Ex-council exec in awe of Coast’s female leaders

A former council executive off to consult to the PM and his office says a national award speaks volumes for the region’s women.

Jeanette Allom-Hill, former council group executive, has won the national Telstra Business Women’s Award, and is now off to work with the PM’s office. Jeanette is pictured with her sons Tom, 16, and Will, 13.

A FORMER council executive now off to consult to the Prime Minister and his office says a surprise national award speaks volumes for the region’s strong stable of female leaders.

Jeanette Allom-Hill was awarded the 2020 Telstra Queensland Business Women’s Awards Public Sector and Academia Award last week, in recognition of her leadership.

Ms Allom-Hill said she “couldn’t believe it” when told she’d been recognised with the award.

She said she’d been “incredibly surprised and humbled”, having been up against police commissioners and other emergency service leaders.

The former Sunshine Coast Regional Council group executive of business performance recently took up a new role with the Prime Minister and Cabinet, consulting to the Australian Public Sector Reform office.

“It’s so exciting,” Ms Allom-Hill said.

She said the award was also recognition of some of the “game-changing” projects undertaken by council, and she said she’d tried to pride herself on being an innovative leader with authenticity and heart.

She said it was vital that the future of leadership incorporated those values, as it was the best way to get the most out of people.

“Look at Jacinda Ardern (New Zealand Prime Minister),” Ms Allom-Hill said.

Jeanette Allom-Hill, former council group executive, has won the national Telstra Business Women’s Award, and is now off to work with the PM’s office.

Ms Allom-Hill had worked previously with the secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Dr Philip Gaetjens, and she was excited to be taking up a role once again with Boston Consulting Group.

The mother-of-two said she’d committed to a fly-in fly-out schedule, with three days a week to be spent in Canberra, as she’d fallen in love with the Sunshine Coast and wanted to have her home remain based in the region.

She said she was eager to meet with Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe about where local government fit in, and said in her experience the three tiers of government had worked fairly well together on the Coast.

Ms Allom-Hill said she planned to continue her work with the Senior Women’s Network and the ‘No More Fake Smiles’ charity board, and praised the Sunshine Coast Business Women’s Network for its efforts in the region.

She said the Coast was fortunate to have such an “incredible community of women” in the region, many of whom were leaders in their fields.

Ms Allom-Hill said the current pandemic had brought the best out in communities, and the Coast had proven it was one of the top places to be, as businesses set about helping each other.

She also encouraged the new council to keep listening to its community’s needs, and she felt the council had done well so far to pivot quickly and offer support.

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