In this episode of AHAA! Moments, Avril Henry interviews one of her greatest friends and mentors, Ann Sherry OA, who is widely acclaimed as one of Australia's leading and most awarded business executives and a proven expert in sustainability strategy. Ann has performed a stellar career that span's Government, Banking and Cruise Tourism and is currently Chair of UNICEF Australia and ENERO and currently holds non-executive roles with the National Australia Bank, Sydney Airport, Palladium Group, Infrastructure Victoria, Cape York Partnerships, and the Museum of Contemporary Arts. Ann is the Australian Co-Chair of the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum.

Beginning working life as a Radiographer, Ann became First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women in Canberra before moving to the banking sector initially in HR roles, then in CEO roles with Westpac NZ and Bank of Melbourne. She is an adviser, the former Chairman and CEO of Carnival Australia, the largest cruise ship operator in Australasia and a division of Carnival Corporation & Plc. After joining as CEO in 2007, she has transformed the entire industry and growth since and prior to COVID-19 has been double digits every year.

The Australian Government awarded Ann the Centenary Medal in 2001 and in 2004 she was awarded an Order of Australia. In 2015, Ann was named as the overall winner of the Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence Award. Ann devotes considerable energy to her passion for women's right's (currently as convenor of the MCC STEM), supporting opportunity for Indigenous communities, personal philanthropy and the support of the arts. Avril and Ann deeply and broadly explore what the meaning of the often used phrase in business, sustainability, really means in the current era for business, society and leadership and why it is so fundamentally important strategically for organisations and the key to survival and even growth going forward.