Brisbane connections
Get connected with other UQ Business, Economics and Law Alumni living in Brisbane.
There is a vibrant community of UQ alumni living in Brisbane, including a team of dedicated volunteer ambassadors who are eager to build the community and remain connected to UQ. There are opportunities to connect with fellow alumni at events and through social media platforms, providing key industry contacts, mentors and employment opportunities from the wider business community.
Meetups
Meetups are on hold during COVID-19. View past meetups to get an idea of what they're like.
Brisbane Alumni Ambassadors
- Chad Hardy
- Stephanie Elwin
- Madeleine Butler
- Laura Hatton
- Katrina King
- Annie Leeks
- Caitlin Philp
- Mark Tanner
- Samuel Walpole
- Tim Wilson
Chad Hardy
Chair, Brisbane Alumni Ambassador Council
Chief Operations Officer, Bookipi
UQ qualifications: Bachelor of Laws (Hons) 2013
After completing a Bachelors of Management in Canada, Chad left the company he founded to study law at UQ. He was heavily involved in student societies, becoming President of the UQ Law Society for 2013.
Graduating from UQ Law in 2013, Chad was admitted to the legal profession while working at a law firm.
Chad is currently Chief Operations Officer at Bookipi. He was previously Chief Operating Officer at GoCatch, an Australian rideshare and taxi booking app. He worked closely with Municipal, State, and Federal governments to develop technologically integrated transport networks with GoCatch.
Prior to GoCatch, Chad was the Commercial Lead for Brisbane based technology company VroomVroomVroom where he negotiated global agreements with leading car hire companies and set corporate strategy and policy.
Chad has extensive experience in the rideshare space, having spent nearly 2 years at Uber growing the Queensland rideshare market.
Chad’s career highlight was growing Uber Queensland into a reliable way to get around and an opportunity for those under and unemployed. His areas of specialty include law, technology, commerce and startups.
He advises new graduates to try many things to see what they really enjoy and where they excel. They should use those passions to make their mark. His favourite memory from UQ is working on the UQ Law Revue – long days of planning, rehearsals and building, weeks of labour, and a brilliant final product. Best of all, he worked with a group of brilliant and dedicated people.
Chad is always looking for the next opportunity to throw on a pair of skis. He is an avid reader and cinema goer.
Stephanie Elwin
Partner at Davidson Advisory
UQ qualifications: MBA 2015
Stephanie Elwin is a Partner in Davidson’s Advisory team in Brisbane, with almost 20 years’ change management, leadership development and strategic communications experience. She leads Davidson’s Queensland and Northern Territory Advisory practices.
Prior to joining Davidson, Stephanie spent a combined seven years at consulting firms KPMG and PwC leading change management, leadership development and operating model review assignments with clients across government and the private sector in Victoria, the ACT and Queensland. She has also worked in a range of in-house advisory roles across federal and state governments, and the oil and gas and insurance sectors.
Stephanie holds an MBA from the University of Queensland (UQ) and a Bachelor of Arts/Journalism from RMIT University. She is also the Deputy Chair of UQ’s Brisbane Alumni Board for the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law. Passionate about gender equality in business, Stephanie initiated and co-sponsors the UQ MBA Women’s Leadership Impact Prize, which is awarded to the top female talent in the MBA program each year.
Stephanie is married to a former military officer and has three adult step-children.
Madeleine Butler
Careers and Engagement Support Officer, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, UQ
UQ qualifications: Bachelor of International Hotel and Tourism Management/Bachelor of Arts 2020
Madeleine is a recent UQ graduate with a Bachelor of International Hotel and Tourism Management (Events Management) and Bachelor of Arts (French, Journalism and Communication).
During her studies, she was involved in volunteering and student societies at UQ. She served as President and Secretary of UQ’s Tourism, Hospitality & Events Society and represented UQ on a number of occasions as a BEL Student Ambassador. Whilst studying, she worked part-time in events and hospitality, and volunteered at a variety of events including the GC 2018 Commonwealth Games. She has also studied abroad in Vichy, France and has a love of the French language and culture.
Madeleine currently works for the UQ BEL Career Services Team in her role as Careers & Engagement Support Officer. Being passionate about student engagement initiatives and events comes from her love of working with people. She highly enjoys being a part of a team that put pride and energy into their work, helping students to build their employability and further their personal and professional development.
In her spare time, she enjoys painting and playing social netball and touch football with friends. Her advice to current students and recent graduates is to "Trust your gut and don't be afraid to say yes to new opportunities! You never know where certain opportunities will take you, and they will help you on your journey of finding your passions and your people."
