E5 | 20 Years of Women on Boards Series: Amanda Heyworth on Curiosity, Growth and Contribution
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
Release Date: 05/25/2026
E6 | 20 Years of Women on Boards Series: Susan Benedyka on Rural Leadership, Purpose and Contribution
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
Few people understand the power of regional leadership quite like Susan Benedyka. A passionate advocate for rural and regional Australia, Susan has spent decades helping communities, organisations and leaders create lasting impact. Her governance journey has taken her from community committees to influential board and leadership roles, all underpinned by a commitment to ensuring regional voices are heard where decisions are made. In this episode of our 20 Years of Women on Boards podcast series, Susan joins Claire Braund to reflect on her leadership journey, the lessons she's learned from...
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E5 | 20 Years of Women on Boards Series: Amanda Heyworth on Curiosity, Growth and Contribution
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
In this episode of the 20 Years of Women on Boards – Inspire | Influence | Impact series, WOB co-founder and CEO Claire Braund OAM speaks with Amanda Heyworth FAICD about building a board career while balancing executive leadership, family life and continuous professional growth. Amand is a professional company director with governance experience spanning startups to ASX 200 companies across technology, finance, property, innovation and venture capital. Amanda discusses the realities of building a board portfolio over time, including reducing executive commitments gradually while expanding...
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E4 | 20 Years of Women on Boards Series: Julie Garland McLellan on Governance and the Evolution of Women in the Boardroom
Women on Boards - 20th Anniversary Series - Inspire | Influence | Impact
As part of the 20 Years of Women on Boards – Inspire | Influence | Impact vodcast series, WOB CEO and co-founder Claire Braund OAM speaks with governance expert Julie Garland McLellan about board careers, governance and the changing role of women in the boardroom over the past two decades. A non-executive director, educator, author and producer and narrator of the Directors Dilemma newsletter, Julie reflects on a career spanning more than 27 years across boards, governance education and consulting. She shares lessons from board turnarounds; governance failures and...
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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...
info_outlineIn this episode of the 20 Years of Women on Boards – Inspire | Influence | Impact series, WOB co-founder and CEO Claire Braund OAM speaks with Amanda Heyworth FAICD about building a board career while balancing executive leadership, family life and continuous professional growth.
Amand is a professional company director with governance experience spanning startups to ASX 200 companies across technology, finance, property, innovation and venture capital.
Amanda discusses the realities of building a board portfolio over time, including reducing executive commitments gradually while expanding her governance career. She also speaks candidly about the importance of finding boards where there is an “Amanda-sized hole” — a role where her skills, experience and perspective can genuinely add value.
Amanda shares practical advice for aspiring directors, emphasising the value of executive experience, governance education and strategic not-for-profit board roles that provide exposure to experienced directors and boardroom dynamics. She describes the Women on Boards community as instrumental in legitimising board careers for women and creating visibility through role models, mentoring and board opportunities.
She also shares insights into the evolution of Women on Boards, the changing expectations placed on directors, and why capability, diversity and lifelong learning remain critical to the future of governance.
Asked to summarise her 20-year journey in three words, Amanda’s answer perfectly captures the spirit of the episode: "curiosity, growth and contribution".
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