Latest
- Exclusive
- Workplace
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
- Exclusive
- Leadership lessons
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
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
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
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
Partners
SponsoredSeptember
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
‘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
- Lifetime Achievement
- Higher Education Awards
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
‘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
June
‘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
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
The winners of the Women in Leadership Awards
Meet the winners of the 2024 Women in Leadership Awards, in eight key economic categories.
- Tech & Telco Winner
- AFR Reports
‘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
- Health Winner
- AFR Reports
‘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
- Retail Winner
- AFR Reports
‘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
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
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
- Resources Winner
- Rio Tinto
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
- Professional Services Winners
- AFR Reports
‘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
- Banking Award Winner
- ANZ Bank
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
- Non-bank Winner
- Investment banking
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
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
- Opinion
- AFR Reports
‘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
- Overall Winner
- Success stories
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