Kirstin Ferguson

Dr Kirstin Ferguson AM is an award-winning author, columnist, and keynote speaker.

Ranked among the top 50 management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50 and recipient of the Thinkers50 Distinguished Leadership Award, Kirstin combines rigorous research with more than three decades of real-world leadership experience.

Kirstin began her career as an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force and has held roles including Chief Executive Officer of an international consulting firm. During a fifteen-year career as a company director, Kirstin sat on a range of large publicly listed, private company and non-profit boards. This included an appointment by the Australian Prime Minister to become Acting Chair and Deputy Chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Kirstin has a PhD in leadership and culture and honours degrees in Law, and also History. She is an adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology Business School, where she was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in 2020. In 2023, Kirstin was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her significant service to business and gender equality.

Since 2021, Kirstin has written a popular nationally syndicated weekly column in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, in which she answers readers' questions about work, leadership, and careers.

Kirstin is the author of three books including Women Kind: Unlocking the Power of Women Supporting Women (Murdoch Books, 2018) with Catherine Fox; Head & Heart: The Art of Modern Leadership (Penguin Random House, 2023) and Blindspotting (Penguin Random House 2025).