Gravity Group – Boost Mobeel Perth
Owner, director
DANIEL Ashton says he has always been entrepreneurial.
At 13, he started a mobile car washing business and two years later was working as an events DJ.
In 2007, after four years as manager in a Boost Juice store, Mr Ashton saw the opportunity to take the product on the road. He convinced the company to grant him an exclusive franchise for mobile Boost Juice in Western Australia and launched Boost Mobeel, making him the world’s youngest owner of a Boost Juice franchise. Boost Mobeel has since grown from three employees to employing 115 staff and operating four mobile vans.
Its vans, custom made in Perth, attend more than 500 events a year, serving over 140,000 customers with 170,000 Boost Juices and 20,000 bottles of water annually.
Through Boost Mobeel Mr Ashton supports charities such as the Cancer Council, Autism West, and the Breast Cancer Council among others.
When possible, the company’s vans also attend FESA’s temporary operations centre during bushfires to assist in providing free Boost Juices to the volunteers.
Mr Ashton’s success with Boost Mobeel has inspired Boost Juice to look towards rolling out the concept nationally, with a mobile Boost already launched in Queensland.
BHP Billiton
Transformation lead
JESSICA Barber is considered a role model for women in resources, having held consulting, technical and operating positions, multiple roles as manager (mining production) as well as her current position as transformation lead with BHP Billiton.
In 2011, at the age of 29, Ms Barber was appointed mining manager at BHP Billiton’s Mt Whaleback mine, a role in which she led a team of more than 600 staff.
With the appointment, she became not only BHP’s youngest operations manager, but also the first woman to hold that position in the company.
Ms Barber says she was fortunate to have had the opportunity to restructure the leadership of her team, and is proud to have helped create a high-performance culture in which people know their opinions, where their inputs are valued, and they felt safe to speak up.
In 2012 she was a winner of the Australian Financial Review BOSS Young Executive of the Year Award.
In addition to seeing herself as an ambassador for women in non-traditional industries, Ms Barber is also a board member of SHINE, an organisation working with young women at risk of disengaging from the education system.
Director
JAMES Coghill is a co-founder and director of Total Green Recycling, an electronics recycling company that specialises in recycling anything that plugs into the wall.
He and his brother, Michael, began collecting electronics from the Perth roadside during their university student days and realised Western Australia was lacking a solution to the disposal of e-waste.
From startup in 2008, Total Green Recycling has grown from recycling 61 tonnes of e-waste in its first year to more than 1,800t in 2015.
TGR now services 53 councils and collects e-waste from thousands of small and large businesses.
In the course of its history, TGR has diverted more than 7,800t of e-waste from landfill, including 205t of toxic lead.
The company has 21 staff and since 2009 has aimed to provide stable employment to the long-term unemployed.
It has also provided jobs for 10 people with disabilities through a partnership with Rocky Bay.
Mr Coghill aims to bring new recycling technologies to WA to make the state a national leader in the recycling sector.
Central to this goal will be a semi-automated plant, which has been custom-built in China based on a conceptual design Mr Coghill has developed.
Partner
SHANNON Davies is a lawyer and partner at Solomon Brothers, and has more than a decade’s experience in front-end commercial law.
Mr Davies oversees and mentors a developing commercial real estate team at his firm, which he intends to develop further through an expanding client base, targeting major real estate divestments and acquisitions, and other top-end real estate work.
Outside of the legal profession, Mr Davies is a major supporter of the Telethon Kids Institute.
In 2012, he co-founded the Ethan Davies Scholarship for Brain Cancer Research with his wife after their autistic son was diagnosed with brain cancer at only 20 months of age.
During the past four years he’s helped raise $360,000 for childhood brain cancer research.
Mr Davies’ expertise and professional achievements were recognised when Solomon Brothers made him a partner of the firm in September last year.
Since 2013, Mr Davies has also contributed towards the training of the next generation of young lawyers in Western Australia, through his role as a property law instructor for the Leo Cussen Centre for Law’s articled clerks training program.
Owner, winemaker
ROBERT Diletti’s first exposure to the wine industry came at age six, when he helped with the initial planting at his family’s Castle Rock Estate vineyard in 1983.