Laura Hatton
Strategy and Consulting Analyst, Accenture
UQ qualifications: Bachelor of Business Management, Diploma of Languages (Spanish) 2020
Laura is a recent graduate with a Bachelor of Business Management (Marketing and International Business) and Diploma of Languages (Spanish). She is currently undertaking a graduate role at Accenture as a Strategy and Consulting Analyst. She is a keen problem solver and enjoy working in teams to deliver upon client business objectives.
During her time at UQ Laura was very involved in student life, especially in the start-up and entrepreneurship space. What really sparked her interest in this area was a one-month internship in Shanghai as part of the UQ Ventures Start-up Adventure Program. Through her UQ networks she then went on to become a key organiser in Brisbane's inaugural tech and innovation conference, Myriad.
Laura became an advocate for student entrepreneurship in her role as secretary for the UQ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Society. Here she helped organise two fully funded international study tours to KAIST University South Korea and the University of Oxford - these were the first international trips ever run by a UQ student society.
No doubt a highlight of Laura's time at uni was her semester exchange to one of Europe's oldest universities in Salamanca, Spain where she undertook economics and language classes in Spanish. This sparked her love for travel and meeting people from different backgrounds and cultures. Her advice to students and recent graduates is to have an open mind to seek and embrace new opportunities. You never know who you will meet and where in the world your curiosity will take you!
Katrina King 
General Manager - Capital Solutions, QIC
UQ qualifications: Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) 1992, Bachelor of Laws (Honours) 1996, Master of Business Administration 2020
Katrina has more than 25 years’ experience in financial services and is responsible for leading QIC’s product innovation and development. Katrina works with our investment teams to drive our research and thought leadership program as well as developing product innovation across our capabilities. She has responsibility for the product and corporate information teams and oversees all of QIC’s product development and governance.
Katrina previously held several roles in QIC’s Global Liquid Markets Group. Most recent as Head of Research and Strategy where she led a team responsible for the outlook on various credit, rates, inflation and currency markets.
Prior to joining QIC in 2006, Katrina worked for JPMorgan. She started in Australia and moved to JPMorgan in New York, Tokyo and London in various roles in product development, research, structured credit and syndication.
A recent career highlight for Katrina has been working with the Queensland Government through COVID to help with economic outcomes.
Her advice to new graduates is, "Be curious, keep your learning curve steep and reach out to your networks".
In her free time Katrina enjoys hiking, travelling and reading.
Annie Leeks
Partner, Jones Day
UQ qualifications: Bachelor of Laws 2003
Annie Leeks has in-depth experience in high-pressure litigation and arbitration having acted for major corporations in a wide range of industries, including health care, mining, energy, financial services, aviation, sports, and construction.
Annie has a particular focus on resolving and managing high-stakes disputes for energy sector clients with cross-border operations, including in Australia and across the Asia-Pacific region.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Laws from The University of Queensland in 2003, Annie moved to Canada and completed a Master of Laws at the University of Toronto.
She joined Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP as an Associate before moving to London and accepting a position with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
Annie returned to Queensland in 2010 as a Senior Associate at Herbert Smith Freehills where her experience included acting for a leading construction contractor in a domestic ad hoc arbitration arising from alliancing contracts on the A$5 billion Brisbane Airport Link project.
After more than five years at Herbert Smith Freehills, Annie joined Virgin Australia as Lead Legal Counsel and Virgin Australia Group Privacy Officer.
In 2016 Annie joined Jones Day where she is now a Partner, and said she considers herself fortunate to have ended up at a collaborative and inclusive organisation.
Her advice to new graduates is to remember that “Your career is a marathon, not a sprint!”
In her free time, Annie enjoys travel, hiking and yoga.
Caitlin Philp
Young Alumni Ambassador, The University of Queensland
Paralegal, Herbert Smith Freehills
UQ qualifications: Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Laws (Hons) 2021
Caitlin has recently graduated with a dual degree in Commerce and Laws (Hons). Her honours thesis topic investigated the challenges of anonymity to the taxation of cryptocurrencies.
She has undertaken several vacation clerkships with corporate law firms, and in 2022 was appointed to a Graduate position with Herbert Smith Freehills where she has previously spent time as a paralegal.
Caitlin has previously worked with an arbitrator as his associate which gave her a firsthand view of top advocates in action and a deeper understanding of commercial disputes.
Post-graduation, Caitlin tries to keep up with plenty of activities outside of work. Particularly with the university, which makes a diverse range of hobbies with different groups of people so accessible, something she values.
One of Caitlin's favourite memories is a short-term exchange to Berlin where she studied International Economic Law at Humboldt University. It was in January 2020, just before COVID-19 hit, Caitlin says she is extremely grateful to have had a month to experience the joys of Berlin.
