The Outstanding Leadership Awards proudly announce Fiona De Jong as the night’s esteemed adjudicator. Fiona is the head of Australia’s nation Brand at the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade).

A values-based and results-focused leader, Fiona’s proven ability to lead highly complex international organisations positions her as a figure of influence across Australian business in both private and government sectors. Fiona is known as an astute global leader who is currently entrusted with the promotion and re-imagination of Australia’s Nation Brand. Known for her bold strategic decisions, Fiona brings fresh insight and approach through her leadership, having worked for the Australian Olympic Committee and worked as a lawyer earlier in her career.

Committed to broadening Australia’s international reputation through innovative leadership and a passion to stand up for what is right, no matter how difficult the circumstances.

Alastair Dawson is the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor of CQUniversity Australia. He is an expert in transformational leadership that guides organisations through periods of disruption and change. He prioritises disruptive innovation, global leadership and team building to garner results.

Alastair boldly lead the initiative to successfully open Australia’s first Indonesian campus through CQUni and reduced costs of international university operations by 40 per cent in 16 months through his executive leadership. The outstanding success of CQUni’s first international campus can be credited to Alastair’s emphasis on accountability, authenticity and charitability to incite positive change.

Likewise, Alastair has also held key community positions such as CEO of Beaudesert Shire Council and Rockhampton Regional Council. Alastair’s success across a breadth of roles and industries is attributed to his focus on operational and financial stability across his 25 years of executive leadership.

Kris is a professional highly diverse international banker with over 18 years experience in financial services, stretching across all areas of banking from Small Business to Corporate and Institutional in Australia and Asia. Kris holds a Bachelor degree in Management and International Business from QUT in Brisbane.

Kris’ areas of expertise include building, coaching and leading high performing sales teams, deepening client relationships, developing strategic client acquisition strategies, transaction structuring and negotiation of all facets of a transaction. Kris has lead sales teams with wide ranging skills and experience with exposure to diverse clients and structured transactions throughout his professional career. The past 15 years have seen Kris focus on establishing, building and reengineering sales teams and client portfolios across Small Business, Corporate, Emerging Corporate, Infrastructure and Utilities both domestically and through Asia.

Kris brings seasoned leadership, exceptional influencing skills, strong marketing know-how, a strong ability to think strategically and laterally, and a widespread team focused mentality.

Outside of being a banker, Kris is passionate about being outdoors with his family, ideally followed by a BBQ and glass of wine or two with friends.

A career of 20+ years in Australia, Asia and Europe working across a multitude of industries including commercial and residential property investment, development and funds management, recruitment and hospitality, spending the majority of my career in the property industry.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my work is the opportunity to connect with a diverse range of people and cultures. I am passionate about people achieving their goals through hard work, and have a strong desire for success and continuous improvement both professionally and personally. I nurture and encourage this culture at Cromwell and in the wider business community.

Joining Cromwell in 2004 has given me the opportunity to work across a variety of roles and portfolios as the Group has grown from being a privately owned Australian focused property company to an ASX listed, international real estate investment manager, operating in 15 different countries in Asia Pac, EU & the UK.

As Cromwell’s Chief Operations Officer, I am responsible for the Group’s global operating platform including Technology, People & Culture, Marketing, Sustainability and Operations.

I am the Director of Cromwell Property Services and am the National Real Estate Licensee for the Group. I spent 2 years on the Board of Directors of Oyster Property Group, a New Zealand Property Fund Manager, and Chaired Oyster’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee.

Giving back to those less fortunate than ourselves is something I am passionate about and one that Cromwell publicly supports. I am proud to Chair the Cromwell Property Group Foundation Committee, which supports charitable causes in the areas of health, education, social and community welfare, community benefits and humanitarian efforts. I am extremely proud of the work we do in this space.

I am pleased to be a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Property Council of Australia and served two years on the PCA Queensland Diversity Committee

Cathrine Stenshagen is the Director of Customer Accounting for the Oceania region in the most global, express logistics company in the world, DHL Express. Her journey with DHL started 16 years ago in Norway and she has worked in numerous functions and roles within the organization since then. For the past 10 years she has been in various Management roles, leading several teams within the Finance function to deliver successful results through forward-thinking leadership and innovative solutions, with her leadership credentials landing her the current role in Oceania 3.5 years ago. She moved her family across the world and changed the game of the Customer Accounting Team down-under, from what used to be a backend function, to a highly engaged and thriving customer centric team contributing to the company’s success.

Cathrine is a firm believer that the key ingredient of great teams is empowerment for all team members to make decisions that will increase customer satisfaction, simplify the day to day processes and making a business profitable. As a 21st Century Leader she continues to support her team full-time, while currently studying for a Master in Business Administration, inspiring her colleagues to always keep learning new skills and ideas that can help the business move forward.

Ümit Subasi is a successful executive and board member that has served across a breadth of industries for more than 30 years. Subasi is the current board director & partner at 4A Cosmetics Inc. and is the founding partner of Ultra Modum, a boutique advisory business.

Umit’s leadership experience spans across multiple continents where he has enjoyed a successful track record in strategy development, creating route-to-market strategies, designing & implementing new business models, non-organic business development, governance and monitoring practices, management finance, building high-performance cultures and change management.

Notably, Umit was in charge of all operations outside the US for the Campbell Soup Company as President International and CEO of Campbell Arnott’s. Having served on a variety of boards, including the Australian Food and Grocery Council, Umit has shared his expertise as a non-executive director and senior advisor with several boards and organisations across Australia, the US, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Priscilla is the Associate Director for International and Services at CQUniversity. In addition, Priscilla is a Committee Chair, Committee Member and Treasurer with experience/expertise in environment, conservation, tourism and the higher education sector. As an Associate Director, Priscilla provides executive strategic support and advice to the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President in innovation and strategy matters across the broad portfolio of the International and Services Division. Priscilla is a commercially focused and collaborative business partner with a proven record in leading highly complex projects in areas such as systems innovation and integration; whole-of-organisation change leadership, business continuity and critical incident preparedness and response.

Prior to joining CQUniversity, Priscilla worked in the field of conservation and protected area management at Parks Victoria and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.

Priscilla is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and earned an MBA from Australian Institute of Business, a Bachelor in Applied Science (Parks, Recreation and Heritage) from Charles Sturt University and is currently completing her Professional Doctorate with CQUniversity.