Our Board plays an important role in the strategic direction, management oversight and governance of the bank.
As a customer-owned bank, Qudos does not have investing shareholders - the shareholders are our customers. Therefore customers are at the forefront of every decision.
All Board Directors bring a unique and diverse set of skills to help drive the direction of the bank.
Meet - Sally-Ann Williams, Non-Executive Director, BA, MA, GAICD
Sally-Ann has extensive experience spanning Deep Tech, technology transformation, innovation & entrepreneurship, inclusion, business development, commercialisation and transformation. Prior to becoming CEO of Cicada Innovations, Sally-Ann spent over 12 years at Google as an Executive Program Manager on the engineering team. Sally-Ann has also been involved in driving national engagement and change strategies in innovation & entrepreneurship, Computer Science and STEM education as a member of the COAG STEM Partnership Forum and contributed to the foundation of StartupAUS (now Tech Council of Australia), a non-profit with a mission to transform Australia through technology entrepreneurship. She has led several cross-sector working groups to drive change both in policy & cultural transformation needed to grow a thriving technology driven economy. Sally-Ann is an advisor to several state and national working groups on tech & innovation and is a mentor and advisor to several industry and university incubators & accelerators including Startmate.
Q&A with Sally-Ann
- Only those closest to me know that I… love karaoke but can’t sing.
- My favourite movie/book/series of all time is… I love Switch by Chip & Dan Heath; & upstream by Dan Heath. Both books provide a fantastic reframing of how to look at situations and reframe them from problems to possibilities.
- On the weekends I… run with Boobs on the Run a fantastic group for women to encourage them to move more, fight cancer and connect with community.
- At uni I studied… International Relations & Japanese
- My hidden talent is… seeing the possibility in impossible situations and making it happen. I like hard challenges.
- If I could invite 3 people (dead or alive) to dinner, they would be… In no particular order - Gough Whitlam; Angela Merkel, Julia Gillard – all 3 have been incredibly effective in driving change, often when in minority holdings. I’d love to listen and learn how they are able to be effective when the odds are against them, and how they have developed an ability to shrug off public criticism and stay true to creating and delivering on a vision they have.
- My hero is… I have a long list of women in my life who have made space for me, supported me, and continue to lift others up around them. I admire them for their generosity and vision for the future.
- I’m scared of…spiders
- My guilty pleasure is… wine – but I feel no guilt whatsoever. It’s pure pleasure.
- The best part about being on the board of Qudos is… working with a great group of people who are committed to shaping a vision and delivering it for the future of our members.
- If I could have a superpower, it would be… To pause time and give myself more hours in the day. Ie: every 1 hour = 4
- My family would describe me as… chatty, enthusiastic, passionate and energetic.
- My pet hate is… lack of authenticity. I love honesty – even if it’s hard to hear.
- My coffee order is… espresso, long black, affogato (depending on the time of day)
- One thing I hope to achieve this year is… run a marathon & take a holiday.
- If I were stranded on a desert island, the three items I’d need are… internet connection, laptop (I can watch & read to my heart’s content) and sunscreen.
- My first job was… working in my parents fruit & vege shop. Rotten potatoes are the worst!
- The pandemic taught me… what is truly urgent & important vs what is nice to have/do
- My favourite board game is… Sequence – we take it on holidays at the beach.
- If I had to describe Qudos Bank in three words they would be… purposeful, empowering, authentic
