Vote for SEQ‘s most inspiring men of 2023
Their stories of success, passion and determination are the stuff dreams are made of. We reveal the achievements of 50 of SEQ’s inspiring men. SEE THE FULL LIST AND VOTE
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From teenagers doing art for global celebrities, owners of multimillion-dollar businesses, star athletes and biomedical engineers, there are many inspirational men in southeast Queensland.
With a drive for success and a mind for business, these guys are making their mark on the region and beyond.
Here, we list 50 inspirational men who are using their influence and skills to succeed and make change.
Find out who they are and then scroll to the bottom of the list to tell us who you believe is the most inspirational.
See the list in alphabetical order below.
Then, meet SEQ’s most inspiring woman of 2023 here.
SHANE BOYES
Shane has worked in a variety of businesses over the past 20 years in the workwear, PPE and safety industry, owning his our business DD Group International for five of those years.
However it is his work with domestic violence charity RizeUp that makes him really special.
For the past eight years, Shane has organised an annual charity lunch, with all proceeds going directly to RizeUp.
Over the past eight years, this event has raised more than $200,000.
Shane works tirelessly in the months leading up to the event, reaching out to sponsors to donate items for raffles and an auction.
He brings together people from a wide variety of sectors and raises awareness and much needed funds for this vital charity.
Shane has a knack of connecting with people and everyone who attends this event is always deeply affected by it.
Shane also served on the board for the charity Men of League.
He is incredibly generous with his time and works day and night as well as working full time to make a contribution
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DAMIEN BROWN
Damien has been a baker, soldier, UFC fighter, prison guard, fight promoter, commentator and now gym owner.
He left the army following a tour of Afghanistan to pursue a career in mixed-martial-arts.
His dedication to the sport has been unwavering — he used to drive an hour each way for 12-hour shifts guarding prisoners in Woodford Correctional Centre and would train at night.
He once flew himself to Europe and paid for a six month stay only to lose three consecutive fights.
In 2016, Brown was working in jail when the UFC rang, perhaps the first fighter in history to be called out of prison to debut.
Damien opened BASE Training Facility in Brendale in April 2019.
He then opened another gym in North Lakes.
The facility, which enjoys the expertise of “a bunch of black belt coaches” also has a strong focus on teaching children and catering to returned service members.
BAILEY CUNNINGHAM
Bailey is a pro Jetski racer and one of the top runabout racers in Australia.
He has competed around the world in many competitions.
Bailey has been racing for 10 years and is a multiple Queensland State Champion, New Zealand National Champion, second place getter in the Australian National Titles and multiple Queensland Series champion for Pro GP Runabout and Endurance Surf champion.
Perhaps Bailey is most famous for his daring rescue of a fellow racer during a competition in South Korea.
A competitor crashed violently at 120km/h, prompting Bailey to pullover, jump in the water and rescue the facedown, unconscious racer.
Bailey was invited by the Swedish champion he rescued to his hometown and was awarded for his bravery.
Bailey works in international freight and has sponsors which include Sunshine Coast Powersports, Jettribe, Jettrim and Ace Sunglasses.
JENSEN DEAN
Jensen, a teen artist and influencer from Kenmore, became a virtual overnight success when his art caught the attention of a growing number of celebrities thanks to the videos he was taking of his stunning artworks.
Jensen Dean offloaded a Pokemon-inspired painting to Youtuber and bad boy boxer/wrestler Logan Paul, whose antics in and outside the boxing ring have attracted 85 million social media followers.
Paul recently posted photos of himself with the striking art work, which will hang in Paul’s $13 million Puerto Rico mansion.
Jensen has also produced works for Australia singer The Kid Laroi and professional boxer KSI.
Amazingly, Jensen didn’t seriously take up art and videoing his works until about a year ago after a friend got him to do some graffiti art on a band practice room wall.
Jensen now has over 127,000 followers on Instagram and his own website.
Some of his art videos are already viral hits.
Jensen has a passion for urban street-art style, inspired by his trips to Brisbane on his bike and the train and the graffiti which he started turning into art.
From this he began funding his passion by painting murals in homes and businesses but doing this made him realise that he wanted to be more creative.
He quickly moved to painting original artwork.
2021 saw several of his paintings being acquired by overseas clients and these are now displayed in private collections in New Zealand, the UK and the USA.
His streetwear fashion brand SEKOE will be launched later this year
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BRUCE DELL
Bruce, a Year 10 dropout from Wollongong, has taken the world by storm with his jaw-dropping holographic “zoo’’ show at Cannon Hill’s Save City Shopping Centre.
The Axiom Holographics CEO’s show has more than 50 animals, including a 25m-long flying whale, life-size brontosaurus and a giraffe that bites leaves from your hands.
The zoo also has an “aquarium’’ where visitors could swim with whales and a dinosaur park with actual-sized dinos.
He has even added smell technology, created by Australian company Luxaroma.
Bruce’s company
Axiom Holographics is worth $125 million and has been selected to pitch to a delegation of investors at CapTech2023.
Bruce said they need to raise $7 million at CapTech2023 to expand their manufacturing facility at Yatala and have showrooms around the world, in a global expansion.
The $125m company, which is also behind Bill Gates’ hologram aquarium in the Maldives and a hologram table for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has doubled its revenue in 2022-23 and expects to triple it in the next 12 months.
