Beyond UWA

UWA alumni in action: Plastic, plastic everywhere! Singapore

There are few things that resonate as strongly with UWA alumni collectively than caring for the environment.  Following on from last year’s highly successful community event of the same name in Perth, close to 150 UWA alumni and friends gathered in Singapore for Plastic, plastic everywhere! a panel discussion focused on changing attitudes and behaviour to address the very real problem of plastic pollution.  You can listen to the podcast, featuring UWA faculty and alumni, here; and check out photos from the event here.

Keeya-Lee Ayre [BA '14, BA(Hons) '16]

Keeya-Lee Ayre is the Senior Marketing Manager responsible for leading global communications for the GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation programme, a 15.5 million GBP (28.2 million AUD) partnership with the UK Department for International Development, working to accelerate the delivery and impact of digital humanitarian assistance. She is responsible for directing digital campaigns, blogs, video content, infographics and other multimedia content, as well as editing and managing the design of publications.
Keeya has interned in strategic communications at the United Nations OCHA in New York, worked on projects in London, Rwanda, Malawi, Tanzania, and co-founded award-winning Australian non-profit organisation Perth SOUP. Keeya also qualified to practice Australian migration law in 2014 and has provided pro bono assistance to refugees for the past five years.
Keeya is also a Huffington Post contributor, a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and TEDx speaker. Her work has been showcased at the United Nations General Assembly, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, and Mobile World Congress Barcelona, among other high-level global events.

Find something you love doing - Hilton Nathanson [BCom '92]

Hilton grew up in Perth and graduated from UWA in 1991 with a degree in Accounting and Finance.
Firm in his belief that he would become a trader Hilton moved to London to follow his passion. He landed his first job in the stock market at Albert Sharp in Birmingham - 100 miles outside the city.
Nine months later Hilton was offered a role at Goldman Sachs in London. He followed this with a stint on the LIFFE exchange and in 1996 Hilton launched his own stock broking business called Kyte Securities which then became Eden Group.
In 2002 Hilton launched a hedge fund called Marble Bar Asset Management (MBAM).
MBAM became one of London’s most successful hedge funds peaking in 2008 with an AUM of $5BM. The success of the fund was due to the firm’s culture – a tireless pursuit of learning, iterating, and repeatable processes combined with proprietary technology Hilton created which helped support idea generation and all the stages in the investment process.
Hilton sold Marble Bar to Swiss bank EFG in 2008.
In 2013 Hilton reacquired Marble Bar and in the same year created Firefly Capital.  Firefly Capital identifies and backs talented people with entrepreneurial vision and gives them the financial, creative and strategic support they need to build profitable businesses. It is a place of excellence, a place where people can develop and where businesses can grow.
Hilton created Red Deer in 2014 with the goal of solving the primary problems he had encountered as an asset manager through an E2E software solution that focuses on effective management of information flow.
In 2015 Hilton completed an Executive Masters in Consulting and Coaching for Change at INSEAD. 
His primary objective today is to use technology to harness and develop trading talent; he has established a multi-manager fund whose goal is demonstrate that over time, traders can be nurtured and developed, just as in many other professions.
Hilton believes in giving back and he started the Rosemarie Nathanson Charitable Trust to support charities that focus on helping young people gain critical life skills through non-formal education and training. Amongst others, the RNCT supports the Israel Youth Awards which is part of the Duke of Edinburgh International Award Programme.

Founder, Principal Podiatrist, Pharmacist & Lecturer Marie Ishak-Lewis [GradDipPharmSc '06, MPharm '08]

Marie Ishak-Lewis, principal podiatrist and pharmacist, is the founder of Elite Podiatry and co-founder and co-inventor of Synxsole, a patented orthotic (shoe insert or insole) that was featured on Channel 10’s hit TV show Shark Tank where she and her co-inventor, landed a deal with the "Shark", Andrew Banks.
Marie is actively involved in the community, presenting and public speaking at conferences, seminars and universities as well as appearing on Curtin FM with Jenny Seaton and the ABC Radio, talking about common podiatry related complaints.
Whilst working in the field of community podiatry, Marie became interested in the field of community pharmacy and promptly applied and completed a Grad.Dip.(Pharmaceutical Science) and Master of Pharmacy at the University of Western Australia (UWA), graduating as a qualified pharmacist in July 2007. With both professions under her belt, she has been actively involved in lecturing at the prestigious University of Western Australia as well as being a regular examiner in their School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Marie currently works actively in both professions and finds they compliment each other well. However Podiatry is certainly her passion. She has invested a lot in building up her Elite Podiatry practice over the past 14 years to make it a successful and advanced podiatry clinic. Marie is passionate in the field of sports podiatry and has years of experience in the advanced biomechanics of the lower limb, treating all sport-related conditions.
In the past few years, Marie has travelled extensively attending various conferences and workshops in an effort to further her skills in advanced orthotic therapies and learn further treatment techniques.
Marie, as both a practitioner and lecturer, strongly believes in participating in the continued education of both Podiatry and Pharmacy professions. She strives to keep up with the latest literature and is dedicated to keeping up with the latest advancements to ensure that the patient is provided with the best possible treatment plan to achieve success.
www.elitepodiatry.com/perth
https://www.facebook.com/ElitePodiatryAU/
https://www.facebook.com/ElitePodiatryPerth/
Instagram: @elitepodiatryperth
www.synxsole.com
https://www.facebook.com/synxsole
Instagram: @synxsole

