Staff Profiles

Graham Poon
Chief Executive Officer

Graham Poon has extensive Australian and International commercial experience through the work he has done for over 30 years throughout Australia, South East Asia, North Asia, Guam, Micronesia and the Pacific, both in the private sector and the Federal Government.

Previously, Graham worked as a business consultant with Kleinhardt Business Consultants in Cairns, as well as in his own consulting business, G.K. Consulting assisting businesses in strategic planning, marketing and export activities. He also managed the Kleinhardt Sustainability and Eco-efficiency Group that specialised in assisting clients in “green” business practices. Graham sits on the Queensland Government’s “Mentoring for Growth” panel in Cairns, is a member of the Australian Institute of Export and a previous judge for the Telstra Business Awards, as well as the Queensland Government Export Awards. Graham was recently re-elected to the Management Committee of the Cairns Chamber of Commerce for 2010.

Graham brings much knowledge to the North Queensland business community from his previous role as Austrade Trade Commissioner based in the Australian Embassy in Manila, specialising in helping Australian companies access projects funded by the Asian Development Bank and other development agencies. Graham also led Austrade teams covering Guam/Micronesia, and Philippines Infrastructure, Water, Power and IT. He has also held positions as CEO of the Chamber of Commerce NT, Austrade Regional Trade Commissioner NT and manager of a major tourism operation in Guam.

Graham has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Qld, and is married with 3 children.

Brett Henderson
Business Development Specialist

Growing up in Central Victoria, Brett's professional career started in the Agricultural Industry, contracting as a qualified Wool Classer in regional Victoria, NSW and South Australia.  With further education, (Associate Diploma of Wool and Fibre Marketing), he was employed as a Wool Buyer/Trader for Associated Wool Exporters (Cheil Industries).  Working in Australia's wool auction centres based out of Melbourne, Geelong and Adelaide, he traded wool, predominately into South Korea, China and India.  This trading experience provided a strong platform and keen interest in international trade.  With the decline of the wool industry, Brett moved into the financial services sector with AXA Australia and PricewaterHouse Coopers, with a focus on organisation wide business risk management.  During this period, Brett undertook further education including, an Association Diploma of Business (International Trade) and Master of International Business at Swinburne University.

Returning with his young family to Central Victoria, Brett represented both Austrade and the Australian Institute of Export as a Tradestart Export Advisor.  In this role, he gained experience in assisting companies to export within multiple industries and was identified as a leader amongst his peers.  In this role, Brett assisted hundreds of companies into exporting across over 20 countries and led trade missions into New Zealand, the United States and Canada.  Brett was also involved with the local community as a Committee Member of the Bendigo Easter Festival (Australia's largest regional festival), and was the Founding Member of the Central Victorian Exporters Network. 

Moving to North Queensland, Brett took up the position as Regional Manager for Austrade, based out of Townsville, with responsibility for the entire North Queensland region.  Here, he was the Founding Member for the North Queensland Exporters Network and led trade missions into New Caledonia and PNG. 

Developing his understanding of innovation and commercialisation, Brett became Regional Manager for AusIndustry (Department of Innovation, Industry Science and Research).  In this capacity, he had identified the need for companies to pursue innovation in a strategic manner.  This led him into collaborating with like-minded people in North Queensland, and as a Founding Member, created the Tropical Innovation Awards. 

Brett is a passionate advocate for Regional Australia, and believes that Australia's future economic prosperity will come from tropical Northern Australia.

Jodie Dollery
Office Manager

Jodie started her career in Mount Isa in the tourism industry, promoting North West Queensland to national and international tourists and attending travel shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.  After relocations to the Darling Downs and subsequently, Charleville in South West Queensland, Jodie undertook positions within the public sector, including the Bureau of Emergency Services and Education Queensland.

It was whilst in Charleville, that Jodie commenced as a Business Development Officer with the Golden West Group Training Scheme.  Jodie  established and managed the Charleville office, in addition to managing over 100 apprentices and trainees, spread throughout the vast distances of South West Queensland.  The success of the Charleville office quickly surpassed all company expectations and to keep up with demand, Jodie established and subsequently managed, an office based in Longreach, to service Outback and Central Queensland.

After taking leave to start a family, Jodie and her young family relocated to the Atherton Tablelands, where her husband had accepted a promotion to a new position within the Environmental Protection Agency.  Jodie commenced work with job network provider, QiTE, working out of the Mareeba and Atherton branches.  Here, Jodie specialised in working with clients who were highly disadvantaged and long term unemployed and eventually,  Jodie took on a staff mentoring role, in addition to implementing best practice methods and conducting compliance audits to ensure the company was working in accordance with Governmental and contractual requirements.

Another relocation saw Jodie and her family return to Charleville, where Jodie commenced as Human Resources Officer with regional body, South West NRM.   In this role, Jodie also managed the on-ground projects being undertaken by the company, including Governmental performance reporting.  It was during this time that Jodie completed studies in Project Management through the University of New England.

Jodie and her family recently moved back to Far North Queensland, and after a short contract position as Human Resource Officer with Terrain NRM, Jodie commenced work within the Sales and Marketing Department of the Cairns Convention Centre, as their Marketing Services Coordinator.  Here, Jodie managed a team of researchers and telemarketers spread throughout Australia and overseas, to identify and qualify potential new business.  Jodie also worked with local suppliers to put together proposals and bids, in the hope of securing events for Cairns.

 

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