Previous Winners - Medal for Innovation

2007 Winner - Maha Sinnathamby

Dr Maha Sinnathamby
Chairman and Founder of Springfield Land Corporation

An inspiring business visionary has been honoured for his innovative approach in creating a world-class, modern city that tackles the challenges of building a new community and socially uplifting an economically depressed region of South East Queensland.

Chairman and Founder of Springfield Land Corporation, Dr Maha Sinnathamby, was awarded the coveted 2007 Fisher & Paykel Medal for Management Innovation at the 2007 Management Excellence Awards State Final.

AIM Board Chairman John Hoey FAIM said Dr Sinnathamby was chosen for his long-held standards of management innovation, on which his businesses are built.

"Greater Springfield is a community-of-the-future success story and Dr Sinnathamby has received this award because of his uncompromising drive to incorporate leading edge management practices and new technologies at all stages of the development," Mr Hoey said.

Dr Sinnathamby said he was humbled and honoured to receive such a great award from such an esteemed organisation as the Australian Institute of Management.

Dr Sinnathamby purchased 2860 hectares of land just south of Goodna in 1992 for $7.9 million. At the time, his master planned, technologically advanced, world class community concept did not meet with universal acceptance, but his passion,commitment and persistence to make his dream a reality, eventually turned resistance around.

2006 Winner - Deborah Fleming

Deborah Fleming
Creator and Producer of the ABC’s Australian Story

The visionary producer of one of TV’s most acclaimed shows was awarded the 2006 Medal for Management Innovation at the Management Excellence Awards State Final.

Ms Fleming accepted the Medal on behalf of the entire Australian Story team saying, “any achievement here is a collective one.”

“It is especially gratifying to receive an acknowledgement like this from people who make a living in the cut and thrust of the commercial world,” Ms Fleming said.

When asked to create a credible and worthy current affairs show more than nine years ago, Deborah turned traditional thinking on its head.

Dispensing with the reporter’s presence and voice-over, she asked her journalists to focus on the human side of events and to tell the tale purely through the voices of interviewees…the result was Australian Story, an innovation in Australian television and a new journalistic genre.

Deborah’s work is an outstanding example of management innovation. All managers can learn from the manner in which she has taken a different perspective. She has led a team wisely and creatively and she has taken appropriate risk to create a change that adds value.

2005 Winner - Mark Henry

Mark Henry
Managing Director and Design engineer of Furitechnics.

Mark Henry founded Füritechnics in Brisbane, Australia, in 1996 to provide a vehicle for the commercialisation of his ‘innovations for serious cooks’.

As Managing Director, Mark took Füritechnics from foundation to its current multi-million dollar turnover, developing the products and marketing strategy that has established Füri as a leading professional brand in Australia and generated significant worldwide exports and recognition.

The success of Füri knives and chefs accessories is based on their performance, after years of fundamental re-engineering. Mark takes old concepts and, with chefs, researches the real functions that cooks require to make their working life faster/easier/safer/cleaner.

Mark consulted with Chefs to design the one-piece stainless steel alloy Füri knife range in the early 1990s: simply to solve problems professional Chefs had with traditional knives. After four years on the market, Füri become the leading brand in Australia, and is now regarded as the new standard in performance by many top Chefs around the world.

2004 Winner - Graeme Wood

Graeme Wood, wotif.com

Wotif.com started when Graeme Wood was asked to identify a marketing strategy for a hotel client looking to fill vacant rooms without spending a fortune on promotion.

By March 2000, the wotif.com site (then known as standbyaccom.com) was launched, under the financial support of Graeme and his fellow directors.
The privately owned business allows customers to secure discounts of up to 60 per cent on rooms only available within 14 days.

Whether you are travelling independently or booking for business purposes wotif.com’s innovative flexibility allows ‘just-in-time’ accommodation solutions!

Graeme has been awarded this medal because of his extremely innovative business practices and his ability to stand-out in a crowded market.

2003 Winner - John Stainton

John Stainton, Best Picture Show Company

THE MASTERMIND of the Crocodile Hunter phenomenon, John Stainton, has been awarded a prestigious management medal for his innovative business practice and its contribution to Queensland and Australian industry.

Best Picture Show Company boss John Stainton, as producer, director and creator of the Crocodile Hunter series, featuring the Sunshine Coast's Steve and Terri Irwin, was awarded the 2003 QR Invitational Medal for Management Innovation.

While in the United States filming a new Croc Hunter reality series, Mr Stainton was unable to accept his award in person but sent a video acceptance speech, featuring some previously unseen audition footage of a very young Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin.
"I knew even then he had the qualities to be a superstar," Mr Stainton told the audience. "I knew packaged right we had a very marketable product."

The "overnight success" of the dynamic duo is the culmination of a 20-year strong partnership taking Steve Irwin from the crocodile traps of far north Queensland to the equally dangerous haunts of Hollywood.

Australian Institute of Management CEO, Carolyn Barker, said Mr Stainton's long term vision, courage of conviction and willingness to take a calculated risk had seen the 'Croc Hunter' phenomenon reach a position of unmatched market dominance, reaching over 200 million people across 130 countries.

"John Stainton has been recognised for his ability to reconceptualise and forge new ground at the front end of his industry by moving away from the "hands off", third party style of nature documentary, to a vivid and exhilarating approach that involves his viewers," Ms Barker said.

The Brisbane-based Best Picture Show Company, run by Stainton and partner Judi Bailey, employs 6 people plus a range of contractors, and provides support work for production staff hot on the trail of Irwin's next project.

"We run our global business from Queensland because we have the world class facilities here to do it but because we also love living here," Mr Stainton said in his video acceptance speech.

2002 Winner - Brett Godfrey

Brett Godfrey, CEO, Virgin Airlines

He researched the feasibility of the Virgin Blue concept with no more than $50,000 and information he could gain from the QANTAS and Australian Bureau of Statistics web sites.

Brett is a very ‘hands on’ CEO and is regularly rostered on to load baggage into aircraft.

Virgin Blue provides no frills, affordable passenger and freight transportation services. Revenue is applied to the core business of keeping aircraft operating and moving passengers.

The $10 million dollar venture is now worth more than half a billion dollars and plans to have 28 aircraft by the end of the year.

Staff are trained in all areas of Virgin Blue operations. This enables ll staff members to ensure that Virgin Blue service is streamlined and not disrupted, i.e. cabin crew operate with ground staff until a plane is ready to board and ground crew cover for ill cabin crew on flights.

Virgin Blue planes are new Boeing 737 jets that are used to their maximum capacity. When they are not ferrying passengers during the day, they are moving freight at night.

The airline is progressively implementing a kerb-side check-in scheme at all Australian airports. It is believed to be the first in the world. This system allows passengers to input the relevant information, print their ticket and boarding pass. In the near future they will be able to scan pre-printed baggage labels.

Virgin Blue has launched massage bars at Brisbane Airport. If the concept proves successful it will be expanded to other airports.
Virgin Blue assists in the training of RAAF pilots. Offer six to eight weeks training and pilots are rostered on as normal crew members during their training.

The airline spends less than $6 million in their marketing budget. They have a small PR unit and also utilise their employees as brand ambassadors.

Read more about the Medal for Innovation.