Locals help UWA reach out

AS global competition among universities heats up, one local institution is not shy to tap its alumni and other leaders on the shoulder to help deliver on its ambitions.

The University of Western Australia already has significant pull in the community by leveraging the many connections that result from its thousands of graduates.

Its latest initiative – the UWA Business School Ambassadorial Council – has drawn in some of the state’s emerging and established business and community figures to help the faculty better understand global trends in markets, coordinate overseas activity, and help build its reputation in outside WA.

Inaugural council chair, Allens Arthur Robinson partner Tim Lester, said the council had an advisory role to help the university’s competitiveness in the increasingly global market of education.

“It is the broader ambition of the business school to increase its reach, relevance and reputation,” Mr Lester told WA Business News.

“The intent is to support the board and the business school and help the business school become more international.”

A graduate of UWA, Mr Lester worked abroad as a corporate lawyer in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo for 13 years before returning to Perth.

He said eight others had been recruited for a WA regional chapter as well as chapter chairs for New York, being investment fund manager John Willinge, and London, corporate adviser David MacKinlay.

The UWA Business School already has a formidable board led by local investment banker Mark Barnaba, as well as fund raising champions such as Sir Rod Eddington.

The new WA chapter includes cardiologist Michelle Ammerer, KPMG partner Adrian Arundell, oil and gas industry representative Tom Baddeley, PR executive Paul Downie, Alcoa executive Sarah Fordham, West Coast Eagles CEO Trevor Nisbett, Wesfarmers Energy managing director Tom O’Leary and Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA CEO James Pearson.

Mr Barnaba and Ms Ammerer are both former WA Business News 40under40 1st Amongst Equals winners.