As WIC celebrates its 25th anniversary, we reflect on the incredible women who have shaped the path for future generations in ICT. Past WICked Woman of the Year award winners have not only excelled in their fields but have also worked tirelessly to mentor, advocate, and break barriers for women and girls in technology.
A shout out to all these WICked Woman of the Year award winners and those who came before….
Katische Vinning – 2024
Permenthri Pillay – 2023
Michelle Graham, PhD – 2022
Toni Faluci – 2021
Jade Carson – 2020
Chui Yong – 2019
Lesley Seebek – 2018
Sheida Frawley – 2017
Hala Bitainah – 2016
Iwona Miliszewska – 2015
Debbie Lutter – 2014
Megan James – 2013
Hala Bitainah – 2012
Roz Beste – 2011
Narelle Dotta – 2010
Nerida Gill – 2009
Melanie Kontze – 2008
Lynette Johns-Boast – 2007
Dr Pei Yean Lee – 2006
*seeking insights if there were winners before 2006
This award holds a special place for me being an award winner in 2020, so I invited some recent WICked Women Award winners (Katische Vinning – 2024 and Michelle Graham, PhD – 2022) to share some of their insights.
Katische Vinning – Assistant Secretary CIO Defence Housing Australia – WIC WICked Woman of the Year 2024
As the Chief Information Officer at Defence Housing Australia (DHA), Katische oversees the technology function and leads a team of almost 100 strategic and operational staff. At DHA, Katische initiates and drives meaningful change programs, investing in organisational culture as a success factor in realising strategic objectives. Katische is passionate about mentoring the next generation of leaders and leveraging leadership with authenticity as a mechanism for people to grow and excel.
1. How do you leveraged your position and experiences to mentor and inspire the next generation of women in ICT?
Leadership brings opportunities and platforms to connect with women from all backgrounds and demographics. My approach is to engage transparently and encourage anyone who is on their ICT career journey to dream big and remember that even setbacks are chances to learn, grow and re-position. Although my days are really full, I also make sure I take the time to genuinely connect with the people around me. Encouraging others, identifying opportunities to showcase their talent and speaking truth and kindness in difficult circumstances are all tangible ways to propel the next generation into their fabulous futures.
2. Throughout your career, what challenges specific to women in ICT have you encountered, and what strategies have you employed to overcome them? How do you assist other women in navigating similar obstacles?
Early in my career I did encounter challenges with struggling to have my voice heard and feeling like I was not able to add value as I was not technical enough in the context of the discussions. The strategies that I have employed have been to focus on what I do bring to the table and leverage this to get outcomes rather than to worry about what I do not have. I encourage other women to do the same. Exceptional communication skills and the ability to translate complex terminology into a relatable story that highlights how this benefits the audience is one of those skills I bring to the table. This approach also helps keeps imposter syndrome at bay!
3. Women have been advocating for policies or initiatives that promote gender equality within the ICT sector for longer than WIC has been around. What big changes have you seen as a result of these efforts?
Definitely more flexible working arrangements and a shift to hybrid working arrangements has contributed in promoting more women to enter the ICT sector. However, I do believe a societal acceptance of mid-career changes and more women in ICT roles more broadly has also driven a shift in expectations and normalising more diversity within the industry.
4. What programs or initiatives have you seen or participated in that aim to increase the participation of women and girls in ICT, particularly those from underrepresented communities?
We support WIC’s work experience program which has been fantastic. I have also seen a great initiative run out of Melbourne RMIT encouraging girls in years 9-10 to consider a career in ICT/Cyber through building awareness of skills such as teamwork, problem solving and attention to detail underpin technical abilities required for these careers. This approach seeks an increase of girls choosing IT focussed subjects with the view to transition to an IT career.
5. As we celebrate 25 years of WIC, what is your vision for the future of women in ICT? What steps do you believe are crucial to continue advancing gender equality in this field?
When I consider my children and the generations that are to come, we are seeing increased ability to engage with technology from an early age. My vision is this, coupled with a broader range of ICT roles on offer will encourage women to seek out ICT opportunities as one of their first preferences. It will be crucial to communicate these options early, for women in IT to model this opportunities well and to continue to advocate for genuine diversity, including removal of the gender pay gap at all levels within organisations.
