At St Margaret’s second Professional Women’s Network Breakfast for 2021, more than 90 business professionals, staff, alumni and students gathered to hear the inspiring career journey of the former CEO of Sunwater Limited and Macarthur Coal Limited, Nicole Hollows.
Nicole’s experience as a senior executive spans more than 20 years, most of which was spent in the resources sector in managerial roles across both the public and private sectors, including mining, utilities and rail. She holds a Bachelor of Business – Accounting, a Graduate Diploma in Advanced Accounting (Distinction) and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development.
She shared with the audience her career progression from starting as a Chartered Accountant to moving outside of her comfort zone and into the resources and water industries.
“I got to where I am today by getting out of my comfort zone and getting uncomfortable. It takes a lot of courage and it really means stepping into a challenge and overcoming a challenge that you think is insurmountable at the time,” Nicole shared.
At just 35, Nicole became CEO and Managing Director of Macarthur Coal. Forging a career in a traditionally male-dominated industry, she was the only female chief executive of a major Queensland mining company.
Nicole steered the company through drought, flood and an international financial disaster and, as a result, is recognised as one of Australia’s business leaders.
Despite earning her stripes, Nicole still suffered at the hand of gender bias, not from her employers but from those in the public sphere.
“Journalists would say to me ‘You’re female, you’re finance, you’re young – how could you be running a mining company?’” Nicole said.
Today, Nicole shares her expertise through a number of advisory roles. She is the Chair of the Salvation Army Brisbane Red Shield Appeal Committee, an advisory committee member of the Salvation Army Queensland Advisory Council, and a member of the CEO Strategy Advisory Committee to Executive Dean QUT Business School and Chief Executive Women Membership Committee. She is also a non-executive director and Chair of the Audit Risk Committee at Downer EDI Limited, a non-executive director at Qube, and Chairman of the Jameson Resources Limited Board.
Nicole imparted with the audience several of her own key learnings, including:
- If you make a mistake, look at it as a learning experience, don’t look at it as a failure.
- Integrity is everything.
- Enjoy what you do, you’ll be better at it.
- If you work hard and you’re successful, money and career opportunities follow.
- Make the most of every opportunity, view every opportunity as a challenge and a learning opportunity.
- Be resilient.
- Have the confidence to back yourself.
- Never stop learning.
- Never stop helping other people and enabling others to be leaders.
- Be authentic and true to yourself.
- Remember to stop and take a breath and don’t sweat the small stuff.
- Understand what success is to you.
She concluded by asking the audience to consider: “How will you respond and develop your leadership characteristics and careers, as well as supporting others to progress, and think about the role you can all play in enabling women to become leaders, as we all need to be pushed out of our comfort zones.”
St Margaret’s thanks our partners for their support of the 2021 Professional Women’s Network, including corporate sponsors Pitcher Partners, Programmed Property Services and Wolff Coffee Roasters, as well as supporting partners Downer, NAB, Clear Insurance, O’Reilly Shaw Lawyers and Red Oak.