Last week we celebrated the winners and Hall of Fame inductee of ADM’s Women in Defence Awards with over 600 people via a virtual event. With winners from APS, in uniform, Primes and SMEs the field of contenders was strong and diverse. From working in submarines to the Hawk lead in fighter and joining us from a firing range to moving to a new house to maternity leave, our finalists told their stories and shared their journeys.
You can still watch the event if you missed it but the winners are:
- Communications - Prudence (Prue) Rhodes of Downer Defence Systems (Downer)
- Project Management - Sharon Wilson of ASC Shipbuilding, a BAE Systems Australia company with a Special Mention for Letitia Van Stralen of Royal Australian Navy
- Engineering - Siobhan Ann Sturdy of Royal Australian Navy
- Legal and Contracting – in a first for the program, the judges could not find daylight between Liesl O’Meara of Northrop Grumman Australia and Clare Little of QinetiQ Australia awarding them joint winners.
- Operations - Lieutenant Colonel Anna Reinhardt of Australian Army and a Special mention for Antoinette Jayetileke of Australian Army
- People and Culture - Karyn Hinder of Working Spirit
- Technical Trade - Amy Macallister of Boeing Defence Australia with a Special Mention for Kavita Gahlawat of EOS
- Rising Star - Amy Stringfellow of Defence Science and Technology Group with a Special Mention for Keren Reynolds of BAE Systems Australia
This year’s Hall of Fame inductee is Dr Karen Stanton, the owner and director of Heat Treatment Australia (HTA) Group. Manufacturing for Defence in both Australia and the US, Karen has travelled the SME path to export success and working across a range of industries. While running this business, she also on the advisory board of the Centre for Defence Industry Capability (CDIC) and other companies as well. She takes her place alongside our previous Hall of Fame winners for a lifetime of solid work in the Defence space. We’ve recently chatted to both our past Hall of Fame winners about their experiences in the ADM Podcast, an insight into how things have changed since they began their careers.
ADM Comment: A huge congratulations to all the women and their allies involved in this program to date. As a judge myself, I adore reading all the applications that come through. They are inspiring, heart-warming and sometimes even heartbreaking in some cases. There are differences with many of the journeys but the common themes of perseverance, the importance of community and backing yourself are testament to the brilliance of these finalists.
I would also like to thank our sponsors SYPAQ, Naval Group, Airbus, BGIS, Boeing, Broadspectrum A Ventia company, and Leidos for their support in bringing this program together.
We’re looking forward to launching next year’s program at the 2021 ADM Congress on February 3 in Canberra and online.