Angie Paskevicius, the chief executive of non-for-profit drug and alcohol support service Holyoake, has been named the 2015 Telstra Western Australia business woman of the year.
Angie Paskevicius, the chief executive of non-for-profit drug and alcohol support service Holyoake, has been named the 2015 Telstra Western Australia business woman of the year.
Held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on Friday night, Ms Paskevicius took the top award for her role as the head of Holyoake, which runs the Wellbeing@Work program to help employers deal with substance misuse, and the Drumbeat program, which uses music and rhythm as a teambuilding exercise.
Ms Paskevicius became the head of Holyoake in 2007, during a time in which the business was struggling to meet financial needs.
She led the development of a new strategic plan, recruited a team of talented and passionate people and went on to develop the two social programs.
The purpose of the change in direction was to move away from government funding as the company's only source of income.
Ms Paskevicius said the key to her success was a willingness to give back to her workplace and community and learn from those around her.
"I'm a great listener and love giving back through my coaching and mentoring," she said.
"I love what I do as it gives me the opportunity to help develop people to achieve their potential, as well as my own personal purpose in life."
Telstra chief operations officer Kate McKenzie said Ms Paskevicius and her fellow winners of the night were women who are passionate, courageous and willing to challenge the accepted way of doing things.
"Angie took the reins at Holyoake at a time when they hadn't had a CEO for two years. She managed to change the mindset of the organisation from 'charity' to 'enterprise' by moving fom 100 per cent government funding to a more diverse funding and revenue model," Ms McKenzie said.
Ms Paskevicius was also awarded the For Purpose and Social Enterprise award.
Other category winners of the night included April Armstrong, who received the Start Up award for her work running Collins Street Surgery in Kalgoorlie, while the Corporate and Private award went to BHP Billiton Iron Ore's first female mining manager, Jessica Barber.
Joanne Abbiss, the chief executive for City of Kwinana, took home the Government and Academia award, while Phyllis Narula, who runs nine child care centres across Perth, took the Entrepreneur award.
The Young Business Women's award went to Kim Tran, the managing director of La Belle Peau Skincare Clinic.
The WA winners will proceed to the national finals in Melbourne next month.
