Colm Kelleher, the chairperson of the board of directors at the global corporation, said Kelly’s nomination promises great things for UBS Group.

“As one of the most influential voices in the Asia-Pacific financial industry and an acknowledged leader, Gail has an outstanding reputation,” Kelleher said.

“I greatly look forward to working with her on the Board.”

Kelly was the managing director at St George Bank from 2002, before being appointed as CEO of Westpac Banking Corporation in 2008. She was the first woman to be appointed as the chief executive of any major bank in Australia.

During her tenure as CEO of Westpac, she successfully oversaw the merger with St George Bank, deemed the largest market financial services merger in Australia. Kelly also navigated the company through the Global Financial Crisis and emerged on the other side stronger than ever.

Kelly was CEO of Westpac from 2008-2015. Since leaving the bank, she has  served as a senior global advisor to the UBS CEO and its group executive board from 2016-2023.

Kelly’s nomination to be elected on the board at UBS Group AG comes as Dieter Wemmer, the longest serving Board member of UBS Group US, informed the company he would not be standing for re-election to the Board of Directors.

UBS Chairperson Colm Kelleher thanked Wemmer for his eight years of service on the Board, a role he commenced in 2016.

“Dieter’s formidable expertise and personality will be missed on the Group Board,” Kelleher said.

Currently, there are four women who sit on the 13-person Board of Directors at UBS Group AG.

The Board election, for which Kelly has been nominated, will take place at the Annual General Meeting on 24 April 2024.

Kelly currently sits on several Boards, including Singtel, Woolworths Holdings Limited in South Africa and the Australian Philanthropic Services.

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Ellis will succeed Bill Evans, who has been the chief economist at Westpac since 1991. From January next year, Evans will begin a new role as senior economic adviser, according to AFR. 

On Monday, Evans said that Westpac needed “generational change and the candidate fits that perfectly”.

“Luci is among a handful of the most qualified economists in the country,” he said in an interview with AFR.

After thirty-two years at the RBA, Ellis said she wanted a new challenge.

Ellis stepped into her role as Assistant Governor in 2016, after heading the RBA’s Financial Stability department for eight years. 

Ellis’ move away from the RBA comes after a recent spate of other high profile departures including former head of Domestic Markets department Jonathan Kearns, and former-deputy governor Guy Debelle, who left in March 2022 to join Fortescue Future Industries. 

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The first, national Working Families Survey has been launched today, led by parenting education providers, Parents At Work and Karitane as well as researchers from two Australian universities.

The research is also critically backed by corporates; Deloitte, QBE, Baker McKenzie, KPMG, Westpac, IKEA and HSBC– all of which form the Advancing Parental Leave Equality Network (APLEN).

The aim of the survey is simple: To understand how workplaces can better address ways of combining work with care responsibilities. Companies involved in the collaboration will then use feedback from the survey to introduce improved policies and programs aimed at creating more inclusive, family friendly workplaces.

Grainne O’Loughlin, Karitane CEO put it perfectly when she said: “The struggle of the juggle is very real!

“Parenting can be stressful and with the added pressures of working it can have a profound impact on the individual as a parent and also as an employee.”

The study is also endorsed by journalist, commentator and author of a forthcoming Quarterly Essay about fathers and work, Annabel Crabb, who described the collaboration as “an important and under-explored area of research.”

“Australian families don’t really function any more in the way workplaces have traditionally expected them to. The more we know about the hidden world of the Australian home, the better the world of work can adapt to bring some real equality for families struggling to balance the two.”

Any Australian family is invited to participate and input from parents of all genders is highly valued; this includes mothers and fathers of young children (0-18 years), working in a range of occupations and industries nationally, as well as any carers who spend significant time looking after children.

It’s an unprecedented move from Australian corporates which are no longer looking for bandaid fixes for pervasive challenges like this. This collaboration shows a true commitment to positive change which will enable all working parents to live and work more equally.

You can complete the Working Families Survey, here.

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The milestone was announced by chief executive Brian Hartzer in Sydney on Tuesday morning, who said that 3000 of the bank’s 6000 management positions are now held by women.

He said the achievement should be seen as a “sign post that our nation is making progress … Particularly for unlocking the potential of women.”

“Our goal is that the only limits that face young women are the limits of their own ambition, talent and dedication.”

In 2010 Westpac’s then-chief executive Gail Kelly publicly committed to reaching 40% women in leadership by the year 2014, a target it met in 2012. The bank then aimed for 50% by 2017.

It hasn’t happened easily or by chance. It has happened because targets were set, enforced and pursued. Doggedly. It was considered a core business objective, embedded in corporate strategy and had the full support and commitment from the board and executive.

The commitment of senior leadership was “absolutely critical” to reaching the 50% target, @Westpac’s Christine Parker says. #200Women pic.twitter.com/a2XJzoq86K

— Women’s Agenda (@WomensAgenda) October 24, 2017

As the bank’s group executive of HR Christine Parker said this morning, it took planning, innovation, improved flexibility and parental leave, relentless focus, and complete buy-in from the board down.

It’s also helped that the bank’s had a number of female trailblazers along the way, including Ann Sherry and Gail Kelly, who were at the event today.

Westpac was the first Australian bank to employ female teller in Sydney in October 1961. In 1978 Westpac appointed the first female branch manager in Australia in Rockhampton.

Major milestone. Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer announces women now hold 50% of leadership roles in bank. 3000 out of 6000 roles. pic.twitter.com/SLeLyRIh6S

— Angela Priestley (@angelapriestley) October 24, 2017

It was also Westpac, under Ann Sherry’s leadership, that was the first major listed company to introduce paid maternity leave.

Considering the landscape for women in leadership in Australia the enormity of Westpac’s achievement cannot be underplayed.

Women might make up 50.2% of the population and 46.4% of all employees in Australia but they remain rare in the ranks of corporate leadership.

Women hold 12.9% of chair positions, 24.7% of directorships and comprise 28.5% of key management personnel in Australia’s largest organisations. In the ASX200 there are more men named David running companies than there are females. So too, John and Peter.

Among non-public sector employers with 100 or more employees, 29.9% have no key management personnel who are women.

And yet one of Australia’s biggest banks, and most profitable organisations, has reached parity.

.@WGEADirector addresses @Westpac #200women on the importance of workplace #gender equality: “the business case is clear” pic.twitter.com/BKwx9IhwNI

— WGEA (@WGEAgency) October 24, 2017

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