K – HerStory Gallery
Additional Information
Special Achievements
- 2001 - First woman to be Chief Executive of a major bank (St George Bank).
- The only CEO of an Australian bank to have given birth to triplets.
Additional Information
- Only female Chief Executive of one of the top 20 Companies listed on the Stock Exchange. Gail served as the Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of two banks in Australia – St.George Bank from 2002 to 2007 and Westpac from 2008 to 2015. In 2008, these two banks came together under Gail’s leadership in what was the largest in-market merger in Australian financial services. At the time of her retirement in February 2015, The Westpac Group was the country’s second largest bank and the 12th largest bank in the world, in terms of market capitalisation.
- Gail holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and Higher Diploma of Education from Cape Town University and a Masters of Business Administration (with Distinction) from the University of the Witwatersrand.
- In 2010, she was named the eighth most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.
