It’s as diverse as it is challenging, with Covid presenting unexpected hurdles but also chances to adapt and flourish.

Today, The Courier-Mail reveals the top 60 operators, assessed by their ability to influence the decisions that matter in Queensland, and also how effectively they use this influence.

POWER 100: Queensland’s most powerful people 100-51

SPORT: Queensland’s 65 most powerful sporting identities

NEXT THURSDAY: Queensland’s Top 50 Most Powerful

Scroll to the bottom to read how we selected the list.

1. THE WAGNER FAMILY

Wagner Corporation

They’re the knockabout family from the Darling Downs famous for getting things done with a bulldozer or six, but don’t underestimate the political clout of brothers John, Denis, Neill, Joe and father Henry.

Who else could get the State Government to sign a sweetheart deal for them to build the Covid-led quarantine facility at their Wellcamp airport outside Toowoomba? Until July, details of the highly controversial agreement were kept secret. No tender process occurred and the facility, which cost taxpayers $223.5m, was underused before being mothballed in August.

John Wagner has been hand-picked by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to sit on the Olympic Legacy Committee to ensure the benefits of the Games extend beyond 2032.

The Wagners, beginning as a small concreting company, are now one of the leading producers of construction materials and services to Australian and international markets. The family sprang to prominence in 2014 when it built the Wellcamp airport, the first international public airport in Australia since Tullamarine nearly 50 years ago. The airport was completed in 19 months, an astonishingly fast time for such a project.

It has not all been smooth running lately, though, with their holdings in their concrete and materials company losing a staggering $28m in just a few days last month. That followed a big slump in profit as major projects such as Cross River Rail came to an end just as the business was hit by rising fuel costs and labour shortages. The family owns more than half of the company that listed on the ASX in 2017.

2. GINA RINEHART

Australia Outback Beef, S Kidman & Co and Hancock Prospecting executive chairman

She might be technically based in Western Australia, but there is no doubt our nation’s richest person is staking a massive claim on Queensland.

Rinehart’s huge cattle operation S Kidman & Co confirmed in July it would be moving its head office to the Sunshine State. The business and its parent company Australian Outback Beef employ more than 150 people with 2021 revenue of $66.7m and net assets of $392m.

Rinehart, who is Australia’s biggest landholder controlling more than 9.2m hectares or 1.2 per cent of the country’s landmass, obviously loves Queensland. It seems as if she is here all the time, including at the August Brisbane Fashion Festival where she sponsored the emerging designers parade at City Hall.

Rinehart is feted at red carpet events, rubbing shoulders with politicians and key business types, and is also a big wig in Australia’s Olympics efforts, being patron of four teams and the largest single non-government contributor to the Olympic effort.

The mining magnate and daughter of Lang Hancock also loves Queensland property. Last year she announced she was going to buy the Great Keppel Island Resort for a rumoured $50m and splash millions bringing the tourism icon back to life. The deal fell through but she does own a riverfront mansion in Brisbane which she paid $18.5m for in 2017 – and recently paid more than $76m for four homes at Sunshine Beach.

3. JIM CHALMERS

Federal Treasurer

Businesses across the state could rightly claim a home advantage with Jim Chalmers being a Queenslander. The man who controls Australia’s purse strings – and is considered the most senior member of the Labor Right faction in Queensland – seems to have rocketed straight out of Logan to become one of the nation’s most powerful office holders.

But the rise and rise of Jim Chalmers has been more than a decade in the making. His first big test as Treasurer is set to come in the form of an updated October Budget, outlining Labor’s priorities in government for the first time since 2013.

Chalmers has been the Member for Rankin since 2013, representing the people and suburbs of southern Brisbane and Logan City where he grew up.

Prior to parliament, he was chief of staff to then deputy PM and treasurer Wayne Swan and briefly executive director of the Chifley Research Centre.

4. CAMERON DICK

Queensland Treasurer

He might be on the nose with big business after his June budget – slugging mining companies, online bookmakers and businesses with annual wages bills exceeding $10m with new taxes – but this former barrister is Labor’s right faction pick to succeed Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Churchie-educated Cameron Dick has served as attorney-general and health minister and forms a formidable political duo alongside brother Milton Dick, the newly sworn in Speaker of the 47th parliament in Canberra.

5. STEVE JOHNSTON

Suncorp CEO

A true powerbroker, Steve Johnston oversaw the July 2022 sale of Suncorp’s banking operations to ANZ in a deal worth almost $5bn.

As Suncorp’s first Queensland-born chief executive, Johnston has been a break from the past for one of Queensland’s biggest companies. Suncorp has seen a procession of out-of-town bosses – from British tank commander Patrick Snowball to US-born Steve Jones – appointments that some say reflected a banana-benders’ corporate cultural cringe.

Johnston, who in his early days at Suncorp would leave his battered old RAV4 among the expensive European models in the corporate car park, has brought a more down-to-earth style to Suncorp.

The son of service station operators and a graduate of Mansfield State High School, he is conservative, self-assured and polite to a fault.

6. JAYNE HRDLICKA

Virgin Australia CEO

American-born Jayne Hrdlicka is one of the most recognised CEOs in Queensland after taking on the role of Virgin Australia boss in 2020.

Hrdlicka has steered Virgin out of voluntary administration and is now navigating a new growth path for the airline as Australia recovers from the global pandemic.

With so much of Queensland’s prosperity riding on the tourism sector, especially as we head towards the 2032 Olympics, Hrdlicka has become one of the state’s most powerful CEOs.

Brisbane-based Hrdlicka is a veteran of the aviation industry having previously held senior roles at Qantas, including CEO of budget carrier Jetstar.

She is also well-known to sports lovers as the chairman and board president of Tennis Australia.

7. GRAHAM TURNER

Flight Centre co-founder and CEO

Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner trained to be a veterinarian but caught the wanderlust, ending up in the UK running a tour bus company called Top Deck. Skroo later went on to found global travel empire Flight Centre taking advantage of the deregulation of the airline ticketing business in the 1980s.

