“Emerging Women Leaders” is a unique Leadership Program that translates theory into lived practice and goes to the core of what makes a successful leader:
Co-founded by IWFA members, Pam Burton and Chris Gillies, the program has been a career and life-changing experience for many emerging women leaders.
Kate Thiele
FAICD, MBA, Dip App Sc e: info@klarity.com.au w: klarity.com.au l: linkedin.katethiele
Kate Thiele – CEO – Klarity (FAICD, MBA, Dip App Sc)
Michèle Stokes – Vice President – PCI Pharma Services – APAC Region
Kate is a CEO, non-executive director and Principal of consulting business, Klarity. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute Company Directors and is a Certified Chair with the Advisory Board Centre. She is a governance and strategic planning ‘geek’ and an executive mentor.
Kate has the great pleasure to Chair the Adelaide Crows Foundation. She is also a Board Member of the Australian Sports Foundation, Breakthrough Mental Health Foundation and Flinders Foundation, and has been privileged to serve on exceptional NFPs.
Her professional career has spanned across multiple industries, in both the corporate and the for ‘purpose’ sectors, where she is known for her business transformation, stakeholder engagement, innovation and growth capability.
Currently Kate is the Interim CEO of the Maxima Group and provides consulting services through Klarity.
In 2015, Kate was honoured to be recognised as the Telstra South Australian Business Woman of the Year, and at the time won both the state and national awards in the ‘For Purpose and Social Enterprise’ category. To top off a terrific 12-months Kate was also bestowed a Fellowship from the Harvard Club of Australia to undertake the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management Program, at Harvard University.
Kate is passionate about people, purpose and performance.
Kerry Rowlands – CEO – Cancer Council SA (GAICD, CPA)
Kerry Rowlands GAICD, CPA is a transformational CEO and board director with 25 years’ experience turning strategy into social impact.
As Chief Executive of Cancer Council SA, the state’s leading cancer charity, she mobilises over 500 staff and volunteers, sustaining prevention, research and support services by raising around $17 million each year, most of it through community and corporate donations. Kerry also drives national outcomes for the Cancer Council Federation, chairing cross-country initiatives such as the $50 million Cancer Navigation Program that is lifting cancer care standards Australia-wide.
Previously at SA Water, she led multi-million-dollar customer and field operations and won national recognition for pioneering inclusive service design.
Kerry also serves as a director of the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network Board, bringing her governance and transformational expertise to improve patient outcomes. Her hallmark is purpose-driven, digitally enabled leadership that empowers people, elevates brands and delivers lasting community value.
Governance Consultant and Executive Mentor
marion.m@coremanagement.com.au
0419 135 099
Marion Macleod is a non-executive director with over 30 years’ board experience. She has expertise in governance, strategy setting, finance, business commercialisation, I.T., change transformation, and risk.
Her executive career and experience extends across a range of industries including; technology, telecommunications, media, education, government, agriculture, banking, the health sector and logistics. She has also been involved in complex transformational change.
Marion is principal at consultancy Core Management Solutions (CMS) and is lead consultant at ThoughtPost and Peakstone global consultancies. She has been involved in a number of start-up ventures. Her current directorships include Fenwick Pty Ltd., and establishing private company boards’ governance practice. Past board and chair positions include Homeward Bound, VFF, V/Line, Metlink, Mecwacare, the CAE and Centenary president of Melbourne Rotary.
Marion consults into a variety of organisations on Board Governance and Strategy and delivered the award-winning program, The Effective Director, to senior NAB executives. She was a council member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) for eight years and has been a facilitator of the AICD’s Company Directors’ course, Boardroom Mastery, their Foundations of Governance course, and a number of their other governance offerings for over eight years. Marion is a Williamson Fellow and graduate of Leadership Victoria.
She holds a number of business and financial qualifications including an MBA from Melbourne Business School, post-graduate qualifications in finance, media and project management, a foundation degree in science and micro-credentials in AI and Sustainability.
Marion’s sector experience includes private, public and not-for-profit.
