QUT Postgraduate Research Award - Nikki Appleby

A PHd student at UQ Nikki works collaboratively with the Australian Centre for Plant Funcitional Genomics in the field of BioInformatics.  In keeping with a theme that has been developing here this evening Nikki is applying her background in computer science to a new and largely unrelated field.  There is certainly not enough time here this evening to explain the complexities of Nikki’s work, however, in its simplest form Nikki is developing a tool which brings publicly available biological data together into a single knowledge database giving scientists access to much more complex and comprehensive data than they have had previously.

Nikki intends to demonstrate the application of software engineering quality principles can produce better bioinformatics results.  Her prize money will be used to purchase much needed equipment allowing her work to be more effectively showcased.  Nikki also hopes that the award will help to establish her within her new industry and provide her with introductions to many senior industry figures whom she says she currently admires from afar.  Nikki is currently seeking a Biotechnology mentor so anyone out there wanting to help a very talented woman should take the opportunity to introduce yourselves.

TAFE Queensland Cultural Diversity Award - Yudith Pardon

The word passionate describes most of our winners but there is really no other word to describe the way that Judith feels about establishing herself in a successful ICT career.  Having spent 10 years out of the workforce to be with her family Judith is now determined to return to an ICT career in order to gain a sense of personal fulfillment and achievement.  Judith migrated from Venezuela just 12 months ago and is studying English language skills at Yeronga Institute of TAFE to ensure she has the best possible chance at future employment.  She has also begun applying for ICT roles while recognizing that she desperately needs to update her skills in order to be competitive in the job market.  While Judith has experience in the ICT industry and qualifications from Venezuela she is essentially starting from scratch when it comes to gaining formal qualifications in Australia.  She will therefore be beginning her studies with a Certificate III in IT which she hopes will lead to a traineeship and the opportunity to continue further studies to Diploma level.  Many women faced with this combination of challenges would simply say it was too hard but Judith has a positive approach and determination that must ultimately see her succeed.

Smart State Career Development Award - Patricia Winter

Patricia is Head of the Information Technology Department at William Ross State High School in Townsville.  First and foremost she is a teacher who is proud of her profession and the role she plays in the formation of a strong and positive future generation.  Patricia believes that technology is the key to motivating students to learn and actively participate in their community.  She herself is motivated by technology and its innovative ability to bring about change.

She intends to use this opportunity to further not only her own career but to provide professional development opportunities for her teaching staff to ensure effective integration of ICT into all elements of the school’s curriculum.  Patricia has established both short and long term goals that will see her establish her school as a leader in ICT education.  Patricia’s commitment to affecting wide spread change to her industry through her own clearly defined professional goals was the deciding factor for judges when selecting the winner of this diverse and challenging category.

New Horizons Encouragement Award - Keiko Maeno

Five years ago Keiko Maeno was an administrative assistant in Japan dreaming of becoming on IT professional.  She also realised that the traditional way of thinking towards women in Japan would make it almost impossible for her to change career directions in her late twenties.  Not perturbed Keiko moved to Brisbane to study a Bachelor of IT at QUT.  Having completed her studies she realised that academic excellence would not be enough to enable her to achieve her career goals.  She joined the WIT mentoring program and gained invaluable advice from her mentor Palma Ruza-Ilich.  As a result she gained her first ICT role and has become a permanent Australian resident.  Keiko is now moving into the next phase of her career and will use the opportunity provided by New Horizons to gain Microsoft Certified Application Developer Certification.  This will contribute to her long term goal of becoming a professional .Net developer.  The opportunity to assist women such as Keiko who are in the early stages of what promises to be a very successful career is one of the fundamental principals of the WIT Scholarship and Awards program and WIT is very pleased to have found such a worthy candidate in Keiko. 

Acumen Alliance Management Award - Debra Green

Debra is about to embark on a solo career after a long-standing and highly successful career in corporate ICT management.  Debra’s experience in project management and project rectification spans countries, languages and time zones.  Her resume is an impressive list of successful project turnarounds. 

Debra is currently completing both her MBA and Project Management Professional Certifications.  Debra intends to use the award to provide gain further certifications in ITIL and Change Management.  Skills she believes will be essential in establishing her business. 

As if all of this is not enough Debra is an active industry advocate and mentor, applying her natural leadership skills to ensure that women are given every opportunity to succeed in their chosen technology career.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Business Innovation Award - Sharon Parkes

Business Manager for Real Time Markets, Sharon Parkes is a critical team member in an innovative business with global potential. 

Real Time Markets is a technology solutions company marketing proprietary software known as go5Live which provides a seamless internet based solution to revolutionise the way fresh produce is supplied and traded.  The product is poised to capture substantial market share in one of the fastest growing industries in the world: the procurement of produce through business to business transactions. 

Sharon’s business acumen and willingness to seek and take on board expert advice have seen the business make significant progress in the last twelve months.  With their product now ready to launch Sharon is now seeking additional advice in the areas of joint ventures, strategic alliances and venture capital agreements.  The category judges are sure that Sharon will make optimum use of the opportunity offered by this award to create another outstanding Queensland business success story.

Optus Challenger Spirit Award - Sue Wickenden

Sue embarked on her career at a young age working on her mother’s printing business.  At the tender age of 19, Sue’s mother gave her $5,000 and a desk in order to set up her own business.  Sue started S & M Phototypesetting and ran the business with the aim of making enough money to survive.

In the 90’s Sue began building websites.  In the meantime she had sold her typesetting business and worked for 2 years in a publishing services business before establishing her current business Smartype.

It didn’t take long for Sue to realize she could be doing more.  She made changes to her role as business owner and managing director adopting more of an external focus and becoming actively engaged in her industry.  As clients kept pushing the envelope in terms of their needs Sue stopped thinking locally and began thinking internationally.  The business is now dealing with clients throughout Europe and Hong Kong while maintaining a solid Australian market share.  In the past 12 months they have achieved 106% software sales growth.

Sue is especially proud of her achievement in creating what she terms a fluid business that can function very well without her.  She has learnt the importance of work/life balance and has now adopted the principal that family always comes first.  

This does not mean that her passion for affecting change in Queensland’s ICT industry has been reduced.  Sue is actively involved in multiple industry associations.  She is the President of the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association, a member of the ICT Workgroup Committee and a member of the ICT Procurement Committee.  She is also actively involved as a member of Software Queensland and Women in Technology.

She is a board member for Zonta, was founding member of a Zonta group which involves young business women and professional women raising funds and helping in other ways to improve the lives of women worldwide.  Sue also mentors other women through WIT and international students at Griffith University and in addition she is a founding member of the Rural Women in Business group where she mentors business women who live in rural Australia. 

This is just a summary of Sue’s remarkable achievements, however, it is more than enough to demonstrate why Sue has been selected as the winner of the Optus Challenger Spirit Award and as WIT Ambassador for 2006.