Top women in business win governance scholarships

THREE Cairns businesswomen have been awarded inaugural governance scholarships.

Joanne Schmider from the Rainforest Aboriginal Peoples’ Alliance, Gurriny Health Service Yarrabah chief executive Suzanne Connolly-Andrews and Julie-Ann Lambourne, the chief executive of enVizion Group Inc, are three of 50 scholarship recipients who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, or who come from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

The scholarships were awarded in the third round of the joint Board Scholarship Diversity Program offered by the Federal Government and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

Institute managing director John Brogden said the program was “crucial to our efforts to increase the diversity of Australian boards by giving exceptional females the opportunity to undertake education that will improve their credentials”.

“The Federal Government’s generous contribution of more than $1 million has, for the first time, enabled us to offer dedicated scholarships to women from rural areas, those in male-dominated industries and now to those from culturally diverse backgrounds,” Mr Brogden said.

“We recently called on all companies to increase the proportion of women on their boards to 30 per cent and will continue to advocate for greater board diversity in gender, culture, thought and experience.”

A total of 195 scholarships were granted in this round of the Board Scholarship Diversity Program, which is more than double the number awarded in each of the two previous rounds.

Recipients will be eligible to complete either the Foundations of Directorship program or the Company Directors Course offered by the AICD.