We’re thrilled to announce the exceptional finalists in the 2024 Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards, thanks to the support of our headline partner, Commonwealth Bank’s Women in Focus.
This year’s program focuses on integrity, highlighting the work of emerging women leaders who stay true to their values and principles in the face of key challenges and change.
We’re thrilled to be able to shine a light on their work and help build their profiles and platforms as they continue their change making work.
The 2024 Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards are made possible thanks to our excellent partners including the Commonwealth Bank’s Women in Focus, CSIRO, Charles Sturt University and Salesforce.
Tickets are still available to the gala dinner announcing the winners here, where Jennifer Robinson, an international philanthropist and Australian human rights lawyer who defended Julian Assange, will give a keynote address. The event will be MC’d by last year’s Emerging Leader in Tech, Luli Adeyemo.
With special guests and unforgettable entertainment, this year’s awards will be filled with inspiring conversation and connection.
So without further ado, here are this year’s finalists.
Small Business Leader of the Year
Rachelle Towart
With over seven years at the helm of Pipeline Talent, Rachelle specialises in Indigenous executive recruitment, coaching, and professional development. Boasting multiple credentials in Indigenous leadership, business governance, and training and assessment, she has consistently forged strategic collaborations with governmental entities, corporate sectors, and Indigenous institutions. Driven by a vision to elevate more Indigenous Australians into prominent leadership roles based on merit, she is deeply invested in generating substantial social and economic benefits for their communities and our nation as a whole.
Belinda Bentley
Belinda Bentley, Managing Director, 9Springs, a property advisory and project management group contributing to over $1.5b projects. With lived experience with domestic and family violence (DFV), disability and mental health, Belinda and 9Springs proudly delivered two purpose-built homes this year for women over 45 facing homelessness and escaping DFV for client, St Vincent de Paul Society. An award-winning Asian-Australian DEI leader, Belinda is a Non-Executive Director of Link Wentworth Housing, a leading community housing provider.
Frances Bilbao
Frances Bilbao is the visionary founder of Mums Matter Psychology, delivering extraordinary expansion to serve 3,400 women nationwide and save the economy $49.5 million this year alone. Through her innovative bulk-billing model, Frances provides free perinatal mental health care to mothers across Australia. Mums Matter continues to flourish under her leadership, using technology and community partnerships to reshape the industry and make vital psychological support accessible to all families in need.
Merrily Hunter
Merrily is the Founder and Director of MAC Trade Services, a company dedicated to the Australian energy transition, helping households and businesses lower their carbon footprint. I started MAC in 2014, growing it from a small consultancy into a one-stop electrification installation business with over 400 installers and employees. MAC is now one of the largest energy service providers in South Australia and has expanded to all states in the NEM, serving as an energy-saving offsets generator, aggregator, and trader.
Emerging Leader in Health
Dr Olivia Ong
Dr Olivia Ong, known as the Heart-Centred Doctor, is a Melbourne-based rehabilitation medicine and pain physician with 15 years of clinical experience, and an expert in resilience and burnout. After being hit by a car in 2008, Olivia was told she would never walk or practice medicine again. She spent years as a patient in hospitals and rehab facilities in Australia and the US in an attempt to regain some of the capabilities that were torn away from her. Little did she know she was going to get a whole lot more than she’d bargained for. After an intensive three-year recovery process, she walked again. Today she shares her experience with others.
Dr Naba Alfayadh
Naba is a medical doctor, serial social entrepreneur and International Health Advisor. She is the Founder of Rahma Health, an organisation that supports refugee and migrant families to enjoy the magic of the first 5 years of a child’s life. Naba is reinventing global health access, helping re-write National and State guidelines to reflect the needs of Australian Multicultural Communities and ensuring equitable access to all. Rahma’s resources have helped families more than 0.5 million times. Naba studied Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Stanford University. Naba’s passion for refugee health is fueled by her own personal experience as a former refugee, fleeing the Iraq war in 2003.
Belinda Loke
Belinda Loke is a dynamic professional with expertise in law, governance, and leadership. Recognised in the Governance Top 100 and awarded the 2023 Asian-Australian Leadership Awards, she serves as a Board Director at QEC and Kids Hope Australia, chairing key committees. Belinda holds Advisory Council roles at the Monash University Health and Social Care Unit, The Royal Children’s Hospital, and the BoardEffect Expert Advisory Panel. Belinda is also Founder of Legalexa, a digital law firm.
