Source: Women’s Agenda, Tarla Lambert. 

Corporate leader, and gender inclusion advocate Sam Mostyn has been announced as the next president of powerful lobby group, Chief Executive Women.

No stranger to a diversity of leadership roles, Mostyn is the chair of Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) Citi Australia, Carriageworks and FYA, and also sits on the boards of GO Foundation, Climate Works, Mirvac, Transurban, Virgin Australia and the Sydney Swans.

Taking over from current CEW president Sue Morphet in mid November, Mostyn will lead membership of 650 of the most senior and prominent women in Australian business and an organisation which has thrived for 35 years.

In an interview with Philanthropy Australia last year, Mostyn said “choices about where to spend my time come down to the purpose of the organisation and the quality and commitment of the people involved.”

Throughout her career, Mostyn has championed a number of social issues and causes including quotas on boards, gender equality in sport and most recently, childcare reform– a cause close to the heart of Chief Executive Women which, this year especially, has fought the case that women are being held back from full-time jobs because of the costs of care.

“At the moment childcare is viewed as welfare,” Morphet said in a recent interview with The Australian. “But it should be viewed as an enabler which allows us to capitalise on the talent of women.”

Mostyn supported this position during a recent webinar with Women’s Agenda and advocacy group The Parenthood in which she lamented the government’s “missed opportunity” to address fairer access to quality childcare– a silver bullet for mothers and families.

“The question of who is responsible for child-care and who has to give up their dreams to raise a family is a matter which the government should assess frankly,” she said. “It’s not a political or social problem. It’s economic.”

“Sensible and affordable child care is the biggest pay back for our country. It’s one of the clearest ways to support women’s participation in the workforce. We now expect our government to invest in things that boost our economy. Universal child care will boost the labour force participation.

It will lead to additional jobs in the child care sector that leads to more employment in that market. We’re building new jobs for women who hold most of the jobs in that sector,” she said.

Initially formed as a small, networking group designed to give women in leadership a greater platform and voice, Chief Executive Women now holds an unrivalled position in Australia with women in senior leadership across a diversity of sectors.

“This organisation has got women who have the capability to influence the conversation,” said Morphet.

With Mostyn at the helm, this is truer than ever.