He remains one of the most down-to-earth chief executives in Queensland, eschewing pomp and fanfare in favour of plain speaking. He is not afraid to call a spade a shovel and during Covid-19 was a strident critic of what he believed were over-the-top restrictions on travel and movement.

He and wife Jude also operate Spicers Retreats, a collection of high-end boutique resorts that have set a benchmark for luxury in the Australian market.

8. ROBBIE COOKE

Star Entertainment Group incoming CEO

Robbie Cooke has landed one of the most powerful jobs in Queensland as the new CEO of The Star Entertainment Group. The highly-regarded exec will take up the role in early 2023 as the gambling group gets ready to open the first stage of Brisbane’s $3.6bn Queen’s Wharf development.

The appointment of Cooke also signals Star – which is licking its wounds after revelations from a royal commission-style inquiry into its operations in NSW – is shifting its focus increasingly towards South East Queensland.

Queen’s Wharf is scheduled to open in the middle of 2023, Star’s Gold Coast masterplan is well under way and the 2032 Olympic Games are expected to produce a decade of growth.

Cooke, a Brisbane Grammar School and University of Queensland graduate, will hit the ground running with the final report from the Queensland government inquiry into Star’s suitability to hold a licence due at the end of September.

He is used to working at the sharp end, starting his career at UNiTAB in Brisbane in 1999 where he was head of strategy and legal counsel, working closely with chief executive Dick McIlwain, until the company merged with Tattersalls Holdings in 2005.

Cooke then joined accommodation booking company Wotif.com and later took the reins from founder Graeme Wood guiding to its ASX debut before returning to Tatts Group as CEO in 2013 until it merged with Tabcorp five years later.

For the past four years Cooke has been CEO of Sydney-based, ASX-listed fintech Tyro Payments.

9. KYLIE RAMPA

Queensland Investment Corporation CEO

QUEENSLAND INVESTMENT CORPORATION CEO

Following a four-month global recruitment process, Kylie Rampa returned to Queensland this year as the new CEO of QIC, the Queensland government’s investment arm.

You may not know her name but as the boss of the state’s flagship fund manager she has a lot of clout in the financial world. Rampa leads a team overseeing a more than $100bn investment portfolio on behalf of the state government and other institutional investors.

The former QUT student took up the job in April after a stellar 25-year career which has taken her all over the world with property and investment heavyweights such as Lendlease, Macquarie and AMP.

10. ANDREW LIVERIS

Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee president

Andrew Liveris is pulling the strings for the biggest event in Queensland’s economic and sporting history.

The epitome of the Brisbane boy made good, he was educated at the University of Queensland after his family moved down from Darwin. Liveris says Brisbane has always held a “special place” in his heart, even though he left Queensland more than 30 years ago to build a stellar corporate career including a 15-year stint as boss of Dow Chemical, a $47bn multinational operating in 160 countries.

He donated $13.5m to UQ on stepping down at Dow in 2018. A key supporter of manufacturing, he was a key business adviser to former US president Donald Trump.

Dividing his time between Sydney and the US, the formidable Liveris is known for his deep contacts on both sides of politics. Despite his personal closeness to former Democrat president Bill Clinton, he was asked by Trump to head a manufacturing council of CEOs and corporate heavyweights to guide the administration’s business policy.

11. HARVEY LISTER

ASM Global (Asia Pacific) chairman and CEO

There is arguably no-one in the business of events and entertainment better networked than Harvey Lister, whose opinions are highly-respected by top-level government officials.

ASM Global runs some of the world’s biggest venues, including three here in Queensland: the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Suncorp Stadium and Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

Lister’s links to NBA teams, NFL stadiums, concert halls and auditoriums across the globe give him an undeniable edge when it comes to advocating for major acts and events to come to Queensland.

His next major push is for Brisbane Live, a proposed multipurpose entertainment and sporting arena at Roma Street Station.

Lister started in the events’ game with Rod Pilbeam in the mid-1970s, and Pilbeam is still working with Lister at ASM Global.

12. MAHA SINNATHAMBY

Springfield City Group chairman

A true visionary, Maha Sinnathamby saw potential in a 28ha parcel of bushland south west of Brisbane 30 years ago. Today Greater Springfield is now home to 50,000 people, a population forecast to double by the end of the decade.

The son of a poor Malaysian rubber plantation worker, the 82-year-old billionaire is the face and heart of Australia’s largest – and the 10th largest in the world – masterplanned community. Since purchasing the land for $7.9m with business partner Bob Sharpless, more than $17bn has been invested by public and private stakeholders into the innovative city focused on the interconnected pillars of health, education, and information technology.

Sinnathamby is an indefatigable advocate for Springfield and Queensland and works across the local, state and federal government political divide to push his vision with the business remaining a family affair, daughter Raynuha steering day-to-day operations as managing director.

Recently, he appointed Morgan Stanley to find a partner to help finish what will be at least another $40bn spend over two decades to accelerate plans to make Springfield the world’s greenest city within 15 years and to expand technology, health and education precincts.

13. BERNARD REILLY

Australian Retirement Trust CEO

Bernard Reilly is the man in charge of $237bn worth of our retirement savings as boss of Australian Retirement Trust. ART was formed last year following the merger of QSuper and Sunsuper, two of Queensland’s biggest superannuation funds.

Reilly, a veteran financial executive, is in charge of expanding the fund’s membership, particularly in southern states. He was chief executive of Sunsuper prior to the merger. Previously he was a member of the Board Investment Committee at NSW Treasury Corporation, which is the asset management arm and financial markets partner of the NSW government.

He also has 25 years’ experience with State Street Global Advisors, most recently based in Boston and Sydney in the role of executive vice president, global head of strategy.

14. EVAN MOORHEAD

Anacta strategies director

His firm might have been technically banned from lobbying the government after scathing findings of undue influence by the Coaldrake Review, but that hasn’t stopped businesses lining up to buy what Evan Moorhead is selling: valuable connections in the political and regulatory sectors.

