After an outstanding 10-year career at the Diversity Council Australia - a not-for-profit body leading diversity and inclusion in the Australian workforce - Lisa Annese has stepped into the role of CEO at Chief Executive Women.

Keen to introduce herself to the CEW members on a more substantial and personal level, Lisa  sat down with the communications team to go beyond the resume and share her vision for CEW.

Lisa, tell us about how you became involved with CEW.

I accepted a nomination from a colleague in 2021 after the nomination categories were amended.

Being nominated and accepted into CEW felt like a real arrival in some ways, particularly as I was coming from the not-for-profit space. Running an NGO can be a very hard job requiring tremendous resourcefulness and innovation, and even though it exerts significant community influence, I didn’t naturally read myself into CEW as an organisation. So when my nomination was seconded and then accepted, I felt truly honoured to be joining this extraordinary group of women who have blazed a trail across so many different industries.

What encouraged you to throw your hat in the ring for the position of CEW CEO?

I care very deeply about women’s empowerment.  It’s something very personal to me, especially as a mum to three young adult daughters who have just started to navigate the world themselves.  To have the opportunity to lead an organisation whose mission is “Women Leaders Empowering All Women”, and to build on the progress that past leaders, teams, presidents, board directors, and CEO’s have made, it felt like such a privilege to step into the role that would lead CEW into its next chapter.

You mentioned the CEW tagline “Women Leaders Empowering All Women”.
The original version read “Women Leaders Empowering Women Leaders”, this has only changed recently. What does this one-word change mean to you?

It is a recognition that ‘leadership’ means lots of different things and takes many different forms. For all of human history women have been leaders, but often their leadership has been undervalued.

It acknowledges that leadership isn’t just about scaling the heights of a corporate ladder, which is important, and CEW has done a tremendous job in empowering and supporting women in these roles, but women also hold leadership roles within their families, in their communities, and through volunteer work in many social settings.

It also recognises that the pathway to leadership needs to be nurtured and supported, because workplaces have not traditionally been designed to recognise the lived experience of many women, our attention needs to focus on the experience of women generally as well as the pipeline to leadership is necessary.

You are stepping into this role in the 40th anniversary year of CEW under the banner of “40 years of progress”.  What do you glean from the previous 40 years of CEW that will help to shape the ideas and goals you’d like to implement as we cast our eye to the next 40 years?

So much has happened in the past 40 years. In 1984, the Sex Discrimination Act was passed. In 1985, Chief Executive Women was established, and in 1986 the ‘Affirmative Action Agency’, which is now Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), was set up with the goal of tracking and promoting gender equality in the workplace and actively addressing systemic disadvantages faced by women.

This critical time in the 1980s marked the  genesis of the journey towards gender equality at work in Australia.

Pioneers have forged pathways through every field despite obstacles and without due recognition and support.

Since that time, there have been enormous shifts in culture, in workplace structures, educational outcomes and in social expectations for women.

There have been changes in family structures, and in the way in which young women not only view themselves but also the potential futures they can have.

I understand that sometimes it doesn't feel that a lot of change has happened, but a look at the past paints a story of progress and achievement. The extraordinary founders of CEW whom I have reached out to since I started here have painted a picture of a world of work and a set of challenges that would be unthinkable to many women in 2025. Now, do we still have a long way to go? Of course.

On every measure, there is a gender gap that is unfavourable for women. There is still an underrepresentation of women in leadership. Women face a lifetime earnings deficit due to the cumulative effects of the gender pay gap. There is a care gap, with women doing the majority of unpaid labour, and when women are paid in these care roles, their work is undervalued compared to other areas of the economy. We have not solved the issue of women's safety as there are unacceptable levels of gendered violence within Australian homes and communities. We also know from The Human Rights Commission, that there is still an unacceptable level of sexual harassment taking place in our workplaces.

So yes, there is still enormous work to be done to reach gender equality across all areas, but there is abundant evidence and data, that demonstrates closing the gap between men and women is good for everybody. When we address the deficits that affect women, by extension, children, and men benefit too. A great example is that of universal access to parental leave, which  enables not just mothers, but also fathers to have the opportunity to spend time with their children. A benefit that previous generations of  fathers never had.  

At CEW our focus is women, but a gender equal Australia is a better Australia for everyone. 

You mentioned the Anti-discrimination laws Australia has in place, but laws clearly haven’t, and can’t, solve all the issues surrounding gender imbalances in leadership. What role does an organisation like CEW bring to this space?

