Australian Student Leadership Association

Brian Egan
Founder, Aussie Helpers Australia

Brian his wife Nerida established Aussie Helpers in 2002 to help fight poverty and lift the spirits of those severely affected by drought in the outback.  Brian, as a veteran of the Indonesian Confrontation and the Vietnam War in the 1960s who lost his own farm in the 1990s from a combination of drought and personal depression, is no stranger to hard times. Brian Egan is a remarkable Queenslander. He is the walking, talking real thing that is the Australian spirit of the bush; that you help a mate, no questions asked. Aussie Helpers is a non profit registered charity fully operated by twenty five unpaid volunteers who since 2002 have assisted over one thousand farming families in Queensland and NSW.

For more info please visit

http://www.aussiehelpers.org.au/

Aaron Caldwell
CEO, Good Deeds International
CEO, International Institute for Inspiration
Doctor of Creative Industries Candidate

At age 30, Aaron sees his reality in a very specific way:

“I’m here to make the world more beautiful, if I wasn’t nothing would make sense...”

In March of 2005, Aaron was nominated by Good Deeds International’s (GDI) Board of Directors to serve as CEO. As Founder and Director Aaron has developed a non-profit organization whose purpose is to move children from slavery to education and to inspire youth around the world to support this quest.

Aaron’s deep passion is for education and social change. He envisions students and youth as the next millennium’s key multipliers in terms of creating an equitable world. His present efforts are on child-trafficking reduction. He is developing a program to educate former child slaves to become Good Deeds Warriors against the criminality and poverty that enflames child labor practice, particularly the buying and selling of children.

For more info please click here (PDF uploaded here)

Shanaka Fernando
Australian Local Hero of the Year 2007

By establishing the "Lentil as Anything" concept, Shanaka Fernando has set a wholly successful example to society of how a commercial enterprise can be operated on a socially responsible, idealistic and altruistic basis and still be financially successful and popular with the public. Since Shanaka relinquished his personal capital in the first restaurant and turned it into a cooperative and youth training enterprise, the business has grown into four restaurants employing about eighty young people and providing space for artists and writers. This not-for-profit business celebrates compassion, individuality, and artistic expression under a philosophy that challenges and defies our consumerist society. The policy of "no set prices" where customers pay only what they can afford or what they think the meal was worth is a social experiment that encourages people to have an internal conversation with their conscience and their ethics. And on top of that, the food is terrific.

For more information see http://www.australianoftheyear.gov.au/pages/page311.asp#

The Hon John Ajaka MLC
Member of the Australian Legislative Council

“I have been asked on more occasions than I can recall why I decided to run for Parliament. This is the first reason. Australia is a great society, a progressive society, a society that has shown it will embrace difference. But still, even now, a latent prejudice runs through our community like an underground stream—a stream that bubbles to the surface in times and in places unexpected, as we witnessed with the emergence of the stench and stain of One Nation.

When I was a child some of my peers sadly constructed my entire identity solely on my ethnic background. They isolated, separated and labelled me a wog. This was all I would ever be to them. Well, I do not want my children—any children—growing up with the feelings I had when I was growing up. We have come so far in the past 30 years in tearing down the monolith of prejudice. I am here to add my own small contribution to the continuation of this important task”

Kathy Crombie (Captain Doctor)

R.N, R.M. B.App Sc, G.C.E.E,

M.P.H, Ed.Doc, M.A. (Theology)

Kathy Crombie is an Officer in the Salvation Army. She is currently working in the area of leadership training and development specifically in the area of personal leadership amongst Officers.

Kathy’s leadership profile has been shaped from experiences working as a health professional training personnel in developing countries (Nepal and Bhutan) for six years, many years in academia which included cross cultural experiences and through leadership roles within Salvation Army churches in the Sydney area.

Kathy has a heart for people from other cultures and is passionate about social justice issues.

Suzanne Young

General Manager of Shared Services, QANTAS

Suzanne’s roles in the last ten years have involved the development and implementation of strategic change within two large corporate organisations; QANTAS Airways Limited and Unisys Corporation.  Suzanne is currently Group General Manager of QANTAS Shared Services responsible for HR, Finance, Payroll, Property and Facilities with a budget exceeding $3.6 billion and management of 650 people. She commenced her career at KPMG and then Greenwoods and Freehills.

She “cut her teeth” in leadership and management roles in sporting and volunteer organisations, especially within Surf Life Saving Australia. Suzanne was the Australian Surf Life Saver of the Year (1995/96).

She has acted as a coach and mentor to identified “talent” at both Qantas and Unisys, establishing the Qantas Finance Mentoring Program and as a founding member of the Diversity Council. She has participated in the Women @ QANTAS Executive Development Program and is currently part of the QANTAS Senior Executive Program.  Previously she was part of the Global Leaders Program at Unisys.