In her personal life Marion is a keen skier, family focused, a dog lover, a walker, film-goer, current affairs enthusiast and book reader.
Karina Marcar – Board review and governance consultant | Brabourne
+61 409 076 644 / 02 8274 9577
Karina.marcar@brabourne.com.au
Karina Marcar is the founder of board and governance consultancy Brabourne.
Karina’s board performance review and governance experience ranges from ASX-listed entities to public institutions, spanning financial services to the performing arts. She has also acted as adviser to the ASX Corporate Governance Council.
Her not-for-profit/for-purpose experience includes advising member-based organisations, disability services providers, research bodies and government entities.
Karina understands commercial drivers for Australian and multi-national businesses and is financially literate. She is people-focused and builds trust with interviewees in order to draw out critical themes for organisations.
Her skills working with boards are enhanced by her previous career of 25 years in mergers and acquisitions and corporate law in Australia and the UK, including over 17 years as a partner at Johnson Winter & Slattery and Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst). At the time of leaving legal practice, Karina was listed as a leading lawyer for Corporate Law and Mergers and Acquisitions Law in Best Lawyers Australia.
Karina is a fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and a member and graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Karina is on the fundraising committee of the Sir David Martin Foundation, supporting youth-specific drug and alcohol detox, rehab and aftercare.
Karina and her lovely husband are parents to an awesome 16 year old daughter, as well as an independently-minded golden retriever called Mike.
Reyna Matthews – Executive and Leadership Coach – Diversity in Leadership Specialist – Keynote Speaker
+61 417 272 139
My mission is to inspire and support people to actualize their full potential. I deliver results for organisational clients through their most valuable resources – people. Through amplifying leadership impact and invigorating leaders so that they are energized, connected and performing at their very best. CEOs, executives and senior managers engage me to assist them and their teams with reflecting on, challenging and changing their leadership practice through tailored individual and group coaching, bespoke training experiences and network development programs.
I am able to help with identifying leadership strengths and challenges, articulating vision, and committing to strategic or behavioural change that will drive your organisation forward. With future-focused practice in a supportive environment, and diversity and inclusion, I help leaders find their voice and influence.
I have coached more than 2000 leaders working with clients from 60 nationalities across a diverse breadth of 70 industries from ASX 200 companies in Australia and Asia-Pacific across a range of industries, including financial and professional services, banking, property, and government.
Known for my network growth expertise, I create powerful dynamics to bring people together to leverage their talents, lean in to the key issues and address the barriers to leadership so that they develop and grow their influence. I welcome opportunities to bring what I have learned to audiences by delivering keynote presentations on the following topics:
Please download and study the following files to prepare for this session.
Samantha Pillay OAM – Surgeon, Author, AI Film-maker, Entrepreneur, Speaker
5x No1 Amazon Best-Selling & Multi-Award winning Author, International Multi-Award-Winning AI Film-maker
aifilm4good.com
When Samantha Pillay started medical school, she never dreamed she would become the first woman to complete urological surgical training in South Australia, let alone be awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for her service to urology. Her path has been one of seizing unexpected opportunities and turning them into impactful ventures.
Nor did she imagine that her personal mission to challenge gender stereotypes would lead her to become an international best-selling author of an award-winning children’s book series, inspiring the next generation of female leaders to dream big. This creative direction runs parallel to her work as a pioneering surgeon, where she founded Continence Matters to dismantle health stigmas. Her clinic serves her local community, yet her online health information platform was accessed by 179 countries in 2024.
Even when she began her AI journey in mid-2024, producing the internationally multi-award-winning film An Incontinent Truth, she couldn’t have predicted it would lead to founding AIFilm4Good, the world’s first AI film studio dedicated to social impact.
As a single mother, working across and being recognised in several sectors; as a surgeon, author, film director, producer, founder and business leader, Samantha is uniquely experienced in taking direction, changing direction, and moving forwards in several directions simultaneously. Her career is a testament to the power of embracing the unknown and shaping it into a legacy of positive change.
