He’s sat on many of Australia’s top boards, but company director Rod Wylie’s newest seat is in the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.
The respected chartered accountant and Queensland business pioneer was last night (July 28) inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame at a black-tie dinner at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. (A digital story on Mr Wylie can be viewed here)
He was one of six Queensland business icons this year chosen to join the Hall of Fame and presented with their awards by The Honourable Paul de Jersey AC, Governor of Queensland.
Now in its eighth year, the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame is a joint initiative between the QUT Business School, State Library of Queensland and Queensland Library Foundation.
The 2016 inductees are Rod Wylie OBE, construction icon Sir Manuel Hornibrook, IT pioneer Mincom, Australia’s first female stockbroker Margaret Mittelheuser AM, the North Australian Pastoral Company Pty Ltd (NAPCO), and insurance and banking giant Suncorp Group.
Rod Wylie, now 88, has been a towering figure of Queensland business for more than 50 years, and has led many commercial companies, government owned corporations and not for profit organisations, including prominent names like Pauls and Thiess.
A tireless champion of Queensland business, he was one of the first Queenslanders to be appointed to the board of national companies and became a trailblazer for others.
After becoming a chartered accounting partner at the age of 25, he became a senior partner in Peat Marwick Mitchell.
During this early stage of his career he also played a leading role for the Institute of Chartered Accountants at both state and national levels – experience which laid the platform for his calling as a company director and chairman.
He achieved his first board appointment at the age of 39 when he joined the board of QUF Industries Ltd, which later became Pauls Ltd. The association lasted for more than 30 years, and he spent 20 of those as chairman during a time of great prosperity for the milk company, as its market share grew to 60 per cent in Queensland and 30 per cent in Victoria.
Under Mr Wylie’s stewardship, the sale of Pauls Ltd to Parmalat ensured that shareholders were handsomely rewarded and, importantly, that Pauls’ operations retained their Queensland home.
From 1984 to 2001, he was chairman of Thiess Pty Ltd, a Queensland business which has gone on to become the world’s largest contract miner. The company’s operations prospered during his tenure, enjoying national and international reach and leading to his appointment to the board of Leightons where he served for 16 years (11 as deputy chairman).
He was also on the AMP Society’s national board for 14 years from 1986, and has been chairman of Queensland Alumina Ltd, Markwell Fisheries Pty Ltd, Australian United Foods and a director of Pioneer Sugar Mills Ltd and the Bank of Queensland.
His community work has included serving as chairman of the Brisbane Cricket Ground Trust and the Red Shield Appeal, and president of the Institute of Public Affairs (Queensland).
Known for his attention to detail, Mr Wylie said he was comfortable with the way his boards had progressed during the time he was involved.
“I hope that my colleagues in the business community would say that I was always able to be accepted as a person of reliability, a person driven to checking the detail of everything that was going on (so) you really don’t have surprises,” he said.
“And I made it a rule to read everything that ever came to you as a board member, no matter how long. I made it a rule to read everything that went out under the name of the board.
“I have been very proud to see the way Queensland has come through from a state of small size and not much consequence in the national scene to its importance now in so many ways.
“And I’m very proud of Brisbane and the fact that so many things in Brisbane are done at a world standard.”
Business is in his family’s blood, with his father and grandfathers successful in their own right, along with his investment banker son John Wylie, who is presently chairman of the Australian Sports Commission.
“I suspect I inherited, as well as ability in numerical things, a concern for making the world a better place,” Rod Wylie said.
“And my grandfathers, both of them, were involved, one of them in particular, very widely in community organisations and I think it’s just automatic that I was brought up to think that you rolled up your sleeve and helped.”
Professor Peter Little, QUT’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Corporate Programs and Partnerships), is on the Hall of Fame’s governing committee which chose this year’s inductees.
“The inspiring business leaders inducted in 2016 have demonstrated the innovation, entrepreneurship and resilience that are typical Queensland traits,” he said.
“Their extraordinary stories of enterprise have helped shape the development of this great state and they will forever be valued and remembered.”
Digital stories on all the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame members can be viewed online at www.halloffame.slq.qld.gov.au.
State Librarian and CEO Sonia Cooper said the Hall of Fame ensured the businesses and individuals who had played vital roles in the state’s business landscape would be recognised and remembered.
“The Hall of Fame records, retells and celebrates their outstanding stories, and highlights the importance of documenting, collecting and preserving Queensland’s business heritage for future generations,” she said.
Last night’s induction dinner also included the presentation of the 2016 Queensland Business History Award to architecture firm Conrad Gargett by the Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy and Minister for Small Business, Leeanne Enoch.
Media contacts:
- Mechelle McMahon, QUT media officer, media@qut.edu.au or 07 3138 9449
- Rose Trapnell, QUT media team leader, media@qut.edu.au of 0407 585 901
** Biographies, high-res images & digital stories of this year’s inductees are available.
TWITTER: Follow the event on the night - #qblhof
