West Australian miner wins top Business Woman Award
11 Nov 2010
A Western Australian woman who turned around Rio Tinto’s Dampier Salt Limited (DSL) business to become the world’s leading exporter of solar salt was named tonight as 2010 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year.
Mrs Denise Goldsworthy, who began her career in the mining sector at the age of 17 when she worked at the BHP blast furnace as a trainee Metallurgist, is Managing Director of DSL, a business that produces industrial salt by solar evaporation of seawater at Dampier and Port Hedland and from underground brine at Lake MacLeod.
With 28 years experience in the resources sector spanning a wide range of responsibilities, Mrs Goldsworthy has been responsible for the development and execution of a strategy that has seen DSL’s sales increase by approximately 550 per cent within just two years.
Her successes in improving the business performance, and in driving improved safety standards, increased workforce engagement and reduced staff turnover saw her appointed recently to the role of Managing Director of another Rio Tinto subsidiary, HIsmelt.
Mrs Goldsworthy also won the Hudson Private and Corporate Sector Award at the sixteenth Telstra Australian Business Women’s Awards announced tonight. Other winners include the owner of SA’s leading traffic engineering consultancy, the first female Professor of Physics at the University of Adelaide, an SA cheesemaker and the former CEO of the St Vincent de Paul Society in the Northern Territory.
Telstra Chief Marketing Officer and Telstra Business Women’s Awards Ambassador Kate McKenzie said Mrs Goldsworthy’s career achievements made her an outstanding choice for the prestigious Award.
“Denise has had a steady rise through the ranks and in her role of Managing Director has drawn on the skills she gained in operations, technical marketing, health and safety, finance and business development to help DSL succeed,” Ms McKenzie said.
“Through persistence and perseverance, she was able to get support for her vision of the business, to overcome challenges and devise a pathway to profitable growth.
“Denise is an inspirational role model for the younger generation of business women in Australia and an example of the extraordinary talent that the Awards program has recognised over the past 16 years.”
Mark Steyn, Chief Executive Officer of Hudson Australia/New Zealand, said Mrs Goldsworthy was an inspiring winner of the Award, which Hudson had sponsored for the past nine years.
"As Australia's leading provider of integrated talent solutions we consider it crucial to raise awareness of the role women play in the Australian workforce today and our support of the Awards highlights how strongly we believe that women are key to Australia's future."
Winners of the 2010 Telstra Australian Business Women’s Awards were:
Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year
Denise Goldsworthy, Rio Tinto, WA.
Commonwealth Bank Business Owner Award
Melissa Mellen, Murray F. Young & Associates (MFY), SA.
Melissa Mellen, a chartered professional engineer, has been owner and director of Murray F. Young & Associates (MFY) since 2003. The business provides professional traffic, transport and parking advice to private and government clients on approximately 400 projects a year throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Hudson Private and Corporate Sector Award
Denise Goldsworthy, Rio Tinto, WA.
White Pages Community and Government Award
Tanya Monro, Institute for Photonics & Advanced Sensing, SA.
Professor Tanya Monro is recognised in the international scientific community for breakthroughs in optical fibre research. She is founder and director of the Institute for Photonics & Advanced Sensing at the University of Adelaide which brings together 130 physicists, chemists and biologists to research sensing technologies. Since 2005 she has generated more than $65 million in research funding.
Nokia Business Innovation Award
Kris Lloyd, Woodside Cheese Wrights, SA.
Kris Lloyd took over Woodside Cheese Wrights in 1999 focusing first on the business fundamentals before learning the craft of cheesemaking. As manager and head cheesemaker, Ms Lloyd produced numerous award-winning cheeses. She formed Cheese SA, a peak body that raises awareness for her industry, established a cheesemaking training course through TAFE and is a director of the industry’s annual CheeseFest event.
marie claire Young Business Women’s Award
Janet Buhagiar, St Vincent de Paul Society, NT.
As CEO of the St Vincent de Paul Society (NT), Janet Buhagiar nearly doubled revenues. She was responsible for 35 employees and 200 volunteers across five retail outlets, 65 emergency hostel beds and five outreach programs that serve more than 300 people in need each night. One of her major achievements was winning private and government funding for a $5.8 million, 20 two-bedroom project on Society land. Ms Buhagiar has recently stepped down as CEO to volunteer in East Timor.
Winners of the Awards will receive a share of $200,000 in cash and prizes and become part of an exclusive national business alumni. For further information on the Telstra Business Women’s Awards visit: www.telstrabusinesswomensawards.com
Media contact:
Telstra:
Kathryn McFarland
0419 850 201
Lighthouse Communications:
Natasha Ciesielski 0428 480 710
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Telstra Business Women's Awards Network