2012 winners

Trisha Perkins

QUT Business School 2012 Outstanding Alumni Award Winner

Trisha Perkins has a 30 year international career in public relations within the resources industry. Currently based in Houston as ExxonMobil Development Company's Public and Government Affairs Manager, she oversees the company's public affairs activities across six continents. Previously, Trisha held a number of positions for companies including ExxonMobil, BHP Billiton and Pasminco. In 2005, Trisha was part of the ExxonMobil disaster recovery team following Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, working with the US government to re-establish critical infrastructure and services, and preparing ExxonMobil's testimony to congressional hearings. Wherever she has worked Trisha has given back to local communities, teaching English as a Second Language, supporting the US organisation Dressed for Success and the Fistula Foundation. Trisha also spent several years in Argentina where she was involved in the community work of the American Society of the River Plate. Trisha holds a Bachelor of Business (Communication).

Jeffrey Tan

Creative Industries 2012 Outstanding Alumni Award Winner

Jeffrey Tan is a gifted theatre director, artist, educator and cultural producer, who in a range of creative and administrative leadership roles over a 15 year period, has made a major contribution to the development of Singaporean arts and culture. He is currently Head, Commune: Participation of the national arts council’s Singapore Arts Festival where he spearheads a year-long outreach program in the arts designed to provide sustained engagement between the Festival and its audience. Earlier in his career, Jeffrey was Resident Director with The Theatre Practice, Acting Head of Drama at LASALLE College of the Arts, and Associate Artistic Director of the Education and Outreach unit of TheatreWorks (Singapore) Ltd. He has also directed some thirty plays. Jeffrey is Founding President of the Singapore Drama Educators Association (SDEA). His work has been recognised with a number of high level awards and fellowships including three Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts Awards. Jeffrey holds a BA (Drama) from QUT and a Masters of Drama and Theatre Education from the University of Warwick, UK.

Margaret James

Faculty of Education 2012 Outstanding Alumni Award Winner

Margaret James is the author and publisher of the Honey Ant Readers Education Program, developed in collaboration with Indigenous elders. Margaret has an extensive background in linguistics, bilingual education, language acquisition, psychology, speech and drama, music, singing and choral conducting. She has spent many years working in Central Australia, lecturing in education at Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, running the migrant English program at Charles Darwin University, teaching singing to Aboriginal children and adults, and working with elders. Margaret's work led her to a realisation that ignorance of Aboriginal English was a contributing factor in school failure for Indigenous learners. The research that followed led to the creation of the highly successful Honey Ant Readers resource – Aboriginal English reading books and teaching methods using Aboriginal ways of storytelling, which have far reaching potential for improving the literacy of Indigenous children. Such has been the success of these materials they are now being adapted for speakers of other languages. Margaret holds a Master of Education with Distinction from QUT, a Bachelor of Arts from Rhodes University, South Africa, and literacy education qualifications from the Montessori Centre International, London.

Graham Fraine

Faculty of Health 2012 Outstanding Alumni Award Winner

Dr Graham Fraine is currently Deputy Director-General (Transport and Safety Regulation) in the Department of Transport and Main roads (TMR). In this role he leads and is responsible for the four areas of the agency charged with ensuring the welfare of our transport system and of the people, vehicles and vessels that use it every day. Prior to this role Graham held other senior positions within TMR including Acting Deputy Director-General (Policy and Planning) and General Manager (Strategic Policy). Graham has worked in transport policy over 19 years, including in the fields of road safety, behaviour change and program evaluation and national transport policy. He holds a PHD in Psychology based on work undertaken to understand the role of the car as an important human territory. Graham has an active and respected state and national profile in transport policy and is also a Visiting Fellow in the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CAARS–Q).

Teresa Handicott

Faculty of Law 2012 Outstanding Alumni Award Winner and 2012 Chancellor's Outstanding Alumnus Award Winner

Teresa Handicott is Partner and Chair of the Board of leading national law firm, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, the youngest person and first woman to be appointed to this role. Teresa’s ability to manage huge deals, lead teams, deliver on time and exactly to specification, has earned her peer recognition as one of Australia’s best corporate lawyers. With over two decades of experience in mergers and acquisitions including nine years as a member of the Takeovers Panel, Teresa has spearheaded some of Australia's most challenging corporate transactions. Her client list is impressive, including long-term relationships with Suncorp, Jupiters Limited and Macarthur Coal. In 2008, Teresa advised Suncorp on its $7.9 billion merger with Promina and was named Australasian Law Awards 'Dealmaker of the Year'. Every year since, she has been named 'Best Lawyer – Mergers and Acquisitions' (Best Lawyers Peer Review) and as an 'Australian leading lawyer' (Chambers Global Guide). Her peers named her Brisbane's Best Corporate / Governance Lawyer of the Year in 2011 (Best Lawyers Peer Review). Teresa served for many years as an associate commissioner of the ACCC, as a member of the Takeovers Panel and as a director of CS Energy Limited and the Queensland Cultural Centre Trust.

Teresa has also contributed to the professional education of others in her roles as principal law lecturer for the Securities Institute of Australia (now Finsia) between 1991 and 2005, and as a tutor in Corporate Governance for the Australian Institute of Company Directors from 1998 to 2005. For over a decade, Teresa has also chaired QUT's Law Founders' scholarship Fund. In recognition of her significant contribution to the financial services industry, Teresa was made a Finsia Senior Fellow. Teresa graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons).

