Women of Influence winners

Some great winners in the Women of Influence Awards. They include:

Businesswoman Joan Withers has been named the supreme winner at this year’s Women of Influence awards.

Judges said her work championing board diversity and striving to close the gender gap resulted in a unanimous decision.

Withers left school at 16 years old and worked as a junior bank teller before moving up the ranks of the advertising world. …

She is currently the chairwoman of Mighty River Power and TVNZ, a director of ANZ and a member of the Treasury Advisory Board.

She also spent two years as The Radio Network chief executive, fours years as Fairfax Media chief executive and about 15 years as an Auckland International Airport director and chairwoman.

The Women of Influence Awards – a partnership between Fairfax Media and Westpac – celebrate the leading women shaping the future of New Zealand.

I find it amusing that Westpac is a partner in the awards, and an ANZ Director wins 🙂

Withers is a great choice – highly respected.

Linda Jenkinson won for her entrepreneurial success in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand. 

From Palmerston North, but now based in San Francisco, Jenkinson is a serial entrepreneur and was the first New Zealand woman to take a company public on the NASDAQ exchange.

She is currently the chairwoman and owner of LesConcierges, the largest luxury corporate concierge company in the world, catering to more than 65 million members. 

Getting a company onto the NASDAQ is no mean feat.

Vicky Robertson won for her continued focus on results and ability to work effectively across a wide range of stakeholder groups.

Whether it was speaking about the competition policy at the 1995 APEC summit in Osaka, reviewing the Climate Change Policy and KiwiSaver scheme or leading Treasury to explore new approaches to policy design, judges said she makes a huge impact for a prosperous New Zealand.

Robertson has just been appointed the CE of the Ministry for the Environment.

Community and not-for-profit

This award was won by Stacey Shortall for the depth and breadth of her contribution and influence in her work with children.

This includes developing a weekly homework club at a decile one school, initiatives in the battle against domestic violence, advocating against violence toward children and developing a prison programme to help jailed mothers maintain meaningful connections with their children.

A partner at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, Shortall has been recognised as a leading lawyer in New Zealand by Chambers, The Legal 500, Legal Media Group and NZ Lawyer.

Amazing she has time to do all that and be a partner in a major law firm.