Advocating for region
Emerging influencer heads up FLA body
FOOD Leaders Australia general manager Bruce McConnel channels an agricultural focus to the advocacy work of sister organisation Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise in the region.
He has overseen the establishment of the Emerging Exporters Program which connects producers and agribusiness start-ups with investors, markets and international potential.
Since becoming the head of FLA in August 2017, he has focused on helping the region’s agricultural sector capitalise on market opportunities, both domestic and abroad, and raising the industry’s profile with business leaders and government.
Despite a short tenure, he has notched up a range of successes in promoting the region - all of which qualify him for a place in The Chronicle’s Power 100 series.
The inaugural list is a comprehensive one which lays out the city’s influential residents the men and women who have worked to improve the region in which they live across a range of industries and sectors.
Power is a subjective beast, so how can you compile a list of the 100 most influential people in Toowoomba without upsetting anyone?
Simply put, you can’t.
What a list such as this can do, however, is ignite conversations.
Over the coming days, The Chronicle will preview some of those who made the cut as determined by a select number of people in the past weeks and months.
Digital subscribers will get early access to the lists published each day from this Sunday, ahead of print subscribers.
It will lead up to Saturday, August 11, with a special 40page publication with each of the city’s top 100 influencers, the Young Guns, the Families, and the Famous Faces.
Some could argue money is influence, and in some cases, they would be right.
Others could argue sports stars hold greater influence than, say, artists and charity workers.
Both could be right, or wrong, because that’s the subjectiveness of power. Let’s start a conversation. Email your thoughts to news@thechronicle.com.au or leave your comment online at thechronicle.com.au.