Alec Umansky's speech

From Pearcey

Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening to you all.

I am thrilled to be presented with this award tonight and I would like to thank the Pearcey Foundation for making this unanimous selection and to Parliamentary Secretary, Liz Beattie for presenting it on behalf of the Victorian Government. It is wonderful to be acknowledged for ones efforts and to be acknowledged by ones peers is perhaps the biggest compliment of all. Tonight so many of you made me feel this and I am very grateful.

Of course there is no such thing as a single-handed effort. Behind every winner there are people who help along the way and I would like to acknowledge some of these people. I notice a number of Government representatives here tonight and I would like to start by acknowledging the Department of Industry and Resources and their COMET (Commercialising Emerging Technologies) Grant which aided me in getting where I am today. In particular I would like to thank VECCI and my COMET adviser, Business Angel, Mr Bob Beaumont whose guidance and advice has been invaluable over the last year or so. Thank you, Bob.

Most of all I would like to acknowledge some great people from the Australian Army who first made me aware of the need for this type of product and who encouraged and supported me – I might add that none of this support was financial. It has been a privilege and honour to work with these people and it would be entirely remiss of me not to acknowledge them on this occasion. The government has really been a foundation of my success.

So what is it that I have done? Well, basically, I am an engineer and I have designed a box. A specialised communications box that provided voice and broadband multimedia links in areas where no infrastructure may exist. Areas that may have been struck by hurricanes, floods or fires, in disaster recovery situations and even in remote communities of Australia and beyond.

Rick Harvey made mention of a spectacular international success. I must correct that. We do not dominate the world just yet! However, we did receive our first export contract from Canada and are poised for growth.

I would take this opportunity to thank my wife Dinah for providing me with support along this road and for willingness to help to spend the award money! Thanks Dinah.

And finally I would take this opportunity to thank the Australian Computer Society. I was overwhelmed today with the amount of good wishes today from people who do not even know me. It is quite a humbling experience. Thanks to you all for your best wishes. I understand that a membership to the ACS is a part of this award. I don’t exactly know what that is but judging from tonight I think I will be in excellent company.

Thank you

Alec Umansky