Welcome to The Chief Brief. Every Sunday, I spotlight global, diverse, and innovative female leaders, the news that caught my eye, and is influencing change. Curating news from around the world, breaking down the story, and helping you connect with the women making news! The Chief Brief is a passion project to shout about our expertise, celebrate our successes, discuss our failures but most importantly, build a globally connected community of women leaders
Happy Sunday!
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Teenage wildcard
I’m no huge sports buff, but boy do I love a good story. And I love it even more when no one has to force me to watch a game. Emma Raducanu did just that. She made me vested in her nail-biting match against World No. 45 Sorana Cirstea at Wimbledon this weekend. Anyone who knows me knows just how tough that is! The 338 seeded 18 year old played like her life depended on it. And that passion just won over a new legion of fans for tennis, including me.
No one would’ve guessed this was Emma’s first time out of the gate at a major grand slam. Her interview at the end of the game, gave a glimpse of a confident, funny and endearing star being born. Headlines since having been raving. From calling her an ‘earthquake for tennis,’ ‘a new star is born',’ to commentators talking about her confidence, ability to perform for the crowds, and her poise. The cynic in me can’t help but think some of those comments are digs at World No. 1 and fellow teenage player, Naomi Osaka. She of course has withdrawn from matches till the Olympics, citing media pressure and mental health.
Must Watch:
So here’s the backstory of a young woman who shows the promise of being Tennis’ next star.
Born in Canada, she was brought up in the U.K. since the age of two. Emma is the daughter of two finance professionals. Her father is Romanian, and her mother is Chinese. She just finished her A levels (that’s 12th grade in layman’s terms) and is awaiting what she hopes will be results in economics and maths that are top her class.
In the meantime, it was only last month that she had her first WTA tour main draw appearance at the Nottingham Open. An impressive performance there got her a wildcard entry to compete at Wimbledon. She is now the youngest ever British player in the Open Era to reach the final 16 (4th round) at the most prestigious courts of the ATP circuit. That is some achievement, indeed!
On Monday (16:15 BST) she goes up against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, who has been creating waves at Wimbledon of a slightly different kind. A former top 40 player, 28-year-old Ajla is now ranked 75th as she heads to only her second ever 4th round at a major, against Emma. On Saturday she was embroiled in what could be only called a cat fight on the courts, with former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko. I guess when it comes to stardom, it is different strokes for different folks!
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Business not as usual
Driving into trouble
Didi just pulled off a mega IPO, and its already in trouble. The company raised nearly $4.4bn, making it the largest IPO for a Chinese company in the first half of this year. On Friday, Didi Global’s stock price fell more 7%.
China’s internet regulator has opened a cyber security inquiry into the country’s largest ride hailing service. The purpose according to a short statement by China’s Cyberspace Administration was to “safeguard national data security, maintain national security and protect public interest”. The regulator added that while the review is under way Didi would not be taking on any new users.
Co-founder Jean Liu has been the public face of Didi, which has more than 377 million active users and 13 million drivers across the country. With many analysts and observers drawing parallels with the crackdown by the Chinese authorities on tech companies like Alibaba, and social networks Tencent and Bytedance (the parent company of TikTok), the former head of Goldman Sachs Asia, and daughter of Liu Chuanzhi, the founder of Lenovo has a tough battle to stay on the CCP’s good side, ahead of her.
The fight for GSK
Emma Walmsley’s fight with activist investor Elliott Advisors has predictably heated up. A public attack this week in a 17 page letter called for pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline to make some big changes. The biggest being that the company launch a formal process to select a CEO for the spun off pharma business, to be known as New GSK. That’s effectively asking Emma to reapply for the job she already has. But GSK has already committed to Emma remaining in charge.
The “smaller” asks by Elliott? They want the company to recruit new board members with biopharmaceutical and scientific experience, and to consider selling the soon-to-be-listed consumer business i.e., New GSK. But the activist investor only has a 3% stake and will be reliant on other shareholders to support its position.
Hospital profits
Preetha Reddy, Sangita Reddy and Shobana Kamineni have steered the healthcare company founded by their father Prathap C. Reddy for years now. They’ve seen diseases come and go, and even Covid hasn’t slowed down the growth of India’s first corporate healthcare provider, Apollo Hospitals.
The company’s stock price jumped this week on its Q4 earnings report. In patient volume growth was at 9%, overall occupancy at 63%. Most importantly, higher surgical volumes, easing of travel restrictions and lower revenue contributions from COVID-19 cases sent a strong signal that the company was expecting strong operating margins in the months ahead. Add to the mix the demerger of the company’s pharma business and it bodes well for the growth the Reddy sisters have aimed for.
