bond.edu.au/annual-fund Call in your gift: +61 7 5595 4403 Ask for a brochure: email us at development@bond.edu.au and we’ll post you a brochure

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BONDIES HAVE always understood what it means

Alumni

CARES?

A bad day at the office for Kirsten Hagon can mean hearing about deaths of innocent people. But on a good day, she can make a difference in the lives of individuals or even communities. humanitarian policy for Oxfam International in the big smoke, This Bondy turned her law degree to Hagon says she is still in culture shock. humanitarian purposes and that career has “I’m still slightly confused about where I am and what on taken her to refugee camps and war zones, earth I’m doing,” she confesses. “It’s very strange. In the field, your entire life is your work and everybody you relate to is where she’s witnessed extraordinary human doing the same or similar work to you, or they’re part of the suffering alongside communities you’re assisting. inspiring resilience and And suddenly in New York I’m A bad day at the office is not the surrounded by people that have compassion. completely different lives. same as a bad day in the field.

If you The Arch caught up “To begin with, I was thinking believe you are making a difference, it’s ‘Oh with Hagon as she my god you want me to have a conversation about pop learned to adapt to life in easy to keep going culture? What are you talking a very different kind of Kirsten Hagon about?’ People were talking about war zone: movie stars and musicians and the Olympic Games, and I had nothing to say.

New York City.

KIRSTEN HAGON arrived in the frantic city of

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New York last year, fresh off the boat from several years in or close to African refugee camps and war zones, by way of Darfur, Uganda, Chad and the Cote d’Ivoire. Now working on

“It was quite a challenge to accept that I needed to start investigating some of the different and exciting opportunities in New York, and not spend all my time thinking about tragedies in the world.”

But Hagon’s preoccupation with “tragedies in the world” is not without reason. While most of us spent our early careers

Hagon completed a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of International Relations at Bond, focusing on international law. After graduating, she spent three and a half years in a Melbourne law firm, before travelling to Cambridge in the UK to study her Masters degree in International Law. At Cambridge, Hagon had the opportunity to study beside “incredible, interesting and talented people” with extraordinary backgrounds, from international law to diplomacy and peacekeeping forces. And what she learned at Cambridge, both inside and outside the classes, became vital to her later work.

“I was focusing a lot on the laws of war, and I went from that into actual war zones, where an understanding of a particular regime is very useful!”

Working in war zones and regions of unrest can generate a very different set of workplace challenges and problems.

The daily news for the population can be one of regular fighting, of atrocities committed against civilians, or of terrible living conditions and deprivation.

“National colleagues would report of incidents where family members were killed,” Hagon remembers. “These environments can also be unsafe for the aid workers. In Darfur there were regular car-jackings and robberies.”

So how do you maintain your motivation to get up and go to work each day when the challenges you face at the office are as grand, as exhausting and as eternal as war, displacement and human suffering, not to mention personal danger?

“A bad day at the office is not the same as a bad day in the field,” she says. “If you believe you are making some kind of a difference, it’s easy to keep going. It’s when you don’t feel you are able to make any kind of difference that it’s hardest. Of course, we constantly have to ask this question.

“In the field on a bad day, I’d find motivation and inspiration from my local colleagues. The most inspiring people I met had often been through incredibly horrific experiences themselves. In Uganda, a number of former child soldiers who had been abducted by the violent Lords Resistance Army (LRA) went on to establish organisations that helped other former child soldiers.

“In Cairo I was working with a number of asylum seekers as their lawyer. It was frustrating to see the enormous extent of people’s needs and to know I could help only with one small part, the legal part, and that was not always successful.

“But I did learn about how important small things were.

People would say, ‘Thank you, you’re the first person who’s ever listened to my story. You’re the first person to try to help me.’ It makes you realise how badly refugees and asylum-seekers are often treated in their communities. They make me feel like this is actually worth doing.”

The skills I gained at Bond were probably the most useful element of my time there …

I had a really good basis for my career

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Bondy Kirsten Hagon meets with members of a community organisation in their one-room, concrete-block office, rural Uganda

working our way up through the ranks of the office, the boardroom or the courtroom, Hagon was supporting some of the most disadvantaged and disenfranchised people in the world. Her days were spent listening to stories of persecution and suffering told by asylum seekers from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan.

And at times, those events came even closer to home.

“While I was living in Cairo there was a protest in a park by some members of the Sudanese refugee and asylum seekers’ community against the UNHCR. The police decided to break up the protest with force and, in the process, 28 people were killed, most of them women and children. It was horrific.”

Hagon and her UNHCR colleagues were given less than a week to interview everyone who had been arrested in that park and make a case for why they should not be deported.

The team worked day and night interviewing the traumatised detainees and, in the end, they were all released and permitted to remain in Egypt.

It would be hard to meet someone more passionate about their job than Hagon, who chose to make compassion a career while on a high school trip to Nepal, trekking and volunteering in hospitals and schools.

“In Australia, I was pretty sheltered. Even though I’d travelled, it wasn’t until I went to Katmandu that I saw visible poverty. I also remember meeting some monks from Tibet who’d lost their fingers and toes in their efforts to escape across high mountain passes. Their stories really affected me.

“That was what really made me realise how lucky I was and how horrendous other people’s lives were. And I knew that whatever I did with my life, I wanted it to be somehow linked to making other people’s lives better.”

Determined only that she wanted to make a difference but unsure how to go about it, the teenaged Hagon considered a range of Kirsten Hagon career options, including ‘barefoot doctor’ and diplomat. Then fate, in the form the prestigious Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship at Bond University, intervened.

During her interview for the scholarship, Hagon entered into a debate with Professor Jim Corkery on the value and place of the United Nations.

