The Leadership Awards lunch takes place on the 5th October in Sydney, and we’re preparing a range of excellent of speakers including Senator Kristina Keneally, reconstructive plastic surgeon and regular Women’s Agenda contributor Neela Janakiramanan, former Australian cricket captain, Alex Blackwell and #CelebratingWomen founder and our Judging Chair, Dr Kirstin Ferguson.
This year, we received a record number of nominations for these awards, with hundreds of women entering proving there is no shortage of female leadership talent available in Australia. Every single woman who entered deserves her own recognition for the work she’s achieved — as such, getting to this shortlist was a very challenging process.
The majority of our awards aim to recognise emerging female leadership talent, which presents an excellent opportunity for a new crop of female leaders to be recognised, celebrated and profiled. While they don’t need to be ‘young’ or even in the early stages of their current careers, they do need to demonstrate just how they have emerged as a leader in the past 12 months.
So, below is the shortlist. Congratulations to all our finalists, and we’ll be sharing more from them in the coming weeks.
You can grab your tickets to the Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards here. We also have corporate tables of 10 available, for those looking for something special for their teams or clients to attend.
Stay tuned for more from our finalists, as we’ll be sharing more on their work in the weeks to come.
Emerging Leader in Science and Medicine
Professor Renae Ryan
Academic Director, Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) Program at the University of Sydney
Professor Dianna Magliano
Laboratory Head, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and Monash University
Dr Nicole Seebacher
Researcher, University of Sydney
Dr Caroline Ford
Group Leader & Senior Lecturer, UNSW
Professor Elizabeth New
Associate Professor and Westpac Research Fellow, The University of Sydney
Emerging Female Leader in Corporate and Finance
Kelly Morton
Founder, Skye Capital Advisory
Jorden Lam
General Counsel & GM Commercial Affairs, HESTA Super
Katherine Gobbi
CEO, EMLife Pty Ltd
Jo Higgins
Integrated Marketing Lead, IAG
Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year
Melissa Goffin
Co-founder, Red Gum BBQ
Arani Satgunaseelan
Co-founder, Vollardian
Jodi Geddes/Kate Pollard
Co-founders, Circle In
Ros Harvey
Founder and Managing Director, The Yield
Emerging Female Leader in the Public sector
Billie-Jo Barbara
Director, Business Partnering,
Department of Planning and Environment (NSW government)
Claire Beattie
Director, Strategic Communication, Department of Education
Sally Hasler
Manager, International Engagement,
Department of Premier and Cabinet Victoria
Gemma Carey
Research Director of the Centre for Social Impact, UNSW
Emerging Female Leader in Professional Services
Bec Brideson
Founder, Bec Brideson
Andrea Michaels
Managing Director, NDA Law
Pallavi Sinha
Principal, Lawyers with Solutions
Kylie Legge
CEO & Founder, Place Partners
Emerging Female Leader in Tech
Amy Foo
Vice President, Finance and Operations APAC, Zendesk
Christy Laurence
Founder + CEO + Director of Product, Plann
Sally Browner
General Manager, Coder Academy
Jennifer Mumford
Global People Development Lead, SafetyCulture
Amber Cordeaux
Partner/Co-founder, Extreme Digital Ventures/Women in AR/VR
The 2018 Agenda Setter of the Year
Tracey Spicer
Journalist, and NOW Australia
Melissa Griffiths
Transgender advoate
Vanessa Zimmerman
Chair, Human Rights Leadership Group, Global Compact Network Australia
Rosie & Lucy Thomas
CoCEOs, Project Rockit
Saba Vasefi
Writer, academic, poet and filmaker
Carrie Kwan
Founder, Mums & CO
Emerging Female Leader in the Not-for-profit sector
Hannah Wandel
CEO & Founder, Country to Canberra
Andrea Goddard
CEO & Founder, Stars Foundation
Anna Linke
Founder & CEO, Seaside Scavence
Manita Ray
CEO, ygap
The 2018 Employer Initiative of the Year for Women
Medibank
GHD
Leor in Home Early Learning
Stryker
ThoughtWorks