Premiership winning material: Gaye Hamilton and her wild ride

Women on Boards: Leader, directors & subject matter experts in conversation with Claire Braund

She’s spent years working with children and animals (a combination many of us would steer clear of) and yet Gaye Hamilton says the transferable skills gained in secondary science education and zoo management paved the way for her varied and fascinating career and board journey.

“Children and animals are equally unpredictable but also rewarding when you get the chance to stick with it,” Gaye tells Claire in this podcast.

Today Gaye is Deputy Chancellor at Victoria University, Chair of the Western Bulldogs Community Foundation board and board member of Western Chances, a not-for-profit that helps young people in western Melbourne who are facing financial barriers achieve their potential.

But Gaye started her professional career as a high school teacher before joining the Zoo Education Service, working at Melbourne Zoo. She then went on to become Director of Werribee Open Range Zoo before moving to Museum Victoria as Director of Scienceworks in the mid-90s, redeveloping the museum and building and opening the new Melbourne Planetarium.

In 2002, Gaye became Director of Museum Operations with Museum Victoria, overseeing daily operations of Scienceworks, Melbourne Museum, Immigration Museum and the Royal Exhibition Building, the position she retired from at the end of 2004.

In the 1990s Gaye joined her first board with the Gould League of Victoria. There followed over the next 30 years board appointments where, as a trusted member of the western Melbourne community, Gaye has been able to indulge her passions for sport, education and the environment.

This has included positions on the Old Treasury Building Committee of Management, the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre Trust, the People and Parks Foundation board, the Western Bulldogs Football Club Board, the Zoos Victoria Board, the State Sports Centres Trust, the Council of Victoria University and most recently the Western Chances board and Chair of the Western Bulldogs Football Club Community Foundation board.

As she tells Claire: “It’s been quite the rollercoaster.”

LinkedIn: Gaye Hamilton | Claire Braund (host)

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