High-flying mentors: Virgin and Boeing bosses join hands

We all know Virgin Australia boss Jayne Hrdlicka is a high-flyer, but she is about to take that to a whole new level in a ground-breaking mentoring program with Boeing.

We all know Virgin Australia chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka is a high-flyer, but she is about to take that to a whole new level in a ground-breaking mentoring program with Boeing.

Under the program, Hrdlicka will mentor Boeing executive Jennifer Hill while Boeing’s boss in Australasia Maria Fernandez will mentor Virgin head of revenue management Emma Craighead. The program, which comes as the aviation history recovers from the Covid-19 downturn, will run for a year and include building leadership skills and navigating complexity.

“At Virgin, we put people at the core of our business and we are focused on strengthening our development and inclusion efforts,” says Hrdlicka, who became boss of the Brisbane-based airline in 2020. “Boeing has a like minded approach in this area.”

Boeing’s Fernandez says both organisations share a commitment to delivering safe and sustainable flights every day. “We also share a commitment to developing our people and the program will provide opportunities for upcoming leaders to advance their careers and foster relationships across company boundaries,” says Fernandez. Virgin Australia is a big customer of Boeing having welcomed the arrival in June of its first Boeing 737 Max 8. A total of eight Max 8s and 25 Max 10s will take the Virgin Australia fleet through the next decade.

Virgin boss Jayne Hrdlicka (from left)m Jennifer Hilm Emma Craighead and Maria Fernandez

Burning man

Construction boss Scott Hutchinson has swapped his fluro vest for trendy rock gear as he makes his annual pilgrimage to the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert.

The boss of Hutchinson Builders left for the States yesterday and has vowed never to miss another Burning Man, a homage to art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually.

Last year, Hutchinson decided to mark the retirement of Greg Quinn after 21 years as managing director by gifting him his Morgan 2019 Roadster six-cylinder.

We hear Quinn was chuffed but had to change the roadsters’ personalised GOATROPER number plate, which refers to Hutchinson’s moniker when he’s at Burning Man.

For those not in the know, Goatroper is redneck slang for somebody who thinks they are a cowboy but all they can do is rope a goat.

Scott Hutchinson (far left) with his entourage at Nevada's Burning Man festival.

Money for jam

The annual Jurassic Jam will be held this Saturday at the Triffid in Fortitude Valley. Now in its ninth year the event raises money for the AEIOU Foundation, a charity helping children with autism, Entertainment starts in the beer garden at 3pm and finishes at 10pm. Some of Brisbane’s finest bands are in the lineup this year including Gold Creek, Jump The Shark, Clint, The Manilows and The Planktons.

Rising sun

More than 100 movers and shakers turned up for the Queensland Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s inaugural Australia-Japan Dinner at the Stamford Plaza last week. Guests were welcomed to the event by Australia-Japan Society Qld’s David Shield, Austrade’s Peter Koppman and QJCCI president Chris Whitecross.

Consul-General of Japan in Brisbane Gomakubo Junji entertained the audience with a quiz entitled “10 Things You Should Know About the Japanese Economy.”

Among the facts on the world’s third-largest economy - more than 100,000 Japanese firms that have been in business for more than 100 years, around 45,000 are in the manufacturing sector, the QR Code was invented by a Japanese auto parts company, originally for its own inventory management and Japan’s oldest company is Kongō Gumi, which was founded in 578 and restores temples and other cultural heritage buildings.