| IBM ICT Career Start Award | Winner: Mardi Blazley |
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Finalists: 2. Jenny Wong 3. Sonia Collett |
 Attention to short term personal development career goals achieved are nothing short of exceptional.
In 2008 Mardi will commence a Bachelor of IT at QUT and aims to go on to complete her Masters of IT Program. Mardi's ambition was demonstrated through a clear concise career plan to be a solutions analyst for Suncorp. Her work ethics and integrity have been rewarded through recent promotions into key project role not normally given to a person of her age and experience. Mardi is set to complete a double Diploma in IT and business in November 2007 fast tracked to just 7 months. Her experience in the industry along with her unshakeable amition has demonstrated that she is capable and determined to have a long and successful IT career. |
| Accenture ICT Professional Award | Winner: Charlene Clark |
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Finalists: 2. Fiona Mullen 3. Laura Smith |
After graduating she secured a role with QR as a Graduate Systems Engineer and within a year had moved into project management. She delivered her first project, which had a $500K budget, on time and on budget. The largest project she managed was a $1.6M email archiving project at QR. CSQ heard about this project and asked her to be an adviser to them in this area on a part time basis, which she did in addition to her role at QR. In 2006 Charlene secured a secondment project with Microsoft. She spent 10 months on Microsoft's Spotlight project as a Program Manager. Charlene learnt new skills including marketing, event organisation, sales, presentation skills and the Microsoft product suite. |
Charlene enroled in a Bachelor of Law and International Business before realising that she missed mathematics and therefore made the change to IT completing a Bachelor of Computer Systems Engineers with Honours in 2002.
| Optus Challenger ICT Outstanding Achievement Award | Winner: Liesl Capper |
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Finalists: 2. Dr Aileen Cater-Steel
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Liesl has been the CEO, product strategist, and responsible for employing staff, winning clients, and securing funding / venture capital). Liesl has overcome significant obstacles along the way. She is a single mother of 2, the youngest was just 2 when she started Mooter. She moved from countries, from Africa to Australia. Leisl is an inspirational role model for entrepreneurial women already in ICT, and also for those considering a career in ICT. |
Liesl has started created 3 successful businesses (Toptots, Mooter, MyCyberTwin), floated one (Mooter) on the ASX, and in doing so has created world leading ICT research and product development, generated high value ICT employment in Queensland, and with Mooter and MyCyberTwin earned export revenue.
| QCTN Biotech Rising Star Award | Winner: Dr Paige Maguire |
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Finalists: 2. Dr Willa Huston 3. Dr Amanda Mabbett |
The judges and sponsor, QCTN, would also like to highly commend Willa Huston and Amanda Mabbett, both of whom are clearly stars of the future, and showed enthusiasm, excellence and strong motivation in their applications and at interview. They are particularly encouraged to apply next year for this award. |
Paige is currently General Manager-Life Sciences at QUT-bluebox, and previously worked at UniQuest as the Commercialisation Manager for Life Sciences. She has a BSc (Hons) and PhD from the University of Queensland, won and completed joint fellowships in Neurology at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston in the field of neurogenetics mainly focusing on Huntington's disease. She is active in industry and professional associations, including mentoring and staff development. She is a founding member and was Chair of the Biotech Chapter of WIT. Paige is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
| UQ Biotech Researcher Award |
Winners: Prof. Linda Louise Blackall (joint winnner) Prof. Ranjeny Thomas (joint winner) |
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Finalists: 3. Dr Joanne Blanchfield |
Prof Linda Blackall is a pioneer of the application of molecular biological methods to describing and understanding complex microbial communities which could be used in wastewater recycling and alternative energy sources. The field of water and energy conservation that Linda is advancing with her research is of extreme importance to Australia. The panel was particularly impressed with Linda's ambition to get involved in high level policy discussions that may influence government decisions and the future of our country. Prof Ranjeny Thomas is head of the Immunology Programme at the Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research. Her research is focussed on the study of the biology and clinical use of human dendritic cells. One of the most exciting outcomes of this research is the development of a promising arthritis vaccine candidate which has been approved for clinical trials and if commercialised could improve lives of millions arthritis sufferers around the world. The panel specifically noted Ranjeny's amazing ability to combine her successful and intense career with being an excellent mom to her daughter aged 9 and 5-year old twins. |
This year the judging panel for the WIT UQ Research Excellence Award voted to award two first prizes in this category. As outlined below, the two winners are remarkable examples of research excellence in their respective fields of biotechnology. Yet they exemplify very different facets of a successful role model for younger researchers. We thus believe that selecting them both as winners will greatly serve the cause of advancing women's careers in biotechnology research.
| FAK Biotech Outstanding Achievement Award |
Winners: Dr Tracie Ramsdale |
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Finalists: 2. Prof. Linda Louise Blackall
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A true entrepreneur in every sense of the word, Tracie personally invested in Alchemia in its formative stages, made a successful transition from academia to the commercial world, was a 'guinea pig' for the venture capital community given Alchemia was one of the very first venture funded technology companies in Australia, and lead the company through both a successful IPO and merger. Tracie has also found time to engage in a high level of community involvement, acting as a role model and mentor to others in the biotech industry. A truly deserving winner of this award, Tracie has accumulated runs on the board over a long period of time and will in the future be heralded as an industry leader. |
Dr Tracie Ramsdale has been a Pioneer in the emerging Australian Biotech Industry, making a remarkable contribution over the past 15 years. She was co-founder and CEO of one of Alchemia, one of Queensland's first biotech companies.
| WiT Executive Award |
Winners: Nicky Milsom |
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Finalists: 2. Ruth Drinkwater 3. Dr Lyndal Thorburn 4. Sonya Trau 5. Toni Reid
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Nicky arrived at Magnetica after a diverse career in the private, public and university sectors. Originally trained as a chemist, Nicky also has qualifications in education, statistics and management and is currently completing a PhD. Nicky has always been an active member of the professional community within which she works, as an educator, mentor and member of various committees. She was a founding member of the WIT biotech chapter and in 2006 led the chapter's sponsorship team. The Milsom family could be described as the ultimate 'Smart State Family' with Nicky and husband Mark leading and investing in separate start-up companies. Along with strengths in relationship management Nicky's is renowned for maintaining a positive and productive outlook on life, an attribute she also applies right to the last kilometer of the half-marathons she completes on a regular basis. |
Nicky Milsom is currently deputy chief executive officer of Magnetica Limited, a company commercializing a number of technologies originating from the University of Queensland. Photo's Proudly Sponsored by
