Tim Reed has led through growth, disruption and transition as CEO of MYOB for over a decade, President of the Business Council of Australia, and now as a director, investor and climate policy contributor.

In this conversation, Tim reflects on the importance of setting a clear long-term vision, building a culture that delivers, and staying close to customers. He shares lessons from CEO succession, including why different leaders are needed at different stages and what boards should look for when making that call.

The discussion also explores the shift from operator to investor, the discipline of private equity, and how boards can think about AI, productivity and decarbonisation in practical terms. Tim offers a grounded view on balancing opportunity with risk, and why getting the basics right, including strategy, people and execution, still matters most in a rapidly changing environment.

Key Takeaways:

• The CEO-to-board transition — recognising when to step away, shifting mindset, and rediscovering energy in new roles.
• Private equity discipline — aligning strategy, talent and execution in the first 90 days.
• Customer-centric leadership — direct listening mechanisms and staying close to the market.
• AI in practice — using AI to enhance thinking, productivity and decision-making without replacing judgement.
• Risk and opportunity in AI — balancing governance, security and competitive advantage.
• Productivity and national competitiveness — the role of business, policy settings and investment.
• Decarbonisation and boards — understanding emissions, trade-offs and the practical path to net zero.

Lawrence Goldstone has built a career at the intersection of purpose, people and transformation. He spent decades advising major organisations on strategy, innovation and large-scale change before stepping into the role of chair at OzHarvest, Australia's largest food rescue organisation.

In this conversation, Lawrence reflects on leading through CEO succession in a founder-led organisation, balancing financial sustainability with social impact, and why scale is both OzHarvest's greatest opportunity and challenge. He shares practical insights on innovation in the boardroom, including how boards can create space for experimentation and constructive challenge without losing discipline.

The discussion also explores workplace design, culture beyond metrics, and why transformation succeeds only when organisations invest time in clarity and leadership alignment before moving to execution. It's a thoughtful look at governance in action, and what it takes to be an "antidote to inertia" in complex systems.

Key Takeaways:

· Founder succession done well — managing CEO transition "with, not to" a founder, preserving culture while enabling scale.

· Balancing purpose and financial sustainability — scaling impact in a not-for-profit while diversifying revenue streams.

· Innovation as discipline — creating structured space for experimentation, not just declaring innovation a priority.

· Board curiosity and constructive challenge — asking better questions and creating time for real strategic conversations.

· Culture beyond the dashboard — experiencing the organisation firsthand, not relying solely on reported metrics.

· Transformation fundamentals — clarity of the "why," leadership alignment, and investing time upfront.

· Workplace evolution — intentional design of collaboration rather than one-size-fits-all models.

· Engagement as competitive advantage — modern communication and investing in human skills early.

Diane Smith-Gander reflects on a career spanning executive leadership, global consulting and some of Australia's most complex boardrooms.

In this conversation, Diane discusses the realities of transitioning from management to governance, the importance of preparation and judgement, and why effective boards are curious, disciplined and willing to challenge constructively. She shares insights from chairing organisations across mining services, health, fintech and higher education, including how boards oversee safety in global operations and navigate growing regulatory and geopolitical risk.

Diane also explores the practical use of AI in governance, the pressures facing board talent, and why directors have a responsibility to engage publicly on issues that affect long-term organisational sustainability. It's a candid discussion about leadership, reputation and the evolving demands of the modern boardroom.

Key Takeaways:

• The transition to the boardroom — preparing well, earning confidence and learning nuance as a new director.
• What effective boards look like today — curiosity, respectful challenge, and clarity on the line between governance and management.
• The chair's role — drawing out diverse views, and shaping productive board dynamics.
• AI in governance — using AI to sharpen insight, feedback and decision-making without replacing judgement.
• Time, risk and liability — the growing burden on directors and what that means for board talent.
• Universities and social licence — leadership challenges facing the higher education sector.
• Public leadership and advocacy — when and why directors should speak on policy, equality and inclusion.

Paul Zahra has spent his career leading through disruption - as CEO of David Jones, head of the Australian Retailers Association during Covid, board director and founder of the Pinnacle Foundation. In this conversation, Paul reflects on what crisis reveals about leadership, governance and values.

He discusses why visibility matters in the boardroom, particularly for LGBTQIA+ leaders, and how boards can move beyond tokenism to genuine inclusion. Paul also unpacks the chair's role in setting culture, managing diverse voices and balancing social impact with fiduciary responsibility.

Drawing on his experiences across ASX companies, private equity and not-for-profits, Paul shares practical lessons on transformation, stakeholder management and why disruption - from digital to AI - should be treated as an opportunity, not a threat. It's a candid discussion about values under pressure, inclusive leadership and what modern boards need to get right.

Key Takeaways:

• Visibility and leadership — why representation at board and CEO level matters for aspiration, pipelines and culture.
• Beyond gender diversity — inclusion across sexuality, disability and lived experience as a source of better governance.
• The chair's role in inclusion — setting tone, managing board dynamics, and creating psychological safety.
• Values in practice — when leaders should speak publicly, how to weigh risk, and aligning social impact with strategy.
• Crisis leadership — lessons from retail transformation, Covid and sector-wide disruption.
• Governance across contexts — ASX companies, private equity, not-for-profits and where boards succeed or fail.

Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz reflects on a career shaped by unexpected turns, major leadership challenges and a decade transforming Mirvac as CEO - and how those experiences now inform her work in the boardroom.

In this conversation, Susan discusses the mindset shift from executive to non-executive roles, the discipline of governing without managing, and what effective boards get right in uncertain times. She explores the balance between being supportive and challenging, the central role of the chair, and why CEO succession is the most important decision a board makes.

Susan also shares insights from her work on housing affordability, the realities of leading through complex, politically charged issues, and how boards should think about ESG, diversity and AI in a rapidly shifting global environment.

Key Takeaways:

· Board effectiveness — creating the right balance between being supportive and constructively challenging management.

· Time and focus in the boardroom — avoiding over-indexing on compliance at the expense of strategy, culture and long-term value.

· CEO succession — why pipeline development, transparency and early planning matter more than last-minute decisions.

· Navigating ESG and geopolitics — boards operating amid shifting expectations on climate, diversity and shareholder primacy.

· AI as a governance tool — using AI to sharpen questions and insight, without outsourcing judgement.

· Housing affordability — supply-side reform, productivity, planning and the long game required for meaningful change.

· Gender diversity and talent pipelines — where progress has been made, where blockages persist, and the board's role in calling out bias.

Alastair McEwin has spent his career pushing for a more inclusive Australia — as a lawyer, board director, Disability Discrimination Commissioner and a commissioner on the Disability Royal Commission. In this conversation, he reflects on what drew him to disability advocacy, what he learned starting out on boards in his twenties, and why great governance is a team sport.

Alastair unpacks why representation at the top still lags, how boards can move beyond tokenism, and the practical changes that make boardrooms genuinely accessible. He also shares the Royal Commission's central message: Australia is failing people with disability in mainstream settings — and why lasting reform requires leaders to change systems, culture and expectations, not just policies.

Key Takeaways:

• Early board experience: purpose, patience, and learning the room
• What makes a good chair: relationships, trust, and drawing out every voice
• "Nothing about us without us": representation, accessibility, and culture
• Practical steps for boards: ask, don't assume; provide supports; build capability
• The Royal Commission's core finding: mainstream systems are failing people with disability

Geopolitics is no longer just background noise — it's now central to how organisations plan, invest and manage risk. In this episode, foreign affairs expert Merriden Varrall, joins Boardroom Confidential to unpack what today's "polycrisis" world really means for directors.

Drawing on her experience at KPMG, the Lowy Institute and the UN in China, Merriden explains why boards must look beyond daily headlines to the deeper megatrends: converging climate, energy and food risks; the erosion of trust in institutions and the rise of populism; and a fragmenting global economy shaped by national security and values-based blocs. She explores the practical implications for Australian boards — from managing exposure to the US–China rivalry and rebuilding supply chain resilience, to understanding how these dynamics affect SMEs and NFPs.

Merriden also outlines how boards can become more geopolitically literate: the questions to ask management, how to set up horizon scanning and scenario planning, and why a more nuanced understanding of other countries' perspectives is now essential to good governance.

Key Themes:

• From headlines to megatrends — directors need to look past daily news and focus on structural geopolitical scenarios and megatrends.

• Polycrisis as the new normal — risks like climate, energy, food, tech and conflict are increasingly interconnected and compounding.

• Trust gap and populism — erosion of trust in institutions and the rise of populism are reshaping regulation, policy and expectations of business.

• Geo-economic fragmentation — values-based blocs, national security logic and "de-risking" are changing trade, investment and tech choices.

• It's not just big corporates — SMEs and NFPs are exposed through supply chains, cyber risk, regulation, funding and talent.

• Boards' core questions — are we thinking about geopolitics, how are we monitoring it, what scenarios have we planned for, and are our responses sufficient?

• Supply chain resilience — having "just in case" models ready, mapping choke points, and setting up data and signals to act early.

Brad Welsh has built a career defined by reinvention — from child protection officer to political adviser, CEO of Energy Resources of Australia, board member at nib, and now founder of Mawal. In this conversation, Brad reflects on the choices, opportunities and turning points that shaped his path, and how curiosity and ambition have guided every reinvention.

Brad discusses the lessons learned leading ERA through the complex rehabilitation of a major uranium mine, what long-term projects teach leaders about managing risk, and how to balance the expectations of diverse stakeholders. He also shares his powerful vision for the next generation of First Nations leadership in Australia — building capability in capital and risk, broadening pathways into commercial roles, and helping more Indigenous talent step into the boardroom.

Key Themes:

• Career reinvention and ambition — seizing "windows" of opportunity, stepping back to go forward, and using each pivot to build range.

• Curiosity as a governing principle — staying relentlessly curious about how organisations, balance sheets and communities actually work.

• Capital and risk as a global language — why cultures flourish by managing capital and risk in their own way, and what that means for First Nations Australia.

• Long-term rehabilitation, short-term milestones — lessons from ERA's Ranger uranium rehabilitation on balancing horizon goals with near-term delivery.

• Stakeholders and judgement — putting yourself in others' shoes, making decisions with imperfect information, and knowing when to change course.

• The next generation — building a cohort of First Nations leaders for executive and board roles.