Paul Scurrah won last year’s CEO Challenge Race with Bill Lovegrove from USQ coming a very close second.
Here are some highlights of their Races :
Queensland Rail – Paul Scurrah.
2011 was Paul Scurrah’s second CEO Challenge Race. Paul Scurrah remained committed to Australia’s CEO Challenge to promote the message both internally within the organisation, as well as externally, that domestic violence is not acceptable in our society. Domestic violence has a direct impact on workplace safety and Paul is committed to leading a company that places safety as its number one priority, whether it is in the workplace or at home.
Paul stated, “Australia’s CEO Challenge is an organisation I’ve been proud to support over the past two years, and the people of Queensland Rail have also generously thrown their support
behind this important cause”.
Queensland Rail has supported Australia’s CEO Challenge through the CEO Challenge “Race” for the past two years. The partnership in 2011 helped to build on its corporate citizenship strategies.
Paul, with the support of Queensland Rail’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) group, put together a strategy for his participation in the CEO Challenge Race which included an external advertising
campaign, employee events, an internal communications campaign and a fundraising plan.
The key goals of this campaign were to:
• raise awareness amongst the Queensland Rail workforce of domestic violence and its impact on safety
• raise awareness of the support network available for those impacted;
• raise funds to help support Australia’s CEO Challenge
• raise awareness of other programs and activities run by Australia’s CEO Challenge including DV Connect and White Ribbon Day
• raise awareness about domestic violence in the general community.
The campaign kicked off with an Australia’s CEO Challenge breakfast in May, launching an internal promotion campaign, reaching 7,300 Queensland Rail employees. This internal campaign focused on
motivating staff to either join or sponsor Paul in the Twilight Walk in Townsville and the Wake Up and Walk event in Brisbane. More than 420 people took part in the walks, more than double the number
of participants in 2010. Employees and external business contacts were encouraged to sponsor Paul on his walk and he managed to raise funds of over $2,000 through the walks.
In conjunction with the internal awareness campaign, Queensland Rail launched an external advertising campaign, including on-station advertising throughout July to November raising awareness
for the elimination of domestic violence. In-train advertising then followed in September through to November. This resulted in exposure to more than 170,000 train commuters each day over three months. There were numerous other fundraising initiatives including a raffle, trivia night for employees, Casual Friday donations, “Beat the Boss” challenge at the Queensland Rail Classic fun run and walk and Queensland Rail Bulls Masters Twenty20 match in Toowoomba.
Internal communications continued throughout the whole campaign promoting these events and White Ribbon Day.
University of Southern Queensland – Bill Lovegrove.
USQ Vice-Chancellor & President, Professor Bill Lovegrove had no hesitation in taking on the challenge when he was approached to participate by 2010 CEO Challenge winner, Mr John Minz. Bill has been a long-time supporter of social justice and the right of everyone for the opportunity to enjoy a safe, happy and prosperous life. Bill has been a long-time supporter of Toowoomba Says No to Violence and has been involved in many events that the committee hold.
In seeking to raise community awareness to domestic and family violence, Bill has himself undertaken a learning journey, coming to appreciate the true extent of this pernicious problem, the degree of pain and damage that it causes to so many and the difficulties faced by community services in trying to address it. Above all, Bill now fully appreciates just how important it is for the community to truly engage with this issue, to speak openly about it and its impact and to be more proactive in tackling it as a problem that is everyone’s business.
The CEO Challenge Race provides important opportunities for business and community leaders to raise awareness and encourage dialogue on domestic violence prevention.
Bill was supported throughout his challenge by a committee of USQ staff which included, Mrs Jacqui Blackburn, Ms Sharon Geise and Mr John Clarke from the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, and has enjoyed the strong support of the USQ Women’s Network, senior management and staff of the University.
During 2011, a program of events and activities was undertaken to achieve the goals of both raising community awareness about domestic violence and raising funds to support DV services. Through an important partnership between the University of Southern Queensland and Relationships Australia Domestic & Family Violence Prevention Services, Toowoomba, Bill also hopes to leave an important legacy of the University using its expertise and resources to engage with the local community in tackling the scourge of domestic violence over the long term.
THANK YOU to both finalists! This was an exciting Race!
