Kirstin Ferguson

Kirstin Irene Ferguson is an Australian company director, former lawyer and air force officer. In September 2018, she was appointed as acting chair of the ABC Board, after the sacking of Australian Broadcasting Corporation managing director Michelle Guthrie and the subsequent resignation of the board's chair, Justin Milne.[1]

Early life

Ferguson was born in Melbourne, then moved to Sydney where she attended SCEGGS Darlinghurst.[2]

Military career

In 1991, she enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force, training as a cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) from 1991 to 1994, also studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree for the cadetship's university component. Graduating as the dux of her ADFA class, she was posted to RAAF Base Amberley as a flight lieutenant.[3]

Corporate career

Whilst serving in the RAAF, Ferguson also studied for a law degree at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), and she left the air force in 1998, joining the Australian law firm Deacons as director of corporate services.[2]

After eight years at Deacons, Ferguson was offered the role of CEO of Sentis, a consultancy offering cognitive-based safety training in the mining and resources industry, and she accepted the role in 2006. In 2008, she was offered a position on the board of directors for SunWater, which she accepted, and was then offered another board role.[3] In 2010, she decided to become a full-time board director, and since then has served on the boards of Dart Energy, the Queensland Reds rugby union team, CIMIC Group, and the Queensland Theatre Company.[2] She is currently on the boards of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, SCA Property Group, Hyne & Son Timber and Layne Beachley's Aim For The Stars Foundation.[3]

She was granted a PhD from QUT in 2015 for her thesis "A Study of Safety Leadership and Safety Governance for Board Members and Senior Executives",[4] and is an adjunct professor at the QUT School of Business.[5]

Other activities

In 2017, Ferguson started the #CelebratingWomen hashtag and social media campaign. As a reaction to denigration of women online, she shared the profiles of two women and their achievements every day in the year 2017 to encourage, as she put it, "more celebration and less denigration of women".[6] In 2018, she co-wrote the book Women Kind with journalist Catherine Fox, which focuses on the power of women's networks and women supporting each other.[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ "From the military to ABC chair: Kirstin Ferguson vows to be 'different'". ABC News. 28 September 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Who's Who Australian Women. ConnectWeb. 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "From the Air Force to law to chief executive to board director: Leadership lessons from Dr Kirstin Ferguson". SmartCompany. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  4. ↑ Ferguson, Kirstin. "A Study of Safety Leadership and Safety Governance for Board Members and Senior Executives" (PDF). QUT. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  5. ↑ "Alumni Spotlight: Dr Kirstin Ferguson". QUT. 26 February 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  6. ↑ Quaggin, Lucy (8 March 2017). "#CelebratingWomen Is The Campaign That Every Woman Needs To Know About". Huffington Post. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "Meet The Woman Tipped To Be ABC's New Interim Chair". With Her In Mind. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  8. ↑ "Doubt the sisterhood? Read Women Kind & stand corrected". Women's Agenda. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
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