AP2 Australasia Congratulates Jill Hanaford
Consult Australia’s Champions of Change – Female Leadership Award has been won by Jill Hannaford.
Jill was one of the founders of IAP2 in Australasia and has a career-long track record in advancing the practice of community and stakeholder engagement.
In 1996, Jill established GHD’s Community Consultation service offering, making GHD one of the first multidisciplinary consulting firms to offer this capability to clients. Today stakeholder engagement is a key part of GHD’s business, with a highly experienced team of more than 50 consultants across Australia.
Jill has also been championing career development opportunities for Indigenous Australians. She played an integral role in setting up a partnership between GHD and Career Trackers, a program that connects Indigenous university students and private organisations to create career pathways though structured internships. As a result, 35 Indigenous people have undertaken internships at GHD and the company has recently committed to provide at least 10 internships a year over the next decade.
As a role model for women in the consulting sector, Jill has championed mentoring opportunities within GHD and advocated about issues such as pay equity, career development, parental leave and flexibility. She has also helped GHD establish a structured approach to Diversity & Inclusion in Australia. Today, GHD is recognised a leader in the industry as it has received Employer of Choice for Gender Equality citation two years in a row from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
Jill is currently the Technical Collaboration Leader, Sydney and Leader, Stakeholder Engagement and Social Sustainability for GHD – who nominated her for this award.
She says she was honoured to receive the award:
“It was very good to be recognised and to reflect on the impact I’ve been able to make thanks to support from colleagues, IAP2 and my employer,” says Jill.
“When I look back and think about my idea to get IAP2 established in Australia, I am very proud and amazed at how far the organisation has progressed and the excellent work that is being done by members around Australia and globally.”
“I am also really pleased that my employer GHD has supported my ideas and initiatives for community engagement in the infrastructure sector and for diversity in the workplace. GHD has allowed me to focus on things that are important to me and that I believe improve society,” Jill adds.
Jill is continuing her work with CareerTrackers, is an IAP2 Ambassador and mother of four.