HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Christine Holgate (born 1963/1964) is a British-Australian business executive who is the chief executive of Team Global Express having held similar roles at
Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post o ...
and
Blackmores Blackmores Limited is an Australian health supplements company founded in the 1930s by naturopath Maurice Blackmore (1906-1977), when Blackmore opened the first health food shop in Australia in Brisbane, Queensland. In August 2020 Blackmores wa ...
. She is also a board member of the
Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...
. She is also an inaugural chair of the board of the Australia-ASEAN Council. She was one of only 20 business leaders invited to the
2014 G20 Brisbane summit The 2014 G20 Brisbane summit was the ninth meeting of the G20 heads of government/heads of state.
. She is also the first woman awarded the "CEO of the Year" by CEO Magazine. In 2015, Holgate was ranked in the top “100 Women of Influence” by the ''
Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...
''.


Early life and education

Holgate grew up with her four siblings, in
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
, England. Holgate's father was an entrepreneur and ran a construction company. From when she was young, her father insisted that she run “little businesses” to earn her pocket money. When Holgate was 15, she cleaned windows with a friend and had a van selling ice–creams. By the time Holgate turned 18 in 1982, she left Cheshire for
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. In London, Holgate met Florence Knight, who financially supported her to pursue a business degree at the
University of North London The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...
. Holgate has three post-graduate diplomas in management, marketing, and purchasing and supply. She gained her diploma in management in 1986 and completed her Master of Business Administration degree in 1991.


Career


Early career

Holgate first worked as postwoman for the Christmas season when she was 18. After graduating from university, she worked for Allied Healthcare and
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
. In 1988, she joined the telecommunication company Cable & Wireless and started her international career. During her 12 years at Cable & Wireless, Holgate directed the company’s marketing department, and conducted projects across Caribbean, Europe and Hong Kong. In 2000, Holgate joined J.P. Morgan as the "Managing Director of Marketing" of its European subsidiary. She was the only woman in J.P. Morgan's executive team in Europe during her incumbent period. Holgate worked for J.P. Morgan for 18 months before joining telecommunications company
Energis Energis Communications Limited, briefly Telecom Electric, or more usually just Energis, was a 'technology driven communications company' based in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but subse ...
in May 2001, as the Group Director of Strategy and Marketing. Her job was to lead the Energis strategy and planning teams in Europe, and monitor its marketing activities. In November 2002, Holgate received a job invitation from
David Thodey David Ingle Thodey (born 14 May 1954) is an Australian businessman who is a former chief executive officer of Telstra and currenchairmanof accounting software company Xero. Thodey was born in Perth, Western Australia. He was educated at Nels ...
, the group managing director of Telstra Mobiles, and became the marketing director. While she continued to lead its marketing team, Holgate's role was expanded into building Telstra's business sales and managing the operations of its channels.


Blackmores

In 2008, Holgate left Telstra to join health supplements company
Blackmores Blackmores Limited is an Australian health supplements company founded in the 1930s by naturopath Maurice Blackmore (1906-1977), when Blackmore opened the first health food shop in Australia in Brisbane, Queensland. In August 2020 Blackmores wa ...
as chief executive officer and managing director. Her sister's death from cancer spurred her to join the company. Within her first two months, Holgate identified that Blackmores operations in
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
,
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
and
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
were neglected. In 2009, she appointed Peter Osborne to direct Blackmores business in Asia and minimise the entry barriers. Osborne had worked in Asia for more than 20 years before his appointment. From 2008 to April 2012, Holgate increased Blackmores' annual sales to $234 million. The company increased its profits from the Thai and Malaysian markets, and prepared to enter the Chinese market. The profits from the Asian market accounted for nearly 25% of Blackmores' profits. In 2011, Holgate was confronted by a crisis related to a deal between Blackmores and
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia The Pharmacy Guild of Australia is a national employer's organisation representing community pharmacy proprietors in Australia. Еstablished in 1927 as the Federated Pharmaceutical Services Guild of Australia it is registered under the federa ...
. Under the deal, pharmacists "would be prompted to promote" Blackmores health supplements to their patients during the prescription process. The proposal of Blackmores caused "national outrage" and the "strong level of public concern". Holgate was criticised for referring the deal as a "Coke and fries" option. She explained the phrase was quoted out of context, having said that the proposal "would add the "Coke and fries" to the prescribed medication, and provide pharmacies with a "new and important revenue stream". She conceded that linking medicine with junk food "was highly unfortunate". In 2014, Holgate was one of the only 20 business leaders invited to that year's
2014 G20 Brisbane summit The 2014 G20 Brisbane summit was the ninth meeting of the G20 heads of government/heads of state.
. To help increase sales of Blackmores in the Chinese market, she was photographed with the president of China
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
and Australian prime minister
Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...
. At that time, Blackmores' Chinese sales were under $1million, while the required capital for labour and marketing was around $10 million. Her picture with the two leaders was widely circulated in China and helped attract local consumers. At the end of 2014-15, Blackmores sales in the Chinese market increased to $50 million and they reached $500 million in 2015-16. In September 2015, Blackmores joined the
ASX200 The S&P/ASX 200 index is a market-capitalization weighted and float-adjusted stock market index of stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. The index is maintained by Standard & Poor's and is considered the benchmark for Australi ...
index, comprising the top 200 most prominent companies in Australia, and Christine Holgate was named the first female CEO of the Year in November. During Holgate’s nine years at Blackmores, its share price rose from $18 to $90 and peaked at $220 in 2016. Holgate had transformed Blackmores, a member of the
Council for Responsible Nutrition The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) is a Washington D.C.-based trade association and lobbying group representing ingredient suppliers and manufacturers in the dietary supplement industry. CRN's current president and CEO is Steve M. Miste ...
(CRN), into the major health supplement exporter to Asia.


