Judging process
Over the years the judging for the Diversity@Work Awards has been beyond reproach for integrity and the efforts of all involved has been invaluable.
As with everything else in this years' event there is a chance to take the judging to another level, thereby providing greater return for those who nominate in the potential exposure they will gain by being finalists and, more importantly, we can introduce even more rigour to the process, which should appeal to all involved.
In 2008, there will be three clear judging stages:
Stage 1: Short-Listing
Judging panels will assess the 2008 nominations against key criteria utilising our Judging Assessment Matrixes. These matrixes will empower Judges with improved capacity to measure the initiatives of the nominees against "real" key deliverables:
- Quality
- Strategy
- Measurement
- Communication
- Impact
Stage 2: Auditing
Nominations and assessments will be forwarded to KPMG, our Audit Partners for the 2008 Diversity@Work Awards. The Audit process will help assess the integrity of the project or initiative and will incorporate assessment against agreed matrixes, limited on-site visits and some comprehensive desk-top audits.
Stage 3: Selection of Winner
Audit results will be forwarded to the Judging Panels for final selection of category winners. Note: The Diversity@Work Judges are encouraged to make true and "real" assessments of the nominations. Diversity@Work is passionate about maintaining the integrity of the Awards and no Award will be credited if there are no quality applications in any particular category.
With Thanks to our Judges
We are very fortunate to have some of Australia's leading diversity and corporate experts as judges for the 2008 Diversity@Work Awards. Confirmed Judges to date are:
- Ahmed Yusuf, General Manager Strategic Projects, Adult Multicultural Education Services (AMES)
- Alison Monroe, Director, SageCo
- Anders Sorman-Nilsson, Principal Facilitator and Coach, Thinque
- Anne Mitchell, Director, Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria
- Ashley Dickinson, Deputy Commissioner, Victoria Police
- Barbara Holmes, Director, Managing Work-Life Balance
- Carmel Guerra, Director, Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues (CMYI)
- Debra Dodgson, National Manager Workforce Diversity, Australia Post
- Fiona Krautil, Head of Advancement of Women and Diversity, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group
- Graeme Innes AM, Human Rights Commissioner and Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
- Dr Helen Szoke, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Conciliator, Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission
- Professor Joe Graffam, Head of School of Psychology, Deakin University
- Juliet Bourke, Partner, Aequus Partners
- Katie Spearritt, Head of Culture and Diversity, Australian Region National Australia Bank
- Professor Louise Rolland, Principal People Advisory Team, Ernst & Young
- Nick Morris, Director, Morris Goding Accessibility Consulting
- Sally Sinclair, CEO, National Employment Services Association (NESA)
- Tony Foster, Consultant
- Vilma Faoro, Director, Diversity Factory
Ahmed Yusuf
General Manager Corporate Strategy, Adult Multicultural Education Services (AMES)
Ahmed has over eighteen years of experience spread over different areas and various sectors, both in Australia and overseas. Before being appointed as General Manager Corporate Strategy AMES, Ahmed has held other General Management positions in Education and Settlement, Human Resources and Projects.
As part of his overseas experience, Ahmed worked as General Manager of a human resources and organizational development consultancy, managed a large scale two-year World Bank project on a training fund system for the Micro and Small business sector, and worked in human resources management and insurance claims and underwriting.
Ahmed has tertiary qualifications in Arts, a Post Graduate diploma in Human Resources and Project Management and a Masters in Business Administration.
Alison Monroe
Director, SageCo
Alison brings to SageCo more than 15 years experience across the career management, HR and hospitality industries and worked in Europe and the USA before coming to Australia in 1996.
Alison is a member of the Executive Committee of the NSW EEO Practitioners Association (NEEOPA); a lead consultant in Business Work and Ageing’s Managing the Age of Change seminar series; an accredited Retirement Success Coach™; Genos Emotional Intelligence Coach; Judge of the Deloitte Businesswoman of the Year 2006; member of the Good Beginnings Advisory Board and is a frequent speaker on the challenges and opportunities of workforce ageing.
Alison has a proven track record in relationship management, business development and developing progressive age management solutions for clients. Alison's results-focus, innovation and enthusiasm has resulted in excellent business outcomes for her clients across diverse industries including banking and finance, insurance, legal, engineering and the public sector.
