From a dining room table in 2022: our momentum is building

2022

The beginnings, around a dining room table

Mark Baxter, David Anthony and David Brine sat down at Mark's home with pen and paper and a shared feeling that Australia could do better, with Jarther Taylor, CEO of Jarther+, kindly facilitating.

The lack of openly LGBTQ+ directors was the starting point. We wanted to understand why the gap was so large, what was getting in people's way and what we could do to help change it. So we started talking to directors, executives, search firms and governance organisations. Those early conversations became the foundations of ALBEI.

2023

Listening to people and looking at the numbers

Our first research found that just 16 of Australia's top 50 listed companies (32% of the ASX50) had diversity policies that applied to their boards. That raised a straightforward question: if diversity matters throughout a business, why wouldn't it matter around the board table too?

We brought senior LGBTQ+ directors and executives together at a dinner hosted by Corrs Chambers Westgarth, and held many months of coffee meetings with directors, C-suite executives, diversity advocates and allies, from within the LGBTQ+ community and from other under-represented groups. We also began contributing LGBTQ+ director data to the Watermark Board Diversity Index, which made LGBTQ+ representation visible in Australia's annual stocktake of board diversity.

May 2023

Lunch in Sydney with Dame Inga Beale

We welcomed Dame Inga Beale to lunch in Sydney. The first female (and, as far as we know, the first LGBTQ+) CEO of Lloyd's of London in its 325-year history shared her story and talked with us about the path to board leadership, and the barriers others still face.

November 2023

Becoming a not-for-profit and a charity

What began as an informal working group became a not-for-profit. Lesley Traverso joined Mark, David and David on the foundation board, bringing much-needed research skills. Together we agreed our name, our constitution and how we would work: as a member-based organisation bringing together LGBTQ+ directors, executives and supporters. In mid-2024 the foundation board was completed with the appointment of Dawn Emsen-Hough of Pride in Diversity and Andrew Staite of The Pinnacle Foundation.

In February 2024 ALBEI was incorporated and registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. Corrs Chambers Westgarth kindly did all of this work for us, from setting up the company to securing our charity registration.

February 2024

Officially launching ALBEI

Lucy Turnbull AO officially launched ALBEI in Sydney at an event hosted by Corrs Chambers Westgarth. What had started around a dining room table was becoming a growing network with a shared purpose.

The next day we released our expanded research, sponsored by Deloitte and Canva. With the help of Robbie Robertson and volunteers from Deloitte, we extended our work from the ASX50 to the ASX200. Of the 129 companies with inclusive diversity policies, 62 did not apply those policies to their own boards: one rule for staff, and another, less inclusive rule for directors. It raised a simple question: why shouldn't directors be held to the same standard as their staff?

2024

Taking the case to the ASX and the business community

We made a formal submission to the ASX Corporate Governance Council's review of its Principles and Recommendations, prepared with the pro bono support of Corrs Chambers Westgarth. Our message was that board composition matters, and diversity shouldn't stop at gender.

We wrote to the chairs and chief executives of the Council's member organisations, and Mark met the Council Chair, Elizabeth Johnstone. We worked alongside other under-represented groups, including Diversity Council Australia, the Jumbunna Institute at UTS, the Asian Leadership Project, ACON and Disability Leaders, so the case for diversity beyond gender was made with one voice. The issue was covered in the Australian Financial Review and the AICD's Company Director magazine.

February 2025

A warm welcome in Melbourne

Jude Munro AO launched ALBEI in Melbourne at an event hosted by Macquarie, bringing more LGBTQ+ directors, executives and supporters into the network and helping us build connections beyond Sydney.

May 2025

Ringing the bell for equality

Paul Zahra rang the bell at the ASX as ALBEI joined the first global Ring the Bell series for LGBTQ+ equality, with members of the ASX board in the room. An emotional Welcome to Country from Nareen Young set the tone, and Anna Brown and Dawn Emsen-Hough spoke alongside ALBEI. The message: LGBTQ+ people belong at every level of business, right up to its most senior leadership.

August 2025

An invitation to Amsterdam

Mark was invited to the first Spencer Stuart and McKinsey LGBTQ+ Leadership Event in Amsterdam, partly because of his years as a senior executive in Europe and London, and partly because of his work with ALBEI. A small, carefully selected group of senior LGBTQ+ leaders from across Europe came together to share experiences and strengthen their leadership.

Among them were Rob Jetten, who went on to become Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and Dame Inga Beale, whom we had welcomed in Sydney in 2023. Gordon Müller-Eschenbach of McKinsey–Aberkyn facilitated. Amsterdam connected ALBEI with a growing international network and showed that Australia's conversation is part of a global movement.

Throughout 2025

Getting people together

Leadership dinners and executive gatherings hosted by Russell Reynolds Associates in Sydney and Melbourne gave people space to share experiences, swap ideas and get to know one another. The conversations were remarkably open, and many who arrived sceptical left with a very different view.

October 2025

Opening our doors to members

At an executive evening hosted by Russell Reynolds Associates in Melbourne, we launched Foundation membership, giving people a way to support ALBEI's work, join the network and help shape what comes next.

May 2026

A bigger bell and a wider audience

Our second Ring the Bell event brought more than 100 people together at the ASX, including the full ASX board. Rob Jetten, by then Prime Minister of the Netherlands, sent us a video welcome, a long way from our conversations in Amsterdam. Pippa Downes spoke about her experiences and rang the bell alongside ASX director Vicki Carter.

Sydney was among the first exchanges in the global series, alongside London, Amsterdam, Toronto and Berlin. SBS covered the event and took the conversation about visible LGBTQ+ leadership into homes around Australia. As we said on the day: "People need to see role models."

September 2026

Back together in Venice

Mark was invited back for the second Spencer Stuart and McKinsey LGBTQ+ Leadership Event, held in Venice from 20 to 22 September. Around 20 senior LGBTQ+ leaders from across Europe met again, with Gordon Müller-Eschenbach facilitating. People spoke openly about their experiences, and it felt less like a formal event and more like time with friends who understand what it means to be an LGBTQ+ leader today.

Mark came home determined to get more Australians on the invitation list, and to bring the experience to Sydney.

October 2026

Giving our advocacy more weight

We received legal advice from Noel Hutley SC, Jesse Kennedy and Karen Petch on board diversity under the existing and proposed ASX governance principles, and shared it in a media release and a note to investors. Counsel's view was that a board lacking diversity that fails even to consider improving it is reasonably likely to be acting inconsistently with those principles. We're using it to take the conversation further with the ASX, investors and superannuation funds.

22–23 October 2026

Bringing the experience home to Sydney

Building on Amsterdam and Venice, our invitation-only Senior LGBTQ+ Executives' and Directors' Workshop with McKinsey brings senior Australian LGBTQ+ executives and directors together in Sydney, and it is full to capacity. Gordon Müller-Eschenbach is coming from Berlin to facilitate, and MA Financial is hosting dinner.