Mr Dell set up Unlimited Detail Graphics System in 2010 and has developed the laser and holographic technology rapidly since then.
The company is based in Murrarie.
ANTONIO DE LUCA
NAILD IT Constructions was founded by Antonio in 2014 after completing his Certificate 4 in Building & Construction.
With his love and passion for building, over this time, Antonio has successfully managed and completed numerous projects with his growing team of carpenters.
One of his notable projects has been the townhouses at 95 Thackeray St, Norman Park.
Antonio started his school based apprenticeship in grade 11 after recognising his passion for building.
He complete his apprenticeship in mid-2012, before making the bold move to start his own business, NAILD IT Constructions, which soon evolved into a company after studying and obtaining his builders license in multi-residential construction
Antonio’s also recently started his new business Liveability, which is a handyman business for property maintenance.
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MARK EVANS
Impact Boxing and Fitness Centre head coach Mark Evans has been coaching for more than 20 years and originally began Impact Boxing out of his backyard gym in 2005.
Since then, the gym has grown like a family and he has now expanded and moved his gym to a bigger space now known as Impact Boxing and Fitness Centre, Cooroy.
Mark has a long list of achievements in boxing which include being Boxing Australia’s Qld TID Coach, an assistant at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, assistant at the Elite Men’s World Championships in Germany 2017 and Youths Women World Championships in India.
He was also head coach of the Boxing Queensland team at the Commonwealth Games selection trials in 2017.
Mark was named coach of the Australian team to contest the world championships in Spain 2023.
GARY FOOKS
Gary is a partner at Renewable Partners and has a Master of Business Administration from New York University.
He worked for 11 years to lobby and eventually initiate the Product Emissions Standards Act 2017 in Australia.
Gary served as the Chairman of Blue Sky Alliance and Eco Friendly Fishing Association, where he advocated for the introduction and implementation of product emissions standards for small engines and vehicles.
The Act promised to deliver $1.7 billion in health cost savings, 30,000 tonnes less hydrocarbon emissions per year and when fully implemented claims to save around 270 Australian lives a year – around the same as the national drowning statistic.
As a result of Gary’s work, the importation of high-emission lawnmowers, mulchers, leaf blowers, generators, chainsaws, outboard boat motors and other handheld equipment that doesn’t comply with new standards is no longer allowed.
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TIM FRANKLIN
Brisbane lawyer Tim Franklin is currently running around the world — his goal and motivation is to encourage people to move and have fun doing it.
He is currently in France on day 330 — that’s right 330 days of running.
He made headlines for running a marathon inside his apartment during lockdown, and in 2021, he ran 250km in three days to raise awareness for men’s mental health.
Tim is now embarking on a mission to break the world record and become the fastest human to circumnavigate the globe on foot.
Tim is gearing up for the brutal journey which will see him run 26,232km across 22 countries and five continents in less than 430 days.
To break the current world record of 434 days, Mr Franklin will run an average of 63km per day – the equivalent of one and a half marathons almost every day for 14 months.
The journey started in Southbank on December 3, 2022 and has taken him to New Zealand, USA, South America, Europe, Asia and eventually around Australia, expected to finish in January 2024.
Tim grew up living a healthy, active lifestyle like most Aussie kids.
But in his adolescence, the road to good health became an uphill battle, and before long, faced with a multitude of health issues, suddenly good health seemed out of reach.
At his darkest hour, weighing in at 120kg Tim realised his lifestyle fuelled by poor diet, alcohol, corporate life and partying was likely to send him to an early grave.
The pivotal moment came while practising law when Tim came across a quote in a case he was working written by a parent that had lost their child.
The quote read, “the hardest thing a parent has to do is bury their own child”.
The next day, putting his best foot forward, Tim embarked on what he thought was the impossible, lacing up and running a very slow and extremely painful 2.2km.
It was the hardest 28 minutes of his life
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COOPER GARRITY
Copper is a Year 12 student at The Gap State High School and a rising star on the netball court.
Cooper has been playing netball since he was 8 and was the first boy to play at The Gap Netball Club and Downey Park Netball Association back in 2016.
He was also the first boy to play at State Age Champs for U12 QCNA in 2017.
Fast forward four years and he was selected in the Qld Suns U17 men’s netball team and travelled to Adelaide to play at the Australian Men’s National Championships in 2022 and was selected once again in 2023 in the Qld Suns U20’s men’s netball team and travelled to Perth this year to play at the Australian Men’s National Championships.
Cooper was also selected in both 2022 and 2023 in the U19 Qld Indoor Netball team and again represented QLD at the National Champs both years, securing a silver medal in 2022 and third in 2023.
Coming off success at Indoor Nationals in November last year Cooper was selected in the U19 Australian Mixed Netball team and represented Australia in the Tri Nations World Cup against South Africa and New Zealand in August this year.
Australia won the 6s comp becoming world champions and came second in the 7s by just one goal taking the silver medal.
Copper is also school captain of The Gap State High and finishing his Cert 3 in Photography at TAFE.
His dream is to play netball for Australia at the 2032 Olympics.
CHRIS GECKS
Chris contributes greatly to the local community through volunteering for the SES (Petrie) and Moreton Bay First Aid groups, and professionally through running a Usergroup as a Microsoft MVP (this hosts both online and in-person events) to better the knowledge of other professionals within his field for free.
