Office for Women sends female public sector leaders from Brisbane to Boston

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Two rising stars of the Queensland public sector are off to Harvard Business School this week to rapidly sharpen their leadership skills, thanks to scholarships supported by Chief Executive Women and the federal government’s Office for Women.

Mary-Anne Curtis from Queensland Treasury and Virginia Nelson from Queensland Police will be taking part in the short and sweet Authentic Leadership Development Program which runs until this Friday at the prestigious school in Boston, Massachusetts, with course fees, travel and accommodation covered by the scholarships.

Nelson, a police officer for 27 years, was recently promoted to superintendent in the South Brisbane District after several years in the central part of the state. The CEW scholarship comes after she won a Telstra Australian Business Women’s Award in the public sector and academia category last year. “She is recognised as an innovative leader who has contributed significantly to developing the capability of women in policing and growing women in leadership within our organisation,” according to a brief send-off from her colleagues.

Curtis joined Qld Treasury as a graduate and is now deputy under-treasurer leading the department’s Agency Performance Group, which provides advice and analysis to the Queensland government on public policy, fiscal and economic issues, primarily in the health, education, communities, justice and housing portfolios. She has previously led the Economics Group and has degrees in law and commerce as well as

The CEW is also offering two more scholarships especially to public servants in partnership with the Office for Women, out of a group of six female middle-to-senior managers it is sending off to the INSEAD graduate business school in Singapore this November.

The two places are earmarked for “women managers in public service who are of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander heritage or are working for the benefit of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women” and are funded via the Commonwealth’s Women’s Leadership and Development Strategy.