After working there during his teens, he left to study viticulture, before being employed in the management of wineries in Australia and France.
Mr Diletti returned to Castle Rock in 2001 and oversaw the first vintage made on-site; previously the wines had been made under contract at another winery.
In 2013, he and his wife took over ownership of the winery, adding sales promotion to his responsibilities.
Since then, Mr Diletti has taken the small family owned winery to the national stage, being awarded the coveted James Halliday five-star rating, and being recognised as the ‘winemaker of the year by the Australian Wine Companion Awards in July 2014.
Sales and brand awareness have increased during a slow and difficult time for the industry due to Mr Diletti’s focus on producing quality over quantity.
In addition to Castle Rock Estate, he is contracted to produce wines for nine additional brands, and does so with the same attention to detail.
Outside the industry, Mr Diletti volunteers as a member of the Porongurup Bushfire Brigade and Albany Surf Lifesaving Club.
Director, Energise accelerator
AFTER a decade in the US, Toby Gardner returned to his native Perth to work for KPMG in 2014.
Finding that Australia lacked a formal framework to connect innovative solutions to the companies that needed them, Mr Gardner responded by creating the largest energy and natural resources (ENR) innovation program in Asia-Pacific, KPMG’s Energise.
The program has 100 mentors from Australia and Silicon Valley in collaboration with 14 supporting companies, including Woodside, BHP Billiton, Shell, Worley Parsons, and Fortescue Metals Group.
Mr Gardner also co-designed the curriculum for Elevate61, a national startup program for Australian entrepreneurs looking to enter into the US market.
At KPMG, he works in the strategy and M&A division, and after only two years in the role won KPMG’s national award for ‘deal advisory’.
Despite his success, Mr Gardner says the failure of his New York fashion startup, Christopher Bevans, during the GFC was among the key lessons of his career.
Mr Gardner co-founded ‘The Big Climb’ in 2006, raising approximately $100,000 for the Breast Cancer Foundation of WA through promotional events and charity nights.
Founding director, shareholder
JEMMA Green returned to Perth in 2013 after 11 years working at JP Morgan as an investment banker in London.
Since then, Ms Green has helped set up retail super fund Future Super, which has a fossil-fuel-free investment mandate.
The fund has performed at a rate of return of 6.5 per cent since inception and is on track to have $500 million in assets within four years.
Ms Green has also founded her own consulting business, The Green Enterprise.
Additionally, Ms Green is a research fellow at Curtin University, where she is completing a PhD in solar storage and modular construction.
During the course of her time with JP Morgan she managed projects in developing nations across mining, oil and gas, power, real estate and infrastructure sectors.
In October, Ms Green was elected as a councillor for the City of Perth, running on a platform of making Perth a more lively and liveable city.
Her community involvements also include pro-bono work on the advisory board of 1 Million Women, a movement of women and girls acting on climate change through the way they live.
Ms Green is also an advisory board member of Carbon Tracker, and is on the leadership council of The Funding Network.
Founder, managing director
KOHEN Grogan founded Yappy Group in 2012 with a budget of just $2,000.
His plan was to develop a tool that could accurately measure the effectiveness of clients’ social media marketing.
Some of Mr Grogan’s startup cash came from his grandmother, who passed away earlier that year with strict orders to do something useful with the inheritance, which he did with single-minded determination.
Yappy is now a social media agency with clients including Thermomix, Finbar and McDonald’s.
After four years the company has eight staff, has won multiple awards and is developing Yappy2, a fully automated social media software as a service product.
Mr Grogan has funded the business along the way by selling the ideas he wanted to incorporate into the software, allowing Yappy’s team to test and refine those ideas along the way.
He is a firm believer in philanthropy and serves on the board of education charity Classroom of Hope, which provides child-friendly education for children in developing countries.
Yappy has also provided discounted or pro-bono services to not-for-profit groups such as Parkerville, Rockability, Lifeline WA, and Beyond Blue.
Subcon Technologies
Director
JAMES Hallam had already founded six companies before he embarked on his current business, Subcon Technologies.