Anders Sorman-Nilsson
Principal Facilitator and Coach, Thinque
Anders Sorman-Nilsson from Thinque is a speaker, facilitator and coach. His passion lays with Funky Thinking™ and uses this as a platform and tool to facilitate change and progress in teams and individuals. Anders has worked with major companies such as Apple, Macquarie Bank, MTV and Wella where he illustrates a synthesised smorgasbord of perspectives, angles and opportunities to challenge existing boundaries and develop talent, progressiveness and innovation. He helps organisations overcome the talent crisis by engaging the 3 Es – enthusiasm, expertise and experience – of the three generations in today’s workplace, thereby harnessing each generation’s unique talents so that organisations can fire on all generational cylinders. Anders' fundamental belief is that organisations need to move from generational collision to generational collaboration in order to become true talent incubators, and he uses his Funky Thinking™ methodology to help them on this path.
Anne Mitchell
Director, Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria
Associate Professor Anne Mitchell is a community development worker and an adult educator with over twenty years experience in the field of sexual health. She has worked in AIDS education programs, in sexual health promotion and alcohol and drug prevention programs.
She is currently Director of Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria situated within the Australian Research Centre In Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University This unit has the responsibility of working at a systems level to improve the health and wellbeing of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people in Victoria.. She has published widely in the field of gay and lesbian health and has considerable experience in advocacy and community development work in this community. She was formerly Deputy Chair of the Victorian Ministerial Advisory Committee on Gay and Lesbian Health.
Ashley Dickinson
Deputy Commissioner, Victoria Police
Deputy Commissioner Dickinson has broad experience in both operational and administrative areas of Victoria Police serving at a range of country and metropolitan locations. As a Commissioned Officer he has worked in a variety of staffing positions from Commander to the Chief Commissioner. He served as a patrol officer, acted as the Force's liaison officer to a former Minister of Police and Emergency Services, and managed review and implementation teams during various phases of the Project Arbiter Reviews and other force wide initiatives.
Deputy Commissioner Dickinson has held numerous positions including Officer in Charge of the Legal Research & Review Division, and Manager of the Planning Division. He also spent a period on secondment to the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and the Department of Treasury and Finance. Following this, he took up the position as Officer In-Charge of the Strategic Services Division in Victoria Police Region One. He has had responsibility for Victoria Police state-wide pro-active and strategic operational initiatives including: Programs, policy and strategy matters in the areas of: Multicultural & Multi-faith, Aboriginal, Youth, Drug & Alcohol, Mental Health, Sexual Offences & Child Abuse; Family Violence, Victims and Crime Prevention; Law Enforcement Assistance Program (LEAP) data sponsor; Prisoner management; Industrial disputation intelligence management; Medical response to persons in police custody; and Victoria Police Service Delivery Principles implementation.
Barbara Holmes
Managing Director, Managing Work/Life Balance International
Barbara Holmes is the Managing Director of Managing Work/Life Balance International, a consultancy that specialises on work/life/diversity issues.
She has over 25 years experience as a Human Resources Consultant, focussing on Organisational Change and Employee Involvement programs.
Since the launch of Managing Work/Life Balance in 1990 Barbara has been one of the country's foremost consultants promoting, implementing and evaluating work/life and flexible work strategies.
Her clients include many Award Winning national and international organisations in both the public and private sector. As well, she has undertaken a number of significant research projects that focus on flexible work arrangements, workplace behaviours and best practice in work/life implementations.
Recently, the results of a research project was written up in BRW, The Australia Financial Review and HR Magazine
Barbara has spoken at work/life/diversity conferences here and in New Zealand, Singapore, London, Kuala Lumpar and New York.
Carmel Guerra
Director, Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues (CMYI)
Carmel has over 20 years experience in the community sector. She has contributed to a range of research reports relating to multicultural youth. These include: Ethnic Minority Youth in Australia, Ethnic Youth Gangs in Australia: Do they exist? and Wealth of all Nations, the first comprehensive study undertaken into the needs of refugee young people in Australia.
Carmel has served on numerous boards and committees for the Government and non-Government sectors and is currently a member of the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council (RRAC), Centrelink's National Multicultural Reference Group (NMRG) and currently convenes the National Multicultural Youth Issues Network (NMYIN). At a state level, Carmel has been a member of the Department of Victorian Communities' Ministerial Advisory Committee for the past two years.
In 1994 Carmel was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate issues of refugee and migrant youth overseas. In 2003 she earned a Centenary Medal for services to young people, migrant and refugee communities and in 2005 was entered into the Victorian Women's Honour Roll for her services to the community.
