Meet the affirmative team for The Great Debate 2023! These shrewd Women (and Men!) of Influence will be affirmatively interpreting the topic “that aging gracefully is overrated”.
Jamie Preston
Jamie moved back to the Gold Coast as a Private Banker for Westpac in 2014, continuing a financial services career spanning over 24 years in Brisbane and North QLD.
A Private Banker for some of the wealthiest families across the Gold Coast and Northern NSW, Jamie has the privilege to work with these families with personalised service to help them with all their current and future needs.
Jamie has been passionately working with local charities and is Board Member and Vice President for the Gold Coast Project for Homeless Youth inc. and is a national Ambassador for the Vinnies CEO Sleep Out in which has participated and fund raised for the past 7 years. His passion continues as a Westpac Foundation Community Grants Ambassador and being successful in awarding the Gold Coast Project for Homeless Youth with Community Grants in 2016 to 2021 and most recently in 2023, for Happy Paws, Happy Hearts. In 2020 Jamie was awarded Westpac Group’s CEO award for Community and Environment and in 2022 was a finalist for the Gold Coast Australian of the Year Local Hero Award. Jamie has completed studies covering Marketing and Business and Financial Planning.
Belinda Dawes
Belinda is an experienced media professional who has worked across Print, TV, Radio and Digital for 19 years. She has led large sales teams across Sydney for both Newscorp and Southern Cross Austereo before moving to the Gold Coast 5 years ago and is now the General Manager of the Gold Coast Bulletin. Belinda is an active board member for both the Gold Coast Community Fund and the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards and is passionate about making a difference for the Gold Coast. Belinda holds a Bachelor of Technology Management in Biotechnology and has recently completed an Executive Ready Certificate with Women and Leadership Australia.
Dr Di Johnson
A multi-award-winning Senior Lecturer at Griffith Business School, a regular finance and business media commentator, Dr Di Johnson is also an advocate for wellbeing economics in changing the way we think and act on bias and inequality. She believes it is possible for individuals and communities to live the lives they value without compromising others’ rights to do the same, now and in the future.
With qualifications across several discipline areas including human resource management, finance, behavioural economics and university teaching, Di worked for decades in people management, applied finance, and policy reform roles before making a career change to academia. Di contributes to a more progressive and inclusive narrative in economics, finance and leadership and has current research projects on intergenerational experiences of wellbeing, financial decision-making under stress, and applied ethics.
