Griffith Business School Alumni Network Gala Dinner program

Griffith Business School Alumni and community

Our four strategic priorities demonstrate our move to address this disruption, and when actioned will create a forward-focused, future-ready business school.

A remarkable student learning experience Active, digitally enabled, with a focus on employability High-impact research Rigorous, independent and relevant

Forward-focused, future-ready A new phase of development is underway at Griffith Business School to ensure we continue to be regarded as a leading provider of business education and scholarship in Australia and the Asia region.

Consideration of current and future challenges in the higher education sector—and for business schools specifically —has been important in the development of our strategy.

Enhancing our engagement Sustainable, strategic and multi-layered Strengthening our staff High-performing, inspiring and future-focused

Vision Advancing innovative and socially responsible business education, scholarship and practice in Australia and the Asia region.

Mission To deliver outstanding business education and research through engagement with industry, government and the social communities we serve, and to do so in ways that contribute to a prosperous, equitable and sustainable future.

griffith.edu.au/gbs-strategy

Entrepreneurship and social business The Yunus Social Business Centre was established to contribute to Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus’ philosophy of alleviating poverty by giving people in need a ‘hand up’ rather than a ‘hand out’. It aims to provide entrepreneurship education and access to micro-loans that enable students and the wider community to set up and start their own profit-making and self-sustaining business ventures, resulting in job creation for our local communities.

Technology-enhanced flipped classrooms Griffith Business School students now have access to technology-enhanced classrooms on our Nathan and Gold Coast campuses. These spaces facilitate an active learning model where students are participating in both self-directed and collaborative learning activities that reflect the professional working environment, in real time.

Griffith Business School (G42), Room 3.04 and Business 1 (N50), Room 0.32

Delivering employable graduates The introduction of the BusinessPLUS co-curricular award program will prepare our students for life after university, through a range of enrichment activities delivered with a focus on employability.

Practical seminars, industry mentoring and networking, and work-integrated learning activities will help our business students develop skills in critical judgement and creative thinking to innovate and problem solve in the workplace of the future.

Student Investment Fund From 2018, Griffith Business School is investing in its students by allocating $250,000 into an account that will be invested by students in socially responsible Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)-listed companies. This is the biggest fund of its kind in Queensland, and second largest in Australia.

The Student Investment Fund will allow our students to make authentic and genuine investment decisions in managing this tangible pool of savings. A select group of students will analyse and evaluate appropriate companies in which to invest, utilising state-of-the-art Trading Rooms including the Margaret Mitelhauser AM Trading Room on the Gold Coast campus and our Nathan campus Trading Room. Both rooms host Bloomberg terminals that allow our students to trade in real time.

Overseen by an expert industry board, the initiative will provide participants with genuine experience in equities investment strategies and outcomes, and all profits will be reinvested in student scholarships.

Rankings

QS World University Rankings by subject 2017

Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2017

The Good Universities Guide 2018

#1 in Australia, #9 globally Hospitality and Leisure Management

#2 globally Hospitality and Tourism Management

5-star rating Business and Management; Tourism, Hospitality, Personal Services, Sport

Top 100 worldwide Politics and International Studies Sports-related subjects Top 200 worldwide Business and Management

Top 100 worldwide Political Sciences Top 200 worldwide Business Administration and Management

Griffith MBA

Eduniversal Best Masters ranking 2017

#4 in Australia 2017 Australian Financial Review BOSS Magazine MBA Rankings

#6 globally Sports Management

Tier one globally (on campus delivery) CEO Magazine Global MBA Rankings 2017 #4 in Australia, #16 globally (online delivery) CEO Magazine Global MBA Rankings 2017 5-star rating Graduate Management Association of Australia (GMAA)

#8 globally Tourism and Hospitality Management #75 globally Financial Markets #6 in Australia Human Resources Management; Marketing

#8 in Australia Information Systems Management; International Management #10 in Australia Accounting and Auditing; MBA full-time

The road to remarkable In 2017 Griffith Business School awarded $1.2 million in scholarships. With the help of our alumni and industry partners, we are committed to supporting the next generation of leaders and encouraging students to aim high and excel in their studies.

