We have another woman leading the way in operations.

Through our 100 Women in Operations campaign, we highlight the diverse pathways and stories of women thriving in operational roles, showing what’s possible at every stage of a career.

Today we welcome Lisa Sutherland to the NAWO Wall of Fame.

Lisa is Head of Operations at Cm3, part of Blackwoods in the Wesfarmers Industrial and Safety group of companies. In this role, she focuses on building strong teams, simplifying the way work gets done, and improving the end-to-end customer experience. Lisa stepped into this role through hands-on operational leadership, which shaped her understanding of what drives team performance.

With a career spanning operations, financial services, and safety systems, Lisa brings extensive experience leading large, complex teams. At Cm3, she is deeply aligned to raising the standard of safety, compliance, and ethical practices across supply chains. She is passionate about helping organisations manage contractor risk with confidence, supporting contractors to achieve meaningful compliance outcomes, and ensuring Cm3’s people and services make a tangible difference to the way supply chains operate.

Prior to Cm3, Lisa spent more than a decade at ANZ, where she held several senior leadership roles overseeing global customer service operations and retail credit assessment, with responsibility for teams of up to 230 people across Australia and India – managing hundreds of thousands of customer decisions each year.

Lisa’s leadership approach is grounded in trust and open, honest communication, enabling teams to work more effectively and creating a safe, engaged workplace where people can do their best work.

Lisa has been nominated for:

  • Exemplifying what strong, modern leadership looks like in operational environments – guiding teams with clarity and purpose.
  • Empowering others to succeed by allowing autonomy to make decisions, learn and grow, while always being available to support and coach when needed.
  • Sharing valuable advice in busy operational environments and encouraging her team to “focus on the golf balls” – to keep attention on the highest value priorities rather than getting lost in the sand and pebbles.

Congratulations Lisa – thank you for sharing your story and welcome to the NAWO Wall of Fame.