As Managing Director of two of Rio Tinto’s subsidiary companies, Dampier Salt (DSL) and HIsmelt, Denise Goldsworthy is responsible for more than 500 employees and a large global customer base. Since Denise’s appointment to DSL, the world’s leading exporter of solar salt, record earnings of US$129 million were posted in 2009. In her role as MD of HIsmelt, she is responsible for the marketing of HIsmelt iron-making technology. Denise attributes her success to her style of leading and motivating her management team. In 2009 she challenged them with a motivational campaign designed to get them thinking about ways to increase salt capacity by 12 per cent with zero outlay. The resulting ideas led to an outcome far beyond expectations, delivering an eventual 20 per cent increase in capacity. Denise’s innovative Sustainable Health and Safety program has also ensured significant improvement in all injury rates.

It was 1999 when Jan Ford and her two teenage children joined her husband as he took up a new job in the remote town of Port Hedland. Unable to land a job in real estate, Jan decided to open her own agency. A decade later, Jan Ford Real Estate Port Hedland has grown from a one-woman operation to employing 13 people, and Jan is a property developer and provider of housing stock to the burgeoning mining industry. Jan says investors were initially reluctant to put money into Port Hedland, so she targeted first home buyers. Frustrated by a lack of infrastructure to support development, in 2001 Jan became part of a community action group to drive change. She was subsequently elected to the town’s local council. Jan says real estate and mining were so male dominated that she was determined to be a role model for women and run a family-friendly business. Today, she sits on the Port Hedland Port Authority Board.

As Managing Director of two of Rio Tinto’s subsidiary companies, Dampier Salt (DSL) and HIsmelt, Denise Goldsworthy is responsible for more than 500 employees and a large global customer base. Since Denise’s appointment to DSL, the world’s leading exporter of solar salt, record earnings of US$129 million were posted in 2009. In her role as MD of HIsmelt, she is responsible for the marketing of HIsmelt iron-making technology. Denise attributes her success to her style of leading and motivating her management team. In 2009 she challenged them with a motivational campaign designed to get them thinking about ways to increase salt capacity by 12 per cent with zero outlay. The resulting ideas led to an outcome far beyond expectations, delivering an eventual 20 per cent increase in capacity. Denise’s innovative Sustainable Health and Safety program has also ensured significant improvement in all injury rates.

It was a landmark for women in 2002 when Jo Harrison became the first female Executive Director of WA’s Emergency Management Services. Three years later, Jo became the first woman Executive Director of the WA Police. Today, she is the first female CEO of FESA, the Fire and Emergency Services Authority, with responsibility for 1,400 staff and 30,000 volunteers. Since assuming the top job in 2006, Jo has succeeded in gaining a 16.5 per cent increase in government funding. She lists her proudest achievement as transforming a predominately male culture to a more balanced, family-friendly one. In the past four years Jo has instigated innovative programs to encourage volunteer recruitment (including a Volunteer Recruitment Action Handbook) and launched the first accredited program to recognise employers of FESA volunteers. Looking to the future, Jo has launched a blueprint for the organisation’s future direction that ensures a long-term and sustainable business plan.

Equestricare, a mobile health service for horses, is the brainchild of Jessica Blackwell. Established in 2007, the business now has more than 400 clients whose horses receive a range of services including sports massage and laser therapy. In 2009, Jessica won the Wanneroo Business Association’s ‘Most Innovative Business of the Year’ and ‘Home-based Business of the Year’ awards. Her long-term plans include franchising the mobile service and developing the business into Australia’s first equine education and rehabilitation centre. Jessica is developing a new product, the ‘Equine Sports Therapy Health Care Package’, an annual treatment package that includes eight treatments, a nutritional assessment, saddle fit, monthly newsletters and emergency call-outs. When researching the package, Jessica surveyed 300 local horse owners and consulted her most valued clients. Another innovative plan that Jessica is hatching is developing a horse health care system.

At 35, Lee Broomhall carries hefty responsibility at Workpower Incorporated, the non-profit organisation that creates employment for people with disability and mental illnesses. Workpower employs 150 staff and 300 people with disability and mental illness. It is a State organisation with a metropolitan and regional presence. As Executive Manager of the People, Performance and Strategy division, Lee manages Workpower’s corporate headquarters and is responsible for the organisation’s overall performance. As Executive Manager of Qualipac Plus, Workpower’s commercial business, she oversees the employment of 250 people with disabilities into the packaging and manufacturing industry. Lee generates half of the agency’s $10 million turnover. Her proudest achievement was inspiring Workpower’s Employee Celebration in early 2010. A gala event where the 300 VIPs attending were people with disabilities, which took 12 months to plan and involved 500 invitees overall. Lee is also very proud of Workpower’s victory in the 2009 inaugural WA Business News Awards where it was named The Best Employer.