Erin Longbottom
Erin Longbottom leads the Homeless Outreach Service at St Vincent’s Hospital, providing essential healthcare to over 700 people experiencing homelessness each month. A passionate advocate for health equity and social justice, Erin drives systemic change, particularly for non-resident individuals lacking access to care. She spearheaded St Vincent’s Mobile Health Clinic, collaborates with those with lived experience of homelessness, and features in documentaries, public speaking engagements, and advocacy efforts to transform care for society’s most underserved.
Emerging Leader in the Private Sector
Shani Jayamanne
Shani Jayamanne is a Senior Investment Specialist at Morningstar. She is a co-host of Morningstar Australia’s Investing Compass podcast, and a frequent contributor of personal finance and investing insights in major publications in Australia. Her work focuses on understanding financial products, and distilling complex financial concepts for individuals, advisers and institutions. She is passionate about making financial information accessible to all, with a focus on promoting financial literacy and independence for minority groups.
Sapphire Parsons
Sapphire Parsons, a Senior Workplace Lawyer and leading advocate for women’s safety and equality, spearheaded a coalition of peak bodies in 2024, calling for amendments to workplace safety regulations to address gendered violence. She authored the Australian Women Lawyers’ submission to the Federal Government’s Expert Panel on Prevention Approaches, leading to the Expert Panel’s adoption of Recommendation 7(f). This recommendation, calling for reforms of workplace safety regulations to specifically address work-related gendered violence, represents a significant step forward in shaping potential Government responses to Australia’s National Crisis of Gender-Based Violence.
Erin Eckhoff
Erin Eckhoff is a Senior Associate in the Sydney office of Ashurst where she specialises in complex international disputes, including international commercial arbitration and international investment arbitration. Erin is a trusted international law advisor and has a particular interest in environmental disputes, climate change litigation, and human rights.
Izzy Jensen
Izzy Jensen is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Kakariki Capital, where she spearheads efforts to channel investment capital into nature-based climate solutions. With over a decade of expertise in carbon markets, Izzy played a key role in establishing a $100 million carbon development platform in Australia. She is now dedicated to transforming the carbon and environmental markets by making them more accessible and transparent, through education and the development of innovative investment products.
Emerging Leader on Climate
Laura Parr
Laura Parr is a trustee with The Nature Conservancy Australian Advisory Board. She also works in technology at Google, and recognises that nature needs technology. Laura believes that technology is the lever that helps solve our biggest challenges we’re facing around sustainability. Laura drives change as a fundraiser, advisor, ambassador and advocate. But most importantly, she is a role model to her three young sons to grow up in a world protecting both people and the planet.
Liz Courtney
Award-winning Australian documentary filmmaker Liz Courtney has been recognized for impactful films like Antarctica the Giant Awakens, Earth’s Survival, Future Cities, and The Tipping Points of Climate Change. After two decades in corporate communications, Courtney transitioned from stilettos to snow boots, finding her true calling in raising awareness and driving action on climate change. With 55 documentaries to her name, her commitment to educating and empowering the next generation remains unwavering.
Victoria McKenzie McHarg
Victoria is the CEO of Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia (WELA), Australia’s fastest growing community of women and gender-diverse environmental and climate leaders. In the last 12 months, her team has lifted the lid on the gendered nature of climate and environmental impacts in Australia. WELA’s groundbreaking new research report has spotlighted the benefits of diverse leadership in driving climate solutions, attracting mainstream media attention and sparking important discussions across the sector.
Dr Melanie Zeppel
Dr. Melanie Zeppel is a climate leader, pioneering the forecasting of Scope 1-3 emissions to 2050 for New Forest’s forest assets for Net Zero modelling. A Superstar of STEM 2023-24, winner of the 2019 Scopus Sustainability Researcher of the Year award, she has 60+ peer-reviewed publications and written 100 Wikipedia pages on women in STEM and climate. Dr Zeppel’s expertise in global forest carbon and climate is evidenced by numerous keynote invitations and presentations to government and business.
Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year
Dr Angela Kwong
Dr. Angela Kwong is a General Practitioner with a special interest in medically supervised weight loss. She’s the creator of Enlighten Me, a medically supervised weight loss program that provides individualised medical care, and specific nutritional advice, alongside support, coaching and understanding.
Nadia Lee
Nadia Lee is a founder and CEO of ThatsMyFace, an AI company which detects malicious content and who’s in it for businesses. She is the Industry Partner at Reclaim Coalition, one of the largest global coalitions against image-based abuse. She is also a member at the Content Authenticity Initiative, a global alliance led by Adobe and Microsoft to protect digital provenance. She has a background as an AI policy researcher and start-up entrepreneur.