Drawing on his experience as an engineer in the oil and gas industry, Mr Hallam started Subcon in 2011 with business partner Matthew Allen. Following significant growth at the Henderson-based company, Mr Hallam is now spearheading international expansion to meet further demand for its services in marine foundations, subsea stabilisations and the creation of enhanced and artificial reefs.
He attributes Subcon’s evolution from a small, two-man operation to a company operating across three continents with more than 80 staff and contractors to taking risks, working hard and forging strong industry and research partnerships.
“You also need to have an innovative culture with a ‘nothing is too hard mentality’,” Mr Hallam said.
Early sacrifices, such as not taking a salary for the first two years of the business and reinvesting all profits over the past four years into the company, have finally paid off.
“I was once told, that the average entrepreneur has seven failures before being successful,” Mr Hallam said. “(This) has been certainly been the case for me. Although it has been a long road it has also been very enjoyable.”
Artrage/Fringe World
Fringe World, festival director
AMBER Hasler has been instrumental in making Perth’s Fringe World the third biggest Fringe international event of its kind and the biggest annual festival in Western Australia.
Her direction of, and involvement, in the festival has helped transform perceptions of Perth by enlivening city spaces, introducing new live acts from thousands of local and international artists to audiences across the state, and promoting economic growth during the month-long celebration in February.
“For those unfamiliar with entertainment industries it can seem like events such as Fringe World appear as if my magic,” Ms Hasler said.
However, giving audiences that impression takes more than a year of work to organise and improve on each time.
“I’m very proud of Fringe and what it achieves,” she said. “Continuous improvement is still very important and something that drives me as a leader and manager.”
Ms Hasler’s passion for WA’s arts and culture industry has also led to her involvement in several boards and panels, including the Chamber of Arts & Culture of WA and the Helpmann Awards, which celebrates Australia’s most talented performing artists.
WA government
ALBERT Jacob is the youngest member of the state’s Liberal Party to be elected since 1947 and is the environment and heritage minister.
Mr Jacob’s appointment to cabinet followed his 2013 re-election in the seat of Ocean Reef, where he was returned with a 19 per cent increase in the primary vote.
“While these have been significant achievements in my career advancement, I do not see achievement of higher office as an end in itself,” Mr Jacob said.
“The ability to achieve positive outcomes for my local community and the state more broadly are my primary motivations.”
To that end, he is most proud of driving reform and efficiencies within his departments, reducing overall budgets while maintaining or expanding front-line service delivery, improving the clarity and consistency of the state’s environmental and heritage approvals system, and being involved in improving various policies and committees.
Politics was a big career change for Mr Jacob, who had worked as a labourer, but left this role to pursue full-time study in architecture (despite having a mortgage at the time). He believes his perseverance, strong work ethic and respect for others’ views have paved the way for a rewarding political career.
Director
RHYS Kelly, a director and part-owner at property and development investment company Qube Property Group, is committed to using his experience and position in the real estate industry to influence policy changes for the benefit of the Western Australian community.
Mr Kelly is one of the youngest-ever presidents of the Urban Development Institute of Australia WA council.
Since 2004, he has led the delivery of a range of housing products that meet varying needs of the community, including land, apartments, industrial and commercial office developments worth $567 million.
Through his business Mr Kelly has been involved in several significant financial contributions to a number of local charities and is passionate about developing his staff’s skills, just as he developed and received guidance from industry leaders.
He believes in providing frank advice about the property market, including advice on being innovative. “I want to be inspired, and therefore I try to inspire those around me,” Mr Kelly said.
“I always encourage others to think creatively, even if the outcome isn’t necessarily the way things proceed. I believe that the ideas that fall out of discussions are often the start of something else entirely different.”
Kern Health and Workscreen Medical
Owner
KERN Health founder and managing director Mark Kerns has built his business into one of the state’s largest allied health companies in the hospital, aged care and occupational health sectors.
A physiotherapist by training, Mr Kerns has drawn on friendly service and a willingness to seek out new opportunities to grow his business in industry sectors that are highly competitive or rarely outsource.
“Most of my best, long-term service agreements have come from being happy to help when asked to lend a hand,” Mr Kerns said.
“Whether at a local nursing home (that was) in immediate need or to back cover annual leave for a colleague on a mine site, this has invariably led to permanent work and new business.”
