Women’s Board Scholarships Revealed

Scholarships have been awarded to 70 high performing women to attend the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ Company Directors Course or Mastering the Boardroom program. – with up to two-thirds of the successful applicants engaged with the Not for Profit sector.

The program is jointly funded by the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Government. Recipients also receive a free 12 month membership of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

The 2012 round of the program attracted more than 1600 applications, with recipients selected based on their experience and readiness for the boardroom by a committee of representatives of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Government’s Office for Women.

“Successful applicants were able to demonstrate their significant experience and a high degree of leadership potential and capacity,” John Colvin, Chief Executive and Managing Director, Australian Institute of Company Directors said.

“Nationally, the 70 recipients represent a diverse range of qualifications and experience ranging from the more traditional directorships pathways of banking, finance, accounting and law to the less traditional pathways of communications, human resources, small business, marketing, science and academia,” Colvin said.

As many as 55 of the scholarship winners are engaged directly or indirectly (through their corporate work) with the Not for Profit sector.

Recipients include:

• Dr Kate Taylor from Victoria who is an Australian medical doctor and public health specialist. She helped to shape a range of public private partnerships (PPPs) for global health, initially from the founding of the World Economic Forum’s Global Health Initiative, where she facilitated a range of partnerships between companies, the public sector and NGOs and represented the private sector on the Boards of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Roll Back Malaria; Stop TB; and the GAVI Alliance.
• Kim McKay AO from NSW. McKay’s international career in media, social & sustainability marketing, and communications spans over 25 years. In June 2008 she was recognized by the Australian government for distinguished service to the environment and the community and was awarded an Order of Australia (AO). She is currently managing director of Momentum2, a Sydney based social & sustainability marketing and communications consultancy.

The scholarship program is one of the initiatives by the Australian Institute of Company Directors to support board diversity that includes the Chairmen’s Mentoring Program, Public Sector Mentoring Program, Board Ready program and the Victorian Women’s Governance Scholarship program, for women in the Victorian NFP and community sector.

Statistics compiled by the Australian Institute of Company Directors show that in recent years the number of women on our top boards has grown from around 8 per cent (2008) to 15.2 per cent today. This figure rises to almost 20 per cent when looking at the ASX 20 and ASX 50.

“The growing numbers of women on our most elite boards prove that companies recognise that a gender-diverse board is good for business and that they are actively seeking out female talent,” John Colvin said.

“We hope that over time, initiatives like this scholarship program will be extremely valuable and help women to achieve their career goals, as well as further lifting the number of women on our boards.

“We are pleased to work with the Australian Government on this important project.” 

The full list of recipients can be found here.