Entries now open for Women in Leadership
Don’t miss this opportunity to be recognised among the nation’s most influential female leaders. Entries close Wednesday April 9, 2025.
Latest
Here’s what the latest gender pay data can tell you about your workplace
Evidence shows that improved gender equality leads to improved productivity and profitability and the ability to access broader pools of talent.
‘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.
‘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.
The winners of the Women in Leadership Awards
Meet the winners of the 2024 Women in Leadership Awards, in eight key economic categories.
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.
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June 2024
‘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.
‘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.
‘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.
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.
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.
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.
‘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.
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.
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.
‘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.
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.
Tenacious Ventures lives up to its name with $18m raise in hard market
Members of the Schwartz, Denholm and Murdoch families have committed money to the agricultural technology investor that has overcome hurdle after hurdle.
She was made a trade leader at 28 and pregnant
The winner of the Young Leader category in the Women in Leadership awards has honed her leadership skills straddling two vastly different cultures and Australia’s most important trade relationship.
![Westpac chief executive of institutional banking Nell Hutton. “When I thought about where I could have an impact, it made sense to think about the big four [banks].”](https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.4147%2C$multiply_2%2C$ratio_1.777778%2C$width_1059%2C$x_837%2C$y_125/t_crop_custom/c_scale%2Cw_280%2Cq_52%2Cf_auto/cd94f78169c2fc934117b043efc5b34161f75ab0)
From Goldman Sachs to Westpac, Nell Hutton is climbing the ladder
Having reached the top of the Wall Street giant by her mid-40s, the career banker has big plans to turn around Westpac’s once-dominant institutional bank.
Director urges equality advocates to leave their echo chamber
True gender equality benefits men as well as women, Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz says, but advocates need to convince boys of that or risk going backwards.
May 2024
They battled blokey workplaces. Now these 33 women enforce the rules
Energy regulator Clare Savage and competition chief Gina Cass-Gottlieb are among 33 women leading Australia’s regulatory bodies, once the domain of male enforcers.
New Uber bosses to see through gig economy transition
There will be new heads of both Uber and Uber Eats in Australia, ahead of gig economy rules that threaten to significantly raise its cost of doing business.
April 2024
The advice that’s helped Loudon navigate the boardroom
Bridget Loudon says some wise words from her mum have stuck with her as she’s navigated life as the director of a blue-chip giant.
This budget boost for working women will supercharge the economy
We wilfully under-utilise 50 per cent of our economic potential, creating a national emergency we could easily solve.
Male mentors drove Mostyn’s career, but she influenced them too
The next governor-general is best known as an advocate for professional women. She also had influential male mentors.