Thérèse Virginia Rein (born 17 July 1958) is an Australian entrepreneur who is the founder of

Ingeus Ingeus Limited is a British-based, Australian provider of employment and health programmes, services for young people, training and skills support, Labour hire and probation services. It is notable in part, for being founded by Thérèse Rein, t ...

, an international employment and business psychology services company. Rein is the

wife A wife (plural, : wives) is a female in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until the marriage is legally Dissolution (law), dissolved with a divorce judgement. On the death of her partner, ...

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

, who was the

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

, holding the office from 2007 to 2010 and then again in 2013. She was the first Australian prime minister's wife to remain in the paid workforce while her husband was in office. She was awarded the Human Rights Medal by the

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...

in December 2010 for her long-term dedication to human rights, especially the rights of people with disability. This was a point of contention as Rein's husband was prime minister during the period of the award's consideration; she was, however, awarded the medal following her husband's deposal. In December 2012 she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of the University degree by

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian s ...

for her services to business, and the award of

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

(honoris causa) by the

University of Western Sydney Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, Australia. The university in its current form was founded in 1989 as a federated network u ...

in April 2014, in recognition of her service to the Australian community, commitment to human rights, engaging constructively with human rights mechanisms, eliminating poverty and injustice, and the illumination of disadvantage. In 2018, she was inducted into the

Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame In 2009 State Library of Queensland The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Qu ...

Early life

Rein was born on 17 July 1958 in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, South Australia. Her father, John Rein, was a

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

navigator who had suffered severe spinal cord damage during a plane crash. He later became an

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

and represented Australia as a

paralympian The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

, his achievements playing a pivotal role in inspiring his daughter. He met his future wife Elizabeth at a rehabilitation hospital in Sydney where she was working as the head of

physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

. Rein attended

St Peter's Collegiate Girls' School St Peter's Girls' School (commonly known as Saints Girls) is an independent Anglican early learning, primary and secondary day school for girls located in the Adelaide suburb of Stonyfell, in South Australia, Australia. Founded in 1894 and or ...

in Adelaide and

Firbank Grammar School , motto_translation = She conquers who conquers herself , city = Brighton , state = Victoria , zipcode = 3186 , country = Australia , coordinates = ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. She studied psychology, linguistics and English at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

and received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

with honours in psychology in 1980, and a

Master of Psychology The Master of Psychology (often abbreviated Psy.M. or M.Psych.) is a master's degree in the field of Psychology. Australia In Australia, the ''MPsych'' title is usually associated with a specialization, such as ''MPsych (Clinical)'' or ''MPsych ( ...

(Qualifying) degree in 1981. There she met

, as both of them lived at Burgmann College during their first year of university and were members of the Student Christian Movement. The pair married in 1981 soon after graduation, before moving offshore for envoy-in-training Rudd to study diplomacy in Sweden and China. In 1986, they returned to Australia, where Rein set up the company Work Directions, now named Ingeus, to help people injured at work find employment. They have three children: Jessica (born 1983), Nicholas (born 1986) and Marcus (born 1993).

Business career

In 1986 she worked part-time as a rehabilitation counsellor, primarily helping people get back into the workforce. In 1988 she founded Thérèse Rein and Associates, later Ingeus. This international employment services agency assists jobseekers, in particular long-term unemployed people, enter the workforce. The chairman of Ingeus is

David Gonski David Michael Gonski (born 7 October 1953) is an Australian public figure and businessman. In 2008, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' described Gonski as "one of the country's best-connected businessmen" and dubbed him "Mr Networks" for being "a ...

AC, a prominent business leader based in Sydney. Other directors include Rein, Garry Hounsell and Greg Ashmead. The sale of the Australian arm of Ingeus took place in May 2007 to ensure there was no perceived conflict of interest as her husband, Kevin Rudd was the Leader of the Opposition (and later the Prime Minister of Australia). The Australian businesses sold in October and December 2007. Ingeus re-entered the Australian market with the acquisition of Assure Programs in October 2011.

UK government contract

In 2011, Ingeus UK was awarded 23 percent of the Work Programme contract by the UK Government. Some speculation has ensued regarding funds purported to have been given in support to the employment minister,

Chris Grayling Christopher Stephen Grayling (born 1 April 1962) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician and author who served as Secretary of State for Transport from 2016 to 2019. He has served as Member of Parliament (United King ...

. The DWP responded in a statement said that Grayling was not personally involved in the decision to award the Work Programme contract to Ingeus UK:

All commercial decisions were made through a clear governance process and the evaluation was conducted in accordance with our disclosed process. Our processes our in accordance with best practice across public sector procurement ... The procurement was undertaken by qualified (CIPS) and experienced procurement professionals. There was extensive internal and external assurance exercises undertaken throughout the procurement process.

Philanthropy

Rein has a strong involvement in charity work and is patron of the Australian Common Ground Alliance;

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

''Maternal and Infant Health Campaign''; the

Indigenous Literacy Foundation The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) is an Australian not-for-profit founded in 2011 that works to address the educational disadvantages faced by Indigenous Australian children and young people by providing access to books and literacy progr ...

;

OzHarvest Ronni Kahn Order of Australia, AO is an Australian social entrepreneur, best known for founding the food rescue charity OzHarvest. Born in South Africa, Kahn moved to Israel where she lived on a kibbutz for many years before emigrating to Austra ...

Food rescue Food rescue, also called food recovery, food salvage or surplus food redistribution, is the practice of gleaning edible food that would otherwise go to waste from places such as farms, produce markets, grocery stores, restaurants, or dining facilit ...

; Ability First Australia; Arts Project Australia; ''The Bella Program'' at the

Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), located on George Street in Sydney's The Rocks neighbourhood, is solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting, and collecting contemporary art, from across Australia and around the world. It is ...

; ACT Junior Talent Squad for Athletes with a Disability; ''Shakespeare on Oxford'' Festival at

Bulimba Bulimba is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Bulimba had a population of 6,843 people. Geography Bulimba is located north-east of the CBD on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, but it is by road. Topo ...

, Brisbane. She is a member of the Honorary Board of the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and fun ...

References

External links