Keeping company with the CEOs of Apple, Google, and eBay, Westpac Group CEO Gail Kelly has been named one of Fortune magazine’s Top 50 Businesspeople of the Year for 2012. Westpac was the only Aussie corporation to make the Fortune list this year. Along with analyzing market valuation, profitability, and stock performance, Fortune evaluated such off-balance-sheet metrics as the CEO’s leadership skills and strategic vision. Ms. Kelly was particularly singled out for her skill at guiding Westpac through the global banking crisis and for growing the bank’s deposits by more than 12% this year – an achievement which Fortune recognized had much to do with Westpac’s focus on women, both as customers and as leaders. As the Fortune story noted, “She set goals for increasing the number of women in management [and] today Westpac boasts a C-suite that is 40% female – two years ahead of Kelly’s plan.”
In recognition of the importance of the women’s market to Westpac’s corporate performance, the institution earlier this year inaugurated a new “Women of Influence” awards program. The inaugural award this year honored Larke Riemer, Westpac’s liaison to the Global Banking Alliance for Women (and its former chair), for her exceptional and industry-leading work. Larke’s outstanding commitment to supporting women in banking is being formally recognized through the CEO Recognition Award for Outstanding Contribution to Women and Banking.
Larke has combined her passion for helping women achieve profitable futures with her extensive experience in finance and banking to reinvigorate Westpac’s Women’s Markets business. She drove creation of Westpac’s innovative Ruby Connection, its highly successful service dedicated to building better financial futures for the bank’s female customers. Larke is also the inaugural Westpac Group Women of Influence winner in the Customer Category based on her demonstrated ability to achieve extraordinary outcomes for customers, earn all their business, and drive continuous improvement.