“Of course I thought, well I’ve argued with the interviewer, I’m never going to get it,” she laughs. “But I found Jim Corkery incredibly interesting to debate, and I knew I would love to be taught by him. Since I was still not sure of the best way to do what I wanted to do, Bond’s fast-tracked degree program was another incentive. If at the end of the degree I decided law wasn’t the right choice, I could still do something else and not feel like I’d lost too much time.

“The skills I gained at Bond were probably the most useful element of my time there. When I left and started working at a law firm, I had a really good basis for my career. In my current work, a lot of it is about advocacy, as well as presenting and providing training; all skills I learned at Bond. The opportunity to participate in the Jessup mooting competition was excellent in terms of research and writing skills, of working with a team, and of realising how hard you can work and how little sleep you can survive on! I also gained public speaking skills, and was able to do an internship at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Canberra that was really useful.”

Alumni

QldBondies, international aid Bondies are living and working from Tanzania to Cambodia and Jordan to the former Yugoslavia, using their education for compassionate purposes.

Adam Shepherd and Leah Campbell are both Bondies, both law graduates and both Queenslanders. And they’ve both forged careers in humanitarian work.

Learning to

When Samantha Strauss was still studying her degree at Bond’s Centre for Film, Television and Screen-Based Media, she submitted a short film called Learning to Fly for an assignment that she will tell you was not very good.

fly

ARCH: Where are you based and what are you working on right now?

ADAM: I work for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in New York. My role is Carbon Legal Adviser for a program that helps developing countries access the global carbon markets as a source of development finance, and promotes greenhouse gas emission projects that contribute to sustainable development.

ARCH: Tell us the story of the first time you realised you

could make a difference.

ADAM: I worked for three years at the international law firm Baker & McKenzie in Sydney. The firm has a successful climate change and clean energy practice group, so I was fortunate to receive training in this highly-specialised, exciting and growing field. It seemed like a great way to be involved in challenging work that had positive outcomes.

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LEAH: I’m uncomfortable with the ‘making a difference’ tag.

I love my job and on some level I believe that what we do goes some way towards ending impunity for war crimes.

But at the same time, I’ve learned that the closer you get to a conflict the more intricate and complicated it becomes. To heal a post-conflict society, it’s not enough to simply put those ‘most responsible’ for the crimes on trial. But it is an important step.

ARCH: Think back to your time at Bond. How did it help prepare you for your career today?

LEAH: Bond draws a critical mass of students from all over Australia and the world. I come from the Gold Coast but, on campus, Queenslanders were the minority. I think it really helped that my degree was a truly international experience.

ADAM: Bond opened doors in Sydney law firms. Bond was my stepping stone from high school in Rockhampton to a job at an international law firm, which ultimately led me to the UN. Bond has an excellent name at Baker & McKenzie.

Leah: The Law Faculty has a great international law program, particularly its mooting program. It was on the back of a mooting trip in 2001 that I first visited the ICTY, and that got me thinking. Attending such a small law faculty opened up opportunities that I may not have had at a larger faculty.

ADAM: I also took part in various mooting competitions.

While mooting isn’t directly relevant to my work today, the competitions helped me realise how far hard work can take you.

If you put in the hard yards, you can learn any new skills and you can become really good at those skills. You don’t need to be the best, you just need to be confident, honest and hard working.

FAST-FORWARD

almost 10 years and filming has just finished for television station ABC1’s newest children’s series, Dance Academy. The series was conceived and written by Strauss, and inspired by that same short film she made at Bond. The first episode airs across Australia in May 2010. It is called ‘Learning to Fly’.

The Arch caught up with Strauss the week after filming wrapped up, to learn how she transformed a university assignment into an international success.

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LEAH: I’m based in The Hague, the Netherlands. I work as an Associate Legal Officer to the Vice President of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). At the moment, I’m part of a team drafting the judgment on Popovi et al, a case involving seven men charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Alumni

“Dance Academy is a story about a girl from a remote country town who moves to Sydney when she gets into the top ballet school in Australia. We follow her first year there as she makes friends and enemies, falls in love, falls flat on her face, grows up and has her heart broken. It’s an aspirational series for young teens.

“I started writing the series in my spare time while I was working in casting. Then in 2005 I met Joanna Werner on a series called H20-Just Add Water, which filmed on the Gold Coast. Late one night after too many drinks we got talking about what show we’d most like to make. I couldn’t believe it when we both said a series set at an elite ballet school.

“Over the next couple of years Joanna and I talked about the series on and off. I wrote a pitch document, which was more like the bible for the series, and that went through an extensive refining process with the producer. We really wanted it to be as perfect as possible before showing it to the networks, so they couldn’t find a reason to say no.

“Actually, that was a great lesson to learn. So often as a writer you get excited about showing people your work but you really need to wait until it’s properly cooked. It’s true what they say about only getting one chance to make a first impression.

“Then in 2008 we sent the project to the new Head of Children’s Programming at ABC. He loved it and gave us some development money, and then the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (now our Executive Producer) pitched in as well. The funding was to write three new episodes and we used them to sell the show to the ABC and to ZDF, our German broadcaster.”

Take your first flight Sam Strauss’ guide to TV success “First and foremost I would say ‘get a job in television’. There seems to be a culture of students who graduate from university and think they are going to start at the top as directors, writers or producers.

“They then spend years making their short films and their indie feature films where they are in those key creative roles. That is absolutely fantastic, but I really think it needs to be married with work in the professional industry.

You need to understand how the machine operates.

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“At the same time, I think you should try to avoid getting stuck in your day-job. If you want to write and are working 14-hour days as a runner then yes it’s hard. But save your money and then write for a few months after that job ends. The fate of being a freelancer is that there is a lot of downtime between projects, so embrace that and never lose sight of your end goal.”

“Dance Academy got financed at the end of December 2008.

By that stage I felt like I’d done a huge amount of work on the project, but it wasn’t until we got financed that it really started.

