Gerald Lynch
Bundoora resident Jimy Liaskos was among the hundreds recognised in the Australia Day Honours List.
After a long career in manufacturing and spending time as a mentor, Jimy has been recognised as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to business and to industry as a leader and mentor.
Jimy said it has been hard to hold the secret of the award from his family and he has no idea who might’ve nominated him, but is extremely honoured.
He has been a director of AirLift Hovercraft since 2019 and a member of the Melbourne Angels since 2015.
Jimy said he has been extremely fortunate to work with great people and great companies throughout his career, giving him a strong wealth of experience to lead into mentoring.
“I’ve been very lucky to both work for those companies and with some really fantastic people,” he said.
“Icons in manufacturing in terms of the products and how they developed over time, such as locksmith making products for the whole world.”
Jimy has always had a strong passion for manufacturing and being a part of producing things.
“There’s something about being able to say I built that. I did that. We did that,” he said.
“I started life as an engineer, so making things and building things was always a passion of mine.
“The organisation that I worked with had been pretty much at the cutting edge of the products and technologies that they utilised and developed.
“We built the world’s first cryogenic tire recycling facility here in Australia, and that was back in the time when recycling was, I guess something that company did because it made good economic sense, rather than being the flavour of the night.”
After spending a long time in the industry, Jimy said he has gotten a lot out of giving back through mentoring and being a leader.
“I’ve been given the opportunity to work with and lead a few industry associations,” he said.
“We’re able to make change not only for our company, but also the industry.
“I was very fortunate to be part of what was the William Street Community Leadership program now called Leadership Victoria, which seeks to make a real difference for the entire community of Victoria.”