He now plans to create a custom injury analysis tool and expand Kern Health’s services, particularly with its occupational therapy in the resources sector and in the aged care sector in Perth and the Peel region.
Landgate/earthmine Australia
Business consultant/chief executive
PETER Markham is no ordinary public servant, having turned an idea presented to Landgate’s innovation team into a successful startup that has revolutionised the way industry tackles asset management.
Mr Markham helped form earthmine Australia, negotiating with Australian and international partners to use NASA technology to help local and state governments better manage their assets.
Mr Markham, who previously project managed Jaxon Construction’s $120 million South Hedland urban renewal project, believes developing business relationships and making business processes lean, efficient and innovative have been key to achieving results.
“I have a track record of creating working environments that promote teamwork and inclusiveness,” he said.
“It’s this approach that has led to my projects exceeding business expectations.”
Just as he seeks professional roles that contribute to positive outcomes for Western Australia, in his personal life Mr Markham has volunteered with the State Emergency Services, coached several junior sports clubs, and supported local indigenous people in the communities he’s lived and worked in.
Chief guru, adventure travel
MATT Natonewski had a successful and lucrative career in the mining industry, before he gave it away to do something he really enjoyed. In 2013, he founded a unique business that combined his love of adventure and motorcycles with his preference for taking the path less travelled.
The result was Nevermind Adventure, which now sells leather fashion goods and motorcycle adventure tours to destinations in India and through the Himalayas to Nepal.
Nevermind now operates out of stores in Fremantle, Hillarys and Perth as well as Melbourne and Torquay, with plans for more outlets in North America, Asia and Europe.
Mr Natonewski funds and helps operate a primary school in Agra, India, that provides free education to more than 80 disadvantaged children. A self-described rebellious leader, Mr Natonewski has never accepted the status quo without questioning why or how it could be better.
“Nevermind may not be the biggest or best business in the world but it is without doubt one of the most unique, interesting and ambitious business around,” he said.
“We aim to break the rules of business and show that it can be done better, fairer, safer and most importantly more enjoyably. The world needs passion and energy and this is the essence of Nevermind.”
Founder, director
PAUL Newsome is the founder of Swim Smooth, a leading global authority on swim coaching for triathlon and open-water swimming events.
Mr Newsome, a UK native, created the company in Perth 11 years ago, before being named the swim coaching partner for the British Triathlon Federation, which involved in rewriting the entire swim coaching curriculum for the federation’s 3,500 coaches.
Two years ago, the world governing body of triathlon, the International Triathlon Union, named Swim Smooth as its sole swim coaching partner.
“This means the method I developed here in Perth 11 years ago, and continue to refine, is now being taught in 119 countries around the world,” Mr Newsome said.
Efforts to market the unique swimming model, which is customised to each individual swimmer, faced resistance from the swimming community at first, but once users gained success with the techniques Mr Newsome was able to grow his business and radically alter the industry.
Mr Newsome, who in 2013 won the world’s longest marathon swimming event (46.5km) in New York, now plans to significantly grow his business, particularly its franchised certified coaches program.
“The demand for our services far out-strips the supply,” he said.
Minderoo Foundation – GenerationOne
Chief operating officer
MATTHEW O’Sullivan began his professional career as a youth worker, trying to ‘fix’ people, as he terms it.
However, it wasn’t long before he realised the best way to help people was to empower them to help themselves.
It was this realisation that led him to work with Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation, which has a ‘hand-up, not hand-out’ philosophy that mirrors Mr O’Sullivan’s (and where he helped create GenerationOne and the Australian Employment Covenant, an initiative for indigenous job seekers). “Over the last seven years, I have led our team and have seen over 25,000 indigenous job seekers move into employment,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
He has also been involved in reforming the federal government’s training and employment services delivery program for indigenous people, helping deliver Minderoo’s Vocational Training and Employment Centre model, through a national trial led by GenerationOne.
“I am extremely proud of what our team has been able to achieve,” Mr O’Sullivan said. “The profound legacy in shifting how long-term unemployed Australians are supported was not without its challenges, but we are determined to never give up. Being charged to lead an organisation whose sole focus is to empower the most disadvantaged and at risk group of Australians is a complete honour.”
