Download - Fortescue Metals Group Ltd

Profile:
Heath
Nelson
I was born and bred in
Fremantle which of course
makes me a loyal Dockers
supporter!
After attending Hamilton Senior
High School I followed my older my
brother to UWA to study computer
science. Two years in to my degree
I decided to branch out and I
graduated in 1993 with a double
degree in computer science and
economics.
After graduating from uni I took
the obligatory Contiki tour around
Europe and then journeyed to South
Africa, just in time to see Nelson
Mandela elected as president. Cape
Town was incredible and the surf
was up, so I canned plans to work
in the UK and stayed in South Africa
for 6 months, using Cape Town as a
base from which to explore Namibia,
Tanzania and Botswana.
A year had passed by the time I
lobbed back at my folk’s house in
Freo – long haired, unemployed and
broke. They took one look at me and
decided that my free lodging would
come with a time limit; I had to have a
haircut and a job within three months.
Unable to shake the travel bug, I
looked for a job where I would get
paid to travel. I managed to secure
a role with the Aboriginal Economic
Development Office (AEDO). The job
had everything I wanted. I travelled
to remote Aboriginal communities
throughout WA installing point
of sale machines (computerised
cash registers with scanners) in
Community Stores. The challenge
was to install the machines, train
the local Aboriginal people to use
them and employ store managers
that were accountable to AEDO.
Over a two year period, the number
of stores increased from three to 12.
This created another opportunity
as the collective buying power of
these stores was in excess of $20M.
The Office of Aboriginal Economic
Development (OAED – after a change
in State Government) established
a bulk buying cooperative that I
managed for the next two years.
With Aboriginal economic
development gaining strength in the
90’s, I saw an opportunity to relocate
to Broome and manage a regional
office. I found paradise – not with the
town but with the job! My role was to
generate economic opportunities for
Aboriginal people and communities
across the Kimberley. The key to
the role was to ask the Aboriginal
people what they wanted to do.
And it wasn’t a surprise that they
enjoyed doing what they were good
at and interested in. For the next four
years I predominantly developed
businesses that evolved around
regional art centres and tourism
businesses.
An Aboriginal Cross Cultural course
in Perth in 2001 changed my life.
I met my wife Paula and relocated
back to Fremantle. We have two
Heath is passionate about Aboriginal
economic development.
children, Ashlee and Todd. But still no
Docker’s flag!
This was also a time to do something
completely different. I secured a
job with Edith Cowan University
as Director of their International
English Centre. Having experience in
the tertiary sector, I moved to UWA
as Business Manager of the Centre
for Exploration Targeting. After two
years I took on another Centre – the
Centre for Marine Futures and a
year later another role in the Centre
for Petroleum Geoscience CO2
Sequestration. It’s less complicated
than it sounds....
A phone call earlier this year and a
desire to get back into the area of
Aboriginal economic development
brought me to Fortescue as the
Principal Aboriginal Advisor. I view
my role as a very simple one.....I
am here to improve the economic
circumstances of Aboriginal people.
So, after a Christmas break with
Paula and the kids at Moore River,
where we taught the kids how to
fish, I’ve launched back into work.
2012 will see total contracts awarded
to aboriginal contractors reach $600k
– the majority to native title groups
– well on the way to achieving $1
billion by the end of 2013.
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