Tim Cooper
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (1980)
Master of Business Administration (1998)
A quality education from the University of Adelaide equipped Tim Cooper for the challenges of one of Australia's best jobs -- running the nation's most successful family-owned brewery: Coopers.
Because of uncertain economic conditions for Coopers Brewery in the 1970s, Tim Cooper, along with other fifth generation members of the brewing family, originally had no opportunity to enter the family business.
"I assumed I would pursue my own career outside of the brewery," he says.
Tim studied Medicine at the University of Adelaide and graduated in 1980. He went on to specialise in general medicine and cardiology, and worked for several years in the UK before returning to Adelaide.
Having established his own career path, Tim was invited by the fourth generation of Coopers to join the family company, which he did in 1990. Tim continued general medicine part-time.
"It was uncanny. So much of what I learnt in my medical degree could also be applied to my work in the brewery, namely, the basic science, the fluid dynamics, the biochemistry, microbiology and statistics.
"There are a lot of similarities between medicine and brewing. There's really not much difference in managing blood under pressure in arteries and veins compared to keeping beer under pressure in pipes in the brewery."
Tim was responsible for relocating the brewery from Adelaide's residential eastern suburbs to a new, state-of-the-art plant in an industrial area. The capacity and efficiency of the brewery has been considerably enhanced by the new facility, the design and construction of which was completed over three years to 2001.
"The multidisciplinary communications skills I developed in medicine became very useful in that project as I negotiated between engineers, architects, plant suppliers and the construction contractors. Those communications and management skills were vital," he says.
Tim returned to the University of Adelaide part-time to complete an MBA, graduating in 1998. He became Managing Director of Coopers Brewery in early 2002. Other family members involved in the business who are graduates of the University of Adelaide are Melanie Cooper, Tim's sister, who is Financial Accountant, Directors James Cooper and Cameron Pearce, and Maxwell Cooper, former Chairman.
The company is now Australia's most successful family-owned brewery, with a $150 million turnover and a home brew products business that enjoys a global position of market share leader.
"More than anything, the University of Adelaide gave me an approach to problem solving. Medicine is all about identifying and solving problems and that's what I do in business today."
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