Ann became CEO of Carnival Australia in 2007, overhauling the organisation and its reputation, and boosting annual cruise numbers from 100,000 to over a million. Her influence in corporate Australia started at Westpac, where she helped make it the first private sector bank to introduce paid maternity leave and started the Jarwun project to connect corporate volunteers with indigenous communities. Prior to that, Ann was First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women in Canberra, and Australia's representative to the United Nations forums on human rights and women's rights. Her non-executive roles include ING Direct (Australia), Australian Rugby Union and Chair of Safe Work Australia.

Diane is one of Australia's most prolific and high impact sponsors of talent, particularly women. While at McKinsey, Diane was the first woman outside the US to be elected to partnership, the first female partner to have children and the first to go part time. A full time independent director since 1994, Diane is currently on the board of Macquarie Group, Spotless Group and ASI, is a member of McKinsey's senior advisory board, chair of Ascham School and The Hunger Project Australia, and an advisory board member of the NSW Innovation and Productivity Council, The Centre for Ethical Leadership, and Heads Over Heels.

Ros co-founded Balanjari in 1983, and it has become a leader in Indigenous strategy and design across resources, infrastructure, tourism and sporting sectors. Best known for the Aboriginal designs on Qantas aircraft, it also created the 'Hands Across the Land' image used for the 2000 Sydney Harbor Bridge Walk for Reconciliation, racing suits for Kathy Freeman, lists clients such from Nespresso to U2, and has pushed to return royalties to NT artists since 1995. Ros is managing director of the cutting edge non-profit Nangala Project, delivering literacy, and children's soccer to remote regions, and has written award winning children's books and an acclaimed memoir, Listening to Country.

Aside from being one of Australia's leading litigators, Janet has wielded serious influence across boards for film, theatre, visual arts, design, food and fashion. She helped established Harold Mitchell's arts foundation, mentored Stephanie Alexander, chaired the Arts Centre Melbourne, was on the inaugural board of the Melbourne Fashion Festival, Vice President of the Melbourne International Film Festival, and helped stop the closure of Victoria's State Film Centre. Janet is deputy chair of the Victorian Major Events Company, which she pushed to include more cultural events, not just sports. She currently sits on the boards of Bell Shakespeare, National Australia Day Council, and the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation.

Ann became CEO of Carnival Australia in 2007, overhauling the organisation and its reputation, and boosting annual cruise numbers from 100,000 to over a million. Her influence in corporate Australia started at Westpac, where she helped make it the first private sector bank to introduce paid maternity leave and started the Jarwun project to connect corporate volunteers with indigenous communities. Prior to that, Ann was First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women in Canberra, and Australia's representative to the United Nations forums on human rights and women's rights. Her non-executive roles include ING Direct (Australia), Australian Rugby Union and Chair of Safe Work Australia.

Jane is instrumental in shaping international thinking and policy related to migration, climate change, disasters and displacement. Jane holds a number of academic positions globally, including at The Brookings Institution in Washington DC, Oxford University's Refugee Studies Centre, and the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Norway, and she publishes widely in international refugee law and forced migration. She also serves on various international committees and has been an expert advisor to the UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration, and the World Bank's Thematic Working Group on Environmental Change and Migration.

Veena is director of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology, where her research is working to use science and engineering to solve real world problems, partnering with companies including Hyundai and OneSteel. Veena is doing world leading work on transforming/recycling waste at high temperatures to create new valuable resources for industrial production such as Polymer Injection Technology to create 'Green Steel', a technique names as an Innovation that Could Change the Way We Manufacture, but the Society for Manufacturing Engineers. She is also a member of the Climate Council and a fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.

Lesley is at the forefront of social work teaching and research, is an author, and advocate for the disabled, women and the socially disadvantaged. She has encouraged Pacific Islanders and refugee students to the Logan Campus which she has led since 2011, and has built pathways for local high school students in the disadvantaged area to enter University. With the Logan city leadership team she launched a project to bring government, community agencies and the Uni together to address disadvantage. She contributes to 'Podsocs' podcasts for social workers, and created the '1000 voices' international initiative, curating life stories for people with disabilities.