Michèle Stokes – Vice President – PCI Pharma Services – APAC Region
+61 431 366 911
Michèle is an entrepreneurial and strategic growth leader who has over 20 years of industry experience in pharmaceutical development and manufacturing, building and leading teams through growth in Europe, US and across Asia Pacific.
Her Executive experience has been focused in pharmaceutical development holding senior roles in Business Development and operations, specialising in drug delivery technologies, IP, new market growth and expansion, most recently across APAC.
Michele is currently Vice President of APAC for PCI Pharma Services a Contract Development Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) responsible for all business activities in the region which includes a packaging and distribution facility in Melbourne supplying new drugs to clinical studies across the region. She has also been involved in a startup company developing a new drug for the US market and spent several years focused on the growth of Australian healthcare consumer products into APAC markets through contract development and manufacturing services helping businesses grow in this fast-paced market.
Passionate about building high performing, customer focused teams she is also a strong advocate for developing female leaders of the future and volunteers as the Governance Chair of Girl Guides Victoria. Michele has held several Non-Executive roles with Girl Guides across Australia over the past 7 years working on key projects in Child Safety, risk and advocacy.
Michèle has a PhD in Cell & Molecular Biology and is an AICD graduate.
In her private life, Michele enjoys spending time with her husband and 2 English Springer Spaniels, loves great food and wine and has an interesting classic car collection.
Sally Curtain – CEO – Bendigo Kangan Institute
Sally Curtain is an accomplished public sector senior executive with significant experience in leading transformational change across state and local government. Prior to her appointment as Bendigo Kangan Institute’s Chief Executive Officer, Sally successfully led organisational and operational changes within diverse and complex public sector agencies.
This included restructuring the former Department of Justice to better meet the needs of regional communities, creating new agencies such as the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC), scaling up services to a burgeoning population in City of Casey, and operating as a regulator to modernise registration and licensing at Victoria’s largest service provider, VicRoads.
As Chief Executive Officer of Bendigo Kangan Institute, Sally brings vision, innovation and passion to its people while placing customer needs at the centre of focus. In her role, Sally oversees the operations of four businesses:
Bendigo Kangan Institute supports workforce participation and productivity through education, employability and skills assessment services.
At Bendigo Kangan Institute Sally has driven an ambitious strategy and organisational transformation program, realised with Bendigo Kangan Institute being named 2022 Victorian and Australian Large Provider of the Year.
Sally works with government representatives, business and community leaders to grow the organisation with the primary focus on meeting and exceeding the needs of students, employers, industry and the community.
In 2022 Sally was made a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (Victoria) for her outstanding contribution to public administration and exemplary service to the Victorian community.
Kate Mason (She Her) – Founder & CEO | Advisor & Coach | Non-Executive Director
Kate is a seasoned Non-Executive Director, C-suite executive and business advisor with broad commercial experience in both the public and private sectors across ASX 50, Fortune 50 Private Equity and startups with companies such as Credit Suisse, Coca-Cola and Amcor. Kate has a rich track record of aligning strategy, leadership and culture to drive commercial results.
Kate is the owner of Self Energy, an executive coaching and corporate advisory business and co-founder and CEO of Social Value, a company that provide evidence-based AI enabled tools and insights to accelerate commercial and social value.
She is a Graduate of the University of Canberra, The Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of The Australian Human Resources Institute and a member of Chief Executive Women and a past President and now Director on the Global Forum Development Committee for the International Women’s Forum.
Kate is a proud mum of four children and enjoys spending quality time with her family, keeping fit, skiing, and relishing the many adventures life has to offer. Kate’s Takeaways Ambition = CLARITY of direction and becomes your compass. Being able to express where you want to go is key and then practice how you want to articulate this in low stake environments to get it right when the CEO or senior leaders ask you. Build your foundations early, then pivot boldly e.g. high-stake assignments As you build your capability and impact, build others around you. Lift as you climb Develop deep functional expertise that transcends industries Make peach with imperfect timing of roles and opportunities It is your career and define success in your own terms and lead with your whole self.