He is currently trying to organise a Usergroup-like event to be held regularly within the local community (at the Moreton Bay Regional Council Libraries) to assist small-medium size businesses in protecting their personal data/avoid being scammed and hacked.
JOE HAMMERICH
Joe is the CEO and founder of Hammerichs Coffee, a business he started in January 2017 at North Lakes.
Now he also has stores with drive-thus at Caboolture, Hillcrest and Toowoomba.
The 36-year-old has also fallen into a modelling and acting career, featuring in ads for Porsche, the Townsville Airport, Port Office Hotel and Street Smarts QLD to name a few.
Not only is he an excellent business man at he also is very charitable within the community.
Always giving to less fortunate. Constantly giving away not just money but his time.
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NATE HAMON
The Eagleby father has played a role in Logan as a podcaster, volunteer, educator, family man, fitness trainer, and frontman for band Mayan Fox.
He was a founder and on the advisory board of Logan Live but has also been part of the Beenleigh Centre Advisory Group and a program facilitator of Loganholme Young Men.
Nate has carved a name as an impartial and fearless community leader especially in Eagleby, which faces social and economic challenges especially with plans for a super-highway through the suburb.
Nate was an organiser with Helping Hands Eagleby South and a team leader during the horrendous 2017 Logan floods.
His art work and creativity was on display when he formed Art Revolution and put up murals on the fence of the Beenleigh State High School.
He has also made many alliances with his work at Beenleigh PCYC and as a project board member of the Beenleigh Community Gardens.
Nate’s ventures with Cafe Lime, a not-for-profit cafe has also helped many causes in Logan.
He has also held positions, including vice-chairperson on the Beenleigh State High School P & C and on the Windaroo State School P & C.
The self-proclaimed foodie has also written a children’s book called Twinkle.
ZAC HAYES
The Bulimba man is the managing director of an accounting group of four firms with Configured Business Solutions in Brisbane.
Zac was a former competitive hockey player having played around the country and in Asia and Europe.
He is currently the virtual CFO for Australias largest worm farm which provides the leading regenerative agriculture product Nutrisoil which replaces fertiliser which reduces carbon emissions and helps put carbon back in the ground.
He is also the VCFO for the Arches foundation.
The entity helps meet the needs of organisations, young people and families within child protection and Community Services.
Zac currently sits on Xero’s partner advisory council and speaks and presents around the world educating small business owners and the accounting industry.
He has been named as one of Australia’s 40 under 40 in the prestigious Business Elite Awards and has many other nationally recognised awards, including in 2019 winning Australia’s young business leader of the year.
CHRISTOPHER HENDREN
Christopher is an up and coming boxer.
A student at Park Ridge State High School, he has boxed since he was 9 and this year won gold for Australia at the Oceanic Championships in Samoa.
Christopher has won Elites Super 8 competition which is generally for boxers 19 years and above.
The Park Ridge student is currently in New Zealand fighting at the Tri-nations Cup.
He is in the Queensland and National futures squads, training at the AIS in Canberra and Brisbane Boxing.
Also a three time Golden Glove winner.
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CHRIS HALLOWAY
Chris works as a disability support worker in the Moreton Bay Region.
He has been doing this work for nearly a decade, working 5-6 days a week, based on his clients‘ needs.
Two of Chris’ clients now are incredibly complex, and often involve him not just liaising with NDIS providers but also the court/parole/probation system.
On Saturdays, he volunteers to teach karate in Deception Bay through the GKR Karate program.
Chris also runs his own self defence classes, fortnightly, to help his participants improve their combat/defensive skills beyond karate.
Chris lost his support worker position at his former company when Covid mandates were introduced.
He pivoted and started his own business as a support worker, and runs it as a sole trader.
MARK KENDALL
Mark is a world renowned biomedical engineer, inventor, scientist, entrepreneur and business-builder.
He is the founder and CEO of WearOptimo, advancing Microwearable sensors for precision medicine.
The companies licensing his patents/technologies have generated a combined economic value of two billion dollars.
Mark is internationally-recognised as a leading innovator in producing technology solutions to global health problems; and a translator of commercial technologies focusing on delivery of drugs to skin and skin-based disease diagnostics.
This has culminated from more than 25 years of experience researching, developing and innovating: authoring, more than 200 refereed publications, and being an inventor on 150 granted patents.
While at the University of Oxford, Mark was an inventor of the biolistics technology, commercialised with PowderJect (sold to Chiron Vaccines for one billion dollars in 2003), and then PowderMed, purchased by Pfizer for $400 million in 2006.
Mark is a Vice-Chancellor‘s Entrepreneurial Professor at the Australian National University.
At the University of Oxford he was a University Research Lecturer and College Lecturer.
CHRISTOPHER BARNER-KOWOLLIK
Christopher is a leading researcher in the field of macromolecular photochemistry and has attracted over $40 million in funding over his 23 year career.
With his team of more than 20 PhD students, Christopher is researching how light can be finely gated to generate advanced soft matter materials, including via light-driven 3D printing methodologies.
He has pioneered a wide array of precision photochemical transformations using multiple colours of light and is a pioneer in understanding photochemical reactivity via so-called ‘action plots’.
Christopher heads a research team at QUT and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
He graduated with a PhD in chemistry from Göttingen University, Germany, and joined the University of New South Wales in 2000, rising to lead the Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design in 2006 as one of its directors.
