MIKE Quigley did not need a job when he was approached by the federal government last year to run its nascent national broadband network.
He was independently wealthy after a long and successful career in the global telecommunications industry, but he took the job anyway, partly to move back to his native Australia. But he made it clear yesterday he still doesn't need the taxpayer-funded salary that comes with it, donating his entire first-year pay cheque of $2 million to aid research into brain diseases and stroke rehabilitation.
"I'm in the fortunate position where I can afford to give away my first year's salary," he told The Australian yesterday. "I don't spend a lot of money and I was in fact retired before I came into this role."
The fight against the effects of debilitating illnesses is a cause Mr Quigley, who grew up in the Sydney beachside suburb of Maroubra, holds close to his heart. The 58-year-old father of three girls survived a life-threatening battle with leukaemia in the 1990s after undergoing a bone marrow transplant using cells supplied by his brother.
The fight left its mark; Mr Quigley lost his hair during the treatment and it has never grown back.
"I'm a true believer in what true science can do for society," he said. "When you have a life-threatening disease, it has an impact on how you view things and you find out what is really important in life, and it's made me realise that we are all lucky or unlucky.
"Anyone of us can succumb to these diseases and I think as a society we only advance by understanding science and then finding the technologies that spin out of that. I was a direct recipient of that, and I wouldn't be here if people didn't pump money into leukemia research 20 and 30 years ago.
"Fortunately I got through that and now I'm working on the NBN."
Mr Quigley, who as well as being chief executive of the National Broadband Network Co sits on the board of Neuroscience Research Australia, said the project combined two of his greatest passions in life - medical research and telecommunications.
The donation will go to NeuRA, where it will be used to fund an initiative that will use the NBN to deliver remote rehabilitation therapy to stroke patients, using the Nintendo Wii games console.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/na ... 5885428833
Respect rich geek guy...
Respect rich geek guy...
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”