The script department expanded from just me in my bedroom to a story producer, a script editor and a script coordinator.

“We were scripting from January to December in 2009, really chasing our tails to get the scripts out in time for each pre-production deadline. My professional writing work until then had been only one episode of a children’s series, so it was a baptism of fire being responsible for 26 episodes.

“It was amazing seeing all the sets go up and the actors start to work. The characters and the world had been in my head for so long, it was weird that they were now finally a reality.

“We were so fortunate to get the crew we had: directors like Jeff Walker who’s doing Chris Lilley’s latest show for HBO, and Cherie Nowlan who directed Clubland. Our Director of Photography was Martin McGrath, a complete legend who shot Muriel’s Wedding.

“I think people were excited that Jo, the producer, and I were young and this was our first project, and we were trying to do something new and original. We had a budget of $10.45 million and every single cent of that is on screen. We were extremely ambitious and while it almost killed everyone, I think we pulled it off.”

Join the flock “I wasn’t like a lot of the other film students at Bond in that I hadn’t grown up knowing that I wanted to make movies. In fact I had never taken so much as a photograph and one day I just decided I wanted to do this degree.

“I was really lucky that Bond didn’t have a portfolio requirement because if they had, there’s no way I would have gotten in. I think there’s something to be said for that: undergraduate degrees are about working out who you are and what you’re good at. Who really knows that at 17?

“My time at Bond University was fantastic because it was so practical. I worked on as many different projects as I could in all sorts of capacities. While I’ll never be a camera operator, I’m glad someone made me do it at some point. Our course was really small, under 20 people, and I remember that we worked hard, pulling all-nighters by hiding from the security guards in the editing lab so that we could keep cutting our films.

Complete obsession.

“I made a short film at Bond called Learning to Fly. It was about a girl who was trapped in a situation she didn’t know how to get out of, caught between an abusive teacher and her dream of being a ballerina. To be honest, it wasn’t very good but I am really grateful for the experience in getting to make a film. I learnt a lot during the process, not least that the script needs to be rigorously challenged before going into production. I think it was more a lesson in what not to do, than what to do.

“I bumped into some of my classmates at a film awards night not long ago and it was awesome to see that we’re all out there actually working in the industry. So many of the guest lecturers told us we’d never get a job, but I think they were trying to scare us into working harder.

“Bond gave me my foot in the door. Based on references from my lecturers I got a work experience opportunity with a casting company and stayed there for free until I impressed them enough to pay me $200 a week.

“In becoming a writer, my scriptwriting lecturer at Bond Ian McFadyen was really instrumental. In the first week of his class I wrote this five-minute film and he gave me such good feedback that I was inspired. It was the first time I’d ever considered that I might have a talent for writing and more importantly, that I enjoyed it.”

I remember that we worked hard [at Bond], pulling allnighters by hiding from the security guards in the editing lab so that we could keep cutting our films

Nurture the nest egg “I was writing Dance Academy until the final day of filming.

We wrapped up about a week ago and it’s a pretty weird feeling.

I saw cuts of every episode and gave notes. I’ve learnt that this is a real privilege in Australia: most often writers produce the scripts then hand them over without further input. It seems counterproductive.

“I’ve been asked to write a film, which is a great challenge after having my head in TV and my own project for so long.

And we’ll hear very soon about a second season of Dance Academy. In the meantime, I’m developing other TV series and working with my agent on how to position them.

“My goal was always to make my own series and I jumped a few steps and got to do that earlier than I expected, so ‘what’s next’ is a good question. Ultimately, I think I just want to keep telling my own stories, working with people more talented than I am … ideally with a big budget because that makes everything much easier!”

Dance Academy starts at the end of May 2010, broadcasting every night at 5.30pm on ABC1.

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Stretch your wings

Alumni

Meet a

mentor

One of the most rewarding ways in which a Bondy can give back to their alma mater is by mentoring a current student. Bond alumni are uniquely qualified as mentors: only another Bondy truly understands the nature, scope and opportunities inherent in a Bond education.

and students with opportunities for personal, professional and skills development.

The Arch followed postgraduate student Kenneth Yam to Melbourne, where he met with his mentor and fellow Bondy, alumnus Angel Chambers.

The student perspective: Kenneth yam

Bond is unique in its own way from any other Australian university. Angel, being a Bond alumnus, has inside knowledge of this educational experience. She can provide me with relevant advice on a range of issues, including how to choose a career path, transitioning to the workplace, networking and job opportunities.

I am very impressed and appreciative that such a great alumnus like Angel is willing to devote her time and effort to assist me. It reinforces my belief that Bond is a tight-knit community of people that will lend a helping hand to others in need of assistance.

Being a mentor… is a way to make sure that students put their best foot forward and represent our university well in the wider community

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I graduated from Bond’s Bachelor of Laws program with honours last year, and I’m currently undertaking Angel Chambers a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, also at Bond, which should be finished by the middle of this year.

I spent two years studying on I joined the mentor program because I wanted to expand my scholarship at Bond and, when I completed my studies and network of contacts in the legal sector. Having a mentor has returned to Melbourne, I was keen to give back and help the also given me someone to correspond with who can give me Bond community. specific guidance on ‘life after university’ and employment.

Now that I’ve gained several years of legal work experience, Angel is a very warm and understanding mentor, and and recently established a new practice area at Kliger Partners, has given me excellent guidance on matters I raised. I feel where I work, I feel I can successfully mentor a Bond student. comfortable communicating with her, even though we initially Kenneth has been a pleasure to mentor. Because we live in only communicated via email. She has given me strategies for different states, we have communicated via phone, email and finding work, assisted me with my resume, and even offered even Facebook. I want to help Kenneth find employment to help me with interview skills. She also highlighted what my so that I can support him with the transition from study to potential employers may be looking for, and some HR policies employment, provide him with networking opportunities, and to be aware of. help him with his career.