Debra Dodgson
National Manager Workforce Diversity, Australia Post
Debra started her career with the Commonwealth Public Service where she held a number of positions prior to joining Australia Post in 1987. Debra's career in Australia Post ranges from high level complaints management to various positions in the Victoria/Tasmania Diversity Unit. Debra was appointed as Australia Post's National Manager, Workforce Diversity, in December 2003. She is responsible for National strategic policy development and advice on all diversity and harassment/discrimination issues. Debra has a Bachelor of Arts and a Post Graduate Diploma in psychology.
Fiona Krautil
Head of Advancement of Women and Diversity, ANZ banking Group Limited
Fiona Krautil joined ANZ in January 2006. Her vision is to work with managers and employees across ANZ to create an inclusive culture where everyone's voice is heard so that diversity is an enabler for individuals and the business.
"I'm keen to see the culture shift. Rather than a perception that diversity is about providing special treatment for some, I want to see tailored solutions that work for staff and the business, that are an integral part of how we do things at ANZ.
"I also want to skill and support managers and employees to focus on what they can do to manage diversity effectively and create inclusive teams whwrer difference is effectively utilised, rather than focusing on what not to do.
Fiona's focus is addressing the significant imbalance of women in senior leadership roles at ANZ. She is also responsible for developing and implementing ANZ's age, disability, work life and indigenous action plans.
Graeme Innes AM
Human Rights Commissioner, Commissioner Responsible for Disability Discrimination, Commonwealth Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
Lawyer, Mediator and Company Director Graeme Innes has been a Human Rights Practitioner in NSW, WA and nationally for 25 years.
Graeme was a member of the Australian delegation to the United Nations developing a Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
Graeme has been active in the disability field for thirty years. He was Chair of the Disability Advisory Council of Australia for four and a half years.
He was the first blind President of Royal Blind Society of NSW, and the first Chair of Vision Australia, Australia's largest national blindness agency. Graeme has been one of Australia's delegates to the World Blind Union, and the President of that Union's Asia-Pacific region.
Graeme has been a consultant to organisations such as Westpac, Qantas, and Sydney Water, on disability issues.
Graeme has been a Member of -
- the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal;
- the NSW Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal; and
- The Social Security Appeals Tribunal;
- As well as a Hearing Commissioner with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
He has also been a Councilor on Ku-ring-gai local Council.
In 1995 Graeme was admitted as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his contribution to the development of Commonwealth disability discrimination legislation. He was a finalist for Australian of the year in 2003.
Graeme is married with an adult son and a daughter in primary school. He enjoys cricket (as a spectator) and sailing (as a participant) and relaxes by drinking fine Australian white wine.
Dr Helen Szoke
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Conciliator, Equal Opportunity Commission of Victoria
BA (University of Tasmania)
M A Preliminary (Deakin University)
Graduate Diploma in Public Policy (University of Melbourne)
PhD (University of Melbourne)
Helen Szoke has been the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Conciliator of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission since December 2004.
Helen is currently a member of the National Health and Medical Research Licensing Committee, Director of Adult Multicultural Education Services and Director of the Melbourne High School Foundation. She has served as a committee member and Chairperson of the Women's Health Victoria, Ethics Committee of the Royal Women's Hospital, a member of the Victorian Family Therapy Association Ethics Committee, a member of the School Council of Melbourne High School, an executive member of the Victorian Council of Social Services and an inaugural executive member of the Consumers Health Forum of Australia. She also served one term as a city councilor in the Preston City Council.
Professor Joe Graffam
Head of School of Psychology, Deakin University
Professor Graffam has a PhD from UCLA and is a current member of the Australian Psychological Society and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He holds a chair of Psychology and is the Head of School of Psychology. He is also head of the Employment and Social Exclusion (EASE) research group.
Professor Graffam conducts social and mental health research, most of it employment-related, with an additional emphasis on mental health outcomes for socially marginalized people.The EASE research group investigates employment conditions in relation to people with a disability, offenders and prisoners, and older workers. The mental health research investigates mental health 'literacy' and pathways of care for socially marginalized people.
In addition to these roles and responsibilities, Joe supervises seven doctoral students who are all doing work within the areas of employment participation of people with a disability, offenders and prisoners, or older workers or in relation to mental health outcomes for socially marginalized people. Joe speaks often at professional and industry conferences on a wide range of topics associated with disability, employment and social exclusion, as well as other issues of social exclusion and marginalization of disadvantaged groups.
He serves as a Director on the board of a large not-for-profit employment service provider. He also maintains strong industry links with employment service peak bodies and providers, employer organizations, disability peak bodies, mental health peak bodies and providers, and other relevant organizations.
