POSTCARDS

Thomas Tan (OS 1992)

Conglomerate Executive,
Jakarta, Indonesia

I followed a well-trodden path from College Street into Commerce/Law at the University of New South Wales and then banking, first with ANZ in Melbourne and then its project finance arm in London. An MBA from the highly respected INSEAD business school opened the door to Barclays Capital in London and New York, where I specialised in merger arbitrage – a heady mix of over-analysis and proprietary trading that, at times, felt like working in a casino.

That nudged me in 2009 towards Asia with the Jardine Matheson group, which eventually took me to Indonesia, which has been mostly home since 2011. Within Jardines I have served as CFO in its various businesses, including airport ground services, an automotive group, and toll road infrastructure; today I lead corporate planning at Astra International.

Grammar prepared me well academically, but my fondest memories are of the Endeavour Club trips, disappearing deep into national parks with more enthusiasm than risk awareness. Bushwalking seeded a lifelong love of the outdoors; and it was one of the few ways (I thought) I knew how to court girls, dragging along my now-wife up Indonesian volcanoes.

Indonesia has taught me as much as any degree: the quiet resilience of people with warm hearts and ready smiles, the importance of community and of finding joy amid uncertainty. Turning 50 last year has a way of sharpening the focus. These days my priorities are family and connections, supported by humbler daily disciplines – some tai chi, and the occasional reminder that life, like any good hike, is best measured in companions rather than distance.

Richard Chan (OS 2008)

Founder and CEO,
New York City, USA

When I left Grammar in 2008, I was thrust almost immediately into the Global Financial Crisis. I had an accounting cadetship lined up in Corporate Finance, but the crisis forced a rapid transition into Corporate Insolvency instead – working with businesses that were struggling financially. One of my earliest and fondest assignments took me to Helensburgh, NSW, where I helped turn around a struggling pub – and learnt far more about poker machines than I ever expected to.

It was an unusual start, but an extraordinary education. Over the next decade or so, I worked in investment banking in Sydney, Hong Kong and New York, including at Goldman Sachs. I was fortunate to have a front-row seat to the early fintech boom, watching technology reshape financial services.

That sparked an interest in startups. I eventually joined Credible, a US-based fintech founded by another Australian, which gave me the itch to build something myself. That ultimately led me to found CoverRight, where we use technology to simplify healthcare and insurance for America’s growing population of older adults.

Starting a company on the other side of the world has been an education in itself. We’ve come close to running out of money more than once, and I’ve learnt that entrepreneurship is often about persevering, adapting and finding a way forward.

Looking back, my career has been anything but linear. Grammar taught me to stay curious, keep learning and be comfortable tackling difficult problems. I’m still close with friends I first met in Transition at St Ives, and I’m incredibly grateful for the friendships from Grammar that have lasted all these years.

Sean Marshall (OS 2012)

Impact Producer and Climate Advocate,
London, United Kingdom

It’s been over ten years since I left Grammar and the adrenaline rushes of performing on the Alastair Mackerras Theatre stage, captaining the basketball team, and dropping maths at the end of Form IV are slowly receding in the rearview mirror. However, the School’s core virtues of intellectual curiosity, gratitude for the opportunities I’ve been given, and an appreciation for the inherent value of effort have stayed with me.

Learning about the multifaceted challenge of the climate crisis at university inspired me to dedicate my career to communicating climate issues in ways that engage and empower people. Storytelling has always been the lens through which I make sense of the world, and a focus on climate has allowed me a diverse range of professional experiences. My career has spanned documentary filmmaking, environmental advocacy, and, most recently, climate research.

I moved to the United Kingdom a couple of years ago and I now manage media and policy impact for a research project at the University of Oxford, where I have the joy of regular lunches with Luke Priestley (OS 2012). The project investigates the influence of climate change on early childhood development. Through my career I’ve gratefully had the fortune of pursuing work I’m passionate about while utilising a range of skills, the foundations of which were laid at Grammar. When I’m not working, I tend to alternate between cycling around the countryside and exploring the warehouses of East London.

Chris Dosne (OS 1973)

Real Estate Agent,
Toronto, Canada

After leaving Australia in 1973, I moved to Ottawa, Canada. I studied engineering at Carleton University for three years before transferring to Concordia University in Montreal, where I completed a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Marketing two years later.

For more than twenty years, I held sales and marketing management roles at major companies. In the final years of my corporate career, I became a senior manager at a Canadian manufacturing company, travelling extensively for trade shows and franchise development around the world. At 52, I decided that being away from my wife and young children for sixty per cent of the year was too great a cost, so I left the corporate world and began a new career in real estate.