Moving forward, I hope to gain long-term strategic direction Being a mentor means I can help a fellow Bond student and, to be successful in the legal industry. As Angel is a Bondy in turn, give back to Bond University. I expect that we will herself, and is currently Head of the Migration Department in continue the mentoring relationship after the semester ends. her firm, I believe she will be able to assist me with my I believe I can best help Kenneth by advising him on the things career goals. Personally, I trust that Angel will be able to I wish I had known when I first started working. I can give show me how she balances her social and working life, as this him hints and tips when applying for a job, assist him with topic seems to surface in a lot of conversations I have with the interview process (having been both an interviewer and an practitioners working in medium-to-top tier firms.

The mentor perspective: Angel Chambers

interviewee in the past) and provide him with advice regarding employment at a law firm.

I studied a Juris Doctor degree at Bond. I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne, then chose to undertake the Juris Doctor degree at Bond because my brother was also studying law there, and highly recommended the law school, the campus and the Bond community.

There are a lot of things that stand out about my time at Bond.

These include the smaller lectures and tutorials, the quality of the teachers, the ability to work full-time and study full-time due to the class structures, the intensive Masters subjects, the beautiful campus and the culturally-diverse students.

I have made some wonderful friends all over the world from the time I spent at Bond. I think it’s important to give back to the University that gave me so much!

I would recommend that other Bond alumni become mentors.

It’s not only a way to help students during their studies and after graduation; it’s also a way to make sure that they put their best foot forward and represent our university well in the wider community.

Want to mentor a Bond student?

The Bond University mentor program is a rewarding, semester-long way to give back to Bond and develop your personal and professional skills. You don’t need to be based on the Gold Coast or even in Australia to be a mentor.

Contact the Alumni Relations Office at alumni@bond.edu.au or call +61 7 5595 4403 for more information or to volunteer to become a mentor.

Autumn 2010

37

BOND’S MENTOR program provides both alumni

Alumni

understanding and helpful, but it was still quite challenging.

But once I had all the information in front of me I found that study wasn’t as hard as it might have seemed.

ARCH: Why’s that?

PC: I guess when people look at my situation, they might think, ‘Well he can’t move or anything, he can’t do anything for himself, so reading might be a challenge.’

But it’s actually not as hard as it seems. You get plenty of time when you’re in my situation, there’s not a lot of distractions!

You get plenty of time to sit there and read the information.

One thing you can do is apply your mind and keep your focus.

ARCH: It’s now 10 years on. What are you doing these days?

who taught

Superman to fly

To the best of his knowledge, Perry Cross was the first quadriplegic in Australia to attend university on campus, rather than via correspondence.

He graduated from Bond University 10 years ago with a Bachelor of Communications (Business) and that day, he tells The Arch, is still his most powerful memory of the three-and-a-half years he spent at Bond.

38

PC: Graduation day gave me a real feeling of accomplishment and pride in what I’d done. Mainly because I’d gone to Bond and gained all that knowledge but, for me, it was also in meeting the challenge of overcoming my situation.

Going to university was my first real accomplishment after being injured. It gave me the confidence to get out in the world and mix it with the big guns. I thought, if I can do that, I can go out and do whatever I want!

ARCH: Tell us the story of how you got your injuries.

PC: Before my accident, my life was pretty normal. At 19 you think you’re bullet-proof, and I was just cruising through life.

I got injured when a rugby tackle went wrong and my neck was broken. An injury like that is profound, like switching off the lights. You lose that feeling, that movement, instantly.

When I got injured I lay there on the ground, I looked up at the sky, and I knew straight away what had happened. You don’t have to be a neurologist to understand that when you break your neck you’ve done something pretty bad.

So I just lay there and looked up at the sky and thought to myself, oh my god, my life has just changed forever.

ARCH: How did you come to terms with your injury and get motivated for the future?

PC: I spent eight months in hospital trying to come to terms with the situation, and learning about spinal cord injury. I am quadriplegic, and it’s a fairly involved process.

Then in 1997, I flew to New York and met the late Christopher Reeve for the first time. It blew him away that I’d flown to New York from Australia. He had always been told, “Oh, you can’t fly.” I like to think that by going to New York at that time, I taught Superman to fly again.

The most amazing part of my meeting with Christopher Reeve was that he convinced me a cure was possible. He said, “Look,

there will be a cure for paralysis. It’s just a matter of time.” That was a real breakthrough moment. It changed my outlook, my focus on the whole idea of finding a cure for paralysis.

ARCH: What was behind your decision to study at Bond?

PC: I’d always intended to study, even before my injury.

When I was injured I really had to look at what I could do, what my skills were, and how I could best use those skills.

Public speaking was an obvious path for me to follow, and the communications degree at Bond was an appropriate add-on.

In terms of being on campus, I think it was very healthy for me to get back into that community lifestyle. It’s really hard for people in my situation, and part of dealing with that is facing things head-on; getting back into the community and being a social, active member of the community.

I chose Bond for a number of reasons: it was close, I had friends there, and the three-semester years meant I could study part time and still not take forever.

ARCH: What were some of the challenges you faced?

PC: The hardest part was the lectures and tutorials. I didn’t have the ability to take notes, so gaining information was really challenging. Most of the lecturers and tutors could accommodate my needs and would help me with notes and those sorts of things that I couldn’t get. They were very

ARCH: How did that come about?

PC: Soon after I was injured, in 1995, some of my mates were studying organisational behaviour (OB), at Bond. They had to do an organisational project, so they decided to host a golf day to raise funds to help get me out of hospital and get me some of the equipment I needed. Then for the first few years after I got out of hospital, students kept doing these golf days.

