Six business icons inducted into Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame

The business icons have been recognised for their outstanding economic and cultural contributions to the state – and for being part of the Hall of Fame’s milestone 100th inductee cohort.

The 2025 Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame inductees are:

• Buderim Ginger
• The late Betty Byrne Henderson AM
• Keri Craig-Lee OAM
• Harvey Lister AM
• Euan Murdoch
• Sunny Queen Australia

The Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame, which now has 105 members, was established by QUT and the State Library of Queensland in 2009 to recognise the state’s most influential business leaders.

QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Sheil AO said the legacy of the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame was a testament to the power of collaboration between education and cultural institutions.

“These Queensland business leaders are shaping our communities, economies and futures,” Professor Sheil said. “And their journeys offer powerful examples to our students of what is possible across industries and generations, reflecting the dynamism and diversity of our state.

“The awards celebrate our deep connection with Queensland’s business community and exemplify our commitment to real-world impact through collaboration with industry leaders. Their stories enrich our curriculum, and many inductees go on to contribute to QUT programs as guest lecturers, mentors and partners.”

State Librarian and CEO Vicki McDonald AM said by celebrating these visionary leaders, we recognise not only their achievements, but also the important role of business in shaping Queensland’s cultural and economic story. 

 “This year’s inductees reflect the ingenuity and resilience that define our business landscape, and their stories will inspire future generations. 

“The remarkable contributions of the state’s business leaders are captured in State Library’s extensive collection, and we are proud to add these extraordinary inductees to that enduring legacy.” 
 

Buderim Ginger

Famous Sunshine Coast company Buderim Ginger has been inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in recognition of its world class ginger products and distinguished global reputation.

The ginger producer, processor and distributor was founded in 1941 by five Buderim ginger farmers in response to a global ginger shortage during World War II, when it couldn’t be imported from China.

“A group of five farmers came together to plan the rapid expansion of the ginger industry,” Buderim Ginger’s Managing Director, Tom Himstedt, said.

“They formed the Buderim co-op in a farm shed, with the first processing occurring in a workshop on the hill at Buderim.”

Today, Buderim Ginger is the world’s only western ginger processor and produces more than 60 different ginger products from its base at Yandina in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

It exports about half of its total production to 17 countries around the world – mostly in northern Europe and North America, but also to Asian countries such as Korea, China and Japan.

The company is also a major Sunshine Coast employer, with more than 80 people working at its Yandina facility.

It has also been a tourist attraction for decades, with The Ginger Factory now attracting 300,000 to 400,000 people each year – including notable visitors such as Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1983.

 

 

“The tourism side started in the late 1940s when the people of Buderim were curious about this agri-food business and the company used to open its doors on Friday afternoon,” Mr Himstedt said.

“And ever since then, the story of the factory, the story of the processing, has always been a part of the overall brand story. The tourism park tells the story of ginger.”

Mr Himstedt said the product that ‘really built the company’ was crystallised ginger, which is now marketed under the name Naked Ginger.

Their range also includes sushi ginger, pickled ginger, ginger jam, ginger cordials, and a very popular ginger beer.

Mr Himstedt said the company had a strong focus on sustainability across all areas – from the dedicated local farmers who supplied the product, through to improving water and energy use during factory processing, and favouring environmentally-friendly packaging.

He said the company had built long-term relationships with local farmers and the local community, and had many employees who had been there for more than 20 years.

Simon Hambleton, the company’s Executive Sales and Marketing Manager, said the company’s ginger products were entrenched in the community.

“If you walk through a supermarket today, we’re in at least five aisles – then we’re in a pharmacy, then we’re in a café, then we’re in many other people’s products … From a handful of ginger comes a pretty amazing story,” he said.

“But we’ve got to stay relevant.

“Consumers change, lifestyles change, people want different things. We have to continue to evolve to make sure Buderim Ginger is strong for another 80-plus years.  We've got to be respectful of our classics, but we've got to improve them.”
 

Betty Byrne Henderson

The late Betty Byrne Henderson AM has been inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in recognition of her groundbreaking contribution as a businesswoman to the automotive industry and for significant contributions to philanthropy and the community.

By all accounts, Ms Byrne Henderson was a trailblazer.

The pioneering Queensland businesswoman died earlier this year, aged 93.

Her daughter Louise Fleury and son Paul Byrne described her as tenacious, generous and relentlessly positive.

