Women in Leadership Symposium

November 19, 2026

Novotel on Collins Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

About

Did you know that men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100% of them?

We believe that the Ambulance health sector has a large pool of hidden talent - women currently in leadership roles or who aspire to leadership but are unsure about how to take that next step in their careers.

The Women in Leadership Symposium will provide attendees with practical skills, tools, perspectives and takeaway tips to help these women take the next step.

The symposium will also see the announcement of the annual Women in Leadership Scholarship winner.

Buy Your Tickets Here

2026 Program

2026 Speakers

Ms Nicole Ashworth

Chief Executive

Ambulance Tasmania

Mr Peter Bradley

Chief Executive Officer

Hato Hone St John

Peter Bradley’s career in the emergency ambulance sector spans over 35 years. He became Chief Executive of St John New Zealand in 2012, following 12 years as Chief executive for the London Ambulance Service (LAS).

Claire Carruthers

General Manager, Fundraising, Communications & Community Programmes

Wellington Free Ambulance

Claire Carruthers is a recognised leader in fundraising, communications, and government engagement. As General Manager at Wellington Free Ambulance, she has led transformative growth—doubling fundraising revenue from $5.5 million in 2020 to over $13 million in 2024.

Claire joined Wellington Free in 2020, bringing with her a deep passion for storytelling and philanthropy. She views her role as a connector—building lifelong relationships and partnerships to support lifesaving care. Her leadership has driven major campaigns, including the $8.5 million Build Wairarapa Station initiative, and has transformed the fundraising and communications team into a one team approach. Claire has championed for philanthropy to be at the heart of the leadership table and embedded into the organizational strategic plan to ensure financial sustainability for ambulance.
A hallmark of Claire’s leadership is the expansion of the Lloyd Morrison Foundation Heartbeat CPR training programme. Rather than driving growth through operational delivery, Claire focused on building the strategic foundations, structure, and environment that empowered the Heartbeat team to excel. Through a compelling business case and a clear vision for sustainable growth, she created the conditions that enabled the programme to evolve from training 500 people annually to more than 10,000 and ensuring the original vision of WFA’s philanthropic cornerstone partner were met. This scale up has increased community readiness to respond to cardiac emergencies and positioned WFA as a world leader in bystander CPR rates and out of hospital cardiac arrest survivability.

Previously, Claire led the first university-wide philanthropic campaign at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, launching a $150million campaign. She also volunteers as a fundraising consultant on several arts and education boards.

Claire was named FINZ Fundraising Leader of the Year (2022) and a Fundraising & Philanthropy Mover and Shaker (2023).

Her leadership style is grounded in authenticity, kindness, and collaboration. She believes that “if everyone is a cheerleader for your mission, you’ve done much more than just hit your fundraising target.”

Outside of work, Claire is a mother to two teenagers, married for 19 years and dedicated dog walker and cold-water swimmer off the south coast of Wellington—a hobby she took up after admiring the bravery of others who embraced the icy ocean.

Mr David Dutton

Chief Officer

ACT Ambulance Service

David Dutton is the Chief Officer of the ACT Ambulance Service (ACTAS), bringing more than three decades of operational, clinical, and executive leadership experience to the role. His appointment marks a return to where his career began—as a student paramedic with ACTAS.

After qualifying as an Intensive Care Paramedic, David gained extensive experience across road and aeromedical operations, clinical education, emergency operations, and operational support. His leadership journey within ACTAS included senior executive roles such as Deputy Chief Officer and Acting Chief Officer.

In 2013, David joined NSW Ambulance as Executive Director Service Delivery and later served as Executive Director Clinical Operations. In these roles, he led significant cultural and operational reform while overseeing a workforce responsible for answering more than 1.2 million triple-zero calls annually.

David is deeply committed to clinical excellence, innovation in service delivery, and fostering strong, values-based leadership. His return to ACTAS as Chief Officer reflects his dedication to serving the Canberra community and shaping the future of pre-hospital care.

Kathryn Hayden

Manager Emergency Management

Ambulance Victoria

Kathryn Haden is a dedicated and enthusiastic emergency management leader with over 15 years’ experience delivering strategic and operational outcomes in complex, high-pressure environments. As Manager of Emergency Management at Ambulance Victoria, she has been part of large-scale, multi-agency responses to major incidents, including the 2019–2020 Victorian bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic, regularly operating at both Regional and State level command and contributing strategic advice to executive leaders and state forums.

A people-focused leader, Kathryn is known for building authentic, high-performing teams grounded in trust, development, and psychological safety. She is passionate about coaching and mentoring others and creating clarity and confidence so teams can perform at their best during critical incidents.

Kathryn has championed innovative approaches to workforce design and challenged traditional ways of working, including implementing job share arrangements in operational management roles, to support more flexible, inclusive, and sustainable leadership models. With a strong focus on collaboration, capability development, and continuous improvement, Kathryn brings both strategic insight and practical experience to the advancement of contemporary emergency management practice.

Danielle Saxton

Regional Capability & Development Coordinator

Ambulance Victoria

Danielle has been a paramedic with Ambulance Victoria for 25 years, building a diverse career across frontline operations, community engagement, and first responder programs. She has held a range of clinical, leadership, and development roles, and has also contributed to the broader emergency management and health sectors through work with Emergency Management Victoria and the Heart Foundation. Danielle holds qualifications in community engagement and is passionate about strengthening connections between ambulance services and the communities they serve. She lives in Victoria's alpine region with her partner and two energetic preschool-aged children.

Ms Abigail Trewin

Chief Executive Officer

St John Ambulance (NT)

An Intensive Care Paramedic by background, Abigail brings more than 15 years’ frontline ambulance experience and over a decade of executive leadership across disaster health, complex emergency operations and government systems, including service with the World Health Organization Emergency Medical Teams Secretariat in Geneva to the Territory's ambulance service.

For more than a decade, Abigail served as a Director and Mission Lead with the Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT), leading multidisciplinary teams across major domestic and international disasters. Her leadership has focused on operational reliability, clinical governance, workforce safety and disciplined execution in high-risk, high-scrutiny environments.

She has held senior executive roles with the Department of Justice Victoria and Respond Global and served as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, operating at the centre of government across complex policy and operational portfolios.

Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2023, Abigail holds a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and is completing a Doctor of Public Health focused on high-performance teams.

Sally Vote

Acting Director of the Communications Centre

Ambulance Tasmania

Sally began her career with Ambulance Tasmania almost 10 years ago as a graduate paramedic. Since then, she has had the opportunity to work across a variety of leadership roles, from frontline supervision through to Regional Operations Manager, and is currently Acting Director of the Communications Centre.

Sally has participated in the WIL Development Program for the past two years and credits the program with playing an important role in her professional and personal growth. Her leadership journey has been shaped by the people, experiences and opportunities around her, and she is passionate about continuing to learn, grow and support others to do the same.

2026 Proudly Supported By

Diamond Sponsors

Belgravia eHealth supply clinical decision support solutions through out Australia: Odyssey Teleassess & Firstcall. Clinically robust solutions assisting telehealth operators to diagnose patients conditions remotely and a recommended urgency of treatment Odyssey SelfAssess. Web based symptom checker for non clinicians to self diagnose. For high acuity cases patient can be connected to a tele/video call. Adastra. Patient call flow and urgency prioritisation. Allows for integration with PAS, IMR, CAD, and other health systems. Built in electronic referrals, comprehensive reporting, frequent caller management, video conferencing, and more