By the time I got to Bond they were still doing the same project, but we decided to change the objective. Instead of raising money for me personally, we raised money to help build awareness and find a cure for paralysis, directing it to charities.

And eventually that charity became the Perry X Foundation.

ARCH: Why did you decide to launch the Foundation?

PC: After Christopher Reeve was injured, the profile of spinal cord injury was relatively high, and support for research was steaming ahead. But when he passed away we lost a friend and also our spokesperson, our figurehead.

That was my inspiration to start the Foundation. Most people with spinal cord injuries never go outside, they are never in public, so they get forgotten. It’s been my motivation to get out there in front of people. I don’t hold back from going anywhere or doing anything. I’ll always be fairly flamboyant about it because if I don’t, then this situation will just drag on forever.

ARCH: What can Arch readers do to support the Foundation?

PC: The easiest way is to visit the website: www.perryxfoundation.org. Donations are welcome, of course, but we’re also always looking for new ideas and opportunities for fundraising. We’re pretty open so if anyone has any ideas on how they think they can help, just let us know!

Autumn 2010

39

The Bondy

I just lay there and looked up at the sky and thought to myself, oh my god, my life has just changed forever

PC: I’ve made a career as a motivational speaker. I address groups nationally and internationally, that range in size from small school groups to 18,000-pax conferences. I talk to them about attitude, and how the right attitude can literally change their business and personal lives.

A few years ago, I also launched the Perry X Foundation. We raise funds to put towards medical research to find a cure for paralysis, something that’s obviously very close to my heart. At the moment, the Foundation is funding a research scholarship at Bond to study nerve regeneration.

Competition

Alumni

WIN

a special edition

MONTBLANC PEN

Class

Sign your name with a special-edition Montblanc UNICEF Meisterstuck Classique fountain pen worth $A680.

notes

MONTBLANC SyMBOLISES BOLISES

craftsmanship and culture, education and achievement, sophistication and timeless aesthetics. Bond University is offering one alumnus the opportunity to win one of these beautiful fountain pens. The Meisterstuck fountain pen features a hand-crafted, 14-carat gold nib with rhodium plated inlay, three gold-plated rings, a goldplated clip and a precious black resin barrel.

A gold-plated, filigree olive wreath, the symbol of the UN, alongside a sapphire, adorn the cap of the pen.

Part of Montblanc’s ‘Signature for Good’ collection, this pen was designed to honour the company’s partnership with UNICEF, and $1.5 million in proceeds from sales of this collection will go to support UNICEF education programs.

WHAT’S GOING on in your life? Email us at

To win the Montblanc fountain pen, simply show us your penmanship. In 50 words or less, share your most powerful memory of your time at Bond.

alumni@bond.edu.au with the subject heading ‘Class Notes’ and let us know what’s happening in your life, so we can tell your fellow Bondies in the next issue of The Arch.

Send your answer via email to development@bond.edu.au. development@bond.edu.au Entries will then be uploaded to the Alumni Network Portal (www.alumni.bond.edu.au)) for your fellow Bondies to read.

We’ll select the winner at random.

Alumni year 1990 Mark Ellis is in the Solomon Islands with the Australian Federal Police, project managing the transition of medical, aviation and garrison support to the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

Jennifer Tannoch-Bland got to live one of her dreams in 2009, spending six-and-a-half weeks rock climbing in the US, mostly in the Yosemite Valley, CA. Kim Thurlow and his wife have started their own business, www.jagps.com.au, supplying GPS, navigation and rugged computers throughout Australia.

Rani Hammond (nee Taylor) married her childhood

sweetheart on New Year’s Eve, 2008. Their son was born in February 2007, and their daughter was born in July 2008. The family lives in Washington, DC, where Rani works as Vice President (Human Resources) for Hilton Worldwide.

Alumni year 1991 April Sather and her husband welcomed their second child in May 2009, Elena Ynez Sather.

Mireille Johnson recently got engaged to her partner Craig.

She has just submitted her M.Phil thesis on Identity Fraud, studying at the Institute of Public Policy, AUT, in Auckland, NZ, while working full time.

Brendan Key worked in accounting in Australia and the UK until 2006, when he switched careers to open his own business, www.brisbanesheds.com.au. Brendan met his wife Renee 13 years ago, and they have three children, Lochlan (five), Hamish (three) and Freja (one).

Autumn 2010

41

40

How to win

Catch up on all that’s new with 108 of your fellow Bondies. They’re organised according to alumni year, the year they started their first degree at Bond.

Alumni

Joshua Smith and his wife had their first baby, a little girl named Adriana, in January 2006.

Elah Marie Abangan now works at AusAID Manila (Philippines) as Program Officer for Education.

Jenai Gihwala (nee Yarrow) and her husband welcomed their son, Taj, into the world in January 2009.

Kate Downes married her partner James Halsall on Waiheke Island, New Zealand, in March 2010. They work together at the Australian-owned MY Galaxy and spent the past summer working in the Seychelles and Maldives.

Hamid Mondol has a two-year-old daughter, Juanita, and is Finance Director for JohnsonDiversey in Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.

Dr Zhaohao Sun works at the University of Ballarat as a senior lecturer in information systems, and took leave last year to visit China.

Alumni year 1998

Alumni year 1992 Ebrahim Al Haddad took his wife and 10-month-old son with him to Bond, “We used to push him around campus in his pram.” Today, Ebrahim’s son is attending Bond, studying law and a recipient of the Dean’s Scholarship.

Gregory Vickery is National President of the Australian Red Cross Society. He received an ‘outstanding achievement’ award last year from the Queensland Law Society, was Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the Bond Law School in 2008, and is now a member of the Law School Advisory Committee.

Alumni year 1993 Lorenzo Mazzocchetti and his wife Vivien welcomed their second son, Lucas, last year (their first son Gabriel is two).

