IAN JOHNSTON

We met in Vancouver, Canada, when I visited a restaurant Carole managed.

We were married in Vancouver in 1996 and moved to Australia in 2001. We have lived in Vancouver, Atlanta, London, Melbourne and now Kiama. I was a senior executive for a US computer software company and was responsible for international business development. Over those years my roles included managing director Europe, Middle East and Africa and president Asia Pacific region.

I had the opportunity of working with some of the largest retail organisations in the world including Kmart in North America, Tesco in the UK and Uniqlo in Japan.

When we moved to Kiama we saw there was a gap in the local event management market and decided to leverage Carole's extensive, international marketing and event management experience and my international business development and project management skills to create JAi Events in 2003. JAi stands for Johnston & Associates International.

Carole is highly organised and focuses on all the finer details. We enjoy each other's company and have mutual respect for each other. We are each other's best friends and really enjoy working together. Carole is very inspiring and brightens my life. Carole loves to spend time in her Japanese-inspired garden which she designed.

We are both very involved in Rotary and gain a lot of satisfaction from being involved in helping local and international communities.

Some of our favourite community projects include the Rotary NSW Emergency Services Awards, which recognise amazing individuals within the emergency services, and the Rotary Club of Kiama's Bundled with Love project for Papua New Guinea which includes birthing kits, ladies comfort kits, pre-school boxes and sewing kits.

What I would like for Carole one day is for us to kick back a little so she can start painting again. She is quite a budding artist. It would be nice to start travelling again.

CAROLE JOHNSTON

I worked in marketing and event management my whole career and ran my own consulting business in Canada and the UK including serving as marketing and special events manager Europe, Middle East and Africa while in London.

I was fortunate to work on some very large events including one in the UK during the dot.com boom where the budget for just one exhibition stand was over £250,000.

After Ian left "big business" we decided to relocate to the Illawarra to create a better work/life balance. Ian had travelled over a million miles in the previous 10 years.

When we started JAi Events we wanted to provide professional marketing and event management services to clients across Australia.

We are great friends and our personalities and skill sets complement each other in business. Ian is very much a "big picture" thinker and very strategic. He grew up in Minnamurra and used to surf every day of his life when he was a teenager/young adult. He is very resourceful. He helped me create our Japanese-inspired garden including hand-digging the 4000-litre fish pond.

Ian is an amazing individual. He makes me laugh continuously and is the kindest and most gentle person I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I know this sounds biased but it isn't. I hear this over and over again from friends and colleagues.

We really enjoy the sense of community in the Illawarra and laidback life style. The Illawarra is close enough to Sydney to enjoy everything a big city has to offer but without having to live there. We had spent all of our married life living in big cities which was great for a period of time but it is nice to have a change of pace.

We would love to travel more and get involved with more international humanitarian relief work once we retire.

And one day I would also like for Ian to be able to spend more time researching his family history - yes, we have found some convict blood in the family - and to start writing his memoirs. Having travelled in over 60 countries and worked in over 20 it would be an exceptional read for anyone.