“I believe you should not ask your staff to do something that you would not do yourself. There needs to be a team approach in dealing with crises and as a leader you need to guide.” – Dr Robyn Walker.

As Director-General of Health for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) with broader responsibilities to the Australian Defence Force (ADF), Dr Robyn Walker is scaling dizzying heights. A Navy officer for 20 years, Robyn has been responsible for supporting the health of operational Defence personnel in Iraq and East Timor and directly manages a budget of $40 million. A specialist in underwater and submarine medicine, Robyn is leading a $270m revamp of the ADF’s health capability. Robyn’s career highlights include a commendation for her role in the post-tsunami humanitarian mission to Banda Acheh and an Order of Australia for exceptional service to the ADF. Robyn was the first woman to achieve the rank of Commodore. She will reach another career milestone in December 2011 when she takes on the job of Surgeon-General and becomes the Navy’s first female to be promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.

“Being instrumental in assisting people achieve something they didn't think they could is our greatest satisfaction.” – Karen Nicholas.

When the training organisation she worked for went into voluntary administration, Karen Nicholas had the choice of abandoning more than 100 students or finding them alternative training. Karen established her company, Learning Options, initially operating from her home. Today, Learning Options is a registered training organisation that is experiencing rapid growth. It offers more than 40 nationally-accredited qualifications in management, business administration, leadership and project management for individuals, corporations and government. Her organisation annually helps 200 people achieve qualifications and takes pride in the fact that many of its successful students have not been in a classroom for years. Karen was honoured with a 2010 ACT training excellence award and attributes much of her business growth to participation in the joint Commonwealth-ACT Productivity Places Program. Through that program, Learning Options recently won a 14 per cent share of available funding for local industry skills development.

“Being a manager for the past eight years, I have learned to listen to what your staff are telling you, because they are usually right.” – Janine Yokom.

When a back injury forced Janine Yokom to close her nail technician business, it opened a new opportunity to become leader of a team now recognised as one of the best performing among its peers. Janine joined Westpac as a bank teller in 1997, working hard to win a management role in just three years. In 2006, she was appointed local bank manager for the Belconnen area, where she is now responsible for business management, employee training, community partnerships and retention, sales and risk management. With her team of 11, Janine has seen Belconnen become the seventh-best performing among Westpac’s 650 branches nationally. Janine cites her highly developed influencing skills, strong personal business development drive and staff management acumen as keys to achieving consistent strong results. Membership of the ACT Chamber of Commerce and involvement in bi-monthly women’s networking luncheons underline Janine’s commitment to local business.

“I believe you should not ask your staff to do something that you would not do yourself. There needs to be a team approach in dealing with crises and as a leader you need to guide.” – Dr Robyn Walker.

As Director-General of Health for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) with broader responsibilities to the Australian Defence Force (ADF), Dr Robyn Walker is scaling dizzying heights. A Navy officer for 20 years, Robyn has been responsible for supporting the health of operational Defence personnel in Iraq and East Timor and directly manages a budget of $40 million. A specialist in underwater and submarine medicine, Robyn is leading a $270m revamp of the ADF’s health capability. Robyn’s career highlights include a commendation for her role in the post-tsunami humanitarian mission to Banda Acheh and an Order of Australia for exceptional service to the ADF. Robyn was the first woman to achieve the rank of Commodore. She will reach another career milestone in December 2011 when she takes on the job of Surgeon-General and becomes the Navy’s first female to be promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.

“While the recurrent cost to run SAPU is $3.6 million, the cost benefit is significant and for the patient it is immeasurable.” – Barbara Reid.

There are no short cuts in building a better health system but Barbara Reid has played a part in significant improvements. Drawing on her mix of practical nursing experience and administrative expertise, this ACT Health executive director has launched a new unit to reduce waiting times in Canberra Hospital’s Emergency Department. While non-critically ill, surgical patients traditionally waited in the emergency department for initial assessment, the Surgical Assessment and Planning Unit (SAPU) expedites their transfer to a specialist surgical assessment unit to avoid bottlenecks before they form. Developed as part of the ACT Government's “Your Health – our priority” infrastructure program, SAPU dramatically improves the patient experience and makes the system more efficient. This innovative approach has freed emergency beds, enabled patients to access emergency surgical care in a more timely manner and reduced emergency department length of stay for surgical patients – in an environment where resources are short.

“I have learned that the key to inspiring people is to ensure that they understand the vision of the organisation and feel that their contribution is valued and is central to the achievement of the objectives of the organisation.” – Julie McKay.

Combining a passion for organisational change, gender equality and international relations, 28-year-old Julie McKay is the Executive Director for non-profit organisation UN Women Australia. Julie aims to achieve gender equality for women globally and her work ranges from developing and implementing strategy, to representation at local, national and international levels. Recognising a need to diversify UN Women Australia’s income sources, Julie launched a corporate partnerships strategy that draws on corporate human resources departments. Julie has increased her operational budget from $200,000 to more than $1 million. Prior to joining UN Women Australia, Julie was communications manager at Homelessness Australia. She is also a board member on YWCA of Canberra, the United Nations Association of Australian and Australian’s Helping Abroad and sits on the Advisory Council for the Australian Institute of Management (ACT) and the Steering Group of the Equality Rights Alliance.