Lorenzo became a Partner at Grope Hamilton Lawyers in Adelaide.

Alumni year 1994 Nichola (Nikki) Scoble (nee Cassar) married her partner Brad Scoble in March last year, after they met at Bond in 1995.

Bondy Jade Pascoe (nee Marr) was a bridesmaid, and other Bondies Bernadette Rose, Natasha Reid and Trudi Carter were also at the wedding.

Ervin Gafar is now studying for a PhD-Management in Indonesia.

Jens-Uwe Korff runs www.creativespirits.info, an Australian travel website that specialises in Aboriginal culture.

Alumni year 1995

42

Dr Paul Wong welcomed his son into the world on Valentine’s Day (14 February), 2009.

Abid Hussain welcomed baby girl Sophiya Abid Hussain into the world last year; was promoted to Vice President Network Creative for On Air Promos at Astro Malaysia; and won six international awards (three New York Festival awards, a World Promax BDA award, and two Asia Promax BDA awards).

Stephen Warouw got engaged to his girlfriend late in 2009.

Adam Foster has been working as an editor for Channel 10 and Channel 7 in Australia, and was recently in LA working on motion picture deals (four are contracted away, and one will be made in Melbourne this year).

Gopi More welcomed son Tajesveer More to the family in October 2009.

Kathryn Sheppard had a bittersweet year in 2009, losing her father to cancer in March, but getting engaged to her partner Darren Freeman. Kathryn started a new job at the South Australia Police in 2008 as a Senior Research Officer in Crime Prevention, and volunteers for the Royal Society for the Blind by caring for the Society’s breeding dogs.

Alumni year 1999 Troy Piccone moved to Mexico last year and started an import/export business.

Santhiti (Tom) Treetipbut completed his Doctoral program with the University of South Australia in 2009, on foreign direct investment in Thailand.

Alumni year 2001 Martin de Bruin married his girlfriend of more than five years in November last year, and just purchased a summer house.

Donovan Joseph was promoted to Director, Legal Commercial at Sorouh PJSC in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He took a trip back to visit the Bond campus in January 2010.

Tommy Fossli got married since leaving Australia in 2002.

He has a little girl, and a boy on the way. He switched jobs from system developer to become a system architect at Norsk Rikstoto late last year.

Ajay Aggarwal was working in the family business in India for several years, but relocated to Sydney in April 2009 to gain experience as a management consultant.

Dr Marie-Claire Patron launched her second book, Diary of a French Girl, Surviving Intercultural Encounters, through Bond University Press in September 2009.

Letizia-Ann Kosman (nee Chilcott) married her partner Hunter Kosman just over a year ago, and they live on 30 acres in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, in the US. Letizia-Ann worked in corporate sales and recruitment for eight years, but is now training for her teaching certificate.

Neels Grobler married his partner Ezanda Grobler, one of South Australia’s top mountain bikers, in November 2008.

Alumni year 2002 Alumni year 2000 Apurva Agarwal and his wife Ruchi became the proud parents of their second daughter, Advika Agarwal, in February 2009.

Their first daughter Anushka was born in November 2006.

Arihant Jain married his partner Soni Sureka in June 2009.

Elise Kogler and her partner got engaged while in Venice last year, and the wedding is planned for May 2010. Elise lives and works on the Gold Coast as a property valuer, and her younger sister Emma Kogler graduated from Bond as valedictorian last year.

Dries Van Schalkwyk owns his own company, and urges his fellow Bondies to “treasure every moment” and “do the best you can to make every day a day to remember.”

Kujai Kafumukache is marketing manager for Micropis Zambia Ltd, and owns a successful catering company in Zambia.

Deborah Lynn Zutter published her second book, Divorce Meditation: A Dispute Resolution Guide as an e-book, available on Amazon and at www.debzutter.com.

Akane Kono is working in the IT/Gaming industry in Brisbane.

Erica Santosaputri married her partner Bobby Herlambang in December 2008, and they had their first child, Darien Jevon Herlambang, in November last year.

Stefanie Glasser lives in Egypt on the Red Sea, and was recently promoted to Director of E-Commerce & Marketing at the Steigenberger Al Dau Resort. The Resort’s website won first place in the Arab International E-Tourism and E-Marketing Conference late in 2009.

Daniel Wardana works in technical support for Canon Camcorder in Indonesia, and hopes to change his career to production, on the path to work as a film director.

Tammy Zunker (nee Semionov) married her partner Shanon Zunker in January 2009, and gave birth to a healthy baby girl in April last year, named Maya Grace Zunker.

Rhianne Chester got engaged in November 2009.

Keith Rowley was recently appointed Regional Manager, Western Australia, with South African company GroundProbe, and recently relocated back to Australia.

Lisa Washington married her partner, Heath Moore, in December 2009.

Eleanor Donovan is Director of Recruitment and helped establish Teach For Australia in 2009, a new non-profit aimed at tackling educational disadvantage.

Autumn 2010

43

Alumni year 1997

Alumni

Alumni year 2003 Rik Crutzen has lived in Australia, Amsterdam and Belgium since leaving Bond, and defended his PhD thesis last year, combining his first study (psychology) with his studies at Bond (communication and advertising), and applying them to the field of health promotion.

Joseph Taylor married his partner Stacey West in April this year, with Bondies Adam Fitzgibbons and Jessica Eggleston (nee Woskett) as best man and bridesmaid.

Beth Orchard got engaged last year. She is studying for her Masters degree in Social Justice studies at Loyola University, Chicago USA, which she will combine with her Bond Criminology Masters to work in international human rights.

Jack Wallsten works as a video-photographer and editor at Swedish firm ZoomVision Mamato. His band Aright! just recorded its first EP, called I can’t stand the rain I am made of sugar, available through Amazon and Emusic.

