Jane Hemstritch awarded an AO for services to medical research, the arts and business

Jane Hemstritch began her academic life studying biochemistry in London but found the lure of accounting and consulting far more to her liking.

Jane Hemstritch has been awarded an AO for her service to medical research, the arts and business.

Jane Hemstritch never planned to have a career in business, having begun her academic life studying biochemistry in London.

But after finding out that life in the lab was not for her, she moved into accounting and then consulting, rising to become managing director of Accenture’s Asia Pacific operations.

Stepping down from executive life in 2007, she had a second career as a non-executive director at the Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, Santos, Tabcorp and Lendlease, which she left in November.

Her interest in science resulted in her joining the board of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne and becoming its president in 2019.

Awarded an AO on Australia Day for her service to medical research, the arts and business, Ms Hemstritch says studying science is a good grounding for a career in business. “Science teaches you about the analysis of data, about data-driven decision-making and conclusion-forming,” she said. “It’s a terrific basis for almost any kind of career, and certainly for a career in business.”

Ms Hemstritch, whose not-for-profit work has included being deputy chair of The Global Foundation, chair of the Victoria Opera, and deputy chair of the National Library, feels it is fitting she is back working in science, her early interest in biochemistry helping in her role as chair of Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

“It seems almost like my life is coming full circle – being on the board of the institute,” she said. One of the driving forces of her interest there was her husband’s death in 2010 from pancreatic cancer, she said.

“I wanted to put some effort behind research into that particular cancer,” Ms Hemstritch said. “When the opportunity came up to join the institute I took it, but I also supported an early career researcher at the institute. I sponsor another researcher at the Garvan (Institute of Medical Research).”

Finding a cure for pancreatic cancer has proved tougher than some other cancers, but Ms Hemstritch says the research is paying off. “It’s an extremely tough cancer, but progress is being made,” she said.

“It used to be that the survival rate past five years was 5 per cent. Now it is up to about 9 per cent.”

Ms Hemstritch – born in Kenya and educated in London before moving to Australia for work – has seen big changes in business over her 25-year career in accounting and consulting and 16 years as a company director.

“I was privileged to work for a very good multinational global company,” she said. “But when I first started out as a non-executive director, some Australian companies felt quite insular. I don’t think that is the case now. Most (Australian) businesses are very well aware that, if they’re going to be successful, they’ve got to be as good as those on a global stage.”

Ms Hemstritch says the other big change in corporate life is that company executives and directors now have to pay attention to a broader range of issues than just making a profit. “When I started work, it was much more financially focused.” But now, it’s not just about making money,” she said.