EXPERTISE/SPECIALISATIONS:

• Financial Services & Investment Banking
• Professional Services, FMCG, Healthcare & Overseas Aid, Science & Education
• International and Cross-Cultural.

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE:

Born in England, Gillian moved to Australia with her family in her late teens. She is an experienced CEO, company director and chairman, and is able to draw on an international career that has encompassed strategy and investment, capacity building, new business launches, organisational restructure and change management.

Gillian has worked in Australia, Hong Kong and Mexico, managed business interests in the US, Singapore, Europe, Melanesia and Polynesia, and been responsible for portfolios in excess of US$1 billion across multiple jurisdictions. She has worked in multi-nationals and SME’s, in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, and is skilled at bridging different cultures – national, corporate and professional.

Key executive roles held by Gillian include: Managing Director, Unisearch Ltd (technology commercialisation) from 1998-2005; General Manager, Corporate Development - Zurich Australia Group Ltd (1995-1998); Managing Director - Standard Chartered Equitor Trustee HK Ltd (1993-1995); Corporate Finance Manager - Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (1988-1991); and Senior Manager, Arbitrage - Lloyds Bank NZA Ltd (1983-1987).

Early experience included legal positions at Allens Arthur Robinson and Sydney University, roles in international trade and investment, and executive search in Mexico City.
Gillian is a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist, and has been coaching professionally since 2005.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Law degrees, Sydney and Harvard Universities.

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS & MEMBERSHIPS:

Since the early 1990s, Gillian has served in a non-executive capacity with a diversity of community, business and aid organisations in Australia and Hong Kong. These include:

• Director, Planet Ark Environmental Foundation since 2007; Chair 2008 -2010
• Director, Aus Health International (1997-2008)
• Founding Director, Biosignal Ltd (listed on ASX in 2004, Board Director - 1999-2006)
• Member, Advisory Board, Centre for Quantum Computer Technology (2001-2009)
• Member, Council, Knox Grammar School (1998-2002)
• Member, Professional Selection Committee for Churchill Fellows (2000-2006)
• Chair, National Education Advisory Committee, Australian Institute of Company Directors (2003-2006)
• Volunteer Counsellor, Lifeline (2003-2004)
• Member, Management Committees for Hong Kong Trustees Association, fund-raising for ORBIS (flying eye hospital) and Kidney Patients Trust Fund (1993-1995)
• Fellow, Australian Institute of Company Directors.

PERSONAL INTERESTS:

Travel, languages, essay and short story writing.

WORKING WITH GILLIAN TURNER:

“I’ve been seeing Gillian for nearly four years. In the early stages of our professional relationship, Gillian helped me work though a difficult work situation involving my boss. Although she only met him once or twice, I felt Gillian knew exactly the type of person I was dealing with. More significantly, over the ensuing years Gillian helped me work through my career goals and aspirations and challenged me, with different strategies and techniques, to think more deeply about my career. In particular, she helped me better understand my strengths and weaknesses, what motivates and drives me and, most importantly, what holds me back.” General Counsel, Major Financial Services Company