Melbourne connections
Get connected with other UQ Business, Economics and Law Alumni living in Melbourne.
There is a vibrant community of UQ alumni living in Melbourne, 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.
Melbourne Alumni Ambassadors
- John Holding - Chair, Melbourne Alumni Ambassador Council
- Yvonne Huang - Deputy Chair, Melbourne Alumni Ambassador Council
- Kwok Yen Wong - Ambassador Emeritus
- Nancy Chen
- Eugene Foo
- Srikar Maddi
- Peter Masters
John Holding
Chair, Melbourne Alumni Ambassador Council
Group Executive – People and Performance, Nufarm
UQ qualifications: MBA 2012
John Holding has over 25 years’ experience managing business strategy and organisational change and has held Senior Executive positions in people development, HR, talent strategy and related corporate management roles across various industries. He has successfully delivered results and managed the nuances of emerging and developed markets with organisations going through both exponential growth and contraction.
John has a passion for co-developing and implementing business strategy as well as spotting and deploying great talent, he subscribes to the idea that a constructive, customer-centric culture is the most sustainable path to success.
He is currently Group Executive (People and Performance) at Nufarm, an ASX listed company specialising in agricultural chemicals and crop protection based in Melbourne, Australia. Previously he was Global Human Resources & Safety Director (Minerals Division) at The Weir Group PLC, a worldwide engineering solutions provider employing over 7,500 staff located in 40+ countries.
From 2009 to 2011 John was based in Hong Kong as Vice President Human Resources (Global Operations & Supply Chain) at Avery Dennison. Prior to this, he was Vice President Human Resources (Asia) at Nortel Networks from 1999 to 2008. In addition to Hong Kong, John has lived in South Korea and Singapore.
John is married to Marie with two adult daughters and a very active toddler-aged grandson. He resides on a hobby farm west of Melbourne Australia, where he and Marie tend their horse, sheep, bees and native flora plantation.
A career highlight for John is spending his working hours with some of the smartest people he has met, an opportunity he is most apprFnacyeciative of.
His areas of speciality are talent, international business, executive development, Inclusion and Diversity, executive compensation and incentives, mergers and acquisitions, and transformation.
John’s advice for new graduates is, “Your career is a marathon, not a sprint and be sure you are enjoying yourself along the way. Feedback is a gift, seek it out and learn from it.”
In his spare time, John enjoys wildlife photography, swimming, small scale farming.
Yvonne Huang
Deputy Chair, Melbourne Alumni Ambassador Council
Global Client Account Manager, Deloitte
UQ qualifications: Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Economics ‘16
Yvonne started her career as a graduate at Grant Thornton in their Brisbane consulting practice. During this time, she worked on process improvement and business risk engagements for government and private sector clients. Yvonne later relocated to the Melbourne office and continued her consulting work there which included being sent on secondment as a project manager in the Coles marketing team. This secondment sparked Yvonne’s interest in marketing and project management and allowed her to find an opportunity at Deloitte within the account management team.
In her current role at Deloitte, Yvonne is the Global Client Account Manager for the BHP account and works with the team to set and drive strategic direction and ambitions to help BHP solve complex problems.
Being the global client account manager for BHP at Deloitte has been a key career highlight for Yvonne, due to the global connectedness and climate and sustainability agenda being driven together with the client.
Yvonne’s areas of specialty are Account Management, Business Development, Sales and Marketing.
Her advice for new graduates is, “The way we work is changing, look for something that sparks joy and that you can be passionate about!”
During her time at UQ, Yvonne enjoyed being part of the UQ Economics Society and the long-lasting friendships she made by being involved in all the society’s activities. She also really enjoyed the exchange experience she had in Hong Kong for a semester. The electives she took during that semester abroad helped her to realise what she wanted to do after graduation.
Outside of the office, Yvonne enjoys cooking, playing social netball and hiking.
Kwok Yen Wong
Ambassador Emeritus, BEL Alumni Ambassador Council in Singapore (2015 - 2021)
Joint Managing Director, Tristar Capital Partners Pty Ltd
Non-Executive Director, Cyber PR Pty Ltd
UQ qualifications: Bachelor of Economics (Hons) 1988
Professional memberships
Fellow, Financial Services Institute of Australasia
Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors
Kwok Yen (KY) has broad international experience in a diverse range of corporate advisory and financial management roles, including treasury, corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, strategic planning, corporate development and insolvency. He has been involved in corporate financial management and international business development activities in the Asia-Pacific region, which has led to various work stints in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and New Delhi as well as in Australia.
He lived in Singapore for over 10 years and worked with SGX-listed Genting Singapore Limited (owner and operator of the iconic integrated resort, Resorts World Sentosa), covering treasury, corporate finance, in-house M&A, corporate planning, portfolio investments and investor relations.
Now based in Melbourne, KY provides corporate advice to small and medium companies through Tristar Capital Partners Pty Ltd. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Cyber PR Pty Ltd.
