Macindoe was presented with the award yesterday (9 November) at the EOWA Business Achievement Awards, held in Sydney.

She was recognised for her commitment to diversity at Norton Rose Australia (NRA) where she oversees the development and execution of the firm's diversity strategy which aims to bring equal opportunity for women.

Since 2005, when Macindoe's diversity work began, NRA has doubled the number of women working flexibly and increased the rate of return of women from parental leave - in their second year of return - from 50 per cent to 81 per cent. The firm has also more than doubled the number of women at partnership level.

The Diversity Leader for the Advancement of Women award is presented to someone who understands equal employment opportunity (EEO) for women issues and how to address them; integrates EEO for women into the business strategy; educates the organisation on the issues affecting women's employment; takes action on issues relating to the employment matters; and delivers improved outcomes for women and the business.

"Since we began our focus on diversity, we've made significant progress in a number of areas," said Macindoe.

"Diversity is now seen as an issue that is critical to our business. But we've only just made it past base camp with all of the anaylsis, preparation and planning our diversity work has entailed. We are now on the upward trajectory and we're acutely aware of the challenges to come in this next phase."

Nominations for the award came from across all sectors - private, public and not-for-profit - with the final decision made by a judging panel made up of academic experts, government bodies and corporate representatives.