George Gatehi worked briefly for an American company, CQVA LLC, based between China and his home country of Kenya. In June 2009, George started his own company, Star World Ltd, in Kenya, opening retail stores and developing several unique product lines.

Zhen Hong Li lives in Shanghai, China, and is a partner in Asia’s biggest law firm, Dacheng Law Firm, specialising in international investment.

Reginah Mosomane works in Botswana as a Coordinator in an AIDS Intervention Program Centre called Botswana Christian AIDS Intervention Program, and hopes to return to Australia for a visit later this year.

Alumni year 2004 Adrian Praljak lives with his family in Melbourne, and recently finished his Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice with the Australian National University (ANU). In December last year he was admitted to the Supreme Court of Canberra as a legal practitioner.

Janet McMillan (nee Longmuir) married her partner Bruce McMillan in May 2009 after an 11-year romance.

William Ewing backpacked around Malaysia, Singapore and South America after graduating in 2008, then started work as a Graduate Trainee at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Canberra in February last year.

Rachel Green married her partner Andrew Ballinger in March this year, and will shortly move to the United States.

Alumni year 2005

44

Yash Lakhotia was recently elected as a Board member in the Executive Committee, Queensland, of the Australian Computer Society, and is Vice Chair of Young IT, ACS Qld. Tyler Hendrick was made Technical Director / Producer for the ‘Softy’ show (radio and television) on Comcast Sportsnet Northwest in March last year.

Luke Baines is a Senior Account Executive at Hill & Knowlton, a top three international PR and Communications firm in the United Kingdom.

Jan Mehlhose married his partner Patricia Wandoren in August 2008, and their daughter Tarah Laetitia was born in December 2008. They live in Cologne, Germany, and Jan is Head of Marketing at EMI Music in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, responsible of marketing campaigns for Robbie Williams, Lily Allen and Empire of the Sun, among others.

Emily Eichman is a member of the United States Peace Corps, stationed in Lanzhou, China, at the Lanzhou University of Finance and Economics. She teaches English and a variety of cultural classes.

Alumni year 2006 Alyce Cleary was recently accepted into the Teach for Australia program, an alternative pathway into secondary education that represents a joint initiative between the Australian Federal Government, the Victorian State Department of Education, Melbourne University, and a number of corporate sponsors.

Leia Redman and her husband just welcomed their first child into the world. Leia recently obtained her clinical accreditation with the APS clinical psychologists, and received a promotion to Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychologist.

Laura Cahill got engaged in May 2009, and will get married in July this year.

Gregory Asher hopes to complete his MPsych at Monash University this year, and establish a private practice in St Kilda called East St Kilda Psychology.

Ioana-Cristina (Oana) Croitoru is living in Auckland, New Zealand, studying a Postgraduate Diploma of Advanced 3D Productions at Media Design school.

Daegan Leachman is a family law solicitor with O’Neill’s Law in Kingscliff, NSW, and recently got engaged to long-term partner Joseph Coyne.

Lu Wang celebrated his wedding three times in 2009, in Australia, Hong Kong and China. He now works for Education Queensland, teaching.

Beatrix Dammert is Head of Communications for a foundation caring for street children in Germany. During a holiday in Australia last year, Beatrix and her partner Lars Schmolke got engaged, and plan to marry in Bremen, Germany, in October this year.

Nicolaus Spies and his wife Isabel welcomed their first son, Gabriel Nepomuk, into the world in October last year.

Swati Pasari is living in Kolkata, India, and working as an artist, a major change in direction after graduating in Commerce from Calcutta University.

Alumni year 2007 Teilah Bailey welcomed baby girl Summer Skye Mckelvey into the world in October 2009.

Nurartikah (Artikah) Ilyas is Head of Marketing & Business Development in an advertising agency in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She got engaged to her partner Hafiz in November last year, and plans to tie the knot in June 2010.

John David Wires finished his National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) law exams in Canada with a number of fellow Bondies in January.

Andrew Nuerge passed the New York Bar exam in July 2009, and was admitted to the Bar in January this year. He works for a labour and employee benefits law firm in Cincinnati.

Thomas Streinz finished third of more than 1000 participants in the First State Examinations in Bavaria, and was honoured by the Minister of Justice in late 2009. He is a research assistant at the Research Centre for the Law of the European Integration at the University of Munich, lawyer-in-training at the local court in Munich, and researching his PhD thesis about the Advocate General on the European Court of Justice.

Lindsay Earhart is living in Indiana in the United States and is the Controller at Creative Solutions Consulting Inc, an IT (information technology) consulting firm.

Ryan Davis trekked through Europe with four friends last year, and now hopes to gain a position in a graduate program in the United Kingdom.

Ciara Donnelly stayed on at Bond after graduating to study

her Master of Accounting and expects to graduate in August 2010, having gained a Bachelors, a Postgraduate Certificate and a Masters all in three years.

Yang Zhao recently moved to Sydney and received a job promotion.

David Puzenat gained internships in top international law firms in France after leaving Bond, and now works as Legal Manager for the Financing and Treasury Department of a French international company based in Lille, France.

Ariyanti Palupi travelled to France last July to after gaining a scholarship for a short course in linguistics and teaching methodology from the French Embassy in Indonesia.

Ken Owens started working for his family’s stationery and stamps company, Stead Bros, last year, and is being trained in the business in order to take over the company’s leadership when his father retires this July.

Savanah Whitby joined Woolworths Limited Head Office in Sydney at the end of last year as a property graduate, in a program that will last two years.

Hiu (Flora) Griffin (nee Cheung) got married last year, and is living in New Zealand with her husband. In February this year, Flora started teaching Mandarin in Totara Park School.

Meagan Dalby has moved back to her native Canada, to the capital city Ottawa, to work as a Junior Analyst with the Public Service Commission.

