Mr Peter Biggs

Managing Director, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne

Strange thing.

I come from a small, boutique city – Wellington, New Zealand. It’s an intimate place - population: 500,000 - and the city is held in a confined hug by the hills and the harbour.

Her...

Ms Kate Brennan

Chief Executive Officer, Fed Square

Each time I return to Melbourne from visiting international cities I am reminded what a great city, in a truly fortunate country, it is.

It is a city which has always valued ideas and got behind makin...

Professor Edward Byrne AC

Vice Chancellor and President, Monash University

Melbourne is a great city. It is characterised by full engagement of its people in the life of the city. This is manifested in many ways. Melbournians support public functions. Our sporting activities...

Ms Sandra Chipchase

Chief Executive Officer, MCVB

What has struck me about Melbourne, since coming back, is the energy and confidence the city now exudes. The enthusiasm amongst the tourism and business events industry, Government and the citizens is...

Mr Don Churchill

Managing Director, Fairfax

When your favourite holiday destination becomes your place of work and you are appointed the head of that city’s newspaper icon, then you can count your blessings. This is doubly so when you can indul...

Mr Dennis Cliche

Former Chief Executive Officer, Yarra Trams

The first thing that hit me when I arrived in Melbourne in 1998 was a friendly and welcoming business community. There was an appropriate amount of protocol but everyone I met was friendly, open and h...

Mr Maurice Cococcia

General Manager, Victoria, Lend Lease Development

Brown. That was my first impression of Melbourne after returning to live here after more than a decade away. The much maligned drought had changed my city from its signature ‘green’.

But that’s no...

Professor Glyn Davis AC

Vice Chancellor, The University of Melbourne

Even in a drought, Melbourne remains impressive.

Its spacious parks and elm-lined boulevards, its four distinct seasons, its bustling CBD and Chinatown, and its latte-driven Lygon Street contrive to m...

Professor Margaret Gardner AO

Vice Chancellor, RMIT University

Melbourne is a city that embraces people. Although my family and I came to live here only two years ago, we have quickly found in Melbourne places that are our places, and experiences that are our exp...

Professor Elizabeth Harman

Vice Chancellor, Victoria University

Each day from my office in Footscray, I look out on a unique view of Melbourne that surprises many of my visitors.

The vista to the left looks across to the mid 19th century Flemington Racecourse and ...

Mr Robert Hutchinson

Vice President, The Boston Consulting Group

My wife and I have, between us, lived as adults in 10 major cities on four continents.

In various ways, we liked them all. And we have learned what we like in a city, right now, with our girls aged 8 ...

Professor Richard Larkins AO

Former Vice Chancellor & President, Monash University

Melbourne is the academic heartland of Australia. If any Australian capital can claim to be a university city it is Melbourne.

The University of Melbourne has the highest research income of any univer...

Mr Murad Karrar

Former Future Focus Group participant 2006/2007

Through the course of my life, I have been fortunate enough to travel the globe and to live on four continents, all before I became 30 years of age. Having lived in Melbourne for 11 years, it is easy ...

Mr Uli Klink

Managing Director, Giesecke & Devrient Australasia P/L

Melbourne has become our city of choice.

Whilst born and raised in the outer suburbs of Melbourne some years ago, I did not come to appreciate the diversity and culture that this magnificent city offe...

Mr Gerard Menses

Chief Executive Officer, Vision Australia

To commit to living in Melbourne, having been born and raised in the Emerald City was, perhaps, an unexpected decision. Stints in the City of Churches and BrisVegas helped discover worlds beyond the E...

Ms Catherine Mission

Principal, Melbourne Girls' Grammar

Melbourne has proved an exceptional city in which to live, work and raise three children. This quality of life rests upon a culture that is eloquent in its pace and which values social and family acti...

Mr Simon Robinson

Former Chief Executive Officer, Melbourne Cares

I was lucky enough to be offered by Business in the Community UK a secondment to work with the Committee for Melbourne. Of course, I jumped at the chance to spend three months in Melbourne. Two years ...

Ms Jen Aughterson

Senior Project Manager, Executive Producer Multimedia, The Learning Federation, and former Future Focus Group member 2006/07

I was born in Melbourne, but having lived overseas on occasion from a young age, as well as a long stint in country Victoria, I have never considered myself a ‘typical’ Melburnian.

My impression o...

Mr John Simpson

Group General Manager in Corporate Affairs, National Australia Bank

Melbourne has been home for most of my life, having been born in the city in the late 1950s.

It's conventional wisdom to say that the best way to really appreciate your home town is to live somewhere ...

Ms Linda Sorrell

Chief Executive Officer, Melbourne Health

As a relative new comer to this wonderful city, I enjoy the discovery each day of new delights, new facts and new inspirations.

You cannot just “live” in Melbourne; you are drawn into the city’s essen...

Ms Naseema Sparks

Former Managing Director, Saatchi & Saatchi

The first thing you notice about Melbourne when you come from another city - any city smaller or larger – is the roads. The roads are so wide and so quiet. You wonder for a moment whether you have for...

Professor John Seybolt

Dean and Director, Melbourne Business School

My wife Pat and I arrived here in Melbourne a bit over a year ago, when I accepted the job at the Melbourne Business School (MBS).

We decided to come here for two reasons:

First, we had known of MBS f...

Mr Peter Turner

Associate Director Corporate Finance, KPMG, and Former Future Focus Group member 2006/2007

For me, Melbourne is a lifestyle destination of choice.

Having originally relocated to Melbourne with my wife some seven years ago in pursuit of career opportunities, it is the additional benefits Mel...

Mr Andrew Wisdom

Principal, ARUP

Cities are vehicles for generating, focussing and channelling energy. Some cities are really good at this – New York comes to mind – and others aren't so good. Size is a factor – even the most shambol...

Mr Chris Woodruff

Chief Executive Officer, Melbourne Airport

My wife Liz and I have arrived from London's Heathrow Airport, via Budapest, and have now landed squarely in our new home - Melbourne.

From the get-go, there are some traits that stand out in this cit...