veski welcomes leading women on board

veski continues to demonstrate its commitment to inspiring women, adding three leading women to the veski board, each bringing a broad range of skills and expertise to help steer the organisation as it moves into an exciting new era. 

Former Australian Speaker of the House Anna Burke, leading medtech, biotech and pharmaceutical executive Sue MacLeman, and veski chief executive officer Julia Page are the latest group of women to join the veski board.

As well as bringing fresh national and international connections to the organisation, these appointments significantly improve the gender diversity of the veski board with 50 per cent of the directors now being female. This is a direct result of veski’s focus on inspiring women through its program of inspiring women resources, events and fellowships.

Their appointments also represent the fourth consecutive female board appointment for veski, which began with veski innovation fellow Professor Tiffany Walsh being appointed as an alumni representative in December 2016. They also follow the appointment of veski director, Dr Jane Ryan to deputy chair in March 2017 and the departure of Patricia O’Rourke, the CEO of St Vincent's Public Hospitals, who served on the veski board from 2014 to 2017.

The veski chair Professor Ian Smith congratulated Ms Burke, Ms MacLeman and Ms Page on their appointments, citing the considerable experience these leading women will bring to the organisation. He also thanked Ms O’Rourke for her service to veski and innovation in Australia.

“We are delighted to welcome three new board members who will greatly enhance our already dynamic board and add to our mix of industry, government and academia. I am looking forward to working with each of these leading women and am sure we will benefit from their experiences, connections and knowledge,” Professor Smith said.

“I am also grateful to Patricia O’Rourke who served our organisation, and innovation more broadly, as a board member of veski for the past three years and was a key player in the launch of new programs including our inspiring women fellowships”. 

The new appointees are:

• Anna Burke is a full-time Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
• Sue MacLeman is Manging Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals Growth Centre
• Julia Page is Chief Executive Officer of veski

The veski board is comprised of leaders with local and international experience in science, academia, industry, and private and public sector management.