Juliet Bourke, BA, LLB, LLM (Hons)
Partner, Aequus Partners
Using her expertise as an employment lawyer, Juliet works with leading organisations to: develop and implement organisational change strategies which promote equity and diversity; deliver training programs; and conduct workplace investigations and mediations. Juliet is also a part-time chairperson with the Government and Related Employees Appeals Tribunal, in which capacity she conciliates and determines workplace disputes. Juliet's recent key appointments include: Member of the 2020 summit, Chair of the Taskforce on Care Costs (TOCC), Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Network of Australia (EEONA), (immediate past) President of the NSW EEO Practitioners' Association (NEEOPA), member of the Law Society of NSW's Legal Workplace Committee and the UNSW Australian School of Business' HR Advisory Committee. Juliet's recent awards include 2007 Women Lawyers Association of NSW (Achievement Award), 2007 University of NSW (Alumni Award) and 2008 Centre for Leadership for Women (Leadership Achievement Award). Juliet has lectured in discrimination law at Sydney University (Faculty of Law) and in management at the University of NSW (School of Industrial Relations and Organisational Behaviour), and has published widely on employment related issues. She is recognised nationally and internationally as an expert author and speaker on diversity, flexibility and gender equity. Juliet is the author of Corporate Women, Children, Careers and Workplace Culture (2000, UNSW) and co-author of Age Discrimination: Mitigating Risk in the Workplace (2005, CCH).
Professor Louise Rolland
CEO, Business Work and Ageing
Louise's background is in labour market policy and planning and local and regional development. In 1997 she began actively researching and devising strategies to focus organisations and policy makers on the potential impact of population ageing on the sustainability of Australian business. In 1999, she established Business, Work and Ageing (BWA) to produce and promote information about the ageing of the workforce and its potential impact on Australian business, and to provide the necessary resources for business and government to respond to the challenges presented. She is highly regarded for her leadership in this field, both in Australia and internationally. BWA works with major Australian companies including Westpac, Qantas, Australia Post and Laminex Industries.
Nick Morris
Director, Morris Goding Accessibility Consulting and accessibility.com.au
Born and raised in rural Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia, Nick Morris had a motorcycle accident in 1987, leaving Nick a Paraplegic and wheelchair user.
Nick went on to complete a Bachelor of Applied Science (Human Movement) and later a Diploma of Education. At the same time Nick competed internationally in wheelchair basketball culminating in him representing Australia at the 1996 Atlanta (winning Gold and being awarded and Order of Australia Medal) and 2000 Sydney Paralympics.
While competing Nick also has establish a consultancy (Morris Goding Accessibility Consulting specialising in advising Developers, Architects and Major event planners in accessibility.
Nick has become a specialist in major construction and event accessibility having consulted on the 1996 and 1997 Australian Grand Prix, the 2000 Olympics and Paralympics, 2006 Commonwealth Games and now on the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics.
Nick is also the principle for two other businesses and a TV guest spot on the ABC's New Inventors as a judge.
www.accessibility.com.au has over 3000 pages of accessible information which attracts over 60,000 people per month. The site is just about to be relaunched with online medical equipment sales
Nick also invented a new wheelchair wheel www.vulcanwheels.com.au which is produced in Australia.
Snow skiing, making furniture and welding are a couple of hobbies that rounds out Nick's day.
Sally Sinclair
Chief Executive Officer, National Employment Services Association (NESA)
Sally Sinclair has held industry and government appointments including convening numerous employment services reference groups and working parties. She is a Board Member of the Employment Services Regulatory Authority and inaugural Chair of NESA. She also has extensive experience as the CEO of both private and community sector organisations, delivering a range of government and philanthropically funded employment services.
Vilma Faoro
Managing Director, Diversity Factory
Vilma Faoro is the Managing Director of the Diversity Factory and Executive Director of Vision & Faith Enterprises. She has consulted extensively, both within Australia, Europe and in the USA, in the Finance, IT&T, Manufacturing and Human Resource sectors. She is a specialist in the area of strategic planning, diversity, change management, business process reengineering, and people management.
Her professional and personal experiences have fostered a passion for diversity, flexible working and equality in the Australian marketplace. Vilma founded Jobshare Australia (JSA) in early 2000. JSA provided jobshare solutions to both organisations and individuals. JSA was subsequently bought-out by a multi-national in 2005. Vilma's book, "Flexible Work Solutions : A guide to preparing, implementing and sustaining flexible work arrangements for employees and managers is scheduled for publication later this year.
In her current role as MD of the Diversity Factory, Vilma continues to works with organisations to help position diversity (and diversity initiatives) as a strategic business tool to address and overcome people issues.