Mining Magazine August 2020 | Page 64

SPECIAL FEATURE

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Michelle is the former Chief Innovation Officer at Barrick and the outgoing Chair of the Global Mining Guidelines Group ( GMG ). A skilled technology transformation leader , she took up her role as CEO at mining engineering software leader GEOVIA in October 2019 .

“ For me , as a woman in the industry , it was important to keep that work / life balance , especially as I got older and my son was born . I was lucky to be able to progress with my career thanks to help from family and a carer , but a lot of women don ’ t always find the support structure they need . It ’ s difficult for women because we end up torn between career progression and family . I was a general manager spending a lot of time on site but I also wanted to spend quality time at home . Nowadays it ’ s good to see men taking a bigger role in family life but unfortunately , they also face that trade off with the pressures of work .

“ I ’ ve had comments in the past from colleagues , and even team leaders , asking how I can abandon my family for my career and saying it ’ s ‘ interesting ’ that a woman would make that choice . Emotionally it ’ s difficult to accept such judgemental behaviour and the implication that for a woman to succeed she must have sacrificed something .

“ One of the big advantages I had was that I was able to meet and maintain the confidence of a series of male leaders who wanted to ‘ take a chance ’ on putting me in my next role . Whether that was in my first job in mining as a blasting engineer , later on as the superintendent of a truck shop without a maintenance background , or when I was appointed as the general manager of a petrochemical business because of my culture change experience . A big challenge for many women is being able to clearly present your skills as transfer-

SUMMER / AUTUMN 2020