6/18/2023 0 Comments Dr james karlson![]() "It's why CEOs and MDs get paid so well - it's hard enough to make these decisions when it's your own family's money, I don't know if it would be easier or harder to do if it was other people's money. "This is a serious responsibility," she says. Karlson has taken the company in a different direction from her father, investing more in the sharemarket while retaining Wyllie Group's solid property base. Long-serving managing director Ian Hoad made way for her and abruptly left the group, amid rumours he was less than impressed with the appointment. When he died in March last year, Karlson was left to run the company. Karlson was thrust into the managing director's chair in August 2005 at the tender age of 27 when Wyllie became ill with cancer. In 2003, Karlson became managing director of the group's property division and oversaw its biggest project, the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre. ![]() In 2000, refusing to be given a job at the company, she applied for a position as assistant accountant and started working and studying for a commerce degree at night. Karlson says although she hadn't intended joining the family business, it would have been "a crime to have dad's work die with him". The Wyllie Group's net assets include the $220 million Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, half of the St George's Terrace office tower, Sorrento Quay at Hillarys Boat Harbour and a stake in construction giant Multiplex worth more than $140 million. He returned to Perth in 1992 to build his private Wyllie Group, which predominantly contained property investments, but also indulged his passion for racehorses, cars and planes. In a 1977 cover story, Time magazine described him as "South-East Asia's most successful corporate doctor" and his dealings earned him the sobriquet the "Smiling Tiger". Melbourne-based Craig Wyllie sold his stake to the company earlier this year.īill Wyllie, who spent part of his childhood in an orphanage, started his working life aged 11 delivering telegrams, and rose to dominate the Hong Kong business scene in the 1970s and 1980s, mainly through resuscitating financially troubled companies. The rest is divided between four children. Her mother, Rhonda, with whom she is in at least daily contact, is the company's largest shareholder, with about 65 per cent of shares. Karlson is the only one of five children who is involved in the business built over a lifetime by her well-respected father. ![]() "She is not intimidated by anyone and I think that is a combination of natural confidence, being well-educated and the fact she has been surrounded her whole life by people others only read about." "I have seen her at a function with the PM, and she engaged him in an active debate on the current issues in business, and both the PM and I were very impressed," says Laurance, a long-time confidant and close friend. Melissa Karlson, the managing director of the Perth-based Wyllie Group and adopted daughter of the late Bill Wyllie, doesn't take a backward step easily. Confidence, family money and a booming West Australian economy are key factors in the Melissa Karlson story.įew 29-year-olds would confidently give Prime Minister John Howard a piece of their mind and walk away with his tick of approval.īut few grow up rubbing shoulders with the likes of Kerry and James Packer, Solomon Lew or millionaire Perth property developer Peter Laurance.
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