New scholarships in 2017 NAB Financial Planning Scholarship Available to second- or third-year financial planning students Value: $5,000 + mentoring and professional development

Kudzai Zvenyika

GBS Alumni Advisory Group Scholarship Available to undergraduate Griffith Business School students in second year or above experiencing financial hardship Value: $3,500

“I believe education can change lives. It can teach a person to think deeply and critically, enabling a greater contribution to community and society. Donating to the Griffith Business School scholarship will make education available to students who are talented but financially disadvantaged.”

Caroline Bennison Scholarship donor | Griffith alumnus

“I didn’t do finance and economics to work for any of the big four banks, I was learning so I could go back and become the Reserve Bank Governor of Zimbabwe to fix things... the scholarship has made a huge difference to my pursuit of an MBA.” Kudzai Zvenyika MBA Scholarship for Women recipient Commerce graduate | MBA student

Young entrepreneurs I would hope we can inspire other women to pursue their dreams

Griffith University is creating opportunities and providing support for a new wave of thinkers. Business School alumni are being recognised for their entrepreneurial achievements through many industry awards.

Leading the way are Griffith Alumni Sarah Schoeller and Marissa Bowden, co-founders of Gold Coast institution The Village Markets.

The pair, along with Sabo Skirt creators Yiota and Thessy Kouzoukas, have been recognised as leading entrepreneurs with their nominations in the 2017 Cosmopolitan Women of the Year Awards.

Sarah hopes their stories and nominations will provide inspiration to potential entrepreneurs. “I would hope we can inspire other women to pursue their dreams.�

Fellow Cosmo Women of the Year award nominees Yiota and Thessy launched their Sabo Skirt label while they were still students.

The sisters-in-law have had two runway shows at New York Fashion Week and have appeared on the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

Sarah Schoeller and Marissa Bowden

Thessy and Yiota Kouzoukas

Thomas Punch

Digital disrupters With a forward-focused, future-ready teaching and industry engagement strategy, Griffith Business School is preparing students for the workplace of the future.

Greg Ellis

Thomas Punch’s career has been quite extraordinary.

He is one of the youngest executives at WatchMojo, one of the fastest growing digital media companies in the world.

WatchMojo has up to 16 million subscribers and about 50 million unique monthly views across their channels, so for Thomas to be hired as Vice President of Business Development as a result of hard work and industry networking is all the more impressive.

Business alumnus Thomas was already a successful entrepreneur before the age of 30 and this was of great interest to WatchMojo’s founder.

“He was interested in the fact I had built up a business and sold it, had a strong background in business and law, so he offered me one of his executive roles in Montreal,” Thomas says.

Ethical business has always been important to Greg Ellis, successful entrepreneur and co-founder of money lending company Nimble.

The idea for the industry-disrupting company was born when Greg and his friend Sean Teahan noticed a sizeable gap in the finance market.

The international business graduate credits their investment in financial technology­—an area traditional lenders were ignoring when Nimble started 12 years ago—for a lot of the company’s expansion.

“Nimble is now one of the most advanced fintech start-ups in Australia,” Greg says.

Bikash Randhawa

International students Griffith University’s quality education, guidance and support helps international students make the most of their time in Australia. We are proud of our international students, many of whom have forged remarkable careers both in Australia and in their native countries.

General Manager of Sea World Resort and Griffith alumnus Bikash Randhawa describes his almost homelike experience at Griffith’s Gold Coast campus.

“I came all the way from India and being welcomed into a university on the Gold Coast was like I left home to come into another home.

“Griffith University and the Gold Coast are the perfect marriage in terms of tourism, infrastructure, and the sky’s the limit as far as you want to take your career in tourism.

Bob Chua

“The degree itself was very beneficial, the richness I got (aside from the education) was phenomenal and that kind of geared me to be who I am today.”

Business alumnus Bob Chua graduated in 1997 and has since built himself an impressive international career, living and working across the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US. In 2008 he won the EY Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year award and is currently a Director of global technology and innovation company Dematic, based in Kuala Lumpur.

Dematic is a global leader providing a comprehensive range of intelligent intralogistics and Industry 4.0 Automation and Robotic solutions.

Over the years Bob’s engagement, knowledge, initiative and drive have provided flow-on benefits for the business sector in his homeland of Malaysia and beyond.

