Women in Leadership Summit 2025: Banking & Financial Services

Fundamental skills for communicating in a male dominated environment

- Dive into your unique communication style

- Engage in confident and clear communication 

- Learn how to communicate with different audiences

Tackling conflict and difficult conversations

- Understand the importance of timing and place

- How to have difficult conversations with empathy and professionalism

- Individualised communication interactions 

Use communication to build trust and rapport

- Match and mirror communication mannerisms 

- Set implicit positive intent in your engagements 

- Position yourself to be open and available to communicate with

Influential conversations with staff, employees, and stakeholders

- Establish credibility in your conversations 

- Increase your ability to evaluate nonverbal cues to increase influence 

- Be compelling and enticing throughout your interactions

Join Liquid Learning for this kick-off session as we prepare for two days of incredible speakers, senior leaders, expert deep dives, and unmissable panel discussions.

When Simone O’Brien survived a near-fatal domestic violence attack, her life changed forever. Rather than remain silent, she chose to speak. Rather than retreat, she chose to lead. In this powerful and emotional keynote, Simone shares her lived experience as a survivor turned advocate, and how trauma can become a turning point for purpose. Her story is a call to action for every leader: to stand up, to speak out, and to create safe, inclusive cultures where people are truly supported.

- Using lived experience as a catalyst for purpose-driven leadership

- The role of empathy and courage in modern leadership

- How to champion change even when your voice shakes

Following Simone O’Brien’s powerful keynote, this guided session offers space to pause, process and begin to translate inspiration into action. Led by event chair and leadership facilitator Jo Wise, this interactive and practical session invites you to connect with fellow leaders across industries, reflect on what resonated, and explore how courage, compassion and clarity shape strong, inclusive leadership. A mix of guided networking, small-group dialogue, and hands-on leadership exercises to supercharge your summit experience.

- Reflect on key emotional and leadership insights from the keynote

- Explore how vulnerability, empathy, and advocacy show up in your own leadership

- Make meaningful new connections across sectors

- Identify one personal leadership action you’ll take forward from today

Mix and mingle with your fellow leaders over a cup of coffee and light refreshments.

Compassion is the quality of having positive intentions and real concern for others. Compassion in leadership creates stronger connections between people. It improves collaboration, raises levels of trust, and enhances loyalty. In this session Shez reflects on how she embodies compassion in her leadership roles and has learnt to combine her work and home personas to lead with understanding.

- Take time to explore and understand the situations of people in your team

- Help your team to reach their potential and reap the engagement benefits

- Lead with the client at the heart of your decisions

During a period of significant structural and cultural transformation, Gemma, Chief Risk Officer at Rest, drew on her cross-industry experience to guide her teams through uncertainty. Having led major initiatives like the separation of MLC Life Insurance from NAB, she understood the impact of clear vision, open communication, and meeting people where they are. By aligning functions under a shared purpose and actively listening, Gemma built trust, and cohesion enabling progress even in disruption.

- Purpose-driven leadership brings clarity and focus during change

- Communication and empathy build trust across all levels

- Strategic alignment fosters resilience and continuity

Enjoy a midday lunch break. A time to refresh, refuel, and prepare for a full afternoon of immersive learning and inspiration.

As restructures reshape Australia’s financial services landscape, women leaders face a unique crossroads, navigating legacy loss, ambiguity, and the pressure to stay relevant. This panel unpacks how to reposition when roles disappear, influence without title in shifting hierarchies, and build future-focused leadership narratives that thrive in flux.

- Turn structural change into a platform for strategic reinvention

- Stay visible and valuable when the lines of influence blur

- Craft a leadership story that evolves with your organisation

Innovation doesn’t only happen in start-ups. In large, established organisations, it takes entrepreneurial leadership to challenge the status quo and turn ideas into action. In this session, Chanchala shares how she brings an innovation mindset to a corporate environment, spotting opportunities, building momentum around new ideas, and executing change without waiting for perfect conditions. She’ll discuss what it takes to back your vision, test and learn along the way, to deliver value in systems that aren’t always built for speed.

- How to apply entrepreneurial thinking to drive innovation from within

- Tactics for testing ideas and gaining support in structured environments

- How to keep momentum when things get stuck

A quick break to refresh and continue building your network with fellow leaders. Enjoy a light refreshment before finishing day one.

True leadership isn’t just about performance, it's about purpose. In this inspiring and actionable session, leadership expert; Amanda shares how reconnecting with your personal "why" can elevate your leadership and drive meaningful impact in your work. This session explores the intersection of purpose and performance, showing how aligning what matters most to you personally with your professional role creates the foundation for effective leadership and how the risks of misalignment can lead to burnout and disengagement.

- Learn how to lead with intention

- Understand how purpose protects against leadership fatigue

- Gain strategies to stay connected to your “why”

As day one of the conference comes to a close, take a moment to reflect on today's insights and how they can shape your journey. What key takeaways will help you move closer to your personal and professional goals?

Join us for our end of day one networking. Enjoy canapés and drinks whilst getting to know your peers further, build ongoing relationships, and share your highlights of the day.

