Women’s Agenda announced the winners of the 2016 Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards in front of a 350+ crowd in Sydney yesterday.
Among the group of talented and ambitious women are entrepreneurs, engineers, lawyers and advocates. What they share is a commitment to leadership that’s disruptive and inspiring, and an ambition to build businesses and teams that are inclusive and game-changing.
The winners were each invited on stage to share a little more on their story. Most took the opportunity to thank their supporters and to also open up about the passion and drive they have for their various projects and work.
Now in their 4th year, these Awards celebrate emerging female leadership across a range of industry sectors. We received hundreds of nominations for these awards – all sharing stories of excellence, persistence, and determination.
Special thanks to our awards judges including Janine Allis, Wendy McCarthy, Marina Go, Biance Hartge-Hazelman, Craig Donaldson and Sarah O’Carroll.
And also thanks to our sponsors who made the event possible, including Seek, the Australian Graduate School of Management, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Power Ink Media, Kailis, Jetstar and BT Financial’s Stella Network.
Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year
Kate Middleton, Founder, Censeo
Appointed GM of a struggling ASX-listed company in January 2016, Kate identified one of its subsidiaries, Censeo, was profitable and worth salvaging. After securing VP capital, she re-privatised Censeo from the parent company, and became the first female CEO in Australia to not only lead, but own a well-established structural engineering firm providing Insurance Assessments and Reports to major clients.
Emerging Leader in the Technology Sector
Colette Grgic, General Manager, Innovation, BlueChilli
When Colette celebrates her one year anniversary as BlueChilli’s GM of Innovation in October 2016, the division will have trained 45 tech startup teams and 26 corporate ‘startup teams’, rapid growth, made possible through frameworks, programs and playbooks she created to enable deployment at scale. With a small team of five, Colette uses her experience as a former professional athlete to enable each member to excel, thrive and work quickly and efficiently.
Emerging Leader in the Legal Sector
Cassandra Heilbronn, President, Women Lawyers Association of Queensland
A Senior Associate with Minter Ellison, Cassandra’s also leading a major push for equitable briefing and the adoption of flexible work practices in her role with Queensland Women Lawyers. She’s working to shift the legal profession’s view on gender diversity by creating more awareness on the issue, looking at best practices from interstate, and working on a series of initiatives to push for change.
Emerging Leader in the Public Sector
Marcia Devlin, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Quality), Federation University Australia
Marcia is enabling greater access to university education for regionally-based Australians, and positioning her university to become a national leader in student success. She’s introduced a number of new innovations across campus to improve student retention and success, and led on the adoption of an ‘open access’ policy which sees the university admit students based on aspiration and determination, rather than performance at secondary school.
Emerging Leader in the NFP Sector: JOINT WINNERS!
Raji Ambikairajah, Sydney Chapter Leader, Room to Read
Leading a team of volunteers, Raji has led on significant growth in the Sydney chapter of Room to Read, seeing an increase in fundraising and volunteer engagement to help the charity reach 10.7 million children. Introducing a number of new programs and initiatives to reinvigorate passion in the program, she also also empowered her team to implement the Independent Events model, to increase grassroots fundraising activities across Sydney.
Annabelle Daniel, CEO, Women’s Community Shelters
Annabelle’s leadership of Women’s Community Shelters has seen the charity establish three shelters for women and children leaving domestic violence in NSW by working with local communities – and NO state government assistance. She’s helped the charity move from ‘start up’ to a much-recognised and respected model for offering support in the women’s homelessness and domestic violence sector in NSW.
Emerging Leader in the Private Sector
Emma Cleary, Executive Director/COO, Device Technologies Australia
Working with Australasia’s largest privately owned independent medical device distributor, Emma has led on a number of major projects in the past 12 months aiming to empower staff, offer stronger feedback programs, improve efficiencies and create a happier workforce. She’s also developed flexible work practices, a women’s leadership and support program, along with succession planning initiatives.
AGENDA SETTER OF THE YEAR
Kristy McKellar, Family Violence and Social Change Consultant
Kristy is influencing Australia’s powerful leaders to create a national response to family/domestic violence, respect and equality. A survivor of family violence, and with a background in social work, she advocates on the issue by highlighting system failures and offering advice and ideas for reform. In an unprecedented event, she addressed both houses of the Victorian Parliament in a unique joint sitting on family violence, and has significantly contributed to the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence.