CEO Profile: Rosie Wheen,
Peter Cullen Trust

Rosie Wheen is CEO of Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust as well as a leadership visionary, storyteller, diversity and inclusion advocate and changemaker in the worlds of water, community and international development.

We caught up with Rosie about her role and the future of women leading the way in water.

You’ve been in the role of CEO at Peter Cullen Trust for almost a year now. If you had to name one highlight, what would it be? 

There have been many highlights and the one that I would name is connecting with Fellows. We deliver transformative leadership programs each year to leaders working in water and environment. Throughout the past year I have met many of our 300+ graduates or Fellows from our programs. Our programs are in service of courageous leadership so what Fellows do after the program is key to our impact. Leadership is a verb! Many of our Fellows can point to moments when they have had the courage to speak up or act in ways that they wouldn’t have prior to the program – whether that is to take new challenging role or to speak truth to power and call out structural racism in their organisation. How lucky am I that my year has been full of conversations about those walking the talk on courageous leadership for themselves and those around them!

The women’s leadership program that is supported by the Foundation and Riparian held its graduation event back in November. What were your high level take outs after overseeing this program for the first time?

There were three high level take outs for me. Firstly, for many of the participants in our Leadership Program for women it is their first time in a women only space as they work in male dominated workforces. I loved their demonstration of their solidarity with each other at the graduation. When questions were asked of the group, they paused, huddled, strategised, then nailed their answers! Secondly, diversity of perspectives is essential to solve complex challenges. The group was made up of women with a real breadth of knowledge, expertise and life experiences from the water and environment communities and when they tackled their group challenge you could hear and see how they leveraged that diversity as a strength. Thirdly, we have a long way to go to achieve gender equality in Australia. Having the support of the Foundation and Riparian to support practical and strategic opportunities such as this is key to elevating women’s voices, expertise and knowledge in the water and environment sectors and is making a real difference in the careers of these amazing leaders. 

Peter Cullen Trust celebrated its 15^th anniversary this year. What has this milestone meant for the Trust?

Marking key milestones is so important. Professor Peter Cullen AO (1943-2008) was a renowned ecologist and water scientist, a man with a deep commitment to knowledge who built a career in science. But it was his ability to synthesize complex ideas and communicate them with clarity and simplicity to local communities, policy makers and politicians, with equal impact and respect, that created the legacy on which the Peter Cullen Trust stands. Celebrating our 15^th Anniversary has been an opportunity to continue to celebrate Peter’s legacy, to celebrate our achievements to date and to look ahead so that we can deliver on our purpose of fostering courageous leadership to tackle big challenges in water and environment.

We marked the moment with a dinner back in Canberra where the idea of the Trust was originally sown. At that dinner Professor Andrew Campbell, one of those who was there at the beginning, said: “Courageous leadership extends the boundaries of what people perceive to be possible, and achievable. It makes space and is infectious and osmotic in encouraging others to lead – followers, stakeholders, formal leaders, even opponents. Peter Cullen enlarged the space for leadership. He encouraged Prime Ministers, Premiers, Ministers, and industry and community leaders at all levels to lead, from a sound evidence base. Peter Cullen’s example, his life’s work and his legacy is still very real and meaningful. Enlarging the space for leadership, encouraging and empowering leaders.”

Before moving to Peter Cullen Trust you were the CEO of WaterAid Australia. How did your work in diversity and governance in this role shape you into the leader you are today?

Underpinning the work in diversity and governance was power – we undertook a power audit to understand how power was experienced by our team members across Timor-Leste, PNG, Cambodia and Australia. It showed us that we had a strong collaborative leadership culture, it also showed us that we could do better. As a leader I always ask myself what does better look like and one of the key frameworks I took from that process to improve my leadership is a feminist framework. It helps me consciously think about how I use my power – is it time to step up, stand with or step back? When I have opportunities to share my leadership journey, I include stories of when and how I put that into action as I hope that I can model leadership that speaks truth to power and enlarges spaces for a diverse range of voices.