2009 winners

(Please note: This is archival information and may not reflect current profiles)

Kirsti Simpson

Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering
2009 Outstanding Alumni
Award Winner

Kirsti Simpson is a Director and Chairman of the Practice Executive of Hassell Ltd. At 1000 people, HASSELL is one of Australasia's largest and most successful planning and design consultancies. As National Leader of Interior Design, Kirsti was instrumental in the rapid development of this side of the practice, contributing to many significant workplace projects including the three largest ever undertaken in Australia's corporate history. The practice has received many DIA, IDA and RAIA awards as a direct result of Kirsti's innovative approach to workplace design. Prior to her appointment to the HASSELL Board, Kirsti was Managing Principal for Hassell in Queensland and responsible for the disciplines of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Planning and Interior Design.   Kirsti's leadership on family-friendly work arrangements has been recognised by the National Association of Women in Construction and the Urban Design Institute of Australia. In 2007 Kirsti was named Queensland Government Smart State Designer of the Year for her outstanding contribution to the Queensland design industry. Kirsti holds a Bachelor of Built Environment (Interior Design).

Nicole Hollows

Faculty of Business
2009 Outstanding Alumni
Award Winner

Nicole Hollows began her career and progressed to an Associate with Ham and Partners Chartered Accountants before moving to the small miner Australian Premium Coals Pty Ltd. As Chief Financial Officer / Company Secretary, Nicole was involved in the 2001 IPO of Macarthur Coal and has since been instrumental in the growth of the company. Her promotion to CEO / MD in 2007, made her one of only a few women coal industry executives in Australia and one of the first female CEOs of a mining company worldwide. Today Macarthur Coal is the largest seaborne exporter of low volatile PCI coal in the world, with an annual turnover in excess of $400 million. Nicole is also the first female President of the Queensland Resources Council. Earlier this year as part of the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year Awards, Nicole was named a Rising Star, an award never before made in Australia. Nicole holds a Bachelor of Business, Graduate Diploma in Advanced Accounting, and Graduate Diploma in Company Secretarial Practice.

Natalie Weir

Creative Industries Faculty
2009 Outstanding Alumni
Award Winner

Natalie Weir is Artistic Director of Expressions Dance Company, and a standout Australian choreographer of her generation. Over a 25 year career, Natalie has contributed more than 150 works to the repertoire of Australian and overseas classical and contemporary dance companies, many to international acclaim. Notable among these are Dark Lullaby for the Australian Ballet, Jabula for the Queensland Ballet (performed at Covent Garden by The Royal Ballet School, London and in New York by the American Ballet Theatre), Madama Butterfly for the Hong Kong Ballet, Harmonium for the American Ballet Theatre, Icarus for Germany's Tanscompagnie Giessen, and Lacrimosa for the West Australian Ballet Company. Steppenwolfe (created for the Houston Ballet) received the Choo San Goh Award while Turandot (created for the Hong Kong Ballet), won the 2004 Hong Kong Dance Awards. Natalie was the recipient of a Lord Mayor's Fellowship and an Australia Council Fellowship for outstanding commitment and further artistic development in her field, an award made only once in a person's lifetime. She holds an Associate Diploma of Performing Arts (Dance).

Dr William Robinson AO

Faculty of Education 2009 Outstanding Alumni Award Winner
2009 Chancellor's Outstanding Alumnus Award Winner

Celebrated for his vivid images of south-east Queensland rainforests and seascapes of northern New South Wales, Bill Robinson is one of Australia's most highly regarded contemporary painters. His thirty year career has included more than twenty-five solo and fifty group exhibitions nationally and internationally and his work is represented in many prominent Australian and international galleries including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Australia. Bill achieved national fame when several of his works were selected for inclusion in the 1983 Australian Perspecta exhibition and the 6th Biennale of Sydney held in 1986. In 1991 Bill was awarded the John McCaughey Memorial Prize by the Art Gallery of NSW, and has twice won both the Archibald Prize for Portraiture (1987, 1995) and the Wynne Prize for Landscape Painting (1990, 1996). Bill has also been a distinguished art educator and mentor to many aspiring and emerging Australian artists.  Three decades of teaching at Colleges and Institutes of Advanced Education in south-east Queensland, culminated in his appointment as Head of Painting at the Brisbane College of Advanced Education, a position from which he retired in 1989 to pursue painting full-time. Bill gained a Certificate of Teaching from the Queensland Teachers Training College in 1954, and later completed Diplomas in Drawing and Painting, and Art Teaching at the Central Technical College. He holds three honorary doctorates, from QUT, Griffith University and the University of Southern Queensland. In 2007 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to Australian art, as a distinguished artist, philanthropist and art educator.