Moorhead moved to Canberra this year following the change of federal government, but his firm in Brisbane is still raking in new clients and keeping existing ones in the know.

15. BEVAN SLATTERY

Superloop and NEXTDC founder

Serial entrepreneur Bevan Slattery has become one of the country’s highest profile tech leaders over the past decade, listing a bunch of companies on the ASX, including data centre group NEXTDC, telco infrastructure firm Superloop and cloud connectivity provider Megaport.

He is also the founder of Cloudscene, the world’s largest data centre and service provider directory.

The former North Rockhampton State High School student’s most ambitious project is HyperOne, a 20,000km digital superhighway that will connect every major Australian city. Construction of the $1.5bn fibre optic network, the largest private digital infrastructure project ever undertaken in Australia, is already under way and could end up being his greatest legacy.

Slattery’s power in the business sector is shown that when he sells or buys, the market follows.

16. SCOTT HUTCHINSON

Hutchinson Builders chairman

From a leadership role in the construction sector to heading the fourth-generation family business affectionately known as Hutchies – Australia’s largest private construction company with an annual turnover of $3bn – Hutchinson has been at the sharp end of Queensland’s building industry for decades.

While the Hutchinson name adorns building sites all over the state and beyond, Hutchinson is also a major mover and shaker in the live music industry and was recently presented with the business leadership gong in the Creative Partnerships Awards.

He certainly has the runs on the board, owning six venues in the Valley – The Outpost Bar, The Fortitude Valley Music Hall, The Triffid, The Sound Garden, Blute’s, Black Bear Lodge and Kickons, which is co-operated by his son Terrence.

17. DON MEIJ

Domino’s Pizza Enterprises CEO

Don Meij is as much an innovator as he is a fast-food king. While studying to be a teacher, Meij started delivering Silvio’s Dial-a-Pizza in 1987 in Redcliffe. He worked his way up through the company and six years later became general manager when Silvio’s acquired Domino’s.

Meij became a Domino’s franchisee, building a network of 17 stores, which he sold in 2001 for 12.5 per cent equity in the business.

Since then as CEO, it has been upwards and onwards, listing on the ASX and Domino’s Pizza Enterprise Ltd becoming the largest master franchise in the world, with more than 2800 stores and 25,000 employees.

The fast food giant, which has seen wild share price swings on the ASX over the years, successfully negotiated the Covid-19 pandemic by adding new stores and staff while continuing to invest in product and technology developments.

Renowned for thinking outside the box, Meij and his team have plans to take on the twin bogeys of high inflation and possibly a recession by revamping their menus and delivery model to create a more premium product for customers.

18. BRETT GODFREY

Tourism and Events Queensland chairman

As the co-founder with Sir Richard Branson in 2000 of Virgin Blue airlines – the precursor to Virgin Australia, of which Godfrey was its long-serving CEO – this entrepreneurial accountant is instrumental in the direction of the state’s $20 billion-plus tourism sector.

Nothing gets TEQ support without Godfrey’s sign-off, and that means many of the state’s biggest and most lucrative events.

He also manages a portfolio of tourism assets including Noosa’s Makepeace Island (another venture with Branson).

19. TREVOR LEE

Australian Country Choice principal

The billionaire beef baron, whose company for decades supplied meat to Coles, might be the son of a former Joh Bjelke-Petersen minister but his political allegiances now lean to the Left, elevating his level of influence in government circles.

Lee and his fashion designer wife Keri Craig-Lee hosted a Labor Party fundraiser attended by Anthony Albanese and Annastacia Palaszczuk ahead of the May 2022 federal election, and the Queensland Premier has been a guest at their Ascot mansion on at least one other occasion.

Lee, who is also among Australia’s largest landholders, successfully lobbied the State Government in 2021 to intervene in a bitter development dispute after he fell out with the Liberal-held Brisbane City Council.

20. BRUCE MATHIESON SNR

Hotel baron

Bruce Mathieson started in the pub game in 1974 and at 78 shows no sign of putting up his feet.

The Gold Coast-based pub king built up his poker machine and pub empire through Australian Liquor and Hospitality in a joint venture with supermarket giant Woolworths. Last year Woolworths bought out his stake in ALH in exchange for the minority stake – 14.6 per cent – in the ASX-listed Endeavour Group.

In June he stepped down as Endeavour Group Board member and will be replaced by his son Bruce Jr. The younger Mathieson left his role as managing director of Hotels at Endeavour last year. They are now focusing on the family business and recently bought the Redbrick Hotel in Woolloongabba, their fourth in southeast Queensland.

Both Mathiesons live on the Gold Coast.

21. GEORGE FRAZIS

Bank of Queensland CEO

George Frazis is not your typical conservative banking boss. The well-connected Frazis has been at the helm of the $4.4bn financial institution, one of the largest companies in the state, for the past three years. The story of how he climbed the corporate ladder is an inspiring one.

Frazis, the eldest of seven children in a Greek migrant family, grew up in a housing commission rental property in Darwin. He had an aptitude for maths and studied electronic engineering at university before joining the Royal Australian Air Force.

After stints in business consulting and aviation, he made the switch to banking in 2003. He has worked in executive positions in CBA, NAB and Westpac and is known as a highly demanding but highly empowering boss.

Frazis has championed diversity in the workplace and was a high-profile corporate supporter of same-sex marriage. He married Ken Pratt in 2018 at a wedding in front of a who’s who of guests, including former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

22. GERT-JAN DE GRAAFF

Brisbane Airport Corporation CEO

Gert-Jan de Graaff returned to Australia’s third largest airport 2018 as CEO and, like the rest of the world, had to negotiate the Covid pandemic.

However, while the terminals were empty, he was also rolling out infrastructure on a grand scale including finishing the $1.1bn parallel runway as well as new parking facilities, terminal redevelopment and road upgrades.

Brisbane Airport was also unlocking more than 2700ha of leasehold land which represents one of South East Queensland’s largest contiguous single-owner sites. BNE’s property arm has been instrumental in the development of Skygate and BNE Auto Mall and is home to 425 businesses with nearly 24,000 workers.

