Leadership is also about who you bring with you.
Strong governance and inclusive culture aren't separate things. For two decades I've worked to make workplaces fairer and more representative — because the teams that feel they belong are the ones that perform, challenge well, and tell a board the truth.
Allyship, visible from the top
As Executive Sponsor of PrideZ, Zurich's LGBTQI+ network in Australia, I worked to make allyship something colleagues could see and feel — not a logo once a year, but visible leadership and everyday inclusion.
Under that sponsorship the business earned its inaugural Silver Award for Australian Workplace Equity & Inclusion in 2022 — and went on to Gold in 2024. As Executive Sponsor I was a key contributor, and was myself a finalist for Executive Sponsor at the 2024 AWEI awards.
Belonging across cultures
As a Chinese-Australian leader, I've been an active champion of cultural inclusion at work — celebrating Lunar New Year and the contribution of Asian-Australian colleagues, and pressing for representation that reflects the communities our industry actually serves.
Representation is a governance issue as much as a cultural one: boards and management make better decisions when the people around the table reflect the customers and communities they answer to.
Lifting the next generation
I'm a co-founder and ambassador of women's professional networks across the organisations I've worked in, and I've mentored emerging professionals through Macquarie University's Lucy Mentoring program and Heads of Audit across the Asia-Pacific region. The thread is the same: open the door, then hold it.
Connecting Positively — Networking for Women in Leadership · Business Sydney × NIDA Corporate, 2023 ↗“As a mentor I can learn from a mentee about, for example, how millennials think and what their aspirations are, so I can become a better leader. It's about knowing the person and drawing out the best from them.”
Women's professional networks
Co-founder and ambassador of women's professional networks across the organisations I've worked in — championing women's progression, leadership and visibility across the sector.
Lucy Mentoring
Mentor, Macquarie University — supporting women into early professional careers.
Heads of Audit, APAC
Mentored audit leaders across the region; two direct reports progressed to senior governance and head-of-risk roles.
A board's job is culture and conduct as much as numbers. I've led both.
Award-winning inclusion work isn't a side interest — it's direct evidence of the culture, conduct and people-risk oversight a board needs, and of an ability to build the high-performing, psychologically safe teams that good governance depends on.