Australia Post

Holgate resigned from Blackmores in 2017 to become CEO of
Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post o ...
, the first woman in that role. Her appointment came as Australia Post began to position itself as the leading Australian e-commerce postal delivery service. Her job was to manage the modernisation of Australia Post’s logistics system and its 33,000 workforce. Holgate had no previous experience in managing logistics systems. Her appointment was partly based on her strategic ability to exploit the potentials in the Asian markets and enhance the business profitability. She also had direct experience as a Christmas postal worker while a student in North London. Holgate visited branches across Australia to meet postal employees and noticed the scepticism of the workforce. Before her arrival, Australia Post had divided its business into two product lines, the profitable transport and logistics operation StarTrack and the traditional postal service. After consulting staff, Holgate received agreement to unify the two businesses, which was done preserving traditional red livery and name Australia Post. In 2018, Holgate launched the "Everyone Matters" promotion, an advertising campaign supporting postal workers and post offices in regional areas. The
net promoter score Net promoter score (NPS) is a widely used market research metric that is based on a single survey question asking respondents to rate the likelihood that they would recommend a company, product, or a service to a friend or colleague. The NPS is a ...
increased over 30 percent in six months. She also tackled the trust problems of employees and launched an "equal pay for equal work" campaign. She invested $300 million to upgrade parcel processing systems using automation and tracking devices. She restructured the Australia Post's executive team to align with her customer-oriented and Asian-focused strategies. During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Holgate had to deal with a number of problems at Australia Post, including significant delays and cuts in service, allegations of the intrusive surveillance of staff, the planned payment of executive bonuses at a time when public servants were expected to take pay cuts, a bipartisan Senate committee accusing Holgate of attempting to avoid parliamentary scrutiny of Australia Post, and Holgate's personal intervention in the attempted delivery of
Pauline Hanson's One Nation Pauline Hanson's One Nation (PHON or ONP), also known as One Nation or One Nation Party, is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia. It is led by Pauline Hanson. One Nat ...
-branded stubby holders to locked-down public housing towers in Melbourne after Hanson made inflammatory comments about tower residents. Further controversy arose when Holgate revealed at an appearance before a Senate committee on 22 October 2020 that Australia Post had purchased four
Cartier Cartier may refer to: People * Cartier (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Cartier Martin (born 1984), American basketball player Places * Cartier Island, an island north-west of Australia that is part of Australia' ...
watches valued approximately around $20,000 in total as gifts for senior management executives who secured a lucrative deal with three Australian banks. Communications minister Paul Fletcher announced an investigation into Australia Post and asked Holgate to step aside as CEO. During question time in the House of Representatives that day, Prime Minister
Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (; born 13 May 1968) is an Australian politician. He served as the 30th prime minister of Australia and as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2018 to 2022, and is currently the member of parliament (MP) for t ...
said that if Holgate wished not to stand aside then she could go. On 2 November 2020, she offered her resignation, stating that she would not seek financial compensation. A subsequent report by law firm Maddocks, commissioned by the government, found that no specific policy that would support provision of Cartier watches had been identified, and that there was no evidence of fraud or corruption. In May 2021, Holgate was appointed CEO of Toll Global Express.


Awards and recognition

In 2011, Holgate won a Chief Executive Women scholarship and attended the Women's Leadership Forum at the
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
. In 2015, Holgate won the "Women in Leadership" award at the Australian Growth Company Awards. In October 2015, Holgate was named one of the "100 Women of Influence" in Australia by the ''
Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...
''. In November 2015, Holgate was awarded "Australian CEO of the Year" by ''The CEO Magazine'', the first woman to win the award. In 2016, Holgate was runner-up in the Australian CEO of the Year award. In 2019, Holgate received the Sir Charles McGrath award from the
Australian Marketing Institute The Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) is Australia's largest professional body for marketers. The AMI's core purpose is to support progress in the careers of their members and advance the marketing profession. The AMI has over 30,000 marketers ...
.


Family

In January 2016, Holgate married Michael Harding, the chairman of the
Downer Group Downer Group is an integrated services company active in Australia and New Zealand. Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and New Zealand Stock Exchange as Downer EDI (DOW), Downer is an ASX 100 company. Downer Group employs approximat ...
, in
Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the English county, county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the int ...
, England. She has a close relationship with her nephews Brian and Eddie, the sons of Holgate's late sister, Elizabeth, which was the reason for the wedding being held in England.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holgate, Christine Living people Australian chief executives Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of the University of North London 1960s births English expatriates in Australia