| Ms Thérèse Rein (pictured just before she presented the Occ... Ms Thérèse Rein (pictured just before she presented the Occasional Address) with UOW Chancellor Michael Codd, AC, (left) and the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gerard Sutton | 
| Ms Rein presents the Occasional Address at UOW’s Faculty of Com... Ms Rein presents the Occasional Address at UOW’s Faculty of Commerce ceremony today (18 July) |
Thérèse Rein urges graduates to use their ‘seeds of greatness’
18 Jul 2008 | Bernie Goldie
Commerce graduates at UOW’s final mid year graduation ceremony were today (18 July) treated to one of their more interesting lessons from the commercial arena – from successful businesswoman Thérèse Rein.
Ms Rein, who is Managing Director of Ingeus Limited, is a psychologist by training. She attended the Australian National University in Canberra, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters Qualifying in Psychology.
As a psychologist, Ms Rein’s specialisation is in the field of clinical depression.
She is also a trained rehabilitation counsellor, assisting those affected by injury to find new careers and gain employment.
Ms Rein has a strong interest in finding the seeds of greatness in people with a disability.
Ms Rein is an entrepreneur who, in 1989, founded a business which started by assisting people with disabilities return to, or enter, the workforce.
Her company, Ingeus Limited, now delivers services outside Australia, assisting highly disadvantaged people to fully participate in the workforce.
Her company is well established in the UK, France and Germany and is working towards establishing operations in a number of other countries. The company is Brisbane based and presently employs about 800 people around the world.
In her Occasional Address, Ms Rein outlined how a crippling spinal injury caused by an aeroplane accident drastically changed her father’s life and how his situation led her on the path to the “life’s work” she now undertakes.
She explained how her father refused to accept that he could not go to university to study aeronautical engineering and then enter the workforce as able bodied people normally expected.
Ms Rein said her father was able to overcome enormous obstacles to achieve what he wanted in life eventually entering university and obtaining employment.
“We want people to find the seeds of greatness in themselves. This room (University Hall) is filled with seeds of greatness – use this as a real strength out there in the community,” Ms Rein urged.
Ms Rein’s professional success has led her to promote greater self-employment and entrepreneurship among women.
Ms Rein, who is married to Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, is the Australian Patron of Common Ground, an organisation that works to end chronic homelessness with a ‘street to permanent housing’ model for homeless people.
She is also Patron of the Indigenous Literacy Project, which aims to deliver appropriate reading material to children in remote Indigenous communities in Australia.
She is involved in the White Ribbon Alliance, an internationally focussed group to reduce maternal mortality.
In line with her strong interest in the visual arts, Ms Rein has accepted the position of Patron of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.
UOW Chancellor Michael Codd, AC, said it was a great honour for the University to have a person of Ms Rein’s standing speak to graduating students.
“Thérèse Rein is a highly successful businesswoman who has made a career from helping others, particularly people with disabilities,” Mr Codd said.
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