Jennifer Nobbs:

A journey to boardroom success

Jennifer Nobbs is an Executive Director for the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority, as well as presiding on the board of Central Coast Primary Care. She’s also an alumna of the Future Directors program. After graduating from the program, Jennifer landed her first board role in January of this year, and now she’s eyeing up a successful boardroom future where she can use her positions to make the changes she wants to see. But before we look at where Jennifer’s boardroom career is going, let’s see how she got to where she is now, and the role that the Kickstarter Program played in helping her to get there.

Jennifer’s worked in government her whole life, and was keen to expand her knowledge and expertise. She was eager to explore the possibility of boardroom work, but as many young people find, entering into a career as a director can be challenging to say the least.

And so, Jennifer came to Future Directors with the hope of increasing her opportunities to get started in the boardroom. Having engaged with the program, Jennifer walked away with a greater confidence and understanding of the skills that she could bring to a board role. Beforehand, she had thought that a board director needed to do and be everything; and it wasn’t until having participated in the Kickstarter Program that she realised she only needed to bring her specific and unique skill-sets to the role.

The mystery and confusion surrounding boardroom positions had been lifted, but more than that the Kickstarter Program provided Jennifer with a community of people who she could rely on for support, both during and after the course. For Jennifer, the Future Directors group encouraged members to expose themselves and not feel afraid of talking about strengths and weaknesses. Not only did this help Jennifer to make the most of the program, it also provided her with transferable skills that she’s now able to utilise in all areas of her career.

Jennifer still keeps in contact with the Kickstarter Program community, and it’s a comfort for her to know that she’s part of a network happy to help and provide opportunities for one another. Beyond that, it helped her to understand how to navigate the world of boardrooms, and the steps she needed to go through in order to land a boardroom role in the first place.

Jennifer’s boardroom success, and what she learned from the Board Ready Program, have played a major part in helping her in her day-to-day work. She’s now more confident in knowing the value she can provide to an organisation, and how to best go about applying that value.

Jennifer imagines building upon her current boardroom success, and envisages continuing with it for the rest of her career. She sees herself applying her skills more and more in the not-for-profit space, as well as doing her bit to diversify the boardroom, helping people from different backgrounds get involved and allowing easier ways in for people sorely needed in the directorial space.

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