Look, the legislative framework we have provides a general baseline, but that’s all it is, a baseline. We obviously can’t legislate for everything, and in my experience, things have to be pretty egregious before it breaks the law, and in most people's experience of subtle or not-so-subtle exclusion, these issues aren’t usually dealt with, within the legislation.

A classic example is that of a woman who takes time off work to have a baby, she may return to work at reduced hours due to her carer responsibilities, which reshapes her career, and directly impacts her lifetime earning potential. Now that isn’t breaking any laws, but the result over time, means we have an economy in which we can’t maximize the available talents that women have because of the way we have structured our workplaces. And if she has the ambition to, she may never realise her career potential.

The Australian workplace model was designed in the industrial era when the lives and careers of women, or in fact any individual who had carers responsibilities, were not considered or factored into that design. During the last few decades, of course things have shifted, and this design has been challenged, but there are still structural barriers to equality in leadership positions in the workforce.

And let me make it clear, I’m not in the business of trying to compel women to have leadership ambitions.

Women are not a monolith, we hold many varied ambitions - not all of them involve leadership in the corporate world.

What I am interested in, is choice being maximised so that if you do the work, and have the talent, you are able to flourish without gendered barriers holding you back.

As an organisation, CEW is uniquely positioned in this space because of our multi-pronged, holistic approach that invests in empowering women to step into these positions of leadership, and platforms of influence through our Leadership Development and Scholarship Programs, while also boasting an incredible Policy, Advocacy and Research pillar.

This year alone we have welcomed landmark investments in women’s health and early childhood education and care, delivering on two of our key policy asks from the CEW Federal Election platform. It is a point of pride that our advocacy work can exert real influence federal policy reform that supports the real, and varied lives of women, and by extension our families and wider communities too.

How will your personal experiences in leadership inform CEW’s discussions regarding woman in leadership in today’s climate?

My discipline ensures that I actually don’t think about women in leadership from a purely personal perspective.  As an individual, I can only represent one woman with a unique journey that has been informed by my lived experience.

I’m made up of many components, I’m a daughter of migrants and grew up very working class. English was not my first language. I’m a mother. I’ve been able to attain a certain level of education. I’m healthy. These elements have all shaped who I am today. Of course, other women might share parts of my story, but others will have vastly different stories, so it is essential that I don’t operate out of any personal bias.

That’s of course not withstanding there are topics that I’m passionate about. Having three daughters, naturally I have a particular interest in the experience of young women growing up today. How they are navigating dating and relationships, their physical and economic safety, and how their careers will be shaped in the future.

But my belief is, if I want to advocate for women and create meaningful and lasting change, our policies need to be based on the consensus of a wide range of women.
CEW has a really wide and rich membership. There will be plenty of points of view and experiences that I have in common with many members, and others that will be totally different to mine. I see this as a real benefit and a strength.

If we want leadership in Australia to reflect the talent that is available from the women and girls of Australia, we have to go broad. It’s about all women, all of our stories, in all of our diversity.

We’ve been talking about CEW as an organisation, but it’s an organisation that is made up of the memberships of the wide range of different women leaders you just mentioned.  Can you talk about the role CEW members play in the advocacy and elevation of women in leadership?

The sisterhood. It is so critical. Once you’ve reached a certain level in your career such as CEO, generally you’ll have people on team below you, and a board above you, but you might not have many peers. Particularly if you’re a woman in a male dominated industry, it can be really isolating.

I can’t help but think of our founding members. For these women who paved the way, it must have been pretty lonely at times. I’ve been fortunate to spend some time with these women and ask them about their journeys. As you can imagine, many of them had some pretty interesting stories about what they experienced along the way.

CEW as a collective of over 1200 individual members who value their relationship with the organisation for a multitude of reasons, whether it be opportunities for relationships and networking, the support and engagement, being a part of our policy voice for a better Australia. Whatever your relationship with CEW, I hope to continue to nurture and develop this member experience while staying focussed on our mission of enabling all women in the Australian economy. 

It is not a secret that CEW as an organisation has experienced a lot of change over the past few years. How are you approaching this reality as you step into the role of CEO at CEW?

This is more than a job for me. I consider it a life's calling to work in this space and I am deeply committed to an Australia where we optimise women's choices, safety, autonomy, and where women take their rightful place as leaders where it really matters.

Throughout my career I’ve always approached my roles as an opportunity to help create a ‘chapter’ in the history of an organisation's story. As I’ve been settling into CEW these first few weeks, and meeting with members, stakeholders and staff alike, I have  nothing but optimism.

I’m in this for the long haul and I feel really confident that together with the CEW team, board, and committees, we can write the next chapter of CEW’s story together.