Local Leaders

Aerobatics pilot, extreme skier, model, academic, systems architect, entrepreneur, consultant - these are just some of the professions and hobbies that have shaped Ken Gutterson's approach to business over the last 30 years. Ken is the managing director of Canberra-based consulting firm Cordelta, which he co-founded in 2004. The company's successes include multiple entries on BRW's Great Places to Work...

It's not every day you come across remarkable women who have the strength and courage to use their talents to embark on a successful entrepreneurial journey. Canberra businesswoman, Jemimah Ashleigh is named one of Australia's Top 10 Female Entrepreneurs by My Entrepreneur Magazine and a Woman to Watch in 2018. This inspirational businesswoman has created three businesses from scratch and...

Born and bred in Canberra, Richard Rolfe has always aimed high in life and business. He also doesn't hold back when it comes to what he would like to see happen in Canberra over the next decade. "I'd like to see the city regenerated and a sporting arena in the city near the lake," Richard stated. Looking at Richard's drive...

Rita Joyan is hardly ever idle. In fact, when I caught up with her, she had just finished a worldwide business tour. After spending most of her childhood under troubling circumstances, Rita is perhaps engineered not to waste a single second of her life. She is a big-picture thinker, much like her parents who fled their homeland of Afghanistan when...

What are the first words that come to mind when you hear the words 'legal firm'? I bet they're not 'Respect', 'Care' or 'Compassion'. You would be forgiven if the first words you thought of were more along the lines of 'Callous', 'Ruthless' or 'Money-hungry', as these terms probably represent what has been most peoples' experience when dealing with law...

Remember when we used to say that "cash is king"? Well, today times have changed, and in a global retail world, it is more accurate to say that "niche is king". That is why I recognised that Gary and Lyn Rumble run a little gem of a retail business, right in the heart of the city. Kingsize Big & Tall,...

It's not often that you find an entrepreneur who started their working life as a "chalkie" (for the uninitiated, that's a teacher). We would never think of our teachers as business savvy. However, Shane Hill, a Maths teacher from Knox Grammar, was a dedicated teacher. He was driven to leave teaching because he wanted to make a difference to those...

Not being much of a tech head, but knowing I had to learn a lot more about Cyber Security after I had been hacked, I made the decision to attend a course entitled: "Business Security Intensive". This was a half-day course where I would learn about the 'bad guys' - what they do and how they do it, and more...

He plays the trumpet every Friday night in the house band at Casino Canberra and loves the written word. A self-confessed entrepreneur by nature, Tim finds his own opportunities in life. After a series of interesting high-level public service jobs, mostly as a political media advisor, there came the time when he felt the need to dance on his own...

The property landscape in Canberra is changing. We’ve always had one of the lowest population densities of all major cities in Australia, however demand for apartments and townhouses is increasing, as affordability for land in suburbs close to the city decreases. But it’s not just about location. Rather than a 1000m2 block of land to care for, many “new age”...

For over 30 years, RSM Australia (previously RSM Bird Cameron) has been a household name in Canberra for tax and accounting services. But their story starts way back in 1922, when one accountant decided to start his own business, travelling around regional Western Australia offering accounting and taxation advice to farmers and small store keepers. Before long he needed more...