WOB eNews: February 2007

Welcome to February 2007 WOB email. Congratulations to Jenny Beresford who was the 500th WOB subscriber on 8 February. Thank you to all subscribers for your support.

WOB continues to be supported in 2007 by UBS.

1. Topic for February – How to get the most out of search firms

Search firms work for the client, not the candidate. WOB, on the other hand, works for the candidate. Most top 100 companies will use a search firm for directors; if only so they can say to the AGM that they did a rigorous/ extensive search. Of course, this is in the eye of the beholder and also depends on the specifications given. Search firms come to WOB most often when they have been asked to include women in their short list. Some come to fill vacancies on a not for profit they are on personally and then get to know us. Hopefully more will start to come to WOB because we are a source of talent!!

The 2006 WOB Survey that was independently conducted by Genroe www.genroe.com.au canvassed sources of board seats. The key message was: “WOB posted vacancies are at least as important as word of mouth and public advertising and more important than professional recruiters. However, when networking based approaches are aggregated this accounts for 55% of all applications, reinforcing the importance of becoming known to the relevant boards.”

The summary of the survey results is at : www.womenonboards.org.au/pubs/0609survey.htm

A search firm that came to WOB posted a vacancy on the website with closing date of 20/10/06. The position was titled Non Executive Director – confidential. WOBer Victoria Sherwood made it through the process and she kindly agreed to pen her experience for all our benefit. It’s a great article. Applying for a Board Position - a Case Study

2. Corporate Membership

WOB is introducing corporate subscription in 2007. Corporates who support WOB and are seeking to enhance women's professional development opportunities are invited to subscribe on behalf of the women in their workplace.
The full corporate package is available at www.womenonboards.org.au/subscribe/corporate.htm.

In the same way that getting on boards is often a matter of knowing the right person, inviting a company to sign up to be a corporate subscriber has a higher success rate if our letter lands on the right desk. WOBers who think their company may be interested in a corporate subscriptions are asked to contact Claire Braund on 02 43696006 or by email on:

3.Mentor wanted by WOBer

A young PhD student in Biomedical Engineering who has aspirations of becoming a professional company director is looking for a mentor. Experience or knowledge within the health or biotechnology sector is preferable. If you can help, please contact Rachel Coxon at

4.On Board (the new name for Success Stories!)

There are a number of WOBers who are in the wings from recent postings. Once confirmed in your board seat please let us know – with a short paragraph for the website.

5. WOB events in 2007

Registration is still open for WOB Strategy events in Brisbane and Sydney in March 2007. WOB subscribers receive a 50% discount. The director's lunch with Bronwyn Morris at St George Bank Brisbane is full.

To see the full list of events for 2007 go to: www.womenonboards.org.au/events/2007.htm. To register for these events www.birchconsulting.com.au

The 2 day course will start right from basics and has been designed to cover the areas most relevant to Board members:

  • The 3 key financial statements - in some depth
  • Key Ratios
  • Working Capital management
  • Capital Expenditure Appraisal
  • How to read an Annual Report.

The course fee is $660, which is a significant saving on normal prices, since Cherry is organising this direct and wishes to make it affordable for all WoBers who might be interested. Cherry has 6 WOBers registered already; however she needs to have at least 10 participants to make the course viable at this rate. The venue has a 2 week cancellation policy, so course fees will need to be paid by 12th March. To register please email her at birchconsulting@aapt.net.au or ring her on 03 9593 9970 to learn more.

Mergers & Acquisitions Conference 2007 - 10% discount to WOBers.

The third annual M&A forum is to be held 7-8 June 2007 at The Arts Centre, Melbourne. Leading practitioners will present on the latest developments of consortium deals including taxation and legal considerations, the impact of private equity in the boardroom, lessons learnt from selling to private equity, the role of M&A in successful overseas expansion and case studies of ABC Learning Centres, Toll Holdings, Nutricia Ltd.

Key speakers include: David Williamson (Blake Dawson Waldron), Nick Chipman (PwC), Simon Moore (The Carlyle Group), Wayne Lonergan (Lonergan, Edwards & Associates), Tracey Ah Hee (Genroe), Toni Brendish (Nutricia) and Peter Gold (Archer Capital). For further information call +61 3 8534 5011 or visit www.capconnect.com.au

Inaugural Brisbane Women in Rugby Lunch

Sally Loane and WOB foundation member, Karen Heck, have expanded the Women in Rugby lunch franchise to Queensland. Pencil your diaries for 22 March 2007 at Customs House for what promises to be the premier networking event on the Rugby calendar. Tickets are $125 pp or $1200 for a table. Bookings are essential. Call Tamira Reed on 02 9252 6644 or email her at:

Download the flyer (27 Kb PDF)

An evening with Erin Brockovich - 10 per cent discount to WOBers

WOBers are invited to attend a gala function with international environmental campaigner, Erin Brockovich, at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, on Wednesday, 7 March 2007 at 7pm. Erin is being brought to Australia by the Climate Change Coalition, which is promoting candidates at the NSW Legislative Council elections in March. Special guest for the evening will be candidate and author, Patrice Newell. Tickets are $250 (less $25 for WOBers). If you would like to book please email claire.braund@womenonboards.org.au

For more information go to: www.climatechangecoalition.com.au/main.php?pg=erinBrockovich

9. Interesting Articles

Company Director Magazine - Selecting Boards on Merit: Rhetoric or Reality

In case you missed this item in January this article resulted from our partnership with the AICD for the 2006 Sydney Director's Dinner. Catch it on the WOB website at: www.womenonboards.org.au/pubs/0612aicd.htm

How Suite It Isn’t: A Dearth of Female Bosses

This was brought to our attention by a WOBer and is a great look at culture and the willingness of the management (read CEO) to have a diverse leadership team. Read it on the WOB website: www.womenonboards.org.au/pubs/a0702_reuters