Julie Boyd

Special Trade Representative to Africa

Ms Boyd was first elected as a Councillor to Mackay City Council in 1988 (prior to the amalgamation of Mackay City Council and Pioneer Shire Council). She spent two years on the Council. In 1994 she was elected as a Divisional Councillor to the newly amalgamated Mackay City Council.

She was first elected as Mayor in 1997 and re-elected in 2000 and 2004. She stepped down as Mayor at the 2008 election. Ms Boyd was the first female Mayor of Mackay and the first person to be re-elected for a second and third term in over fifteen years.

Ms Boyd originally trained as a registered nurse having completed her studies in Brisbane at the Mater Hospital. She studied politics, and South-East Asian religions and history at the University of Queensland prior to travelling overseas where she undertook midwifery studies in Scotland. She lived in the UK for over four years and Adelaide for two years prior to moving to Mackay with her husband and three children in 1986.

Ms Boyd is the Chair of the Urban Land Development Authority, the Queensland Arts Council and Regional Arts Australia. She also chairs the Mackay Whitsunday Economic Development Board, the Mackay Area Industry Network and the Mackay Regional Housing Company.

She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and is also on the Queensland and Northern Territory board. She is a Graduate of the Australian Institute Company Directors.

Last reviewed 01 July 2010