Telecom head Theresa Gattung is the only Australasian woman to make it onto Fortune magazine's list of the world's 50 most powerful female executives.
Gattung slips into position 41 on the list of non-US businesswomen, much to the disdain of the Australian Financial Review, which reported the news, sniffing that she
hasn't been seen on that side of the ditch since August's $850 million AAPT writedown and had made the list "despite chatter about her early exit from [Telecom] running almost constantly".
Sounds to us like a case of sour grapes on behalf of Oz's unrecognised business chicks.
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We suspected last week's substantial security holder notice announcing the Accident Compensation Corporation had become DB Breweries second largest shareholder would elicit some gibes about ACC's ethical investment policy (or lack thereof).
And sure enough, Alcohol Healthwatch director Rebecca Williams was duly quoted as saying the ACC's $23 million buy up of an 8.4 per cent stake in DB raised questions "when alcohol is acknowledged as a key component to injury".
Obviously she hadn't noticed that ACC - one of the country's largest funds managers - has had a similarly sized stake in Lion Nathan for years.
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The Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) got marks last week for holding a conference about how to deal with the skills shortage rather than just moaning about it.
But Canterbury University's Dr Peter Cammock a man who managed to weave mysticism, perverted consumerism, Adolph Hitler and al Qaeda into a speech on skills brought a dose of reality when he asked how many of those present were "industry types". Of the 60 or so there only half a dozen put their hands up. It turns out that those interested enough in the skills shortage to spend time discussing it were nearly all state servants or educators.
Auckland's business people were presumably too busy filling staff vacancies to attend.
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Bored technology geeks take note that the Telecom Museum opened in Christchurch last Friday. "The Telecom Museum is not just a collection of old phones", insists Telecom regional manager Paul Deavoll, "but a fantastic collection of New Zealand's national history from the past 140 years". And there is more to the museum than old phones. It's collection of submarine cables is "possibly the best in the world".
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Spurned lover Allen Smith has had no luck trying to recover the US$12,000 ($24,040) engagement ring he gave a woman he met over the internet. He filed a theft claim under his homeowner's insurance after his betrothed, an Australian who called herself Bergittia von Buelow de Rothschild, stopped returning emails and phone calls.
But a Philadelphia judge has ruled that even though the woman may have misrepresented herself, her actions could not be considered criminal theft. Smith plans to appeal.
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Telecom head Theresa Gattung is the only Australasian woman to make it onto Fortune magazine's list of the world's 50 most powerful female executives.
Gattung slips into position 41 on the list of non-US businesswomen, much to the disdain of the Australian Financial Review, which reported the news, sniffing that she
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