Aviation/Aerospace Australia has confirmed its initial speakers list for the upcoming Women in Aviation/Aerospace Australia National Summit in Melbourne on November 18. Representing a cross-section of women from within the aviation and aerospace industries, the summit will also hear from senior executive women in other industry sectors.
Kathryn Fagg – board member, Reserve Bank of Australia; chair, Melbourne Recital Centre
Professor Linda Kristjanson – vice chancellor and president, Swinburne University of Technology
Captain Deborah Lawrie – airline pilot, TigerAir, and the first woman to become a pilot with a major Australian airline after winning a landmark sex discrimination case against Ansett in 1979.
Merren McArthur – group executive, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines
Rear Admiral Wendi Carpenter (Ret.) – president, State University of New York Maritime College
Group Captain Margot Forster – Director Personnel Coordination & Review, RAAF
Cheryl Woollard – general manager human resources and communications, Boeing Aerostructures Australia
Cathy Riach – recruitment and resourcing manager, BAE Systems Australia
Michelle Fitzgerald – partner, Management Consultancy, PwC
Kirsty Bateman – project design authority, Thales
Carolyn Nichols – Australia F/A-18F and EA-18G Program Manager, The Boeing Company
Tracy Lamb – airline pilot, Virgin Australia; Phd candidate, RMIT University UAS Research Team
Leah Gray – consultant, Audrey Page Career Management
Aimed at ensuring awareness is raised of the gender diversity across the aviation industry and to identify strategies to encourage the participation levels of women in the sector, the summit will work towards achieving an identity shift by addressing polices and processes to ensure women are seen as valued and important part of the aviation and aerospace industry and encourage them to pursue leadership roles.
