The changing landscape of Sports Boards
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
Release Date: 01/08/2021
E3 | 20 Years of Women on Boards Series: Ruth Medd’s Inspiration, Influence and Impact
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
In this very special episode of the 20 Years of Women on Boards podcast series, Claire Braund sits down with Ruth Medd, the original architect behind the Women on Boards idea and co-founder of WOB, a conversation that truly reflects Inspire, Influence and Impact in action. This episode offers a rare and insightful reflection on how one idea, sparked in the early 2000s, grew into a national movement that has shaped the board landscape in Australia. From the earliest conversations following the Sydney Olympics to the formal launch of Women on Boards in 2006, Ruth’s vision and...
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E2 | 20 Years of Women on Boards Series: Cheryl Hayman’s Purposeful, Reciprocal and Energetic Board Career
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
Cheryl Hayman is one of WOB’s longest serving and most successful Women on Boards members. Coming into boards at a relatively young age from a global marketing background, she had several hurdles to overcome. Her focus on how to build her own board brand, awareness of the need to adapt and innovate and willingness to learn and finesse her governance style has seen her step onto a range of boards across the listed, private and NFP sectors. She is a WOBSX Alumni, a WOBSX Program Chair and WOB Mentor. With a two-decade board career spans the rise of women and non -traditional skillsets into the...
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E1 | 20 Years of Women on Boards Series: History of WOB with Claire Braund OAM
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
Inspire | Influence | Impact Lasting change begins by making opportunity visible and accessible. For 20 years, Women on Boards has done exactly that, helping reshape leadership and governance across Australia through the vision of co-founders Claire Braund and Ruth Medd. In this episode, Claire reflects on the origins of the organisation, from an informal network inspired by the Sydney Olympics to a national organisation driving measurable change in boardroom representation. She shares the challenges of confronting entrenched systems, the strategies that improved transparency and access, and...
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The Tables Turn: Claire Braund Interviewed by Adelle Howse on the New CEO Toolkit
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
On the eve of WOB’s 20th anniversary, Claire Braund steps into the guest seat to share the story of Women on Boards, her leadership journey and the lessons learned along the way. In the latest episode of The New CEO Toolkit podcast, hosted by WOB member Adelle Howse of Howse River, our very own Claire Braund OAM, CEO and WOB co-founder shares the story of co-founding WOB and driving lasting change in board diversity. From launching Women on Boards in 2006 with co-founder Ruth Medd, to championing the 40:40:20 vision for gender balance, Claire reflects on two decades of driving change in...
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Dr Jan Tennent OAM: Making the leap from lab bench to the boardroom
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
Dr Jan Tennent: Making the leap from the lab bench to the boardroom In this Women of Honour podcast Claire Braund talks to Dr Jan Tennent OAM - an internationally recognised researcher with specialist knowledge of antimicrobial resistance mechanisms and the discovery and commercialisation of vaccines. Jan was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her service to research science, and to business, and today Jan says she hopes to use the OAM “a platform for my future work to remove barriers to women and indeed to all great scientists”. But despite being six foot tall with a...
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Woman of Honour: Board recruitment specialist Bernadette Uzelac AM
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
‘If the door is closed, climb through the window’. That’s the message from board recruitment specialist and director, Bernadette Uzelac, who has been made a member of the Order of Australia (AM), for significant service to the community of the Barwon Southwest region in Victoria. Growing up in Geelong, Bernadette was married with a baby and selling Mary Kay products by the time she was 18. Three years later she had completed a commerce degree and welcomed her second child. By the 1980s, driven by a hunger to put her own stamp on something, Bernadette started her own recruitment business...
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Julie Adams OAM: Dad’s legacy brightens future for cancer patients
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
Warning: This podcast discusses suicide A curious child who grew up with an older brother, Julie Adams OAM started challenging gender stereotypes at an early age. “I felt empowered to speak up if I thought I was being treated differently because I was a girl,” said Julie. It was this curiosity, she says, that led to her success as an entrepreneur as the co-founder of Chemo@home - which offers cancer patients the convenience and flexibility of receiving treatment in the comfort of their own home - and in 2024 being awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to...
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Avril Henry AM - Levelling the playing field - Women of Honour Series
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
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Architect Helen Lochhead AO - Building a career with purpose - Women on Honour series
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
Make every day count. That’s the advice from architect and urbanist , who was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2024 Australia Day Honours for distinguished service to architecture and urban design, to building regulation reform, to tertiary education, and to professional organisations. A graduate of both the University of Sydney and Columbia University in New York, Helen is a woman who has certainly made every day count. A recipient of many prestigious travel scholarships and Fellowships including Fulbright, Bogliasco and the Harvard Lincoln/Loeb...
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Georgina Gubbins OAM, ‘The accidental farmer’ - Women of Honour Series
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
In this Women on Boards Honours series, WOB Executive Director talks to the 12 WOB members who were recognised in the 2024 Australia Day Honours. In this episode Claire speaks to Warrnambool cattle and sheep producer and founding member and chair of , , who was awarded an OAM for service to primary industry, and to the community. As she tells Claire “I wouldn't probably be sitting here having received this award if it hadn't been for Women on Boards!.” Georgina started her career as a nurse then moved to Victoria’s Western District in the mid-90s to help on the family farm with husband....
info_outlineIn this podcast, Margot Foster AM OLY talks to Claire Braund about the very real challenges that face sports boards today from corporate governance, to best practice, to competing state and national interests, to the evolving responsibilities of directors.
Margot is the Director of The Lyceum Club, NST Member Selection Advisory Committee member of National Sports Tribunal Australia, Governance and Integrity Consultant at SIGPA and inaugural Chair of the World Athletes Election Oversight Panel (formerly IAAF), among her many roles.
A former Olympian and a lawyer, Margot has a finely honed understanding of team dynamics, high performance, attention to detail and excellence.
She won Gold in rowing at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, and holds the title till this day. Her rowing profession came to a brutal end in 1988 when a panel of male selectors unilaterally decided they wouldn’t send any female contesters to the Seoul Olympics.
While the doors closed on her professional sporting career, Margot has remained at the strategic heart of countless sports boards since she was 18 and hasn’t looked back.
In 1989, Margot was appointed to the Melbourne Olympic Bid Committee for 1996 Games, which exposed her to power brokers lobbying to host the Olympics. It was at the time when no one talked about governance and Margot had to find her way autonomously. It taught her invaluable lessons and equipped her with the grit and determination needed to navigate the terrain of sport boards.
The challenges have been vast and varied, Margot admits, and governance remains at the peak of the list. Sports boards are driven by peoples’ passion and love for the game, but this is deeply rivaled by shifting government requirements, increasing risks, professionalization across the sector and changing television rights. Margot explains this is why the type of director required for sports boards is evolving amidst the inevitable and persistent challenges of member-based bodies, the federated model, and the fraught field of integrity.
In this podcast, Margot cautions sporting organisations that if you ignore history, you peril.
Margot Foster - AM, OLY, Non-Executive Director
- Director of The Lyceum Club
- NST Member Selection Advisory Committee member of National Sports Tribunal Australia
- Governance and Integrity Consultant at SIGPA
Inaugural Chairman of World Athletes Election Oversight Panel (formerly IAAF) - Director and Vice President of Motorsport Australia
- Founder and Director of Talk the Talk Consulting
- Committee Member and Former President of Olympians Club of Victoria
Further Information about Women on Boards (WOB)