Where are our women CEOs?
McKenzie only female to head NZX 50 firm
Kate McKenzie became the sole woman at the head of an NZX 50 company when she started her new job as Chorus chief executive this week. She also becomes the first woman to head a telco in this country since Theresa Gattung stood down as Telecom chief executive in 2007.
McKenzie said she had promoted the role of women in technology throughout her career and it was something she would continue to advocate for, as well as pushing diversity in general.
“I’ve already met a good sample of our retail service providers and have enjoyed hearing about their plans. Customer focus is going to be a high priority for me. I really believe that if we can make great customer service our biggest differentiator, we will continue to be a successful organisation — it’s at the heart of bringing better broadband to New Zealand.
“Innovation is something else I’m passionate about — there’s always better, smarter, swifter, braver things an agile company could be doing.”
McKenzie joined Telstra in 2004. Her most recent post at Australia’s largest telco was chief operations officer responsible for field services, IT and network architecture and operations.
Institute of Directors governance leadership manager Felicity Caird said the appointment was great, but it was still a concern that just one of the 50 top jobs went to a woman.
“I think some of the same drivers that have prevented women getting around the board table may apply for chief executives as well,” Caird said.
“The statistics for the number of women in senior executive roles hovers around 20 per cent so we’ve got a very small pipeline coming through. So we actually need to focus more on that pipeline and having women in middle management and senior management.”
Norah Barlow, former CEO of Summerset Group Holdings, was the last woman to head an NZX company.