7 December 2001

Former Queensland Premier Wayne Goss will address graduates at a University of Queensland graduation ceremony on Monday, December 10.

Mr Goss will speak at the 4pm Business, Economics and Law (BEL) Faculty ceremony while partner in Australia`s largest IT-specialised venture capital firm, Allen & Buckeridge Pty Ltd, Robert Christiansen, will address graduates at the later, 6.15pm ceremony.

Mr Goss, former MLA for Logan (1983-1996) and Queensland Premier (1989-1996), holds an LLB (1975) and a Master of Business Administration (1997) from The University of Queensland.

Currently a managing partner with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Mr Goss is also an Adjunct Professor with the University`s School of Management and the TC Beirne School of Law. He recently chaired Goodwill Games Brisbane Pty Ltd and is a current chair of the Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustees.

Mr Christiansen has more than 25 years` experience in computer services, software, and technology with an emphasis on technology applications, business management and operations, system design and development. This experience has been obtained in both large international and small entrepreneurial companies in the USA and Europe.

In 1985, he founded venture-backed Corbel & Company-a Florida-based software developer employing artificial intelligence technology in the management of pension plans. In 1993, having grown the company to more than 200 employees and a position as the dominant provider of AI-based document generation systems in the United States, Corbel was sold to publicly listed Broadway and Seymour Inc.

Prior to returning to Australia in 1998, Mr Christiansen spent a year as CTO for the Commercial Technology division of Fidelity Investments in Boston. Fidelity is one of the world`s largest mutual fund companies.

With offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Silicon Valley, his current firm Allen & Buckeridge Pty Ltd manages funds of more than $250 million and has a portfolio of more than 20 Australian technology companies in various stages of evolution.

He is a graduate of The University of Queensland (Bachelor of Economics and Diploma of Information Processing) and was a judge in the recent BEL Faculty $100,000 Enterprize UQ Business Plan Competition.

At a further BEL Faculty graduation ceremony on Wednesday, December 12, at 6.15pm, TC Beirne School of Law Adjunct Professor Dr Jeffrey Mann AM will speak to graduates after receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University.

Dr Mann practised as a barrister and solicitor after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1966, Bachelor of Laws in 1968 and Master of Laws in 1984 from The University of Queensland. He also holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Bond University.

Since February 1990 he has been a partner with Mallesons Stephen Jaques, specialising in corporate, commercial and revenue matters including GST, stamp duty and income tax.

He is a former President, Deputy President and Vice-President of the < a href="http://www.qls.com.au/">Queensland Law Society and has served on more than 30 committees, many of which he has chaired. He has been an Adjunct Professor since 1992-the year he was the first person honoured with the title Academic Fellow of The University of Queensland, as recognition for his teaching in the law school.

Most recently he has assisted with a proposal to establish an Australian Centre for Commerce and Tax, to be located within the TC Beirne School of Law and sponsored by Mallesons Stephen Jaques.

Nineteen ceremonies will be held for UQ`s seven faculties between Friday, November 30 and Friday, December 21 including one at the Ipswich Civic Hall and two at the UQ Gatton Gymnasium. All others will be held in Mayne Hall at the St Lucia campus.

Graduates of interest at the three BEL Faculty ceremonies include the following:

o Tim Born will graduate with his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) on Monday, December 10, at the 4pm ceremony. Mr Born was "head-hunted" by his current employer before completing his degree and had to commute from Melbourne to finish his studies. His current role is general manager of IWI Cryoquip, an Australian manufacturer of heat exchangers and pumping equipment for the industrial gases industry. The company collected the award for Australian Manufacturing Company of the Year as well as picking up a highly commended in the Export category at the Deloitte Consulting Industry Awards 2001, recently held at the NSW Trade & Investment Centre in Sydney. The company has grown by more than 100 percent in the last 18 months and is currently expanding into new markets in the Middle East. "The skills learned in the MBA program have been invaluable, and have been used extensively in turning around and growing Cryoquip," Mr Born said. This job is the fourth for Mr Born since beginning his MBA. Despite the challenges of a young family, commuting from PNG and Victoria, Mr Born achieved a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 6.5 out of a possible seven. He can be contacted on telephone 03 9791 7888, 03 9796 8126 or email: tborn@iwi.com.au

o Whether it is researching consumer behaviour on the Web, ringing bells or riding his motorbike to the top of the European Alps, Dr Chris Hodkinson loves a challenge. Dr Hodkinson, 48, will graduate with his PhD on Monday at 6.15pm. After returning to study as a mature-age, external student 13 years ago, he won a university medal for his undergraduate marketing degree before coming to UQ to complete a research masters in consumer behaviour (1993) and winning a scholarship to study for his doctorate. "I am now looking for consulting opportunities particularly in the area of marketing strategy and World Wide Web consumer behaviour. My PhD results suggest different training may be needed for men and women for example," he said. When he is not studying, Dr Hodkinson can be found renovating houses, ringing church bells or building and riding motorbikes (see separate press release). The father of two grown-up children holds unofficial records for the fastest time on a motorbike from Brisbane to the tip of Cape York (four and a half days) and from Brisbane to Broome (nine and a half days). He has also ridden around the Tha Desert in Rhajastan in India and the European Alps to a height of 3400 metres.

For more information, contact Dr Chris Hodkinson (telephone 07 3892 4803, mobile 0402 243 426 or email: c.hodkinson@gsm.uq.edu.au).

o Natalie Parlett will receive her Bachelor of Economics with Honours at the Wednesday, December 12 ceremony at 6.15pm. Fluent in German and a conversational speaker of both Spanish and French, Ms Parlett already holds a Bachelor of Arts from UQ and has won many prizes and scholarships while studying including a Dean`s Commendation for High Achievement in second semester 1997 and for both semesters in 1998, the Mary Alison Miles Munro Scholarship in 1998 and the Australian Finance Conference Prize in Economics in 1999. She also won the prestigious Jubilee Scholarship last year, an Economics Department prize allowing a semester`s overseas study. Ms Parlett elected to go to the University of Duisburg in Germany, having spent seven weeks in the country at the end of Year 10 and a year there through a Rotary Exchange after she finished Year 12 at Emmanuel College on the Gold Coast. In February 2002, she will begin working as a Graduate Economist with the Reserve Bank in Sydney and said her long-term plans could include working for the OECD or World Bank in a capacity combining both her love of languages and macroeconomics. Never one to let the grass grow under her feet, she recently took up the clarinet. Her parents, grandparents, two sisters (Kate finishes her Bachelor of Arts/Law this year through UQ while Holly is finishing her first year of a Bachelor of Social Work at UQ) and brother Russell, 15, will be on hand to see her collect her degree. Ms Parlett can be contacted on telephone 07 5596 4973 or email: s345184@student.uq.edu.au

Media contact: For further information, contact Shirley Glaister at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2339, email: s.glaister@mailbox.uq.edu.au).