Women working for "greener" Queensland win top business awards
17 Sep 2010
17 September 2010:The driving force behind a company launched to encourage Brisbane residents to cut greenhouse gas emissions was named today as the 2010 Telstra Queensland Business Woman of the Year.
Megan Houghton is the CEO of CitySmart, an agency created by Brisbane City Council to work with business, industry, government and the community to help make the city Australia's most sustainable and carbon neutral by 2026.
Ms Houghton, who also won the Hudson Private and Corporate Sector Award, leads a range of environmental initiatives including the $23 million Ezy Green program, backed by corporate partners, that helps residents across Greater Brisbane and the South-East to save energy, save on power bills and cut household carbon emissions.
Another environmental leader, Dr Kirsten Heimann, director of James Cook University's School of Marine and Tropical Biology in Townsville who heads a research project that uses algae to capture carbon before it enters the atmosphere, is the winner of the Nokia Business Innovation Award.
Other winners of the sixteenth Telstra Queensland Business Women's Awards, announced today in Brisbane, were Yvette Adams, owner of The Creative Collective in Maroochydore; Debra Howe, manager of the Toowoomba Regional Council's Tourism and Events branch; and Melanie Gordon, a BHP Billiton Maintenance and Engineering Manager from Moranbah.
Telstra Chief Marketing Officer and Telstra Business Women's Awards Ambassador Kate McKenzie said the winners of the Queensland Awards were successful business women whose leadership qualities and achievements would provide inspiration for women across the State.
"The judges described Megan Houghton as an inspiring and strategic leader with high energy, integrity and an ability to negotiate at very high levels," Ms McKenzie said.
"After a long leadership career in consulting, energy and water utilities, she has established the team at CitySmart and built up its business model and financial position. The Ezy Green program was a challenging initiative that brought together local and state governments and partnerships with the private sector to back CitySmart's sustainability goals," she said.
After graduating with commerce and economics degrees, Ms Houghton was promoted to a director role at PricewaterhouseCoopers at 28 and joined Energex in 2004 as head of strategy. Three years later she began her own consultancy before joining CitySmart in 2009. Today she is also a board member of Unity Water and the Wide Bay Water Corporation.
The CEO of Hudson Australia/New Zealand, Mark Steyn, said Hudson has been a very proud sponsor of the Awards for the past nine years. "It is a privilege to be associated with an event that showcased the calibre and quality of talented women working across Australia," he said.
"Employment participation by women has been increasing over the past 40 years but it is still well below the rate for men and lower here than in many other developed countries. That is why we are keen to recognise the imperative role that women play in the Australian workforce. This year's line-up of finalists in the Hudson Private and Corporate Sector Award, including Megan Houghton, is an exemplary group of Australia's finest business women and we commend them on their achievements."
The Queensland winners proceed to the national finals of the 2010 Telstra Business Women's Awards which will be announced in Melbourne on 11 November. They will join an alumni of more than 430 winners of the Telstra Business Women's Awards since the program was launched in 1995.
Winners of the 2010 Telstra Queensland Business Women's Awards are:
Telstra Queensland Business Woman of the Year
Megan Houghton, CitySmart, Brisbane.
Commonwealth Bank Business Owner Award
Yvette Adams, The Creative Collective, Maroochydore.
Owner-director of marketing, public relations and website design business The Creative Collective, Ms Adams manages four staff, 25 "virtual" contractors and 200 active clients around Australia. Her business is contracted by government to deliver webinars on marketing, business finance, planning and other topics to small business owners.
Hudson Private and Corporate Sector Award
Megan Houghton, CitySmart, Brisbane.
White Pages Community and Government Award
Debra Howe, Toowomba Regional Council, Toowoomba.
Since becoming manager of the Toowoomba Regional Council's Tourism and Events Branch, Ms Howe has been behind Australia's longest running annual horticultural event - the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers. An active participant in promoting women in local government, Ms Howe is also responsible for Sister City relationships, sports tourism development, Visitor Information Centres and attracting business investment to the local economy.
Nokia Business Innovation Award
Dr Kirsten Heimann, James Cook University, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, Townsville.
As director of the North Queensland Algal Identification/Culturing Facility, Dr Heimann leads a multi-million dollar research project that uses algae to capture carbon before it enters the earth's atmosphere. Already proving successful in trials, the research could hold the key to rapid reductions in carbon emissions from coal-fired power stations and the return of the carbon into much valued resources.
marie claire Young Business Women's Award
Melanie Gordon, BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance, Moranbah.
Ms Gordon is the first woman appointed as a Maintenance and Engineering Manager at BHP Billiton in an Australian operation and the youngest woman appointed to an operational management role in BHP Billiton worldwide. Starting in the traditionally male-dominated mining industry 10 years ago, she has worked in engineering, projects, maintenance, risk management and safety fields.
Further information on the Telstra Business Women's Awards can be found at www.telstrabusinesswomensawards.com
Media contact:
Michael Grealy
Lighthouse Communications
Ph: 02 9262 3868; M: 0438 835 835
Telstra:
Elouise Campion
0437 436 016
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Telstra Business Women's Awards Network