Dr Shaun Larkin

Faculty of Health
2009 Outstanding Alumni
Award Winner

Dr Shaun Larkin joined HCF, Australia's largest not-for-profit health insurer, as General Manager, Strategic Development in 1997. He was appointed General Manager, Benefits Management in 2002 where he controlled a budget in excess of $950m. In 2007 he began leading HCF's development of a new corporate ventures function. In 2000 HCF established the 'HCF Health and Medical Research Foundation'. Shaun has guided the development of the Foundation's research funding program that has seen over $6 million invested in 30 projects spread across Australia for the benefit of the community through research into the provision, administration and delivery of health services. Prior to joining HCF, Shaun was based in Singapore for four years where he led the establishment of a network of ambulatory medical centres throughout Asia. Before this he worked for nine years as an executive for a large private hospital operator in Australia and the United States. An alumni of Harvard Business School, his academic qualifications include a HlthScD, MHSc, MBA and BHA. His professional qualifications include FAIM and FCHSE.

Lieutenant Colonel David Freeman, KSJ, FRGS

Faculty of Law
2009 Outstanding Alumni
Award Winner

Lieutenant Colonel David Freeman has made an outstanding contribution to the Australian Defence Force, exemplified by a distinguished service career as a Legal Officer and academic achievements in Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.  Over the past decade, David has served in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, providing advice on rules of engagement (ROE), targeting, proper treatment of detainees and human rights abuses. David has received numerous military and civilian awards, notably the Chief of Army's Commendation (2003). In 1994 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society for completing unaided the first Sea to Summit of Africa, during which he saved the life of a Norwegian Mountaineer on Mt Kilimanjaro. In 2008 David was invested Knight of Honour (KSJ) of the Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller, in recognition of military service, humanitarian works and community involvement. David's first degree was a Bachelor of Laws from QIT. Following his admission, David completed postgraduate qualifications in legal practice, criminology, international politics and human rights law including a Master of Laws. David's last posting was as Chief Legal Officer 1st Division. He is currently on study leave while studying towards a PhD.

Mario Pennisi

Faculty of Science and Technology
2009 Outstanding Alumni
Award Winner

Mario Pennisi is recognised nationally as a leader in the field of clinical trials for newly developed drugs and therapies. Focussed on commercial outcomes, Mario's activities have been a significant contributor to the development of the biotechnology industry in Queensland and Australia. In 2005 Mario was appointed CEO of the newly established Queensland Clinical Trials Network (QCTN), an association of life sciences research organisations and related entities established under the Smart State Initiative. Mario has developed this organisation into the primary point of contact for domestic and international organisations seeking to conduct clinical research in Australia. Prior to this, Mario was National Business Development Manager for Mayne Group and a scientist, rising to Client Services Manager with Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology. Mario is active on numerous biotechnology industry bodies including AusBiotech, the peak industry body in Australia, and is its representative on the Pharmaceuticals Industry Development Taskforce. Mario holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Medical Laboratory Science) from QIT.

Gyton Grantley

2009 Special Excellence
Award Winner

Gyton Grantley graduated from the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) program with a showcase at Belvoir Street Theatre in Sydney and was immediately signed with a leading management agency. His television credits include among others; Marking Time, All Saints, Home & Away, Underbelly, Out of the Blue, East West 101 and he will be seen next in the upcoming series Bargain Coast, the comedy series 30 Seconds, the drama series Rescue Special Ops and the tele movie The Killing of Caroline Byrne. Gyton is soon to appear on the big screen in the films Balibo (about the Balibo 5) and Prime Mover, directed by David Caesar. Other film credits include All My Friends are Leaving Brisbane, Under the Radar, Danny Deckchair, Swimming Upstream, Blurred and A Man's Gotta Do. On stage Gyton demonstrated his versatility playing five characters in the one-man play Domestic Bliss at the Old Fitzroy Theatre, Other theatre credits include; The Blue Roof (Jigsaw Theatre Company), Vincent in Brixton (Ensemble Theatre) and The Removalist (La Boite). In 2008 Gyton won a prestigious AFI Award for Best Lead Actor, for his role as Carl Williams in Underbelly and in 2009 was awarded a Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Actor for the same role. Gyton is currently in Townsville shooting his next feature film Beneath Hill 60 directed by Jeremy Simms.

