Wonder Women: Australian female CEOs who made a difference

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Gone are the days when only men used to lead businesses accounting for almost all the senior executive posts. The current era is the one where females are giving healthy competition to their male counterparts across industries. Women are not only taking care of their respective families but are also managing their professional lives exceptionally well.

In Australia, there are multiple female entrepreneurs or CEOs who have set an example for most females to efficiently balance their professional and personal lives and achieve their professional dreams.

This article focusses on three such female CEOs who have tasted considerable success and act as role models for several women worldwide.

Melanie Perkins, CEO of Canva

Melanie Perkins is an entrepreneur who co-founded Canva in 2013. She is also the CEO of the Company, a graphic design and publishing platform. The users can design tools and access various images to develop content. She has a net worth of nearly A$3.4 billion.

Canvas story began in 2007 when Melanie Perkins was a student at the University of Western Australia. She used to teach students how to use InDesign and Photoshop, which people found challenging to learn and use.

She then took the initiative to develop an online tool to build school yearbooks. Ms Perkins, along with co-founder Cliff Obrecht, took a loan and formed a team to build Fusion Book.

Fusion Book is the biggest school yearbook publisher in Australia and has expanded its presence in countries like France and New Zealand.

A recent report from Bloomberg highlighted that Canva has 50 million users. The Company has now acquired six businesses, which also includes image providers Pexels and Pixabay. It also raised A$60 million in June 2020 to expand its features to support users while at work.

Katie Page, CEO of Harvey Norman

Born in Mareeba, Australia, Katie Page is the CEO of Harvey Norman (ASX:HVN), an ASX-listed company whose primary activities include integrated retail, franchise, property and digital enterprise.

Ms Page joined the Company in 1983 as the Director and became its CEO in February 1999. Since then, she has assumed the overall executive responsibility for the consolidated entity. Ms Page has a net worth of 80 million and was recognised amongst the 50 most powerful women in business by ABR.

Katie also supports numerous professional sports and is the active promoter of women in sports.

During 1H FY2021 (period ended 31 December 2020), the Company delivered robust results with 25.8% growth in total aggregated, company-operated, and franchise sales revenue to A$5.12 billion.

For more information about the results, click here.

Catriona Wallace, CEO of Ethical AI Advisory

Catriona Wallace is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Ethical AI Advisory. The Australian Financial Review distinguished her as the most influential businesswomen & Entrepreneur. Ms Wallace also founded the ASX-listed Company Flamingo AI, currently known as Fargo Enterprises (ASX:FGO).

Looking at her illustrious career, Ms Wallace can be seen as no less than a superwoman. Being a mother of 5 children, she has maintained a healthy balance between her personal and professional life, setting a strong example for all the working ladies. She is a living proof that women can have it all and do it all.

Under her leadership, Ethical AI presently has positioned itself as a Conversational AI partner. When the business started in Sydney, the idea was to improve client experience using AI and machine learning. Gradually, the business moved to the US to be amongst the leading financial service companies.

The Company has now gone global, and because of her efforts, FGO has turned out to be a truly operational, conversational AI engine, which beats the difficulties of the conventional AI players not being able to provide commercial value at a reasonable investment.