A number of women from the banking, finance and insurance sectors have been selected to participate in a mentoring and professional development program, co-hosted by Women on Boards and UBS.
The Next Generation of Corporate Female Leaders Program commences in March, with 26 participants selected from NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia as well as another 10 women selected by UBS. The program will be hosted in Sydney and includes leading chairs and directors from various industries, including AMP chair and UBS senior adviser Peter Mason, Tower Australia chair and Virgin Blue director Rob Thomas, and SKM and Perpetual Trustees chair and Stockland director Peter Scott.
The program hosts stated that it aims to “increase the visibility of high potential women within their organisations and sectors by providing them with the confidence and capacity to successfully engage with and present business proposals and reports to boards and leadership teams”. Ultimately the program aims to see more women moving up and into the boardroom.
Women from the banking, finance and insurance sectors that will participate in the program include Commonwealth Bank of Australia senior legal counsel Susan Everingham and general manager of business development Akiko Jackson among other Commonwealth Bank employees.
Also participating are Royal Bank of Scotland former head of private equity, investment banking, Joanne Lewis, OnePath senior manager of legal, compliance and communications Alexandra Rose, non-executive director at HBF Health Anne Templeman-Jones, and St George Bank head of retail, corporate and business in the Hunter Region Sharon Waterhouse.
The number of female director appointments to ASX200 company boards jumped in 2010 ahead of changes to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations. More good news is expected this month, when companies are required to report on gender at board and senior management levels.
