UNIQ You, a not for profit organisation dedicated to gender equality by supporting high school girls
across Australia to explore careers in industries and roles where women are under-represented, is
proud to announce a significant leadership transition with the appointment of Jacqui Walters as
Chair of the Board, taking over from current Chair, Matt Lee, who will continue as a non-executive
Director.
Jacqui brings a wealth of experience and passion for our mission, with senior executive and board
experience in relevant industries including energy, transport, and infrastructure.
As a strong advocate for gender equality within heavy industries, Jacqui has been a supporter of
UNIQ You since inception.
“UNIQ You provides a critical service to support companies who want to achieve gender equality.
Right now companies are competing for the same small pool of female candidates. UNIQ You helps
to attract more girls to these jobs and generates more female candidates for those companies. I am
proud to work with our fantastic industry partners and to support our CEO Val Ridley in the
expansion of UNIQ You beyond Queensland. It is an honour to lead UNIQ You and I thank Matt for
his leadership and commitment.”
Outgoing Chair, Matt Lee, says:
“I have had the privilege to be part of UNIQ You since the very beginning, working with Founder and
former-CEO, Tanya Andrews. It has been an honour to lead UNIQ You over the past two years and I
am looking forward to continue to work with Jacqui and Val to further grow our footprint, so that
we can support even more girls to consider jobs in non-traditional industries. UNIQ You is fortunate
to have someone of Jacqui’s calibre join the Board and take on the role of Chair and I wish her all the
very best.”
CEO Val Ridley is celebrating an impressive first year leading the company, connecting over 2500
high school girls with more than 60 female industry professionals from across our industry partners,
and will join the Board as an Executive Director alongside Jacqui and Matt.
“I am incredibly honoured to join Jacqui and Matt on the Board, and excited to continue to lead
UNIQ You forward, driving national growth and impact. I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation
to Tanya, our Founder and former CEO, for her passion, vision and significant contribution.”
Val leads an expanded team delivering the highest growth in service provision and impact the
company has seen to date. Andrew Hardiman has joined as Education & Industry Strategic
Partnership Manager and Haley Russell will join in August as Head of Partnerships & Operations.
These changes also see Founder and previous CEO Tanya Andrews taking a side-step off the Board
and into a National Ambassador role for the organisation.
“I couldn’t be more confident or proud to see UNIQ You in such capable, experienced and dedicated
hands as those provided by Jacqui, Matt, Val and the wider team,” says Ms Andrews. “From a
concept born out of a passionate drive to significantly increase the number of high school girls
considering and pursuing pathways into male-dominated industries, to a soon-to-be national
footprint inspiring tens of thousands of girls over the next 5 years, this is the kind of outcome every
founder hopes for when realising their vision.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our sponsors for supporting UNIQ You’s ambitious
mission – especially those who took a leap of faith on my initial concept back in 2020, and have stuck
by the organisation every year since through the usual start-up growing pains. They
include: Aurecon, BMD Group, Boeing, Hutchinson Builders, Origin, Shell QGC, Skedulo and Urban
Utilities.” [b]
Tanya remains committed to positively impacting gender equality in Australia and around the world
through her focus on the growth, support and retention of the early pipeline of female talent into
industries currently underrepresented by women.
For more information contact UNIQ You via [email protected]