Hodgkins wins Telstra award

The 2005 Telstra WA Business Women’s Awards showcased the top echelon of female leaders, with Tracey Hodgkins named Telstra Western Australian Business Woman of 2005.

Ms Hodgkins is the director of Advantage WA at Curtin University and designed, developed and implemented the program in 2001.

The program aims to bridge the gap between university and the business world by providing students with professional develop-ment skills through their partici-pation in real life business projects.

Ms Hodgkins was also awarded the WA Hudson Community and Government Award for employees of government department, statutory bodies and not-for-profit organisations.

The Westpac Business Owner Award, for owners with a 50 per cent share or more in a business, with responsibility for key management decision making, was won by Nikki Griffiths.

Ms Griffiths is the owner of four small businesses in Busselton – a graphic design business, a gifts business, a fitness training company and a business that invented a product to assist with breast feeding. She is vice-president of the Busselton Chamber of Commerce and was a WA Business News 40under40 winner last year.

The Australian Government Private and Corporate Sector Award, for employees in the private and corporate sectors, or owners with less than a 50 per cent share of a business, was awarded to Sandy Cikara for her work as the state operations manager for McDonald’s Australia Ltd.

In her role, Ms Cikara leads a team of more than 120 managers and 1,200 staff and, at 26, is the youngest operations manager at McDonald’s in Australia.

The Panasonic Young Business Women’s Award for women aged 30 years and under was awarded to Karen Paterson for her work as a mine superintendent for Mines and Resources Australia’s Frog’s Leg mine. Ms Paterson is recognised as one of the first women in WA to qualify for the first class mine manager’s certificate of competency, a pre-requisite for underground mine managers.

•           Telstra Western Australian Business Woman of 2005.

•           Director of Advantage WA at Curtin University. Designed, developed and implemented the program in 2001. 

•           Also awarded WA Hudson Community and Government Award.