The 13th annual Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame inducted six iconic Queensland businesses and leaders last night.
The awardees are testimony to Queenslanders’ drive, smarts and innovation with many starting from humble beginnings.
Added to the Hall of Fame were: now-international honey company, Capilano; outstanding leader in Queensland biotech, education, health and banking Dr Cherrell Hirst AO; visionary philanthropist, “Mr Toowoomba”, Clive Berghofer; cool streetwear purveyors Simon and Tah-nee Beard of Culture Kings; leading Wagyu producers Peter and Jane Hughes; and, Queensland’s own ubiquitous diagnostic and pathology laboratories QML.
They join more than 80 other Queensland-born and bred businesses, individuals and families in a Hall of Fame established in 2009 by QUT, the State Library of Queensland and the Queensland Library Foundation.
The awards were made at a gala dinner attended by more than 750 members of Queensland’s corporate community.
The 2022 inductees are:
Capilano Honey
Capilano Honey is one of Queensland's great from humble beginnings to global success stories, producing 10,000 tonnes of honey a year and exportsing to 32 countries, including Middle Eastern countries that have long been Capilano consumers.
It began as a cooperative of beekeepers, established in 1953 by Tim and Bert Smith, in Richlands, Brisbane to overcome beekeepers’ lack of power in the marketplace.
The company’s development and stability owe much to Tim Smith whose vision as a long-standing managing director was to create a national operation. Shifting the focus from bulk supply of honey to retail has been pivotal in the company’s sustainability.
A defining characteristic of the company’s success has been its innovation, especially in packaging, which produced the “twist and squeeze” pack in 1991 and, later, the “upside-down” pack. These consumer-friendly developments broadened the retail sales of honey significantly.
Clever packaging, consumer-friendly innovation such as the “twist and squeeze” pack in 1991 and the “upside-down” pack broadened retails sales of honey significantly.
Capilano listed on the Bendigo Stock Exchange in 2004 before joining the ASX. In 2018 the company was acquired by Australian venture capital fund Wattle Hill RHC under the chairmanship of Albert Tse.
Today it is Australia's leading honey brand and one of the most significant high-tech honey producers in the world.
Cherrell Hirst AO
Dr Hirst enters the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame as a trailblazing leader in the health, education, biotechnology and business sectors.
She has shown distinguished leadership across four decades including as chair or director of seven public company boards including Suncorp, Medibank Private and Peplin Biotech.
Dr Hirst has held positions as chair or director on five private company boards, nine government boards and eight not-for-profit boards.
In 1984 Dr Hirst was appointed director of the Wesley Breast Clinic, after two years as its deputy director. She held this role for 17 years during which she introduced support programs for patients and their families and turned the clinic into a nationally recognised leader with a world-class reputation.
In 1995 when Dr Hirst was appointed QUT Chancellor, she became the first woman appointed to such a role in Queensland. She led QUT through a 10-year period of growth and development bringing calm and insightful leadership and forging trusted relationships.
Appointed chair of the Board of Trustees at Brisbane Girls Grammar in 2004, Dr Hirst became the first woman to hold that position since the school’s establishment in 1875.
Her interest in life sciences and research excellence were catalysts for a long career in Queensland’s biotech industry through service on the boards of public and private companies and government organisations which produced significant scientific, social and commercial benefits for Queensland.
An important success during this time was Dr Hirst’s leadership at Peplin Biotech which was sold for more than $300 million. She also led the Queensland Bio Fund, later Queensland Bio Ventures, through challenging times which in turn, led to the establishment of the Business Development Fund which supports Queensland’s start-ups and innovative businesses.
Clive Berghofer AM
Clive Berghofer AM has had an extraordinary life – a successful businessman, local councillor, Lord Mayor of Toowoomba, state parliamentarian and generous philanthropist.
Born into a dairy farming family on the Darling Downs, Mr Berghofer left school at 13 and worked for £3 a week at a sawmill. He supplemented his full-time duties with sewing grain bags on the weekends.
Largely self-taught, he found ways to do things more quickly and cheaply and better than others. This combined with a common-sense approach self-reliance, relentless hard work honesty, and building trust in all his dealings.
