Crawford School of Public Policy

From tackling one of the world’s most pressing policy problems, to taking her place at one of the world’s leading institutions, Harvard, Angela Winkle’s career is going from strength to strength.

After graduating from Crawford School of Public Policy, Winkle never dreamed her next step would be a scholarship to the Ivy League university to study a Master of Business Administration.

Winkle was the recipient of the ANU Menzies Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded based on qualities of intellect, leadership, breadth of vision and, the primary objective, to make a significant contribution to Australia’s development.

The scholarship will see Winkle pursue her academic interests of carbon financing and promoting women in leadership roles.

Securing the prestigious award wasn’t easy for the Master of Climate Change (MCC) graduate who credits her success to a lot of determination, hard work and many late nights.

Before studying at Crawford, Winkle was an architect, and since graduating she joined management-consulting firm McKinsey and Company.

The scholar comes from a family of judges, lawyers, doctors and human right advocates. She says she wants to create social progress at the intersection of social innovation and big business.

She’s focused on increasing the number of women in leadership, a decision catalysed “first by experiencing the entrenched boys club in the construction industry and then the staggering drop-off in women’s representation in the business world - from 60 per cent of graduates to three per cent of CEOs,” said Winkle.

Her passion to focus on leadership developed after working with the Male Champions of Change, a group of Australia’s leading CEOs working together to address women’s representation.

Winkle’s desire to create change in women’s leadership and carbon finance highlights her passion to be an effective leader.

“My aspiration is to be a global thought leader in the area of climate finance - helping governments, not-for-profits and businesses make pragmatic shifts to a low-carbon economy.

“I want to be a leader in a somewhat fraught industry, which means I need to be a leader who can inspire others to act on complex and ingrained challenges,” said Winkle.

While at Crawford, the scholar also received the Ross Garnaut prize and says she found her time at the school invaluable.

“The MCC really opened my eyes to the economic and international challenges that need to be addressed. It became clear to me how much depends on the actions of the businesses that make up the economy.

“The MCC was the perfect answer with a good mix of policy, economics, development and environmental courses. Once I found what I was looking for, it was easy to dive-in with such a great faculty,” said Winkle.

Winkle is headed to Boston in August and will be there until 2016. She hopes to find some time away from the books to soak in Boston’s culture and find the best clam chowder New England has to offer.