Barbara Cail AO is a pioneering Australian business leader, entrepreneur, and lifelong advocate for gender equality in leadership. Best known as the founding president of Chief Executive Women (CEW), Barbara helped shape one of Australia’s most influential leadership networks for women, guiding it from a visionary dinner in 1985 into a national force for change.
Today, CEW supports over 1,400+ women leaders and continues to expand its impact through scholarships, mentoring, and advocacy – a lasting legacy of Barbara’s early leadership. To read Barbara's full bio, click here.
In honour of CEW's 40th Anniversary, Barbara generously shared her reflections - along with some fantastic photos! - and answered questions about the origin story of CEW from her point of view, and how her original vision is being carried on 40 years later.
Barbara, can you share some memories of the origin story of CEW and how it came to be?
I began my career in publishing, founding Rala Information Services in 1978, where I published 12 business to business magazines. If you don't know what life was like for professional Australian women at that time, I’ll give some context…
In the 60’s, women in their main, adhered to the cultural norm of the time, to aspire towards becoming wives and mothers. It wasn’t on their emotional radar at the time to also gain marketable skills.
"By the 70’s, under the Whitlam government, divorce laws fundamentally changed with the introduction of ‘no fault divorce’ . Around the same time, free university education was was offered. Many women took up both options. This radical change was a driver for women to get a degree and enter the workforce."
Come the eighties, women were taking their lives very seriously, up-skilling and focusing on being independent. The feminist revolution was in full force and they were not interested in reading about recipes or The Royals. They wanted a magazine to support their new aspirations. This is why, in 1984, I created and launched ‘Portfolio’ magazine in direct response to the women’s magazines available at that time, which mainly focused on celebrities, royals, fashion, cooking, etc.
Pictured Above: Barbara Cail AO - Portfolio Magazine, 1984
Portfolio magazine was designed to fill the gap for the emerging professional women who required financial and business information, and case studies relating to management. I'd profile professional women in the magazine, giving their achievements visibility. This content spoke directly to women who were inspired by, and related to other women in business.
But forty years ago, it was very difficult to find women in leadership positions to write about. So, in 1985, I called 15 women, some of whom I had featured in Portfolio, and invited them to dinner. I proposed forming a group to dilute the masculine business world, and help professional women create vital networks. We all agreed, and those 15 women became the founding members of CEW. Truly, it was the connections to women I had forged through publishing Portfolio, which was the catalyst for me to create CEW. Without the publishing of this magazine, CEW would not have existed.
Pictured Above: Barbara Cail AO - Rala Publications, 1984
It was interesting that the Fairfax organisation, who then owned a large stable of magazines, subsequently made me an offer to buy Portfolio and, seriously, it was too difficult to refuse! Unfortunately my publishing formula was watered down with content that didn't maintain the business and professional bias for women. The Fairfax magazine division was then sold to the Packer organisation, who sold it to another independent publisher, and it slowly faded away.
In the beginning, CEW meetings were lunches at the Four Seasons Hotel (originally the Regent hotel) in a private room. We would invite the leading captains of industry to share their opinions on their respective industries. It was a forum where we founders could question and debate topics with them. This was the beginning of establishing a business network.
Pictured Above: Barbara Cail AO, Carla Zampatti AC, and Helen Wellings AM - Attending one of the first meetings to discuss the formation of CEW.
CEW continued to grow in numbers, and we subsequently introduced scholarship's. The point when we decided that we would put together a scholarship was a very big landmark for us, because it was really saying, “we are a group of women who want to give back.”
* Did you know *
The first CEW Scholarship recipient in 1992, was Helen Conway, our current CEW President - Click here to hear Helen talk about her scholarship experience.
Since then, the CEW Scholarships Program has supported more than 300 exceptional women across diverse industries and backgrounds, to study and accelerate their careers at prestigious institutions such as Harvard Kennedy School, INSEAD, Oxford Saïd Business School, and Melbourne Business School, just to name a few. Scholarship recipients have also gained places on CEW’s 100 NPS evidence-based Leaders Program and Executive Leaders Program.
In 1995, I created a dinner group for the original founders and we'd meet four times a year in a private room at my club – Union University and Schools Club. The dinner meetings continued until 2018. The dinners were a wonderful legacy for the CEW founders, and many of those friendships are still going.
Pictured Above: Barbara Cail AO, Bonnie Bozeman AO, Carla Zampatti AC, and Imelda Roche AO - Celebrating Carla’s 70th birthday.
What role has CEW, and your connection to the CEW community, played in your personal and professional life?
The community is so special because it is beyond fraternity, CEW has a vision and purpose that creates a collective energy and coherence. I have a tight knit group of friends which joined me in creating CEW and the friendship is now 40 years old. It’s so very rewarding. When I started this, I had no idea CEW would reach this growth and success, which so many women have helped to create.
CEW’s mission is ‘Women Leaders Empowering All Women’
- How do you believe CEW carries out this mission today, and what is needed for CEW to stay relevant in the years to come?
Initially our mission was 'Women Leaders Enabling Women Leaders'. As the membership has continued to grow, it was fitting to change the mission to more effectively encapsulate our members and advocacy work.
The world is going through a technology revolution which will inevitably change the profile of the workplace, which will no doubt be different again in another 10 years’ time. AI is shaping the future, and currently the ‘Tech Bro’ giants hold all the power, and it is essential to monitor that power. We need more women in leadership roles in that space.
As a collective, and as individual members, we must remain active in advocating for all women, on issues relating to women, across all levels of government, and continue to play a role in shaping government policy. Numbers are important. CEW’s growing membership, and respected status as an organisation, will make it hard to ignore our voice.
From the archives
Check out the videos below for more reflections and memories from over the past 40 years of CEW.