Authenticity, political life and swimming the English Channel with Anne Pleash
Women on Boards I Making it Real
Release Date: 09/25/2020
On target: From banks to guns, Cheryl Dixon takes aim at Boards.
Women on Boards I Making it Real
When Cheryl Dixon is asked what Board she is on, her answer is met with raised eyebrows. With almost three decades with NAB, Cheryl’s first Board role with the Queensland Rifle Association came as a surprise to her and those around her. But six years ago she became the Board’s first woman and independent NED in the organisations’ 160-year history.
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Fiona David: Why we need a humane response to migration
Women on Boards I Making it Real
Fiona David has worked at the intersection of crime, law reform and human rights and in 2018 was appointed inaugural Research Chair of Minderoo Foundation. Fiona's career has seen her travel to some of the most dangerous corners of the globe while listening to the personal stories of human trafficking. As she says: “I am an adventurer deep in my heart. I feel compelled to do what I can to help others and to try and understand why people would put themselves in these incredibly risky situations.
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Building a Portfolio Career, Mustering Cattle and Surviving the witness box in the Banking Royal Commission
Women on Boards I Making it Real
In this episode Claire talks to highly accomplished board director Victoria Weekes about her board journey to an enviable portfolio career. She talks openly to Claire about her period of renewal, surviving the witness box in the Banking Role Commission, the importance of establishing and consistently following your values, humility and how we really haven’t come as far as we think with the gender pay gap.
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Turf love: How horse lover and Australian Turf Club Chair Trish Egan harnessed her passion
Women on Boards I Making it Real
Trish Egan is a born and bred Sydney girl, but she has had a lifelong love of horses from a young age. Looking back, 12-year-old Trish - who secretly penned a letter to the Chairman of the Australian Jockey Club asking how to become a strapper - would never have thought she’d be taking the reins as Australian Turf Club Chair decades later. Despite being told “stables were not the place for young ladies” Trish never gave up on her racehorse dream.
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Taking charge: Engineering’s first lady Dr Bronwyn Evans PhD AM
Women on Boards I Making it Real
It’s no surprise Dr Bronwyn Evans AM sticks by the mantra ‘everyone’s an engineer’. As CEO of Engineers Australia she can’t understand why everyone doesn’t want to work in her chosen field. It's Dr Evans belief that all children have the potential to become engineers. In this podcast, Dr Evans talks about why it’s time to get the gender balance right in STEM, how COVID has paved the way for more technology reforms and why problem-solving engineers are the perfect fit for the boardroom.
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Bringing the Tech perspective to Boards
Women on Boards I Making it Real
Lil Bianchi is not your box-ticking director. As a highly-experienced NED, Chair Audit & Risk Committee, former CEO and tech entrepreneur working across data analytics, fintech, risk and customer value Lil thrives on innovation and loves being around curious people. In this podcast, Lil says there’s space in every boardroom for “weird and whacky ideas” and talks about the importance of Boards to have a tech perspective. As she puts it: “Don’t get bamboozled or sidetracked - just dig, dig, dig.”
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Fashion to financial markets: How Mahjabeen Zaman found her voice
Women on Boards I Making it Real
Fashion designer, newsreader, banker, lecturer: Mahjabeen Zaman has had all these careers in her sights since growing up in Singapore with her Pakistani-born parents. Now living in Australia, Mahjabeen can add three of those four jobs to her resume. Currently working as a senior investments specialist and part-time lecturer, after also running her own fashion label in Asia, Mahjabeen talks to Claire about her passion for finance and why having a culturally diverse Board should never be ignored.
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Leesa Chesser: From Politics to the Boardroom
Women on Boards I Making it Real
If anything can prepare you for battle in the boardroom, it’s being a politician in the middle of a crisis. Former SA Mental Health Minister Leesa Chesser was thrust into the spotlight when allegations of elder abuse of dementia patients at the state-run Oakden nursing home were exposed leading, in part, to the aged care royal commission. In this podcast Leesa talks to Claire about what it was like being at the centre of a political scandal, and how vital lessons learned helped in her boardroom journey.
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Roberta Wright: The day my life turned upside down
Women on Boards I Making it Real
Resilient and tenacious - no two words could better describe long-term Women on Boards member Roberta Wright. Despite being left totally blind after a brain operation then having to fight to keep her adopted baby - on the back of losing her brother to a drug overdose and father to cancer - Roberta is always looking to the future. In this podcast she talks about overcoming adversity, learning to adjust and the challenges of raising a child as a blind single parent.
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Premiership Winning Material: Gaye Hamilton and her Wild Ride
Women on Boards I Making it Real
She’s spent years working with children and animals (a combination many of us would steer clear of) and yet Gaye Hamilton says the transferable skills gained in secondary science education and zoo management paved the way for her varied and fascinating career and board journey, including over a decade with the Western Bulldogs AFL club.
info_outlineGrowing up in far north Queensland, Anne Pleash was a water baby from a young age, forming a love of swimming that would lead her to be just the 207th Australian to swim the English Channel (more Australians have climbed Everest).
In this podcast Anne talks to Claire about public life, working with Bob Katter, her long built understanding of remote indigenous communities and how she was instrumental in introducing the Indigenous Art Code. She also talks about her board aspirations and the importance of having “courageous conversations”.
Anne relives her English Channel swim, on a day marked with horrendous weather…..”as I eyed France at the 13 hour mark I was told to sprint my heart out for an hour, otherwise I’d be pulled out.” Listen to find out what happened.
Inspiring, down to earth and authentic.
Anne Pleash - Chief of Staff, Hon Bob Katter
LinkedIn
Anne Pleash
Claire Braund (host)
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