Blackmores chief executive Christine Holgate named CEO of the Year

PROFITS are up 70 per cent and the share price has soared, but it’s how this chief executives treats her staff that makes her Australia’s most awesome boss.

WHEN a business leader is crowned CEO of the Year, you have to wonder what they’d be like to work for.

Being able to turn a profit does not necessarily equate to being a great boss ... But we’re pretty sure the 2015 CEO of the Year Award winner ticks both boxes.

Blackmores chief executive Christine Holgate has overseen an incredible turnaround while leading the vitamin company.

And the past year has been a stellar success, with its share price hitting $200, market capitalisation tripling to almost $1.5 billion and profits up more than 70 per cent.

That’s all great for shareholders, but staff have been winners too — thanks to Blackmores’ employee profit-sharing scheme, which delivered bonuses worth six weeks’ pay in 2014-15, the most of any year to date.

The final instalment of this year’s bonuses will happen just in time for Christmas.

Ms Holgate sounded genuinely humbled and surprised, though thrilled, by the award, and was more interested in barracking for her PA Simone Koolloos, short-listed for Executive Assistant of the Year.

“I always get slightly worried about accepting an award when it’s about naming an individual, when you’re in any job there’s a team behind you,” she told news.com.au

“I’ve just been very privileged I’ve got a great management team.”

The fact she celebrated with her direct competitors after the ceremony speaks volumes; two of Swisse’s top executives also nabbed awards, and the trio reportedly clinked glasses together at the bar a Melbourne’s Crown Palladium.

Honoured and humbled.

Blackmores employs almost 1000 people and Ms Holgate believes they are bound by a common purpose.

A recent enterprise agreement negotiation secured 100 per cent support from staff, which she interpreted as “a great reflection of their support for the company”.

“We’re absolutely united in believing we can improve people’s lives,” she said.

“When you’ve got purpose and passion, it’s a great enabler for success.”

The 51-year-old Briton is refreshingly open and down-to-earth, crediting those who supported her ascent — and welcomed her when she immigrated in 2003.

“When I got to Australia I didn’t know anybody and I met Eddie Maguire and went to a Collingwood game,” she said.

“The club has got this fantastic sense of family and unity that I didn’t have moving here. They just kind of tucked me under their wing.”

She’s been a passionate follower of AFL ever since, and barracks with all the fervour that Pies supporters have come to be known for.

Ms Holgate was appointed as Blackmores chief executive in 2008, after an impressive run at Telstra, where she rose from a marketing director to head the telco’s business sales unit.

Prior to that, she gained decades of international sales and marketing experience in telecommunications, finance, media and healthcare.

Blackmores has had an incredible year.

Although the vitamins manufacturer has experienced astounding growth in the past twelve months, Ms Holgate said this was a result of years of hard work.

“One of my senior executives said to me recently: ‘Christine it’s taken you 83 years to be an overnight success’— and it’s true,” she said, referring to the number of years since Blackmores was founded.

“The strategy that has got us here, we put that in place almost six years ago.”

It centred around four pillars, she said: putting the customer at the heart of the business, product leadership, operating effectiveness and growth in Asia.

The latter, which accounts for half of all sales, includes a new joint venture with a Bega Cheese subsidiary to produce and export the lucrative baby formula that is in high demand in China.

“But even if I took China out of my business, it grew by 18 per cent — which is pretty healthy for an Australia company,” Ms Holgate said.

As for the focus on customers, she said while it might sound like a marketing clique, the evidence was in Blackmores’ product line.

“If you really think about the consumer, you start to think different in making decisions,” she said.

“Blackmores is one of the very few who use anchovies in pregnancy products, and that’s because it’s proven to have the least probability of having mercury in it, because if you’re a pregnant woman that’s the last thing you want.”

And thanks to the Blackmores Institute, which conducts product testing and research, the company launched 172 new products last year including many that were first to the market.

The institute also held more than 70,000 training sessions with pharmacists and their assistants.

Ms Holgate, pictured with fellow chief executives Martine Jager and Holly Kramer, displays her Collingwood pride during Vinnies’ CEO Sleepout at Luna Park. Picture: Britta Campion

As a woman leading one of Australia’s top companies, Ms Holgate is determined to support others like herself in what she admits can be a lonely career path.

“When you’re a woman in leadership, you often look around and you don’t have a support group for you to talk to,” she said.

“Women are communicators, we need to talk to each other.”

But with only a handful of women in equivalent positions, that support network did not automatically present itself.

“I feel very lucky people have backed me in my career and helped me get to where I landed,” Ms Holgate said.

Business Council of Australia President Catherine Livingston backed me to get on a public board and get that experience in Australia [she sits on the board of Network 10], so I feel I need to give back.”

She joined Chief Executive Women and supports its programs that nurture emerging talent, with a 12-week course for women leaders.

Ms Holgate admires beloved former Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly, as well as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who recently appointed her as chair of the new Australia-ASEAN Council — although she leaves politics to the side.

“She is a real inspiration for women — and she is so stylish!” she said.

“Sometimes there’s this unwritten process that as women go up the corporate ladder, they put that to one side.”

The Executive of the Year Awards, hosted by CEO Magazine, were held in Melbourne last night.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

■ Chairperson of the Year was awarded to Barbara Yeoh, Board Chair, Monash Health

■ Managing Director of the Year was awarded to Andrew Stewart, Managing Director, Australia and Asia Wood Group PSN

■ CIO of the Year was awarded to Ajay Bhatia, Chief Product and Information Officer, Carsales

■ CFO of the Year went to Michael Da Gama Pinto, CFO, Swisse Wellness Pty Ltd

■ HR Executive of the Year was awarded to Robyn Batson, Group People & Development Manager, Sportsgirl/Sussan Group

■ Marketing Executive of Year was awarded to Michael Howard, Director of Marketing, Swisse Wellness Pty Ltd

■ Sales Executive of the Year was awarded to Matthew Kates, Sales Director ANZ of Zerto

■ Start-Up Executive of the Year award went to Anurag Chakradhar, Founder and CEO, Blrt

■ Not for Profit Executive of the Year was awarded to Louise Baxter, Chief Executive, Starlight Children’s Foundation

■ Young Executive of the Year was awarded to Adam Schwab, CEO and Co-founder, AussieCommerce Group,

■ Executive Assistant of the Year as awarded to Dimitra Zographos, Executive Assistant to the Executive and Leadership team, Western Union Business Solutions

■ Financial Services Executive of the Year was awarded to Chris Ridd, Managing Director, Xero Australia

■ Retail Executive of the Year was awarded to Michael Ford, CEO, The Good Guys

■ Innovation and Design Executive of the Year (including Manufacturing) went to Frank Seeley AM, Executive Chairman, Seeley International Pty Ltd

■ Construction Executive of the Year was awarded to Jonathan Hallinan, Managing Director, BPM.

■ Energy and Resources Executive of the Year went to Ian Murray, Executive Chairman, Gold Road Resources Limited

■ The Hospitality and Tourism Executive of the Year award went to Barry Robinson, President and Managing Director, Wyndham Hotel Group South East Asia and Pacific Rim and Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific

■ IT and Telecommunications Executive of the Year was awarded to David Dicker, Chairman and CEO Dicker Data Limited

■ Health and Pharmaceutical Executive of the Year was given to David Cade, Global Medical Director, Sirtex Medical

■ Transport and Logistics Executive of the Year went to Kerrie Mather, Managing Director and CEO, Sydney Airport

■ Media Executive of the Year was awarded to Luke Littlefield, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network

Originally published as Blackmores chief executive Christine Holgate named CEO of the Year