Claire Rushe

Upon completion of her Masters in Engineering at Cambridge University, Claire spent the formative years of her career at the Ministry of Defence in the UK, before moving into Investment Banking. Her 11 years there were split between the Equity Trading desk and Transaction Banking division, both in London. In 2016, Claire relocated to Perth to establish the Australian branch of Chematek – a global Chemical and Water company, head-quartered in Italy. For the first six months, she conducted a feasibility study on the nationwide demand of oils & lubricants, constructed financial forecasts, created strategic plans, travelling across Australia and overseas to present her findings. Since then, she has grown the company to a team of seven, with staff in WA, NSW and VIC. As an advocate for equality amongst genders, Claire established an extra parental leave policy where parents, irrelevant of gender, are entitled to an extra 4 weeks holiday per child, in addition to usual government provisions. Alongside her full-time role, Claire is a Director of Jungle Sports, a children’s sports company. Encouraging and educating families on how to lead active, healthy lifestyles is a mission that she strongly believes in. Whilst in the UK, Claire was a “Sherpa” (mentor) in the Stemettes program – encouraging and supporting young women in the last few years of school to progress into STEM subjects and careers. This program mainly focused on schools from lower socio-economic backgrounds.