Bob has taken his Griffith University degree to the world and has become an exemplary role model for business students in Australia and throughout the Asia–Pacific. Since March 2016 he has acted as a mentor for the Mayor of London’s International Business Program, advising London-based companies keen to invest in growth in Asia.

Remarkable international careers In today’s global economy, companies place high importance on business professionals with the knowledge and skills to successfully operate within international markets. Griffith is continually helping to develop international thought leaders and create more opportunities for Australian businesses to successfully engage with foreign markets.

After being instrumental in introducing the gift card program while working at Coles Myer, Griffith Business School alumnus Rachelle St Leger began to get itchy feet.

A global career was beckoning, so Rachelle started cold calling to find her next opportunity. Thanks to a little networking, a day later Rachelle landed a job in London with Pre Pay Technologies—and she didn’t waste time in making her mark.

“When I started they were tiny; 20 staff, three clients… by the time I left we had a couple of hundred staff, a couple of hundred programs, they were processing about seven billion euros of prepaid.”

Rachelle St Leger

Carolyn Mibus has always been an enthusiastic believer in following your passion. During her time in the UK she landed a dream job with the London Olympic Games.

“That job changed everything,” she says.

When Carolyn returned to the corporate world she often reflected on her time at the Games and, knowing that passion was critical to career success, followed her heart to again be involved in the international sporting arena.

Last year she took a leap of faith and secured a role with the Commonwealth Games, returning to her hometown on the Gold Coast.

“You get a phenomenal amount of experience working on the Games. It’s compacted down like no other workplace I’ve been in. And you know you’re part of something huge.”

Carolyn Mibus

Social good Griffith Business School is committed to high-quality business and public sector education and research, with a special focus on sustainable business development and responsible leadership. Through our teaching and research, we seek to ensure our graduates and partners are prepared for the ever-changing world in which responsible leadership and sustainable business practices are critical.

Leading the way is Elise Stephenson, PhD candidate and co-founder/ co-director of the Social Good Outpost—a social enterprise providing design and strategic planning advice to non-profits, change-makers and entrepreneurs, which was awarded the 2016 United Nations Australia Association Community Award.

“Leadership isn’t leadership without social responsibility,” Elise says.

“Before I graduated I spent time in Hong Kong on the New Colombo Plan Scholarship and it was there I decided to start the Social Good Outpost, as I could see a new, socially-conscious way to do design—something that wasn’t being done at the time.

“Twelve months in, I’ve been able to use my experience researching women’s leadership and working for social causes to impact over 30 different social organisations, from organisations working on domestic violence prevention to enterprises empowering youth for the changing world of work.

“Social business is not just ‘good’ business, it’s the sustainable way to meet the demands of an increasingly complex and changeable future.”

“Griffith’s longstanding commitment to social justice is more than just rhetorical; my study has been embedded in the ways in which business can add not just economic, but social value, too.

Elise Stephenson

Leadership isn’t leadership without social responsibility

Remarkable students on the global stage Global Business Challenge A team from Griffith University has tackled the move from fossil fuels to renewable energy to place in the Top 7 of the Global Business Challenge. Griffith MBA students Les Adams, Wendy Zernike and Erik Malan competed against 98 other teams, representing 38 universities from 14 countries.

International community engagement project

New Colombo Plan Scholarships In 2017, six Griffith Business School students were awarded prestigious New Colombo Plan Scholarships to study at leading universities in Singapore, Hong Kong and China.

Successful recipients included Leah Brokmann, Molly Jackson, Kim Johnston, Elizabeth Dowrie, Georgia Toft and Shaun Milligan.

As part of Griffith Business School’s Student Leadership Program, students are offered the opportunity to meet and work with local communities on an international community engagement project. The short-term project immerses students in a cultural exchange and provides them with a deeper knowledge and understanding of their role in the global community. Since the project’s inception, students have assisted communities in Laos, Borneo (pictured) and Nepal.

Staying connected Each year the Griffith Business School Alumni Network hosts a full calendar of events to connect and reconnect our graduates, the School and the business community.

