CEO Ready

Build a strong foundation as a CEO to drive a high performing organisation.

CEO Ready Program Overview

CEO Ready is for leaders about to become a CEO (or equivalent) or who have been in the role for less than two years.

This program recognises the unique nature of CEO roles and the challenges they face. Experienced executives, board members, and thought leaders will share their insights and learnings to prepare you for success in your role.

You will learn best-practice leadership concepts from world-leading experts, so you can have immediate impact. Given the uniqueness of the role, CEOs don’t have many people they can speak with openly and share challenges with. Hence, this program will develop an enduring peer cohort of like-minded and similarly situated CEOs to provide support as you step into your new CEO positions.

Through an engaging combination of frameworks, practical examples, coaching, and real-life experiences, you will explore the key pivot points when becoming a CEO and the personal and organisational skills required to manage the enormous pressure and responsibility that CEOs face.

If you are a new CEO of an ASX150 company, you are perfect for our other CEO program: The New CEO Program.

Who Should Attend the CEO Ready Program?

New CEOs, Managing Directors, Department Secretaries, Agency Heads (or equivalent)

  • Leaders about to step into a CEO (or equivalent) role or who have been in the role for less than two years
  • In small, medium, large organisations
  • In listed, private, government and Not for Profit organisations
  • For ASX150 businesses, please see The New CEO Program

CEO Ready Program Key Takeaways

Learn and Apply Best-Practice Leadership Concepts

  • Step into this new chapter with confidence
  • Build an enduring peer cohort with like-minded leaders
  • Manage internal and external relationships effectively
  • Build power and influence around your leadership brand
  • Care for yourself; this is a marathon, not a sprint
  • Maximise your performance and impact as an organisation leader

CEO Ready Program Topics Covered

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Uniqueness of the CEO role

Key pivot points when stepping into the CEO role (compared with other c-suite, executive, and senior leadership roles) and how to navigate these.
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Developing and executing strategy

Practical frameworks and insights that enable you to focus on the most important levers to design, communicate, and execute your strategy.

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Working with the Board

How boards work, how board directors think, the common mistakes made by CEOs and techniques to help your board, and therefore yourself, succeed.
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Navigating capital markets

The role of the CEO in securing funding for their organisation, how to effectively do this, and how to deploy it to grow the organisation and deliver on strategy.
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Honing and operationalising your CEO brand

Build a brand that represents you as a leader and face of an organisation, including how to deploy this brand strategically and operationally to send the right messages.
Overcoming Challenges icon

Managing your resilience

Skills to manage your resilience in a highly consumptive role, so that you can sustainably deliver high performance in your role and for the organisation.

CEO Ready Success Story

"The combination of highly relevant class room subjects and learning from a diverse peer group had a big impact on me. I left with clarity of thought and an action plan."

"The combination of highly relevant class room subjects and learning from a diverse peer group had a big impact on me. I left with clarity of thought and an action plan."

ALEXANDER WENDLER
Chief Executive Officer, Landcom

CEO Ready Program Key Facilitators

Lisa Gray

Lisa Gray

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Lisa Gray is an accomplished CEO and company director of businesses across private and public sectors. Lisa brings over 30 years’ experience in leading and transforming large, distributed customer businesses across banking, investment management, superannuation, insurance and wealth management. Lisa is a non-executive director of ING Australia, Commonwealth Games (Victoria 2026) and Victorian Funds Management Corporation (VFMC).

Steven Münchenberg

Steven Münchenberg

FACILITATOR

For more than 25 years, Steven has worked directly with the CEOs and boards of Australia’s leading organisations, including through leadership roles at the Business Council of Australia and Australian Banking Association. He is currently the Managing Partner of Australia’s leading specialist board advisory firm, Blackhall & Pearl.

Stephen Miles

Stephen Miles

FACILITATOR

With more than 20 years of experience in assessment, executive coaching, top-level succession planning, organisational effectiveness and strategy consulting, Stephen specialises in CEO succession and has partnered with numerous boards of global Fortune 500 companies to ensure that a successful leadership selection and transition occurs.

Shali Lingaretnam

Shali Lingaretnam

FACILITATOR

Shali is a seasoned investment professional with a deep understanding of ESG and financial markets gained from over 20 years’ experience in the investment management industry. Shali is the Head of Investment Stewardship at VFMC and is responsible for leading VFMC’s ESG activities across its $70bn portfolio. Prior to this, she served as the Head of Investments at CCI Asset Management and also held investment roles at Macquarie Bank, Aviva, Lonsec and IOOF Investment Management.

Kath McCarthy | CEO Ready | Melbourne Business School

Kath McCarthy

FACILITATOR

Kath has been consulting in the government, health, telecommunications, education, and professional service sectors since 2008. Before that she worked as a solicitor for over 17 years’ including both senior in-house solicitor roles, and as a partner of a mid-tier law firm. Kath specialises in executive coaching, team coaching and facilitation and works with issues involving, high performance, systems leadership, influencing, team building, culture development, business strategy, and leadership development.

Andrew Rosengren

Andrew Rosengren

FACILITATOR

Andrew is the Managing Director of Guberno Consulting, a strategy and management consulting firm based in Melbourne that is focused on supporting companies frame and deliver growth strategies. Andrew’s expertise is founded on over 30 years senior executive experience in general management and corporate development in multinational mining and infrastructure companies. Andrew is MBS’s Executive in Residence where he contributes his diverse and pragmatic business expertise with the School’s students, faculty, and alumni.

Tim O’Leary | CEO Ready | Melbourne Business School

Tim O’Leary

FACILITATOR

Tim is the Executive Director Stewardship for the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. Prior to joining the Archdiocese of Melbourne in early 2020, Tim spent over 30 years in senior executive positions with Telstra, NAB and Mobil Oil Australia. He is a former Chief Sustainability Officer and Executive Director Government and Regional Affairs with Telstra. Previously he was General Manager of Corporate Affairs with NAB. Tim holds an honours degree in Arts and a Graduate Diploma in Ethics from the University of Melbourne and currently sits on several Boards and Advisory Committees.

Upcoming Sessions

In this residential program, participants stay on campus and engage in workshop activities after hours. The program fee covers tuition, meals and accommodation during the workshop.

Read our full terms and conditions and other frequently asked questions for more information.

 

19 - 21 May Carlton (Residential)
3 days
$15,000 AUD
ENQUIRE 2025
5 - 7 Nov Carlton (Residential)
3 days
$15,000 AUD
ENQUIRE 2025

Enquiries

Contact Sarah Fay on +61 (0)481 181 858 or [email protected].

Program Enquiry

If you have any questions about this course, such as the next intake dates or application process, please fill out the form below with details of your enquiry and our team will respond to your request within three business days, or call us on +61 3 9349 8200 or email [email protected]. Read our Privacy Policy.