Minister for Defence and Women in Defence Awards patron Senator Marise Payne joined 250 people for the inaugural Women in Defence Awards gala lunch in Canberra on July 27.
She took the opportunity to announce in the Hall of Fame inductee, Ms Shireane McKinnie recognising her lifetime of service in the old Defence Materiel Organisation and continuing her passion for engineering and project management with her work with Engineers Australia, working on STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) and diversity programs.
“I am thrilled and humbled by the nomination and award,” McKinnie said. “It is fantastic to have awards that showcase the many outstanding achievements of women colleagues working in the Defence sector. I congratulate ADM on establishing the awards and the Minister for supporting such great initiative, and hope that events like this will inspire and encourage more women to work in the Defence community.”
The winners across the six categories are:
Communications - Nicole Davies of Broadspectrum
Legal/Contracting - Kirsty Buchan of BAE Systems Australia
Project Management – Group Captain Wendy Blyth of Department of Defence - Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group
Engineering - Dr Christine Shanahan of Defence Science & Technology Group
Technical Trade - Jamie Neggers of Top Aces Inc
Rising Star - Tamara White of ASC
Details of these amazing women and the other finalists can be found in the June edition of ADM and in the attached PDF (available here).