Following a period as an adjunct professor and collaborator with QUT, he moved to QUT in early 2017 and established QUT’s Soft Matter Materials Laboratory, now one of the world’s premier macromolecular laboratories.
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JORRIT KOOISTRA
Owner of The Windmill Garage, a mobile mechanic business servicing cars in the Brisbane and Ipswich regions, Jorrit moved to Australia from the Netherlands in September 2014 with only a suitcase.
Jorrit is extremely passionate about all things car, and he lives and breathes cars.
After arriving in Australia, he began working full-time as a mechanic.
He always wanted to be a business owner and self-employed, but taking the jump was really daunting.
Nearly two years ago, Jorrit took the leap of faith to go out on his own full-time and give it a go as a business owner.
When he started, he had two jobs lined up, and now he’s booked out one month in advance.
During Jorrit’s Senior Secondary Education, he spendt2 months in Ethiopia teaching automotive to students at T.V.E.T college.
GLENN LAWRENCE
Glenn moved to Logan in 1984 when he was seven and became obsessed with animals and reptiles in the area.
Glenn has been a rugby league coach at the Logan Brothers and worked in steel fabrication and as a motivational speaker.
In September 2018 he took the plunge and went full time in the snake relocation business, creating OzCapture Snake Relocations, and built it to what it is today, servicing the Logan and Scenic Rim areas.
In 2020 Glenn was nominated for Logan Volunteer of the Year.
DANIEL LEE
Daniel is a star in the real estate who is perhaps best known for his ‘funny, cool guy’ videos.
Daniel credits his hilarious videos with helping propel his agency Plum Property from zero when it started in 2016 to a company which now sells tens of millions in property every year.
Daniel, who no longer sells homes but is agency principal, has built up a team of 45 with the help of the YouTube videos.
He graduated from Brisbane Boys College in 2001 before completing his bachelor of business degree from QUT.
He entered the real estate agency at 23 years of age and within a few years was a market leader with a dominating presence in the western suburbs.
Working under a major real estate brand, he was quickly being recognised across the network as one of the highest achievers, and was nominated for international best new talent back in 2009 and has been a finalist for the REIQ residential salesperson of the year in 2020.
In 2016 Daniel partnered up with a long-term friend and business associate Dylan Simpson to form Plum Property
Daniel was finalist for the REIQ residential salesperson of the year in 2020 and Ratemyagent Agent of the year Taringa 2014-2020.
His Instagram account dan_lee_plum has more than 20,000 followers.
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CLAY LEWIS
Clay is a Wynnum local who doesn’t let his autism slow him down.
He has owned his business, Clay’s Bin Cleaning for five years, operating across Brisbane.
Clay relies on a support worker to ensure he is able to get around as he does not drive.
But he works five days a week and his business is his sole source of income.
Clay is a loved member of his community and has many clients.
He advocates for young autistic school leavers to be supported with a pathway of self employment as this has been such a game changer for him.
In 2018 Clay started his own bin cleaning business to provide him with part-time work.
The former Brisbane Bayside College student has had to hire extra staff to meet the demand of the 165 clients he had by 2019.
His services have expanded to offer pressure washing services throughout greater Brisbane.
Clay has an ABN, Public Liability Insurance, and a loyal client base.
The 21-year-old has a sensory processing disorder like many people with autism, so he is extremely sensitive to different things like smell, sight and sound.
In 2019, Clay was nominated in the Queensland Community Achievement Awards for the inspiring way he built Clay’s Bin Cleaning.
STEVE LIDDELL
After eight years in the classroom, Steve developed the Street Science concept – a hands-on, student-centred learning approach that teaches the Australian science curriculum in a fun, energetic and inspiring way.
Steve is, at heart, a science educator who cares about improving student outcomes and providing opportunities for kids to step out of their comfort zone and find success through engaging styles of learning.
He combines the national curriculum with a high energy show or interactive workshop, that children from kindergarten to high school learn while having fun.
Under the name ‘Liddell Education’, Steve launched the company’s first science show ‘Science on The Road’ in Brisbane’s Queen Street.
Officially branded as Street Science in 2013, Steve and his team educate kids across Australia.
Street Science, a Nudgee based business, won the Small and Succeeding category at the 2019 Telstra Business Awards
In 2019, Street Science ran the Brisbane Science Festival in Southbank with over 10,000 attending.
RODRIC MACDONALD
Rodric was a farmer for many years and heavily involved with the Lions Club and Scouts.
He first entered the 4KQ Christmas Lights competition in 1999 and it has grown into Teddy Town Hunt.
Teddy Town Hunt is an interactive Christmas display that the Macdonalds put on for free every Christmas, welcoming over 3,000 people every year to come to their home night after night, in the lead up to Christmas and do the ‘hunt’.
They have been doing this for many years.
They put hundreds of teddies and toys on display and give children (and teenagers and adults!) sheets with lists of teddies/toys to hunt for in their displays and a pencil to mark them off when they find them.
This brings so much joy to all who visit, and it brings out the inner child.
Teddy Town Hunt is iconic in the Redlands and people come year after year to visit.
Rodric uses his Teddy Town Hunt as an opportunity to raise money for charities.
