SHANE CHARLES

BIG business and development found a champion in Shane Charles, the inaugural CEO of Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise.

From atop the Great Dividing Range to the halls of Canberra and every level of government in between, Mr Charles simply got things done, either through securing vital funding for major projects or connecting the right businesses with relevant industry heads.

Now general manager of strategy and development with construction giant Wagners, Mr Charles has left a legacy of historic firsts from his tenure at TSBE, leading Australia’s largest international private business delegation from Toowoomba to Shanghai in 2016.

That one flight, the first international passenger flight from Wellcamp Airport, put Toowoomba under the national spotlight for its ability to achieve beyond expectations of a regional centre.

A key government agitator to secure funding for the Inland Rail, Mr Charles was a loud voice promoting Toowoomba and the Darling Downs region as a location for the Federal Government’s decentralisation scheme and, together with Food Leaders Australia, TSBE’s sister entity which he helped form, has pushed for greater export market access into Asia.

Under Mr Charles, TSBE came into its own as a member-driven entity that worked for the regional economy in which it operates.

His pre-TSBE days were spent in the legal sector, laying his foundations as a community leader which has continued through to today as the Sunrise Way chairman, Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland president, TSBE chairman, and non-executive director at Energy Resources of Australia.