loader from loading.io

Investing in human capital and improving diversity with Ian Pollard

Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in Conversation

Release Date: 06/11/2021

Dr Jan Tennent OAM: Making the leap from lab bench to the boardroom show art Dr Jan Tennent OAM: Making the leap from lab bench to the boardroom

Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in Conversation

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...

info_outline
Woman of Honour: Board recruitment specialist Bernadette Uzelac AM show art Woman of Honour: Board recruitment specialist Bernadette Uzelac AM

Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in Conversation

‘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...

info_outline
Julie Adams OAM: Dad’s legacy brightens future for cancer patients show art Julie Adams OAM: Dad’s legacy brightens future for cancer patients

Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in Conversation

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...

info_outline
Avril Henry AM - Levelling the playing field - Women of Honour Series show art Avril Henry AM - Levelling the playing field - Women of Honour Series

Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in Conversation

info_outline
Architect Helen Lochhead AO - Building a career with purpose - Women on Honour series show art Architect Helen Lochhead AO - Building a career with purpose - Women on Honour series

Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in Conversation

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...

info_outline
Georgina Gubbins OAM, ‘The accidental farmer’ - Women of Honour Series show art Georgina Gubbins OAM, ‘The accidental farmer’ - Women of Honour Series

Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in Conversation

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_outline
Professor Ngaire Elwood AM, Beating the Odds - Women of Honour Series show art Professor Ngaire Elwood AM, Beating the Odds - Women of Honour Series

Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in Conversation

Associate Professor Ngaire Elwood AM is driven by a strong sense of purpose that grew out of a life-changing experience that inspired her, as an inquisitive science-loving teenager, to dedicate her life to improving therapies for kids with cancer.  As a teenager, she was treated for osteosarcoma, a common form of bone cancer that had a survival rate of about five per cent prior to the advent of chemotherapy. After her bone cancer diagnosis, her treatment involved an above-knee amputation, followed by 18 months of high-dose chemotherapy. Even with this ‘aggressive therapy’ the survival...

info_outline
Emerita Professor Lesley Hitchens AM - Women of Honour Series show art Emerita Professor Lesley Hitchens AM - Women of Honour Series

Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in Conversation

In this first episode of the new Women on Boards Honours Podcast Series - featuring the 12 WOB members recognised in the 2024 Australia Day Honours - WOB co-founder and Executive Director, , chats with . Lesley was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to tertiary education, and to the law. This is only the second year that the majority of honours were awarded to women since the national system formally began on 14 February 1975 – nearly 50 years ago. Lesley had a long and distinguished legal career, starting in Sydney at Allens before she headed overseas...

info_outline
Claire Braund in conversation with Lisa Carlin - Transformational change and the importance of community show art Claire Braund in conversation with Lisa Carlin - Transformational change and the importance of community

Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in Conversation

Growing up in South Africa Lisa Carlin experienced apartheid in its truest form.  “I just felt this complete sense of unfairness of it all, and that's really carried with me today” she says.  Through this she has become extremely passionate about transformation to give a voice to those who don’t have one. Lisa is the cofounder and CEO of global advisory FutureBuilders Group and author of . Her portfolio includes mentoring founders and CEOs in the HRTech, EdTech and workplace talent sector, she is on the Advisory board for Rebelliuz and Chair of the University of Cape Town...

info_outline
Optus blame game: Do we treat male and female CEOs the same? show art Optus blame game: Do we treat male and female CEOs the same?

Women on Boards - Leaders and Directors in Conversation

Is there less of a tolerance for failure for women at the top than there is for men? In the wake of former Optus CEO’s Kelly Bayer Rosmarin’s resignation from the telco following a nationwide outage that took down phone and internet services for 14 hours, Women on Boards Executive Director Claire Braund spoke with ABC Canberra Radio’s  about the blame culture around CEOs following a crisis and asks, do we treat our male and female CEOs differently? Find out more about  Visit our   Women on Boards Follow us on 

info_outline
 
More Episodes

This week, Claire talks to the ever-talented Ian Pollard, Director, well-known Chair, Executive Coach, actuary, statistician and author of six publications. With multiple degrees ranging from corporate finance to French and philosophy, Ian also played professional tennis, which took him to the USA at 18 in the Davis Cup squad. Injuries to both legs halted his tennis career and saw him return to his true love, academia.

 

One of six children, all actuaries, Ian talks fondly of his father, who played a pivotal role in shaping the person that he is today. In fact, Ian’s father was one of the first professors at Macquarie University and started the first ever actuary course there in the late 1960s.

Ian’s first job was a wonderful opportunity at Sydney’s first bank, Development Finance Corporation, which exposed him to the world of investment banking and led to his first Chair role at age 25. Since, Ian has served on countless boards and has passionately coached senior executives in leadership roles for more than 20 years. His deepest single interest, however, is how people, teams and organisations grow. Alongside his daughter Jess, Ian has co-authored books on the subject and together they lead workshops.

Hear about Ian’s wide and eclectic interests, the importance of improving our diversity in Australia and why corporations should be investing in their human capital.

 

LinkedIn  
Ian Pollard | Claire Braund (host)

Further Information about Women on Boards

  • WOB membership, events & services, please visit our website.
  • To receive our weekly newsletter, subscribe to WOB as a Basic Member (free).
  • Join as a Full Member for full access to our Board Vacancies, WOBShare (our online member platform) and more.