WitWA International Women's Day

Celebrating innovation, leadership, sustainability, inclusion and equality, and because it's International Women's Day, this will be a free event.

We are excited to hear from Julia Ward - Carbon Development Engineer at Woodside - who recently completed Homeward Bound in Antarctica: a global leadership initiative for women in STEM, in the context of leading for a more sustainable world. Hear from Julia about what we can learn from the stillness, scale and fragility of Antarctica; the leadership insights; the game-changing personal tools she developed and most importantly, why creating a collaborative, inclusive, legacy-minded leadership style is so important to a sustainable future.

Following Julia's keynote we will have a panel discussion with business leaders from a variety of industries sharing their practical tools and strategies of how they have moved the needle on equality and inclusion in their workplaces.

With thanks to our key sponsor Amazon Web Services (AWS) for their ongoing  support. Light refreshments are included in ticket price. The event will start with refreshments and networking, followed by the  Welcome and Keynote Speaker at 18:00 sharp. Whilst this is a free event, tickets are essential for catering purposes.

Unfortunately, with the Coronavirus outbreak we are requesting that anyone who has been to China, Iran, Italy, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea and have not been self-isolated for 14 days do not attend this event. Also anyone who is obviously unwell with flu like symptoms.

Please see below for more information on our speakers and panelists.  

 - Keynote Speaker

Julia Ward, Environmental Engineer, Woodside 

Julia is an Environmental Engineer at Woodside Energy working on the delivery of Australian carbon offset projects. In 2019 she underwent the biggest leadership journey and adventure of her life: the Homeward Bound initiative which culminated in the largest ever female expedition to Antarctica. Julia is passionate about the leadership needed to create a more equal and more sustainable world. The scale of challenges we face in our industries and our global environment require collaboration at all levels, across all sectors, by all people

 - Panelists

Sarah Bassett, Head of WA/SA, Amazon Web Services

Sarah is part of the ANZ executive team at Amazon Web Services (AWS) leading the Western Australia and South Australia region as well as the Resources vertical. Her team works with enterprises across all industries in Perth and Adelaide to help them realize the value of cloud technology from both an economic and business transformation perspective. Sarah is passionate about technology innovation and providing education to enable customers to create a culture of change and modernize their organisations. Prior to joining AWS in 2017, Sarah was in the oil & gas industry for 15 years holding various roles within software development, mergers and acquisitions, partner and alliances, marketing and business development. 

Matthew Brierley - Operations Readiness Manager, Woodside

Matthew has worked in New Zealand, Malaysia, Aberdeen and Australia. Currently Operations Readiness Manager with Woodside Energy Limited, working on how to digitise project deliverables. Matthew is the (first male) co-chair of the Gender Equality Matters employee network (a voluntary group of over 1300 employees).

Rachael Goodenough, Head of Talent Acquisition, Telstra Purple

Rachael Goodenough is the Head of Talent Acquisition at Telstra Purple and is passionate about creating inclusive work environments where everyone can thrive. Rachael loves the community and is an Organiser and Committee member on multiple NFP groups including Women Who Code, Muses Code JS and RubyConf Au.