2023-judging-panel

Susan Gin

Patron of the Asian-Australian Leadership Awards, Founder & Chair, EWC Australian Community Engagement Inc (EWC)

Susan is the Founder and Chair of the EWC a platform to build community among business migrants, to facilitate engagement with the Government and to support integration into the wider Australian Community.

She is a member of the Australian Asian Business Women's Association Advisory Board and has been appointed to the Board of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration by the Federal Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism.

With degrees in Law, Susan practiced in corporate law at Australia's largest listed mining and petroleum companies in her career.

Besa Deda

Chief Economist, Westpac Business Bank

Besa is the Chief Economist of Westpac’s Business Bank. She is also the Chief Economist of St.George Bank, Bank of Melbourne, BankSA and BT, which are other businesses within the Westpac Group. Besa is also Chair of the Australian Business Economists organisation and a member of ANU’s Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis RBA Shadow Board.

Besa was appointed the Chief Economist of St.George Bank in 2008, a role which saw her become the first female Chief Economist of a bank in Australia. Prior to this, she worked at the CBA and Colonial.

Edward Chung

CEO TechnologyOne

Edward is the CEO of TechnologyOne – Australia's leading enterprise Software as a Service (SaaS)business. He was appointed into the role in May 2017 after more than 10 years in senior executive roles at TechnologyOne, including one and a half years as the company’s Chief Operations Officer.

From 2014, Edward headed up TechnologyOne’s products and solutions division, including R&D where he led the team that transitioned the business into a fully SaaS-based organisation. Prior to that he led the finance and corporate services division and developed the commercial frameworks to drive the company’s expansion.

Elaine Chia

CEO, Naomi Milgrom Foundation

Elaine is the CEO of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, a not-for-profit dedicated to bringing exceptional art, architecture and design to the lives of Australians.

She is a recognised arts leader, advocate, and mentor with more than twenty years’ experience in senior roles in the performing and visual arts sector.

Her previous roles include Executive Director at the Adelaide Festival, CEO at City Recital Hall in Sydney, and Director, International Signature Projects at the Australia Council for the Arts.

Alongside her executive roles, Elaine Chairs Contemporary Asian Australian Performance, aresident company at Carriageworks which is dedicated to making exceptional contemporary Asian Australian work for all audiences.

Jason Johnson

Founder and CEO, Johnson Partners

Jason is the Founder and CEO of Johnson Partners, the leading board advisory and executive search firm across Australia & New Zealand.

Over his 20 years as a Partner in the search profession, Jason and his team have appointed more than 2,000 of the region’s top Chairs, non-executive directors, CEOs and senior executives, including supporting the CEO succession of several of Australia’s largest companies and professional services firms.

Jason has been a partnerin two of the world’s six largest executive search firms and is the former Global Chairman of the Association of Executive Search Consultants. Prior to entering executive search, Jason was a corporate lawyer with Allen Allen & Hemsley.

Martine Letts

Group CEO, Asialink

Martine is the Group CEO of Asialink, Australia’s leading centre for engagement with Asia across Arts, Business, Diplomacy and Education.

Previously, Martine has held executive roles as the CEO of the Committee for Melbourne; CEO of the Australia China Business Council; Deputy Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, and was Secretary-General of the Australian Red Cross from 2001-2004. She was a senior Australian diplomat for 17 years and an adviser to then Foreign Minister Evans from 1992 to 1994.

Martine served on the Australian National University Council for 10 years, is a member of the Australian Volunteers International (AVI) board, and chairs AVI’s Governance Committee.

Karen Loon

Non-Executive Director

Karen is a Non-Executive Director, and a former senior Big 4 partner. She has worked with the world’s leading banks and led diversity initiatives.

She was formerly PwC’s Singapore and Asia-Pacific Diversity Leader and a member of its Global Diversity Leadership Team and Global Financial Services Diversity Steering Committee.

Karen is a Non-Executive Director on several for-profit, professional, and educational organisation boards. She has an Executive Master in Change from INSEAD, a Master of Business Administration from Macquarie Graduate School of Management, and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney. In addition, Karen has several post-graduate qualifications in accounting, finance, corporate governance, and culture.

May Lam

Chief Information Officer, Australian Payments Plus

May has more than 20 years of technology leadership and business transformation experience across the Banking and Financial Services, Management Consulting, Technology Products and Services industries in Australia, Greater China and Asia-Pacific regions.

May has unique combination of experience as a CIO, CCO and a finance leader who drives strategic transformation to deliver purposeful outcomes and sustainable value to clients, people and society.

Shenaz Waples

Group Executive People and Culture, Colonial First State

Shenaz joined CFS in July 2021 and is accountable for all aspects of human resource management. Shenaz has extensive experience leading HR and transformation programs in the financial services industry.

Prior to CFS, Shenaz was the chief human resources officer at MLC Australia and held senior executive roles at Westpac.

Shenaz has an eMBA from UNSW and has completed the Advanced Management Program at Instead, Strategic IQ program at Harvard University and the Australian Institute of Company Directors course.

Tu Le

2022 Overall Winner and Community Development Manager, Marrickville Legal Centre

Tu le is a Vietnamese-Australian solicitor, advocate, and organiser, and is the Community Development Manager at Marrickville Legal Centre.

She was the 2022 Overall Asian-Australian Leadership Awards Winner, recognised for her inspiring journey in the community legal sector assisting victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence.

She is committed to advocating for greater diversity and justice in Australian society and politics and was featured as one of 21 Inspirational Women of 2021 in Vogue Australia.

2023 Judging Panel

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