Michelle Graham, PhD– Assistant Secretary Chief Architect Home Affairs – WIC WICked Woman of the Year 2022
Michelle has a Doctor of Philosophy focused in Mathematics and Computer Science – Enterprise Security Architecture from University of Adelaide. She used her expertise in cybersecurity and architecture to advise the Secretary of Defence and Prime Minister of Iraq in 2008.
Michelle is an experienced Chief Architect with Home affairs leading 80 staff providing architectural and design advice across Home Affairs. She was also Acting Chief Information Officer Home Affairs with responsibility for the information and technology environment to the Department’s 15000 staff, complexity of which includes the Australian Border Force, visa and citizenship, travellers, trade and cargo.
1. How do you leverage your position and experiences to mentor and inspire the next generation of women in ICT?
I honestly believe in the phrase “you can’t be what you can’t see”, because I grew up in the ICT industry with no visible female inspirations or representation and it was challenging. So I share my stories to help our next generation of amazing women see that it’s not easy, but being tenacious, working hard, engaging in some risk, getting rid of that imposter syndrome once and for all, and saying yes to the opportunities, our experiences become so very meaningful. Because for me, a life without meaning is no life at all.
2. Throughout your career, what challenges specific to women in ICT have you encountered, and what strategies have you employed to overcome them? How do you assist other women in navigating similar obstacles?
I think communication is one of the most challenging. Not being heard or listened to and being spoken over is the worse! The answers to this are actually pretty practical and learning how to speak clearly and articulately, being confident in your language and behaviour and calling out poor behaviour professionally is all a part of it. I’ve also spoken to people quietly and privately to explain what they are doing to myself and others and how it makes us feel. It’s interesting how quickly peoples behaviours change when you explain the consequences. Most people are wanting to be better.
3. Women have been advocating for policies or initiatives that promote gender equality within the ICT sector for longer than WIC has been around. What big changes have you seen as a result of these efforts?
Attraction and retention of women has been a great step forward for initiatives and policies in the ICT sector. Some of those have included work-life balance and flexibility, addressing male dominated culture so women feel welcome and included, and pay gap resolution. The numbers of women in our teams continues to rise visibly. When I started my career I was the only female in most rooms I walked in to. I’m so pleased to say that is changing.
4. What programs or initiatives have you seen or participated in that aim to increase the participation of women and girls in ICT, particularly those from underrepresented communities?
I think some of the best approaches are the addressing of the pipeline issue we have for up and coming women and girls in ICT. It’s difficult to expect equality in our workplaces when the schools and universities are graduating low numbers of women. We need to get into the schools, talk to the young women and encourage their interest early. Help them choose the right subjects, show them what is possible as a woman in ICT and point them to the exciting global opportunities that await in our ICT careers.
5. As we celebrate 25 years of WIC, what is your vision for the future of women in ICT? What steps do you believe are crucial to continue advancing gender equality in this field?
The number of women in ICT is continuing to rise however the recent number in Australia still only has us at 28% and its worse for ICT Leaders and technical roles. I think making everyone aware of the challenges, mentoring, having male champions in organisations and talking about the issues, has been a great step forward but there is still so much more work to do. Unconscious bias in hiring and promotion is prevalent and until we achieve equality, we can’t stop advocating for our talented female colleagues – present and future. Organisations like WIC raise the profile in a positive way, celebrate successful women and encourage everyone to be involved, towards a balanced ICT industry.
While progress has been made, women still only make up 28% of the ICT workforce, with even fewer in leadership and technical roles. The collective efforts of mentorship, advocacy, and workplace reforms are making a difference, but there is still more work to do. As we celebrate WIC’s legacy, we must continue championing gender equality, breaking biases, and ensuring the next generation of women in ICT feel seen, supported, and empowered.
🚀 The future of ICT is diverse, inclusive, and filled with opportunity—if we keep pushing forward together.
Written by Jade Carson in conversation with Katische Vinning and Michelle Graham, PhD.