CHYLOE KURDAS

Inclusion and Diversity Specialist

Program inclusion: Empowering Women’s Careers Through Apprenticeships and Traineeships keynote, Thursday 17 March

Chyloe Kurdas, a former elite Australian rules footballer, television and radio sports commentator, spent a decade building the catalyst for the first-ever national women’s football competition, the AFLW, as AFL Victoria’s Female Football Development Manager. She credits being one of the first women to play football on the MCG as one of the best days of her life.

Chyloe is a sought after expert and prominent advocate for gender equity and cultural change. She is an Associate of the Melbourne Business School and her expertise is currently being used to present leadership programs to the Department of Defence.

Chyloe is currently the Inclusion and Diversity Manager for the Australian Red Cross. In this role she is charged with collaborating on the development and implementation of their Inclusion & Diversity strategy.

Chyloe led the implementation of Vision 2025, Golf Australia’s long-term strategy to enhance the engagement of women and girls in golf. In this role Chyloe created a unified whole of industry commitment to gender equality through sensitive stakeholder management and coaching of executive leaders to facilitate and advocate for change.

Chyloe's time as AFL Victoria’s Female Football Development Manager saw the creation of multiple high performance sporting programs to help girls develop their leadership, football and wellbeing capacities. These programs, with their focus on enhancing the entire athlete, were the culmination of her studies in health promotion, education and psychology and served as a catalyst for the rapid growth in the female game that sparked the AFLW.