Record 194 leaders join the ranks of Chief Executive Women

The lobby group has announced a record 194 women leaders to join after an ‘extraordinary year’. See who made the list.

Chief Executive Women has admitted a record number of members.

Former Olympic swimmer Nicole Livingstone is among the almost 200 new members admitted to Australia’s leading advocacy group, Chief Executive Women.

Ms Livingstone, who won medals at three Olympic Games, is general manager of women’s football at the AFL and joins more than 800 women in the group led by president and well-known board director Sam Mostyn.

The 194 new members – a record, in part because there were no new members inducted during the pandemic last year – include some of the most influential women in the country.

While many of the new intake are from corporate Australia, the list includes a new state governor, Tasmania’s Barbara Baker; and Queensland’s Chief Medical Officer, Jeanette Young, who will become governor of the state in November.

They join existing CEW members Margaret Beazley, governor of NSW, and Frances Adamson who will become South Australia’s governor in October.

Nicole Livingstone, former Olympic swimmer and now head of the AFLW. Picture: Wayne Taylor

The new members are drawn from sectors including not-for-profits, government, financial services, education and mining and resources. Ms Mostyn said women leaders had played an influential role during the pandemic and an extraordinary year.

“During Covid We have seen so many women leading much of the country’s response and supporting their communities,” she said. “Women leaders are influential across business, politics, academia, sport and the not-for-profit sector.”

Other women joining are Australia’s Chief Scientist Catherine Foley; and E-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant.

There are also leaders from the Australian Human Rights Commission and Equality Australia as well as executives from the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce and domestic violence organisations such as Our Watch and In touch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence.

They include CEOs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, such as Karen Mundine, the CEO of Reconciliation Australia; Fiona Jose, CEO of Cape York Partnership; and Sonya Stewart, the first Indigenous person to be appointed CEO of the NSW Law Society.

The not-for-profit sector includes Lisa Annese, CEO, Diversity Council of Australia and Violet Roumeliotis, CEO, Settlement Services Australia.

There are four CEOs from women’s health, mental health and children’s charities: Sarah Hosking from the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Holly Masters from the McGrath Foundation, Georgie Harman from Beyond Blue and Louise Baxter from Starlight Children’s Foundation.

And CEW has two more international members: Melanie Brock, Japan ambassador forAdvance.org; and Leilani Frew, Deputy Secretary, Finance and Commercial, New Zealand Treasury.