From humble beginnings as a 15-year-old “office girl” to one of Queensland’s most respected businesswomen and philanthropists, her life was one of quiet revolution.

“When she left school at 15, she had done what was called Scholarship which brought her out the other end as a stenographer and she worked for a company that sold AGA cookers,” Ms Fleury said.

“One day, the salesmen were off at lunch, and somebody walked into the showroom looking to buy an AGA cooker. Mum stepped up and sold it to them. Unbeknownst to her, the manager had been in his office and overheard the whole scenario. He then gave her little bites of opportunities to sell and that created the buzz for her to continue and the rewards that went with it.”

It was the first flicker of what would become a lifelong passion for enterprise.

 

 

Ms Byrne Henderson’s journey into the motor industry began when her husband, once a Holden executive, took a leap of faith to open a Ford dealership in Brisbane’s Chermside.

“We were Holden all the way,” Ms Fleury said.

“I remember saying to Dad, ‘But we don’t like Fords,’ and he said, ‘Well, you better start’.”

When her husband passed away in 1977 after a short battle with cancer, Ms Byrne Henderson didn’t hesitate. She stepped into leadership at Byrne Ford, defying the norms of a male-dominated industry.

“I don’t think there was any real mourning time,” Ms Fleury said. “Mum threw herself right in.”

Offers to buy the dealership came quickly, but the family stood firm.

“We had offers to buy the dealership out … but my mother said, ‘No, we’re going to continue this legacy’,” Mr Byrne said.

There were 35 employees at the dealership when Ms Byrne Henderson took over. As the business grew, so did the team and, during its peak, there were more than 140 employees at the dealership.

With strategic thinking and strong people skills, Ms Byrne Henderson modernised the business, introducing performance incentives and creating a culture of mutual respect.

“She had not only the experience, she had the support and she certainly had the team around her. I think that was a real quality of Mum’s; she was able to gather the right people around her, to treat them well and in return they respected her and did a great job,” Ms Fleury said.

“It was a family unlike a lot of other businesses you go into where no one really cares. Everyone cared,” Mr Byrne said.

Through the 1974 Brisbane floods, Ms Byrne Henderson kept the business alive – while cars literally floated down the street.

“Everybody chipped in. All the cars were written off,” Mr Byrne said.

“All the staff turned up as there were cars floating everywhere. It was really the first time I saw my mother break down. We didn’t hire people to come in, the staff did. And my mother.”

Outside the showroom, Ms Byrne Henderson soon became a public figure in Queensland. Her determination in a male-dominated industry resonated with many women and she turned to philanthropy.

Her tireless work led to the introduction of the travelling mammogram which serviced remote and Indigenous communities across Queensland.

“She was an amazing woman in so many ways and helped so many people,” Mr Byrne said.

Ms Byrne Henderson was honoured as Queenslander of the Year, a Queensland Great and a Member of the Order of Australia. But to her family and community, she was more than titles.

“Mum’s a damn hard act to follow as a daughter,” Ms Fleury said.

“I’m very proud of her, of her achievements and of her tenacious guts to just do and keep doing. She’s remarkable.”
 

Keri Craig-Lee

With almost five decades in the fashion industry, and accolades including a Medal in the Order of Australia and induction as a 2024 Queensland Greats recipient, Keri Craig-Lee OAM is tightly woven into the fabric of Australia’s fashion history and has now been inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.

From the cutting room floor of her parents’ factory to dressing the bride at one of the most famous weddings of the 20th century, when Keri says fashion is in her blood, it’s not hyperbole.

Born into a Brisbane fashion family, Peter and Dianne Craig had been dressing Australian women for generations through their exclusive label Fifth Avenue Frocks. Keri grew up in a world of fabric bolts and cutting tables, doing her homework after school in the family’s Fortitude Valley factory and offering opinions on her parents’ designs.

“Fashion was always just a part of life,” she said.

After graduating high school at St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School, she spent a formative year in the US as a Rotary exchange student.

“I applied for London, Paris and New York, thinking I’d go to one of the fashion capitals,” she said.

Instead, she was accepted by a tiny town in the American Midwest called Oconomowoc.

There, she enrolled in a fashion technical course at college, and she describes the exchange student experience as life changing.

Back in Brisbane, she launched her own eveningwear label at just 19 years old. With 36 garments, it had national distribution from day one.

