When: Friday 30 October 10:30 AM GMT +8.
Zoom & Calendar: Zoom Link + Calendar Invite.
Asha Bhat leads the award-winning regional Southern Aboriginal Corporation (SAC), which provides services and programs that address the Noongar peoples' needs and aspirations in cooperation with other community and business organizations. With an asset base of $29 million, SAC provides services and programs in areas such as structured indigenous training and employment, family violence prevention, affordable housing, healthcare support and legal services.
Asha spends every day ensuring that critical services are provided seamlessly to some of Australia’s most vulnerable communities.
Like the organisation she leads, Asha’s personal commitment to constantly develop better outcomes towards ‘Closing the Gap’ between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in the areas of Economic Prosperity, Individual Prosperity, Community Prosperity and Environmental Prosperity, is second to none.
Asha is now an Australian citizen; however, she was born in India. English is her third language. She has risen to the top of the organisation because she tirelessly invests her time and energy into helping to improve the culture and environment for everyone.
Asha advocates for change every day. She goes above and beyond to make her community - and, by extension, the world – a better place. She confronts unfairness. She constantly rolls up her sleeves and she uses her skills, wisdom and knowledge to help change the status quo and create a more equitable society.
Under Asha’s leadership, SAC has won awards for demonstrating its impact in the community, including the Community Business Award of the Year 2016 and the 2018 Community Services Excellence Award which recognises excellent leadership and services to the Noongar Community.
Asha has an MBA from Kaplan Business School and holds master’s and bachelor's degrees in mathematics and business and professional accounting. She is an associate member of CPA and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2017 Asha received the Albany Citizen of the Year award and is a 2017 and 2020 Telstra Business Women’s Award Finalist – For purpose and Social Enterprise category. Asha was selected to attend the Global Ambassadors Program in Chicago in September 2016 and she was one of the 11 women leaders selected globally and only awardee from Australia. Asha is also a Cordes fellow and participated in opportunity collaboration in Mexico in 2018. She was one of the 60 successful Cordes fellow and the calibre of Cordes applicants included high-impact, innovative, entrepreneurial for-profit and non-profit executives with a demonstrated commitment to social justice and poverty alleviation. Very recently Asha was notified that she is the winner of two significant international awards in the Stevie Awards for Women in Business.