Alumna of the Year Award

Amanda Johnston-Pell is Vice-President Marketing Services Center Asia (Bengaluru, India), leading the transformation agenda for IBM’s Artificial Intelligence, Cloud & Quantum computing business.

Member Chief Executive Women Australia, Advisory Board Member Sydney School of Entrepreneurship and Sparsha Trust, serving underprivileged children in India.

Prior roles include: Chief Marketing + Co-Customer Officer + Board Director IBM A/NZ; Co-Founder Tech Media Startup New York; Chief Marketing Officer Telstra; Executive Director BigPond; General Manager LANG; consultant for six Olympic Games; Non-Executive Director for AMP’s Self-managed Super Funds business; and Australian American Leadership Dialogue.

She is a graduate of University of Massachusetts, University of Queensland, Australian Institute of Company Director’s.

• B. Human Movement Studies (Education), UQ (1992)
• M. Science, University of Massachusetts (1995)

UQ Vice-Chancellor’s Alumni Excellence Award 2021

Dr Margaret Bale is Australia’s only dedicated camel veterinarian.

With nearly 30 years’ experience as a clinical veterinarian, Margie now specialises in camelid medicine and is renowned as a world expert on camel health. She is recognised as the leading authority on camel veterinary medicine in Australia and is part of an international professional network of camel veterinarians and camel milk/meat scientists worldwide.

During 15 years as a large animal clinician at The University of Queensland’s Dayboro Clinic, she practiced in all aspects of herd health, reproduction and surgery of production animals.

Margie has worked in Dubai in a camel embryo transfer and reproduction clinic presenting at conferences worldwide and championing this emerging industry. Through an Agrifutures program she has validated a Blood Pregnancy test for camels that was an adaptation needed for the unique Australian Camel Industry. She has also teamed with Plasvacc to develop an Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) accredited frozen Camel Plasma product.

Margie is currently undertaking postgraduate study and is a guest lecturer at UQ.

• B. Veterinary Science, UQ (1995)

Professor Susan Moloney is Director of Paediatrics at Gold Coast University Hospital.

Susan left Bowen in 1981, studied Medicine at UQ and attended The Women’s College for three years, where she was Student Club Vice President (1983) and on the UQ Student Council. She trained in Paediatrics in Brisbane.

Susan has achieved many leadership roles. She was involved in the commencement of new medical schools at Griffith University and Bond University, the development of tertiary children’s services at the Gold Coast, and has national and international leadership roles in child health.

Susan was President, Paediatric and Child Health Division, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, an International Examiner for the Indonesian College of Pediatrics, and has been on several Commonwealth Advisory Groups, including appointment to the Independent Health Advisory Committee ‘Medivac Panel’ assessing the medical response to offshore detainees in PNG and Nauru. She is an Operation Smile international volunteer.

Susan received the RACP College Medal and Queensland Health Pre-Eminent Specialist status.

• B. Medicine, B. Surgery (MBBS), UQ (1986)

Dr Leonora Risse is an economist who specialises in gender equality. Her research and policy work focuses on closing gender gaps in the workforce, including the gender pay gap and women’s under-representation in leadership. She engages regularly with governments and organisations on gender equality policies.

Leonora is an Associate Professor at the University of Canberra and a Research Fellow with the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia. She serves as an Expert Panel Member on gender pay equity for the Fair Work Commission. Previously she held roles with the Australian Government Productivity Commission and the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University.

Leonora is a co-founder and former National Chair of the Women in Economics Network (WEN), which supports and elevates women in the economics profession in Australia. One of WEN’s goals is to inspire more women to study economics and discover how economists can make a positive difference to society.

• B. Arts (English & Journalism), UQ (2002)
• B. Economics (Hons I), UQ (2002)
• PhD in Economics, UQ (2008)

Dr Ruth Dill-Macky is a Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota. Her research program is recognised for its research on Fusarium head blight (FHB or scab) of wheat and barley. Ruth has also worked on bacterial leaf streak and the cereal rusts.

Ruth’s interests in plant pathology are in the management of diseases through host resistance, cultural control practices, and epidemiology, including understating the factors impacting the accumulation of Fusarium-associated mycotoxins.

The many graduate students she has advised have gone on to establish careers in industry or academia in North and South America, Asia and Africa.

Ruth currently leads the United States Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative. In this role, she provides leadership to a consortium of research scientists, producers, and industry representatives who work to enhance the safety and supply of our food chain by reducing the impact of FHB in cereals. 

• B. Science, UQ (1983)
• B. Science (Honours – First Class), UQ (1984)
• PhD in Plant Pathology, UQ (1993)

During her time at UQ, Kristie Young was Treasurer of the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) and Treasurer of the Mining and Metallurgy Association (MAMA). She began her career as a mining engineer after graduating. During the mid ‘90s, Kristie worked in both underground and open-cut mining operations before her career moved to include roles in Executive Search (resources), lecturing at Curtin University in mine finance and economics, and Business Development Director roles with professional services firms EY and PwC.

Today, Kristie is a professional Board Director serving as a Non-Executive Director with Brazilian Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:BRE), Livium Ltd (ASX:LIT), Corazon Mining Ltd (ASX:CZN), Tasmea Ltd (ASX:TEA) and MinEx CRC. She also sits on UQ’s EAIT Strategic Advisory Board.

Kristie is an active volunteer, mentor and advocate for industry, regularly giving of her time. She is a Graduate and Fellow of the AICD and a Fellow of the AusIMM.

• B. Engineering (Hons), UQ (1995)
• Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Mathematics & IT), UWA (2001)