Kate Mason (She Her) – Chief People Officer – Built
m: 0410 869 289
Mary has more than 30 years’ experience in the field of Human Resources and is passionate about realising enterprise growth and shared valued through building high performance cultures. As Chief People Officer she is responsible for Built’s People & Culture function, including talent strategy and experience, reward and recognition, organisational and leadership development, people operations, and HR technology and insights. Previously she was in HR & Sustainability leadership roles at REA Group, Campbell Arnott’s and Lion.
Prior to Built, Mary worked for REA Group for six years as Chief People & Sustainability Officer. She also worked Campbell Arnott’s where she was the Vice President – Human Resources for Asia Pacific for eight years and undertook a variety of other senior HR roles with Campbell Soup Company both in Australia and the US including Vice President HR – Global Baked Snacks and VP HR Emerging Markets. Previously, Mary worked for Lion – a leading beverages company in Australasia – for six years in HR roles across Australia and China.
Mary is currently a Board Advisor for Hyfen8 – a pre-seed tech startup, an advisory member of Camp Quality’s People & Culture Committee and a member of the International Women’s Forum (IWF) Global Selection Subcommittee for their Leadership Fellows Program.
Previously, she was a member of Melbourne Business School’s Future of Learning Advisory Group from 2021 to 2023 and Board Director for the Arnott’s Foundation from 2014 to 2017. She is also a founding member of the International Women’s Forum Australia (IWFA) and currently resides in Sydney, Australia.
Please download and study the following files to prepare for this session.
Bree Mankin – Managing Partner | FMCG & Retail Specialist | Customer Engagement | Commercial Excellence
Bree Mankin is an accomplished Managing Partner with over 15 years of experience in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and retail sectors. Renowned for her strategic spirit and operational know-how, she excels in driving customer engagement, optimizing commercial performance, and fostering high-impact partnerships.
Core Competencies & Achievements:
Professional Journey:
Diana Butler OAM – GAICD Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Care for Africa – Managing Partner | FMCG & Retail Specialist | Customer Engagement | Commercial Excellence
Diana Butler is an Australian emergency nurse, humanitarian leader, and social entrepreneur who founded Care for Africa in 2006 after a pivotal experience during her nursing work in Launceston, Tasmania. A chance conversation with a colleague about extreme poverty in Tanzania led Diana to organise the shipment of medical supplies to Tarime. Witnessing dire living conditions firsthand, she was inspired to establish a sustainable aid organisation.
Under her leadership, Care for Africa has grown into a pioneering NGO registered with ACFID and the ACNC, dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty in rural Tanzanian communities. The organisation operates across five strategic pillars: access to clean water, rural health, quality education, empowerment of women and girls, and social enterprise. To date, notable achievements include installing over a dozen deep water bores, building multiple sanitation blocks, launching a school breakfast initiative benefiting thousands of children, and supporting women’s small businesses in soap, uniform production, beekeeping, and crop growing.
Committed to embedding global best practices, Diana has positioned Care for Africa’s model alongside the UN Sustainable Development Goals and is in the process of developing a replicable template for sustainable development, with plans to expand into other African regions.
Her exceptional contributions to community health and development have earned significant recognition:
In addition to her leadership at Care for Africa, Diana continues practicing as an After-Hours Nurse Manager at Launceston General Hospital, where her clinical experience informs her empathetic, community-focused leadership approach.
Diana’s vision: a world in which rural communities in Tanzania—and eventually beyond—achieve self-reliance and dignity through sustainable water, health, education, and economic systems that they drive themselves. https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-butler-oam-gaicd-785b9868/
Catherine Curry-Hyde – Construction Project Manager | Operations | Business & Property Management
+61 417 396 105
Catherine Curry-Hyde is an experienced project manager, business operations and property manager with over 40 years of experience in the property and construction industry.
After working in South Africa and the USA for several years managing architectural practices, Catherine came to Melbourne, Australia in 1996 and worked for Architect/Developer, Nonda Katsalidis until 2009. This diverse role, in a boutique architectural firm, evolved from financial controller, practice operations manager to project development manager and included bespoke residential projects – namely, Eureka Tower, HMAS Beach Apartments, 51 Spring Street, Hero Apartments and Republic Tower.
