International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. In the lead up to this year’s IWD we’ll be highlighting some of the great women who are members at our spaces. Meet Alison Morley, Head of Business Development at Western Power.
Career
Alison Morley started out her career as a mine geologist working underground in outback towns in NSW and Qld for many years. Since then she’s also been a consultant to the mining industry, a CEO of a junior ASX-listed exploration company, an Exploration Manager and in 2017, made the change to leading Business Development in the energy sector for Western Power.
Women in the Industry
As a woman in male-dominated field Alison does believe that she faces some changes and that they become more apparent the further you get into your career. In facing these challenges she says, “The trick is to surround yourself with good people that you can rely on to get you through the challenging times and to keep the focus on what you want to achieve. The bigger the goal, the more important the quality of tenacity becomes!”
Role Models
Alison has quite a few female role models that she looks up to, “from the obvious (Gail Kelly, Diane Smith-Gander) to the ones that inspire me with their personal curiosity and commitment to innovation (Denise Goldsworthy, Erica Smyth, Lyn Beazley, Miriam Stanborough), to the young (sometimes!) local entrepreneurs who are changing our world with their vision (Hilary Goh, Melanie Perkins)”. She also draw a lot of inspiration from the arts and has a great respect for people like Wendy Martin, Helen Garner, Cressida Campbell and Clare Watson for the way they enrich our society.
Success at FLUX
Alison believes that as a large organisation is very easy to become inwardly focussed, however she is “using the Flux space as a way of taking people out of the day-to-day business and allowing them to explore creative and innovative ideas.” Another benefit of the space is that it, “provides [them] with a route to connect into the entrepreneurial community and open our eyes to the talent that is in our immediate environment. The people we’ve met and connections that we have made via Flux in the last few months have the potential to improve Western Power’s business, and that is a great outcome for the entire state.”
In 2018 Alison and her team are looking to continue to improve the way they safely deliver reliable energy across their grid and ensure Western Power takes full advantage of new technologies as they become available. She would also like to, “supply innovative solutions to some of the complex issues that all the electricity utilities are currently dealing with, to continue to deliver on the changing energy needs of the WA community.”
If you're a FLUX member don't miss our International Women's Day Lunch on the Deck!
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