Raising the Bar

This event was held on Thursday 27 July 2017

First drink and supper on us! See you there.

After last year’s success, UON’s Raising the Bar event will return by popular demand! Come along and be inspired by a selection of UON Alumni Award finalists from around the globe, as they share their remarkable journeys since graduation. Your first drink, plus nibbles, will be on us!

All are welcome, so grab your family and friends and register today! You won’t want to miss it!

Date: Thursday 27 July 2017
Time: 6:00 to 8:00pm
Venue: Central, 145 King St, Newcastle NSW 2300
Cost: FREE
RSVP: Register here to secure your place

This event is proudly hosted by UON's Office of Alumni and Philanthropy, Alumni Advisory Committee and the Hunter Alumni Network (HAN).

Speakers:

Susie Porter
Australian Actor
Bachelor of Arts 1993

Susie Porter has a reputation as one of Australia’s most outstanding actors. She has won lead and supporting roles in over 20 films, 39 television series and 11 theatre productions, including: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Paradise Road, Two Hands and Little Fish, The Secret Life of Us, Puberty Blues, Underbelly, Death and the Maiden, Summer and Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, to name but a few.  In recognition of her talent and contribution as an artist, Susie has been nominated for six AFI awards, winning three, including two Best Lead Actress awards, as well as winning a Most Outstanding Actress Logie award.

Photo credit:  James Green for the Sydney Theatre Company

Mick Liubinskas (USA)
Entrepreneur in Residence, Muru-D
Bachelor of Business 1996

Mick Liubinskas is a high-energy technology entrepreneur, investor and industry leader. His passion for educating and connecting startup founders has directly impacted the development and maturation of Sydney's startup ecosystem. In 2008 he co-founded Australia’s first new-age technology startup incubator, Pollenizer which launched 20 tech startups, including selling Spreets to Yahoo!7. Through his work with Pollenizer, Startmate and Telstra’s entrepreneur program, muru-D, Mick has mentored more than 250 new technology companies.

Dr Joanne McCarthy
Award-winning journalist, Newcastle Herald
Honorary Degree - Doctor of Letters 2015
Bachelor of Arts 2003

Two-time Gold Walkley winning journalist Dr Joanne McCarthy’s work transcends traditional journalism to extraordinary depths of advocacy. Delivered under extreme pressure and public scrutiny, Joanne started writing about child sexual abuse in Newcastle and Hunter Valley institutions, primarily the Catholic Church. In 2012, Prime Minister Julia Gillard acknowledged Joanne’s role in her decision-making as she announced the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Daniel Nelson (USA)
Head of Global Partnerships, Braintree
Bachelor of Computer Science 2004

As an engineer, mobile commerce champion and big data expert, Daniel Nelson has helped some of Australia’s most recognised brands advance their approach to commerce. He has risen to a senior leadership position at PayPal Australia and now resides in San Francisco leading the PayPal owned company Braintree's global partnerships team. Daniel is passionate about user experience and the ways technology can be implemented to add value to our daily lives.

Dr Xanthe Spindler
Forensic Scientist, University of Technology Sydney
Bachelor of Science (Forensic) (Honours) 2006

Quickly establishing herself as a leading academic in forensic science, Dr Xanthe Spindler’s research in the efficacy of fingermark enhancement techniques is having a huge impact operationally, with more identifiable fingermarks being detected than ever before, and resulting in more offender identification and arrests. Xanthe has led the preparation of guidelines for the evaluation of fingermark detection techniques for the International Fingerprint Research Group, the world-leading research network in the fingerprint sciences – a document that will be adopted by practitioners worldwide.