2006 winners
(Please note: This is archival information and may not reflect current profiles)
Mike Wilke
Faculty of Built Environment & Engineering Award Winner
Civil Engineer Mike Wilke is Chief Operating Officer of Parsons Brinckerhoff Americas, a 5000 person, $1 billion US consulting infrastructure business. For the past decade, he has played a key role in developing the company's Australian operations and global strategy. Mike has led many major infrastructure projects including the Port of Brisbane Motorway; the Port of Brisbane Seawall; the Pacific Motorway; and the Tugun Bypass. Mike has served as President of Engineers Australia in Queensland, Chair of the QUT Faculty Advisory Committee for Civil Engineering, and Trustee of the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia. For the past three years, Engineers Australia has rated Mike as one of Australia's 100 Most Influential Engineers. Mike holds a Bachelor of Technology (Civil) from QIT and postgraduate qualifications in Management and Engineering Science.
David Pradella
Faculty of Business Award Winner
David is joint Managing Director of the Pradella Group of Companies. Established in 1959, the Pradella family business has been an important part of Brisbane's transformation into a sophisticated and modern city. It is one of Queensland's most successful and innovative tourism operators, property developers and construction companies, winning a string of Urban Design Institute, Housing Institute, tourism and other awards. During the early eighties, David designed and constructed the first serviced apartments in Queensland and founded Central Apartment Hotels, the first serviced apartment chain in Australia. This company now manages 420 apartments, including the Ridge Hotel, Centrepoint Apartments, Paradise Island Resort, Surfair International, Dockside Apartments, the Bardon Professional Centre and Eagle Street Conference Centre. Some recent Pradella developments include the landmark Roma Street Parklands residential development; Allegro at South Bank; Leftbank at West End; and Cooloola Sands. David has a Bachelor of Business (Management) and a Bachelor of Business (Accountancy) from QIT.
Peter Alwast
Creative Industries Faculty Award Winner
Peter graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class Honours) in 1997. The following year he was awarded the prestigious Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship, to complete his Master of Fine Arts at the Parsons School of Design in New York. He is also the recipient of that institution's Oscar Kolin Fellowship and several National and State arts grants. Since graduation, Peter's work has been shown in seventeen group exhibitions in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, New York, Brooklyn and New Jersey. He has also held three solo exhibitions and his work is held in collections in Australia and the USA. Most recently he has been awarded a public commission for the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation building at QUT. This is a large scale installation integrated into the building and including two geodesic domes and fibre optics. Peter's art is innovative and exploratory in technique, crossing boundaries between media, genres and disciplines.
Dr Joseph Pagelio
Faculty of Education Winner
Joseph has devoted more than thirty years to the advancement of education in Papua New Guinea. His began his career in 1975 as a teacher in Morobe Province, advancing to high school headmaster, inspector, and then to a number of policy and planning appointments within the Department of Education. Earlier this year, Joseph was appointed Permanent Secretary for Education. Since then, he has been leading the reform of an education system facing a unique set of geographical, social and economic challenges. Prominent among them are the lack of social cohesion and the huge linguistic diversity of a large and remote population dispersed over vast areas of wilderness that is poorly served by transport and infrastructure. Reform has been focussed on developing a national curriculum which is skills and outcomes-based, relevant to students, and responsive to the needs of industry and the community. Joseph completed his Doctor of Education at QUT.
Dr Amaya Gillespie
Chancellor's Outstanding Alumnus
Faculty of Health Winner
Amaya's belief in the importance of health education and promotion has taken her all over the world. This belief initially found expression as a teacher of Health and Physical Education. Then in the late eighties, Amaya won a Rotary Scholarship and Queen Elizabeth Trust Silver Jubilee Scholarship to undertake postgraduate study at the University of Oregon. She completed a Master of Science and a PhD in Health Promotion and Counselling Psychology. Returning to Australia in the early nineties, Amaya became Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Centre for Health Promotion and Cancer Prevention Research at the University of Queensland. She established a consulting company, which specialised in designing and implementing school and community health promotion programs related to HIV/AIDS for UN agencies such as UNICEF and UNESCO. In 1999, Amaya moved to New York to manage UNICEF's global HIV/AIDS programs as its Senior Advisor for HIV Prevention and Young People. In 2004, Amaya was seconded to Geneva as Secretariat Director for the UN Secretary General's Study on Violence Against Children. In this role, she has been travelling and documenting activities for a report to be presented to the UN General Assembly in October this year. Over the course of her career, Amaya has received sixteen research grants and published more than forty-five journal articles and conference proceedings, two books, numerous papers, and education resources on community health issues. Amaya has a Diploma of Education (Health & Physical Education), Graduate Diploma in Health Science (Health Education) and a Bachelor of Education from QUT's predecessor institutions. She is also an Honorary Fellow of QUT's School of Public Health.
Greg Davies
Faculty of Information Technology Award Winner
Staying abreast of developments in a field characterised by three decades of extraordinary change is all just part of the job. While Greg commenced his career in IT as an analyst programmer, these roles have meant that he has developed his business knowledge and skills in a range of industries including electricity supply, local government, automobile associations and enterprise asset management. The business systems for which he was responsible enhanced the performance of companies in banking, insurance, accounting and human resource management. In 2001, Greg was appointed Vice-President, Business Improvement Projects at Mincom Limited. Currently, Greg is Executive Vice-President, Human Resources. He is responsible for developing and implementing Mincom's global HR strategy which covers 1,100 staff on five continents with an annual remuneration budget exceeding $80 million. Greg is also a Director of Mincom???s Leukaemia Foundation Trust. He has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Computer Science) from QIT.
