Later this year, Woolworths will have its first female chief executive — a fact notable only because she is the first, and just five other women lead the nation’s biggest 25 listed companies.
Amanda Bardwell takes over the hot seat at the nation’s biggest supermarket in September. While she’ll either dodge appearing, or will be a supporting player at, a highly anticipated Senate inquiry hearing in April, she’ll have to deal with any recommendations it makes, and will also need to respond to the ACCC’s interim report into supermarket pricing.
Ms Bardwell has been with Woolworths since 2001, working for many years in its liquor division which has now been spun out into separately-listed company Endeavour.
She also spent three years as head of marketing for Woolworths’ supermarkets, liquor and petrol businesses in the mid-2000s.
Born in Queensland, Ms Bardwell’s career over the past decade involved leadership for Dan Murphy’s and Cellarmasters’ online divisions, before moving to become the director of Woolworths’ digital food offering.
In 2017, Ms Bardwell became launch managing director of the fast-growing WooliesX eCommerce division, which has become one of the company’s major earners.
It is primarily responsible for its popular and lucrative Everyday Rewards loyalty program, as well as Woolworths’ supermarket direct-to-boot, delivery and pick-up services, the Woolworths app and its in-store Scan & Go technology for shoppers, and the company’s in house retail media arm, Cartology, which is behind its store magazine and advertising.
WooliesX bills itself as a group combining e-commerce, technology, media and data “to transform the way people live and shop”.
Woolworths reported this week that WooliesX had a 27.5 per cent year-on-year jump in sales in the first half of the financial year, while Everyday Rewards members climbed another 200,000 to 9.4 million.
Ms Bardwell is a graduate of the University of Queensland and has a masters from the University of NSW. She is also a member of Chief Executive Women, one the nation’s largest and leading advocacy organisations representing professional women’s interests.