In previous years he has raised and donated substantial amounts to the Mercy Ship Charity (a ship where African children with cleft palates receive surgery to fix their cleft palate which they otherwise could not have access to), however they are currently raising money for the CWA Public Rural Crisis Fund.
In 2013 he, together with friend Ian Henderson, established the Cleveland Uniting Church Men‘s Shed.
In short, it creates a space for men to look after their mental health, make connections, heal, learn, share or just make new mates
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JIM MAWDSLEY
At 72, Jim is the oldest player at the Pine Hills FC where he plays midfield in the Over 45s team that was recently the premiers.
He coaches two women’s teams and U13s.
He’s also the club’s resident handyman fixing goals, decking and fencing.
Each Tuesday Jim coaches the U5s with his daughter, volunteers packing down goals, before playing in the open men’s and open mixed games.
NORM MCGILLIVRAY
Norm was nominated and short-listed as Queensland nominee for Australian of the Year in 2022, for his work to support the homeless.
Norm founded Beddown which aims to take spaces that are commonly used and busy during the day but at night are left vacant or empty.
Beddown then activates and re-purposes the space at night into pop-up accommodation to ensure the homeless, those who are sleeping rough are then able to come and get into a bed at night.
Beddown also works with other charitable organisation that can provide complementary services such as laundry and showers, food and beverages, health and wellbeing, clothing etc.
After being made redundant from his last senior role which was within a not for profit, Norm started looking into the homeless issue here in Australia, he noticed from his research it was getting worse and not getting any better.
Being personally impacted by homelessness he specifically wanted to target those who sleep rough around Australia and Beddown was born.
ROBERT MCLACHLAN
When The Gap supercell storm hit Robert’s house back in 2008, he was inspired by the swarms of SES crawling all over his property and the suburb that he decided to join up.
Fourteen years later, he still volunteers in some capacity or another.
During those years he has clocked up thousands of hours volunteering and training.
He attended most disasters earning him multiple awards including the National Emergency Medal, of which he has humbly accepted.
Rob worked for the Government for 35 years retiring early at 55.
He is now caring for his wife who has MS.
Together they are a creative pair and only recently both performed at the Lord Mayor‘s Seniors Cabaret Gala.
An amazingly talented dancer since the age of 7, in all genres of dance.
He has starred in various musical theatre shows over the years, national ballroom competitions and in the past few years was cast on Danceboss (ch7) representing SES dance troupe, Australia‘s Got Talent (a tap number) and Hard Quiz (topic Fred Astaire) so as you can see, dance is life for Rob.
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STEVE MENDL
Steve is the founder of the Beyond The Money Programs and works as an active retirement coach and career transition specialist.
Steve assists men (and women) aged 45 to 65 successfully transition out of full-time work and into the next stage of their lives.
Steve Mendl is the founder of Next-Aging, and author of the international bestseller Beyond The Money- A Practical Guide For Successful Men Leaving Full-Time Work.
Over the past 16 years, Steve has worked with clients from Microsoft, HP, Lendlease, Qantas, BUPA, Rio Tinto, American Express, Commonwealth Bank and most recently Woolworths.
He has mentored over 1,800 individuals experiencing personal, career and active retirement transitions and facilitated hundreds of workshops and webinars on the same topics.
Steve has served on the boards of CanTeen Australia (National Chair & President), Australia Day Council and The Terry Fox Foundation.
He has also been Deputy Chair of the Chief Minister’s Youth Advisory Council, and a Commissioner for Scouts Australia.
DAN NEBE
Rockin 4 the Homeless, an annual charity event held in Redcliffe, would not have raised the tens of thousands of dollars it has since its introduction in 2014 without the help of Dan.
The musician, who was been nominated for a 2018 Pride of Australia Medal dedicates hundreds of hours to organising the charity concert.
Through his connections in the music industry he has secured some huge headline acts for the concerts including Angry Anderson and Hoodoo Gurus Unplugged.
Dan also volunteers regularly at The Breakfast Club of Redcliffe.
He also does a lot of work to support local musicians and bands.
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BEN NIUMATA
It’s been a true rags to riches story for Grubbies Burgers and Hawaiian BBQ owner Ben Niumata, who’s gone from selling burgers off a grill in an Ipswich courtyard, to the prospect of opening up a national fast food chain.
In 2021, Ben went out on a limb with little to no money and leased out the empty shop at Redbank Plains, completing a full fit-out in the process.
This came after great success selling 200 burgers in 40 minutes off his grill in a Ipswich courtyard.
The concept became so popular he now had three locations, including Strathpine and Redbank Plains, after the launch of Grubbies at Slacks Creek in August this year.
While the Redbank Plains store on Kruger Pde is a ‘hole in the wall’, the Strathpine store is 140 square metres with indoor and outdoor dining.selling 200 burgers in 40 minutes at the back of this grill.
Ben sponsors local sports clubs and regularly goes out of his way to help others in our community.
In September Ben’s stores were the target of fires on the same day and a man has been charged over these alleged arson attacks.
MAX NOBLE
Max has led The Brigalow Country Community Club from a small group of friends who enjoy company, to the club today in its own music hall with lots of friends, musicians and vocalists.
The Brigalow Country Community Club is a not-for-profit organisation, started by a group of musicians, singers and friends who used to play at various homes or in the park and came up with the idea of a proper social event.
Through Brigalow, Max has also spent years helping those in the community who have fallen on hard times.
