It’s not always fashionable to laud – or even acknowledge – other industry media… but a nod here to B&T for its Women Leading Tech ‘power list’, announced at the weekend.
Mostly it’s good to acknowledge the contribution these brilliant young women make to our media industry, from Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins onwards.
Perkins (pictured) helped create and now oversee a multi-billion dollar Australian business which has lately moved beyond consumer and SME – which a reputed 200 million users – to enterprise business. This year it took new Affinity acquisition free – adding it to tools of its own – and picked up Perkins’ current focus, MagicBrief, Cavalry and MangoAI. All clever stuff.
With the company now valued at more than $65 billion, B&T notes that Perkins is continuing her philanthropic activities, with an additional $100 million commitment to cash-transfer charity GiveDirectly.
“Few women are such lightning rods for well-meaning progress and innovation around the world. And none surpass her in Australia,” the publisher says.
The list of 20 women “at the apex of the industry” also includes Nine’s enterprise chief data, product and technology officer Suzie Cardwell, credited with leading the “single view” approach, moving Nine onto a multi-cloud infrastructure spanning Google Cloud and AWS to drive deeper engagement. She is also chair of IAB Australia.
As well as Google ANZ vice president and managing director Melanie Silva – who returned to Sydney in 2025 to steer the company’s introduction of AI and strengthen partnerships with Australian media – and Katrina Troughton, who holds a similar position at Adobe ANZ.
Making headlines lately as government-appointed eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant, placed #4 in B&T’s list, of which they said “it’s often said that you can tell much about someone from the company you keep.
“And considering Inman Grant was asked to front lawmakers in the US, some of whom called her a ‘zealot’, we think that she’s not only keeping the right company but also pissing off the right people”.