Women in Digital lauds Bec McConnochie and Tinke Wesseling
The national Women in Digital Awards finalists have been announced ahead of a crowning ceremony later this month, with Accenture and two of its senior leaders featuring among the nominees.
Professional services firm Accenture has been named as a Diversity Employer of the Year finalist for this year’s Women in Digital Awards, with winners to be announced on November 12. In addition, two of the firm’s long-term professionals, Bec McConnochie and Tinke Wesseling, have made the shortlist for individual categories.
Established in 2014 by Holly Hunt, the CEO of digital recruitment agency Hunt & Co, the Women in Digital platform is a global network aimed at connecting and empowering women working within the tech industry. Founded on the idea that “you can’t be what you can’t see”, the Women in Digital Awards seek to showcase talented individuals and role models to inspire the next generation of females keen on the digital industries.
A veteran of Accenture, Bec McConnochie has spent more than two decades at the firm after first joining on graduation from Monash University in 2000. Currently, she oversees Accenture’s client account with Optus as well as a selection of software and platform companies and is a Digital Customer Experience Group Lead.
Between 2015 and 2019, McConnochie was Accenture’s ANZ Consulting Lead for Communications, Media and Technology responsible for people and business performance.
“Delighted and privileged knowing the extraordinary women I’m amongst to receive the exciting news that I am a finalist for Digital Executive of the Year in the Women in Digital awards,” McConnochie shared in a post to LinkedIn. “As a leader you are only as good as your team around you, and I have a brilliant, resilient, innovative and game changing, 50/50 gender diverse team that I couldn’t be more proud of.”
Nominated in the Champion of Change category, Tinke Wesseling has been with Accenture for the past fifteen and a half years, joining the firm’s Sydney office in 2017 from Amsterdam – where with Accenture as a founding partner she co-founded the Refugee Talent Hub, a digital matchmaking platform for refugee employment. Currently she is a strategy & consulting managing director for Supply Chain & Operational Excellence.
Other finalists
In addition to McConnochie and Wesseling, a number of other Women in Digital finalists also have a background at some of world’s largest professional services firms – such as Shori Hijikata, chief of staff at fintech company Xendit and the founder of entrepreneurial media platform Shirts of Startups, who spent two years in the Washington office of BCG and is a finalist in the Rising Star of the Year category.
Meanwhile, those of a Big Four background include Stevie-Ann Dovico, the head of of technology for Westpac’s consumer division, who spent four years as a consultant between EY and KPMG; Yolanda Yue Li, who prior to taking up a position in Digital Factory Data Modelling at BHP was an Analytics & Cognitive practice manager at Deloitte; and former PwC national health practice leader Mary Foley, now a managing director of Telstra Health.
