57 CAREERS - Russell Veitch talks to Jane Jackson

Russell Veitch is a baby boomer who has made a very successful, career change after a 33 years in the transport industry. I worked with Russell back in 2002 when he experienced a redundancy and was searching for what to do next after working in one industry for his entire career. As the age of 52 he was looking for a totally new direction. Fearful of being viewed as one of 'the greys' he wondered if he was too old for a new direction.

Russell’s background is as a chemist before moving into business improvement at Rail Corp for 33 years. He enjoyed ever increasing seniority in roles and became a business process improvement specialist. When a restructure within the company resulted in a redundancy, Russell felt at a loss.
Fast forward 13 years and Russell is thriving as an entrepreneur running his exceptionally successful business, btoBusiness, a boutique consulting company specialising in helping businesses understand and apply quality management principles to improve their business performance and win government contracts.
Russell has extensive experience in federal, state and local government as well as in tertiary education (Universities and RTOs), the construction industry and inspection authorities (ISO17000 series) focusing on achieving strategic outcomes by aligning Quality Management principles with Corporate Strategy.
He has helped many businesses adapt quality principles successfully into their management culture. Russell is particularly interested in the development of management systems in new sectors such as education, health and community services.
He is currently the trainer at Global-mark, a Sydney based RTO, developing and delivering management system and quality training up to diploma level.
Russell has previously held the position of President of the Australian Organisation for Quality (National) and is a regular presenter at local and international conferences Russell is currently a resident columnist in the New Zealand Organisation for Quality magazine.
Russell can be found at http://www.global-mark.com.au/ or contact him at rrveitch@btobusiness.com.au