International flights and domestic services are returning but it will be a long time before activity returns to pre-Covid levels and de Graaff has lobbied state and federal governments for greater assistance to the industry. He is also on the board of directors for the Australian Airlines Association Airport Council International.

23. KATE JONES

Tech Council of Australia executive director

Sometimes power comes from what you know and other times it’s who you know. For former state Labor politician Kate Jones, it’s both.

She has connections up the chain to the highest echelons of government, an intimate knowledge of how bureaucracy works, and a who’s who list of business contacts that comes from more than a decade in politics, including stints as minister for state development, innovation and the Commonwealth Games.

These days, she’s shaping the country’s digital future as executive director of the Tech Council of Australia, which sees her working with government and players across the $167bn tech sector.

Jones has also had her lobbying hat on as a strategy and engagement adviser for Queensland rich lister Bevan Slattery’s digital infrastructure platform Soda. One of projects is HyperOne, Slattery’s audacious plan to build a 20,000km digital superhighway connecting every major Australian city.

Jones is also shaping the future of rugby league as an ARLC commissioner.

24. TREVOR ST BAKER

St Baker Energy Innovation Fund founder and deputy chairman

He may be in his 80s but Trevor St Baker acts like a man in the prime of life.

After making a fortune in the mainstream power sector, St Baker is now one of Australia’s leading investors in renewable energies. His innovation fund has holdings in electric vehicle recharging firm Tritium and lithium battery developer Novonix.

St Baker is a practical man who does not bog himself down in dogma, believing actions speak louder than words. Born in working class Bankstown, southwest of Sydney, he won a full scholarship to study engineering at university. Plans to become a civil engineer were tossed aside when the electricity sector sparked his interest.

After working for the NSW electricity commission, St Baker joined its Queensland counterpart in 1970. After missing out on a top job in the Queensland bureaucracy, St Baker says he “left in a huff” to form his own electricity consultancy that eventually became ERM Power.

St Baker later pocketed $168 million when energy giant Shell took over ERM Power in 2019.

25. KARL MORRIS

Ord Minnett CEO

Exuding a quiet power and with a career spanning more than 30 years in financial services and wealth management, Morris also holds several high-profile positions, including chair of the Broncos and the Bravehearts Foundation Fund.

In 2019, Morris led a consortium of some of Queensland’s richest businessmen to take control of the 147-year-old Ord Minnett.

As a fresh-faced stockbroker in the 1980s, Morris had what can only be described as a baptism of fire, joining the brokerage firm AC Goode three months before Black Monday on October 19, 1987, one of the biggest stock market crashes in history.

26. ANTHONY HERAGHTY

Super Retail Group chief executive

Anthony Heraghty knows all about Queensland consumers. He has been the boss of Brisbane-based Super Retail Group, one of the largest retailers in the country, for the past three and a half years.

The $2.2bn ASX-listed Super Retail owns Supercheap Auto and other popular brands Rebel, BCF and Macpac.

Heraghty, a Terrace old boy, has spent more than two decades honing his understanding of consumer behaviour and trends. His resume includes stints in leadership positions for clothing group Pacific Brands (Bonds), beverage giant Foster’s Group and advertising houses George Patterson and McCann Erickson.

27. GEOFF HOGG

Star Entertainment Group interim CEO

Ahead of the 2023 commencement of CEO Robbie Cooke, Geoff Hogg is still overseeing the construction of the $3.6bn Queen’s Wharf development.

It’s a Brisbane-first entertainment, dining and retail precinct and casino-resort, with five new hotels, apartments, 50 restaurants, cafes and bars, parks and gardens. It will create 8000 jobs once operational. The first stage is expected to open next year. The project is set to bring an extra 1.4 million tourists a year to the region and boost annual spending in Queensland by $1.7bn.

Hogg took on the role following the resignation of John O’Neill and was the chief casino officer for Star’s Queensland operations. Away from the casino, he is on the board of the National Retail Association and Major Events Gold Coast.

28. ANDREW HARDING

Aurizon CEO

The boss of one of Queensland’s top ASX-listed companies, Andrew Harding has run the Brisbane-based rail freight giant for six years.

Harding started his working life as an engineer at Rio Tinto, rising through the ranks and serving at mining operations from Utah to Mongolia.

He has continued the transformation of Aurizon since joining in late 2016. The formerly named QR National was government owned before being privatised and floated on the ASX in November 2010. In the past decade it has shed thousands of jobs and become a leaner organisation.

Harding credits daily meditation as his weapon for being able to manage stress and focus on the job at hand.

29. DON O’RORKE

Consolidated Properties chairman and CEO

Don O’Rorke has been a stalwart of the state’s development industry for almost four decades working with both sides of the political divide.

Quietly spoken and a tough deal maker in the boardroom, the head of CPG has a $2.3bn pipeline of projects on his hands including Monarch Coronation Drive apartment towers in the old ABC site in Toowong, the $850m Yeerongpilly Green masterplanned community and the speculative construction of $260m office tower at 895 Ann St in the Valley, being built by Hutchies.

A keen surfer and former Property Council state president, he also has been a director of Brisbane Marketing and the Wesley Research Institute. O’Rorke is currently chairman of the school council of Brisbane’s Boys’ College – where the boy from Esk boarded as an 11-year-old, meeting lifelong friend Scott Hutchinson.

O’Rorke is also on the Reserve Bank’s Small Business Finance Advisory Panel.

30. BRETT CLARK

ePharmacy managing director

In certain business, philanthropic and sporting circles, Brett Clark’s name is already well known. His profile is only going to grow over the next 10 years.

Clark, one of Queensland’s e-commerce pioneers, was appointed to the board of the Brisbane Organising Committee for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games in April. Few could argue with his credentials. He is a former chairman of Queensland Ballet and was appointed chairman of Queensland Rugby Union in March.