Whether it be electric wheelchair scooters, wheelchairs, products to assist the disabled, food, furniture or whitegoods, he's helped local people in need through the club.
Max oversees the club’s Country Escape events which are special events predominantly for seniors and people with a disability to socialise, be entertained and connect with members of the community, with in excess of 150 guests.
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MORGAN OLIVER
Morgan is one of the founders of JMO Property Group in Ormeau.
Morgan is not just a successful business owner in the field of property sales; he is also a dedicated volunteer firefighter, an active member of the Rotary Club, and a proud navy veteran.
His multifaceted involvement in community service, coupled with his military background, truly sets him apart.
Morgan aims to use his business as a platform to engage with the community and support other local businesses within Ormeau.
JMO has been the Most Recommended Agency in Ormeau in 2023 and Morgan was named the Most Recommended Agent in Ormeau in 2023.
Morgan has an Australian Defence Medal and is committee member
Committee member of the joint Ormeau-Pimpama Rotary Club & Ormeau Rural Fire Brigade, fundraising for the Ormeau Rural Fire Brigade Command Vehicle.
Participates in the joint ORFB and Ormeau Pimpama Rotary Club Santa Run and sponsors the Ormeau Pimpama Rotary Charity Golf Day Sponsor and Woongoolba State School Colour Run.
DAVID ONYEOGAZIRI
David is a rising basketball star with a professional career on the horizon.
He is finalist for the City of Ipswich Junior Sportsperson of the Year 2023.
The 17-year-old is USA College Basketball scholarship receipt at Mount Mercy University, Iowa, the youngest athlete in the schools history.
The school will compete in the Heart of America Athletic Conference.
David finished the QSL Youth League season, named 2023 QSL Youth League Men Rookie of the Year.
The Ipswich Force Junior will study Business Management at college.
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GARY PORTER
Gary Porter coaches Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Todd’s Personal Training Studio, in Burpengary East.
Gary is someone the kids can look up to as he is a champion fighter himself.
At the national titles this year, Gary ed the way with double gold, winning the purple belt lightweight division to take him up to second in the national rankings.
He recently won a major Sunshine Coast competition and is ow chasing ranking points in a bid to claim top spot this year.
Gary was involved with a workplace injury a couple of years ago.
After a couple of years of pain and depression he chose to have his finger removed.
Throughout this time he had to change careers due to the injury and was training through BJJ.
He started up his own brand of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gis and rashgaurds
RYAN PRESLEY
Ryan’s art career really took off in 2018 with his exhibition Blood Money, at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.
The money collected at the exhibition was donated to charities working with young Aboriginal people in Sydney and Alice Springs.
Ryan had been working with artistic facsimiles of various denominations of notes, turning them into ways of exploring Australian history.
At the exhibition you could even purchase works the size of actual bank notes at the Currency Exchange Terminal in the foyer.
His debut in a graduate exhibition at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, in 2010 was the first sign that Ryan Presley was someone to watch.
Ryan was born in Alice Springs but grew up in Brisbane, said the point of the Blood Money series was to “explore contemporary history through the lens of important and notable Aboriginal people”.
Ryan graduated Griffith University with a Bachelor of Fine Art with Honours – First Class Honours and also a Doctor of Philosophy with Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship.
In 2019, Ryan was living at Springwood with his partner Shayna and worked out of a studio at Yeronga, and had turned his attention to other subjects including police brutality.
Ryan’s work has been included in: Hungry for Time, Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna (2021); Just Not Australian, Artspace (2019); Trade Markings (Frontier Imaginaries Ed No. 5), Van Abbemuseum, Netherlands (2018); the 33rd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Darwin; and the Tarrawarra Biennial: Endless Circulation (both 2016).
His recent major solo exhibition, Fresh Hell, was co-commissioned by Adelaide Contemporary Experimental and Gertrude Contemporary in 2022.
His work is held in public collections, which include the Museum of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, and the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.
STEVEN PURCELL
Steven is best known for his work as vice-president of Goodna Street Life, a registered independent charity, established in 2015, to support the homeless and needy in Goodna and surrounding suburbs.
One of the initiatives making a difference was the installation of two 24-hour vending machines outside its Ipswich op-shop to give people living in poverty access to basic necessities.
From food and dental hygiene kits to sanitary products and thermal blankets, nearly all of the items are donated by the public and cost as little as 10c.
Steven is the owner of poweredbyptcorp, offering custom IT solutions for business and social enterprise.
Steven has also ran for Ipswich City Council and been a Greens candidate.
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CAMERON REMY
Cameron is the voice behind DadTwinTips, a Instagram and Tiktok influencer and content creator, immersed in the captivating world of parenting twins.
He has over 80,000 followers on Tiktok.
Cameron has partnered with distinguished names like Ryobi and Hyundai.
Cameron also owns his business, Remy Car Company, Slacks Creek.
The father-of-two viral after unveiling a humorous hack for prospective caravan owners unsure of how to fit the “great Australian dream” into their backyards.
Cameron gained thousands of views after he was forced to remove part of his Colorbond fence to park his Starcraft Jayco on the side of his house.
To make it easier for himself, Mr Remy decided to cut down his fence, with the father documenting the project in a TikTok video.
“Why would you buy a caravan without checking if it fits in the driveway first?” Mr Remy’s wife asks in the video which received over 1.9 million views.
