TIC president Graham Lancaster said the quality of applicants was high again in 2017 after member organisations were encouraged to nominate an employee who is interested in studying a postgraduate business course or encourage someone within the organisation who they would like to develop further. 

The annual scholarship is for either a Master of Applied Finance, Master of Business, Master of Business Administration, Master of Professional Accounting, Master of Science (project management) or Master of Science (supply chain management) in Wollongong or Sydney.

Mr Macri is a business relations and process manager at Peoplecare who was endorsed for consideration by Michael Bassingthwaighte and supported by Peter Buckley. He said it was a long time since he has done any study but he is looking forward to it. And having Mr Bassingthwaighte and Mr Buckley’s support has given him plenty of confidence.

“I am very humbled and appreciative,” Mr Macri said.

“Because I have a lot of experience across many industries this will help glue it all together as far as taking things to the next step”

“This particular MBA I will be doing they classify as street smart. There is a closer relationship between the academic side and the practical industry side. So that was quite attractive to me”.

Mr Bassingthwaighte said he nominated Mr Macri because he knew it would help him in his business improvement role where the was thrown many projects that required fresh thinking around how to improve the customer experience.

He has been in his present position for eight years.

“I am always interested in opportunities to help people advance their careers and learn new skills adds,” Mr Bassingthwaighte said.

“Tory fills an important role in the business and said he was really keen to have a shot at the scholarship. I am delighted it has happened for him.”