The Chair’s Mentoring Program is the AICD’s flagship board diversity initiative. This year’s cohort of mentees are women linked by their sense of purpose, digital acumen and innovative ways of thinking.
In an increasingly complex world of business, the careers of directors are being shaped by seismic economic, technological, regulatory, political, environmental and social change that is moving at pace. Yet, in the throes of change, an accomplished group of women directors who will be mentored by experienced chairs nation-wide as part of the AICD’s 2025 Chair’s Mentoring Program, say it’s a moment of great opportunity.
The program comes as the number of women directors on ASX-listed boards is rising. However, few are progressing to chair positions, according to AICD’s latest board diversity data. The research revealed that at the end of 2024, 38.3 per cent of director positions on the ASX 200 were held by women, and 12.9 per cent of chair positions.
Directors participating in this year’s Chair’s Mentoring Program speak about their board careers, their motivation to take on director duties and the forces that shape the boards they serve.
Shirley Chowdhary GAICD
Who or what has inspired you to "March Forward" throughout your director career?
"I always wanted to push myself to see what I was capable of, but nothing would have been possible if I didn't have those mentors and supporters who were company directors, my bosses, and my seniors, push me to march forward."
The foundations of Shirley Chowdhary GAICD’s director career were formed working as an international banking and finance lawyer for JP Morgan and at Cleary Gottlieb, with both roles in Tokyo, before she stepped away from law for a decade. Her “career break” was dedicated to focusing on family and embarking on other professionally expansive pursuits, which included completing a second master’s degree and work in the NFP sector.
Over the past decade, Chowdhary has served many sectors and occupied an equally broad range of seats in boardrooms in Australia as a non-executive director, deputy chair and a two-time chair. Chowdhary has also chaired audit, risk and nominations committees, and sat on people and culture committees throughout her career.
Previously chair of the Australian Institute of Architects, Chowdhary served the boards of Australian Associated Press and engineering firm Northrop. She currently holds a range of advisory board roles, is chair of Women for Election, and is an external member for the University of Sydney senate’s people and culture committee. The variety of board roles Chowdhary has held throughout her career has shaped her understanding of the chair’s role.
“It showed me the importance of having a good chair,” she says. “Having a good chair is vital to the success of the organisation and the board. It’s what I look for first. Having seen an organisation from so many vantage points has also given me a benefit that somebody once called ‘operational empathy’. I’ve seen an organisation from so many different angles and that’s really useful in the boardroom when you’re grappling with tough issues. Often, because I’ve been a chair, a non-executive director, counsel or a consultant, I sometimes see opportunities or risks come together in a way that isn’t so obvious.”
Chowdhary’s early director career was galvanised by a number of forces — her motivation and an active pursuit to take on director roles, as well as completing her training at the AICD in 2015, which she attended as the recipient of its cultural diversity scholarship.
“I got my first board within six months of doing that,” she says.
That role was on the board of the NSW YMCA, where she would become deputy chair. She was also formerly CEO of the GO Foundation. Her “portfolio” [career] grew from there.
That “portfolio” has required considerable agility as Chowdhary has traversed from one sector to another, from architecture to the media.
“It’s almost the easiest thing to go from sector to sector, because in some ways my perspective is already quite broad,” she says.
“I don’t think of myself as just a corporate person or a not-for-profit person. I really enjoy the changing of perspectives from one to the other and from industry to industry. Even when I was CEO, I was constantly learning. You learn so much from one board to another. Regardless of whether it’s an NFP or a corporate, I’ve always thrived on that transition. I like the variety of sectors, people and issues you face. In some ways, it doesn’t matter whether you’re an ASX-listed company or a large NFP, you’re facing the same issues. The scale might be different, but the issues are often the same.”
However, Chowdhary would like to see the diversity of customer contingents mirrored in boardrooms. “If our boardrooms don’t reflect who we are selling to, or providing services to, we are missing out on vital opportunities — financial and non-financial,” she says.
“We need to value directors with diverse skills and experiences, who reflect that target audience. I’m often the only person who has either a diverse career or cultural background — or who looks like me — in a room. That’s an opportunity for women and men in my generation to step into that and say, actually, we can do it. We can look different. You can have diverse viewpoints and experiences. You can have a diverse cultural upbringing and add immense value.”
Meet this year's impressive cohort of mentees in the AICD Chair’s Mentoring Program: Pip Marlow GAICD, Rosina Hislop FAICD, Anna Leibel GAICD and Gorana Saula GAICD.
This article first appeared under the headline ‘Emerging Directors’ in the March 2025 issue of Company Director magazine.
AICD’s Chair’s Mentoring Program is sponsored by Allens and Corrs Chambers Westgarth. Find out more HERE.
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