He has a lifelong connection with rugby, having played it at Brisbane Grammar School. But perhaps while not knowing his name, most Queenslanders would be familiar with his work as a pharmacist.

Clark co-founded ePharmacy.com.au, a company that has its roots in the dot.com boom of the late 1990s. He his partners sold part of their online business to the Chemist Warehouse Group in 2005 in exchange for a stake in the pharmacy giant. Clark is managing partner of Chemist Warehouse Qld and Northern NSW.

31. CHRIS WALLIN

QCoal founder

Billionaire Chris Wallin, now one of Australia’s richest mining executives, trained as a geologist with the Queensland Government before founding his own company QCoal in the late 1980s.

Wallin’s QCoal Foundation has donated millions helping the Royal Flying Doctor Service with pilot training and establishing a network of regional dental clinics. After almost being bitten by a snake in the outback, Wallin realised the importance of emergency assistance in rural areas.

QCoal Group, which operates five mines in the resource-rich Bowen Basin, has benefited from rising prices for coal over the past year. The company made a profit of $91.2m last year compared to $86.4m in 2020.

32. JEN WILLIAMS

Property Council of Australia Queensland executive director

Armed with plenty of street smarts, Jen Williams became executive director of the Property Council of Australia’s Queensland division last year during the dark days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was not an appointment out of the blue having been the organisation’s deputy executive director for six years. Prior to joining the Property Council, she held policy roles in Brisbane City Council and the federal government, and had a career in teaching.

A champion of the Queensland property sector, Williams has partnered with the council, business groups and property owners to reactivate Brisbane’s CBD in the wake of the pandemic.

She is also using her skills and profile to champion city-defining events and projects like the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games, Cross River Rail and Queen’s Wharf.

33. ADRIAN DI MARCO

Technology One Founder

Entrepreneur Adrian Di Marco is a pioneer of Australia’s software industry.

He started TechnologyOne in a demountable office building in the Brisbane industrial suburb of Hemmant in 1987 and grew it to become Australia’s largest enterprise software firm.

Di Marco, the son of Italian immigrants, remains one of the most influential people in Australia’s tech sector, even after retiring as executive chairman of the $4bn, ASX-listed firm at the end of June.

He still has skin in the game, controlling more than 17m TechnologyOne shares worth more than $200m. Over the years he has invested in up to 40 start-ups including Fusion Sport and accounting software firm Ignition.

34. ROBERT NIOA

Nioa Global CEO

Robert Nioa helped build a family owned gun shop into the largest Australian-owned supplier of firearms, weapons and munitions to the Australian Defence Force, law enforcement community and licensed firearms dealer network.

Headquartered in Brisbane, the company has more than 180 staff with offices and operations in Canberra, Melbourne, Benalla and Lithgow as well as New Zealand and the United States.

Nioa began his working life in the family’s service stations in regional Queensland where they also started a small gun shop which was the forerunner of the modern company.

In 1994, Robert Nioa became a director of NIOA Trading, which by then had expanded into Brisbane as a small sporting firearms wholesaler, before eventually stepping up to run the business in 2002. As CEO, NIOA is responsible for NIOA’s strategic direction, with a focus on creating and developing opportunities while building the company’s capabilities.

He has political connections through his wife Eliza, the daughter of Bob Katter, the Federal Member for Kennedy and founder of Katter’s Australian Party.

35. REBECCA FRIZELLE

Company director, Gold Coast Titans co-owner

Rebecca Frizelle is a household name on the Gold Coast, with deep involvement in the rugby league, business and tourism industries.

She was chief operating officer of Frizelle Prestige and a key shareholder in Frizelle Sunshine Automotive and Peter Warren Automotive until her recent resignation ahead of the business’s initial public offering through Peter Warren Automotive Holdings Limited.

Known for her strong advocacy for the city of Gold Coast, Frizelle co-owns the Titans NRL club with Darryl Kelly and has been appointed by former PM Scott Morrison to the Brisbane Organising Committee for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Frizelle stepped down after June 30 as a director of Sunland Development Group as the company’s executives took a 40 per cent haircut to their salaries. She remains a director of the Audi Foundation, LifeFlight Australia Ltd and Paralympics Australia.

36 STEVE WILSON

Wilson HTM Investment Group director

Steve Wilson has cast a big shadow in the Queensland business sector first as chief executive and chairman of broking house Wilson HTM (where he remains a director) and later as an innovative national leader in emerging company finance and wealth management.

The elder statesman of the Queensland businesses scene has taken more of a back seat role at the sharp end of the investment industry but has been involved in a multitude of city and shape changing ventures, including being chairman of the South Bank Corporation when it transformed from the old World Expo 88 site into the lifestyle precinct that it now is.

Wilson holds tremendous influence in the state and keeps a full diary as chair of Racing Queensland, chairman of Barambah Wines and a director of the Centre for Independent Studies and a string of other organisations.

The preservation of Brisbane’s heritage has become an important quest for him and his medico wife Jane. Last year they were revealed as the buyer of Kangaroo Point’s historic Lamb House which property veteran Kevin Seymour also wanted to buy. The house overlooks the Brisbane River and a $15m renovation has begun.

37. SUE VAN DE MERWE

The Lottery Corp chief executive

The Brisbane-based veteran executive is the boss of one of the largest companies in Queensland. She was appointed CEO of ASX-listed The Lottery Corp following its demerger from Tabcorp earlier this year. She had led Tabcorp’s lotteries and keno business since the 2017 combination of Tabcorp and Tatts Group.

In a career in lotteries spanning 30 years, she has played a central role in the successful development of the Australian industry and was instrumental in the acquisition of multiple lottery licences and the successful integration of these businesses.

She is also chairman of the Asia Pacific Lottery Association, sits on the World Lottery Association Executive Committee and was inducted into PGRI’s Lottery Industry Hall of Fame in 2016, recognising her contribution to world lottery excellence and integrity.

