Jamila Gordon Awarded the 2020 NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year

The Pearcey Foundation today announced Jamila Gordon as the recipient of the 2020 NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Gordon is the CEO and founder of Lumachain, a technology platform using AI, IoT and blockchain to bring transparency to global supply chains, benefitting producers, enterprises and consumers. Gordon was presented with her award by 2014 Pearcey Medallist and inaugural Ada Lovelace Medallist Professor Mary O’Kane at a virtual event held last night. 

The NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur Award recognises a NSW person in ‘mid career’, who is already a successful technology entrepreneur, and who has the potential to succeed further. The criteria are centred around taking a risk, making a difference and being an inspiration. The other award finalists this year were Carolyn Mee, CEO and founder, Sound Scouts; Joshua Ross and Adam McCurdie, co-founders of Humanitix; and Anna Wright, co-founder and CEO, BindiMaps.

Jamila Gordon is one of Australia’s most respected digital and technology leaders. In 2018, she was selected by Microsoft to be their global Awardee in the International Women Entrepreneurship Challenge. Her background includes roles as Group CIO of Qantas Airways and Leighton Holdings/CIMIC, and prior to this, as a global executive with IBM based in Europe, leading some of IBM’s largest global IT transformational deals, including Solectron Manufacturing, AXA Insurance and ABN AMRO Bank.

Jamila’s professional success is made more remarkable by her personal story. She arrived in Australia at the age of 18 having escaped the Somali civil war alone and being virtually homeless in Kenya. Upon arriving in Sydney, Jamila began a nine-month TAFE course in English at TAFE before completing a diploma in accounting. While studying for her Bachelor of Accounting at La Trobe University she found her passion for programming and IT, completing a Bachelor of Business and Information Technology. She is also a board member of Questacon and the recipient of La Trobe University’s Distinguished Alumni Award, serving on the university’s board for five years.

“Jamila has already had a distinguished career and some remarkable achievements in the IT industry. It’s great to see her applying her commercial and technical nous to address a pressing issue in the world – the ethical and environmentally sustainable production and supply of goods,” said Simon Foster, Co-Chair of Pearcey NSW.

Lumachain’s platform tracks and traces the origin, location and condition of individual items in a supply chain, in real time, from farm to fork. This incentivises farmers and manufacturers to create high-quality, ethically-produced products. It allows enterprises to reduce waste, increase efficiency, and grow revenues and margins. And it allows consumers to know, with absolute certainty, the provenance, condition and quality of what they buy, and that it has been ethically and sustainably sourced.

As the Pearcey NSW Award recipient, Jamila Gordon will represent the state in the National Entrepreneur Awards as a key part of Pearcey’s Annual National Medal and Hall of Fame presentations (see below for details).

For more information about previous NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur Award winners, go to https://pearcey.org.au/nsw.

Other State Awards

ACT: presented to Shane Hill, founder of Skoolbo (https://prwire.com.au/pr/92049/e-learning-pioneer-shane-hill-receives-2020-act-chief-ministers-pearcey-entrepreneur-award). 

QLD: the recipient of the 2020 Queensland Pearcey ICT Entrepreneur Award was Nicholas Therkelsen-Terry, CEO and co-founder of Max Kelsen (https://prwire.com.au/pr/92334/2020-queensland-pearcey-ict-entrepreneur-award-recognises-ai-and-quantum-computing-industry-leader-nicholas-therkelsen-terry). 

SA: nominations are now open for the 2020 South Australian Pearcey Entrepreneur Award. A ‘virtual’ award event will be held during October. See further https://pearcey.org.au/sa. 

TAS: nominations are now open for the 2020 Tasmanian Pearcey Entrepreneur Award. A ‘virtual’ award event will be held during October. See further https://pearcey.org.au/tas.

VIC: the 2020 Victorian Pearcey Entrepreneur Award was presented to CEO of Blackmagic Design Grant Petty (https://prwire.com.au/pr/91649/world-leading-innovator-of-creative-technologies-receives-the-2020-victorian-pearcey-entrepreneur-award) 

WA: to be presented as part of the 2020 Lateral INCITE Honorary Awards in late October. Nominations are now open. The INCITE Awards are Western Australia's premier awards event in the ICT industry. The awards, aiming to showcase ICT brilliance are powered by the Western Australian Information Technology and Telecommunications Alliance (WAITTA). For more information on the WA Pearcey Awards, see https://pearcey.org.au/wa.

National Pearcey Awards

2020 Pearcey Medal, Hall of Fame and National Entrepreneur of the Year Awards will be presented on Thursday 19 November 2020; 6:00pm - 9:30pm in Sydney. Details on the planned dinner celebration are still to be confirmed, subject to COVID-19 restrictions. See further https://pearcey.org.au/national-awards.

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About the Pearcey Foundation
The Pearcey Foundation Inc. is a non-profit organisation established in 1998 to raise the profile of the Australian Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry and profession. It was created in the memory of one of the greatest pioneers of the Australian ICT industry, Dr Trevor Pearcey. By celebrating the heroes in our industry, past present and future, the Foundation is looking to attract and encourage young Australians into this most exciting of global high technology sectors of our nation.

Web: www.pearcey.org.au

Twitter: @Pearcey_org #PearceyAwards

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