It’s Africa’s turn
The paucity of African representation in international children’s programming is pretty visible. Disney and Cartoon Network are working on fixing that problem.
The Walt Disney Company announced this week it is picking up two African animations. One by South African creators Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal called: ‘Kiff’ which will premiere in 2023 on the Disney Channel. The other by South African artists Kelly Dillon and Marc Dey, called ‘Kiya and the Kimoja Heroes’. The latter will debut on Disney Junior and Disney+ in 2023. In addition, a 10 part collection of original films titled ‘Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire’ by animators from six African countries: Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt will debut on Disney+ next year.
Cartoon Network, meanwhile, is producing its first African superhero series, Garbage Boy and Trash Can, with South African studio Pure Garbage. The series won Cartoon Network Africa’s inaugural Creative Lab competition back in 2018.
Netflix first African animated original series Mama K’s Team 4 by Zambian creator, Malenga Mulendema was also the result of an incubator project and announced back in 2019. Malenga was chosen out of 1400 writers who entered the Triggerfish Story Lab initiative, a program designed to develop African writers and directors.
All these are steps that keep the goal of ‘representation matters’ at the centre of every content and business decision. If kids can see themselves on screen and in the media, they can let their imaginations loose, and aim to be whatever they want to be when they say, “when I grow up….”
Caught my eye
Heeled parades
13,500 Ukrainian military women have fought in bloody battles against Russian and Russia backed forces on the frontlines in Ukraine. But when it comes to military parades, their bosses seem to want them to bury that deep inside themselves and instead bring out their feminine side with high block heels.
Ukrainian military bosses flummoxed literally everyone when they announced a military parade next month to mark 30 years of independence following the Soviet Union’s breakup, and then released official pictures of female soldiers practising in heels, rather than military boots. The country’s female lawmakers were not impressed either. Some even showed up in parliament with pairs of shoes and encouraged the defence minister to wear high heels to the parade.
“It is hard to imagine a more idiotic, harmful idea,” said Inna Sovsun, a member of the Golos party, pointing to health risks. She also said that Ukraine’s women soldiers – like men – were risking their lives and “do not deserve to be mocked”.
Underground Astronauts
Dr. Keneiloe Molopyane AKA “Bones” was recently named a 2021 Emerging Explorer by the National Geographic Society. The 34 year old with a PhD in Anatomical Sciences is a curator by day, intrepid explorer by night. Her her work involves doing what most of us would think, absolutely insane.
She is a member of the second generation of “underground astronauts” - women who are discovering the deepest and smallest caves where they uncover the secrets of human evolution. How do they do it? By undertaking a harrowing journey, with the ability to squeeze through 18-centimeter holes (less than the diameter of a full-size football) all while working in very dark, cramped conditions 30 meters underground. The original crew of six women (the first generation of underground astronauts) unearthed the remains of a previously unknown human species deep in the Rising Star cave system in South Africa. Bones and her crew have returned to the caves to see what else is left to discover.
Wally Funk
Wally Funk is 82 years old. She was trained as an astronaut in the 1960s and was the youngest of 13 women who passed the same rigorous testing as the Mercury Seven male astronauts. That is the programme which sent the first Americans into space in 1961-1963. But Wally never got to go to space. She was a woman and NASA’s astronauts in those days were all male military pilots.
Now Jeff Bezos has picked Wally to be his “honoured guest” on board the New Shepard Rocket set for launch from West Texas on July 20th. Developed by his company Blue Origin, the rocket will carry Wally along with Jeff, his brother Mark and the winner of a charity auction for a 10 minute trip. The capsule can reach a maximum altitude of 350,827ft, according to Blue Origin - about 65 miles above the border of space.
"I'll love every second of it. Whoooo! Ha-ha. I can hardly wait!" - Wally Funk
We’ll all be cheering you on Wally! It is about damn time!
Be a sport
World No. 1
Women’s golf has a new champ. Nelly Korda's now No. 1, bringing Jin Young Ko's 92-week reign at the top of the Rolex World Rankings to an end. The twenty-two year old’s three-shot victory over Lizette Salas at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship was her third win of the season.
World record
Sydney McLaughlin crushed the 400m hurdles world record, supplanting now former record holder Dalilah Muhammad as the gold-medal favourite and winning the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. Sydney clocked 51.90 seconds, bettering Rio gold medallist Muhammad’s previous record of 52.16 from the 2019 World Championships. Get ready for a Sydney-Dalilah rematch at the Olympics in August.