“That’s quite unusual,” Keri said. “Normally you build your label state by state. But I was very lucky that my parent’s company was already well established nationally.”

Luck, perhaps – but also determination. As a young designer from Brisbane, Keri encountered scepticism from the south, but she worked hard to break into that market, and her fashion career launched with unusual speed. Keri paved the way becoming the first Queensland designer to sell nationally and internationally in exclusive boutiques and department stores.

That early momentum was a sign of things to come, and Keri’s designs quickly gained recognition as a brand synonymous with grace, elegance and style.

 

 

At 21 she won her first RAQ Fashion Design Supreme Award. By the age of 28, she was the inaugural inductee in the Retail Association of Queensland Hall of Fame. To this day, Keri remains the only female designer in the RAQ Hall of Fame and the only recipient of its Award of Excellence.

But it was a surprise encounter that catapulted her label to international heights, drawing a celebrity clientele from around the world.

“The day Elton John walked into my store in Double Bay, well, that was my lucky day,” she said.

His bride-to-be, Renate Blauel, commissioned Keri to design her wedding gown, bridesmaids’ dresses, trousseau, flowers, Elton’s boater and bow tie and decorate the church and cars – no mean feat considering it was on Valentine’s Day.

“We had four days to coordinate this incredible wedding … I don’t think any other wedding, even now, had the same level of publicity. It took the label from national to international. When I woke up the next morning, every single paper, magazine and news station was covering it,” Keri said.

Despite the glamour, Keri has always kept her feet firmly on the ground and her impact stretches beyond couture.

After several boutiques in Brisbane and one in Sydney’s Double Bay, she opened the Keri Craig Emporium in the Brisbane Arcade in 1983. Part boutique, part cafe, part institution, it was the first fashion store in the city to serve high tea, which remains a signature offering, and is still resolutely a family affair – parents Dianne and Peter and her brother Jason manage the Emporium to this day.

“I keep saying to my parents, ‘Don’t you think you should retire,’ but they love what they do,” she said.

The Keri Craig Emporium remains an iconic part of Queensland’s fashion history.

Off the catwalk, Keri Craig married Trevor Lee in 1986, and Keri assisted Trevor in growing Australian Country Choice to become Australia’s largest privately owned beef and cattle vertically integrated company.

The headlines read, ‘A marriage of heat and dust and city chic.’  Today, they are partners in life and business and share four children together.

“Fashion is my passion, but my true passion is my husband Trevor,” Keri said.

“It’s a very unusual combination going from the cattle yards to the catwalk, but that’s what makes our lives interesting.”

Keri and Trevor are now honoured as the first married recipients to be inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame for their leadership in different sectors.

In 2018, Keri was invited to join a Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Leadership Board. She has been bestowed many ambassadorial roles, has won over 50 fashion awards, and having employed hundreds of staff, is considered a true pioneer of the Australian fashion industry. She has often been dubbed ‘Queensland’s Empress of Style’ and ‘Queen of Fashion’.

“It’s hard work, it’s dedication, it’s your team, it’s having the idea of something that is unique,” she said. “But a lot of life is timing. I’m fortunate to have had the support of my family, the Queensland press and decades of loyal clientele.

“I'm so lucky that I've had a career in an industry that I just adore. I've loved every day, and I continue to do so.”
 

Harvey Lister

Events and entertainment industry legend Harvey Lister AM has been inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in recognition of outstanding contributions to the sector over more than 50 years, including the management of iconic stadiums and arenas.

Mr Lister is the Chairman and Chief Executive (Asia-Pacific and Middle East & North Africa) for Legends/ASM Global, which operates major venues worldwide, including Brisbane’s own Suncorp Stadium, the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, and the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

He has been involved in the presentation of more than 40,000 major events across sport, the arts, and conventions and exhibitions, including Olympic and Paralympic Games, G20 meetings, World Cups, and thousands of conferences and concerts.

Through his venue management, he has presented artists to Australian audiences including Elton John, INXS, Madonna, the Rolling Stones, U2, Lady Gaga, One Direction and Taylor Swift.

And it may all never have happened, had it not been for a part-time job during high school at his local newsagency.

One day the owners asked him if he would take their daughters on a school holiday outing while they worked – a favour that opened his eyes to the sparkling world of live entertainment.

