Alumni profile

Anne Parkin is the Non-Executive Director of the Queensland Treasury Corporation. 

She holds a Bachelor of Science (Botany), and is a member of the Class of 1977.

La Trobe was still in its early stages when Anne began at the Bundoora campus and it was a considerably different world than the one we exist in today.

“In those days, to get from Templestowe to La Trobe via public transport was more than two hours each way, so I ended up living in Glenn College," Anne said.

Her memory of La Trobe was the "intimacy" of the University. 

“You talked to the lecturers, you talked to the professors. And really, the thing that comes out in the end is it’s up to you to do what you want to do," she said.

Following her Botany studies at La Trobe, Anne has gone on to a varying career - a path even she didn't expect to take.

“If someone had have said to me ‘You’re going to be living in an apartment in downtown Kowloon in Hong Kong, working in a global bank with global responsibilities’, I would have just looked at them as if they absolutely were nuts," she said.

Anne believes universities should not only be giving students an education, but also interpersonal skills to thrive in the workforce that La Trobe provided to her.

“One of the greatest gifts that the university can give its students is to give them the strength and courage to go out and do what they want to do with their lives and to feel confident they can go and do it,” she said.

Science

Last updated: 9th April 2026