From journalist to director - sports boards, founding Women’s Agenda and more…
Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in conversation with Claire Braund
Release Date: 12/04/2020
Claire Braund in conversation with Dr Amber Tan
Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in conversation with Claire Braund
You may well think Dr Amber Tan has the world at her feet and job offers flowing in. A former Malaysian national who was born and raised in Ipoh (the gateway to the Cameron Highlands hill station), Amber migrated to Melbourne in 2011 with her partner and received an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship in 2013 to complete her PhD at Monash University. A feat she accomplished in 2017 with no amendments. Her thesis critically examined national security and public order laws in Malaysia and their impact on constitutionalism and the rule of law and Amber has also conducted extensive...
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Claire Braund in conversation with Dr Monique Beedles
Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in conversation with Claire Braund
Dr Monique Beedles was not your average teenager. At 15, as well as having posters of Murph Hughes and the Adelaide Oval on her bedroom wall, it was her dream to be CEO of Swiss multinational healthcare company Roche. To this end, she went on to study German and chemistry at school. “I was always interested in medical research from a very young age. But I didn’t know back then that to be the CEO of Roche, your name has to be Roche,” she tells Claire in this podcast. Undeterred, Monique went on to study pharmacy and gained her first board role with the Australasian College of Pharmacy....
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Connection Content: Rethinking Your LinkedIn Strategy with Karen Tisdell
Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in conversation with Claire Braund
When it comes to getting the most out of your LinkedIn page, content is great but it’s no match for connection. That’s the message from LinkedIn expert Karen Tisdell, who talks to Claire Braund about how LinkedIn has changed over the years and the importance of content AND connection when it comes to directors putting themselves out there”. As she says, “if you have a really great profile and you’re putting out content but you haven’t made the effort to connect with people to build your network, then you’re just shouting into the wind”. With a long background in the...
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Gorana Saula: International woman of innovation
Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in conversation with Claire Braund
Bosnian-born Gorana Saula speaks three languages, has three passports, four drivers’ licenses and loves to travel. And with her passion for gadgets and all things tech it’s no wonder friends of the former CEO and electronics engineer call her James Bond. The Non Executive Director has had a wide range of executive leadership roles in defense, telecommunications, and electronics manufacturing. Attending university in Croatia she holds two master's degrees in electronics and business and is known as a woman who loves innovation - her first job out of uni was leading a project to...
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Fair game: Dr Catherine Ordway on gender equity, integrity and anti-corruption in sport
Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in conversation with Claire Braund
Dr Catherine Ordway is an academic in sports management, and a sports lawyer, who specialises in anti corruption and integrity.She's a sought after tribunal member, media commentator and consultant who's assisted sports including AFL, archery athletics, basketball, combat sports cricket, cycling, football, golf, handball, rowing, rugby, softball, swimming, and triathlon in governance, selection and anti-doping and code of conduct disputes.What is less well known is that Catherine played a central role in the establishment of Women on Boards shortly after the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In this...
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Fostering culturally diverse leadership - with Karen Loon
Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in conversation with Claire Braund
Karen Loon is a Non-Executive Director, and a former senior Big 4 partner. She has worked with the world’s leading banks and is a recognised thought leader and speaker on workplace diversity and inclusion - inspired partly by her own experiences in Australia. “What really struck me was that I was sitting in boardrooms or sitting in meetings, where there was pretty much I was the only Asian in the room, let alone an Asian Australian woman in the room,” Karen tells Claire in this episode. She was formerly PwC’s Singapore and Asia-Pacific Diversity Leader and a member of its award-winning...
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Managing a portfolio career and leading the charge in Adelaide - with Wendy Teasdale Smith
Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in conversation with Claire Braund
Wendy Teasdale Smith is a woman full of surprises. As well as being the owner of possibly one of the largest collections of hairclips for anyone over 40, WOB’s quirky and energetic South Australian representative also recently won a Toastmasters humorous speaking award with her speech on having an RBF (resting bitch face), which she presented over Zoom during COVID. Born and brought up in Elizabeth, South Australia (the inspiration for Jimmy Barnes’ song Working Class Man) she is also in a book called Elizabeth Champions celebrating people from the region. As she tells Claire in this...
