When women come together, they change the world

On a lovely autumn day on the North Shore of Sydney, Australia, friends Martha Raupp and Gina McNamara were sharing stories of women in business over a few drinks. As the relatively new Australian CFO for global ERP leader SAP, Gina found herself in a quandary. Attaining the role of CFO had been fantastic recognition of her career to date, and Gina found herself giving advice to other new CFOs.

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But she also found herself alone. Whereas in other parts of the finance departments, women had lots of peers, in the Executive, a woman could be, very much, suddenly, alone. Networking events or content sessions were almost entirely rooms of men. Women she had previously confided in were no longer available as she had a different level of responsibility and issues.

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Martha had years of experience working with women in business, including leading EY’s Entrepreneurial Winning Women program in Oceania, and working with a variety of women in leadership programs, including Girl Guides (yes, it's for women too!) 

"I can build you a program," said Martha. "A program exclusively for women CFOs - to connect, share, join." 

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Thus the Women CFO Network was created. What followed was a totally organic gathering of women like Gina, who wanted the expertise of each other, the coming together and support of peers. We gathered to determine what should form the scope of the network, and honed in on three elements: networking was first, then came professional development. But equally, and quite uniquely, personal development was crucial, both from a mentoring perspective, and an ongoing development aspect.

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More than a year later, we continue to evolve the program to meet the needs of its participants. COVID-19 and Martha's move to Hong Kong has made everything slow a bit, and everything virtual.

Fill in the Contacts page to be included, go to the Blog page for regular articles curated for you, or send me an email with new ideas or questions.

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Martha