Panit Paksa gained a postgraduate Diploma of Arts at Bond, but now works for the Royal Thai Air Force.

Amy Ulveland interned and now works at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, DC, in the public affairs (military media affairs) section.

Mona Taouk was recently awarded the Macquarie Group and Anika Foundation PhD scholarship in Adolescent Depression and Suicide with the School of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales.

Alumni year 2008 Matthew Raj is back in the United Kingdom and completing his final year of law. He works for an in-house legal team for a large international pharmaceutical company, came fifth in the UK Mediation competition, and was made President of Carrington Law House at Kingston University. Matthew has applied to take the Bar Professional Training Course to train as a Barrister in September 2010.

Xuening Liang is studying translation at the University of NSW, and recently enjoyed a long holiday in China, working part time while there as a Mandarin teacher.

Branimir Ivanovic was part of a corporate team that attended a Master degree class, but was unable to complete the course when the company discontinued its support. “Truly Bond is like family, I can’t find words to express my satisfaction with the way the lecturers worked with us,” he says.

Renee Gentle is an intern psychologist at Centrelink as a Job Capacity Assessor. She recently earned the Outstanding Rookie Award for her contribution to the team and customers.

Autumn 2010

45

Imran Jaffrey married his partner Sumayya Bari in August 2009, and recently celebrated the birth of their daughter, Eman. Imran’s brother Salman Jaffrey, also a Bondy, married Sumayya’s younger sister, so the families are very close.

Alumni

Find your family

Bondies have shared experiences that draw them together and ensure they get along across oceans and through generations.

Alumni Chapters are central to maintaining relationships and links with Bond, and offer a number of opportunities for Bondies to support one another, swap stories and reap the benefits of staying involved with their University.

IF yOU’D

like to meet up with your fellow Bondies, whether it’s to network, make new friends or just reminisce about your time on the Gold Coast, get in touch with your local Alumni Chapter* in any of the following 31 cities across the globe.

Alumni Chapters in Africa, Europe & the UK Location

Bondies to Contact

Email Address

Denmark

Christian Carit Nielsen

denmark.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

London

Andrew Dean Julius Brookman John Lurie Amber Bennett

london.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Netherlands

Christel Bruijns

netherlands.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Norway

Sarah Hines June Paulsen Eivind Eriksen

norway.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Sweden

Robert Kastell

sweden.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Alumni Chapters in North America Location

Bondies to ontact

Email Address

Massachusetts

Gaurav Goswamy

massachusetts.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Missouri

Lynda Semaan Rob Semaan

missouri.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

New York

Cherie Spraggs

newyork.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Rocky Mountains

Karen Purre

rockymountains.chapter@alumni.bond.edu. au

Texas

Brent Patton

texas.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

California

Michael McSweeney Michael Bosse Nicholas Kreider

california.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Toronto

Julie Change Ryan Hanna

toronto.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Vancouver

Marta Davidson

vancouver.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Alumni Chapters in Australasia Bondies to Contact

Email Address

Dave Clarke Gary Coveney Jane McMahon Maja Osterman

brisbane.chapter@alumni.bond.edu

Canberra

Tessa Bartlett

canberra.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Gold Coast

Lawrence Kusz Nils Hay Mok Si ngh Lucy Madermott Francesca Dauwalder

goldcoast.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Justin Tilley Timothy Codrington Matthew Cam Samuel Marash

melbourne.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Melbourne

Alumni Chapters in Asia Location

Bondies to ontact

Email Address

Hong Kong

Siddharth Choraria Melissa Brewster Alicia Wilson

hongkong.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

India

Ravi Singh

india.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Indonesia

Andrie Gotama

indonesia.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Japan

Watari Furusato Risa Hoshi

japan.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Malaysia

Seumas Tan

malaysia.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Pakistan

Waryam Shafqat

pakistan.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Philippines

Eric Chua

philippines.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Singapore

Michael Long

singapore.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Hop Dang

vietnam.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Nick Wang Satoru Nagata David Romanowski Abby Moussouwamy

shanghai.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Alex Sceales

perth.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Adelaide

Clementina Maione Dean Kyros

adelaide.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

Shanghai

Sydney

Tobias Lonnquist Kenneth Pratt

sydney.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

New Zealand

Ravi Mehta

newzealand.chapter@alumni.bond.edu.au

46

Perth

Vietnam

*There are Bondies in more than 100 countries, so if there’s no Alumni Chapter near you, contact our office at alumni@bond.edu.au and we’ll help you start your own.

Autumn 2010

47

Location Brisbane

STAY IN TOUCH As a member of the Bond Alumni Network, you can keep in touch with fellow classmates, teachers and our high-flying Bond graduates through active alumni chapters operating in more than 30 cities around the world. You’ll also receive our regular newsletter, a free subscription to The Arch magazine and much more: VIP REFERRAL PROGRAM Refer your friends, family members or business associates to Bond University and we’ll make sure they receive first-class service through our dedicated VIP Relations Manager. alumniVIP@bond.edu.au

10% ALUMNI DISCOUNT Progress your career or up-skill in a new area with Bond’s exclusive 10% discount off tuition fees for alumni. alumniVIP@bond.edu.au

LIFELONG ACCESS TO THE CAREERS DEVELOPMENT CENTRE Make the most of the extensive resources and facilities available at the Careers Development Centre: employment advice, industry contacts, and access to work-ready graduates – wherever you are in your career, we can assist. cdc@bond.edu.au

CAREER & BUSINESS CONTACTS Bondies look out for Bondies across Australia and around the world. When you’re looking for a job, career advice or new business opportunities, the Bond Alumni Network should be your first point of contact. cdc@bond.edu.au

Enjoy all the benefits of being a Bondy.

Forward your updated contact details to the Alumni Relations Office.

Email: alumni@bond.edu.au www.alumni.bond.edu.au