Profile - Brad Rossiter
Memories of NSBHS:
Space Invaders before school at the corner milkshop; the year 7 lawns; hand ball in C quad; hanging out with the likes of Spud Murphy, Chris White, Dave Hamilton, Dean Yates, Rod Gregor; smoking Alpine Green menthol cigarettes behind the bus stop at St Leonards station (weren't we rebellious!?!); Mr Jurd throwing blackboard dusters at us during music class and asking if we "valued living"; custard tarts from the canteen; band/orchestra practice - and skipping class to attend said practice, but never turning up!; musicals at the end of the year (Treemonisha was incredible.....I seem to remember Nicole Kidman being involved...??)
Brief Summary of Life after school:
As everyone may remember, I finished up at the end of 1985 after year 10 with grand hopes of entering the banking industry and making my fortune. Wasn't to be of course! So ended up going through a number of jobs ranging from an office clerk to managing some fairly large retail outlets (Just Jeans & Country Road) before making a career in sales. Was in IT for about five minutes and then into capital office equipment for a couple of years. Threw that away to get into the burgeoning fitness industry for a year or so. Had a few girlfriends and got engaged in my mid twenties - though that didn't last (you'll understand why when you see who is now important in my life below!!). So, after about 10 years of tumultuous stuff, decided to do the 'backpacker' thing and headed out on my grand tour. Spent three months touring/skiing my way around Canada and the US before landing in the UK early 1997. There, picked up some temp work in London for 20th Century Fox video while I spent weekends travelling around Britain and the continent - Prague was an all time favourite. Landed a job as a barman for an all inclusive holiday company that ran hotels on the Mediterranean in summer and in ski resorts in the Alps over winter. Spent 5 years with those guys working in France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Turkey - worked my way up from Barman to Bar Manager to Head Ski Guide (amazing to be paid to ski!) to Customer Service Manager to Resort Manager of a 360 bed, 120 staff all inclusive resort in Turkey. Had an absolute ball - would probably still be there if I didn't get tired of moving house every six months and living out of a suitcase..... It was a tough life - sailing, water skiing, scuba diving in the summers and skiing the alps in winter.....all sympathy gladly accepted! Went back to the UK and got into mainstream Hotel managment working for a large chain - hated it!! No sense of customer service and when 9/11 happened we lost all our US inbound business for a few months and therefore a lot of revenue. Left there to go and run a 16th Centtury Coaching Inn in the middle of the Wiltshire countryside somewhere between Salisbury and Bath in the Southwest of England. Had a fantastic two years there and really settled into the English country lifestyle - pubs, pheasant shoots, new years hunts, white Christmases, etc. - even bought a black labrador and a stationwagon/4WD! Ran a very successful business at the Inn, so much so that it was sold (for a huge profit) to a well known celebrity chef by the name of Antony Worrell-Thomson. AWT then threw considerable money at it to turn it into a trendy london wine bar - suffice to say, it didn't work, the locals hated it and I resigned after working very hard to get the business back up and running and making a decent profit...me, bitter, no....!!! I then decided I'd buy my own pub! Which I did and ran with my cousin. It was fantastic - was my own boss, made a decent sum of money, was the heart of a terrific community (again, in the middle of the country side) and loved every minute. Circumstances changed rapidly though and there was a bit of 'economic downturn' in the UK and folks stopped going to the pub.....we went bust! The pub was sold to a local lawyer who loved what we did to it and wanted to keep the same vibe going - and he had the money to lose, whereas I didn't. So, not wanting to work in the pub for someone else after being my own boss, I landed a great job in Business Development for a global brewer. Selling brands like Stella Artois, Boddingtons, Murphey's Irish Stout, Hoegaarten, Leffe and Bellevue, it was great - until they then had a restructure I my role was made redundant!! Tough luck eh? After 10 years being in Europe/UK, this then put me at a crossroads in my life, so I decided to head home. Got back to Sydney in December last year and hit the job market. Of course, I had forgotten that business shuts down over Christmas here, so it took quite some time to finally land the role I am in now. In March this year I started in a newly created job as the State Key Account Manager for a major foodservice company - selling brands such as Edgell, Birdseye, John West, Leggos and I&J, etc into large institutions such as Hospitals, Prisons, Hotel Chains and Fast Food chains - some of my major accounts are Subway Restaurants, NSW Health, Accor Hotels, IKEA the Sydney Entertainment Centre and Acer Arena to name a few. The role is more like being a commodity trader as I tend to deal in tonnes of potato chips, vegetables, battered fish and tinned tomato! Relatively dull products, but a great role. It's great to be back in Sydney and I'm happily settling into life downunder again. Playing rugby after nearly 20 years for a club out of Woollahra, living in Rushcutters Bay and rediscovering all that this great city has to offer - it's almost like I never left (though missed things like the Olympics....). Haven't really kept in touch with many of the guys - swapped emails with Dave Hamilton for a bit, but that was about it.....feeling a tad guilty now after seeing all that is happening around the upcoming reunion next year.
Who are the most important people....?
My parents are getting to that age, retired and living in a 'retirement community' in Bowral.....so have made an concerted effort to spend more time with them. And most importantly is my partner Dean (that should raise some eyebrows!), who I met on a rugby pitch and am now living with...it's all good!
posted by NSBHS 87 @ 7:38 PM
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