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Security Risks for Boards. Are you asking the right questions? - with Matt Fehon AM
Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in conversation with Claire Braund
In the wake of the Optus cyber-attack, in this special update we talk to Matt Fehon AM, partner at McGrathNicol. Matt has led some of the largest and highest profile fraud, corruption, and regulatory investigations in Australia. He is one of the key presenters in our new 5-part program Security Risks and Risk Management for boards. The program starts on the 20 October and consists of 4 one hour webinars plus a fifth panel session in Sydney at the end (also via livestream). Here Matt provides an overview of what will be covered in the program, including: - His view on the key risks...
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Leading Equal Opportunity for Women - with Helen Conway
Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in conversation with Claire Braund
Helen Conway has, by her own admission, always been an agitator. As the experienced lawyer, senior executive, NED and workplace gender equality expert tells Claire Braund in this podcast, it was her “contrary nature” which compelled her to get involved when she saw something that was not right. “I may have made a few enemies along the way, but you have to be courageous enough to stand up for what is right, and ultimately you get a return on that investment.” Helen spent 10 years in private legal practice, including seven years as a partner in a major law firm in Sydney before moving...
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Cyber warfare expert Dr Sarah Morrison: Getting into the mind of a threat actor
Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in conversation with Claire Braund
To be good at cyber security you need to be able to think like a threat actor. That’s according to state-based cyber warfare expert Dr Sarah Morrison, who has herself embedded herself for the last 20 years in the technology and cybersecurity industry. No surprise then that Sarah is always the one at dinner parties reminding people to use secure passwords and update their anti-malware. What is more of a surprise is that Sarah - who has no less than seven qualifications in the area of criminology, investigation & intelligence and cyber security including a PhD in Russian Information...
info_outlineA straight up-and-down journalist is how Marina Go describes herself prior to her foray into the boardroom. From her days as Editor for Dolly, Elle, Australian Good Taste, and Sunday Life, and then General Manager of Bauer/Hearst brand's: Harper's Bazaar, Elle, and Cosmopolitan, her path to the boardroom hasn’t been as bizarre as you may think.
Journalists ask questions, but what they’re particularly skilled at is listening. And that is the makings of an effective director, Marina explains.
Marina's first board role was at Netball Australia, which she obtained via WOB. Today she has a full-time portfolio career, comprising Non Executive Director (NED) Autosports Group (ASX:ASG); Energy Australia; 7-eleven; Pro-PAC (ASX:PPG); and The Walkley Foundation, and Chair at Ovarian Cancer Australia; and Suncorp Super Netball Commission.
She has spent the past 30 years creating and building commercially successful brands that connect deeply with consumer groups across digital and print channels. Her focus is on reputational risk and digital innovation, but it is her passion for gender equality and balance that is becoming her legacy.
In spite of the challenges presented by traditional notions of male leadership, stereotypes and gender barriers, she has succeeded as Netball Australia’s first independent NED and Chair of the West Tigers NRL, which saw her nominated as the Australian Financial Review Boss True Leader in 2016.
'In Conversation with Claire', Marina confides that her most rewarding career move was launching Women’s Agenda, an independent female owned and run online publication, and the Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards.
At the turn of the century when most publications only featured women if they were a celebrity or a victim, Women’s Agenda “created a stink” by showcasing talented women from every sector and known background in business and leadership. It caused a ripple effect across mainstream media and put women on the radar.
At the close of the hardest year for many, Marina shares the emotional toll COVID-19 has had on the mental wellbeing of staff across the organisations she boards.
Marina Go
Independent Chair, Non-Executive Director, Remuneration Committee Chair, Editor, General Manager
Current Boards (November 2020)
- NED, Autosports Group (ASX:ASG)
- NED, Energy Australia
- NED, 7-eleven
- NED, Pro-PAC (ASX:PPG)
- NED, The Walkley Foundation
- Chair, Ovarian Cancer Australia
- Chair, Suncorp Super Netball Commission