“They said ‘would you mind taking the girls – catch the tram, it’s down in Victoria Park, there’ll be a tent there, it’s called ‘Disney on Ice’,” Mr Lister said.

“We walked into this massive tent and I just sat there wide-eyed.”

After school he did a radio and TV course and landed a job as a store announcer at Myer Fortitude Valley. That quickly turned into PR jobs in the early 1970s at two shopping centres managed by Myer at the time – Brookside and Chermside.

At Chermside, he had his first direct involvement with promoters and acts.

“I did a deal with the Edgleys and brought Disney on Ice to the shopping centre – the centre was jam-packed, it was extraordinary,” he said.

 

 

Those shopping centre roles gave Mr Lister many radio contacts, which led him to found the Queensland Rock Music Awards at Colour Radio 4IP and start working with concert promoters.

In 1975 he launched a concert and event management business and got his big break setting up a tour for Aussie band Sherbert. More tours followed, ranging from Stevie Wonder to AC/DC.

Brisbane’s failed bid for the 1992 Olympic Games opened another door.

The new Brisbane Entertainment Centre at Boondall had been designed and built to host Olympic gymnastics events, but instead became a major entertainment venue under a consortium led by Mr Lister.

The consortium turned into venue management group Queensland Leisure and, after a series of mergers, became part of ASM Global in 2019.

Now Chairman and Chief Executive (Asia-Pacific and Middle East & North Africa) for Legends/ASM Global, Mr Lister is proud of the opportunities the company has created for Queenslanders.

“We always believe we create careers for people, not just jobs,” he said.

“We have people from Brisbane working all over the world; we’ve got a whole bunch of them in Hong Kong (this year) opening the brand new 50,000-seat dome stadium, Kai Tak Stadium.

“We’re lucky now that we’re part of a global family … 412 venues around the world, 38 of the great stadiums of the world, hundreds of indoor entertainment arenas, 86 major convention centres, and hundreds of other types of venues.”

Mr Lister said Brisbane 2032 would bring new opportunities for Legends/ASM Global.

“We’re looking forward to not just our existing managed venues being part of the solution for the Olympics, but also for us to be involved in some of the new venues,” he said.

“I think Queensland will be really well set up for the long term with what these venues can deliver in our communities.”
 

Euan Murdoch

The pharmaceuticals entrepreneur who made Herron paracetamol a household name, became ‘Head Goanna’ of the iconic Goanna Oil brand, and is now aiming to disrupt global cattle breeding technology has been inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.

Euan Murdoch has been recognised for his visionary entrepreneurship and innovation, and nationally significant contributions to Australia’s pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

The youngest of six children, he grew up in rural Victoria and wanted to be a farmer like his dad.

But the family farm ‘wouldn’t split six ways’ after his father suddenly passed away in his last year of school, so instead he enrolled in a vet science degree in Melbourne.

That plan didn’t work out either so, after moving to Brisbane with his wife Kaye, he studied commerce at the University of Queensland and discovered a passion for entrepreneurship.

While still a student, he started several businesses including a portable children’s highchair, veterinary products and dental products.

“The philosophy then was I wanted to have a few different businesses so that if one fell over, at least I’d have something else going,” Mr Murdoch said.

In 1972, he founded Herron Industries and in 1982 he bought the iconic J.C.Marconi – manufacturers of Goanna Oil liniment and salve – and Herron Pharmaceuticals was formed.

The purchase prompted him to develop a Brisbane factory to manufacture the oil, which would later also make Herron paracetamol.

“We designed Herron’s first manufacturing facility on the back of a beer coaster at the Indooroopilly pub,” he said.

“We saw a gap in the market for paracetamol in supermarkets and that’s when we launched the product that probably most people would know, Herron paracetamol.

“And Herron just grew and grew and grew. Our goal was to try and knock Panadol off in grocery in Australia … it took us 15, 20 years to get there, but we did.

“We sold product in Europe and sourced technology from the United States and by the mid ’90s we were manufacturing 400 or 500 different products.”

 

 

In 1999, Mr Murdoch founded Imaginot, a technology innovation arm, to develop fast acting pain relief to Herron’s best-known product, Herron paracetamol. Imaginot has licensed its intellectual property to several global pharma companies.

“When we decided to sell the company there were literally millions of Australians every day who would reach out and touch Herron … That's what we built,” Mr Murdoch said.

