Leadership Program
The Mawal Leadership Program is empowering the next generation of Indigenous corporate and private sector leaders.
This program delivers a comprehensive approach to leadership growth by combining cultural inspiration, personalised coaching, and professional networking. Participants engage with educational assets and Indigenous case studies that showcase economic development and wealth creation as core cultural values—encouraging leaders to embrace these practices as part of their identity.
The program also builds meaningful connections with Australian business leaders through a mentorship network, fostering knowledge sharing and relationships that directly support career success.
The Mawal Leadership Program is designed for Indigenous leaders who are:
Transitioning into the corporate or private sector from government, NGOs, or not-for-profit roles.
Starting, or already running, their own for-profit enterprise.
Seeking to grow their corporate careers.
Ready to step into senior corporate leadership positions or board roles.
Senior Academic Advisors
Our Academic Advisors keep Mawal’s leadership program firmly grounded in research and will be leading the ongoing analysis and evaluation of both individual participant outcomes and the program’s overall impact.
Associate Professor
Suzanne Chan-Serafin
Suzanne Chan-Serafin is an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at UNSW Business School, specialising in workplace inclusion and social justice. Her research examines how organisations can create diverse, inclusive, moral, and safe environments where all employees, particularly those from underrepresented or vulnerable groups, can thrive. Her research is published in leading journals such as Human Resource Management, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Organization Science and has been featured in media outlets including the ABC and Australian Financial Review. As a former Chair of the UNSW Business School Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and Deputy Head of School (Education), Suzanne combines scholarly insight into people and organisational dynamics with leadership experience to help organisations drive meaningful, equitable change.
Professor
Dr. Markus Höllerer
Dr Markus Höllerer is a Professor of Organisation and Management at UNSW Business School, as well as a senior research fellow at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business (Austria) and a professorial research fellow at IAE Business School (Argentina). He has been a visiting scholar at institutions such as Stanford University, Harvard University, and Copenhagen Business School, among others. His research is interested in issues such as novel forms of organisation and governance, innovative organisational design, collective action in crisis situations, and shifting institutional arrangements and social change more broadly and his academic work has been published in many of the globally leading scholarly outlets in the field of management research.
Markus has served in various academic leadership roles and is currently Deputy Head of School (Research) at UNSW Business School and Editor-in-Chief of Organisation Theory.
Leadership Program Overview
Development of case studies and educational assets
Development of original and/or licensing of existing Indigenous case studies that highlight economic development, trade and wealth creation as core Indigenous cultural values.
These assets will be used to inspire the new generation of Mawal Indigenous leaders to embrace these practices as essential to their cultural identity.
AI coach to support individual success and career growth
Building a custom instance of an existing AI coach system, which helps individuals to succeed at work and grow their careers through hyper-personalised goals and action plans.
The coach will be trained on Mawal’s case studies and educational assets so that recommendations can use Indigenous cultural examples as to why these leadership behaviours are both important and inherent to Indigenous culture.
Formation of a network of mentors and SMEs
Providing access for Mawal Indigenous leaders to Australian business leaders in a meaningful way to allow both knowledge sharing and ongoing relationship building.
Replicating both Brad Welsh’s lived experience and career-based research, which demonstrates that a wide and vast professional network is a key predictor of career success for individuals.