Peter: I finished the master’s degree and we found out we were expecting triplets. We welcomed three identical girls into the world, nappy changes, sleep patterns, the routines of feeding. The triplets are 10 now, so I've got my son, his 12, Fraser, and then Eliza, Bronte, and Chloe are our beautiful daughters.

My current role is Director of Shire Services for Wollondilly Shire Council. For me personally, it was always an ambition that I would grow up, I would go to high school, and I would one-day study at the University of Wollongong, and to come back today and work in Wollondilly Shire where I grew up, my family grew up there, my grandfather, and their parents grew up there. So there’s a real connection to place that just evolves into being part of the community, part of my workplace, and serving people that I work with.

Grace McCarthy: They say you can’t be what you can't see. So if there’s somebody else in the family who has been to university and now look at them, look what Peter's done, he's had these senior positions in so many different industries, found his real niche, his fabulous job at Wollondilly and seen that success.

Peter: To come back today and see Grace and be able to see some of the new buildings that have been built over the last few years, I don’t think I would be where I am today without that connection with the University of Wollongong.

Grace: Peter took every bit of learning that he could, but he started with who he was as a person. He’s never changed.

Peter: 27, 28 years old, I was in a fairly senior role for a public company to really apply myself to the MBA, I thought once I was committed, each course was another layer in the foundations that I had for my future career.

Grace: The job now suits him absolutely perfectly because he's always learning something new and he's serving the community and that is absolutely who he is.

Peter: Really taking those building blocks that I learned in the MBA, I was able to then fast track more of my career development, particularly into the senior roles in ASX companies and some startups.

Grace:  You take your learning with you, and you add to it, and you carry on and all that becomes part of who you are, and then you come to that wonderful place where it all comes together, and you can do your best work.