38. KEVIN SEYMOUR

Seymour Group executive chairman

Kevin Seymour is a name synonymous with the Queensland property sector. He founded the Seymour Property Group in 1976 and has shaped the Brisbane CBD with some of its most prestigious office towers and retail developments including Queens Plaza and Post Office Square.

He has had a long list of past roles including chairman of Watpac Ltd, director of Tatts, chairman of the Albion Park Harness Racing Club and chairman of the Brisbane City Council’s Brisbane Housing Company Limited and as well was his role with Seymour Group he is also deputy chairman of ASX-listed Ariadne Australia.

Despite announcing he was taking a step away from his family-owned development business, Seymour, who is in his early eighties, is still buying sites and focused on passing on his legacy to his grandchildren who have teamed up with him on prestigious New Farm riverfront apartments The Oxlade and The Peninsula.

His latest mega project is the $600m mixed use precinct Newstead Green in Brisbane’s inner east and he was recently revealed as the buyer of a mixed use waterfront home in Noosa Sound for $15.5m where he will build a Hawaiian-inspired, resort-style home for him and wife Kay.

39. HEIDI COOPER

Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland CEO

With more than 20 years’ experience in law, corporate affairs and policy making under her belt, Heidi Cooper in February joined Queensland’s peak business lobbying group as its CEO. It’s been a hectic six months. She’s taken the reins at CCIQ as the business community bounces back from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, adjusts to a new federal government and grapples with a jobs crisis, rising interest rates, higher inflation and the threat of potential recession.

On a broader level Cooper, who has held senior executive roles at major ASX companies such as Origin Energy and Transurban, wants to drive economic growth in the state by encouraging the adoption of more sustainable business practices.

The well-connected former solicitor is also a member of the Jobs Queensland board, the Brisbane Festival Giving Committee, St Margaret’s Foundation Board and St Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace School Advisory Council.

40. MICK HEWITT

Hewitt Cattle Australia CEO

The Hewitt family have been pastoralists in Queensland for generations but under Mick Hewitt the business has been transformed into one of Australia’s largest organic and natural livestock producers.

Backed by Canadian sovereign wealth giant PSP Investments, Hewitt Cattle Australia controls 19 properties in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, NT and South Australia. Early this year with PSP they bought four NT properties covering 1.1 million hectares for $96m.

HCW’s growth has been based on Mick Hewitt targeting investment in innovation and establishing highly functional management and financial systems. Beyond his role at HCW he is on the board of agribusinesses Western Plains Pork and Australian Dairy Pastures and red meat processing and marketing group Arcadian Organic & Natural Meat Company.

41. TIM FORRESTER

Aria Property Group managing director

Tim Forrester founded Aria Property Group 19 years ago with long-time school friends and family members and since then has left his mark on Brisbane with more than $2bn in projects encompassing some of the city’s most cutting edge apartment towers and vibrant new precincts.

Armed with the mantra of creating projects that “we’re all proud to walk our families past in 20 years’ time” his towers in Brisbane’s inner south have provided thousands of people with state-of-the-art homes.

He has also set new standards with the idea of “place-making” with his character packed Fish Lane area in South Brisbane – with its eclectic dining and street art. Aria continues to push the boundaries having won a string of awards embracing the “buildings that breathe” concept of green walls of plants and rooftop gardens.

Aria has a partnership with The Smith Family and has donated $550,000 over 10 years and has mentored 750 kids.

42. ANDREW BARNES

GO1 CEO

Andrew Barnes co-founded the online education provider Go1 in a Logan garage in 2014 with mates Chris Eigeland, Vu Tran, and Chris Hood who now rank among Queensland most influential young entrepreneurs.

Attracting investors including tech guru Steve Baxter, Microsoft and Sales Force, the firm now employs 220 people and its success acts as a beacon to lure other start-ups and technology talent to the state.

Barnes says Logan has been the perfect city to expand the business noting “we don’t have the challenges that maybe a traditional business would have operating out of southeast Queensland.”

Go1 has a market value well in excess of $2bn, making it officially a “unicorn.” and one of the state’s largest privately-owned companies. The company has seen demand for online learning ramp up as the pandemic drove consumers online and companies needed people with the right skills to rapidly develop and deploy digital experiences for their customers.

43. SCOTT POWER

BMD Group CEO

Two years ago Scott Power took over the reins as chief executive of one of Australia’s largest privately owned construction, consulting and urban development companies BMD Group from father Mick.

With an engineering background, he joined the family business in 1995 working through a number of roles as it has expanded to cover civil and industrial, resources, residential and infrastructure spheres, through subsidiaries including BMD Constructions, BMD Urban, Empower Engineers & Project Managers, JMac Constructions and Urbex.

The company, founded by Mick in 1979, has 1700 employees and in 2020-21 it turned over $1.55bn. Some of its recent major projects include Brisbane Airport’s new parallel runway and they have an extensive interstate and offshore workbook.

A strong pipeline of projects including the masterplanned community Capestone north of Brisbane and the Mount Crosby Weir Bridge will ensure another strong year.

Scott Power is on the boards of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia and Australian Owned Contractors.

44. BOB ELL

Leda Holdings executive chairman

A former carpenter Bob Ell established the Leda Group in 1976 and divides his time between Sydney and the Gold Coast.

Leda Group has developed properties worth more than $3bn and has extensive residential, retail, commercial and industrial property interests. He has residential developments in Pimpama on the northern Gold Coast and has interests in Ipswich Riverlink, Victoria Point and Morayfield shopping centres.

A visionary, he raised plans to develop a cruise ship terminal, including three liner berths plus a superyacht marina, three resorts and an option for a casino at Tugun.

45. SIMON BEARD

Culture Kings CEO

Simon Beard has made it to the big league. The Culture Kings sneaker and streetwear phenomenon he started with his wife Tahnee on the Gold Coast in 2008 is now creating a stir in the US.

The retailer already sells online to US customers and will later this year open its first North American store at Forum Shops at Caesars, Las Vegas.