The artsy stuff
‘Head of a woman’ recovered
“Head of a woman”, along with Piet Mondrian’s “Landscape with a mill,” and a pen-and-ink sketch of San Diego de Alcala in ecstasy by Renaissance artist Guglielmo Caccia disappeared from the National Art Gallery in Athens back in 2012. The paintings have now been recovered with the Greek police hot on the trail of the suspects and fences involved.
Painted in 1939, “Head of a woman” was gifted in 1946 by Picasso to Greece in recognition of the country’s resistance to the Nazi occupation. Inscribed by the artist at the back: “For the Greek people, a tribute from Picasso.”
Art Trail
The Edinburgh Science Festival’s put together a Women in STEM art trail. It celebrates nine remarkable women and their achievements by showcasing them in a series of street art pieces. During the Festival (26 June-11 July), you can explore the trail yourself, (if you are in or head to the city) for free by downloading the Curious Edinburgh App or download the PDF.
Have you met
Aviation’s 2021 movers and shakers
The second quarter of 2021 has been one for the aviation industry history books. Three women: Lynne Embleton, Annick Guerard, and Christine Ourmieres-Widener joined the hallowed halls of a very small group of ladies leading some of the top passenger airlines in the world.
1) Lynne Embleton took over as chief executive of Irish operator Aer Lingus in early April, succeeding Sean Doyle following his move to the top role at British Airways. Lynn comes to Air Lingus with 25 years of experience in the aviation industry having been the CEO and Chair of IAG Cargo and Head of Strategy and Director of Strategy at British Airways. She was also managing director at Gatwick Airport, as well as the director of strategy and chairwoman of BA Cityflyer.
2) Annick Guerard was named as the new leader of Canadian company Air Transat parent Transat AT in late May. She has stepped into the role after serving as the chief operations officer role at Transat AT, succeeding long-serving CEO Jean-Marc Eustache. The Montreal-based airline, effectively shuttered operations in January but hopes to restart in July.
3) Christine Ourmieres-Widener was appointed chief executive of TAP Air Portugal in late June. She was CEO of the Flybe Group, a key regional airline in Europe with operations in the U.K. (which has since been sold). Christine was previously executive president of a leasing company specialising in the aviation sector, and her career also includes roles at Air France/KLM.
Lynn, Annick and Christine join Anne Rigail at Air France, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao at VietJet Air and Jayne Hrdlicka at Virgin Australia in the club of women leading the world’s 100 largest airlines.
But that small club gets a bit bigger when you look at operators outside the top 100. Get to know these names:
RwandAir’s Yvonne Makolo (Rwanda)
Lufthansa Cargo’s Dorothea von Boxberg (Germany)
Wingo’s Carolina Cortizo (Colombia)
Blue Air’s Oana Petrescu (Romania)
Transavia France’s Nathalie Stubler (France)
Hong Kong Express’ Mandy Ng (HK)
Alliance Air’s Harpreet A De Singh (India)
Indonesia AirAsia’s Veranita Yosephine Sinaga (Indonesia)
Atlantic Airways’ Johanna a Bergi (Faroe Islands)
On the move
In Australia
Virginia Briggs is now officially CEO and managing partner at Australia’s largest law firm MinterEllison, two months after former CEO Annette Kimmitt left following an internal disagreement. Virginia has been acting CEO since Annette’s departure in March.
In the U.S.
Ezgi Barcenas has been promoted to become Anheuser-Busch InBev’s first Chief Sustainability Officer reporting to CEO Michel Doukeris. She takes over effective August 1st. Ezgi was most recently the brewer’s global head of sustainability.
Anne E. McCollum is now the first woman to ever chair the board of America’s first art museum and school, the 216 year old Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She has been associated with PAFA for more than 30 years and became a Trustee in 2008, Co-Chair of the Development Committee and a vital member of the Executive Committee in 2010 and joined the Board's Officers first as Assistant Treasurer in 2010 and then Vice-Chair in 2015.
In the U.K.
Leanne Banks has been appointed as Marketing Director at Pernod Ricard UK. She will aim to strategically lead its marketing and digital transformation, and drive value growth across the company’s premium spirits and wine portfolio.
In Sri Lanka
Sandra De Zoysa has been appointed the first female Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM), which represents the country’s tech industry. Sandra is the Group Chief Customer Officer at Dialog Axiata PLC, and in her 30 year career has had many firsts including being the first female to join Sri Lanka’s Celltell in 1989.
In Dubai
Maha Khadem Khalfan Khadem Al Mheiri has become the first-ever female board member of the Dubai Islamic Insurance & Reinsurance Company (Aman). Maha is a project manager at the Abu Dhabi Executive Office and her appointment is part of a drive by the UAE for gender diversity on boards. Listed companies are being encouraged to have at least one female board member on their boards by the UAE regulator
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