In August 2011, the Melbourne office hosted a panel discussion on he topic “How organisations can harness diversity to achieve innovation in the workplace”.
Carol Schwartz AM is a leader in business, philanthropy, education and community initiatives. In the commercial context, Carol is a director of Stockland, Bank of Melbourne, Yarra Capital Partners and Qualitas Property Partners. Carol is currently the Chair of Our Community and founding Chair of the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia. She is also a board member of the St James Ethics Foundation, Executive in Residence at Melbourne Business School, a council member of the Australian Innovation Research Centre, a member of the Enterprise Melbourne Advisory Board and, until recently, Deputy Chair of the Australian Women Donors Network. Carol’s achievements include the Centenary Medal (2001), Membership of the Order of Australia (2006), a Monash University Fellowship (2010) and induction into the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll (2011). With her husband Alan and family, Carol established the Trawalla Foundation which invests in social enterprises and opportunities that focus on arts, ideas, innovation and scholarship.
Christine Bartlett is Executive General Manager of the NextGen (business transformation) Program at National Australia Bank. She is also a Director of The Smith Family, a member of the Australian School of Business Advisory Board, a member of Chief Executive Women and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Christine was the CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle Australia from 2004 to 2009. Before this, Christine held international executive roles at IBM - across sales, marketing, consulting, systems integration, operations and brand management - and was Chief Operating Officer of IBM’s Business Consulting Services, Asia Pacific, a business with 8,000 people and annual revenue of US$4bn.
Diana Ryall AM is a leading Australian businesswoman and a specialist in gender diversity and inclusion. From 1997 to 2001, she was Managing Director at Apple Computer Australia. Since leaving Apple, Diana founded Xplore for Success, of which she is Managing Director. The company helps organisations support and grow talent, with a particular focus on women’s development. Diana has been the Vice President of Chief Executive Women and led its Talent Development Program for several years. She is a board member of Dress for Success Sydney and Vita Group Ltd, a technology-focused enterprise.
Alison Lansley is a Partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions practice at Mallesons Stephen Jacques, and specialises in corporate governance, takeovers, large-scale corporate reconstructions, and equity capital raisings. Alison has 30 years' experience of companies and securities law, initially as a regulator, then a practitioner. She chairs or is/has been a member of various industry panels and committees, as well as corporate, government and not-for-profit boards (including RedKite (Vic), FINSIA, and the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Corporation).