Chartered accountants ANZ Celebrates diversity

Chartered accountants ANZ Celebrates diversity at women of influence awards 2015

5 NOVEMBER 2015

Long established as successful leader, Colonel Karyn Thompson from the NZ Defence Force last night took out the Diversity category of the Women of Influence Awards 2015 in Auckland.

Continuing our work in diversity, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand were proud to support the awards and sponsor the Diversity category this year. New Zealand Country Head Kirsten Patterson said that it is more important than ever before to build diversity into leadership and organisations.

“As communities and businesses become increasingly global and the age of technology changes the way we work, diversity will continue to define our success.

“We congratulate Colonel Karyn Thompson who is well known as a purposeful and principled leader in New Zealand.

“Her contribution throughout her career so far is remarkable. From efforts to increase women’s participation across the New Zealand Defence Force to being a champion of work-life balance, Karyn has displayed the traits of a diverse leader – we are proud she has been recognised,” Ms Patterson said.

The world has changed and it will only keep changing. The report Fast Forward: Leading in a Brave New World of Diversity released this year by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand showed that diversity of markets, ideas and talent were critical to business success.

“Success has to come from the top. The success from Colonel Karyn Thompson shows how beneficial it can be. To lead for the future, you need to be inclusive and you need to be diverse,”

“We congratulate all finalists. They are leaders, advocates and agents of change and we look forward to an even more prosperous nation due to their continued efforts,” Ms Patterson said.

Finalists for the Diversity category were:

• Erika Todi, Sales Support, Carotrans
• Colonel Karyn Thompson, Chief Human Resource Officer (Army) and Chair NZDF Women’s Development Steering Group, New Zealand Defence Force
• Papaarangi Reid, Tumuaki, Head of Department Te Kupenga Hauora Maori, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland.
• Mahsa Mohaghegh, Outreach Development Manager, Unitech Institute of Technology
• Rebecca Jackson, Senior Environmental Engineer, Tonkin & Taylor
• Kimberley de Vries, Project Engineer, McConnell Dowell
• Sonja Cooper, Solicitor, Cooper Legal
• Mai Chen, Chairperson, NZ Asian Leaders and Superdiversity Centre of Law, Policy and Business

ENDS

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