Head, health policy
FRANCESCO Paolucci has spearheaded Murdoch University’s new health policy program.
It’s a unique higher education offering for an institution with no medical school, but one that has recognised the healthcare industry needs a workforce that is multi-skilled and able to lead.
Mr Paolucci designed and introduced the first master program in health economics policy and law in Europe, and later built the European Commission’s first joint-funded program in health economics and management, as well as led the implementation of Qatar’s national health insurance scheme.
He is now in charge of setting up Murdoch’s health policy in Perth.
“In the next two years I will dedicate my efforts towards working with government industry implementing changes necessary to equip the Australian healthcare system with the policy and governance to respond to shift from acute to chronic care,” Mr Paolucci said.
“(I will) organically grow our program to attract elite students and link with existing joint degree programs, introducing innovative teaching and learning with a focus on developing the next generation of health leaders for emerging Asian markets.”
Managing director
BART Parsons has played a big part in changing the face of hospitality in the Pilbara region.
With his 20-plus staff at the Blanche Bar in Karratha, Mr Parsons has raised the standards from pub grub to refined cuisine. His introduction of events such as the annual music festival Beats in the Heat has also given the people of the Pilbara a new level of entertainment.
Mr Parsons’ passion for improving the region’s dining and liveability factor turned political recently when he was elected to the Karratha City Council. He is also opening a new venue, Fiorita Deli, in Karratha’s CBD, which will provide the local community with local and international deli products that have previously been unavailable.
With grand plans for expansion eventually including a winery, brewery and distillery, Mr Parsons said his experience setting up Blanche Bar at the end of Pilbara’s mining boom has taught him how to be a resilient and diversified businessman.
“I have always been hard working and full of ideas,” he said.
“There isn’t a day that goes by where I am not mulling over a new idea, project or way to make this project or a future project work to the best of its ability.”
General manager
STEVE Roper has been responsible for taking landscaping and design business LD TOTAL from a ‘good business’ to a great one by challenging systems and processes, implementing new innovations and driving fresh business development.
LD TOTAL stands out among other Australian landscape contractors for offering a complete range of services at any and all stages of a job, which has allowed the business to expand into new markets.
During this time Mr Roper reduced staff turnover by 50 per cent, embarked on competitor analysis while surveying customer satisfaction, and helped unify the business, which was previously operating under separate independent departments.
Since being told by a former boss that obstacles are ‘what you see when you take your eyes off the ball’, Mr Roper now uses this tip to inform his management style and motivate staff members.
Under his management LD TOTAL’s profit margin has increased by a factor of two and Mr Roper intends to continue to expand the company’s clients and business capabilities.
Managing director
TOMMY Shin sold his first tech startup aged just 22.
He had created an internet phone business while at university, and just over a year later sold it to Engin for $1.2 million.
In 2010, Mr Shin joined software development firm Lateral as national business development manager, and a couple of years later maxed out four credit cards to buy into the partnership, a gamble that paid off within six months.
Last year, he became Lateral’s managing director, the youngest in the company’s 30-year history.
Since beginning with Lateral, Mr Shin has seen the company grow threefold, adding Wesfarmers and the Department of Health to its client list during that time.
Since 2012, he has served as a director of BluestorK, a non-for-profit group that helps disadvantaged children in Asia and Australia receive educations by providing scholarships, building schools, and providing educational supplies.
He is also involved in programs assisting homeless children, and regularly participates in events such as CEO Sleepout.
Managing director
MATTHEW Sivewright had what he calls a quarter-life crisis in 2010.
At the age of 25, Mr Sivewright gave up his job as a contracts officer at Fortescue Metal Group to start his own company, FenceWright.
Mr Sivewright took the security fencing company from startup to an eight--figure revenue in just three years.
FenceWright now operates in Western Australia and Queensland and employs more than 120 staff.
Its growth is even more impressive given that it has broken into what is traditionally a very competitive industry dominated by a few large players.
With the launch of his new app this year, connecting clients and fencing providers, Mr Sivewright is looking to change the way the fencing industry operates in Australia.
Mr Sivewright believes family should always come before work, and he takes pride in having never once refused an employee’s request for time off.
