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Women in Leadership, which is an evolution of the much-loved Women of Influence program, highlights the work and achievements of those women poised to enter the upper echelons of Australia’s corporate decision-makers

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Amid a major restructure at ANU, senior staff say there is a culture of fear.

I will ‘hunt you down’: ANU staff rebel at its culture of fear

University staff say they feel demoralised by Genevieve Bell’s leadership, calling her proposed overhaul “a corporate-style raid of a national institution”.

  • Updated
  • Julie Hare
Charlotte Young.

Why Charlotte says her ‘otherness’ is a cause for celebration

Charlotte Young, who is studying at ANU, has been named the overall winner and rising star (under 25) of the Asian-Australian Leadership Awards.

  • Julie Hare
Hotel boss Renae Trimble at Bar Tilda for breakfast.

The hotel boss who starts her day at the gym (away from the buffet)

Renae Trimble, CEO of Accor Plus, leans on her teen sport habit to kickstart her morning (but you won’t catch her at the buffet).

  • Lauren Sams
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Why ANZ’s Maile Carnegie told 200 bankers she was having a hot flush

Explaining tampons to men early in her career is just part of the reason the woman who could be ANZ’s next CEO is happy to get personal about menopause.

  • Michelle Bowes
Professor Emma Johnston has been announced as the 21st vice chancellor of the University of Melbourne.

The public institutions that have never been led by a woman

Leading executive women are calling for public institutions and government organisations to do better after the University of Melbourne appointed its first female vice chancellor.

  • Hannah Wootton

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September

Professor Emma Johnston will be the University of Melbourne’s next vice-chancellor.

Melbourne University names leading marine biologist as next head

Emma Johnston will become the first female vice chancellor in the university’s 171-year history.

  • Julie Hare
Katherine Bray

‘We clearly have a problem’: Dearth of women on pathway to CEO

Nearly half of the country’s top 300 companies have no women in roles regarded as pathways to becoming a chief executive.

  • Sally Patten

August

Professor Margaret Gardner has been awarded the 2024 AFR Lifetime Achievement Award.

Meet the economist turned accidental uni vice chancellor

Professor Margaret Gardner, the only vice chancellor to become a state governor, has been awarded this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

  • Julie Hare

July

‘Give her a go’: New judge blasts ‘painfully slow’ progress for women

Jane Needham blasted the “painfully slow” progress of women in law and urged barristers to consider briefing “that young woman who went to a school you haven’t heard of”.

  • Michael Pelly
Anna Wiley, BHP’s asset president of copper South Australia; Siobhan Toohill, Westpac’s chief sustainability officer; Tammy Medard, managing director of ANZ’s Institutional in Australia and PNG.

‘I shot Bambi’: Women leaders on their toughest decisions

Often the toughest decisions are those that affect other people. Here winners of the Women in Leadership awards share their hardest calls.

  • Updated
  • Sally Patten
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June

Productivity Commission chairwoman Danielle Wood.

‘You smile too much’: the early career advice Danielle Wood ignored

Be brave and have fun, is what Australia’s leading women would say to their younger selves.

  • Lucy Dean
AOC chef de mission Anna Meares knows a thing or two about going to the Olympics.

Why Anna Meares chased the job of leading the Aussie Olympic team

As one of the country’s most decorated athletes, Australia’s chef de mission knows the triumph and heartache of competing at this level better than most.

  • Zoe Samios
Tammy Medard, Managing Director, Institutional Australia & PNG at ANZ, Danielle Wood, Chair of the Productivity Commission, and Jessica Vanderlelie, Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic and Professor La Trobe University and Bronwyn Le Grice
CEO and Managing Director of AND Health.

The winners of the Women in Leadership Awards

Meet the winners of the 2024 Women in Leadership Awards, in eight key economic categories.

‘What she’s doing is shaping not just Telstra, but Australia’

Cybersecurity boss Narelle Devine, the winner of the Tech & Telco category, uses lessons from a decade in the Navy to fight off international hacking attacks.

