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BRAVEHEARTS founder and executive director Hetty Johnston has been crowned the 2014 Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern Region.
Johnston founded the charity in 1997, with a vision to educate, empower and protect Australian kids from sexual assault. Employing more than 50 staff across nine offices, Bravehearts works to stop child sexual assault by increasing awareness, preventative strategies, support, education, policies and legislation.
Johnston was humble in her acceptance speech at the gala function, noting the calibre of entrants.
“I’m humbled to be nominated among such a high calibre of inspirational community and business leaders all of whom do a wonderful job in their respective fields,” says Johnston.
“The recognition for the work we do is not about the accolades, but purely to keep the focus on this issue in the community.
“As long as my feet touch the ground, Bravehearts will achieve its vision to make Australia the safest place in the world to raise a child by 2020.”
Presenting the award was Commonwealth Bank general manager of Corporate Banking Queensland Mark Toon.
“It’s important that Australia’s entrepreneurs are given support to grow and prosper and these awards are a positive way to recognise creativity and success,” says Toon.
“The calibre of entrepreneurs in the Northern Region award program this year is inspiring. The winners should be congratulated for being able to stand out amongst this talented field.”
Also receiving awards were: Terry White AO of Terry White Chemists; Andrew Buckley of Cardno; Ben Bradshaw of SponsoredLinX; Vanessa Garrard of E3 Style; Mark Scherrer of Ferra Engineering and Dr Andy Boud and Dr Alex Streit of ImmersaView.
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