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You can peg him as a scientist, a father or even an executive who has loved life in the fish bowl of public life - just don't label Ziggy Switkowski a migrant boy come good.
Dr Switkowski today will be made an officer of the Order of Australia for his work on the arts, sciences and tertiary education to the telecommunications and business community.
He's best known for leading telecommunications giants Telstra and Optus as their chief executives and chairs NBN Co, the government-funded company building the $41 billion NBN.
However, Opera Australia, RMIT University, Suncorp-Metway and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation are included in the list of organisations that have seen his leadership.
Born in Germany to Polish parents, he migrated to Australia (the family's third preference after the US and New Zealand) from a war-ravaged continent to the working-class northern suburbs of Melbourne at 14 months of age.
''No one should try to make much of that fact,'' he said. ''[My] story is not one of an immigrant facing insurmountable hurdles.''