Pat is an internationally renowned advocate for disadvantaged people, particularly focusing on the health of Australia's First Peoples. She has co-authored Little Children Are Sacred, a report on the abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory, won numerous awards for her public health work, advised the UN on drafting the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, and worked for the International Labour Organisation in Geneva to amend their extraordinary conventions on the same issue. She has been CEO of Danila Dilba Aboriginal Health Service, a founding member of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT, and chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

Jane's YWCRC is focused on innovative approaches to mental health reform. It makes young people the experts, and gives them the chance to work with researchers, professionals and innovators to come up with new ways they want to use technology to help improve mental health care. The apps and prototypes they invented are now being tested in schools, universities and workplaces. She has also established youth beyondblue and the international ReachOut.com site. She is a member of various advisory boards and government working groups and is the chair of the National Advisory Council to encourage support for Veterans and their families.

While studying for her PhD in Clinical Psychology, Jenna took a leave of absence to help a loved one living with an eating disorder. It led to her creating Recovery Record, a mobile health site that provides treatment for sufferers and timely clinical data for care teams. In three years it has grown to 300,000 users who have completed more than 10 million therapy sessions, and is the new standard of care for specialists and healthcare systems across eight continents. Jenna frequently speaks on women in entrepreneurship, is a director of Project HEAL, and an advisor to several entrepreneur accelerator programs.

Elizabeth is a lawyer, mentor and social change agent noted for her ability to wield influence, instigate change and think differently. Her achievements include conducting national inquiries into sexual harassment, pregnancy and unpaid caring work; the treatment of women in Defence; and establishing the Male Champions of Change strategy, which encourages men to spread the message of gender equality to other males. She was appointed global co-chair of the UN Global Compact for Women's Empowerment, and holds non-executive board positions, including on the World Bank Advisory Council on Gender and Development, Supply Nation, and the ANU Centre for Public and International Law.

As CEO of Paftec, a company specialising in respirator design, manufacture and global export, Alex is an inspirational leader in the technology field. She is also a pioneer as one of the few women leading an organisation in the male-dominated workplace health and safety sector. Alex works to boost women's entrepreneurship through co-founding Heads Over Heels, a not-for-profit initiative aimed at helping women build high-growth businesses. She is a winner of a number of awards – most notably the Australian and International Good Design Award – and has more than tripled Paftec's revenue in the last two years.

Elizabeth is a lawyer, mentor and social change agent noted for her ability to wield influence, instigate change and think differently. Her achievements include conducting national inquiries into sexual harassment, pregnancy and unpaid caring work; the treatment of women in Defence; and establishing the Male Champions of Change strategy, which encourages men to spread the message of gender equality to other males. She was appointed global co-chair of the UN Global Compact for Women's Empowerment, and holds non-executive board positions, including on the World Bank Advisory Council on Gender and Development, Supply Nation, and the ANU Centre for Public and International Law.

Linda is passionate about the transformative power of education and she has had extensive success educating children from some of Australia's most disadvantaged communities. Linda's innovative style and willingness to offer these communities stability and structure often goes beyond the call of duty. Through carefully guided leadership she has transformed Granville Boys High School into a stable and thriving environment. In 2013 Linda was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to secondary education through leadership and innovative practices, and to the community.

Genevieve is a writer and director who inspires audiences through pathos and humour. She began her career with documentary-making for Down Syndrome New South Wales, is an advocate for inclusive film-making. Bus Stop Films won national notice in 2009 when Genevieve won Tropfest with her critically acclaimed short film Be My Brother. Her work continues to explore themes linked to societal perspectives, isolation, reconciliation, the family unit and disability. Genevieve is Australia's foremost globally innovative inclusive film-maker and pioneer in new tools to increase inclusive corporate employment

Jane was recently appointed the secretary of the Australian Government's Department of Finance, having previously been the secretary of the Department of Health for over 12 years. She was the first woman to hold both of these roles. Jane was previously a deputy secretary in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, advising on social and women's policy. She was the first Australian to be appointed president of the World Health Assembly and was awarded the Geneva Forum for Health Award in 2013.