At UQ, he also sits on the Advisory Board of the School of Economics and mentors final year BEL students. His advice to new graduates is “Find your calling so that you are excited to wake up every morning to face the daily challenges and maintain your drive throughout your career.”
He is thankful to many UQ professors and lecturers who mentored him along the way, particularly Dr George Docwra, who “not only made microeconomics come alive but also encouraged me to pursue my Honours year.”
Outside of work, he likes reading literary and whodunnit novels, running along the Yarra River, skiing on powder snow in Japan, surfing and diving in Bali.
Nancy Chen
Financial Controller, Drake Australia Pty Ltd
UQ Qualifications: MBA, 1996
Professional memberships
CPA, CGMA
Nancy is a CPA with over 20 years’ experience in financial accounting in commercial environments. Over 4 years in my current role as the Regional Financial Controller APAC with Drake International, a global Human Resources & Talent Management company.
Some of Nancy's career highlights include leading two major business operation system roll-outs, and she loves to see the junior staff she has mentored achieving new heights in their own careers.
Her advice to new graduates is to be open to a variety of options when starting your career, be confident with what you have learnt (as learning is a life-long journey) and have strength to present yourself boldly
Nancy's interests include reading, travelling and casual hiking.
Eugene Foo
Senior Legal Counsel, Latitude Financial Services
UQ qualifications: Bachelor of Laws 1993
Professional memberships
Australian Corporate Lawyers Association
Eugene joined Latitude Financial Services (formerly GE Capital) as a Deputy General Counsel in 2012 and has advised the Board and senior management on a broad range of strategic matters, including business and product development, implementation of fintech solutions, big data, privacy, regulatory matters and law reform.
Prior to joining Latitude, he had spent over 15 years practising in the private and public sectors in Australia and the United Kingdom, at leading Australian financial service companies, international law firms and corporate regulators.
Eugene's career highlights include obtaining novel relief from ASIC to permit the takeover of an unlisted private fund manager, working in London on global private equity fundraisings, managing a major regulatory investigation/proceedings and helping introduce the National Credit Code.
His advice to new graduates is "be pro-active, be resilient, seek knowledge and trust your instincts."
Outside of his professional life, Eugene's hobbies include cycling and running.
Srikar Maddi
Director, WeClan
UQ qualifications: Master of Business (Advanced) 2010
Srikar is the Co- Founder & Director at Remote work life Pty Ltd, a consulting company that operates businesses such as WeClan and Cwerky studio which are based in Melbourne, Gold Coast and Perth. Srikar is passionate about Innovation and Creativity. He serves as an advisor to a handful of enterprises globally in transforming their digital implementation journey.
Over the past decade, He has been part of digital transformation journeys of large enterprises in Education, Health, Real estate and Finance. He is a renowned person in Australian Startup & Scale-up economy and delivers Strategy advisory, Product innovation and Growth consulting. He has worked extensively with tech focused businesses and is quite advanced with his knowledge on futuristic technologies such as Machine learning, AI and Blockchain.
Srikr considers some of his career highlights to be actively mentoring startups at Startupbootcamp and YGap for 2 years. He was a board advisor of a US-based tech start-up that recently got acquired by a large corporation for USD 400 million. He co-founded and built a global tech consulting firm with offices in Brisbane, Bengaluru, Lisbon and Melbourne and employed close to 50 full-time employees & worked with more than 100 independent highly skilled contractors. He is an independent Advisor for an angel network that funds seed-stage start-ups.
Srikar's advice to new graduates is that If you ever want to start something on your own, Start and fail as early in your life as possible. Your major breakthroughs happen after your mid-30’s. Accumulate, dive and earn as much business exposure as possible before that.
Srikar enjoys cricket and travels to 3-4 new countries every year. He loves experiencing different cultures and believes exploring new places nourishes the mindset and helps to think differently.
Peter Masters
Partner Success Manager, Doshii
UQ Qualification: BBusMan/BCom 2011
Following a graduate role in a boutique leadership development consultancy, Pete kicked off his ‘career’ as a co-founder of a London-based hospitality tech business focusing on consumer loyalty and gifting. Returning to Australia, Pete continued working as a sole trader applying his skills across a range of projects including:
- Acting as the GM for an online learning firm
- Building sales pipelines for local FMCG businesses
- Delivering stage shows as a Stage Manager including performances at the Brisbane Festival
Pete is now back in the hospitality tech world, working for Doshii (x15, CBA) where is he building out their Partner Success function and supporting the business to scale.
His advice to new graduates is to travel, to take calculated risks, and put yourself in situations that push you out of your comfort zone; it’s here where you will learn the most.
Pete has been actively involved in the UQ Alumni community having been a founding Alumni Ambassador in London and hosting the first Global Connections event.
He also enjoys playing Water Polo and experiencing all that Melbourne has to offer.
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.