Every year, nearly 1500 participants graduate from the Company Directors Course by successfully completing the examination and assignment. However, only very few are granted a Pass with Order of Merit. We congratulate the following candidates on achieving this honour in 2006.
After review of all papers, up to 5% of candidates for the calendar year will be provided with an Order of Merit. Order of Merit recognises superior achievement in both the examination and assignment.
Order of Merit graduates
Ralph Addis is a Chartered Accountant and resource economist and the CEO of Wunan Foundation, an Indigenous NGO focused on driving long-term, sustainable improvements in the life choices and opportunities available to Aboriginal people in the East Kimberley region of WA. Ralph is a director of several commercial and social businesses including in tourism, employment and training, and the retail sector.
Dianne Agis is the General Manager, Risk and Corporate Governance at AMES (Adult Multicultural Education Services), which is a provider of specialist, multicultural language, settlement and employment services. She has a background in accounting and over the years has worked in financial, audit and other roles across a range of private and public sector organisations.
Wayne Andrews is the Vice President of Finance: Commercial, Contracts and Business Practices Japan and Asia Pacific at Oracle Corporation, Asia Pacific Division. He also holds a range of Director and Senior Director positions leading regional and global projects including the establishment and offshoring of a Shared Financial Services team covering Japan and the Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Oracle, Wayne was the CFO for Brink's Asia Pacific Pty Ltd, the Asian regional headquarters for Pittston Brink's (pzb).
Karen Bard is Chief Knowledge and Technology Officer of ReservoirTeam and has 25 years global experience in the oil and gas industry. Before joining ReservoirTeam , she rounded out her technology experience as CIO of Santos and is still active as a founding board member of the CIO Executive Council of Australia where she is leading several Board initiatives.
Trevor Bourne currently holds a number of non-executive director positions including Caltex Australia, Origin Energy, Coates Hire, Hastie Group (Chairman) and Lighting Corporation. Prior to retirement from his executive career in 2003, Trevor was the Chief Executive Officer of Tenix Industries Pty Ltd and also had a sixteen year career at Brambles Industries, the last six as the Managing Director of Brambles Australia Ltd.
Nicholas Brant is the Chief Information Officer at GHD, a global professional services organisation with more than 4,700 staff across more than twenty countries. He has more than twenty years of technology and management experience, having worked with a number of organisations in the Asia Pacific region in the professional services, airline, defence and e-commerce industries.
David Brawn is currently the Chairman of Spinal Cord Injuries Australia, an Assistant Governor in Rotary District 9750 and the Treasurer of the Katoke Trust that provides humanitarian support in Tanzania. David previously held senior marketing and business management positions in Telstra and Xerox.
Professor Wai Fong Chua is the Senior Associate Dean for the Faculty of Business at the University of New South Wales. She has been teaching, researching and consulting for thirty years, working both in the United Kingdom and Australia at the universities of Sheffield, Sydney and New South Wales. Since 1998, Wai Fong has been an elected staff member to the Council of UNSW and is currently a member of its Finance Committee.
Michelle Clarke is finance and strategy adviser to the Suncorp Treasurer. She is also a director of LaBoite Theatre Company and is a member of the CPA Finance and Treasury Centre of Excellence, recently conducting the review of the CPA guide “Understanding and Managing Financial Risk: A Practical Guide for Company Directors and Business Executives”.
Graham Clelland is the Coal Key Account Manager for QRNational. He has held a variety of senior management positions with QR for many years, specifically dealing with managing a significant revenue portfolio and on strategic business project management and development.
Susan Crawford is Director, Business and Financial Services with Project Services, a commericialised business unit of the Queensland government. She has spent fifteen years working in industries such as education and training, utilities and building and construction in CFO or equivalent roles within Australia and New Zealand. Her current role encompasses business and strategic planning, finance, workforce planning, business systems development and procurement and building contractual areas.
Joe De Gennaro is Finance Director of Hoshizaki Lancer Pty Ltd, a manufacturer and distributor of beverage dispensing and ice making equipment for the soft drink and draught beer markets in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. He has had an extensive career in the fast moving consumer goods sector domestically and internationally and notes as a highlight the years he spent in the Central and Eastern European operations of a major beverage manufacturer, following the fall of 'The Wall'.
Paul Fowler is Chief Operating Officer of Zinifex, Ltd and is CEO elect of a new company Zinifex is currently in the process of developing by merging its smelting assets with those of Umicore, a large diversified Belgian company. Prior to Zinifex, Paul was CEO of Fletcher Challenge Forests in New Zealand and spent Fifteen years in various management roles with British Petroleum.
