About Avril
Avril Henry graduated from the University of Cape Town in Accounting and Economics, migrating to Australia in 1980, with two suitcases, $500 and a dream to live freely and make a difference.
She embarked on a career which spanned senior roles in Finance, IT Project Management, Change Management and HR. The companies she has worked for include De Beers, Barclays Bank, Midland Bank, UBS Warburg and Westpac. She has worked in South Africa, Australia, the UK and USA.
From 1994 to 2003, Avril held senior HR and HR Director roles at Westpac, DMR Consulting Group, Merrill Lynch and Clayton Utz, with a focus on leadership development, people management strategies, cultural change and integration. During a time of significant cultural change at Westpac in the mid 1990's, Avril developed and implemented two programs on diversity and sexual harassment which resulted in two awards for Westpac from the Australian Human Rights Commission. In 1996 she went on to win a Silverscreen award for a video on child care titled "Care for Kids" in Chicago, and received a special recognition award for her role in producing a video titled "What's Sex Got To Do With It?", which was a finalist at the New York Film and TV Festival Awards.
She is the immediate past Chair and co-Founder of the National Diversity Think Tank, a past president of the Sydney Business & Professional Women's Club and was a member of the Westpac Delegation to the 1995 Beijing Women's Conference in China.
In 2003, Avril started Avril Henry Pty Ltd to follow her passion for making a difference and creating inclusive work environments, wishing to reach a greater audience. Her clients have included the Department of Defence, Australian Federal Police, the Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet, Australian National Audit Office, Department of Education, Science and Training, New South Wales Police, Toyota, CBA, Merck Sharp Dohm, IBM, Eli Lilly, SC Johnson, Westpac New Zealand, Astra Zeneca, NSW Health, Mater Education Queensland and several Government Departments in Singapore. During 2006, Avril delivered over 110 keynote addresses and workshops to more than 12,000 people in Australia, New Zealand and Asia across multiple industries.
In 2006, Avril won the prestigious Lifetime Achievement in HR Award, after being one of three finalists in the 2005 and 2004 Australian HR Awards; and in 2002, was one of the five finalists in the same HR Awards for Best HR Director. In 2005, Avril was a finalist in the Sydney Business Review Business Woman of the Year.
During 2006, Avril completed a Ministerial Review for the Minister of Defence, into Recruitment and Retention in Army, Airforce and Navy. This report has been titled "The Henry Report", and most of the recommendations were accepted and subsequently announced by the Prime Minister in December 2006. As a result of this review, Avril has been appointed as a Strategic Advisor to the Chief of Navy until 2008, and has joined the Navy's Workforce Planning Committee, being the only female and civilian on this advisory committee.
Avril is the author of Leadership Revelations: An Australian Perspective (2005), The Who What When and Y of Generation Why? (2006), and has written chapters on Generational Leadership in the recently released books Ideas, Original Perspectives from Leading Thinkers and Secrets of Inspiring Leaders Exposed! Her latest book released this year entitled, Inspiring Tomorrow's Leaders Today: Breaking Down Generational Barriers At Work is the first in a four-part series to be released over the next few years.
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