Western Alumnus Ray Dib: Doing an MBA his way
Ask Ray Dib where his surname comes from and he’s ready with a wisecrack. “It’s short for Doing It Better,” he says, before explaining that his Lebanese family migrated to Australia when he was two.
Ray – who is Chairman of the Papua New Guinea Rugby League Franchise team that will join Australia’s NRL schedule in 2028 - is not only nimble in conversation. The entrepreneur, who describes himself as a “lifelong learner”, pirouettes between triple careers as an Administrator, Businessman and Board member. In 2018-19, he complemented his practical business experience by completing an MBA at Western Sydney University.
It’s a remarkable education journey for someone who found it difficult to concentrate at high school. “I wouldn’t say I hated school, but I wasn’t very good at it,” says Ray. “I loved Rugby League.” While a student at Wollongong University, he represented the Australian Universities team in the World Cup, and was a Bulldogs junior and then played for the Western Suburbs Magpies, mostly as a lock forward. “I played one game first grade – a trial game – and had my knee reconstructed after that,” he says. “I came back after that but [the knee] was never good. I’m a better Administrator than a player.”
Growing up as a migrant in Sydney gave Ray a lifelong ambition to “make a difference”. “I was always the underdog,” he says. When he led Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs as chairman from 2010-18 the club played in two Grand Finals. He was also a Director of the Australian and the NSW Rugby League Boards. One of his proudest achievements was moving the Dogs’ Head office and training ground from Sydney Olympic Park back to Belmore and adding a Centre of Excellence there. “They still used ANZ Stadium at Olympic Park for their Home games but at least our training facilities and the players came back to Belmore,” he says. “Now, if you go to Belmore, Burwood Road is thriving – all year round.
He’s also proud of putting “Canterbury-Bankstown” back into the Bulldogs’ name “because that’s who [the team] represents”. “You need an identity – you can’t just be called the Bulldogs,” he says. After 11 years of dedicated service, he was eventually voted off the Club’s Board. “It was very disappointing – we had unfinished business, but I am truly grateful and honoured to have been Chairman of this great Club” he says.
Ray picked himself up and dusted himself off, realising the end of that high-profile chapter could mean the beginning of something altogether more meaningful – studying for an MBA.
He rang several universities but discovered their semesters had already started. Western offered flexibility so he completed several prerequisite subjects before enrolling in the University’s MBA, which is offered at two Sydney campuses and two overseas campuses (Indonesia and Vietnam).
Ray found the MBA’s theoretical elements helped him to “make more sense of how things worked” in the business world. As the oldest member of his cohort at Western, he also enjoyed networking and socialising with younger students, passing on life lessons and his hard-earned wisdom. “I said to them, ‘I didn’t have the money, I didn’t have all the skills [before starting my first business] … you don’t have to be perfect to start a business’.”
Today, alongside running several businesses, he’s back in the world of rugby league leading the PNG NRL Club. “They tell me over there that it’s the biggest thing since they got independence 50 years ago,” Ray says. “To the people of Papua New Guinea, this is a Religion.” The beloved game unites a country of 840 living languages.
The board’s role, he says, is “purely to be custodians and to build this organisation to hand over in the future to the people of Papua New Guinea”. “We have a very good and strong Board, and they understand governance is what we need to protect the integrity of this business.”
The board is also encouraging more female participation in the Club’s organisation. “We’ll create a hybrid model – so when and if required we will get qualified, skilled people from Australia to mentor and assist the locals in PNG– so hopefully in the future, this Club franchise will be handed over to all the people of Papua New Guinea,” says Ray. “It’s theirs. It’s not ours. It’s for them.”
He’s also confident that Aussie Rugby League fans will get behind the PNG team, predicting it’ll be the fans’ “second team” thanks to not only the on-field talent but the profound relationship between the two countries, which dates back to World War II when they united to fight the Japanese in the Battle of Kokoda.
One battle closer to home that Ray continues to fight is encouraging more volunteers to help run local sports teams. During his studies at Western’s Parramatta City campus, he researched how to improve governance at the community sport level to help retain volunteers (his deep Governance knowledge is also put to good use as a Sydney Local Health District board member).
He’s also a strong advocate for maintaining mental and physical health. To practice what he preaches, Ray weight-trains three times a week at 5.15am and regularly reflects and resets at a wellness sanctuary on Thailand’s Koh Samui. “We reset our phones, we reset our computers, but we never reset ourselves,” he says.
ENDS
9 December 2025