Award Winners

2011 NSW Award Winners

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Telstra New South Wales Business Woman of the Year

Catherine Burn

NSW Police Force, Sydney

“My passion is customer service and community engagement and making sure we get it right for the community, victims and witnesses.” – Catherine Burn.

Catherine Burn’s family wanted her to have a career in law or medicine but she chose to be a police officer. Today, having served in the NSW Police Force for 27 years, she runs the business side of policing as Deputy Commissioner for Corporate Services. One of three Deputy Commissioners, Catherine’s role is to ensure the state’s 15,806 police and 4000 civilians have the capability, resources and capacity to do their jobs. Her broad remit covers all police finances, human resources, assets, technology and systems, and education and training. Catherine is passionate about breaking down barriers between police and the community, having previously led difficult inner-city operational commands.. She has spent the past three years introducing cultural change to reduce customer service related complaints against police, improve victim follow-up and increase community confidence. Her ethics and dedication have been recognised with several police and community accolades, including the Australian Police Medal and International Women’s Day NSW Woman of the Year award.

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Commonwealth Bank Business Owner Award

Maureen Houssein-Mustafa

OAM MHM Australasia Pty Ltd, Glebe

“I invest heavily in professional development to deliver the best for my business and the best for my staff.” – Maureen Houssein-Mustafa, OAM.

Maureen Houssein-Mustafa, OAM has helped more than 300,000 students over the past 17 years. Seeing a need for higher quality training in the beauty sector, Maureen started MHM Australasia as a “nail school” in 1994. She added hairdressing in 2004, then expanded into other beauty-related qualifications as well as hospitality, management, aged care and English, forming the Australasian College Broadway. The college is now a leading private provider of vocational education andtraining in Australia with up to 1000 local and international students and more than 100 staff. Maureen says her greatest asset is her team. By providing financial support for staff to gain extra qualifications, Maureen has been able to attract and retain high-calibre trainers and mangers to build the college’s reputation for turning out job-ready graduates. Now Executive Chairman, Maureen is focusing on governance, having bravely handed the reigns over to a new CEO to help the college transition to a specialist, self-accrediting university.

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Hudson Private and Corporate Sector Award

Jodie Fox

Shoes of Prey, Surry Hills

“We have empowered women to fully and confidently express their style. We’ve changed the way they shop.” – Jodie Fox.

Jodie Fox dabbled in law and worked in advertising before she, along with husband Michael and friend Mike Knapp, committed to launching a website where women can design their own shoes. Shoes of Prey offers shoppers a choice of style components, colours and materials, leads them through the design process, then ships their handmade footwear in four to six weeks. In just over a year, women all over the world have created tens of thousands of pairs of bespoke shoes. Jodie helps drive strategic direction, while also leading design, product development, human resources and marketing. The success of her innovative fashion concept has seen the business expand to China, Japan, Russia and the Netherlands and attracted international media attention, adding spokesperson to Jodie’s list of responsibilities. Earlier this year, she was invited to Federal Parliament to consult with political leaders on fostering innovation among Australia’s small and medium businesses.

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White Pages Community & Government Award

Catherine Burn

NSW Police Force, Sydney

“My passion is customer service and community engagement and making sure we get it right for the community, victims and witnesses.” – Catherine Burn.

Catherine Burn’s family wanted her to have a career in law or medicine but she chose to be a police officer. Today, having served in the NSW Police Force for 27 years, she runs the business side of policing as Deputy Commissioner for Corporate Services. One of three Deputy Commissioners, Catherine’s role is to ensure the state’s 15,806 police and 4000 civilians have the capability, resources and capacity to do their jobs. Her broad remit covers all police finances, human resources, assets, technology and systems, and education and training. Catherine is passionate about breaking down barriers between police and the community, having previously led difficult inner-city operational commands.. She has spent the past three years introducing cultural change to reduce customer service related complaints against police, improve victim follow-up and increase community confidence. Her ethics and dedication have been recognised with several police and community accolades, including the Australian Police Medal and International Women’s Day NSW Woman of the Year award.

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Nokia Business Innovation Award

Professor Veena Sahajwalla

The University of NSW, Kensington

“Growing up in India, I would walk past huge mountains of waste supporting communities of rubbish pickers and imagine what it would take to convert "rubbish" into something more valuable.” – Veena Sahajwalla.

Veena Sahajwalla is helping the steel industry combat enormous environmental challenges. As Director at the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology at The University of NSW, Scientia Professor Veena developed technology to reduce carbon-emissions during steel production and recycle end-of-life materials that would otherwise go to landfill. Traditionally, in electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking, scrap is reprocessed using large amounts of coke and coal as sources of carbon. After successful lab experiments which commenced in 2003, Veena collaborated with manufacturing giant OneSteel to develop technology to recycle plastic and rubber waste in the scrap reprocessing furnace. The “green steel” technology not only produces lower emissions, but reduces reliance on coke and coal and requires less electricity. In addition, plastic and rubber waste are spared from landfill. The innovation has attracted science and technology awards in Australia and the United States and has the potential to transform steel production globally.

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marie claire Young Business Women’s Award

Jo Heighway

Engage Super Audits (Formerly SMSF Outsource Solutions)

“To audit the work of another accountant means I have to know superannuation law better than any other accountant – and lawyer – in Australia.” – Jo Heighway.

A decade after starting her accounting career with Deloittes, Jo Heighway decided to go out on her own at age 27 to be an accountant to accountants. She launched SMSF Outsource Solutions (now Engage Super Audits) in 2005, auditing self-managed super funds in the front room of her home. Today, the Gosford-based business is one of the largest self-managed super fund auditors in Australia, providing independent audits for around 3,000 accountants, advisors and trustees in all states. Now 33, Jo has worked hard to earn the respect of large administrators at a young age through investment in continual education. Her knowledge must exceed that of the accountants and administrators she audits to ensure she can review records accurately, provide correct superannuation advice and report any compliance breaches. With 2500 new self-managed super funds emerging in Australia each month and new rules in train for independent auditors, Jo is currently working on plans to ensure Engage Super Audits is well-placed to capitalise on growth opportunities and future industry consolidation.