Ms Gaines led Fortescue as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director from February 2018 to August 2022, after joining the Executive team as Chief Financial Officer in February 2017. 

A highly experienced business leader, Ms Gaines has extensive international experience in all aspects of financial and commercial management. 

Ms Gaines has significant experience in the resources sector and exposure to the impact of the growth in Asian economies, particularly China, on the Australian business environment and economy as well as a deep understanding of all aspects of financial and commercial management at a senior executive level in both listed and private companies. 

Ms Gaines has extensive exposure to the drive to transition to green energy and has been a key driver of the goal to decarbonise Fortescue’s mining operations by 2030.

In addition to her role as a Non-Executive Director, Ms Gaines is the Global Ambassador for Fortescue.  She is a Director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and a Director and Deputy Chair of the West Coast Eagles (AFL) Football Club.

Ms Gaines was ranked second in the 2019 Fortune Magazine’s Businessperson of the Year and in 2020 the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia awarded her the ‘Women in Resources Champion’ at the annual Women in Resources Awards.

In 2020, Ms Gaines was awarded Joint Australian Businessperson of the Year by the Australian Financial Review.

Ms Gaines is a former Chief Executive Officer of Helloworld Limited and Heytesbury Pty Limited and has previously held Non-Executive Director roles with Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited, NEXTDC Limited, Mantra Group Limited and ImpediMed Limited.

Ms Gaines holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Curtin University, a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University and an Honorary Doctorate of Commerce from Curtin University.  She is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Chief Executive Women.

As the CEO at Flybuys, Anna leads the national growth and performance of Australia’s #1 loyalty program, where she inspires over 300 employees to make everyday spending simple, safe, and rewarding for over 9M Australians. Anna leads with integrity, intellect, and authenticity to develop a constructive, diverse and inclusive organisational culture that isn’t ‘business as usual’.

With over 25 years’ experience, Anna has managed broad remits including Operations, Finance, People & Culture, Legal, Risk & Compliance, IT and Office Management functions. Starting her journey with “Big 4” disciplines, she has since paved a successful career in high-growth corporate environments.

Anna is a multi-award-winning professional, recognised for her achievements in the fields of Tech and Accounting Excellence. She is a passionate advocate for inclusivity and women in business, actively engaging in brand ambassador roles and advisory councils. 

Kelly brings more than 25 years of business experience in engineering and operations management to this newly appointed role. 

Kelly has held a number of leadership positions domestically and globally including roles in business capture for large complex Private Public Partnerships (PPP) in the UK that she brings to this role that is seeking to expand the role Ausgrid can play in Australia’s net zero future. 

In her prior role at Ausgrid, Kelly was responsible for leading the Network Delivery Services Group, accountable for major projects, contract delivery, fleet and logistics, design management, major capital projects, facilities management and security operations. 

Kelly is passionate about Inclusion and Diversity, starting with gender, and holds a Master of Engineering Management, a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Hons) and an Associate Diploma of (Aeronautical) Engineering.

Virginia is responsible for the Firm’s strategy, which focuses on being purpose-led, delivering value to clients, an inclusive culture, and supporting the community. She is a recognised leader of integrity grounded in respect for the law, commercial acumen, and a strong sense of social responsibility. Virginia is a market-leading property lawyer. She is motivated to lead MinterEllison to being Australia’s leading law and consulting firm.

Prior to becoming CEO and Managing Partner, Virginia held numerous executive leadership positions, including Managing Partner of the Infrastructure, Construction and Property business, a member of the Partnership Board, and has been a member of the Executive Leadership Team since 2017.

Virginia has led some of the Firm’s most strategic client relationships, including Dexus, GPT, AMP Capital Investors, Brookfield, Stockland, and she has advised Government on infrastructure sales, acquisitions and redevelopment, and their role in a range of social infrastructure projects.

Outside MinterEllison, she contributes to commerce and the community through a range of other leadership and advocacy positions. She is a member of the Property Council of Australia’s National Board, the Committee for Sydney Board and chair of its Knowledge Economy Taskforce, and a member of Chief Executive Women.

Kate Russell is a proud Awabakal woman from Lake Macquarie and is committed to empowering her community. Kate draws on her extensive experience working across public and community sectors and is driven by a desire to promote opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – making sure to approach all programs, policies and initiatives through an intersectional lens. Kate is passionate about engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities to co-design programs and services using international best practices to make tangible changes in policy.  

As a consultant, Kate has worked across multiple policy areas to support the delivery of outcomes and community benefits, with a focus on people and culture programs. Prior to this, she held senior roles at the Department of Planning and Environment, where she oversaw the design and delivery of programs across a portfolio of agencies and over 15,000 staff.

Additionally, Kate has spent time working at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Sydney and Canberra and for the Catalan Department of Education in Spain. Kate returned to Australia to work in the community sector to focus on Aboriginal employment and leadership development, and eventually joined the NSW State Government in 2016. Kate’s broad expertise and experience in diversity and inclusion, organisational culture, leadership, human resources and knowledge, and project management enables her to develop programs that recognise the intersectionality of diverse experiences.  

Currently, Kate is a Board Director at the Diversity Council Australia and has previously served as a Director for Yilabara Solutions and Interrelate. In July 2023, she commenced her role as Chief Executive Officer at Supply Nation, the Australian leader in supplier diversity. Kate holds a Bachelor of International Studies (Distinction), an MBA and an Executive Masters of Public Administration.

