Gail Kelly — South African Businesswoman born on April 25, 1956,

Gail Kelly is a South African-born Australian businesswoman. She is the former chief executive officer of Westpac, stepping down from the role on 1 February 2015. She was replaced by Brian Hartzer, previously Westpac's financial services chief executive. In 2002, she became the first female CEO of a major Australian bank or top 15 company and, as of 2005, was the highest paid woman in an Australian corporation. She assumed the position of CEO at Westpac in 2008. As of 2014, she is listed as the 56th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes... (wikipedia)

When I got to be a CEO, I said: 'Right. I'm now going to tackle gender inequality head-on. I'm going to make a difference and lead by example and actively put in place policies and practices to support women.'
In this digital age, there is no place to hide behind public relations people. This digital age requires leaders to be visible and authentic and to be able to communicate the decisions they've made and why they've made them, to be able to acknowledge when they've made a mistake and to move forward, to engage in the debate.
42% of our management team are women. So we've reset the goal to 50% by 2017. Because that's when Westpac becomes 200 years old as an institution - the oldest bank, and indeed the oldest company in Australia. So that's a lovely point to reflect on.
You can choose not to sit on the fence. You can choose not to criticise. You must stand as guard at the door of your own mind and choose to be positive.
Living in South Africa has had a very profound impact on my career.