Mr Remy replied with the only solution: “She’ll be right, I’ll just cut the fence down and rebuild her.”
JAMIE ROBINSON
21-year-old Jamie has competed in ten pin bowling for the past 14 years.
At the start of his competing, Jamie played in a small league before hearing about larger tournaments.
He is now a three-time Queensland State Youth Champion which has reportedly never been done before.
Last year Jamie was chosen to represent Australia in Sweden and competed in the World Youth Championships and came home with a bronze medal.
This year he still represents Australia and will be travelling to Kuala Lumpur in December for a major competition there.
Jamie has 19 300 point games to his name (the max score you can get of 12 strikes in a row).
Jamie has won many tournaments over the years and bowls out of Zone Bowling Richlands.
JAMES SHARVELL
Known as one of Brisbane’s master plumbers, James has been on the cover of the Queensland Master Plumbers magazine, a finalist in multiple awards such as the Australian Small Business Trade Awards, Master Plumbers Association Queensland service award and Project awards and even had a special mention as Business person of the year award in 2023.
He has been a plumber for 12 years, 7 of which in charge of his own business, 2Brothers Plumbing & Gas.
James has built a high reputation for himself including being the resident plumber for well known brands such as Brooklyn Donuts, The Homemaker Centre, Reece training centre and Beginning Boutique.
He is extremely active in the community.
He has sponsored charity events such as RUN DIPG, ran the Gold Coast Marathon to raise money for childhood brain cancer and also sponsors a local all women's rugby league team, the red hot chilli steppers.
James also volunteered himself and his team at the local Reece centre that flooded and cleared out their warehouse full of damaged goods.
SEAMUS SULLIVAN
Seamus Sullivan was named Citizen of the Year at the 2020 Lord Mayor’s Australia Day Awards.
Over the past 30 years he has assisting those in personal crisis, providing foster care and promoting and sharing the Irish culture in Brisbane.
According to his peers, Seamus willingly helps anyone who approaches him for assistance and continuously offers his support to Brisbane residents facing difficult situations such as alcohol and substance abuse, death of loved ones or domestic violence.
Seamus is a founding member of the Irish Australian Support Association of Queensland, which provides support, care and assistance to the Irish Australian community in Queensland.
He was also instrumental in introducing Gaelic football to the state nearly 40 years ago, serving as the President of the Gaelic Football and Hurling Association of Australasia.
After the devastating Brisbane floods in early 2011, Seamus led the resurgence of the Gaelic football fields in Willawong.
Despite the fields and clubhouse being ravaged by the floods, the games recommenced by mid-2011.
He has also been a key driver of the annual St Patrick’s Day Parade through his role as President of the St Patrick’s Day Parade Association.
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KEINAN SYKES
Keinan Sykes has a kidney disease which has destroyed his kidneys so he is on dialysis every night, while he waits for a transplant.
He is on PD which means a catheter in his stomach (peritoneum).
This doesn’t slow the 20-year-old down, who runs his own business, Get the Job Done with Keinan where he assembles flat packs, does dump runs and pick-up and deliveries.
He runs his own little business which gives him ability to look after his health eg specialist appointments, medical needs.
Keinan also trains Brazilian Jiu Jitsu which is a grappling sport and has done even during diagnosis and while on dialysis.
He also helps coach the kids.
Keinan trains at Brothers Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Seventeen Mile Rocks.
He has been doing jiu jitsu for 13 years and is a purple belt.
MICHAEL TAN
On the 1st February 1973 Grand Master Michael Tan started his marital arts journey. Now some 49 years later, he still enjoys passing on the benefits of martial arts to all his students. Young and old, we have changed thousands of lives through the benefits of martial arts. We offer classes in Tae-kwon-do, hapkido and kumdo.
Tan’s Taekwondo was established in July 1982 under the name “Queensland Academy of Martial Arts”. The founder – Dr David Tan, opened our first centre at the CWA Hall in Southport. Instructors Dr David Tan, Michael Tan and George Ruch slowly expanded to 5 centres being Labrador, Southport, Broadbeach, Miami and Tugun.
In 1988 Tans expanded to Brisbane with 3 clubs on the Southside – Marsden, Springwood and Rochedale.
In 1994 Master Michael Tan opened the Buranda centre to cater for the students closer to the CBD.
Michael has been an international taekwondo referee
Since 2013, Tan’s Coorparoo holds a pink belt week to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. In 2018 and 2019 the gym raised over $1000 a year.
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IAN THOMSON
Ian is director of the non-profit organisation Ocean Crusaders.
Ian is passionate about sustainability and founded Ocean Crusaders to highlight the devastating impact that plastic pollution has on our marine environments.
He does this through education, professional waterway cleaning and community clean-up events, which he shares with his 18,000 followers on Facebook.
After the 2022 floods, Ian led a large-scale clean-up effort by partnering with governments, businesses and local community groups.
With his expertise, commercial cleaning equipment and dedicated team of volunteers, Ocean Crusaders removed over 200 tonnes of debris from our waterways.
In addition, Ian and his wife Annika are finalists in the 2023 Australian Sailing Sustainability Award.
Their yacht was rescued from the scrap heap and became the first electrically powered, non fossil fuel boat to enter Australia‘s two biggest offshore races, the Sydney to Hobart and the Brisbane to Gladstone.