Ian Gilbert has held CEO and general management roles across a range of industries and is currently the Manager Enterprise & Sectoral Growth, Venture Capital of the Queensland Department of State Development. He is responsible for Queensland-wide projects and programs for commercial growth and investment attraction resulting in economic, export and employment outcomes for Queensland. The Mentoring for Growth suite of programs, that Ian has implemented, has been described in a recent study by the University of Central Queensland as 'world’s best practice for panel mentoring'.
Stephen Howe is a Manager Infrastructure Operations at Latrobe City Council in Gippsland, Victoria, where he manages the delivery of construction and maintenance services for a wide range of municipal assets. Stephen has won several professional development and industry awards, has presented papers at national and international conferences and contributed articles to a range of engineering and other journals.
Peter Israel has a diverse background including time as a military officer (RAN), investment banker and most recently, as a senior executive in Origin Energy, running the LPG division, assisting in carbon related product development and acquisition activities. Peter is currently a Director of Vitalgas and the President of the Australian LPG Association. In his free time Peter has a passion for third world poverty reduction initiatives through microfinance and climate change mitigation mechanisms.
Michelle Kellaway is a former winner of NSW Young Australian of the Year (Regional Initiative) and has a background in veterinary science. She consulted for four years with the Boston Consulting Group and since 2004 has been Manager at Meat and Livestock Australia , responsible for a team of project management professionals developing and implementing strategies and projects which improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the red meat industry.
Kamlesh Khelawan is a Manager Policy, Strategy & Sustainability at AGL Energy Limited. Kamlesh's responsibilities encompass regulatory and market development, and the integration of sustainability into AGL’s business strategy. Kamlesh is a director on the board of the Gas Market Company Limited and an alternate director of the Energy Retailers Association of Australia. Kamlesh has over Twenty years of operations and management experience in the energy industry with AGL and Pacific Power.
John Kitchener has qualifications in business and finance and currently works independently. His recent activities include nine years with a global automotive services company working across Australasia. Responsibilities included strategy development, business reviews/restructures and the assessment and development of new opportunities. He has also been General Manager for an automotive parts and vehicle logistics operation and has additional experience in consulting across a range of industries.
David McAdam is an Executive Manager Strategic Operations with Thiess Pty Ltd. In addition to his current role in Thiess, David also contributes to industry efforts through his role as Executive Committee Member of the QMCA (Queensland Major Contractors Association) and Chair of the Queensland Coordinator Generals Taskforce on Procurement Practices. David has been involved in the engineering design and construction industry for over 25 years.
Rod Naylor is a Chartered Engineer with twenty years experience in the water industry in public and private sector roles, in Australia and internationally. He is Executive Director of Veolia Water Australia, a part of the global Veolia Environment group, and is responsible for development of major projects such as the Gold Coast desalination plant. He is also a non-executive director of United Water International, the company responsible for operating all of metro Adelaide’s water and sewage systems
Edward Simpkinson recently retired after a long career with the Du Pont company, which included executive assignments in the U.S., Japan, the Asia Pacific region as well as Australia. His experience has included senior corporate roles as well as business unit and P&L responsibilities, joint venture management, and most recently he has been Managing Director, Human Resources, Asia Pacific and Group Managing Director for the ASEAN countries. He has been Director of several DuPont subsidiary companies in this region.
Maria Storti is a partner with Ernst & Young working within their risk advisory practice. Maria was the 2004 ACT Telstra Business Woman Australian Government Private and Corporate Sector award winner and a national finalist. Prior to joining Ernst & Young, she was Chief Finance Officer at ActewAGL, a private-public partnership between the ACT Government, AGL and Alinta. She was a director with the Service One Credit Union and has participated on several audit committees
Rod White is currently General Manager, Works Delivery at Western Power. Rod has a background in the oil and resources including twenty years working internationally with Shell and Anglo-American. Rod's current role at Western Power involves the development and implementation of strategies to deliver the$800M major works program in the newly established Regulatory Market within WA.
Nicholas Wood is Executive Manager, Corporate Services, Western Australian Local Government Association. He is a fellow of Leadership Western Australia and through this role has undertaken pro-bono work with the Smith Family, Greening Australia, Volunteer Taskforce and the Bible Society of Western Australia in the areas of corporate governance, government liaison and student mentoring. His previous work experience included a senior role within the WA Attorney General’s office.
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