Bush Telegraph, MBA, Issue 1, 2007

AUTHOR: Editor   DATE: 01.05.07   ISSUE 1, 2007

MBA 1978
Richard Fethers is returning to Australia! After 17 years working in the US and Europe he is coming back to Australia and looking forward to catching up with those he graduated with from the AGSM back in 1978. His daughter, Katelyn, has started her B. Com in Marketing, Tourism and Services at UNSW this year. Richard has also just been awarded the "Spirit of Australia" award at the recent Australia Day Ball in San Francisco for his work as a Board Member of the Australian American Chamber of Commerce.

MBA 2005: In February 2007 AGSM alumni Yvette Kwan, Tom Merkli, Scott Little and Minh-Hung Bui, pictured with friends, went on a ski trip to Zermatt, Switzerland.

Photo: Yvette Kwan, Tom Merkli, Scott Little and Minh-Hung Bui and friends.

MBA 1983
Arahni Sont, 1984, is now fundraising coordinator for the Institute for Neuromuscular Research.

MBA 1985
Tim Smyth continues as Corporate Partner with the trans-Tasman law firm DLA Phillips Fox. Following a relationship built up over the previous 5 years, Phillips Fox became a formal member of the DLA Piper worldwide alliance in November 2006. With offices across Asia, Europe, Africa and the US, DLA Piper is the world's second largest law firm. Tim is also applying his MBA skills as a director of a public company that builds and runs hospital carparks under long term leases in Queensland and New South Wales.
Hamish McCormick has left his position as Deputy CEO at the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) and moved to Kuala Lumpur to accompany his spouse who is the new Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia.
Peeyush Gupta completed a six month secondment in the US, including a two month 'refresher MBA' at Harvard AMP 171 program, followed by a four month secondment with AXA Equitable in Manhattan.
Angus Robertson has just been involved in getting a major piece of regional infrastructure up and running. Construction began on the infrastructure, a Regional Livestock Marketing Centre, in Central Tablelands NSW in late February. Angus has also been appointed to the foundation Board of the National Health Call Centre Network.

(USYD) MBA 1999
David Low, MBA 1999 is about to graduate with a PHD.
Julian Fenwick was married on March 24th 2007 to Alicia Thompson at Loreto Kirribilli.

MBA 1996
Mark Twidell has moved to Bangalore for a few years as BP Solar’s Regional Director for Asia, accompanied by his wife and three sons.

MBA 1998
Gerard Moody has left his role as a Director of Mainsheet Corporate (Perth) after six years and joined Access Management as its CEO. Gerard and Cath have also added a second little girl to their family. Genevieve is now 4 months old.

MBA 1999
Ben Fox's wife Gail gave birth to their second child, Noah, in March.

MBA 2000
Markus Allemann, recently changed jobs after 24 years with Bosch Power Tools in a variety of functions and international locations. He is now at TTI Floor Care North America, located in Cleveland OH. He has been appointed VP of Product Development for TTI's vacuum cleaner brands Dirt Devil, Royal, Vax and the recently acquired Hoover brand. He is re-locating from Chicago to Cleveland with wife Maria and their five-year-old twins Nico and Selena.

MBA 2001
Christa Thoma and her husband Marcel Kuster had a baby girl, Roya, on 7 October 2006. Their two-and-a-half-year-old son Léon is almost as proud as the parents! They live near Zurich, Switzerland. Christa works in Corporate Communications for Geberit, a leading global provider of sanitary technology.

MBA 2002
Vivienne Yu was posted to Shanghai as Head of Banking Investment for Commonwealth Bank of Australia in January 2007.
Hamish Findlater returned to work in London in 2004 and is general counsel of Augustus Asset Managers Limited, a boutique fixed income hedge fund manager. Hamish would like to hear from his classmates.

MBA 2003
Matt Bruce recently moved to realestate.com.au from News Digital Media, to take up the role of General Manager.
Tom Morris was recently married and has moved to Chicago.

Ilka Gradl was recently married, congratulations!
Ashleigh Antflick has recently joined Global Capital Finance as Vice President. His particular focus is asset backed, cross-border transactions in the renewable energy sector. He and Suzanna are pleased to announce that they expect the birth of their second child in mid-August this year.
Ray Ters recently changed jobs. Since mid March, he has been working in the Retail Banking Services division of Commonwealth Bank.

MBA 2004
Tylor Hartwell and his wife Vivienne (Ronnebeck), are moving to London after three years living in Newtown and working in Sydney.

MBA 2005
Saul Ryan is engaged to Lauren and is due to be married on Australia Day next year.
Johan Brammer has transferred to London with McKinsey.
Gaurav Sagar was married in February 07 and is now back in Neutral Bay.
Ganesh Chandrashekar and Ema Hoffman recently announced their engagement.
Andi Pannell gave birth to Finnegan Joseph Elliot Pannell-Gould in November 06.
Simon Newberry had a new addition to his family - Lily Katharin in March 07.
The Swiss contingent (Yvette Kwan, Tom Merkli, Scott Little and Minh-Hung Bui, and friends) went on an AGSM ski trip to Zermatt in early February. It was sunny weather throughout, and they even skiied across to Italy and returned without mishap. A change of weather on the last day meant they were the last gondola to ascend the Kleine Matterhorn before they ceased operations. At base camp, they found the weather at the top had deteriorated - 70km winds and a cool -12 degrees.

MBA 2006
Ben Hutt recently married Sascha, congratulations Ben!
Ben van der Westhuizen has joined Challenger Financial Services Group as a Manager in the in-house M&A team, responsible for mergers and acquisitions at corporate level. Ben was previously an associate director in the M&A division of KPMG Corporate Finance in Sydney.
Andreas Bott and Petra Andren (both class of '06) are getting married in August in Sweden.
Danny French is looking forward to marrying fiancee Prue in Melbourne in August.
Richard Tanner and wife Fleur are expecting their first baby in July.
Ben Thompson has returned to the UK, and launched his own business, Fruitdrop, in February 2007. The business helps employers and managers deliver a healthy and productive working environment by providing top quality, fresh and delicious fruit to workplaces for employees to enjoy.