Professional development workshops • How to have sustainable career success • LED: Leadership, engagement, diversity • Leadership: The authenticity paradox • Neuro platinum workshop

International alumni events • Brisbane—Greater China • San Francisco

Breakfast and networking series

• Jakarta

• Entrepreneurship: Beyond start up

• Tokyo

• What you need to know about crowdfunding

• Seoul

• Hiring and managing for organisational values (with the Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing)

Gold Coast business and the Commonwealth Games: Impact, legacy and opportunity On 28 July 2017 members of the business community, experts from Griffith University, and state and local government gathered for the launch of the Friends of Griffith Business School report Gold Coast business and the Commonwealth games: Impact, legacy and opportunity. Understanding the impact of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games is crucial for the business community.

Discussions covered branding, social media, visitors, logistics, and leveraging at a coordinated level.

Authored by Dr Joan Carlini and Professor Andrew O’Neil, the report aims to assist businesses to maximise the opportunities presented by the Games.

MBA for Life • The top five challenges facing business in Australia in the next ten years • Tourism, climate change and sustainable business practices (with the Griffith Centre for Sustainable Enterprise)

• Sydney networking event • Melbourne networking event

Miriam Carter

Mahommed Tilly

Responsible leaders Queensland Business Monthly (QBM) and Griffith Business School name 2017 scholarship recipient

After a successful inaugural year, Griffith Business School has again partnered with Queensland Business Monthly to deliver the QBM Griffith MBA Responsible Leadership Scholarship.

The winning scholarship prize, worth more than $50,000, unites two prominent brands in their desire to promote business leadership skills in Queensland.

The 2017 recipient is Mahommed Tilly, the investment manager for Indigenous Business Australia who strives to find opportunities that provide both financial and social outcomes for Australia’s First People.

“I’m very excited, it opens up a wonderful opportunity for me,” he says.

“Working to create value for people is tremendously satisfying, and a major reason I enjoy my job,” he says.

“I researched a number of MBA programs and found many were generic in nature, whereas the Griffith MBA offers a lot more than your run of the mill program.

It provides a more rounded avenue that I believe is directly relevant to your day-to-day job.”

Mahommed has long wanted to study an MBA but, with three children at home, found he didn’t have the resources to take the next step—until now.

The 2017 runner up is Cairns-based Miriam Carter, exhibition and education coordinator at KickArts Contemporary Arts, who will receive a half scholarship.

Research with impact In 2017, Griffith Business School staff were awarded over $5 million in research grants Four Australia Awards Fellowships (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) totalling $630,000 Associate Professor Jay Bandaralage, Dr Tapan Sarker, Dr Parmendra Sharma, Dr Jen Je Su Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research grant totalling $2.27 million Associate Professor Robin Roberts Research collaborations with health totalling $1.8 million Professor Anneke Fitzgerald (leading a multi-disciplinary team) Professor Joy Parkinson (co-leading a multi-disciplinary team) Advance Queensland Fellowship (Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation) totalling $300,000 Dr Brent Moyle

Our experts Life Fellow, Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Professor Peter Jordan Isaac Manasseh Meyer Visiting Fellowship, National University of Singapore Professor Haig Patapan Board appointment, Sustainable Business Australia Associate Professor Tim Nelson Chair, Gold Coast Health Consumer Advisory Group Dr Joan Carlini Chair, Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal Professor Anne Tiernan

Member, Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority Professor Mark Brimble Member, Whistleblower Protections Expert Advisory Panel Board member, Transparency International Australia Professor AJ Brown

Looking forward. Giving back.

Thousands of students across the Griffith community have benefited from the philanthropy of alumni, staff and friends. Support can come in many forms: • Financial scholarships or awards • Research funding to transform lives and businesses • Internships, mentoring, eCareerCoach, student placement opportunities • Returning to campus to participate and share expertise in the classroom.

To discuss the impact philanthropy is having at Griffith Business School, or ways you may be able to provide support, contact: Anthony Ash Development Manager—Business T +61 7 3735 3855 E a.ash@griffith.edu.au

Griffith Business School Alumni Network T +61 7 3735 7648 E gbs-alumni@griffith.edu.au

griffith.edu.au/gbsalumni

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Nathan campus Griffith University 170 Kessels Road Nathan QLD 4111