Caitlin is very musical: she has played classical piano since the age of ten and loves going to live music gigs with small Brisbane bands. She recently attended a music and arts festival where one stage was devoted to Indigenous artists and was introduced to an amazing ‘didgitronic’ band that used the digeridoo in hip hop tracks.
Mark Tanner
Financial Adviser, More Life Planning
Associate Lecturer, UQ Business School
UQ qualifications: Bachelor of Commerce (Hons), Bachelor of Economics 1999
Professional memberships
Financial Planning Association of Australia
Upon graduating from UQ, Mark was hired by a Global Management consulting firm. Two weeks later, he was in Korea advising a consortium of international banks and the Board of one of Korea’s largest technology companies on how to restructure their business.
After a number of years in management consulting and private equity, Mark joined a small management buy-out team to purchase a business outsourcing firm from administration, which was subsequently restructured and developed over a number of years.
More recently, Mark’s passion has been to assist others to achieve their financial freedom. Currently a Financial Adviser at More Life Planning, Mark works with people to achieve their desired balance between work, financial goals, lifestyle and family time, and focus on living an amazing life rather than “making a living”.
Mark’s advice to graduates is: “Take time to study yourself. Understand your strengths, your weakness and most importantly your passion. People respond to authenticity, if you are pursuing your passion you will find opportunities will open up for you. You will wake every day with enthusiasm and energy to pursue your dream and you won’t look back on a life of regret. Continue to read, study widely and take time reflect on your life – regardless of your age or experience, you can continue to learn and grow.”
Mark considers his BCom Honours year with supervisor Professor Gray to be the foundation upon which he has built his career.
“I still consider myself extremely lucky for having Professor Gray as a supervisor in my honours year. Having such a world class professor encourage you to achieve your best and take your thinking to a new level was amazing. I am still lucky enough to be able to still call Professor Gray a good friend and mentor.”
Outside of the office, Mark enjoys spending time bushwalking and hiking, and spending time with his family.
Samuel Walpole
Barrister-at-Law
UQ qualifications: Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws (Hons) 2016
Samuel Walpole is a barrister practising in commercial, regulatory and public law. Samuel was previously an Associate to the Hon Chief Justice Allsop AO of the Federal Court of Australia and to the Hon Justice Philippides of the Queensland Court of Appeal. He also worked as a Legal Officer at the Australian Law Reform Commission in the areas of Corporate Crime and Financial Services Regulation.
Samuel holds Bachelors of Arts and Laws (First Class Honours) degrees from the University of Queensland, from which he graduated as Law Valedictorian and with the University Medal in Law. He subsequently read for the Bachelor of Civil Law at Wadham College, Oxford as an Oxford-Hackney Scholar, graduating with Distinction.
Samuel is an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Queensland, where he lectures in the postgraduate Commercial Equity Course. He has published in a number of domestic and international journals, including the Law Quarterly Review, Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, Australian Journal of Corporate Law, Australian Journal of Administrative Law and Trusts & Trustees. He is also a Director of the UQ Law Alumni Association.
His advice for recent graduates is to be passionate and engaged about the work you are doing, and about your career; find ways to give back and enrich your professional life – such as by getting involved in committees or organisations; be kind and genuine in your dealings with others; consider further study or a period living abroad or in another city.
Samuel has many great memories from his time at UQ: participating in the International Maritime Law Arbitration Moot coached by Justice Sarah Derrington; editing JATL’s Pandora’s Box Law Journal and working with Professor Craig Forrest on the Australia and New Zealand Maritime Law Journal; researching issues of private law theory with Professor Kit Barker; the general camaraderie of the Law School and law alumni community.
In his free time Samuel enjoys travel; music and art; TV; reading and writing; learning about new things and meeting new people.
Tim Wilson
Consultant, CurzonCo
UQ qualifications: Bachelor of Commerce 1990, Bachelor of Laws 1992
After graduating from UQ, Tim Wilson began his career as a corporate lawyer with Minter Ellison in Brisbane.
He completed a Masters of Finance at London Business School and shifted to twelve years of Investment banking in London, Sydney and Brisbane.
A specialist in private equity, Tim was previously Director and Deputy Chairman of Blue Sky Alternative Investments Ltd, and Managing Director of Blue Sky Private Equity.
His advice to new graduates is to nurture the friendships along the way, and says a good network has as much value as exceptional grades.
Tim fondly remembers commerce lectures with Professor Stephen Gray and his favourite law lecturer was Professor Suri Ratnapala.
Tim enjoys family time with his four sons, travelling, and supporting rugby.
Contact
Contact a member of the BEL Faculty Advancement team to discuss your relationship with the Faculty, options for giving back to current and future students, partnership opportunities, upcoming events and more.