Prominent MBA Alumni

Mark J. Ahn is the Company President and Chief Executive Officer of Hudson Health Sciences, Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in South San Francisco, California. Prior to joining Hudson Health Sciences, Dr. Ahn was Vice President, Hematology at Genentech, Inc., where he was responsible for Rituxan®. While Dr. Ahn was with Genentech, Rituxan surpassed $1.0 billion in revenues and became the leading anti-cancer therapy in the US. Prior to Genentech, Dr. Ahn held a series of positions of increasing responsibility at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Amgen, Inc. and FMC Corporation in strategy, general management, sales and marketing, business development, and finance.

Dr. Ahn received a PhD in Business Administration from the University of South Australia, was a graduate fellow in Economics at Essex University and has a BA in History and an MBA in Finance from Chaminade University. Dr Ahn is also a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, co-founder of the Center for Non-Profit Leadership, and a member of the Board of Trustees for the MEDUNSA (Medical University of South Africa) Trust. He also served as an officer in the US Army.

Elizabeth Clare's career burgeoned when she returned to business after taking an extended break of 17 years to raise her family. She joined Masonic Homes in 1993 where she soon demonstrated her flair for marketing which was rewarded with the vital and active role of promoting Darwin's first retirement village. Her outstanding success ensured her rapid promotion to Executive Manager, Corporate Development with Masonic Homes, where she now manages projects in excess of $25m in SA and NT, oversees the delivery of care to over 250 community-based aged care clients and manages five retirement villages.

Elizabeth holds postgraduate qualifications in communications, public relations and management from UniSA. She still finds time to be the Chair of the Board of the Independent Living Centre and a Board Member of the National Industry Training Authority. In 2003 Elizabeth was proud to be winner of the TMP Hudson Community and Government Award for the Telstra Business Women of the Year Awards which recognises her great achievements and success in her field. 

Malcolm is currently Executive Director of Water Industry Alliance Inc, which is a network of water technology companies in South Australia employing his consultancy skills and working collaboratively to develop an export sector.

Malcolm has lived and worked in South Australia all his life. He commenced his diverse career as an industrial chemist with F H Faulding and Co Ltd, where he developed expertise in the pharmaceutical field for 13 years, before changing direction when working for BHP Whyalla. In 1987 he completed his MBA with the South Australian Institute of Technology (SAIT). Since then he has provided business strategy and development advice to the government and private sector as Managing Director of Colegate Management services. Malcolm has also acted as Industry Advisor to the food sector, working with the South Australian Centre for Manufacturing.

Malcolm is a Fellow of the University of South Australia, a past-president of the Alumni Association and has participated in a number of sub-committees of the University's Development Board. 

Kea is currently consultant/proprietor of her new company, Kea Dent and Associates, which provides regulatory consultancy services. Prior to this, Kea was Managing Director of  Dentsleeve Pty Ltd , a company which she developed and expanded while simultaneously building her own management skills. Dentsleeve exported their specialised and unique clinical products: the sleeve sensor, catheters and perfusion pumps.

Kea enjoys the demands of the daily management of her company: personnel management, quality assurance, financial control, marketing, and developing and maintaining relationships with over 40 distributors internationally. However, Kea not only meets the day to day challenges, she has continually sought to improve and build on her qualifications and experience. She obtained a Graduate Diploma in Management in 2002 and completed her Master of Business Administration in 2003 at UniSA.

Winning a plethora of entrepreneurial and business awards in her relatively short but successful career has also been rewarding. She was especially proud to be state finalist in the Entrepreneur of the Year category of Young Entrepreneur in 2003, and South Australian winner of the Telstra Business Women's Award in 2002. Her expertise is sought as a board member of the Regulatory and Technical Affairs Council, and the Small Business Advisory Council. 

As CEO of Offenders Aid and Rehabilitation Services or OARS, Leigh Garrett is one executive with his feet firmly planted on the ground. This is an indispensable trait when you consider that his job involves managing an organisation committed to the support and rehabilitation of one of society's most marginalised groups, people convicted of criminal offences and their families. Leigh is an energetic and creative leader who is passionate about social and criminal justice reform.

Leigh believes that good leadership is the critical component for organisational success. Consequently, he was named CEO of the Year for 2002 in the EQT CEO Awards after being nominated by his staff. Leigh considers that the growth and development of his own staff and volunteers not only give him great joy, but it is a tangible measure of his own sense of achievement. Leigh has a Bachelor of Education with a major in Physical Education from UniSA, a Graduate Diploma of Occupational Safety and Management; and completed an MBA in 1998. He recognises the need for ongoing training and personal development and wishes to continue to develop his leadership skills and boost his business acumen for the benefit of the organisation. 

