Trading room honours stockbroking pioneer

Cathryn Mittleheuser AM, The Honourable Quentin Bryce AD CVO, and Leeneen Forde AC in the new trading room.

The formal opening of the Margaret Mittelheuser AMTradingRoom at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus has honoured one of life’s true pioneers.

A one-hour tribute, led by the Honourable Quentin Bryce AD CVO, revealed Dr Mittelheuser as an adventurer, a trailblazer, a role model and as someone who always wanted to know more.

“How perfect that the trading room is named after Margaret Mittelheuser,” Dame Quentin Bryce said during an address that reflected warmly on the triumphs of Margaret’s life.

“It is a living memory of a truly remarkable woman.”

Vice Chancellor Professor Ian O’Connor echoed those sentiments.

“She was a doyen of the stockbroking profession. By naming it after her, you know it will be a trading room of integrity,” he said.

“A blue chip standard guided Margaret through her personal and professional life.”

Dr Mittelheuser AM DUniv was the first woman to be registered as a stockbroker in Australia and one of the first in the world. An avid interest in figures and listed stocks led to a long and dynamic career in the stock-broking profession in Brisbane, Sydney and overseas from the mid-1950s.

She was conferred with the Degree of Doctor of the University by Griffith in 2006.

Dr Cathryn Mittelheuser AM, thanked Griffith University for acknowledging her sister by naming the world-class trading room in honour of her.

“She would be just quietly pleased,” she said.

Cathryn Mittelheuser AM recalled Margaret’s lifelong appetite for knowledge and her desire to “keep up to date” no matter where she was in the world.

During an evocative delivery, Quentin Bryce AD CVO highlighted Margaret’s “fierce intellect and forthright confidence”. She described her as “adventurous, curious and dauntless”.

“Her self-assurance was always there, quietly and modestly,” she said. “Margaret would be truly delighted to see this fantastic facility.”

Griffith University students of banking, finance and financial planning have been using the advanced trading room environment to access the Bloomberg Professional service since Griffith opened the doors of a new $38 million business building last August.

Pro Vice Chancellor (Business), Professor Michael Powell, told the invited audience, including friends and family of Margaret Mittelheuser AM, that students and researchers at Griffith Business School now had access to “a treasure trove of financial data”.