CEO Liz Dawes named in AFR 100 Women of Influence 2018
We’re incredibly proud our very own CEO and Founder, Liz Dawes has been named in The Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence 2018.
Source: The Australian Financial Review
The 100 Women of Influence were selected with the help of executive search firm Korn Ferry and a highly respected panel of judges, including two previous overall winners of the award, Ann Sherry, executive chair of cruise company Carnival Australia, and Moya Dodd, lawyer and soccer official. The other judges were Mark Scott, secretary, NSW Department of Education, Barry Irvin, executive chair, Bega Cheese, Paul Zahra, retail adviser and diversity advocate, Sam Mostyn, director of Sydney Swans, Vanessa Hudson, chief customer officer of Qantas, Financial Review Chanticleer columnist Tony Boyd, Financial Review managing editor Joanne Gray and Sally Patten, editor of AFR BOSS magazine.
Liz Dawes, who founded the Robert Connor Dawes foundation after her son passed away from brain cancer in 2013, says, “being a leader feels natural for me, but being a real person is important too”.
Five years on, she has expanded the charity to be the biggest paediatric brain cancer foundation in Australia and has been crucial in lobbying the federal government to secure funding for a disease which kills more young people than any other cancer.
“We have so many people volunteering, helping, and I think they feel connected to what we’re trying to do.”
Dawes says talking about her son is part of celebrating him. “I knew the day he died that was never going to get easier and it hasn’t. But we’re channelling his positive energy into doing something, hopefully, that will make a difference.”
The winners of each of the 10 categories and the overall winner will be announced at a gala dinner in Sydney on October 17.