Under his leadership, FenceWright has also taken on at-risk employees through the paid employment leave program at Wooroloo Prison Farm.
As a result the company has already provided three prisoners with full-time employment, and Mr Sivewright aims to provide employment for 30 more in coming years.
BETTY Tran
Founder, creative director
BETTY Tran and her mother left Vietnam for Australia in 2002.
She was aged 15 at the time, and neither she nor her mother could speak English.
Following a long family tradition of involvement in the fashion and textiles industry, Ms Tran started in retail at 17.
Two years later, in 2006, she and her mother founded the Betty Sugar label.
However, the impact of the GFC on their suppliers and distributors led to the label’s demise.
In 2012, armed only with the remaining $2,000 of her savings, Ms Tran self-financed a new label – Betty Tran.
It was a high-risk endeavour with such a small budget, but it soon found success.
On its debut at the Perth Fashion Festival that year, the Betty Tran label attracted the attention of a scout for the New York Fashion Week.
An invitation to showcase her work in New York resulted in enough sales to finance the opening of a flagship store back in Perth.
International attention has grown since then, aided by the support of high-profile celebrities such as Mel B, Jessica Hart, Nicole Trunfio, Jesinta Campbell, and tennis champions Serena and Venus Williams.
Director
KIM Tran opened the La Belle Peau skincare clinic in 2007 at the age of 19.
At that point she had been studying and working, both full time, since she was 16, culminating in her winning student of the year in Dermal Science at Curtin University.
Ms Tran was inspired to work in the field due to her previous skin problems, and a passion to help others.
La Belle Peau (which is French for ‘The Beautiful Skin’) has grown its turnover each year in the first three years of operation.
It has grown to a team of eight staff, and recently moved to larger premises.
Last year, Ms Tran was chosen as the winner from a field of over 23,000 nominees for the 2015 Telstra Australian Young Business Woman of the Year award.
Ms Tran and her family launched the Perth branch of Hands for Hope charity, whose last event raised over $50,000.
Volunteers run the not-for-profit charity to raise funds for disadvantaged children in Vietnam by providing corrective surgery and educational scholarships.
To date, it has facilitated over 1,600 life-changing surgeries and more than 8,700 scholarships.
Micromine
General manager
CLAIRE Tuder is an unlikely leader for a major software company that services the mining industry.
Aged 16, she toured the UK with the Perth Ballet company and subsequently spent time as a dancer, eventually becoming certified as a Royal Academy of Dance teacher.
Ms Tuder returned to Perth to study PR and marketing while working full time.
At the end of 2012, after a six-year stint with the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority, she joined mining software company Micromine.
At the peak of the mining boom, the company was turning over $35 million, but was near insolvency when she was appointed general manager a little over a year later.
She counts the successful implementation of a crisis management and turnaround plan as her greatest career achievement so far.
When Micromine’s (then) chief executive left the company in mid-2014, Ms Tuder stepped in as the acting chief executive.
She led a turnaround strategy that included significant cost-cutting measures and policy reforms including redundancies, office closures, a restructure, and increased accountability.
Through her actions, Ms Tuder returned the company to its first profit in three years.
Today she leads efforts to expand into the emerging markets in central Asia.
Owner
RUNNING a small business was not an obvious career choice for Jennifer Veza, who grew up in north-east England in a large family of miners and shipbuilders.
She worked long hours to fund her university studies and then came to Perth, in 1999, where she worked in a Telstra call centre.
During her maternity leave after the birth of her first child, Ms Veza pursued her interest in business.
She identified a gap in the market in terms of what wedding planners were offering.
Ms Veza founded The Original Wedding Company in late 2006 and set herself a goal to book five weddings in five months.
She exceeded her goal, booking six, and oversaw her first wedding in June of 2007.
Working part time she began slowly, averaging around 11 weddings a year, but when her second child went to school in 2013 she expanded the business and moved it into new premises.
Ms Veza now employs six staff and manages more than 50 weddings per year, including ceremonies in Bali, Fiji and New Zealand.
Ms Veza places pride in the number of referrals her business receives.
Last year, 80 per cent of new business came from referrals from past brides and the company’s vendor network.