Graeme Newton

Science and Engineering Faculty 2012 Outstanding Alumni Award Winner

Graeme Newton is a renowned strategic leader in major infrastructure project management with over 20 years service to the Queensland community. Graeme has held several senior executive roles rising to Coordinator-General and Director-General of the Queensland Department of Infrastructure and Planning where he was responsible for one of the largest infrastructure programs in Queensland's history. He has led major projects including Wyaralong and Paradise Dams and several road and power projects. In February 2011, following the summer of disasters, Graeme was appointed CEO of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority. Eighteen months on, the Authority has been internationally recognised for its speed of action in rebuilding and reconnecting communities across the State, its work providing an exemplar to the World Bank and the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. Graeme has worked assisting the Indigenous community of Aurukun on Cape York and has paddled a kayak across Bass Strait in aid of the charity Bravehearts. Graeme has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Surveying) and an MBA in Project Management.

Shainiel Deo, Phil Larsen and Luke Muscat are the team behind the astounding international success story that is Fruit Ninja which has become one of the most popular gaming brands in the world today.

Shainiel Deo

2012 Special Excellence Award Winner

Shainiel Deo is one of the leading lights of Brisbane's games development industry. In 2001 he founded Halfbrick Studios, managing internal development across handheld and digital platforms including Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, Xbox Live, iPhone and android. Initially contracting for major publishers, Shainiel led efforts to establish Halfbrick's own games development and intellectual property. A decade on, Halfbrick's credits number over 20 published games, over 350 million downloads worldwide and multiple national and international awards including the 2012 PocketGamer Awards: iPhone/iPod touch Game of the Year, Overall Game of the Year and Best Developer; the 2012 Interactive Achievement Awards: Best Casual Game for Fruit Ninja Kinect; the 2012 MCV Pacific Awards: Developer of the Year, and the 2012 Apple Design Awards, Best iPhone App for Jetpack Joyride. Halfbrick is now rated number two games developer globally by pocketgamer.biz and the most successful games developer in Australian history. Shainiel holds a Bachelor of Information Technology.

Phil Larsen

2012 Special Excellence Award Winner

Phil Larsen graduated with a Bachelor of Business, joining Halfbrick studios as Chief Marketing Officer the following year to develop its marketing and brand strategy. Phil has made a substantial entrepreneurial contribution to Halfbrick's success, directing and executing the marketing campaigns which have brought its original releases into the limelight in an increasingly competitive industry. He established Halfbrick as the only indie developer to successfully market original intellectual property on a completely self-funded business model. He also established and managed licensing programs to broaden Halfbrick's IP distribution into merchandise, TV and film. Prominent in Halfbrick's success has been its ability to explore rapidly developing iPad, iPhone and other Smart Phone technology while creating games that are addictive by being simple, entertainingly themed and rewarding to the player. Halfbrick's successful business model harnesses digital distribution, making its games easily and inexpensively accessible.

Luke Muscat

2012 Special Excellence Award Winner

Luke Muscat commenced working at Halfbrick following graduation from the Bachelor of Information Technology/Bachelor of Creative Industries (Communication Design). He was Lead Designer on his third project Avatar: Into the Inferno, before moving into the Chief Creative Officer role. After working on several licensed projects, Luke’s focus shifted to creating new intellectual property. The launch in 2010 of Fruit Ninja, catapulted Halfbrick onto the world stage with over 300 million downloads registered since release. In 2011, Fruit Ninja was recognised by Apple as the second most popular paid application in the world and one of the top ten paid applications in over eighty countries. Luke and the teams at Halfbrick have since developed Monster Dash, Jetpack Joyride (which looks set to eclipse the success of Fruit Ninja), and Raskulls for Xbox 360. These and other games developed under Luke’s direction have been downloaded over 350 million times in the last 2 years.

Kate Miller-Heidke

2012 Special Excellence Award Winner

Kate Miller-Heidke originally trained in opera, making her professional debut with Opera Queensland. She then shifted focus, becoming an internationally recognised contemporary singer-songwriter. her 2007 debut album Little Eve went Gold in Australia followed by Curiouser which went multi-platinum in Australia and has spawned two multi-platinum singles, Caught in the Crowd and Last day on Earth. In 2009, Kate was acclaimed for her performance at the Sydney Opera House as Baby Jane in Jerry Springer: the Opera. Following this success she toured the US, UK, Europe and Australia as the special guest of singer-songwriter Ben Folds. She has since released her first music DVD Live in San Francisco. Kate's extraordinary vocal and creative talent and special capacity to capture the nuances of contemporary life in song have won her many accolades including nine ARIA and APRA nominations, a Helpmann Award for Best Performance in an Australian Contemporary Concert and an Age EG award for best female artist. In 2009, she and co-writer Keir Nuttall won the Grand Prize in International Songwriting for their composition Caught in the Crowd. In 2012 Kate made her debut with the English National Opera in The Death of Klinghoffer, a role which she is booked to reprise in 2014 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Kate graduated with a Master of Music.

Mark Dutton

2012 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award Winner

Mark Dutton has risen to the top of a profession in which full-time participants number only in the hundreds worldwide. Mark is Race Engineer for Triple Eight Race Engineering Australia and Team Vodafone, Australia’s leading V8 Supercar team. Mark has had direct input to three of Team Vodafone’s V8 supercar championship wins, four Bathurst 1000 wins, and most pole positions in season awards for the last four years. Mark is also Jamie Whincup's Race Engineer. With the highest win percentage of all competitors in recent V8 racing, over fifty Championship race wins and numerous track records, theirs is the most successful engineer/driver partnership in the history of V8 Supercars. Mark also designed the innovative Pedal Box now used by all V8 Supercar teams which has put them on more equal footing, improving competition. Mark is a significant contributor to the QUT Formula SAE team. Mark graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical).