Her Story

Dr Catriona Wallace is a Customer Experience Futurist and Chief Executive of Sydney-based businesses, Fifth Quadrant (Australia’s largest customer experience strategy, design and research firm), ACA Research (a market research company) and Flamingo Ventures (a tech start-up and one of the world’s first Vendor Relationship Management companies). Her impressive professional achievements are complemented by her many not-for-profit endeavours and a deep commitment to the betterment of women and girls in Australia.

As CEO of Fifth Quadrant, Catriona was presented with both the 2013 NSW Medium-Sized Business of the Year award and the overall NSW Business of the Year in the Telstra Business Awards. She was also selected as one of Australia’s top eight female entrepreneurs in 2014 by the US-based Springboard Program.

Catriona has also led the development of Corpreneurism in Australia, which is the use of entrepreneurial innovation methods in Australian business. As a dynamic and international speaker, Catriona has spoken in over 15 countries, and is the most cited industry and media commentator on customer experience in Australia.

Not only does she have a PhD in Organisational Behaviour, Catriona is a well-published author and is an adjunct faculty member at the Australian Graduate School of Management.

As the founder of three not-for-profit businesses: Indigo Express; Kids in Philanthropy; and Out and Up, an employment program for women prisoners, asylum seekers and refugees, Catriona’s charitable side projects are both noteworthy and telling of her passionate disposition. The mother of five also mentors both Indigenous and non-Indigenous women.

Catriona partners with Anne Summers to host the sell-out In Conversation with Anne Summers events, most recently featuring Julia Gillard and Tim Flannery.

One thing she would like to pass onto others is that now is the time of the female entrepreneur.

All the core attributes associated with women in business like multi-tasking, empathy, social connection, adaptive leadership models and resilience are now more sought after. Catriona has noticed this shift as many of the task-based functions associated with traditional leadership drift away. It’s our time!

Catriona is currently planning the launch of the Flamingo business into North America in the next 6-12 months and will launch a Women’s Entrepreneurs Forum called Room 339 in March. She is also hosting Australia’s first Customer Experience Un- conference in Sydney on 28 March and will tour Harvard Academic, Doc Searls, the world’s leading speaker and writer on Customer Experience and the Internet, who is also on the Board of Flamingo, through Australia in March.

Strategies for Success

1. Be entrepreneurial: understand a market, see a need, rapidly develop a solution and commercialise.
2. Understand what it is to be a woman leader:empathy, social connection, lack of ego and strength in femininity.
3. Be resilient: embrace failure, embrace criticism, keep getting back up, keep going and just do it.
4. Surround yourself with capable people then delegate like hell!
5. Combine deep social beliefs with business beliefs: achieve both and achieve meaning.