At 24 he started building houses and with one gang of men he built 600 of them by 1972. One of his greatest business successes was the development of more than 10,000 allotments in Toowoomba at affordable prices, which enhanced the city’s economic and social growth. He went on to build the Wilsonton Hotel (in just six weeks) and the Wilsonton shopping centre.
Mr Berghofer’s philanthropy of at least $110 million has substantially benefited research institutes, hospitals, sporting and social clubs, and community infrastructure throughout Queensland. He is a major donor to the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute totalling more than $60 million to advance world-class research whose impacts have extended across Australia and beyond.
Culture Kings
With a turnover of more than $300 million Brisbane-based retailer of streetwear and accessories Culture Kings has grown from humble beginnings on the Gold Coast to an international company.
Started by Simon Beard, a goal-focussed entrepreneur who began selling at the Carrara Markets, Culture Kings came into being when Simon teamed with Tah-nee to create a successful business selling ‘skoolies’ slippers’.
Simon’s ideas and marketing flare matched perfectly with Tah-nee’s attention to detail, and they created a powerful operating partnership that underpins the success of Culture Kings today.
The first store opened in 2008 and profits have been re-invested to fund online sales – now responsible for 75 per cent of sales – and store expansion within Australia and into New Zealand and the United States to establish a retail empire with 900 employees.
A fire in 2017 destroyed $10 million in stock and $800,000 of unfulfilled orders could have ended the business but the pair’s hard work brought a swift bounce-back and growth that year.
To build the Culture Kings business globally, Simon and Tah-nee sold 55 per cent of their holding to AKA Brands in the USA in 2021 for $300 million. Later they swapped the remainder of their shares for a 20 per cent stake in the New York Stock Exchange-listed company.
They continue to run the Culture Kings business from its home base in Brisbane, aiming to be at the forefront of the next generation of global retail.
Peter and Jane Hughes
Peter and Jane Hughes are one of the world’s leading Wagyu producers, and the world’s largest private Wagyu herd owner with 200,000 head of cattle.
One of the earliest stockers and breeders of Wagyu cattle nearly 30 years ago, Peter and Jane saw the immense potential for the quality of Wagyu beef to drive market demand.
Their historical links to country Queensland are extensive: Peter’s ancestors owned Nockatunga and Saltbush Park Stations while Jane’s great-grandfather owned the iconic Tierawoomba which is now the flagship property of their sprawling cattle empire.
The Hughes purchased significant property when the Stanbroke Pastoral Company portfolio was dispersed in 2004 and the Hughes Pastoral Group now occupies 3.2 million hectares over nine grazing properties.
While seasonal fluctuations and market volatility are enduring risk factors in the beef industry, Peter and Jane, despite the size of their grazing operations, regard themselves as well-considered risk takers.
Their philosophy is of continuing to re-invest in the business as well as “sticking to their knitting” rather than unnecessarily diversifying.
“Knowing the bush”, is fundamental to Peter and Jane’s philosophy and is regarded as essential for all who work with them. They intentionally do not overstock and rely heavily on their knowledge of the bush.
The Hughes’ world-class business, with roots stretching back 150 years, continues to grow with a firm commitment for the business to remain family-owned and controlled in Queensland.
QML Pathology
QML Pathology is one of Australia’s leading comprehensive clinical laboratory and pathology services. Based in Queensland for more than 90 years, the iconic company is a pioneer in business and the medical field.
Its world-class laboratories equipped with the latest technology are central to the pre-eminence of QML Pathology as a pathology services leader. The business grew and moved into the regions with the arrival of Medibank in 1975 which allowed patients of general practitioners to have pathology tests done without the intervention of medical specialists.
When QML Pathology was bought by Mayne Group Ltd in 2002, the business was turning over $150 million and employing 1,500 people. QML Pathology is now a flagship of Healius Pathology and operates 20 laboratories, 700 collection centres, has more than 2,000 employees, services more than 2,000 Queenslanders each day with a turnover of more than $400 million.
QUT Media contact:
Niki Widdowson 07 3138 2999 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au
After hours: 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au.