Laura Simmons
Laura has worked across Sydney in the private health sector for 10 years, and in this time has noticed a distinct lack of innovative technology solutions targeting the ongoing care of clients outside of direct therapy and how this is impacting the client’s overall treatment. As an OT, Laura spends most of her time working 1:1 with children aged 2-15 years living with various challenges. She is passionate about digital health transformation and developed Theratrak – a digital platform that enables allied health professionals to work collaboratively to create monitor and track custom therapy programs for children.
Emerging Leader in Tech
Vivian Wong
Vivian Wong currently helms Enterprise Sales in ANZ at Amplitude. With almost a decade of experience in the tech industry, she excels in driving digital innovation within the region. To date, she has been a pivotal partner to a long list of large enterprise businesses in their digital transformation journey, supporting them to leverage the power of digital analytics for business growth. A highly strategic and results-driven leader, Vivian deeply understands businesses’ challenges and pain points as they optimize their tech stack. She is a strong champion for organization-wide data democratization, holding the belief that all teams should be empowered to access, collaborate and get actionable insights from their data.
Swechchha Agrawal
Swechchha Agrawal is a passionate leader in Tech, recognised for her impactful contributions across the telecom, healthcare, and government sectors. With dual Master’s degrees in Data Analytics and Astrophysics, she combines her technical expertise with a forward-thinking approach to AI and innovation. Committed to driving meaningful change, Swechchha excels in empowering teams to embrace emerging technologies and adapt for growth. As a staunch advocate for women in STEM, her work nurtures aspiring professionals and fosters a more inclusive tech community.
Ghislaine Entwisle
Ghislaine is a Technology Consulting Managing Director and the National Diversity, Equity and Inclusion lead at Protiviti. She leads a diverse team and has championed events in allyship, indigenous awareness, gender transition and intersectionality. She has delivered thought leadership presentations on data governance, technology optimisation, innovation, inclusive leadership and leading diversity teams. She has advanced inclusivity beyond Protiviti through advocacy, amplification, activism and collaboration. She lifts women and women of colour to thrive in technology.
Nakshathra Suresh
Nakshathra Suresh is a cyber criminologist, academic, public speaker and co-founder of eiris, a safety initiative that encourages individuals to upskill their digital literacy and feel more empowered online. Through education, advocacy and storytelling, she has increased awareness of safety and ethical risks for organisations that deploy technology products and services, as well as users of digital platforms. Over the past year, Nakshathra has encouraged and contributed to numerous local and global conversations to create multi-stakeholder strategies to optimise safer online experiences.
Emerging Leader in Science
Dr Devanshi Seth
Dr Devanshi Seth is a Principal Scientist at the (i) Drug Health Services (DHS), Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and (ii) The Centenary Institute (CI), and (iii) Clinical Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney (USYD). Dr Seth has a wide spectrum of expertise in molecular/cellular biology, genetics, clinical, cancer research, industrial biotechnology and corporate management. She directs a unique Research Program in Australia addressing the gaps in understanding Alcohol-induced Liver Disease. She is an internationally known leader in the alcohol/liver field, she leads the NIH/NIAAA-funded study on genetics of alcoholic liver cirrhosis (ALC) using genome/exome sequencing.
Dr Vanessa Pirotta
Dr Vanessa Pirotta is a wildlife scientist, woman in STEMM/STEAM, science communicator, author and vessel operator. Vanessa’s research uses innovative technologies for wildlife conservation. Vanessa works collaboratively across both marine and terrestrial environments merging cutting edge tech to access animals in unique ways. Most notable works include drones to collect whale snot and the use of computer algorithms and AI for the detection of illegal wildlife trafficking.
Dr Asma Akther
Dr. Asma is a CERC postdoc at CSIRO. She is dedicated to improving all Australian water bodies in order to enhance human health. Passionate about science, innovation, and technology, she completed her PhD from RMIT University in Melbourne in 2023. With valuable working experience in multinational industries, her worldwide exposure has given her a strong sense of adaptability and cultural diversity. Dr. Asma also motivates young STEM enthusiasts through outreach activities.
Dr Astrid Rodriguez-Acevedo
Astrid Rodriguez Acevedo is the founder of Huitaca and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Global Women’s Science, Nature and Society. She created a program offering free English editing services to young female scientists in Latin America, helping them overcome language barriers and share their research internationally. Passionate about making knowledge accessible, Astrid champions a platform where research on Global South women is freely available, while advocating for the active participation of Global South scientists in today’s predominantly Western scientific discourse.