UNICEF Advocacy Consultant - Harriet Riley BA(CommSt) '09

Harriet is a climate specialist and award-winning writer who works in Communications and Advocacy for UNICEF at the UN. Prior to this, she was a senior strategist with Purpose, a consultancy advising NGOs like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Doctors of the World, and UN Environment on challenges from international development to renewable energy. She was a consultant on Years of Living Dangerously, James Cameron’s Emmy-winning series about climate change, and has written five screenplays for TV /film projects about social and environmental themes.
She holds a Masters in Investigative Journalism from Columbia University in New York and studied International Security and Intelligence at Cambridge University under former head of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove, where she addressed the response of the intelligence community to climate change. As an undergrad at UWA, she spent a year abroad at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and completed her Honours at ANU.

To Infinity and Beyond - Conrad Pires [MBA '16]

Conrad Pires has had a life-long fascination with technology and what the future might hold. What started as a childhood dream of being an astronaut has evolved into a vision of making space accessible and affordable for everyone. Following an international career in emerging technologies and the completion of his MBA at UWA, he co-founded Western Australia’s first space company building small satellites, Picosat Systems. It takes advantage of advances in technology that has seen space become more commercialised in recent years. Conrad is excited to be a part of Australia’s growing space economy, which will bring benefits to the nation as a whole.
Conrad is a strong advocate for space. He’s a space consultant, a member of the advisory council of the Space Industry Association of Australia and co-ordinator of Space Hub Perth. He’s also a public speaker, speaking about all things space at conferences, schools and through his TEDxUWA talk. He won the 2016 Perth NASA Space Apps Challenge and the 2017 Woodside Oil and Gas Encouragement Award at the WA Innovator of the Year Awards. He has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Curtin University, and he’s also a graduate of the International Space University and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Conrad is currently a not-for-profit board member and he is also an educator, teaching entrepreneurship, innovation, design thinking and governance.

International Women's Day 2019

Gender equality in your lifetime?
The World Economic Forum estimates that women will not reach economic parity with men until 2234. That’s two centuries away.
In 2017, the global gender gap widened for the first time in ten years. While we may disagree on the best ways to get there, it’s rare indeed to find a man or woman in Australia openly opposed to equal opportunity. So what’s the hold up?
Join UWA on International Women’s Day 2019 for an insightful examination of what’s holding us back and how we could speed the rate of change.

Personal brand: what's yours?

Your brand tells the world - employers, customers, contacts - who you are, what you're passionate about and what you're capable of. It defines you and shapes the opportunities you attract.
What is your personal brand? Spend time with a panel of UWA graduates who know their brand and how to use it.

Plastic, plastic everywhere! What’s a person to do?

Join us for a compelling exploration of the plastic pollution problem, featuring a panel of UWA research and graduate experts. Learn what you as a concerned citizen can do about it and how your University is leading positive change

Career Acceleration Strategies for Women with Shona Rowan - International Speaker, Trainer and Success Coach

Would you like to inspire, develop and retain your female staff?   Or boost your own performance as a woman in business?
Shona Rowan is passionate about empowering women to step up, stand out and maximise their success in highly competitive environments. As an international speaker, trainer and success coach, Shona has spent the last 15 years helping thousands of women accelerate their success by increasing their influence, confidence, personal impact, visibility, networking and communication skills. Her practical programs and inspirational events equip women with specific mindsets, behaviours and strategies needed to claim the success they desire and deserve.
Shona’s unique and results-driven approach looks at both the internal and external aspects of success and draws on her qualifications in Psychology, NLP, Hypnotherapy and Peak Performance coaching and her real-life experience as an elite athlete, ranked 6th in the world as a competitive ballroom dancer.  Her clients include Gold Fields, Ashurst, DLA, Shell UK/Australia, Citi Bank, The University of Western Australia, Lockton London/Dubai, TATA UK and Women in Subsea Engineering.
If you would like to inspire, develop and retain your female staff, or accelerate your own success – see www.shonarowan.com/empowering-women or email support@shonarowan.com