Michael has an extensive and impressive background in banking and finance, particularly in the retail banking and home lending sectors. He is currently Director, Information Technology, at HomeStart Finance, which was established in 1989 by the SA Government to provide home ownership opportunities to moderate income households. It has assisted more than 44,000 households into home ownership and achieved market leadership in the design, delivery and management of mortgage products for its target market.

Michael's role is challenging as it involves strategic planning and implementing technology to meet the demands of this dynamic, billion dollar business. Formerly, he was Director of Retail Operations for the same firm, and was involved in strategic planning and implementation of activities in the Retail Division. Michael has also been the Manager, Retail Banking Administration, at the Bank of Melbourne, where he was responsible for the administration and management of the Victorian Regional Bank and reported to the General Manager.

Michael has recently updated his qualifications with an MBA, graduating from UniSA in 2003. He is a leader in his industry sector, and is in demand for numerous public speaking engagements on business process engineering and systems development. He is a member of the Australian Human Resource Institute.

Shivani is the owner and principal of Reiter Business Consulting RBC, a company which she began in order to fulfil her passion for helping individuals, teams and organisations to achieve their goals by establishing long-term partnerships with customers. She has clients in South Australia, nationally and globally.

After graduating as an engineer in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UniSA, Shivani worked as a project engineer for three years, was Global Marketing and Customer Relationship Manager with BHP Billiton, followed by the role of Marketing Manager with BHP Steel at Whyalla. She continued to update her qualifications with an MBA during this period; and was also the regional winner for the Miss Australia Awards, as well as Junior Citizen of the Year in Whyalla. In 2002 Shivani was Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year, and also SA Young Achiever of the Year for the Enterprising Women Awards. In 2003, she was chair of the Young Professionals Group AIM; Vice Chair of the Reedbeds Local Community Centre; Board Member of the Betty Blue Foundation; and is a trustee on the SA Women's Trust Board.

Shivani is an accomplished speaker and presenter and is in constant demand to speak on topics such as: work-life balance, career management and women in the workplace. 

Peter Savoff is General Manager – Hotels, for the Anthony John Group, a highly successful and award winning Queensland based, property developer. The Group’s new Hotel Division will build and run a collection of high-end, boutique hotels, the first of which will be the Emporium Hotel in Brisbane, scheduled to open in June 2007.

Peter has over 20 years in the international hotel management industry, where he gained extensive Operations, Marketing and Business Development experience. His management experience includes working as the Area Director of Marketing for InterContinental Hotels Group (incorporating InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn) across Queensland, the Northern Territory and Papua New Guinea.

Most recently, Peter spent the last three years as CEO of McInnes Wilson Lawyers, Queensland’s third largest law firm where he was responsible for growing both the business and its profitability. However, the lure to return to the hotel industry and start up a new hotel brand was an offer too good to refuse!

Peter graduated with a Master of Business Administration in 2001 and received the Alex Ramsey Award as top MBA student for that year. He also graduated with a Master of Commercial Law from the University of Melbourne in 2008.

The Emporium Hotel website is: www.emporiumhotel.com.au

Gary is CEO of HomeStart Finance. Fourteen years ago Gary created this organisation and was responsible for building it into the billion dollar business that it is today. HomeStart Finance was established in 1989 by the SA Government to provide home ownership opportunities to moderate income households. It has assisted more than 44,000 households into home ownership and achieved market leadership in the design, delivery and management of mortgage products for its target market.

Gary has brought his expertise from the public housing and property field, where he was Principal Advisor to the Minister of Housing, involved in developing key policies in this area. Previously he was Accountant/Financial Analyst with the SA Housing Trust for ten years, where his role encompassed financial forecasting, budgeting and planning. He graduated with an MBA in 2002. Currently, he is actively involved with several organisations affiliated with the housing and finance industries.

Gary is SA President of the Institute of Public Administration IPAA, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Marketing AIM, serves on the National Board of the Credit Ombudsman and is a member of the of the State Housing Executive Committee. 

Victoria was a finalist in the Telstra Business Woman of the Year Awards in 2003; and as a leader in her field has been selected to join the Governor's Leadership Foundation, which aims to broaden and accelerate potential leaders for the future of South Australia. Currently, Victoria is a senior manager at the South Australian Water Corporation where she develops and implements quality management systems, strategic and operational business plans and does external performance reporting for the Water Services division which employs approximately 900 people. This division is responsible for managing and delivering water services to South Australia.

Graduating as a chemical engineer in 1996, Victoria initially worked as an environmental engineer at the EPA, involved in air quality policy and compliance. The transition to water engineer at SA Water was a logical step in her career, and Victoria soon progressed from project evaluation and approvals to managing SA Water's $600 million five year capital plan, instigating significant change initiatives to improve return on investment.

Victoria has simultaneously been studying, and completed her MBA at UniSA in 2003.