Ranked: Far North Queensland’s top 10 most influential people
After counting down from 150-1, we can finally reveal the top 10 most influential people of Far North Queensland. See who made the list.
Cairns
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From NBL coaches, to tourism masterminds, and hospital, council and airport CEOs — here are the top 10 most influential people in the Far North.
To read the list, from 150 to 11, click these links:
10: Darren Halpin
Darren Halpin has become a development titan in the Far North.
The managing director of PPNQ Developments is currently executing his $300m vision for the Palms Development at Kewarra Beach, which the Cairns Post recently revealed will now include a $140m tourist park.
Mr Halpin also leads one of the largest independent accounting businesses in the region as managing director of Halpin Partners.
The entrepreneur is also an influential figure in the local and interstate sports scene; he is the managing director of a racehorse sales intermediary company called miRunners, which was establish in October 2022.
9: Nick Trompf
Nick Trompf is the chairman of Advance Cairns and one of the region’s top economic development advocates to state and federal governments.
He has played a major role across several industries in the Far North over two decades.
Mr Trompf has developed ambitious but sound advocacy priorities for the region that have been answered by governments, including expansion to health services and upgrades to the Cairns Marine Precinct.
He’s also never been shy to remind politicians’ of their election promises or timelines.
8: Jodie Duignan-George
Jodie Duignan-George is the associate vice president at CQUniversity in Cairns as well as chairwoman of the Cairns Region Jobs Committee, board member at Study Cairns and director at Advance Cairns.
She is also a board member at Regional Development Australia Tropical North.
She was crucial to the establishment of the CQU campus in Cairns CBD a decade ago and has played an influential role in multiple sectors since.
Ms Duignan-George is currently managing a shovel-ready project, with a $50m commitment from the federal government, to establish a permanent campus in Cairns CBD, the construction of which, according to Advance Cairns, will create 330 jobs and eventually contribute $549m to the regional economy.
7: Stephanie Campbell
Stephanie Campbell is the general manager of the Cairns Post, the region’s largest print and digital media news service.
In the past four months alone the Cairns Post has had more than 20m page views on its website.
Its print product reaches about 39,000 locals each weekday, and up to 46,000 on weekends.
The business is the oldest in the region, and has given readers and residents the greatest understanding of local topics and issues for 140 years.
Ms Campbell is also a board member of the Cairns Chamber.
6: Adam Forde
Adam Forde is the coach of the Cairns Taipans and, after an epic 2022/23 NBL season, one of Cairns’ most celebrated leaders.
He turned the region’s only national sporting team from the bottom-of-the-table to being just one game shy of the big dance.
Cairns may not have been given the trophy, but defeating eventual champions Sydney Kings at the Snake Pit in game two of the semi-finals turned the city orange and had everyone full of belief and pride.
After the regular season the team earnt best rookie and most improved player at the NBL awards, and had two players in the NBL second team.
And it was Forde who was awarded coach of the year.
The region breathed a sigh of relief when he re-signed with the Taipans at the end of the season, keeping him in Cairns until 2025.
5: Leena Singh
Leena Singh started her role as CEO of CHHHS in February 2023 and has then managed what is arguably the busiest and most important organisation in the Far North.
As CEO she is responsible for the largest workforce in the region.
Since her arrival, Cairns Hospital has begun a $250m expansion and an $86.4m redevelopment of Atherton Hospital has been completed.
Cairns Hospital has also taken on the private hospital’s maternity patients with $10m in assistance from Queensland Health.
Ms Singh is also now playing an important role in the business case for the Cairns Health and Innovation Centre, which is part of the hospital’s conversion to university hospital status.
A $70m mental health unit is also due to be completed within the next nine months.
All of this while the service has managed near-record admissions to its emergency department.
4: Mark Olsen
He’s arguably the Far North’s top tourism mind.
As the boss of Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Mark Olsen has been directly responsibly for the industry bouncing back to accrue more revenue post-Covid than it did pre-Covid (by a couple billion dollars).
In the past 12 months Mr Olsen has also been instrumental in securing globally-interesting events for the region, leading a tourism delegation to Hong Kong and slowly returning the international tourist market to the region.
If the man was less busy there would be no need to “Google” a fact about tourism, particularly in the Far North – you could simply “Olsen” it.
3: Richard Barker
Richard Barker is the CEO of Cairns Airport and deputy chair of Advance Cairns.
His knowledge of the aviation industry and its vital interconnection with the Far North’s trade and tourism would be second to none – millions, if not billions, of dollars for the region’s economy depend on his decision-making.
In the past 12 months Mr Barker played an influential role in the increase of Singapore Airlines’ flights to Cairns, contributed to negotiations with Cathay Pacific and has been in talks with Qatar Airways about opening new routes.
His tick of approval also opened Cairns to more domestic routes and markets via the introduction of Bonza flights in 2022.
Cairns Airport was also named the Airport of the Year in August.
Mr Barker is a frequent keynote speaker at business and economic development forums in Cairns.
2: Mica Martin
As the CEO of Cairns Regional Council, Mica Martin is responsible for the second largest workforce in the region — and oversees the delivery of services to every ratepayer in her local government area.
Council operates a budget of more than $312 million (2020/21) and a Capital Works Program worth $181 million. It employs about 1250 staff.
Ms Martin was this year appointed to the board of Advance Cairns as the Cairns Regional Council representative.
Before moving to Cairns in 2021, Ms Martin served for 29 years with the country’s largest local government authority — Brisbane City Council. She spent 16 years in senior management positions, most recently as Field Services Executive Manager – tasked with the construction and maintenance of civil and green assets across the city with an annual budget of $800 million and over 1800 employees.
She holds a Bachelor of Business (Tourism), Associate Diplomas in Neuroscience in Leadership and Competitive Systems and Practices (Lean), and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
1: Mary Fowler
Matildas’ youngest player, Mary Fowler, once said she wanted “to look back on my career and see that I’ve done more than just play football”.
If you look across Cairns, where she was born, it’s clear she’s managed to do that already.
Fowler’s talent was on display for everyone to see this World Cup; her performance raised expectations that she will be Sam Kerr’s eventual successor.
The World Cup was also the most watched event in Australian TV history; the semi-final defeat drew 11.15 million viewers at its peak.
Youngsters across the Far North have since started wearing Fowler’s signature black gloves.
Before the World Cup she told News Corp Australia she had “found myself a lot more’’.
“When you are a teenager you obviously question a lot of things, you don’t know what you want to do with your life, you don’t even know why you exist,’’ she said. “Now I’m at a point where I’m just content with where I’m at, I know who I am.’’
Fowler has been the most influential person in Far North Queensland in the past 12 months; but her impact is yet to be truly realised.
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