Welcome back for Day Two - there's a lot to digest from our amazing speakers and action modules so far!

Recap the key learnings and takeaways from Day One, and prep an action plan to maximise your event experience over our jam-packed second day!

How do you stay at the top when the world is watching and the pressure never lets up? For Jacqui Cooper, it wasn’t just about winning, it was about bouncing back. Again and again. Across a record-breaking 20-year career, Jacqui faced devastating injuries, intense scrutiny, and the relentless demands of elite sport. In this high-energy and deeply honest keynote, she shares what it takes to push beyond limits, reset after failure, and maintain excellence over time, lessons that translate powerfully into leadership, career longevity and personal growth.

- Reframing setbacks and failure as fuel for growth

- Cultivating a high-performance mindset in leadership

- How to lead with confidence, clarity and staying power

It’s easier for individuals and teams to focus on tasks that have tangible, measurable, and observable indicators. However, without attention to the way people interact, give and take, push and pull, talk and listen, question and answer, act and react, things inevitably fall apart. Small actions can impact our satisfaction and of the people around us. In this expert session learn how to navigate complexities, manage polarities, and work amidst uncertainty and change:

- Improve organisational culture

- Collaborate effectively with greater ambitions

- Implement solutions quickly and create healthier bottom lines

Mix and mingle with your fellow leaders over a cup of coffee and light refreshments.

Shannon Finch reflects on leadership at the intersection of complexity, regulation and strategic change. Drawing on decades across law, governance and executive leadership, she explores how to lead with clarity, influence outcomes, and stay anchored in purpose in high-stakes environments.

- Lead with clarity in complex environments

- Influence across executive and board levels

- Embed ethics and governance in decision-making

The path to leadership isn’t always clearly marked, often shaped by informal networks, quiet decisions, and behind-the-scenes moments. This panel reveals what really unlocked that first major step up. Offering honest reflections on what tipped the scale, what they didn’t see coming, and what the title did and didn’t change.

- Understand the real drivers behind promotions

- Learn what to ask, expect, and prepare for before stepping up

- Understand how visibility, influence, and expectations shift after promotion

Enjoy a midday lunch break. A time to refresh, refuel, and prepare for a full afternoon of immersive learning and inspiration.

Too often, we fall into the trap of believing that career progression will happen organically — that if we work hard and deliver results, someone will notice and the next opportunity will naturally follow. But the truth is, career growth doesn’t just happen. It requires clarity, strategy, and intentional effort. In this practical session, Sarah will share how to shift from a reactive mindset to a proactive one, helping you take ownership of your career and start mapping out your next steps with purpose and direction.

- Shift to a strategic mindset approach to career planning

- Learn how to identify gaps, map career options, and structure your development

- Discover how to position yourself for growth by being visible, clear, and consistent in your goals

Leadership is built on experience, curiosity, and the willingness to grow. In this empowering session, Pia shares the pivotal lessons that have shaped her leadership and how she’s applying them to create safer, more inclusive, and opportunity-rich environments for women. Learn how you can lead by example, champion change, and pave the way for more women to thrive across all levels of your organisation.

- Embrace uncertainty as a catalyst for growth and opportunity

- Identify and elevate transferable skills in the women around you

- Actively sponsor, support, and clear the path for women’s success in your workplace

A quick break to refresh and continue building your network with fellow leaders. Enjoy a light refreshment before finishing day one.

From ideas to impact, an energising cross-sector wrap-up session weaving together top takeaways and sparking new collaborations. This interactive session brings speakers from all streams together to reflect, recharge, and reimagine what’s next for women in leadership.

- Reflect on your key learnings from the Summit

- Identify opportunities for career progression and growth

- Create an action plan for your leadership journey

We wrap up our inspirational and jam packed two days with this interactive closing round table. This is your chance to table any topic or trend for a final group discussion. Reflecting on the inspiring stories that have been shared, discussing your key learnings with your peers, and creating your action plan for moving forward.

- Reflect on your key learnings from the Summit

- Identify opportunities for career progression and growth

- Create an action plan for your leadership journey

Develop self-awareness and authenticity

- Align your values to lead authentically

- Identify your strengths and potential challenges

- Optimise your leadership style for your organisation

Advanced communication and influence

- Manage emotions for effective communication

- Develop your “conversational intelligence”

- Prepare for and navigate difficult conversations 

Develop reflective leadership

- Recognise the benefits of reflection

- Develop skills for effective reflective practice

- Apply reflection to enhance organisational culture

Strategic career progression

- Create a personal leadership plan

- Build relationships for professional opportunities

- Manage personal branding and visibility

Accelerate team performance

- Leverage team dynamics to optimise performance

- Challenge, support, and empower others

- Develop strategies to manage disruptors

Drive change and innovation

- Recognise and overcome obstacles

- Trust your instincts, embrace risks, and push boundaries

- Create a culture of positive change 

Remain productive in a crisis

- Build resilience to thrive under pressure

- Support your team and engage others to deliver

- Provide and accept feedback after crisis

Action planning for leadership

- Plan approaches for short and long-term goals

- Identify and understand challenges

- Share approaches to move your career forward