Under the leadership of CEO James Thornton, Intrepid Travel has set a global benchmark for how businesses can successfully balance profitability with social responsibility. Thornton’s visionary approach earned him two prestigious accolades at The CEO Magazine’s 2024 Executive of the Year Awards, reinforcing his impact on the industry and beyond.

When John Winning founded Appliances Online at the age of just 21, he displayed all the signs of being an industry pioneer who could successfully guide a fourth-generation family business through the era of ecommerce. Today, Winning Group has four separate business entities and employs a workforce of about 700 across Australia, thanks to Winning’s unwavering commitment to customer happiness.

Nicky Sparshott’s commitment to being a force for good and ‘purpose-led’ underpins her daily work at the helm of Unilever ANZ. It has helped her to achieve professional recognition and she was awarded The CEO Magazine’s CEO of the Year – A$100m+ in 2022.

When Andrew Hume took on the role of CEO at Probe CX, he was determined that the Australian customer contact outsourcing company would grow to compete with the global players. His business acumen resulted in him taking out the prestigious honour of The CEO Magazine’s CEO of the Year – A$100m+ in 2021.

Paving the way for women in engineering, Louise Adams is living out her childhood dream of being a civil engineer, having been at Aurecon for the past 20 years. Now the company’s Group COO, she was awarded The CEO Magazine’s CEO of the Year A$20m-A$100m in 2020.