Who we are
We create ahaa! moments
Avril and David help leaders and their organisations reach the ahaa! moment: the point where you see yourself, and your world, differently.
CHANGING LIVES
Avril Henry AM
Forty years across investment banking, defence advisory, diversity, equity and inclusion, and leadership development. She served as Senior Advisor to the Chief of Army on gender diversity, values and cultural reform, and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2024.
SAVING LIVES
David Kwasha
A decade at Roche, six of them at its Swiss headquarters leading global marketing for cardiovascular products and lifecycle work in R&D. Then regional leadership at Actelion and Alexion, setting up operations across ten countries. He now advises companies worldwide.
History & milestones
2003
Avril founded the firm after a career in investment banking and corporate leadership, including the Westpac team that introduced paid maternity and paternity leave (1995) for the first time to a publicly listed company in Australia.
2006 - 2008
In 2006 Avril led the Ministerial Review into Recruitment and Retention. Cabinet approved 56 of its 59 recommendations. In 2008 the Australian Financial Review named her Australia's most in demand female speaker.
2011
Great Leaders Are Made (GLAM) launched, built for women at the point where organisations were losing them. It ran for thirteen years.
2015
Avril published Leadership Revelations III: How We Achieve the Gender Tipping Point. The book was launched by the Chief of Army and the Australian Securities Exchange.
2019
David joined, bringing over three decades of biopharmaceutical leadership globally and across the Asia Pacific and a second advisory speciality to the firm.
Today
The practice is deliberately more focused than it once was. Two advisors, two specialties, working with boards and executive teams in Australia and internationally.
OUR LEGACY PROGRAM
Great Leaders Are Made (GLAM)
GLAM was designed as a program to give current and future female leaders practical skills based on lived experience, not textbook theory. Over 13 years, GLAM widened to leaders of all genders across industries, in Australia, Europe, Asia and the United States. Over 50% of participants were promoted or moved into higher paid positions within 1 year of completing the program. GLAM closed at the end of 2024.
“GLAM changed the way I approach, react to, and manage situations. I now use what I learnt every day and this has improved my work and home life”
The round table
Avril Henry & Associates was built around the spirit of the round table. A table where people can say what they think, be heard, and leave energised to act. That spirit still drives every engagement.
After years of working with leaders across industries, it was clear that fear, self-doubt and outdated norms were holding people back more than any gap in capability. Avril Henry & Associates was created to help organisations build the conditions where difficult conversations can happen early rather than too late.