User:SRInteractive/new article name here

Userspace draft|source=ArticleWizard|date=March 2010}}

Sarina Russo (born Castiglione, Sicily, Italy) is best known as an Australian entrepreneur and founder of education, training and recruitment business – the Sarina Russo Group.

As a member of the Clinton Global Initiativ, , the youngest and first female member of the Queensland Chapter of the Young Presidents Organisation , a member of the Leading Women Entrepreuers World Advisory Board , a member of Women’s Leadership Board of the John F Kennedy School of Government , to name a few, Sarina Russo is a formidable force in entrepreneurial networks of the world.

Her Early Life

Sarina Russo was born in Castiglione, Sicily, Italy, the youngest daughter of Antonino Russo, labourer and Maria Russo.

Russo emigrated to Australia with her father, mother, brother and sisters, in 1956 and settled in the Brisbane, Australia, suburb of Spring Hill.

During the week her father was as a bridge carpenter and leading hand on the Hornibrook Highway and at weekends he farmed a banana plantation at Upper Brookfield. Her mother worked during the week in the Golden Circle Pineapple Cannery.

When Russo was 10 years old, the `family fund' had enough in it to buy a small vineyard at Wacol and a block of three rental flats in Petrie Terrace, Brisbane. Her dad gave up the lease on the banana plantation to focus on building the new family business.

Russo was enrolled at St Stephen's Primary School, in Brisbane, Australia and then attended secondary schooling at All Hallows School, in Fortitude Valley. She was an excellent typist and her first job was with Dalgety Australia Limited. Over the years Sarina worked as, and was fired from, many legal secretary jobs.

Her First Business Venture

In 1979, Sarina decided to rent a room and start her own typing and commercial practices business, The Office Academy with just nine students. She promised she’d get them jobs at the completion of their courses – and she did.

The Growth of the Sarina Russo Group

Thirty years later the Sarina Russo Group employs over 1000 staff and consists of:

- Sarina Russo Job Access (Australia & Great Britain) - provide outcome-focused employment solutions to meet the needs of unemployed candidates and employers.

- Sarina Russo Apprenticeship Services - promotes the benefits of 600 trade qualifications to apprenticeships and traineeships and pays employers training incentives.

- VOICE – Psychologists & Allied Professionals - Conducts clinical assessments to support disadvantaged jobseekers to overcome their vocational and non-vocational return to work barriers - workplace injury, depression, anxiety, motivation, communication difficulties and low self esteem

- Russo Recruitment - provides staffing and/or recruitment for executive appointments, permanent, contract and temporary office support and management staff.

- Sarina Russo Schools | Australia – focuses on the education of both international and domestic students via a range of vocational education (Business, Hospitality and Tourism) and English language courses.

- James Cook University Brisbane - provides higher education including foundation programs, undergraduate and postgraduate degree to both international and domestic students. Courses include finance, information technology, e-business, tourism, hospitality, human resources, business administration, marketing, management, entrepreneurship, international business and commerce.

- Sarina Investments – Group’s property arms which includes Sarina Russo Plaza – 349 Queen Street, Brisbane; Sarina Russo Centre – 82 Ann Street, Brisbane; Sarina Russo River Centre – 100 Eagle Street, Brisbane; 457 Adelaide Street, Brisbane; 219 Johnston Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne.

Philanthropy

Russo is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative which develops measurable programs to generate social, environmental, or economic benefits across the globe.

Her commitment provides scholarships for a 5-day Global Business Executive Seminar to help Nepalese leaders improve their capacity to better serve their local communities.

Scholarship winners work towards long-term goals such as getting every woman in Nepal vaccinated for cervical cancer, providing better access to health clinics, improving education opportunities for Nepalese teenagers and reducing the incidence of unnecessary blindness.

Biography

- Member of Clinton Global Initiative since 2008

- Member of the Women’s Leadership Board of the John F Kennedy School of Government (Harvard Business School) since 2003

- Former member of Board of Directors, Challenger Financial Services (2006 – 2008)

- Recognised in Paris as one of the forty Leading Women Entreprenuers World Advisory Board in 2002. A member of the Leading Women Entrepreneurs World Advisory Board since 2006

- A graduate of the Harvard Business School (USA) Owner/President Management Program

- Youngest and first female member of the Queensland Chapter of the International Young Presidents’ Organisation (YPO) and now a member of the World Presidents’ Organisation (WPO)

- Member of Queensland Premier’s Advisory Board since 2000

- Member of the Queensland Education and Training Export Board since 2002

- Chairman and Trustee of the Jupiter’s Casino Community Benefit Fund since 1995

- Member of the Council for Multicultural Australia Board (2005 – 2006).

- Member of the Queensland Tourism Board (2002 – 2009)

- Member of the Lord Mayor’s Community Trust Board since 1995

- Member of the Australiana Fund to raise funds to acquire and preserve a permanent collection of art works that are Australian by origin or by association

- Appointed Honorary Ambassador for the City of Brisbane by the then Lord Mayor Jim Soorley in 1996

- Awarded the Multicultural Achievers Award by Queensland Government by Queensland Premier Peter Beattie in 2006

- Won the Women in Business Award – Personal and Other Services Industry category in 2006

- Recipient of the Centenary Medal for distinguished service to education in 2001

- Entrepreneurial Judge (Dragon) on Channel Seven’s international reality television show Dragons’ Den (2005). Other Dragon’s include Siimon Reynolds Creative Director, Love Communications; Peter Higgins Founder of Mortgage Choice; Darryn Lyons Chairman & CEO BIG Group of Companies; and Suzi Dafnis Director, Pow Wow Events

- Celebrated 25 years as on-air host of television infomercial - ‘How to Get That Job’

- Co-authored a motivational biography and business book “Meet me at the Top” with Russ Gleeson in 2002

- Elected by the people of Queensland as one of the Australian Republican Movement delegates to the Australian Constitution Convention in Canberra in 1998