Cherie Curtis started working with people analytics company Revelian as an intern while she was completing her Master in Organisational Psychology. She fell in love with the way the company was pioneering the online assessment space as Australia’s first provider of online psychometric assessments and decided to stay, working her way up to head of psychology in 2005 and then chief executive in 2015.
JUDGES
Janet Sutherland FIML, chief technology officer, Tatts Group
Andrew Griffiths FIML, general manager, IOR Petroleum
Katie Bickford FIML, non-executive director, Brisbane Broncos
Ian Mathieson FIML, managing director, MathiesonManagement & Marketing
THE JUDGES SAY…
“Cherie impressed the panel with her passion for ethical leadership and willingness to collaborate with clear, consistent vision. She is proud of her team, their transformation and their innovation in a competitive environment. Cherie is not afraid to make the hard decisions and believes people and culture are paramount.”
CHERIE CURTIS
“My first leadership role was back at Coles Supermarkets when I was promoted from checkout chick to a front-end controller. I quickly learned how everyone is unique and that the same task can be performed really differently by each individual, with the same outcome each time.
“Since then I’ve had many eclectic roles, everything from opening a wine bar in Edinburgh to a restaurant on the Thames in London. I worked in a watch house – a holding bay for people who’ve been arrested – doing drug and alcohol research on inmates. I’ve worked at a medical practice and as a family psychologist with children in particular. I’ve had my own consulting company in organisational psychology. Before I started this job I don’t think I’d held a job for more than two years – I got restless.
“Being an organisational psychologist myself, I find [in managing a group of psychologists] they are like-minded … it’s a pleasure to work with people who have a high level of insight about communication, about human behaviour and interactions, and they are motivated to not only bring that into what they do, but use that insight to enhance that in the teams they contribute to and work with. I also find the same pleasure in leading some 40 other people of varying backgrounds, from software engineers and operations people to finance and marketing professionals.”
“It’s a pleasure to work with people who have a high level of insight about communication, about human behaviour and interactions…”