Alumni in profile
Donald (Don) Moore, Master of Business AdministrationAccording to Master of Business Administration graduate Don Moore, his degree helped him to prepare for roles in senior management and set up his own business ventures.
"My technical qualifications (Don also holds an Engineering degree) did not prepare me for senior management. I needed the finance, legal and planning elements that the Deakin MBA provides to basically do my job - and more than that, my career actually pushed forward after my MBA studies."
"Since then I have built up two companies and grown them into internationally recognised specialist recruitment organisations and travelled the world in doing so," Don explained.
Don is currently Head, Government Search and Selection with recruitment firm Wallage Executive - a consulting business with international affiliations covering Europe and the United States of America.
"My role at Wallage is based around the recruitment of senior managers, executives and board appointments, predominately across all areas of local, state and federal government", Don explained.
"There are many facets and challenges that I enjoy about my current role and I've had some great career highlights over recent times. For example I managed to source a person to grow turf in 50 degrees centigrade and 0% humidity in Saudi Arabia and he did it; I developed a team of Government Auditors who developed tight, prescriptive standards after the highly political HIH affair; and I put together an Australian management team for possibly the world's largest Aquaculture Project (2,000 Hectares under water) and a second team for their sister organisation in the Poultry business (600,000 birds processed daily)."
"It's a world of huge changes and ever tightening resources in the Government sector, however application of many of the MBA concepts that I learned, has enabled me to remove the fear and perform needs analyses which result in achievable person and position descriptions being developed from the apparent chaos, which can then be used to source appropriate executives - it's great when it all works!" he said.
Recalling fondly his time spent as an off- campus student at Deakin, Don says that he felt like he was part of an extended family and now as an Alumni still does.
"Although it was an off-campus course, a group of four students met weekly for four years. We had competitions to find the hottest chilli chips and the best homemade cakes. This certainly encouraged us to show up each week!"
"We had sessions at all Deakin Campuses with residentials in Geelong and I even remember one RAAF student who borrowed an F18 Hornet Jetfighter and flew in from Darwin to be with us. As off-campus students, we never felt like we were isolated and it just seemed we were part of the Deakin family unit."
Don now has his sights set firmly on growing the already successful Wallage Executive business and has forecast a potential return to study at Deakin.
"Over the next few years, I intend to build the Government division within Wallage Executive to become a significant, preferred supply partner to the whole of government and create employment for staff here and in the outside workforce. I am also considering tackling the Doctor of Business Administration at Deakin - I'd love to be Dr Don!"
If you are a graduate or current or past staff member of Deakin University or one of its antecedent institutions, you are eligible to become a member of the global Deakin Alumni Community. Membership is free. To view more alumni profiles or find out more about Deakin University's alumni community please visit Deakin University Alumni Community.