After wrapping up the Eureka Tower project, Catherine has provided financial management services for bespoke clients with residential and commercial/retail property portfolios.
In October 2024 Catherine completed the $33m redevelopment project for Guide Dogs Victoria over 5 1/2 years. The project included a 1000 square metre veterinary hospital for Advanced Vetcare, a large carpark, warehouse, administration building, and client services and residential building. The role involved all aspects of project management, including planning, council approvals, budgeting, procurement, quality control, risk mitigation, safety management, and board reporting.
In March 2025 Catherine was appointed by Advanced Vetcare as Construction Project Manager to deliver a new 2000 square metre veterinary hospital in Kensington, Victoria. Advanced Vetcare is an independent specialist and emergency veterinary hospital with 200 staff across 3 hospitals in Victoria.
From 2014 to 2019 Catherine served as a founding board member and Treasurer for International Women’s Forum Australia (IWFA) assisting with the start-up of the Australian IWF Chapter and sub-chaired the Melbourne Global Cornerstone Conference in 2018.
Catherine has held volunteer roles swimming coaching, served on the swimming club committee and as the rowing club athlete team manager. Catherine is a competitive pool and open water swimmer and single scull rower.
Catherine has a Diploma and Certificate IV in Business & Workplace Coaching.
Heidi Victoria – Photographer | Strategic Advisor | Former Minister | Media Commentator
+61 418110104
Heidi Victoria is a seasoned leader and strategist with a career that spans politics, the arts, advocacy, and media. A former Victorian Minister for the Arts, Women’s Affairs and Consumer Affairs, she is known for her ability to build genuine relationships, influence change, and lead with compassion and clarity.
Currently serving as Government Relations Advisor to the Stroke Foundation, Heidi leads national and state-level advocacy, stakeholder engagement and public affairs. She designs impactful campaigns to drive awareness and action.
She continues her photography career of over 40 years, specialising in personal branding portraits—primarily for women—with a focus on capturing each subject’s unique strength, presence and confidence. Her goal: that every client not only looks fabulous but feels it too.
Heidi’s leadership has extended to the national cultural stage as a Board Director of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia (2021–2024), where she contributed to the development and preservation of the national collection.
She is a regular media commentator on 3AW, a confident voice on political, cultural and social issues, and a sought-after advisor for organisations navigating strategy, sustainability and communications.
Heidi’s 12-year parliamentary career saw her lead transformative policy reforms—securing funding for women in leadership, improving housing conditions for vulnerable Victorians, and modernising arts funding. Her leadership was always rooted in listening deeply, engaging broadly and delivering meaningful outcomes.
With experience that spans healthcare, consulting, photography and grassroots activism, Heidi brings unmatched versatility and perspective to every role. She continues to support a wide range of causes through board roles, community service and global forums.
She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, holds a BA in Fine Art (Photography), and has completed executive studies in brand experience through RMIT Online.
Kristen Hansen
Sandra D’Souza – CEO/Founder – Ellect
Ellect is dedicated to promoting gender equality and diversity in leadership.
Sandra is an Amazon No. 1 Bestselling author of “From Bias to Equality,” she holds an MBA, a Masters in Accounting and a Bachelor of Management. Sandra was recognised on the NASDAQ Tower for their Milestone Makers Program 2021 and named Most Influential CEO 2023 by CEO Monthly.
Please download and study the following files to prepare for this session.
Gabrielle Dolan – Speaker and Author
+61 405 144 092
Website gabrielledolan.com
LinkedIn – gabrielledolan
Instagram – gabrielledolan.1
I have been told I can tell a story or two. Most likely I developed this skill being one of eight children and looking for ways to get attention. Then honed during my 20’s at the pub every Friday and Saturday night.
