Mary-Anne Waldren engages people, partnerships, audiences.

She is a business intermediary, a person who uses her networks to link businesses with each other, with potential mentors and markets.

She does this during her Master Entrepreneur Program. The program has a strong mentoring component in which Mary-Anne provides the next three steps each business should take, which often draw on Mary-Anne’s personal contacts and a lifetime’s worth of business insights.

Mary-Anne is passionate about the future of Canberra and has been involved in its planning and development for many years. She was appointed an Ambassador for Canberra in 2000, a role she had unofficially been undertaking for almost two decades.

She has imported specialists into the city to help give it direction. She brought creative planning specialist Charles Landry to Canberra for a return visit in November 2010. He advised Canberra’s business and government elite on how Canberra could reach its potential. All but one of the 10 recommendations Mr Landry made at the end of his visit six years ago have been implemented.