Sir Brian Bell CSM, KBE, Cst.J

2009 Special Excellence
Award Winner

Sir Brian Bell is Chairman and MD of the Brian Bell Group of Companies and an icon of the PNG business community. Sir Brian arrived in PNG in 1954 with a sense of adventure and a Diploma of Pharmacy from the Central Technical College. He took up the position of pharmaceutical chemist in the Bulk Medical Store but soon established PNG's first electrical retail outlet. Through the decades, the business expanded into department stores and home centres, chemicals, cleaning products and industrial equipment. It is now the largest business of its kind in PNG, generating revenue of K253 million annually and employing 1,300 staff. A generous philanthropist, Sir Brian is a prominent benefactor of the Port Moresby General Hospital (where he has been Chairman of the Board since 1996), the Salvation Army, Red Cross and Port Moresby City Mission to name a few. Sir Brian was awarded the Royal Order of Merit Knight 1st Class (Norway) and Commander of the Royal Order of the Polar Star (Sweden) for service as Honorary Consul General. In recognition of outstanding achievement and community service, Sir Brian received a KBE, PNG Community Service Medal, Queen's Jubilee Medal, PNG Independence Medals and the Salvation Army's Order of Distinguished Auxiliary Service.

The QUT Alumni Board also recognises outstanding achievement of graduates who are thirty years and under. Though not having had the time to develop the depth of experience and career history of earlier graduates, the winner of the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award is already acknowledged as a high achiever.

Dr Tom Ward

2009 Outstanding Young Alumnus
Award Winner

Dr Tom Ward graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Medical) and a QUT Medal. He then won a Rhodes Scholarship to complete a doctorate at Oxford University's Orthopaedic Engineering Centre, researching a system enabling better understanding of the post-operative movements of knee-joint replacements. During undergraduate studies, Tom was sponsored by the Queen's Trust for Young Australians to carry out an assessment of the needs of landmine victims and rural amputees in Cambodia, which has one of the largest disabled populations in the world. Tom developed a simple device to monitor gait and track post-operative recovery. He then secured a QUT Community Service Grant to develop a relationship with the Cambodian School of Prosthetics & Orthotics in Phnom Penh and has since returned to Cambodia seven times to teach at the school. Following Oxford, Tom worked in the United States as an Associate for management consultancy McKinsey and Co., and consulted on major health system reforms in the Middle East. Tom is currently completing a medical degree at the ANU medical school. He was made an Honorary Fellow of St John's College, a great honour.

Tammy Williams

2009 Outstanding Young Alumnus
Award Winner

Tammy Williams has made a significant contribution to economic and social justice for Indigenous people. She has a long history of developing capacity-building strategies and has utilised her legal background to achieve results for Indigenous communities. In 2000, the National Law Council of Australia awarded Tammy the John Koowarta Scholarship. Tammy gained her Bachelor of Laws the following year and was admitted as a Barrister in 2002. She began her career with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and while there, made a submission which resulted in Indigenous offenders being able to elect sentencing in Murri Courts. In 2003, Tammy was named Queensland Women Law Association Emergent Young Lawyer of the Year. Tammy is a founding director of Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships, a coalition of corporate, philanthropic and Indigenous organisations assisting communities to overcome welfare dependency through business enterprise.

Tammy has also served on the Board of the Foundation for Young Australians, and chaired its Indigenous Strategic Grants Committee. For several years, Tammy was a member of the National Indigenous Council, which provided advice to the Ministerial Taskforce on Indigenous Affairs. Tammy has been a delegate to several UN Committee and Summit meetings on the rights of children, racial intolerance and the status of women. Since 1991, she has been supporting the campaign for the return of Indigenous wages and savings. In 1997, Tammy was the recipient of a Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, National Human Rights Award. Last year, Tammy was one of four eminent Australians appointed to the National Human Rights Consultation Committee. Tammy has recently been appointed as member of the Children's Tribunal in Queensland.