ADM is honoured to announce the 2025 Women in Defence Awards finalists!
Our judging panels were delighted to see the incredibly talented, diverse, and high-flying women nominated this year across the Australian Defence Force, Australian Public Service, and defence industry. The judging this year was incredibly close!
Our judges looked for entries who had outstanding achievements in 2024, showed a commitment to values and behaviours that led to demonstrable success; overcame personal challenges; went above and beyond their position descriptions to advance the reputation of the defence sector; to mentor and guide, and pave the way for others to follow.
Each judging panel also considered more specific challenges and circumstances to determine the finalists, listed below, all of whom are leaders in their fields.
ADM would also like to extend a big thank you to our sponsors:
- Headline Sponsor: Downer
- Gold Sponsors: Hanwha Defence Australia, Synergy and Thales
- Silver Sponsors: Babcock Australia & New Zealand and Smartgroup
- Bronze Sponsors: Aspen Medical and Navy Health
Your support makes these events possible!
In no particular order our finalists are:
Marketing & Communications
To be awarded to the defence community’s most outstanding female individual working within the communications/marketing/stakeholder engagement field.
- Cassandra Bowers, Digital Communications Manager, Air and Space Power Centre
- Jennifer Parker, Expert Associate National Security College, Adjunct Fellow UNSW Canberra
- Sarah Vesey, Public Affairs Officer, Australian Army
Engineering
To be awarded to the defence community’s most outstanding female individual working within the engineering field. This category is open to all disciplines within the engineering community.
- Jacinta Kearns, Senior Technical Officer/Apprentice Supervisor, Surface Mount Assembly Supervisor, CEA Technologies
- Xiaoyan Li, Principal Consultant and Senior Systems Engineer, Downer Professional services
- Seema Odhavji, Senior Engineer, QinetiQ Australia
- Georgia Prout, Electronics Engineer, PentenAmio
- Caroline Skinner, Marine Engineering Officer, HMAS Supply, Royal Australian Navy
Executive Management
To be awarded to the defence community’s most outstanding female individual working within the executive management field.
- Toni Bushby, Director General Health Business and Plans, Joint Health Command, Head of Corps, Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps, Director General Army Health Services (from 2025), Australian Army
- Felicia Mellors, Technical Director and a Defence Sector Lead, AECOM
- Emily Pyke, Co-Founder and CEO, UndaTech
- Bridie Scott, EMOS Manager, Downer Defence
- Miranda Van Hooff, Research Lead, Military Families, Gallipoli Medical Research
- Kristen Watts, Director Workforce Design and Integration in Military Workforce Design Division, Royal Australian Navy
ICT & Cyber
Awarded to the defence community’s most outstanding female working with in the information, communications, technology, computing and cyber sectors.
- Brionee Harvey, Petty Officer Communications Information Systems, Royal Australian Navy
- Fuson Ozhan, Head of Digital, Data & Cyber – Digital Portfolio Delivery, BAE Systems Australia
- Ristana Risteska, Cyber Security Lead, BAE Systems Australia
- Karunya Sankar Kumar, Senior Manager and Data Analyst, Downer Professional Services
Indigenous
To be awarded to the defence community’s most outstanding indigenous individual female working in any field.
- Crystal Dutubure, Design Manager, ACOR Consultants
- Tracey Hoffman, Nursing Officer, Joint Health Command
- Joanne Schadenberg, Front Office Manager and MEC Clerk, Joint Health Unit, Central New South Wales
Legal / Contracting
To be awarded to the defence community’s most outstanding female individual working within the legal/contracting field. Applicants do not have to be lawyers per se.
- Tara Maschotta, Senior Manager – Commercial – Corporate, Insurance & Business Winning, Babcock Australasia
- Kimberley Saarenpaa, Senior Consultant, AeroPM
- Nathalie Sarlin, Chief Executive Officer, Buzzworks
- Lisa Tibbits, Senior Legal Counsel, Austal Limited
Operations
To be awarded to the defence community’s most outstanding female individual to recognise efforts of women in deployed/remote areas with a focus on logistics, services and support roles.
- Pauline Fitzgerald, Project Director, Defence Base Services, Ventia
- Michelle Hoy, Operations Manager – Estate Maintenance and Living Service ACT, Downer Defence
- Tania Mitchell, Global Mobility (GM) Operations Lead, ASC
- Shafiqah Shariff Ali, Strike Officer and Principle Warfare Officer – Surface Warfare, Royal Australian Navy
People and Culture
To be awarded to the defence community’s most outstanding female individual who has developed and /or administered initiatives to support women in the defence community.
- Olivia Agate, Founder and President, Women's Defence Connection
- Jen Dainer, Founder, Industrial Image
- Dani Eveleigh, Founder and Principal Consultant, Articulate Business Solutions
- Tracey Hoffman, Nursing Officer, Joint Health Command
- Lorraine Kennedy, Director People and Culture, Northrop Grumman Australia
Project Management
To be awarded to the defence community’s most outstanding female individual working within project management.
- Rukhsaar Ibrahim, Senior Structural Engineer and SEA4000 DDG PH6 Structural Team Lead, Navantia Australia
- Tiffany Noy, Business Manager – Biosecurity Pest, Biodiversity Australia
- Lisa Platt, Executive Project Director, RPS Group
- Caitlin Stephenson, Director of Programs, Simulation & Training Solutions, Thomas Global Systems
- Emma Watson, Program Manager - Juno H135, Boeing Defence Australia
- Caitlin Worrall, Project Manager, PentenAmio
Rising Star (30 Years and under)
To be awarded to the defence community’s most outstanding female individual aged under 30 years (at 31st December 2024).
- Alisha Collenette, Associate Systems Engineer, Saab Australia
- Stacey Fitzpatrick, Field Service Representative, Saab Australia
- Amelia Grace, Senior Design Manager, AECOM
- Xiaoyan Li, Principal Consultant and Senior Systems Engineer, Downer Professional Services
- Emily Margerison, Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) Engineer, Airbus
- Charlotte Marshall, Radio Frequency Engineer, CEA Technologies
Technical Trade
To be awarded to the defence community’s most outstanding female individual working within operations, production or trade fields.
- Deanna Lymn, 2nd year apprentice Boilermaker, BAE Systems Maritime
- Imogen Marsland, Gunner, 4th/19th Prince of Wales Light Horse, Australian Army
- Sophia Mintram, Able Seaman Aviation Technician Aircraft - Helicopter Support Facility (HSF) Assistant, Royal Australian Navy
- Sienna Newport, 3rd Year Fitout Apprentice, Austal Limited
- Melanie Stocker, 1st year boil maker apprentice, BAE Systems Maritime
We'd like to extend a huge congratulations to all our finalists. Make sure to keep an eye on our website – we'll be sharing the details of the finalists in each category from Wednesday 13 August. In the meantime, be sure to nominate for the ADM 30 Under 30 Awards which opened on Monday! www.adm30under30awards.com.au
The winners and Hall of Fame inductee will be announced at a gala dinner at The National Arboretum, Canberra, on 15 October 2025. Book your tickets here – we hope to see you there!
