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Bond tops Australia for CEO success stories

David Baxby
David Baxby, centre, speaking at Bond University earlier this year with fellow alumni Kate Vidgen, left.

Bond University produces more business leaders as a proportion of its alumni than any other Australian university according to a survey published in the Australian Financial Review.

The survey of LinkedIn profiles by resume.io found Bond produced 60.6 business leaders per 1000 alumni.

Bond alumnus David Baxby - Co-Founder of Coogee Capital and former Co-CEO of the Virgin Group - told the AFR (paywall) Bond provided him with the education and opportunities to achieve his goals.

“There was a lot of flexibility – I was able to shape my degree to the things I was interested in. I had a passion for investment banking and the university made it happen for me,” Mr Baxby said.

“It wasn’t so much that we felt special but we had all made an active choice to try something new. So, it attracted people of the same mindset. And those relationships have been maintained ever since.”

The Class of 1992 graduate told the AFR he grew up in Logan with parents who left school at 16.

His school careers counsellor thought he might become a tradie – But Mr Baxby was determined to attend university and secured a half scholarship to Bond.

He completed two degrees in law and commerce in three years, launching a meteoric rise up the corporate ranks.

Other leading Bond alumni include Neeti Mehta Shukla, Co-Founder of 'unicorn' start-up Automation Anywhere, and Antony Ceravolo, Director of the Ceravolo Group and Founder of LOVEFiLM and Sine which were both acquired by Fortune 100 companies. 

In the US, Babson College  produced more business leaders per 1000 graduates at 160.5. In the UK, Oxford produces the most per 1000 (73.6).

In 2021, a survey found Bond University was the No.2 Australian university for producing successful entrepreneurs.

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