Today, I serve clients across Toronto and the surrounding area with CENTURY 21, specialising in country estates, luxury urban properties, and commercial development land. Working alongside my wife, Judi, who is also an agent, I have built a distinctive niche in the market. In 2013, I earned the CENTURY 21 Grand Centurion Award, the company’s highest honour, and ranked 15th in Canada among more than eight thousand CENTURY 21 agents.

Outside of work, I enjoy showing my award-winning Corvette at car shows and spending time with my family at our beachfront home in Wasaga Beach, just north of Toronto. Each year, I host a barbecue there for clients, giving me a chance to reconnect and hear about their homes and future plans.

Nineteen years ago, I saw an opportunity in real estate and built it into a thriving career. By combining my passion for sales and marketing with a disciplined work ethic, I created a business founded on trust, results, and long-term client relationships. I remain as motivated as ever. I’ve found a truly rewarding life in real estate. This is what I’m meant to do.

I also remember my school years fondly, from Edgecliff to College Street, and I try to remain in touch with many of the close friends I made during that time.

Chris Taubman (OS 1980)

Sales Financing and Credit Management,
Shenzhen, China

Grammar played a key role in my pursuing international life: Alf Pickard gave me a passion for the French, Russian and Chinese revolutions, my tutor Alan Anthony introduced me to French and German while Peter Seymour and our exceptional headmaster Alastair Mackerras introduced me to culture beyond the Grammar gates.

Filled with study discipline and career ambition, I enrolled simultaneously in Commerce, Law and Science (Information Systems) at the University of New South Wales, worked briefly at Coopers & Lybrand and became a solicitor at Mallesons Stephen Jaques in corporate and securities law. After attending a language school in Paris I left Mallesons to attend INSEAD Business School and joined Banque Indosuez in European Project Finance.

After marrying a French/Iranian and the birth of two beautiful daughters in Paris, I moved to Frankfurt am Main branch where, as an Australian, I was seen as sufficiently culturally flexible to deal with both French HQ and the domestic German Asset Based Finance team.

The dramatic growth of the mobile phone industry led me to specialise in telecom industry finance. After a couple of years, I was headhunted to work for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). I was then ‘tortured’ with Russian grammar classes – worse than Latin at College Street – and ended up travelling extensively in Eastern Europe and acting as Board nominee on a Russian company and East European fund.

By 2010 I moved to Beijing to work at Huawei. I have been working in Sales Financing and Credit Management ever since. I travel extensively – primarily in developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. In this world of greater geopolitical tensions, I can only emphasise the value of understanding all sides and building on friendships across all borders for a richer life.

Unfortunately, I lost touch with Grammar for many years but, thanks to my good school friend Adrian Jack and 1980 class coordinator Tony Wakefield, I was reconnected in 2022. I hope to be more active with the alumni community in the future.

Vic Nurcombe (OS 1974)

Medical Researcher and later Military Historian,
Brisbane, Queensland

Looking back now, it’s even clearer what Grammar gave me: a solid grounding; a coterie of imperishable friendships; a series of life lessons about how to best serve your fellow man; a love of Latin, German and French; and a knowledge of how to break moulds. Being part of the first rebel Grammar football team in a (then) rugby school was exhilarating. Some of school life was intimidating – my Tutorial captain went on to become a prime minister – and only slowly did I gain the confidence needed to properly become myself.

I came from an academic family, but only really started to bloom when I reached university. Although I flirted with medicine, I always knew it would be medical research and biomedical science that would best employ my talents. I became intrigued with brain stem cells very early on, although I was also drawn into the problems of both cancer and Alzheimer’s disease at different stages of my professional life. I went on to work in nine countries, although my best work, around how to turn stem cells into viable therapies by exploiting complex carbohydrate biochemistry, was done in Singapore. I’m living proof that surrounding yourself with talented people, some legendary, can be a very good thing. I needed that stimulation, that competition, to work at my best.

A nasty cancer knocked me out of my research life, but the consolation was that I became only the second ever person to be awarded both a Higher Doctorate in Medicine and a Higher Doctorate in Science. That allowed me psychologically to let go. I returned to my hometown of Brisbane to reset my life. Having spent a lot of time working in northern France, and being obsessed with the First World War, I retrained as military historian and now write books about the first Australian Imperial Force. To be always able to do what my curiosity dictates has been a gift beyond rubies.