Janette has spent 14 years volunteering in rural health and is dedicated to fostering regional partnerships and empowering women to work for what they want and for what communities need. She has raised $5.4 million to build the Western Care Lodge in Orange, NSW, for cancer patients. This was achieved through engaging regional communities in fundraising, meeting and speaking with local government and service clubs, and creating partnerships. Janette has received the Rotary International Paul Harris Fellowship and the Rotary Community award and doesn't take no for an answer when it comes to raising money for health.

As CEO of HESTA, a super fund with significant female membership, Anne-Marie has been a champion of improving women's financial security in retirement for more than 16 years. She has been a pioneer in many areas of female leadership and provided opportunities for women to be influential figures in her organisation. In addition to her role at HESTA, Anne-Marie is currently a director of Industry Super Australia, Netball Australia and The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors.

Ann is a pioneer and international leader in climate science, spearheading the description and prediction of many aspects of people's interactions with climate systems. She has championed the scientific need for action to mitigate and adapt to climate change for more than 40 years. She is an elected Fellow of Australia's Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering; was awarded the Centenary Medal of Australia in 2003 and, in 2013, became a Medallist of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. She continues to communicate to the widest community about climate and to work for ethically valid research.

Rebecca is a researcher whose pioneering work to prevent injury in high risk and disadvantaged populations is saving lives around the globe. With a passion for equitable health care and a commitment to building community capacity, Rebecca's research provides governments with the evidence to guide injury policies. Her work encompasses the most critical aspects of injury and producing research outcomes with health and policy impacts. She also works with colleagues at the World Health Organisation, where she sits on their Injury Prevention Mentoring Advisory Group, and is on the board of the Road Traffic Injuries Research Network International.

Jo is a tireless leader in Australia's not-for-profit sector who has earned accolades in the 35 years she has worked with government, business and community organisations. At Family Life she has led a program of change to promote community involvement in the prevention of child abuse and family violence. In 1998, Jo published the Through the Eyes of the Child report, which advocated a whole-of-family approach to preventing family violence. This research led to an Australian Heads of Government, Australian Family Violence Prevention Award. In 2013, Jo was awarded an OAM for service to the community.

It sounds so obvious now, but Adele Green has played a crucial role in ­convincing Australians that putting on ­sunscreen is a good way to fight skin cancer. She was among the first to identify the skin cancer epidemic in Australia and then a landmark study of the disease in the Queensland town of Nambour helped identify the best ways to fight it. She is now a senior researcher at QIMF Berghofer Medical Research Institute.

Her role as chairman of insurer QBE makes Hutchinson arguably the most successful female boardroom operator in Australia. She is one of only a few females chairing one of the ASX's top 20 companies, overseeing a company that operates in 46 countries with more than 75 per cent of its business overseas. It has come with its fair share of controversy after an over-ambitious expansion caused the stock price to drop sharply last year. Hutchinson, who took the job in 2010, oversaw a change in chief executives and has made a start winning back market confidence, promising a “more consistent and aligned approach". Hutchinson, who has worked for Macquarie Bank, ­Citigroup and numerous government and private boards, said in her application she hopes more women like her will “aim hopefully for roles in insurance".

Her company makes Vegemite, but Dee-Bradbury is passionate about finding new products that can be made here and sold to Asia. The president of developed markets Asia Pacific for Mondelez International, the spinoff that took over non-US sales of brands from Kraft Foods and Cadbury is an outspoken advocate for the idea that Australian food manufacturers should take advantage of booming demand from the region. She has even set up a centre of excellence for chocolate, based in Victoria, to hothouse new marketing ideas and products. At the same time she has carried her firm through the restructure and Mondelez Australia's results for 2012 showed a 64 per cent jump in profits of $2 billion.