Communicare Psychological Services
Counsellor/psychotherapist
PHILIPPA Vojnovic has worked in the mental health sector since 1998 and is a counsellor and psychotherapist with Communicare Psychological Services.
Ms Vojnovic is also a PhD candidate in the School of Business at Edith Cowan University.
A co-founder and co-convenor of the not-for-profit FIFO Australian Community of Excellence, her doctoral study investigates the wellbeing amongst fly-in, fly-out workers in the resources industry.
Her goals include building better support for mental health problems in Western Australia and to promote positive wellbeing.
So far, a significant step on the track towards those goals has been her research survey of 629 fifo workers.
This work has been widely publicised, and was cited in the parliamentary reports of the Western Australian and Queensland state inquiries into the mental health of fifo workers within those states’ resources industries.
She also organised a public forum on the issue, with speakers from across government, industry, and the community.
Ms Vojnovic has actively sought out new approaches to mental health, recently assisting in the development of an innovative wellbeing awareness and assessment application made by local developer Tap into Safety.
General manager
JAY Walter has served as the general manager of his family’s residential construction business, JWH Group, since 2012.
He started his career at Midland Brick as a marketing coordinator in 2006.
Mr Walter joined the family business in 2007, starting at Plunkett Homes in its Cannington office in a business development and marketing role.
From there he moved into a role as general manager of one of JWH’s other divisions, The Rural Building Company in 2008.
He turned around the fortunes of this unprofitable division, bringing it back into the black despite a turnover that had dropped almost a third in the aftermath of the GFC.
Heavily involved in Variety WA, Mr Walter was a top 10 fundraiser for the WA Variety Bash every year from 2011 to 2014, raising more than $160,000 for the charity.
He has served on the board of Variety WA since 2014, and in 2015 chaired the fundraising and marketing committee, which last financial year exceeded its fundraising budget by two thirds.
This was greatly aided by Mr Walter’s creation of the Variety of Choice home lottery.
In its first year the lottery raised over $330,000 for the children’s charity.
Founder, chief executive
HAVING spent 14 years working in the IT sector, the latter half with the big miners, it was the death of his brother that triggered Duncan Ward’s search for a greater purpose in life.
Mr Ward says fate brought him to meet Bunrith ‘Racky’ Thy, a Khmer Rouge survivour and founder of Children’s Action for Development, a Cambodian organisation dedicated to improving access to education for disadvantaged children living in rural Cambodia.
This chance meeting led to Mr Ward’s creation of Classroom of Hope later that year, an organisation that has raised over $500,000 to assist in providing education to children in Cambodia and Rwanda.
Classroom of Hope funds projects to make schools child friendly, builds new schools, and gives scholarships to decrease dropout rates.
The organisation now supports 22 schools attended by 8,000 students in Cambodia.
It is also in the process of building two large schools, clean water facilities, and toilets in Rwanda.
To further these goals, in 2014 Classroom of Hope formed a partnership with Navitas to sponsor seven schools.
Last year, Mr Ward also worked as the state director of The Funding Network, facilitating live crowd-funding events raising money for grassroots not-for-profit groups.
Managing director
TAX accountant Rachel Wilson has been involved in four startups in the past decade.
In 2007, she was one of 12 original staff members of M Squared & Associates, the accounting firm she now leads as managing director.
M Squared primarily services the oil and gas industry, and has since established a sister company in London.
The adoption of cloud-based accounting and tax software has enabled Ms Wilson to manage the London office from Perth.
Two years after joining M Squared she launched her London-based fashion label, Peridot London, a line of ‘boardroom to bar’, ready-to-wear womenswear.
Ms Wilson became a director of Bamboo Micro Credit, a Perth-based not for profit that raises money for interest-free microloans to underprivileged Indonesians, in 2014.
Ms Wilson said the 12 years of her childhood that were spent in Singapore left a lasting connection to Asia, which she has pursued through her association with Bamboo.
Her latest venture is Seeklocal, an app that enables users to ‘geo-locate’ bricks and mortar stores that stock their desired products and services, thus allowing smaller shops an online presence without the need to create and maintain their own websites.
The app launched in July last year, and has already signed up over 50 retailers to its service.