Malini has over 20 years of experience working across several prestigious domestic and international Financial Services organisations

Her experience spans across several disciplines, namely Investment Banking, Corporate Advisory, Accounting, Property, Equity Capital Markets, Merger Implementation, Project Management, Human Resources, Business Strategy, Change Management, Community Engagement and Customer Advocacy in both Retail and Institutional Banking.

She is a Senior Fellow of Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia) and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD), with a Masters of Applied Finance and Investment (Finsia), Bachelor of Finance and Accounting (UTS), and graduated with Distinction in the INSEAD Gender Diversity Program.

She is currently Head of Strategy for Multicultural Community Banking at the Commonwealth Bank, a role allows her to work in my area of passion on a daily basis – promoting cultural diversity and social cohesion.

The division is focussed on authentic/meaningful engagement with multicultural communities and in this role she is involved in engaging at a strategic and government level, with business communities and at a local grass roots level through programs focussing on financial inclusion.

She consistently advocates for a more diverse workforce/diverse representation in the community and is seen as a strong ambassador/thought-leader for diversity and inclusion at the Commonwealth Bank and was profiled as part of International Women’s Day and Harmony Day external diversity campaigns and has been mentor to over 300 women informally and through formal programs.

She is also Chair of CommBank’s Cultural Diversity employee network Mosaic which is responsible for promoting culturally diversity and inclusion across the Group. She was also responsible for introducing the Corporate Hijab into the CBA Corporate Wardrobe for Muslim Women Employees.

She has a strong interest in making a social impact, reflected her roles in Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Advisory Group on Preventing Financial Abuse of Women, Advisory Board Member of FlexCareers and SheQu, Finsia Diversity Advisory Council (previous Non-Executive Director), FECCA Women’s Advisory Group, Women’s on Boards Cultural Diversity Advisory Group, Board Director of PIEX Education and Entertainment for Change, Mental Health Foundation Australia Multicultural Ambassador and NSW Co-Chair, AFL NSW/ACT Multicultural Community Ambassador and volunteer at the Starlight Foundation for the last 9 years.

She has received several awards including 2014 Morgan Mckinley Women in Leadership Award, 2012 AFR/BOSS Australia’s Top Emerging Leader Finalist, 2012 and 2013 CPA Top 40 Young Business Leaders and 2011 Finsia Most Outstanding Young Professional, 2019 Women’s Agenda Leadership Award in the Changemaker category, 2019 Women in Banking and Finance/Turks Legal Scholarship Finalist, 2021 Women of Colour #ColourFuLL Leadership Award Finalist and 2021 India Australia Business and Community Awards (IABCA) Finalist in the Business Leader or Professional of the Year Award category (awarded a Highly Commended).

She is a strong patient advocate for Cushing’s disease being a patient herself, diagnosed in 2013 after a 20 year journey to diagnosis. She is a Non-Executive Director of the Australian Pituitary Foundation (previous Chair), Board Advisor for the World Alliance of Pituitary Organisations (previous Non-Executive Director and Treasurer), and is on the Paraxel Patient Advisory Group to provide advice on how to increase diversity in clinical trials and in particular ethnic minority groups who are often under-represented. She is passionate about sharing her personal story and experience to create awareness, provide support and drive change domestically and globally, having spoken at conferences in London, Amsterdam, Sydney and Venice.

Tahnee is Head of Inclusion and Diversity at NAB. She is a people strategist and organisational psychologist, with experience designing and delivering people strategies across complex global environments. She joined NAB in 2021, and now leads inclusion strategy and delivery for the approximately 38,000 colleagues that work at NAB. This includes accessibility, cultural diversity, gender equity, First Nations inclusion and LGBTQI+, as well as a wider focus on inclusive leadership and building an inclusive culture for all. Her passion for Inclusion was sparked in 2012 through her Doctoral research which focused on the negative impact of micro-exclusions at work on personal wellbeing. She has spent the last 16 years working in human resources and management consulting roles across professional and financial services. During this time she built and delivered the first global inclusion strategy for a large consulting firm, which involved working closely with senior leaders across 11 geographies to co-design and deliver a strategy that would resonate beyond head office.

Nora Fraser is an inspiring People & Culture Leader driven by an entrepreneurial mindset and Founder of the Multicultural Professional Network. Nora has a wealth of experience and an extensive background in the private & public sectors. She has been involved in the implementation of key diversity and inclusion programmes for global organisations across Australia, Europe and the UK. Nora’s leadership success is built on her power to connect, influence and inspire through compelling vision and foresight, and her courage to continually challenge the status quo. Nora also supports several diversity and inclusion-focused organisations and serves as a mentor to many professionals in the field. As a passionate advocate for Diversity, Inclusion Equity and Belonging in the workplace, Nora is dedicated to helping organisations create more inclusive and equitable cultures.

Over many years as a leader within the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, Sue Martin has heard women at all stages of their careers pose questions such as, “What if I can’t do it?” For Sue, it’s an illustration of just how engrained old perceptions and cultural norms still are in the minds of emergent female leaders. Sue knows because this was her inner-voice too, until she realised that the only thing truly limiting her potential was the story she was telling herself. In this final session of the day, Sue will explore the unconscious limits we place on ourselves and how achieving freedom from those limits starts with changing the monologue, not the architecture.