Rio manager wins CEW scholarship

Rio Tinto’s Zara Fisher has received a scholarship from Chief Executive Women to attend a prestigious management course in France.

Ms Fisher, who is general manager railway operations at the mining giant, will attend a four-week advanced management course at the prestigious INSEAD business school in Fontainebleau, France.

She is the second woman from Rio Tinto to be awarded the scholarship, after program lead Sinead Kaufman won the spot in 2014.

“This will be particularly helpful in enabling me to contribute to the robust discussion amongst our leadership community to ensure our businesses are prepared and enabled for success,” Ms Fisher said.

Ms Fisher is responsible for operational and safety leadership of teams across the Pilbara and in Perth, the integration of new technologies, and innovation studies for the heavy haul railway.

In addition to offering scholarships, CEW provides leadership programs and mentoring to established and emerging Australian businesswomen.

CEW president Diane Smith-Gander said the program’s scholarships were designed to assist women to take their careers to the next level.

“One reason often given for the lack of female directors on resource company boards is that there are too few women in the pipeline with operational experience,” she said.

“Zara runs railways in one of the biggest business units in one of the world’s largest resource companies – that’s relevant operational experience any board would love.”