Queensland Resources Council Chief Executive Michael Roche was guest speaker for CQUniversity's Brisbane graduation ceremony held on Monday (April 29).

A total of 93 graduates celebrated their milestone at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre at South Bank.

Guest speaker Michael Roche

The Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University was conferred upon Honor Cleary OAM and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business was conferred upon the guest speaker, Michael Roche.

Recipients of the Campus Director's Leadership Awards were Gold Coast students Ebraheem Mustafa E A H Alsaleh (Bachelor of Business [Management]) and Ahmer Waheed (Master of Professional Accounting), and Brisbane students Trinh Tu Luong (Bachelor of Multimedia Studies) and Roma Bajaj (Master of Professional Accounting with Distinction).

Master of Information Technology student Armando Parra Wilches delivered a closing address on behalf of graduating students.

* Michael Roche is Chief Executive of the QRC, the peak representative body for minerals and energy companies in Queensland. 

In this role, Mr Roche has ensured a focus on education at both strategic and grassroots levels as a way of addressing the acute skills shortage in the resources industry and ensuring the long-term wellbeing of this vital sector of the Queensland economy.

His visionary approach has seen the establishment of a number of new initiatives including most notably, the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy, which engages students from 34 state and private secondary schools in studies enabling them to transition to careers in the resources sector, often via university.

Besides his work at the secondary school level, Mr Roche has also been a strong supporter of tertiary education including the Council's ‘Students for the Future' program which provides financial support, mentoring, career information and guidance; student networking opportunities, site visits, and a range of networking events, to students studying the sciences and engineering.

An economist by training, Mr Roche has extensive experience in the state and federal government sectors.  He has also spent nearly nine years in senior management roles with the Australian Stock Exchange in Sydney.

Mr Roche currently serves on several boards and advisory committees: he is Chairman of the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy, a board member of the Australian Coal Association, and a member of the Queensland Transport and Logistics Council.  In 2012 he was appointed by the Queensland Government to chair the Queensland Skills and Training Taskforce.