Mr Murdoch sold Herron to Sigma Pharmaceuticals in 2003, and he and Kaye bought the property Nindooinbah, near Beaudesert.

But the move didn’t mean retirement.

Instead, Mr Murdoch applied his learnings from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, and his various roles at UQ, to the beef and dairy industry.

He is now co-founder (with Nick Cameron) of agtech start-up Nbryo, which is working to improve global food resilience by developing technology that enables affordable transfer of genetically-advanced embryos that have improved disease resistance and climate tolerance.

Funding partners for the research include Meat & Livestock Australia and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Mr Murdoch said he believed people shouldn’t be too set on what they wanted to do in life when they were young.

“I think people need to experience life a bit,” he said.

“Don't chase a dream with a motivation to make a lot of money. Chase a dream to do something and the money will follow. Have a go, take risks and be honest with yourself.”
 

Sunny Queen Australia

Smiley-faced egg company Sunny Queen Australia has been inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in recognition of its sustained excellence and reputation as the leading producer, marketer and distributor of egg products for over 50 years.

What started with a few hundred chickens scratching around in rural Queensland is today Australia’s largest egg company, working to reimagine what an Australian food producer can be.

Sunny Queen Australia began life as the Queensland Egg Board in 1930, initially focused on the marketing and distribution of eggs, before the business eventually became privatised by the Hall and McLean families.

Simon Hall, a second-generation egg farmer and director of Sunny Queen whose family helped lay the foundations for what Sunny Queen is today, said it was through hard work and investment that they were able to grow the business.

“We care a lot about things. We care for our livestock, of course, and for our people, who are probably the most important asset we have,” he said.

Robert Antonio, former CEO of McLean Farms and former Chair of Sunny Queen, echoed Mr Hall’s sentiments.

“It was extremely important at Sunny Queen that we built trust from the get-go, while educating and communicating,” he said.

 

 

Australians currently consume an average of 266 eggs per person per year, of which the Sunny Queen team supplies more than 1.5 billion. It is the leading supplier of eggs in Australia.

CEO and Managing Director Julie Proctor sees the scale as a privilege.

“Pretty much everywhere you would anticipate an egg being consumed would be part of our customer base,” she said.

To meet that demand, Sunny Queen has expanded far beyond the humble carton, now developing and selling more than 60 products across three product pillars: shell eggs; liquid eggs; and a ready-to-eat meal range that is redefining how consumers enjoy nutritious egg-based meals on the go.

Innovation has always been a key factor in the growth of the business, with Sunny Queen investing heavily in cage free and free-range production facilities and transparent practices.

In 2009, the company launched Sunny Queen Cage Free eggs which quickly became a market leader.  It has since also become a leader in free range and organic as demand for these eggs in Australia continues to grow.

 Sunny Queen’s biggest selling eggs now come from hens with access to pasture, and its online ‘Chook Tracker’ lets consumers watch hens roam live.

“We say a girl needs her space,” Mr Hall said. “You picture a chook on a king-sized bed, and that's roughly the amount of room that each Sunny Queen Farms Free Range bird has in the paddock.”

Like many in agriculture, Sunny Queen contends with droughts, fires, floods and the looming threat of bird flu. Amidst these challenges, public trust remains a critical priority, and it’s here that the company appears to be onto a winning formula.

“It's the meticulous standards that we have from our farms right through our supply chain, and the care that we take of our customers,” Ms Proctor said.

“I think people are looking for a high-quality, consistent product that makes them feel good. They understand where it's come from. They understand the ethics and the ethos of the business that has produced it.

“It feels like one of the biggest privileges of my life to be able to wake up every day and come to work alongside farming families. Collectively, we’re responsible for feeding literally millions of people every single day.”

Main photo (from left to right):

Standing: State Librarian and State Library of Queensland CEO Vicki McDonald AM, QUT Chancellor Ann Sherry AO, Buderim Ginger Managing Director Tom Himstedt, Sunny Queen Australia CEO and Managing Director Julie Proctor, Louise Fleury and Paul Byrne (on behalf of the late Betty Byrne Henderson AM), Deputy Premier of Queensland the Hon. Jarrod Bleijie MP, QUT Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Margaret Sheil AO

Sitting: Chair Library Board of Queensland Debbie Best, Euan Murdoch, Keri Craig-Lee OAM, Harvey Lister AM

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