Juliet Alabaster is passionate about her role overseeing the delivery of Brisbane Economic Development Agency’s (BEDA) strategic priorities, to grow the city’s economy through increased investment and visitation.

Juliet has a strong destination management background and her focus is to drive improved economic outcomes for Brisbane’s businesses as industry rebounds from the current global position.

Having worked at BEDA since 2008, Juliet carries a wealth of experience to this position, and has spent many years championing Brisbane’s tourism, business event and major events capabilities.

Focused on delivering high-quality outcomes, Juliet leads her team to drive demand for Brisbane as an exciting tourist destination, create growth and trade opportunities for local businesses.

Biography from BEDA’s website.

Jo Cope is a highly skilled operator with more than two decades’ experience in banking and finance. Her portfolio of work at Providior includes product development, business strategy and business development.

A career with ANZ and Bank of Queensland has provided knowledge and expertise across loan products, industry requirements and client management. An experienced strategic advisor, general manager, and administrator, Jo’s most recent roles at DS Outlays Funding and Splatt Lawyers have given her a wealth of knowledge in disbursement funding and practice management.

With a deep understanding of the financial imperatives faced by professional service firms, she knows how the right funding solutions can positively impact cash flow, profitability and growth.

Jo holds Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from the University of Queensland, and a Graduate Certificate in Management from Queensland University of Technology.

Biography from Providior’s website.

Dr Alena Griffiths is a Chartered Engineer & Fellow of Engineers Australia. She practices in the area of Systems Engineering and Safety Assurance, predominantly in the rail industry, and has a special interest in safety-critical, software-based systems.

In 2010, Alena co-founded RGB Assurance, a company specialising in the provision of engineering consulting, mostly to the rail industry. RGB Assurance has grown to employ approximately 35 people, with offices in Brisbane and Perth. Their biggest local job is that of Independent Safety Assessor for the Cross River Rail project, here in Brisbane.

Edwina Kaupa is an employment lawyer with experience that ranges from consulting work to in-house legal in a Victorian Statutory Authority, private practice at Norton Rose Fulbright and now EY Law.

As a consultant she has gained significant experience in industrial relations in particular enterprise agreement bargaining, award and enterprise agreement compliance, workplace investigations and defending termination of employment decisions in the Fair Work Commission with some human resources cross over work.

When she worked for the in-house legal team at Melbourne Fire Brigade, now Fire Rescue Victoria, she was the Manager of the Ethical Standards unit where she had oversight of and managed workplace investigations both internal and external, including agency related investigations, employment related litigation and other employment related ethical and disciplinary matters.

In her most recent period of employment with Norton Rose Fulbright, Edwina gained further significant strategic people management and litigation experience in VCAT and the Federal Court of Australia.

Edwina is a Senior Manager in the Employment Law team of EY Law. She is, however, currently seconded on a part time basis into the Culture+ Transformation Taskforce in the role of Trust in the Complaints Process Workstream Lead. It is an important role engaged in driving meaningful change as part of significant cultural transformation in response to a cultural review conducted by independent experts, Elizabeth Broderick and Co.

Sally McPherson is the former Group Chief Executive Officer of Constructiv Technologies and Managing Director of Construction Financial Services. Sally is also a Co-founder of the iseekplant marketplace and a Board Member of Constructiv Technologies.

Sally and her brother, Drew, were born into construction and mining, they grew up alongside their parent’s quarrying business in Townsville, working in the company’s plant maintenance shed on their school holidays. After completing university, Sally started her professional working life in marketing with world-leading brands Microsoft and Samsung in Sydney and Shanghai. Her brother rang her in 2011 with an idea to put a searchable database of construction equipment and services online. She loved the idea, and by 2013 she’d left her corporate job and was working full-time at iseekplant.

Like all the Founders, Sally has applied her passion and skills wherever the company needed her most at each stage of scale, but in 2016 she stepped into the role of Chief Executive Officer of iseekplant, then in 2021 as the Group CEO of Constructiv Technologies. She has been principally responsible for driving the high-level strategy of the business through each of its evolutions, as well as securing and optimising key investments with Position Partners, Seven Group Holdings, the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) and the Macquarie Bank.

Biography from Constructiv Technologies’ website.

Dr Kay Strom is Co-Director of Iris Education, which she co-founded in 2015, and teaches in UQ’s Faculty of Medicine.

Kay graduated in 1986 and subsequently completed a Fellowship of General Practice and National Certificate of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH).

In addition to SRH, Kay has longstanding interests in communication, medical education and leadership. She has developed and delivered training programs across Queensland and Australia for three decades. Kay has specific expertise in Human Papilloma Virus and has played statewide and national roles in the education of health professionals around prevention of cervical cancer.

Since 2014, Kay has found immense joy in her role as a teacher and mentor to medical students at UQ. In 2020 she received the John Pearn Medal for teaching excellence in the Faculty of Medicine. Kay also volunteers to assist refugee doctors on their journey to practice in Australia.

Kay was the 2024 Community Alumna Award winner at The Women’s College Alumnae Awards.

Dr Leonora Risse is an economist who specialises in gender equality. Her research and policy work focuses on closing gender gaps in the workforce, including the gender pay gap and women’s under-representation in leadership. She engages regularly with governments and organisations on gender equality policies.

Leonora is an Associate Professor at the University of Canberra and a Research Fellow with the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia. She serves as an Expert Panel Member on gender pay equity for the Fair Work Commission. Previously she held roles with the Australian Government Productivity Commission and the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University.

Leonora is a co-founder and former National Chair of the Women in Economics Network (WEN), which supports and elevates women in the economics profession in Australia. One of WEN’s goals is to inspire more women to study economics and discover how economists can make a positive difference to society.

Leonora was the 2024 Alumna of the Year Award winner at The Women’s College Alumnae Awards.