What this exec learnt from working for Kerry Packer

· Australian Financial Review

Sally Patten and , Iona Rennie
May 12, 2026 – 5.00am

Before she entered politics and the public service, Mary Wooldridge, the outgoing chief executive of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), was a management consultant, after which she spent a year working for business tycoon Kerry Packer at Consolidated Press Holdings.

It was the late 1990s and deal opportunities were coming in thick and fast. Wooldridge ultimately left to become a staffer in Canberra, but not before she had picked up valuable skills in the art of argument.

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Sally PattenBOSS editorSally Patten edits BOSS, and writes about workplace issues. She was the financial services editor and personal finance editor of the AFR, The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. She edited business news for The Times of London. Connect with Sally on Twitter. Email Sally at spatten@afr.com

Iona RennieProducerIona Rennie is a producer at The Australian Financial Review.

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