For partnership enquiries, please contact:
Nicole Campbell
Engagement and Marketing Director
T: +61 2 6230 1110
E: ncampbell@airports.asn.au
For event and registration enquiries, please contact:
Erin Livingston
Member Engagement Manager
T: +61 2 6230 1110
E: elivingston@airports.asn.au
Women in Airports Online Forum 2020
This year’s Women in Airports Online Forum was a fantastic success and was held on Wednesday, 11 November from 11am – 2pm. The theme was ‘Building Resilience and Empowering Yourself.’
Thank you for showing your support for the Women in Airports Network and attending this great forum. We had more than 150 attendees online.
Our speakers provided attendees with tips to build resilience, tips to empower yourself and gain the confidence needed to take the next steps to further your career and personal goals. This online forum was fast paced, engaging, thought provoking and re-energised attendees to finish 2020 on a high and begin 2021 with a new mindset.
2020 Program Outline |
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11.00am – 11.05am | Welcome and Introduction Samantha Leighton, Regional Airport & Industry Development Manager Australian Airports Association |
11.05am – 11.10am | CEO Welcome James Goodwin, Chief Executive, Australian Airports Association |
11.10am – 11.15am | Partner Welcome Sarah Samuel, Head of Airport IT, APAC, Amadeus |
11.15am – 11.45am | Keynote Presentation Christian ‘Boo’ Boucousis, Australian Aviation Ambassador & High Performance Coach & Speaker – What is a fighter pilot – Clarity and the Flawless Execution methodology – How to apply the fighter pilot mindset to your own success – Personal experience with observing the challenges of being a woman in Aviation as the owner of Australian Aviation Magazine |
11.45am – 12.30pm | Panel session – Resilience and Runways Chair: Sarah Samuel, Head of Airport IT, APAC, Amadeus Claire Donnellan, Manager, Customer Strategy & Growth, Sydney Airport Cally Ward, Senior Aviation Consultant, Airbiz Julie Stewart, Airport Manager, Ballina-Byron Gateway Airport Mai Yeung, Interface Manager at Bechtel Corporation, Western Sydney Airport |
12.30pm – 12.40pm | Tea/coffee break |
12.40pm – 1.10pm | Keynote Presentation – How self-aware are you and why is it important Ondina Gregoric, Business Mindset Mentor/Coach Self-awareness is our capacity to stand apart from ourselves and examine our thinking, our motives, our history, our scripts, our actions and our habits and tendencies – When you are self-aware you can build trust and create influence quickly – Understand you emotions and how to control them instead of them controlling you – Know how the outside world sees you and how you see it – Being aware of your thoughts enables you control how you behave. – You cannot fix an issue you are not aware of |
1.10pm – 1.50pm | Panel session – Strategies for Balance Chair: Sarah Samuel, Head of Airport IT, APAC, Amadeus Graeme Cowan, Board Director, R U OK? Scientia Professor Helen Christensen, Black Dog Institute Mieke De Schepper, Managing Director Asia-Pacific, Amadeus |
1.50pm – 2.00pm | Wrap and close of Women in Airports Forum Samantha Leighton, Regional Airport & Industry Development Manager, Australian Airports Association |
The 2020 speakers

Christian 'Boo' Boucousis
Australian Aviation Ambassador & High Performance Coach & Speaker
Boo is an established entrepreneur, business owner and today, an executive leadership and performance coach. At the age of 19 Boo was recruited into the Royal Australian Air Force as a pilot and completed over 11 years as an elite fighter pilot, one of only 400 trained over a 38 year period.
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Ondina Gregoric
Business Mindset Mentor/Coach
Ondina has developed her position amongst Australia’s leading businesswomen in the Fashion, Skin Care and Professional Presentation industries. Ondina opened her first business at the age of 21 and within 6 years developed the Ondina Brand.
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Ondina Moved to Sydney in October 2011 and continued her education and training with the Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership, is a Master NLP Practitioner and Meta –Coach. Ondina has worked with Judith Glaser (A social Anthropologist and Master Coach) and has become one of the first Internationally Certified Conversational Intelligence Coaches. Conversational Intelligence is being taken into the work place to make conversations dynamic, interactive and Inclusive – Helping great leaders build trust and get extraordinary results” Drawing on her many years of experience, Ondina is now speaking, mentoring and coaching others working in Business and in Corporate organisations to create a new conversation.

Sarah Samuel
Head of Airport IT, APAC, Amadeus
Sarah has over 22 years of industry experience, having worked on airport projects such as KL International Airport.
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Mai Yeung
Interface Manager, Bechtel, Western Sydney Airport
Mai Yeung has 27 years of airport experience in Australia and overseas. She is instrumental in supporting women in the industry, especially in project management and engineering
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Cally Ward
Senior Aviation Consultant, Airbiz
Cally is a senior consultant for Airbiz with a background in market research. She helps clients develop route networks, forecast passenger movements, refinance debt and navigate airport transactions.
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Julie Stewart
Airport Manager, Ballina-Byron Gateway Airport
Julie Stewart has over 20 years aviation experience across operations, emergency & crisis management, airport planning, business development and asset management.
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Claire Donnellan
Manager, Customer Strategy & Growth, Sydney Airport
Claire is an industry expert in customer strategy. Her most recent role was that of Manager, Customer Strategy at Sydney Airport, Australia’s largest airport servicing 44 million passengers per annum.
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Scientia Professor Helen Christensen
Director and Chief Scientist, Black Dog Institute
Scientia Professor Helen Christensen (AO) is Director and Chief Scientist at the Black Dog Institute and a Professor of Mental Health at UNSW.
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Professor Christensen is a leading expert on using technology to deliver evidence-based interventions for the prevention and treatment of depression, anxiety, suicide, and self-harm. Her research also encompasses prevention of mental health problems in young people through school-based research programs. These programs are aimed at prevention of depression and suicide risk through eMental Health interventions.

Mieke De Schepper
Managing Director Asia-Pacific, Amadeus
Mieke De Schepper is Executive Vice President, Online Travel Companies and Managing Director Asia Pacific, Amadeus IT Group.
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Graeme Cowan
Board Director, R U OK?
Graeme helps leaders and teams to be more caring, resilient, and growth-oriented. In his earlier career he worked in senior leadership positions with Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and AT Kearney.