Joining our program on this episode is Denis Wagner, Co-Founder & Non Executive Chairman of Wagners and Director of Wagner Corporation.

With a family association to Queensland’s Darling Downs region that predates an astonishing one-hundred-and-fifty years, Wagners & Wagner Corporation are unquestionably two of Australia’s largest and most successful businesses, with operations across manufacturing, construction, commercial property, aviation and mining services.

Tracing its roots back to 1896 when your great grandfather started business in this region, Wagners was officially established in 1989 as a partnership between Denis, his father Henry & siblings John and Neill Wagner. 

The firm launched with a single concrete plant, added a second in 1996 and by 2010 was operating 19 concrete plants in fixed locations throughout Queensland in addition to expanding it’s construction materials operations both domestically and globally including in composite fibre technologies, bulk haulage, aggregates & earth-friendly concrete. 

Over the course of the past three decades, Wagners has solidified its reputation with the firm being selected by blue-chip companies throughout Australia to deliver an enviable list of landmark projects - in 2012, Wagners undertook its own Nation-changing project with the construction of the circa $200m Wellcamp Airport, the first commercial airport to be built in Australia since the 1960’s. 

In less than two years, construction of Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport was complete, with seventy-five scheduled flights a week including direct cargo flights into Asia - the precinct now also includes Wellcamp Business Park, a 500 hectare estate that incorporates aviation maintenance & training, manufacturing, factory outlets, transport logistics, warehousing & distribution and commodity processing. 

Across both the listed entity, Wagners, and the private family business, Wagner Corporation, the Wagner Family now employ some 1,100 personnel with revenues exceeding $500m per annum.

In this rare and exclusive profile, Denis discusses the family’s long-held ties to Toowoomba, the launch and evolution of both Wagners and Wagner Corporation, the fundamental lessons & skills required for success that he’s learnt across his career & what the next chapter in the remarkable Wagner family story will look like over the years ahead.

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Host | Rob Langton