Gail Kelly: Difference between revisions
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| residence = [[Sydney]], [[Australia]] |
| residence = [[Sydney]], [[Australia]] |
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| occupation = CEO, [[Westpac]] |
| occupation = CEO, [[Westpac]] |
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| salary = Unknown |
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| spouse = Allan Kelly |
| spouse = Allan Kelly |
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Revision as of 20:22, 15 November 2010
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2010) |
Gail Kelly | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 April 1956 |
| Occupation(s) | CEO, Westpac |
| Spouse | Allan Kelly |
| Children | Sharon Kelly, Sean Kelly, Mark Kelly and Anne Kelly |
Gail Kelly (born Gail Currer on 25 April 1956 in Pretoria, South Africa) is an Australian and South African business person. In 2002 she became the first woman CEO of a major Australian bank or top 15 company and, as at 2005, was the highest paid woman at an Australian corporation. She took up the position of CEO at Westpac in 2008. Forbes Magazine ranked her as the 8th most powerful woman in the world, with Lady Gaga as 7th and Beyonce as 9th.
Life and Career in South Africa
She was born Gail Currer in South Africa. Currer attended the University of Cape Town[1] where she undertook an arts degree majoring in history and Latin as well as a Diploma of Education. She married Allan Kelly in December 1977. The couple moved to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where she taught Latin at Falcon College while he served in the Rhodesian army. The couple returned to South Africa where Allan Kelly studied medicine at the University of the Witswatersrand and Gail Kelly taught at a government high school.
Kelly started work at the Nedcor Bank as a teller but was fast-tracked into an accelerated training program. She started an MBA in 1986 while pregnant with her oldest daughter and graduated with distinction in 1987. In 1990, she became head of human resources at Nedcor after having given birth to triplets five months earlier. The Kellys were becoming disillusioned with South Africa in the middle of the 1990s and were looking to move to a different country. In June 1997, she flew to Sydney where she held interviews with four of the major banks and was appointed to a senior position at the Commonwealth Bank in July 1997.
Career in Australia
Kelly started work as the General Manager of Strategic Marketing in the Commonwealth Bank in October 1997. By 2002, she was head of the customer service division responsible for running the Commonwealth Bank's extensive branch network. [1]
Her performance at the Commonwealth Bank led her to be recruited to St. George Bank as Head of business banking. Kelly later became the CEO of St George Bank upon the death of the incumbent CEO from a heart attack. At the time, St. George was seen as a possible takeover target (especially after the purchase of Colonial State Bank by the Commonwealth Bank) but Kelly has increased the bank's profitability and achieved much higher levels on return on assets. In November 2004, St. George Bank gave Kelly a pay rise and extended her contract indefinitely with the capitalisation of the bank having risen by $3 billion since the start of her term as CEO. The Australian Banking & Finance magazine gave her an award for Best Financial Services Executive in 2003 and 2004.
Because of her success at St George, there was extensive media speculation in June 2005 that she would return to the Commonwealth Bank as CEO on the retirement of David Murray, but Kelly said that she was committed to remaining with St. George. Murray was replaced by Ralph Norris, the former CEO and managing director of Air New Zealand.
On Friday 17 August 2007, she announced her resignation as CEO of St. George Bank to take up the same position in Westpac from 2008.[2] She started work as Westpac CEO on 1 February 2008.
A Westpac takeover of St. George Bank was announced on May 12. This is the first time, in Australia, that the CEO of a bank has led the takeover of another bank of which they had previously been CEO.
Ranking
In 2010, Forbes ranked her the 8th most powerful woman in the world; [1] she was ranked 18th in 2009;[3] and ranked 11th in 2008.[4]
References
- ^ a b "The 100 Most Powerful Women: #8 Gail Kelly". Forbes. 2010-10-06.
{{cite web}}: Text "accessdate-2010-10-08" ignored (help) - ^ "Kelly resigns from St.George".
- ^ "The 100 Most Powerful Women: #18 Gail Kelly". Forbes. 2009-08-19.
- ^ "Kelly overtakes Oprah".
External links
- Crown Content, Who's Who in Australia 2005 North Melbourne Victoria page 1050
- Melbourne Age profile of Gail Kelly, 2 July 2005
- ABC Australia Business Breakfast transcript 7 May 2003
- Sydney Morning Herald article on Kelly's contract extension at St George in November 2004
- Weekend Australian story about Kelly being a favourite to succeed David Murray at the Commonwealth Bank