If you are enjoying some paid time off after you have a child, thank Baird, the first ever professor in industrial relations at the University of Sydney and director of the Women and Work Research Group. Her personal experience of losing entitlements every time she shifted jobs to follow her husband or care for her children convinced her public policy needed to change. Her response was to undertake pioneering research over a decade which showed that more than 50 per cent of women had no access to paid maternity leave and only public servants had more than a few weeks. For that work, she has been described as the “intellectual firepower" behind the campaign that resulted in the creation of the national paid scheme in 2011 and encouraged Prime Minister Tony Abbott to offer his own scheme.

Group Captain Gibbon won the diversity award for her ongoing work to increase the diversity of Air Force and the wider Defence Force. Dee has a particular interest in increasing women's representation in non-traditional roles within Defence, such as piloting and technical trades. To this end, Dee and her team in Air Force have created a range of recruiting and retention products designed to attract and retain higher numbers of women in ADF flying roles. One of these products is a guide called 'Flying Solo' which offers advice on how women can succeed in the masculinised field of Air Force aviation. Dee was nominated for the award by the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, in recognition of her current work to improve the gender diversity of the Australian Defence Force, through the improved recruitment, retention and progression of women in all areas of the ADF. 'I think people are often surprised by the rich diversity and workplace flexibility that exists within the ADF' she stated, 'it has been a true privilege actively participating in the ADF's current cultural reform journey'. 'The ADF is working hard to position itself as an employer of choice for all Australians, irrespective of their gender, cultural background, sexuality or age and I am hoping that this awards helps to showcase some of the excellent progress the ADF has made towards achieving this goal'.

The chairwoman of food retailer ­Harris Farm Markets, which operates 23 stores across NSW, is famous for many things, including her role as a commissioner of the National Rugby League and her tough approach as head of the Affirmative Action Agency in the 1990s. But this award honours her toughness and smarts in building up a business that has challenged Coles and Woolworths on their home turf. The company she founded with her husband David in the '70s has been through tough times. She went back to work to support the family after the firm almost collapsed in the '90s. It is now a market leader in social media marketing and fresh produce, and provides jobs to the excluded. “The legacy of Catherine's success in business is one of not only successful management and competitive business strategy, but also of a social conscience," her sister wrote in her application.

At 27, Ryan has already worked in some of the toughest gigs around. After a brief career as a lawyer, she went to Sudan and helped start Pads4Prisons, an aid program that allowed female prisoners to make their own sanitary napkins. It has now spread to Afghanistan. Back in Australia, she helped launch Tooth Mob, which sends volunteer dentists to remote aboriginal communities. For the past three years she has been the chief executive of the Sony Foundation. Her work there has included promoting music ­therapy in hospitals and building youth ­cancer centres.

It all started for the chief executive of Care Australia with her childhood in Rhodesia where she saw “how poverty discrimination and opportunity can come down to the lottery of birth". Newton-Hughes was one of those who left and rebuilt a life, first as an engineer and scientist in Britain. After coming to Australia 30 years ago she returned to her childhood passion and worked for AusAID, then the World Bank, where she played a crucial role in convincing global donors to take seriously Papua New Guinea and the neglected island countries of the Pacific. At Care Australia she has doubled government funding but also achieved a 30 per cent rise in private donations. A key policy has been targeting its programs at women in the developing world because it is “the best way to bring lasting change to poor communities".

A background running a cattle property near Yass in NSW, an accounting degree and a natural ability to talk about complicated issues in a simple way have kept Su McCluskey at the centre of debate on rural and small business issues. A stint at the Tax Office as a spokesman for the GST reforms put her on a path that led to work cutting small business red tap with the Productivity Commission. Now director of the Regional Australia Institute, she has just helped developed a regional competitiveness index to help identify where opportunities and problems exist. “My story shows that you don't necessarily have to know what success looks like – you can navigate through life and still make a difference," she says.

It sounds so obvious now, but Adele Green has played a crucial role in ­convincing Australians that putting on ­sunscreen is a good way to fight skin cancer. She was among the first to identify the skin cancer epidemic in Australia and then a landmark study of the disease in the Queensland town of Nambour helped identify the best ways to fight it. She is now a senior researcher at QIMF Berghofer Medical Research Institute.