It was while I was working in a senior leadership role at National Australia Bank that I realised the power of storytelling in effective business communication. Since that epiphany in about 2004, I have been teaching people around the world the power of sharing personal stories in business …way before it became trendy.
I have worked with some pretty amazing organisations such as The Obama Foundation where I got to meet Barack Obama (mic drop), EY, Visa, Accenture, Amazon, Telstra, NAB, Australia Post, Uber and International Committee Red Cross to name drop a few.
I failed my final year of school so went straight into the work force but then went back to study in my late 20’s. I now hold a Master’s Degree in Management and Leadership from Swinburne University, an Associate Diploma in Education and Training from the University of Melbourne. I am also a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education and have a cap and the T-shirt from the gift shop to prove it.
Despite failing English in Year 12, I’m the author of 9 books including;
• Magnetic Stories: Connect with customers and engage employees with brand storytelling (2021) debuted at number two on Australia’s business books list.
• Stories for Work: The Essential Guide to Business Storytelling (2017)
• Storytelling for Job Interviews (2016) …and you can download the PDF of that for free from my website.
My latest book Story Intelligence: The Craft of Authentic Storytelling, Made Smarter with AI will be published globally in November 2025.
My work has seen me run training all over Asia Pacific, Europe and America and some pretty unique settings, including the middle of a rice paddy field in Indonesia, in the room the White House Correspondents dinner is held in Washington DC, in a castle that Henry VIII used to live in just outside London and even on Wall Street in New York. Plus the tiny corner from my home office during the global pandemic.
I live between Melbourne and Bermugui on the southern NSW coast. I am married to Steve and we have two daughters Alex (25) and Jess (22). I am passionate about keeping fit, pickleball, golf, eating well and I love cooking.
Mary Harney IDP-C BSc BA MAICD FIML – Non-Executive Director and Chair
+61 427 452 527
61 427 452 527
LinkedIn – mary-harney
An experienced Chair, Non-Executive Director and CEO with experience across multiple industries including health, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and agriculture. Mary is currently Chair of Oncology One and NED of Inoviq [ASX IIQ]. and was previously Chair of private company Microbio Ltd and Race Oncology [ASX RAC]. Mary is a 2023 graduate of the International Directors Program (IDP-C) from the prestigious INSEAD Business School in France.
Mary lives by Colin Powel’s philosophy that “optimism is a force multiplier” and has a default position to say ‘yes’ to opportunities and then ask the prudent ‘why’ questions afterwards.
In her Executive career Mary was the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons—the leading advocate for surgical standards, professionalism and surgical education in Australia and New Zealand, the Chief Executive Officer of the Gardiner Dairy Research Foundation, managing a research fund of over $130 million, Director of the Office for Cancer Research and COO of the research division at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, which included the establishment of the Oncology Department at the University of Melbourne in 2012.
Following her executive career there was a period of interim CEO and strategic advisory consultancies with Australian Organic Recycling Association (AORA,) Australian Psychology Society (APS), Australian Global Health Alliance (AGHA) and culminating with appointment as the interim CEO of the $2billion Breakthrough Victoria Fund.
Mary has a proven ability to deliver transformative change to companies in dynamic industry sectors through setting and delivering on a vision and strategy, building strong performing teams, effectively managing stakeholders and delivering strong financial results. A biological scientist by profession Mary has a curious nature that has seen her take on a variety of roles in varied sectors. Mary believes the singular responsibility of our generation is to feed, fuel and heal the planet and we need people and science connected for that to happen. Throughout her cross sectoral career, one of her many strengths has been the ability to connect innovative ideas and people.
In 2016 she was the recipient of the Monash University Science Alumni of the Year Award for industry academic collaboration.
In 2017 she was invited to give the graduation address to the Medical and Science faculties at Monash.
In November 2018 she presented to the Harvard Medical School on Global Health for Surgery in the Asia Pacific region.
Mary has two adult children living interstate, is passionate about interior design and about to go on a self-drive safari to Namibia.
Please download and study the following files to prepare for this session.
Please download and study the following files to prepare for this session.
Please download and study the following files to prepare for this session.