Michael Bowers
Faculty of Law Award Winner
Michael graduated from QIT with a Bachelor of Law and began his career with V C Shaw McKeown. Within four months of admission to the bar, Michael was a partner in the firm. In 1993, Michael gained a Graduate Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning. His reputation for excellence increased in areas of law covering town planning, property development, commerce, business development and business practices. Michael developed and launched the Business Helpline concept. He also launched and managed the property trust Professional Property Syndication Ltd, and assisted with the creation of the Coates Myer Venture Capital Fund. In 2002 Michael was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Lions Football Club. Within a year of his appointment, he had returned the Club to profitability. Over the following four years, Michael helped to deliver $6.8 million in profit and long-term viability to the Club.
Paul Nitz
Faculty of Science Award Winner
Paul's skills in chemistry, computing and management have enabled him to make a significant contribution to the medical diagnostics and biotech industries in Australia, USA and Indonesia. Having obtained a Bachelor of Applied Science (Applied Chemistry) in 1984, Paul spent several years working in management roles for Abbott Australasia before assuming the role of Software Engineer at Abbott Laboratories in Dallas, USA. In 1994 Paul established PT. Pasifik Ichsan in Jakarta, developing and manufacturing many new products for immediate uptake by the textile industry. A decade later, Paul was appointed Country Manager of Abbott Indonesia to restore its Diagnostics Division to commercial viability. Returning to Australia in 2005, Paul became Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Panbio Limited. Panbio produces diagnostic kits for tropical and infectious diseases including Dengue fever, Ross River fever, glandular fever and whooping cough. Its technology supports over 120 clinical laboratories in more than sixty countries worldwide.
Dr Gregston Terrill
Humanities and Human Services Award Winner
Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Oxford University, Greg worked for the UN Climate Change Secretariat in Geneva and Bonn. Returning to Australia in 1998, he worked with increasing levels of seniority for the Government, becoming one of Australia's most senior international climate change negotiators. In 2002 Greg was awarded an Australia Day Medallion for his work on negotiating implementation rules for the Kyoto Protocol. Greg has also been a senior international negotiator on telecommunications, internet and IT issues, representing Australia's interests in forums such as the WTO and APEC. Currently Greg is Assistant Secretary of Strategy Branch within the Heritage Division of the Department of Environment and Heritage. He forms part of a senior management team responsible for the Government's strategic directions on heritage. After completing his PhD at QUT, Greg was awarded a British Foreign Office Chevening Award. He has published two books on secrecy and openness in government.
Lawrence Truce
Special Excellence Award - Excellence in Contribution to Industry and the Community
Laurie is Executive Chairman of the Indigo Group. With interests in property development, hotels, funds management and technology, Indigo is listed as one of the top 20 privately owned organisations in Queensland. Among its recent projects are Sydney's Novotel Rockford Hotel, Village Centre at Kelvin Grove, Ocean's Edge at Palm Cove and the Martha Cove development on Mornington Peninsula. Laurie's projects have won several RAIA, UDIA and BOMA awards. His pioneering work on Total Quality Management Systems has also been recognised with an Australian Small Business Award and the prestigious Australian Quality Award. Laurie has worked for Australian Volunteers Abroad and has for many years continued to support many local and international projects through community service organisations and the Indigo Community Aid Foundation. Indigo's philanthropic contributions currently exceed $100,000 per annum. Laurie's contributions to developing countries were recently acknowledged with an Australian Government Citation and by Rotary, who named him a Paul Harris Fellow. Laurie has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and a Graduate Diploma in Architecture from QIT.
Jason Pourpouras
Special Excellence Award - Professional Excellence
Jason has made an outstanding contribution to national and international law enforcement cooperation, development and counter-terrorism practice. Jason is a Federal Agent based at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, and throughout his career has led transnational criminal investigations. He is currently the Executive Manager of the Secretariat for the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation, and is part of the team responsible for the construction and ongoing development of JCLEC as a bilateral counter-terrorism training centre. As an Australian Naval (Reserve) officer he has worked as a senior counter-terrorism and intelligence analyst in several Australian Defence Force commands. He is also a Naval Aide-de-Camp to the Governor of NSW. In 2004 and 2005, Jason was awarded Commonwealth and AFP Citations for Bravery and Excellence in Overseas Service. Jason has a Bachelor of Justice (Investigations and Policing) from QUT. He holds Master degrees in Defence Studies (Intelligence), Islamic Studies and International Relations, is fluent in French and Italian and is continuing study in Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia. Jason is currently researching terrorism financing practicesfor a Doctor of Juridical Science degree.
Stephanie Jarvie
Outstanding Young Alumnus Award Winner
Stephanie is a communications expert who has pushed the boundaries of media and technology to open up new channels of communication for the Scottish Government, Number 10 Downing Street, the European Commission and the 2005 G8 Summit at Gleneagles. Her work has had a direct impact on the way governments in the UK and Europe communicate with the public and the media. She launched online news and government websites including sites specifically aimed at youth audiences. Stephanie also utilised live webcasts, video mobile messaging, text message alerts and Digital Interactive TV to develop new media communications strategies. While in Scotland, Stephanie completed a Master of Business Administration at the University of Edinburgh. At 23, she was the youngest person accepted into the course. Returning to Australia, Stephanie established integrated global corporate communications systems for Foster's Group, before joining Ericsson as General Manager Public Affairs. Stephanie has a Bachelor of Business (Advertising) from QUT.