  • Tess Bennett
Danielle Handley, BUPA chief customer and transformation officer, is passionate about the way technology, data and digital continue to enable innovation.

‘We need to be champions of other women’

By the time Danielle Handley arrived at health insurer BUPA, the executive who hired her had left. She had to lead a company transformation without a boss.

  • Sian Powell

‘You need to trust your gut’: How to build an empire

The founder and CEO of MCo Beauty, the winner of the Retail category, knows she is underestimated. It’s what drives her to succeed.

  • Lauren Sams
Danielle Wood, chair of the Productivity Commission; Danielle Handley, Bupa’s chief customer and transformation officer; Haseda Fazlic, Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s executive general manager.

How COVID-19 redefined leadership for these award-winning women

There can be no leaders without followers – and the pandemic reminded us that followers respond best when treated like human beings and not like machines.

  • Euan Black
Anna Wiley has been handed one of the biggest jobs at BHP as asset president for copper in South Australia,

BHP entrusts rising star with its copper mines

Anna Wiley, a leader in the Resources category, has barely put a foot wrong in a diverse career in mining that has led her to the top job in the group’s copper operations in South Australia.

  • Brad Thompson
Rio Tinto chief executive of minerals Sinead Kaufman is no stranger to making tough decisions.

Rio Tinto leader never shies away from hard talks and tough calls

Sinead Kaufman, the winner of the Resources category, also shows great care and sensitivity for families and communities across her career in mining.

  • Brad Thompson
Kerryn Coker and Kate West believe the cooperative model has, in addition to its benefits for work-life balance, allowed more effective strategic and operational guidance of the company.

‘Non-conforming bid’ that took dynamic duo to the top

The winners of the Professional Services category are two Arup engineers who proposed a unique joint arrangement to enable them to balance leadership and family commitments.

  • Maxim Shanahan
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Siobhan Toohill, Westpac’s chief sustainability officer, is leaving Westpac to pursue a new challenge. “Challenging times can present the greatest opportunities for impact,” she says.

The ‘utterly shocking’ moment that made Westpac leader want to flee

Siobhan Toohill, the winner of the Financial Services - Banking category, faces a new frontier after 10 years leading Westpac’s sustainability efforts, including convincing the board to ditch new oil and gas projects.

  • Ayesha de Kretser
Jaki Virtue was drafted in as Soul Patts’ first chief operating officer across its 120-year-plus history in 2023.

Versatile risk-taker who shines when the going gets tough

Washington H Soul Pattinson’s Jaki Virtue swears by the power of ‘unknown sponsorships’, as she takes out the Financial Services - Non-banking category.

  • Kanika Sood
Ingrid Maes, CEO of W23 Global; Tammy Medard, managing director of ANZ’s Institutional in Australia and PNG; Alison Telfer, country head Australasia for UBS Asset Management.

What’s your best career tip? Award winners share theirs

Lead with compassion, don’t assume you know all the answers, and play to your strengths: winners in the Women in Leadership Awards share advice that has helped them.

  • Victoria Thieberger
Danielle Wood, chairwoman of the Productivity Commission, Tammy Medard, managing director, institutional Australia & PNG at ANZ, Bronwyn Le Grice, CEO and managing director of AND Health, and Jessica Vanderlelie, deputy vice chancellor academic and professor at La Trobe University.

‘Inclusion, resilience, empathy’: How modern leadership is changing

Modern leadership is about more than successfully deploying skills and industry expertise – it strongly encompasses the people side, writes Patricia McKenzie.

  • Patricia McKenzie
Women in Leadership award winner Danielle Wood.

The ‘magic and mundane’ leadership style of Danielle Wood

The chairwoman of the Productivity Commission was selected as the overall winner for her contributions to economic policy and a preparedness to take an unpopular position in key national debates.

  • Sally Patten