POSTCARDS

Carl Kalapesi (OS 1995)

Strategy and operations management, New York, USA

How do you go from being a Sydney Grammar School nerd to Development Economist, living in six countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and the USA, to becoming Chief Operating Officer of a TV advertising tech company in New York? The secret for me has been taking leaps of faith in my life.

The first leap of faith was to leave a highly respected, ‘parent-approved’ job with a clearly defined and structured career path as an economist at the RBA to go volunteer in Vietnam teaching economics. That leap sent me on an international development career trying to help alleviate poverty, to the UK and Tanzania, and helped me build some of the most significant friendships of my life.

The second leap was understanding, ten years later, that as much as I’d loved that part of my career, it wasn’t what was going to sustain me for the future. So, I took the leap of faith of getting an MBA from INSEAD (in Singapore and France). I didn’t understand then how exactly that would play out... and it opened up a new world!! Firstly, it led to management consulting in London, and then the World Economic Forum in New York, where I met my wife and had our amazing daughter Eila. Most recently, I have been the COO of a $500m advertising tech company, helping to make it profitable and supporting our 1500-person team across China, Europe and the US during COVID.

And I’m now in the process of a new leap... I left my role early this year to take a break and focus on my own physical and mental health and honestly, I’m healthier now than any time since Grammar. This is largely due to a rediscovered love of bike riding! I recently finished my first bike race and am hoping to do the Five Boro Bike Tour in New York next year to raise money for Alzheimer's research.

Taking a leap of faith isn’t the same as going off on a whim. It takes research and planning, creating backups, imagination and courage, but most of all it requires belief in yourself – that you’ll work out the path, even if you can’t see it yet. Grammar gave me the foundation, the belief in myself that I could handle what was thrown at me – both the good and bad – and still find my way through. So leap away. The water is waiting!

Andrew Kemeny (OS 1982)

Wine merchant, Hong Kong

Since leaving Grammar I started a marketing degree, but decided to gain first-hand experience in the family business. From 1984 I ended up learning every aspect of the family business and helped it grow into Australia’s leading liquor retailer. It was in 2011 that I decided I needed a new challenge and started my own business in Hong Kong.

Why Hong Kong? Why not? It is a vibrant city with amazing food and culture. The locals love wine and have an earnest desire to learn more about it. The largest selection of wine from around the world can be found in Hong Kong, and they get the best value since the wine tax was abolished in 2008.

Although competition is fierce, I’ve learned to never give up. The first three to four years in Hong Kong were relentless. I was mislead by a couple of venture capitalists who enticed me to come to Hong Kong, and then had an unfortunate experience when our business was abandoned over Christmas by a general manager who took all our employees. Several times, I considered giving up. Fortunately, over the last four years, business has been booming. Cellarmaster Wines is now one of Hong Kong’s leading online retailers doubling turnover over the last three years.

So, what’s next? My youngest child graduates from high school in May and the children have gained a wonderful experience with international schooling. Now, I no longer need to be in Hong Kong full-time. I can head back to Sydney on a more regular basis and finish where I left off with Kemenys!

Philip Chan (OS 1995)

Entrepreneur and restaurateur, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

I completed my Civil Engineering degree at UNSW and worked in the construction/ property industry for a number of years. I then travelled to Argentina for some life adventure. This was definitely a highlight and something I would recommend.

After Argentina, I decided to go to London to continue a degree of adventure whilst getting back to work. From London, my personal and professional network grew, and, after two years, I was fortunate enough to connect with a sovereign wealth fund from Abu Dhabi, Mubadala, where I oversaw two large hotel projects. My previous experiences in Sydney, London and Argentina certainly helped me.

From there I got the entrepreneurial bug and ventured into setting up restaurants. There were successes with the opening of five restaurants but also difficulties with COVID-19 and shutdowns.

Going entrepreneurial is great, if you are prepared to take responsibility, understand the need to work with other people, and can plan ahead. These are just a handful of critical characteristics, but one underlying take away is that as an entrepreneur there is no place ‘to hide’ – you can’t deflect blame or responsibility or inaction. Everything comes back to you. And on the bright side, that includes all success as well!

Currently, I continue to operate my own branded restaurants and I am partnering with a Michelin Star restaurateur from Tokyo, for his first branch to open in Dubai next year.

I believe that my path has been influenced by my school days at Grammar – my experiences of maintaining a high degree of professionalism at work, being committed to working hard, and being a little fearless on going down unknown paths.

Francisco Regozo (OS 1991)

Musician, A Coruña, Spain

As an only child of two migrant parents, Spanish mother and Filipino father, I embodied a lot of what Australia stands for – being born a human from Planet Earth.

Dedicating yourself to music as a career is a daunting moment. Most of the sacrifice is done before you leave school and knowing whether you’ll be good enough locally, let alone globally, is a tough ask.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learnt during my time at Grammar, it’s that people matter. I clearly remember being interviewed by the Headmaster, Alastair Mackerras, before being accepted into the school. “So,” he said to me that day, “you play the violin, you enjoy music, and you have good marks? Well, boy, I think you’ll fit in very well here.”

After graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, I was lucky enough to find an opening for a principal violist in the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia in A Coruña, a town in the north-west of Spain, close to where my mother was born. The knowledge of a second language became an essential part of this journey.

It’s now been more than twenty years working here and abroad in an intense variety of experiences, always having music as its central protagonist. I’m very proud that the @Sinfonicadegalicia was one of the first orchestras to publish many of its concerts freely online for the world to enjoy and it now has an extensive library of its performances on its YouTube channel, with nearly 50 million views.

If I can say one thing about choosing music as a career pathway, it’s that there will never be a dull moment in your entire life.

Joshua Bray (OS 2003)

Environmental manager, Northern Territory, Australia

I followed my dad (Greg, OS 1967) to College Street, enjoying Geography, Earth and Environmental Science and Asian Studies at school. A natural resource management degree followed, which neatly segued into environmental monitoring of mines, industrial sites and defence bases, including those I’d visited as an air cadet.

I thought about different ways to apply my skills and wanted to work overseas in another language. A university mentor offered a PhD based in Indonesia, a diverse country with extraordinary history and culture. My thesis examined the impacts of sustainability standards on Indonesia’s coffee value chain. While I bounced between Java, Bali, Sulawesi and Flores, my fieldwork was mostly spent living in Sumatran highland villages, where just about everyone is involved in the production of coffee (rather than the plantation models common in South America). The generosity of my hosts was humbling, and I’ve not taken my quality of life, particularly my education, for granted since.

I currently lead the Commonwealth Department of Environment’s team in the Northern Territory, regulating “matters of national environmental significance”. I’ve been fortunate to work on some interesting projects, including the rehabilitation of Ranger uranium mine, and Sun Cable.

Some aspect of natural resources management underpins many social, environmental and economic challenges around the world. This means positive and meaningful environmental outcomes require projects to have increasing consultation with, and support from, impacted communities, whether in the Northern Territory or rural Sumatra. The intellectual rigour and liberal thinking espoused at Grammar are certainly needed to meet these challenges.