The Beards were catapulted into the ranks of Australia’s richest young entrepreneurs last year when they sold a majority stake in the business to US-based aka Brands for more than $600m. With a.k.a’s backing they want to scale their operation and become “the No 1 destination for streetwear across the globe”.

The Culture Kings shops are best described as a heady mix of streetwear, sport and music and stock items from more than 100 big-name brands.

The young rich-listers are also shaking up the Gold Coast property scene. They snapped up Riverpoint, a six-bedroom Isle of Capri residence for $11.75m in 2020 and last year Tahnee bought a $15.25m luxurious Soul penthouse in Surfers Paradise.

46. CATHIE REID AND STUART GILES

Arc31 co-founders

Rich listers Cathie Reid and Stuart Giles walked away with a $125m payday last year after selling the remaining stake in the cancer care giant Icon Group they founded in Brisbane a decade ago.

Reid says she could have easily settled into a life as a corner store chemist after completing a pharmacy degree at Monash University in 1990. Instead, after meeting Giles, a fellow pharmacy graduate, the couple embarked on building two highly successful healthcare businesses Icon and Epic Pharmacy.

Reid says she inherited her entrepreneurial spark from her fitter-and-turner father who established a successful cattle-breeding business. Her father’s life was cut short at the age of 56 from lung cancer, adding impetus to her role in establishing Icon. The couple are now using their wealth and influence for philanthropic causes and to invest in other companies, via their private firm Arc31.

Reid, a director of the Brisbane Lions board, is also planning to be one of the first space tourists aboard Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceship.

47. JOHN VAN LEISHOUT

Property billionaire

Australia’s first Dutch-born billionaire Leishout arrived in Australia in 1960 with his parents and 12 siblings. The founder of the Super A-Mart furniture store chain, he sold the business in 2006 for $500m, retaining the freehold of some stores.

An astute property investor, he owns Unison Projects Group and his wealth is underpinned by a range of property interests in tourism, residential, industrial and commercial assets.

48. BARRY MORRIS

Morris Property Group director

Barry Morris established Morris Property Group in 1978 in Canberra as a multifaceted property business focusing on property investment, asset management, development and construction.

Branching out into Queensland, Morris is behind the 27-storey ATO office tower on the edge of the Brisbane CBD and a number of retail developments on the Gold Coast. He is also riding the apartment development wave on the Gold Coast, recently submitting plans for another apartment tower in Burleigh Heads. The group is developing a residential apartment building in Burleigh – Sandbar Burleigh Beach – as well as a new office and shopping destination, Mermaid Plaza, in Mermaid Beach – both of which are currently under construction.

MPG has proposed its eighth apartment tower in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast – a 37-storey building, consisting of 157 apartments, known as Crest Broadbeach.

49. JAMIE PHEROUS

Corporate Travel Management CEO

Jamie Pherous built a global travel empire from a small Brisbane office with two people almost 30 years ago. ASX-listed CTM now employs 1600 people with a market valuation approaching $3bn.

The company has emerged from pandemic restrictions in a strong financial position and is looking for growth opportunities.

When not running his business, Pherous can be found heli-skiing in the icy expanse of Alaska with his best friends. The travel entrepreneur is also putting the finishing touches on one of Brisbane’s most architecturally striking and expensive homes. The six-bedroom property, perched on a 1100sq m block overlooking the Brisbane River and Story Bridge, had an estimated price tag of more than $20m in 2020 before construction had even started.

50. TOM SEYMOUR

PwC Australia chief executive

One of the few Brisbane-based chief executives leading a national company, Tom Seymour has moved up the ranks of PwC Australia and was made boss two years ago. He leads a team of 700 partners and 8000 staff across PwC’s three businesses – Assurance, Financial Advisory and Consulting.

Made a partner in 2002, he has more than 25 years’ experience on taxation matters, particularly in the infrastructure, mining and energy industry sectors. He has led PwC teams advising on some of Australia’s largest public and private transactions.

On the political side of the ledger he has played a key role in PwC’s tax policy agenda, working with both state and federal governments and has been a regular contributor to public debates on tax policy and broader economic reform.

He is the chair of PwC’s Elevate Indigenous Reconciliation Action Plan, and a board member of Top Education Limited.

51. KEITH THORNTON

Eagers Automotive Limited chief executive

Thornton took the wheel of the auto giant in early 2021. A licensed motor dealer and previously the ASX-listed company’s chief operating officer, he has almost 30 years’ experience in the car industry across retail and wholesale operations.

Thornton joined Eagers Automotive in 2002 as general manager of Southside Honda and Land Rover and became general manager of Austral Honda and Austral Volkswagen in 2004. He says the car sector is transforming, with smaller, boutique-sized showrooms to replace mainstream yards, and digital technology increasingly applied to car sales.

Leading the charge, Eagers opened its AutoMall West in Indooroopilly Shopping Centre in 2022. Construction on a $300m automall within Brisbane Airport is due to begin in 2023.

52. MICHAEL McNAB

McNab managing director and founder

The last two years have been a boom period on construction but also some of the toughest conditions in the sector with household names around Australia collapsing because of rising costs, supply chain issues and labour shortages.

However, the company founded by Michael McNab in Toowoomba in 1996 remains one of the largest private builders in Queensland. With more than $400m in annual turnover McNab’s workbook includes both private and public sector projects. In the face of a rising tide of gloom in the sector Mr McNab recently hit back on Facebook announcing that his company was building more than half a million square metres – or 71 football fields – of industrial warehouses in Queensland.

He has never been shy in showing his support for the conservative side of politics, but he made a detour this year before the federal election when he announced he was backing an independent candidate against the LNP incumbent in the Toowoomba seat of Groom. Making it clear he was speaking as a resident in the electorate and not the head of McNab, he claimed the then Government had lost their way and was “too right wing socially”.

53. PRADELLA FAMILY

Silvio, Dave and Kim Pradella

Pradella has been a name synonymous with the Brisbane property sector ever since Italian-born patriarch Cesare established the company in 1959. The next generation – Silvio, David and Kim took up the mantle – and have been behind billions of dollars worth of development spanning the residential, commercial and industrial sectors.