Emerging Leader in the NFP Sector
Naba Alfayadh
Naba is a medical doctor and the founder of two national charities, in Education and Health. After successfully handing over her first charity, Happy Brain Education, Naba founded Rahma Health, which supports refugee and migrant families to enjoy the magic of the first 5 years of a child’s life. During Naba’s 3 years as CEO, Happy Brain Education helped over 2,000 students and expanded to two states with 50 employees. Rahma’s resources have helped families more than 0.5 million times, and the organisation is helping to re-write Federal and State Obstetric and Paediatric Guidelines to reflect the needs of Multicultural Communities. Naba is very passionate about macroscopic social impact work to change the upstream factors that influence people’s happiness and wellbeing. Naba studied Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Stanford University. Naba’s passion for refugee health is fueled by her own personal experience as a former refugee, fleeing the Iraq war in 2003.
Asha Bhat
Asha Bhat leads the award-winning regional Southern Aboriginal Corporation (SAC), which provides services and programs that address the Noongar peoples’ needs and aspirations in cooperation with other community and business organisations. With an asset base of $24 million, SAC provides services and programs in areas such as structured indigenous training and employment, family violence prevention, affordable housing, healthcare support and legal services. Asha has worked across all levels of the organisation, from grassroots through senior management, and as CEO, she oversees all aspects of the organisation and is responsible for ensuring that sustainability and viability are built into operations on a daily basis.
Fiona Sanford
Fiona Sanford, CEO of The Flourish Journey, has transformed the lives of 25,000 girls across Australia. Through key partnerships with MECCA, Liptember, and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, she has elevated the charity’s impact. A Semi-Finalist in the 2023 7 News Young Achievers Award for Leadership, Fiona is dedicated to bridging the gap between youth and mental health, fostering resilience and leadership in girls, and aims to empower over 100,000 girls by 2030, inspiring them to reach their full potential.
Nyachan Nyak
Nyachan Nyak is a South Sudanese Australian community member based in southeast Melbourne. She is a mental health professional with over 10 years of combined expertise providing dual diagnosis treatment support to individuals and groups. She has also served on various committees including Suicide Prevention and Responses Expert Advisory Committee. Nyachan is currently a Project Officer at the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) and has advised the Department of Health on suicide prevention and is highly engaged with youth-led organisations. Nyachan is also the founder of NAS Recovery Centre, a community-based Alcohol and Other Drugs and Mental Health treatment organisation supporting people from culturally diverse backgrounds.
Megan Woff
Megan joined CS in Schools as CEO in July 2023. A multiple times founder with a focus on long-term impact, she has raised millions from Australia’s top VCs. Megan was previously the founder and CEO of Bellish and Head of Founders for Startmate. Megan has a background in engineering and yoga teaching and a passion for empowering and guiding entrepreneurs on their journeys, particularly those from diverse backgrounds.
Agenda Setter of the Year
Prabha Nandagopal
Prabha is a leading human rights lawyer and Founder of Elevate Consulting Partners, a practice dedicated to helping organisations create safe, respectful, and inclusive workplaces. She also founded Safespace@elevate – Australia’s first independent, trauma-informed and culturally safe platform for reporting and addressing harmful workplace behaviours. Over the past year, Prabha has been a prominent advocate on ending workplace sexual harassment and discrimination through an intersectional lens, driving important conversations on these critical issues.
Larisha Jerome
Larisha Jerome is a proud Jarowair, Wakka Wakka and Wulli Wulli woman. She is an Economic Justice Advocate, Founder of Liberate with Larisha, Board Director of Jarowair Aboriginal Corporation, Host of the Rich Blak Women Podcast and an accomplished Speaker. Her aim is to redress the economic injustice that First Nations people face and to decolonise western money concepts.
Her unique approach is centred in her lived experience and leverages the power of community, relational reciprocity, authenticity, and meaningful connections.
Dr Jean Linis-Dinco
Dr Jean Linis-Dinco is a human rights activist and cybersecurity expert whose work spans several continents, focusing on the human-rights centred approach to technology. Her work concentrates on conflict forecasting and the analysis of disinformation campaigns, particularly related to the largest humanitarian crisis in the world since Rwandan genocide in 1994: the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. A staunch human rights defender, Jean has spoken publicly against the UN Cybercrime Treaty and most recently, the Global Digital Compact at the UN multi-stakeholder forum in New York.
Helena Hassani
Helena Hassani is the founder and executive director of Boland Parwaz. Helena is an inspirational human rights advocate and global leader for the rights of women and girls. Helena is a silver award winner of Women Changing the World Awards 2024 in London. She is the 2024 Fellow for the Echoing Green Fellowship. She served as a delegate at the United Nations Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement and at the 68th Conference on Consultation at the Status of Women.