Aurecon teams up with Minerva Network to strengthen pipeline between sport and business

22 September 2020 – International engineering, design and advisory firm, Aurecon is proud to announce a new partnership with the Minerva Network, to further build female leadership across Australia.

Aurecon Group Chief Executive Officer William Cox said there was an ongoing need and great potential to build the pipeline of Australia’s future female leaders.

“Australia’s future prosperity is heavily dependent on its ability to recruit and inspire a diverse workforce and to create an inclusive, high-performing culture within organisations. By partnering with the Minerva Network, we will be supporting a significant pool of talent featuring elite female athletes to succeed in their careers after sport,” Mr. Cox said.

Minerva Network Chairman Christine McLoughlin has welcomed the new partnership arrangement and says that Aurecon recognised the commitment the Minerva Network has to the development of women leaders in sport. Elite professional athletes are an incredible pool of talent with unique leadership traits and entrepreneurial skills that are readily transferable to business. This has been long recognised by Aurecon who have a number of female business executives with a background in sport.

“We are delighted to have Aurecon joining us as we look to fast-track the delivery of our programs in support of women in sport and, by doing so, build future leadership capability for Australia,” Ms. McLoughlin said.

“We are seeing in real time how Australia’s leading business women are mentoring our rising stars of sport who, in turn, are fabulous role models for thousands of boys and girls, and future leaders in our communities.

“We thank Aurecon for coming on board as it is very definitely an organisation whose values and goals are fully aligned with the Minerva Network, especially around diversity and inclusion and leadership capability in the broadest sense.”

Aurecon collaboration with Minerva Network

Aurecon Chief Executive Australia and New Zealand Louise Adams said the collaboration would empower professional women athletes on and off the field and the national footprint that the Minerva Network has now established means that the breadth of the relationship can grow at pace.

“There is a strong connection between elite sports and leadership with many female business executives enjoying a background in sport. This partnership will help us focus on translating sporting high-performance attributes and behaviours into professional lives by leveraging athletes’ unique leadership traits and entrepreneurial skills learned through sport,” Mrs. Adams said.

“Teamwork, discipline, communication and goal orientation are all attributes and behaviours that can convert into personal and professional lives, and we hope to collaborate with the Minerva Network’s talent pool to be able to tap into lessons learned to further support Aurecon’s high performing culture.”

Through mentorship, Aurecon will help coach and guide elite sportswomen to transition their passion to succeed in their professional lives and together with Olympian Jane Moran, Technical Director at Aurecon, Adams will herself join the Minerva Network’s select group of mentors.

“I am really excited to become a Minerva Mentor and being able to guide and support professional athletes through the next stage of their professional journeys,” Adams said.

Aurecon is partnering with the Minerva Network as it helps drive Australia’s leading women in sport to new levels of professionalism at a critical time for major international events such as the Tokyo 2021 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Sydney, and the FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, along with other international and domestic premium competitions where the nation’s leading female athletes will shine.

Minerva Network was established and is led by a group of leading Australian businesswomen passionate about empowering professional women athletes on and off the field.

Minerva Leaders include: Christine McLoughlin, Chairman of Suncorp Group; Sam Mostyn, former AFL Commissioner and Chair of Citi Australia; Christina Matthews, CEO of the WACA; Peggy O’Neal, President of Richmond FC; Romilly Madew, CEO of Infrastructure Australia; Kate Aitken, Vice-President Human Resources at Optus; Sue Cato, Partner at Cato & Clive; Ann Sherry, Chairman at Enero Group; Raelene Castle, former CEO of Rugby Australia and Kate Palmer, former CEO of Sport Australia.

About the Minerva Network

Established in 2017, the Minerva Network is a voluntary organisation committed to helping professional Australian women in sport achieve their dreams on and off the field. We help athletes to identify and navigate commercial challenges through meaningful mentor-mentee relationships and plan their careers beyond sport.

We match our leading athletes with extraordinary Australian business women who have driven their own success in business all on a pro bono basis. Through the Minerva Network, these business leaders now offer their nuggets of professional and personal life experience to help Australian women in sport kick goals and set some serious business targets for themselves.

We support elite female athletes who compete in team and individual sports, and we collaborate with leading sporting organisations and governing bodies. Through personal development and upskilling, the Minerva Network is committed to developing future leaders in our communities and for the nation.