Merren McArthur (1981)
Queen鈥檚 College was my gateway to independence in the critical transition phase from secondary school to university. 聽 I met many of my best friends at Queen’s, including my partner of over 30 years, Murray Dowty (Wyvern 1981).
I partied so hard that my marks were not good enough to get me into my dream job in the Diplomatic Corp, so I had to settle for a career in law. No regrets. 聽I ended up satisfying my travel bug through aviation rather than diplomacy, which was probably a better fit in hindsight.聽
One strong memory is from the 1982 Queen鈥檚 Ball featuring Cold Chisel, who were at their peak at the time. 聽As a member of the ball organising committee, I had the privilege to slide down a plank of wood (in my ball dress) to below stage, where I met and kissed Jimmy Barnes.
While women now represent more than 50% of university graduates, they are still underrepresented in senior management and executive positions in most large companies and professions. 聽Progress seems to have stalled in the last two decades. 聽I hope that we see some real progress over the next two decades towards gender equity and diversity in our leadership positions across Australia. 聽
After 20 years practising law in a major national law firm, I took a couple of unorthodox career steps before discovering my passion for aviation. I was an executive at Virgin Australia for 10 years, including roles as CEO of Virgin Australia Regional Airlines, Virgin Australia Cargo and Tigerair Australia. 聽 I am now the founding CEO of Lynx Air, a start-up ultra-low-cost carrier based in Canada. 聽The airline launched in April 2022 and we carried our millionth passenger a couple of months ago. 聽Within two years we have grown our team from 20 to 450 people and our network spans 16 destinations across North America.