Top business honour for Queensland voice of hearing impaired
11 Oct 2011
A Brisbane woman who has helped thousands of deaf children learn to speak and get a mainstream education has been named the 2011 Telstra Queensland Business Woman of the Year.
Dr Dimity Dornan, Founder and Managing Director of Hear and Say, has spent the past 20 years establishing one of the world’s leading hearing programs and cochlear implant centres.
Spurred by an encounter with a deaf boy who had lost his bus money and could not communicate, Dr Dornan established the first Hear and Say centre as a charity in Auchenflower in 1992 with six children to treat.
One of the first speech pathologists in Australia to use auditory verbal therapy, she now helps more than 500 hearing impaired children and their families each year through additional centres located in Varsity Lakes, Nambour, Toowoomba and Cairns.
Dr Dornan says she built her business on the belief that deaf children could communicate clearly through early diagnosis, advanced hearing technology and appropriate therapy. Her aim is that all children who participate in the Hear and Say program achieve normal speech and language for their age by six years.
All of the Queensland children who completed the early intervention program at a Hear and Say Centre last year are now in mainstream education.
Dr Dornan also won the White Pages Community and Government Award at the Telstra Business Women’s Awards presentation in Brisbane today.
Kate McKenzie, Telstra Group Managing Director for Innovation, Products and Marketing and TBWA Ambassador, said: “Telstra established the Awards program in 1995 to celebrate the success of inspirational business women and provide motivation for others.
“The Awards judges were impressed with how Dr Dornan has built an effective business around her charitable ideals. They also highlighted her commitment to research, innovation and training, which has not only allowed Dr Dornan to create the leading centre of its kind in the world but led her to establish an international teaching program to reach as many hearing-impaired children as possible.”
Michelle Sherwood, Executive General Manager Strategic Marketing at Sensis Pty Ltd, which sponsored the White Pages Community and Government Award, said: “White Pages® is proud to be associated with an awards program that recognises the significant achievements of women, especially women who work in the Community and Government sector.
“Dr Dimity Dornan is an inspirational role model for every woman who aspires to be the best in their profession,” she said.
Other Queensland winners include Susan Buckley, Managing Director of QIC’s Global Fixed Interest business, who took out the Hudson Private and Corporate Sector Award.
The Queensland winners proceed to the national finals of the Telstra Business Women’s Awards which will be announced in Melbourne on 18 November.
Winners of the 2011 Telstra Queensland Business Women’s Awards are:
Telstra Queensland Business Woman of the Year
Dr Dimity Dornan A.M. Hear and Say, Auchenflower.
Commonwealth Bank Business Owner Award
Cathie Reid APHS – Your Pharmacy Partner, Mansfield.
A former Victorian Pharmacy Manager of the Year, Cathie Reid owns and operates APHS with her husband, providing pharmaceutical and clinical services for the hospital, oncology and aged care sectors. As Managing Partner of APHS’s Aged Care and Packaging division, she has converted the company’s aged care IP into a solution that packages medication into doses for pharmacies to dispense to customers. The solution saves pharmacies time and costs and improves safety and independence for self-medicating customers. The product range includes web-based technology that alerts customers when medication is due and informs carers of a missed dose.
Hudson Private and Corporate Sector Award
Susan Buckley QIC, Brisbane
As Managing Director of the Global Fixed Interest business for institutional investment managers QIC, Susan Buckley heads a 28-member team managing about $46 billion for 56 national and international institutional clients. Previously head of strategy at NRMA Asset Management, she joined QIC a decade ago with a mandate for change to build a world class fixed interest capability and diversify the client base. In 2001 Ms Buckley led a team of six managing $6 billion for Queensland-based clients. Today, QIC’s GFI business offers investors a mix of mature products and innovative and dynamic investment solutions.
White Pages Community & Government Award
Dr Dimity Dornan AM Hear and Say, Auchenflower
Nokia Business Innovation Award
Jean Madden Street Swags Ltd, Upper Brookfield.
Jean Madden has helped 16,400 homeless Australians get a better night’s sleep, thanks to her creation of a lightweight, waterproof canvas sleeping bag with a mattress, which also holds belongings. She developed the swag in 2005 after volunteering for a decade to care for the homeless and seeing the physical and mental effects of regularly sleeping rough. The charity Street Swags was born and, as Managing Director, Ms Madden won community, corporate and private support to sponsor, produce, pack and distribute the swags across Australia. Her patented product won the 2009 People’s Choice Award at the prestigious INDEX design awards in Denmark and helped earn Ms Madden recognition as the 2010 Queensland Young Australian of the Year.
marie claire Young Business Women’s Award
Vanessa Garrard E3 Style Pty Ltd, Chermside.
Vanessa Garrard, 33, started her own company at 18 and then worked her way up the ladder in an electronics company. In 2006, Ms Garrard established E3 to develop and source products for retailers cheaper and faster than competitors. E3 works with international retailers and distributors to supply products under its own brand, home brands or under licence. Ms Garrard has ensured her business continues to differentiate itself by providing branding and packaging solutions and staying ahead of consumer and technology trends, turning over more than $15 million in five years. With staff in Brisbane, Sydney and Shenzhen in China, E3 has clients in Australasia, India, Italy, the US, UK and South Africa.
More information on the Telstra Business Women’s Awards can be found at
www.telstrabusinesswomensawards.com
Media contact
John Hanrahan | 0407 881 139 | Lighthouse Communications Group
James Woollard | 0419 130 588 | Telstra
www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/media-centre/
Reference: 310/2011
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Telstra Business Women's Awards Network