WESLEY VASILE
Wesley was left with just a pair of shoes and the clothes on his back after an inferno reduced his 123-year-old home to ashes along with everything he owned in August.
Wesley woke to the smell of smoke and strange noises underneath his Queenslander house on Heaslop St in Woolloongabba about 2.30am and rushed downstairs.
He found the neighbouring house, which was unoccupied, completely engulfed in flames, and the house beside it on fire.
Wesley’s house was built in 1900 and valued at approximately $1.8 million, according to CoreLogic.
Wesley is co-director with his brother of Trusted Pest Management, Everton Park.
The business was the winner of the 2014-15 & 16 ‘Best Service’ Womo Awards
On New Year’s Day 2011, Wesley lost Christian, one of his closest friends, to suicide.
Wesley was away in Mexico when he heard the news. Returning home to Brisbane for the funeral in January, he vividly remembers seeing another good friend, David, with whom he exchanged hugs, tears and memories of a good friend.
Three months later David, too, took his own life.
Wesley and a small group came up with the idea of Walk for Awareness, and establishment of the Mental Awareness Foundation.
The mission of the Mental Awareness Foundation is to support organisations and charities directly on the front line of mental health services.
The flagship event of the Mental Awareness Foundation is Walk for Awareness, a 9km walking event (to open Queensland Mental Health Week) with the main event staged in Brisbane that includes a “walk anywhere” option for people to walk and join virtually.
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ALEX VARDANEGA
In 2020, Alex gave himself the goal for December to ‘Pace 4 Poverty’ and walk 730,000 steps, one for every Australian Child living under the poverty line.
Alex set a goal of $2000, with all donations going to the Smith Family.
This was reached in the first 72 hours with the support of wonderfully generous family, friends and colleagues so that goal has now been moved to $5000.
For six years Alex has been a private tutor and mentor for young men and a volunteer with Vinnies Youth, attending camps and buddies days for kids and young people doing it tough.
Alex is also the Brisbane Youth Representative for the Brisbane Diocesan Central Council of St Vincent De Paul Qld branch.
Passionate about the mental and physical wellbeing of children and young people, Alex is also a support facilitator with Project Hatch, running retreats in schools across Queensland.
JACKSON WEIR-WHITE
Jackson is an undefeated professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter and boxer and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
A former rugby league player, he represented the Queensland Indigenous team and was under a junior contract to the North QLD Cowboys NRL side before injuries ended his footy dream.
At age 20 he began a fighting career and is currently a professional MMA athlete.
He is ranked 38th out of 102 active MMA Australian and New Zealand Middleweights.
Not only is he an impressive fighter himself, Jackson has helped his former club succeed.
Cadoo Martial Arts placed first at this year’s Ipswich Open jujitsu Competition and three aspiring MMA fighters debuted under his wing.
He coached all age groups from four-years-old through to adult classes.
His dream was to open his own MMA Gym and he recently announced his new business: Weir-White Coaching based in Ipswich (@ww_coaching)
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BEN WILSON
Ben has been a referee for the QCSRA for the past 20 years and this year won Referee of the Year.
Refereeing since he was 13, he worked his way from reffing junior games to senior games over that time.
He recently starting reffing for Federation Queensland to which, in his first six months, received Assistant Referee of the Year.
Continuing this past year, he’s worked harder than ever to get the title of Referee of the Year for the church association- sacrificing family time to officiate as many games as he could.
He is also a junior referee mentor- assisting all the up and coming referees, giving them advice and mentorship through a program created by QCSRA.
He is also a liquor manager for Star Liquor at Brassall.
RUSSELL WINWOOD
Russell’s life changed the day he died.
The Wynnum man had been enjoying a family gathering on Christmas Day in 2002 when he had a stroke.
First respondents believe Mr Winwood was lifeless for about 30 minutes before his brother was able to revive him.
Back then he was a smoker, drank and was generally unhealthy.
After three months in recovery Mr Winwood applied changes to his lifestyle.
He quit smoking, joined his son in cycling and started entering triathlons.
But in 2011 Mr Winwood was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, a condition reducing his lung capacity to between 22 and 33 per cent.
The disease has no cure – it’s progressive and kills over 3 million people every year.
He takes part in marathons regularly and enjoys an active lifestyle.
Russell’s dream is to run a marathon with one of his grandchildren.
MICHAEL CURRAN AND JAMES TEH
Michael and James met as children on a music camp for the blind, where they realised they shared a strong interest in computers.
Several years later they decided to join forces to help improve the accessibility of computers for blind and vision impaired people.
For blind people to use a computer, they need a screen reader which reads the text on the screen in a synthetic voice or with a braille display.
But in many cases screen reading software costs more than the computer itself.
In April 2006 Michael began to develop a free screen reader called NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) for use with computers running on Windows.
He invited James, who had recently completed his IT degree, to develop the software with him.
Together these two fully blind men founded the not-for-profit organisation NV Access to support the development of the NVDA screen reader.
The screen reader allows blind and vision impaired people to access computers for free, where previously such software would cost thousands of dollars.
The screen reader has been translated into many languages and is used by more than 200,000 blind and vision impaired people worldwide.
The pair have featured on ABC’s Australian Story.
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Originally published as Vote for SEQ‘s most inspiring men of 2023
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