Born: Palmerston North, New Zealand
Primary School: Wooloowin State School 1990-1996
High School: St Joseph’s College, Gregrory Terrace 1997-2001
University: University of Queensland 2002- 2007
Work: ODR, Hudson, Brisbane City Council & City of Westminster
Phone (07) 38573777
EARLY YEARS
I was born in New Zealand in 1984 and 2 weeks later came to Australia. When I was 6, I started at my local school, after attending pre-school there the year before. During my primary school years, sport was very much the focus, playing Cricket in the summer and Field Hockey & Athletics in the winter. The school was quite successful at sport, especially in Hockey and we won the Brisbane competition most years. In year 7, I was awarded selection in the Metropolitan East and Brisbane sides for Hockey and Athletics.
High School
In Yr 8 I left all of my friends from primary school and attended the elite all boys private school Gregory Terrace, after a brief stint at Wavell State High. During the next 5 years, sport would take a backward place and academia would gain in importance. One of the things that was very clear to me was that this school was extremely competitive academically and I was behind the eight-ball! I stumbled through the next 16 months without much success but with plenty of effort. This is when I was introduced to an English tutor. This proved to be a major turning point in my high-school life. Over the next 3.5 years, together we plotted my academic and personal transformation.
Towards the start of Yr 9, my Grandfather died suddenly. Little did I know that over the next 14 months, 3 of the most significant people in my life would pass away. Exactly 12 months to the day, my grandmother died and 6 weeks later my father passed away. While these events were very difficult for a 15 year old boy to handle, they again acted as a major turning point in my life and further steeled my resolve to be a success.
For me, the final 2 years of High-School was about 3 things;
(1)Getting a good OP score to get into the university course I wanted.
(2)Establishing friendships that will last a lifetime.
(3)Making a lasting contribution to the school.
All of these goals would be achieved over the next 24 months. At the start of Yr 12 after attending a leadership retreat, I came up with the original idea of creating a Peer Support group, for younger students in the school who were struggling to find their way in the world. In that year, 16 senior students became trained Peer Mediators and the process has continued on every year since then.
University
In 2002, I accepted a place at the University of Queensland to study Psychology. I would spend the next six years There. During this time, I completed a BA(Hons) and MA (Organisational Psychology). I would tutor 1st, 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate subjects as well as complete 2 thesis, one in life/ executive coaching and serve on the Student Union Senate. I would also start my own high-school tutoring business and attempt to give to students what my tutor gave to me: the tools to success. This was a very fun time of my life, where I met a lot of interesting people and excelled academically.
Work
In 2006, while completing my masters I entered the workforce. My first job was with a training consultancy – Organisational Development Resources. After that, I joined Brisbane City Council as Project Officer (Organisational Development). Then I worked for a large multi-national consultancy – Hudson as an Organisational Development Consultant. At the start of 2008, I moved to London and worked for the City of Westminster for 1 year as an Organisational Development Advisor.
In 2009, I came back to Brisbane to set-up my own consultancy.