WHEN the 40under40 program was launched, its aim was to showcase the abundance of largely unseen young talent residing within the WA business community.
WHEN the 40under40 program was launched, its aim was to showcase the abundance of largely unseen young talent residing within the WA business community.
It was not about picking winners or creating a league table.
But there was, we decided, some merit in creating a process that would seek to examine the 40 winners to find what best embodies them as a group.
The result was the 1st Amongst Equals – an ambassadorial role that would represent in the best possible way what the 40under40 program was all about.
That was easier in theory than it turned out to be in practice.
The 1st Amongst Equals was chosen from the top four entrants, as ranked by a 60-point marking system used by the 11 judges.
All four were interviewed by the judging panel and each was given the same four questions to answer.
That was as simple as it got. It became clear from the completion of the interviews that two favourites had emerged. One was a hands-on boss of a family operation, the other very much represented the top of WA’s corporate world.
If you like, it was small business versus the top end of town.
At issue here was not just a question of comparing apples with oranges, as both these individuals embodied, in their own way, what 40under40 was all about.
Both had outlined a wish to help WA maintain its place in the world as a key objective, something they would like to be remembered for.
Both were fabulous ambassadors in their own right for WA business and 40under40.
Faced with such a hard decision, one which would put an indelible stamp on the 40under40 program’s future by signalling what the judges were looking for, the judges decided there was no merit in choosing one above the other.
It was, therefore, decided that Manny Papadoulis and Mark Barnaba would share the prize as the winners of the inaugural 40under40.
Manny Papadoulis
Manny Papadoulis heads one of WA’s most successful and visible private companies, tourism group Feature Tours Pty Ltd and its parent company Papadoulis Group, which also owns Great Australian Travel Centre and Epicurean Tours.
Known as a hands-on leader, he cut his teeth in sales and marketing with CSR Sugar before taking over as marketing manager of Feature Tours, a family business started by his father.
When Mr Papadoulis joined the family company it had an annual turnover of $600,000.
Today, the much diversified tourism group, of which he became CEO two years ago, turns over $7 million.
Mr Papadoulis’ business is heavily reliant on inbound tourism and he has become a champion for the local industry, particularly during the past year with threats of international route cancellations, the collapse of Ansett and the impact of terrorist attacks.
His industry roles include the presidency of the Tourism Council Australia (WA), Australian Tourism Export Council (inaugural WA branch chairman (2000) and remains a WA board member) and an advisory board member for the WA Tourism Commission’s Eventscorp.
Among other things, Mr Papdoulis is a director of the WA Symphony Orchestra, a member of the Department of Community and Land Management’s tourism industry reference group and casual lecturer in tourism at Perth Central TAFE.
Mark Barnaba
As a management consultant and corporate adviser, Mark Barnaba’s own business credentials offer as much comfort to corporate clients as the Harvard MBA he gained more than a decade ago, long before such studies became fashionable in Australia.
In 1996, Mr Barnaba co-founded Poynton and Partners and its sister company, GEM Consulting.
As inaugural and incumbent managing director and CEO, he has overseen the group’s involvement in transactions amounting to $500 million during that period.
From a start-up staff of five people, the group now has grown to 40 staff covering a wide variety of corporate advisory specialties.
Mr Barnaba takes pride in the high quality staff the firm has been able to attract to, or keep in, WA and the fact that 20 per cent of the group’s work is from overseas.
He has chosen to base his career in WA, despite an academic and professional record that would place him at the top of the tree in any part of the world.
In 1988, as the youngest member of his class and one of just three students accepted straight from undergraduate studies, he ranked in the top 1 per cent of Harvard Business School graduates.
He is a board member of the West Coast Eagles and the University of Western Australia’s Graduate School of Management.
View the winners of the 40under40
It was not about picking winners or creating a league table.
But there was, we decided, some merit in creating a process that would seek to examine the 40 winners to find what best embodies them as a group.
The result was the 1st Amongst Equals – an ambassadorial role that would represent in the best possible way what the 40under40 program was all about.
That was easier in theory than it turned out to be in practice.
The 1st Amongst Equals was chosen from the top four entrants, as ranked by a 60-point marking system used by the 11 judges.
All four were interviewed by the judging panel and each was given the same four questions to answer.
That was as simple as it got. It became clear from the completion of the interviews that two favourites had emerged. One was a hands-on boss of a family operation, the other very much represented the top of WA’s corporate world.
If you like, it was small business versus the top end of town.
At issue here was not just a question of comparing apples with oranges, as both these individuals embodied, in their own way, what 40under40 was all about.
Both had outlined a wish to help WA maintain its place in the world as a key objective, something they would like to be remembered for.
Both were fabulous ambassadors in their own right for WA business and 40under40.
Faced with such a hard decision, one which would put an indelible stamp on the 40under40 program’s future by signalling what the judges were looking for, the judges decided there was no merit in choosing one above the other.
It was, therefore, decided that Manny Papadoulis and Mark Barnaba would share the prize as the winners of the inaugural 40under40.
Manny Papadoulis
Manny Papadoulis heads one of WA’s most successful and visible private companies, tourism group Feature Tours Pty Ltd and its parent company Papadoulis Group, which also owns Great Australian Travel Centre and Epicurean Tours.
Known as a hands-on leader, he cut his teeth in sales and marketing with CSR Sugar before taking over as marketing manager of Feature Tours, a family business started by his father.
When Mr Papadoulis joined the family company it had an annual turnover of $600,000.
Today, the much diversified tourism group, of which he became CEO two years ago, turns over $7 million.
Mr Papadoulis’ business is heavily reliant on inbound tourism and he has become a champion for the local industry, particularly during the past year with threats of international route cancellations, the collapse of Ansett and the impact of terrorist attacks.
His industry roles include the presidency of the Tourism Council Australia (WA), Australian Tourism Export Council (inaugural WA branch chairman (2000) and remains a WA board member) and an advisory board member for the WA Tourism Commission’s Eventscorp.
Among other things, Mr Papdoulis is a director of the WA Symphony Orchestra, a member of the Department of Community and Land Management’s tourism industry reference group and casual lecturer in tourism at Perth Central TAFE.
Mark Barnaba
As a management consultant and corporate adviser, Mark Barnaba’s own business credentials offer as much comfort to corporate clients as the Harvard MBA he gained more than a decade ago, long before such studies became fashionable in Australia.
In 1996, Mr Barnaba co-founded Poynton and Partners and its sister company, GEM Consulting.
As inaugural and incumbent managing director and CEO, he has overseen the group’s involvement in transactions amounting to $500 million during that period.
From a start-up staff of five people, the group now has grown to 40 staff covering a wide variety of corporate advisory specialties.
Mr Barnaba takes pride in the high quality staff the firm has been able to attract to, or keep in, WA and the fact that 20 per cent of the group’s work is from overseas.
He has chosen to base his career in WA, despite an academic and professional record that would place him at the top of the tree in any part of the world.
In 1988, as the youngest member of his class and one of just three students accepted straight from undergraduate studies, he ranked in the top 1 per cent of Harvard Business School graduates.
He is a board member of the West Coast Eagles and the University of Western Australia’s Graduate School of Management.
View the winners of the 40under40