Pradella is one of Queensland’s most awarded property groups and the family company has built many iconic projects and changed the face of Brisbane, especially in West End and South Brisbane.

Over the years, the three brothers have worked together and also pursued their own interests, with Metroplex founder Silvio focused on industrial, David had his Pradella Property Ventures residential vehicle and youngest brother Kim’s focus was primarily on apartments.

While the second generation of Pradellas continue to be a name to be reckoned with in development circles, the third generation is also carrying on the family tradition.

54. DAVID CARTER

RACQ chief executive

The veteran finance executive had led the motoring giant since 2020. With more than 30 years’ experience, including stints at Suncorp Group and ANZ, Carter also is a certified practising accountant.

He has interests outside of the finance sector and is a director of Queensland Ballet and Netball Queensland. He is the RACQ representative director of the Australian Automobile Association, Australian Motoring Services, LifeFlight Australia and Honey Insurance.

55. LORNA JANE CLARKSON

Lorna Jane founder

Before social media fitness and fashion influencers were even a thing, there was Lorna Jane Clarkson.

For the past 30 years, the former Brisbane aerobics instructor has been blazing a trail in fashion. She took boring workout gear and made it fashionable to wear not just at the gym and while exercising but also out and about town. The former Springwood State High School student even coined the term active wear and inspired countless copycat brands.

Now her Lorna Jane group has more than 1m followers on Instagram and Clarkson herself, an author of six books on health and wellbeing, has close to 260,000.

The Brisbane-based company, which she built with husband Bill Clarkson, employs more than 900 staff and has 100 stores in Australia and in a few overseas markets as well as a massive online presence.

56. CLIVE PALMER

Mineralogy chairman

MINERALOGY CHAIRMAN

Billionaire Clive Palmer acts like a man who has money to burn – and he does. The rivers of gold he earns from his iron ore royalties in Western Australia allowed him to splash an estimated $100m on his United Australia Party campaign at the 2022 federal election and only winning a single seat.

Palmer, a one-time federal member of parliament, loves to dabble in the corridors of power but he is getting further and further away from having any influence at all. In this recent election, he campaigned strongly against both major parties, urging voters to put the Liberal and Labor Party last. As a young man, Palmer was part of the failed 1987 campaign that sought to send Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen to Canberra as PM.

He later built a successful career in property development and resources, investing money in a number of projects, including relaunching the Titanic.

57. GRAEME NEWTON

Cross River Rail Delivery Authority CEO

As chief executive of the $5.4bn Cross River Rail project, Graeme Newton is steering Queensland’s largest infrastructure project.

Appointed to the role in 2017, the 10.2.km link from Dutton Park to Bowen Hills, will have 5.9km of tunnel under the Brisbane River and CBD and create four new stations and two major station upgrades. The construction of the city-shaping project has been forecast to create an average of 1500 jobs a year and when completed in 2024 pump almost $2bn into the economy.

Renowned as a steady pair of hands in government circles, Newton was also Deloitte’s lead partner for the public sector in Queensland from 2014-2017 and the CEO of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority following the floods that hit the state in 2010-11.

58. GEOFF RODGERS

Rowland chairman

Geoff “he knows absolutely everyone” Rodgers launched Rowland – a strategic communication, digital and creative agency – 30 years ago on top of a fruit shop on Racecourse Road in blue-ribbon Ascot.

From that humble beginning, Rowland has grown under his chairmanship and been involved in more than $25bn in financial transactions and some of the most significant corporate, cultural and change assignments in corporate Australia.

The consummate networker, Rodgers is at home on both sides of the political fence and with a top-shelf leadership team, including Helen Besly and Alasdair Jeffrey, has worked on projects with many of the biggest names in business.

59. IAN MACFARLANE

Queensland Resources Council CEO

Nicknamed the “chainsaw” for his distinctive voice, Ian Macfarlane has been in and around the corridors of power for a quarter of century. He had a distinguished career on the conservative side of federal politics, serving as minister for industry, tourism and development as well as science and small business.

He retired prior to the 2016 election and became the leading voice of the mining sector in Queensland. In his current chief executive post, Macfarlane’s political skills have been put to use lobbying for the interests of the mining sector and promoting the significant contribution the industry makes to the state’s economy.

Macfarlane has been a keen promoter of improving trade and professional skills in the industry amid a commodity price boom.

60. SARINA RUSSO

Sarina Russo Group managing director

If you want to know where the centre of power is in any room look for Sarina Russo, she’ll be nearby. Whether it’s with world leaders, corporate titans or local pollies, Russo knows how to network and get ahead in business.

‘See you at the Top’ has become her most popular catchcry but very few could scale the same heights as Brisbane’s self-titled jobs queen.

She started her typing school more than 40 years ago with just $2600 to her name and is now one of the richest women in the state with an estimated fortune of $270m or so.

Her Sarina Russo Group is one of Australia’s largest education, training & employment providers.

In 1994 she became the first woman to privately own a Brisbane CBD high-rise building and through savvy deals has continued to grow her property portfolio.

HOW DID WE DETERMINE THE LISTS?

Firstly, The Courier-Mail senior leadership team engaged the newsroom – reporters on the ground and in the know, those whose job it is to cover these sectors every single day.

The leadership team then used its combined years of experience and extensive contacts to brainstorm more names, adding and culling – all the while consulting with external experts and trusted sources in relevant fields.

We have excluded current executives and editors of News Corp, The Courier-Mail, Foxtel and Fox Sports. That is because News Corp Australia is the publisher of The Courier-Mail, and owns 65 per cent of Foxtel.

We understand that any such list is bound to be subjective, and is by no means exhaustive – but this list is as accurate a one as possible to produce in terms of where things are right now.

It is a unique insight into who calls the shots in Queensland. And as a subscriber it is yours exclusively.

But remember that power is more often than not temporary. Who plays large in 2022 might not be so powerful in 2023. Watch this space.