Law graduate Lex Greensill CBE was last night announced as the 2019 QUT Outstanding Alumnus of the Year at a celebration dinner at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Also at the event, the four graduates who started global workforce management company TANDA, Josh Cameron, Alex Ghiculescu, Jake Phillpot, and Tasmin Trezise, were named Outstanding Young Alumni of the Year.
The annual QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards recognise outstanding graduates of the university, and its predecessor institutions, who have displayed exceptional professional, academic or research achievements and contributions to the community.
The previously announced 2019 Faculty winners were also honoured at last night’s dinner. They are Caitriona Fay (Business School); Joseph Kwan MH (Creative Industries); Norman Hunter OAM (Education); Professor Wen-I Liu, (Health); Lex Greensill (Law); and Karen Andrews MP (Science and Engineering).
QUT Outstanding Alumnus of the Year
Lex Greensill graduated from QUT with a Bachelor of Laws in 2002 and is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales and the Supreme Court of Queensland.
He founded Greensill, which after just eight years, has become a world leader in working capital finance with more than $60 billion extended to more than eight million customers in more than 165 countries.
He gained intimate knowledge of the global supply network in his role as managing director and head of supply chain finance for Citibank in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He established Morgan Stanley’s global chain finance business.
This experience, together with his legal expertise in streamlining and simplifying legal processes in global finance and trade operations, and deep understanding of the importance of the supply chain to business gained from growing up on his family’s Bundaberg sugarcane farm, led to his establishing of Greensill to give companies greater access to working capital.
Headquartered in London, Greensill has offices in Sydney, Bundaberg, New York, Chicago, Miami, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Singapore and more, providing working capital and supply chain finance to fund everything from mobile phone handsets, to the purchase of passenger aircraft and hydro-electric power generation plants.
Greensill also owns Germany-based Greensill Bank which has billions of dollars in assets under management in a suite of supply chain finance funds managed by third parties. This financial stability and the company’s proprietary technology and expertise are the basis of Greensill’s clients’ success.
Lex is a venture capitalist who has backed several successful start-ups. His financial acumen and reputation has attracted global attention. He was appointed Crown Representative for finance and advised British Prime Minister David Cameron’s government on the creation of a new UK supply chain finance scheme.
Former US president Barack Obama invited him to provide expert opinion on the potential relevance of supply chain finance for the US market, at a time when traditional banking system and regulatory capital constraints were hindering the provision of funding.
Lex was appointed a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the British economy in recognition of his pioneering approach to financial services and his efforts to unlock capital for global clients to put to work.
QUT Outstanding Young Alumni of the Year
Four QUT graduates who co-founded TANDA, a global workforce management company, have been named 2019 Young Alumni of the Year.
Josh Cameron (Business/Law), Alex Ghiculescu (Information Technology), Jake Phillpot (Business) and Tasmin Trezise (Business) took TANDA from a small self-funded start-up to an international company employing more than 140 people in Brisbane, Chicago, London and Manila with a $20 million turnover in only eight years.
TANDA is now used by more than 5000 companies across a range of industries including accommodation, hospitality, fast food, care services, medical and retail with clients including Dominos, Bunnings, Telstra and the UK’s Tesco and Manchester City Council.
Today the four capitalise on their complementary skills and expertise to refine and tailor their product and services to the dynamic nature of the global workforce.
Alex Ghiculescu created the software and manages product development; Josh Cameron develops new commercial strategies while Jake Phillpot and Tasmin Trezise manage the end-to-end customer journey, strategy development and marketing.
TANDA took out first prize in 2014 in QUT’s bluebox Challenge for early start-ups and went onto win the ANZ Made In Brisbane Award for High-Growth Start-ups in the Lord Mayor’s Business Awards. Last year TANDA was named one of LinkedIn’s top 25 sought-after Australian Start-ups.
In July, the team delivered its Workforce Success Platform Conference in Brisbane which attracted more than 250 attendees and 40 renowned speakers.
The co-founders spend time identifying and understanding global workforce management and human capital needs and issues; meeting with business owners, other software providers, academics and employees to tailor their product and services to the ever-changing global workforce.
The TANDA team has close connections to QUT and local start-ups by facilitating, sponsoring and judging pitch nights and hackathons, giving guest lectures, and speaking at technology and human capital management events internationally. They provide internships and full-time employment to many students and alumni.
Media contacts:
Niki Widdowson, QUT Media, 07 3138 2999 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au
After hours: Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au
