Lisa Annese, Chief Executive Officer 

Lisa Annese commenced her role as the Chief Executive Officer of Chief Executive Women in January 2025 and is committed to the empowerment of women and girls across the economy.

Prior to this, Lisa spent 10 years as the CEO of the Diversity Council Australia where she led a broad array of groundbreaking, evidence-based research, including Australia’s first national index on workplace diversity and inclusion, seminal research on the economics of the gender pay gap, and original work on Counting Culture and building Asian Leadership Capability, as well as research supporting individuals being ‘Out at Work’, mainstreaming flexible work and myth-busting workplace responses to sexual harassment and domestic and family violence. 

In 2024, Lisa was appointed to the NSW Women’s Advisory Council and reappointed to the Respect at Work Council by the Attorney-General, implementing the legislative reforms from the Respect@Work Act. In 2018, Lisa was named one of the AFR’s 100 Women of Influence. In 2019 she was elected to the Board of Amnesty International Australia and, in 2021, to the Board of non-partisan organisation Women for Election. As well as being their CEO, Lisa is also a member of Chief Executive Women.

Lisa has had a long career progressing positive change across the corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors. Earlier in her career, at the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (formerly the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA)), she developed the first-ever census of Australian Women in Leadership, the first-ever Business Achievement Awards, the creation of the Employer of Choice for Women citation and the development and implementation of the policy framework for the EOWA Act 1999 with Australian businesses. For her contribution at EOWA, she was awarded a Medal for Significant Contribution to the Australian Public Service.