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News of OGG - August
Thursday, 26 August 2021
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News of OGGs Jock Landale (M'13), Ian Chesterman (A'76), Rob Joyce (P'54), Mike Sabey (M'63), Michael Thornton (M'66), Matthew Ricketson (M'75), Andrew Dodd (Timbertop '80), Annie Devilee Whish (Cl'78), Sarah Harden (Vickers-Willis, A'89), Kate Matson (A'98), Jess Hall (A'02), Julia Roche (Davies, He'03), Bridget Sharp (He'14) and Peter Hatzoglou (A'16) is featured this month.
Jock Landale (M'13)It has been a life-changing few months for Jock; from winning the NBL title with Melbourne United in June, collecting the Finals MVP award in the process, before linking-up with the Australian men's basketball team (the Boomers) for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Jock started on the court in every game as the Boomers won bronze; the first Olympic medal in the history of Australian men's basketball. After a slow start in Australia's opening group game against Nigeria, Jock excelled with back-to-back 18-point games against Italy and Germany, averaging around 13 points and five rebounds across the tournament. On the eve of the semi final vs the USA, it was announced that Jock had signed a two-year deal with one of the NBA's most successful franchises, the San Antonio Spurs. In an interview with ESPN on Wednesday, Jock spoke about a Zoom meeting with his agent in which he believed they would be talking about the NBA free agency period and the offers that may be forthcoming, only to learn that the Spurs had already made an offer. "For him to spring that on me was a dream come true. I've always idolised San Antonio as an organisation, it was out of the blue and I'm really happy it's happened now. First deal, I wanted to sign, and it just ended up being one of the teams I've always wanted to play for." 
Ian Chesterman (A'76)Ian's "calm and forgiving approach" as Australian chef de mission at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics should have "earned him the gold medal for patience" according to the Herald-Sun. Having successfully led the Australian Winter Olympic teams since the 1998 Nagano Games, Ian navigated a global pandemic and resultant COVID restrictions, as well as "Australian athletes’ wayward village and plane antics" to oversee the Australian team's sixth place on the medal tally, just behind Great Britain. Ian gave the Australian team a mark of 11 out of 10. "It's a great privilege, an incredible privilege to be here and witness the incredible achievements, but also to witness the camaraderie, the sense of togetherness of these Games, but once every four years is definitely enough," he said. Rob Joyce (P'54)Accompanied by his grandson, Jack Joyce (M'20), Rob returned to the MCG, where he competed in the 110m Hurdles at the 1956 Olympics, on Thursday 5 August; the same day the corresponding event was taking place at the Tokyo Olympics. “It’s a lot smaller than I remember it. It looked a lot bigger with the crowd, the ceremony and the rest of the track,” Rob said. “I didn’t go as well as I would have liked it. I would have liked to have won the race. But I still have fond memories.” The MCC article about Rob's visit can be found here. 
Mike Sabey (M'63)Mike’s debut novel Fractured Trust (Silverbird Publishing, 2020) was inspired by a true story, from war-torn England during the Blitz in the 1940s to Melbourne in 2019 and the uncovering of a family scandal. For more than twenty years Mike has written and published a long list of best selling non-fiction books, including nine editions of the Victorian Bike Paths Guide, History of the Brownlow Medal (1997) and the popular Café Guide series. He has an extensive background in corporate marketing, more recently consulting to the manufacturing industry.For decades, Mike was an offshore sailor and a well-known expert voice on 3AW and ABC 774 radio reporting yacht racing. Mike lives in St Kilda with his wife Sallie where they often head out to ride the bike paths and frequently escape on their yacht, cruising to Bass Strait and beyond. 
Michael Thornton (M'66)Australia has five million baby boomers. Seventy-one-year-old Michael Thornton is one of them. He is so pissed off about the state of things, he has written Pissed Off: 3,300 Baby Boomer Gripes (Sid Harta Publishing, 2021), in which he takes a satirical look at life through the eyes of a grumpy baby boomer. Among his 3,300 gripes are leaf blowers, not knowing how to use most of the functions on his phone and the exorbitant cost of building Australia's major roads ($155 per inch per lane). As one reader said: "Thornton says what most of us think but are too scared to say it". Matthew Ricketson (M'75) and Andrew Dodd (Timbertop '80)Andrew and Matthew have turned an in-depth research project about the digital disruption and structural change of Australia's media into a book, Upheaval: Disrupted lives in journalism (NewSouth Publishing, June 2021). Walkley Award-winning foreign correspondent, Tony Walker (FB'64), is among the 57 Australian journalists interviewed for the book, which charts the radical transformation of Australia's mainstream media through firsthand accounts of those on the frontline. The book explores the impact and disruption of the digital age, like the tension between public interest journalism and 'clickbait' news, but equally captures the personal stories of some of Australia's leading journalists of the past five decades. Having both enjoyed long careers in the media, Andrew is now the Director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism at Melbourne University, whilst Matthew is a Professor of Communication at Deakin University. Matthew is scheduled to discuss their new book at the Melbourne Press Club on Wednesday 6 October: https://www.melbournepressclub.com/article/upheaval--disrupted-lives-in-journalism Annie Devilee Whish (Cl'78)
Sarah Harden (Vickers-Willis, A'89)Sarah Harden has lived in the US for the past two decades, having moved there after winning a Menzies scholarship to complete an MBA at Harvard. In 2016, she formed a production company, Hello Sunshine, with the actress Reese Witherspoon, whom Sarah met while running a video streaming company. Hello Sunshine focuses on creating movies and TV series centred on women, and over the past five years has won acclaim for dramas such as Big Little Lies and Morning Wars. They also produce podcasts, animation and the highly popular Reese’s Book Club. The company, which has a staff of 70 people, was recently sold to US private equity giant Blackstone, in a deal valued at US$900 million. Sarah and Reese will maintain their equity stakes and continue to run Hello Sunshine and promote women-led ventures. Kate Matson (A'98)
Jess Hall (A'02)Jess recently completed a Doctor of Business Administration. The title of her thesis was “The Emotional Intelligence of Directors and the Effectiveness of Board Governance Decision Making Behavioural Processes in the Australian Financial Services Sector”. Julia Roche (Davies, He'03)Artist Julia Roche is exhibiting a new collection of works entitled ‘Under a Winter Moon’ at the Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA). The gallery is currently closed to the public but the exhibition can be viewed virtually online https://mamalbury.com.au/visit/virtualtour Bridget Sharp (He'14)Bridget released her debut single "Overgrown" earlier this month and was recently featured in a beat.com.au article.
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