About Us
Who We Are
Investing in Women (IW), an initiative by the Australian Government, focuses on accelerating women’s economic empowerment across Southeast Asia. By fostering equitable opportunities within the private sector, it aims to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth in targeted countries.
Our Work
Investing in Women uses innovative approaches to catalyse women’s economic participation and eliminate structural barriers, including:
Workplace Gender Equality (WGE)
supporting Business Coalitions that work with influential businesses to change workplace cultures, practices, and policies and achieve workplace gender equality, reaching more than one million employees.
Enabling Policy Reform
working with credible local institutions to strengthen the evidence base and drive collective action needed to influence and inform policy reform that supports women’s equal economic participation, particularly related to the care economy.
Campaigns & Communities Of Practice
supporting locally driven campaigns that highlight positive examples of gender equality to strengthen public support for women’s economic participation. Working with communities of advocates, IW will build evidence and networks that support the broader adoption of more gender-equal attitudes and behaviours.
Gender Lens Investing
working to increase access to capital for women owned and women led small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) by partnering with capital providers on Gender Lens Investing strategies and products.
End-of-Program Outcomes
By advancing women’s economic empowerment, IW works to build the foundation for more inclusive, resilient, and gender-equal societies and economies.
More workplaces adopt and implement workplace gender equality organisational changes.
Policy stakeholders are influenced by private sector perspectives and other evidence related to care economy and/or Women’s Economic Empowerment.
More early adopters of gender equality demonstrate progressive behaviour and advocate for broader change.
Increase investment in businesses that disproportionately benefit women across target countries.
Where We Work
Women’s economic empowerment is a shared global challenge. To help effect change in Southeast Asia, Investing in Women works in:
How We Work
Everything we do is guided by five key principles
In collaboration with corporations and business leaders, impact investors, entrepreneurs and advocates, we work with those who are driving change for women’s economic equality in our region.
Effect widespread change
that benefits women
Complement, not duplicate,
the work of others
Flexibly and responsively adapt
to opportunities
Collaborate with the
private sector and leverage
private sector investments
Take measured and
managed risks to achieve
our objectives
Our Leadership Team
We believe that intellectual capital is critical to providing innovative solutions and, ultimately, having positive impact. Investing in Women employs people who are committed to our objectives and uphold a culture of excellence. Our people are our most valuable assets—they are skilled problem solvers that believe challenges can be opportunities.
- All
- Office of the CEO
- Workplace Gender Equality
- Enabling Policy Reform
- Campaigns and Communities of Practice
- Gender Lens Investing
- Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
- Operations
Ms Birdsey is the Chief Executive Officer of Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government.
As IW’s CEO, she will lead the initiative’s efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment in Southeast Asia. Ms Birdsey brings over 20 years of experience working in international development, as well as skills in diplomacy, leadership, international relations and public policy.
Prior to her appointment as CEO of Investing in Women, Ms Birdsey served as Australia’s Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian High Commission Kuala Lumpur, where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Australian Government’s bilateral relationship with Malaysia.
As Assistant Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Birdsey led teams responsible for development policy and programming in governance, sustainable development, and humanitarian response, as well as DFAT’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. She served overseas in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Ms Birdsey holds a Masters in International Relations from the University of Sydney, and a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of New England.
Greg joined Investing in Women in February 2019 as the Operations Director and Deputy CEO.
Prior to joining Investing in Women, Greg was the Chief Operating Officer of Fairtrade International, based in Bonn Germany. Greg has extensive senior level experience working in finance, operations and governance in a range of government and non-government organisations.
Philippa Venning is Vice President at Abt Associates. Based in Canberra, she leads Abt’s technical team to provide quality advice and implementation across the breadth of Abt’s programs. In addition to being Abt’s contractor representative on Investing in Women, Philippa leads DFAT-funded programs in governance and health across Asia and the Pacific.
Prior to joining Abt, Philippa worked for DFAT, the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and several NGOs. Her most recent role at DFAT was Deputy Head of Mission in Timor-Leste. For DFAT and the World Bank, Philippa designed and implemented governance, service delivery and gender programs in Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Indonesia. She has spent 12 years working in the Asia-Pacific region in addition to over 14 years’ experience in Australia.
Before becoming a development professional, Philippa spent several years as a corporate lawyer working for Allens Linklaters in Sydney and Singapore. She serves on the board of ChildFund Australia in a voluntary capacity.
Maya is the Workplace Gender Equality Director at Investing in Women. Prior to IW, Maya was the Executive Director of Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE). Along with the board members, she initiated the establishment of IBCWE in October 2016.
Maya has master’s degree in business law from University of Gadjah Mada in Indonesia and she is an HR professional with more than 20 years of experience, both in private sector and development sector. She has experience in facilitating various training programs such as leadership, people management program, gender bias, anti-sexual harassment, and discrimination. As HR practitioner, she has the experience in managing overall people processes including organisational design, diversity and inclusion, and change management. With her experience, Maya led the assistance program to IBCWE members in transforming their policies and practices using the gender lens, including diversity and inclusion aspects.
In collaboration with UN Women Regional Program, Maya is currently seating as legacy judge for Women Empowerment Principles (WEP) Award, for Asia Pacific region.
Maya was appointed as one of advocates for G20 EMPOWER 2022, representing Indonesia in G20 forum, along with other business leaders from Indonesia. She also served as policy manager in Women in Business Council of B20 Indonesia presidency 2022 to develop policy recommendation from business perspective.
Maesy Angelina is the Director for Policy and Reforms and head of the Indonesia office of Investing in Women. Maesy has nearly 20 years of experience in designing and implementing programs, leading teams, and conducting action-research and policy advocacy to advance gender equality and social inclusion in Indonesia. She is particularly accomplished in applying behavioural insights and systemic design to advance women’s economic empowerment and digital transformation, with experience on topics ranging from enabling safe transit for women night-shift workers to supporting digital and financial inclusion of women micro-entrepreneurs. Her work with international organizations, such as the United Nations Global Pulse and DFAT Australia, has successfully led to recommendations to advance gender equality being taken up by various stakeholders, from local and national governments to the biggest ride hailing company in Indonesia.
Maesy holds a bachelor degree in Psychology from Atma Jaya University, a master degree in International Development from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam’s International Institute of Studies, and trained on designing social systems by Stanford d.School.
Kim Patria is Director for Campaigns and Communities of Practice at Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government. He leads a team that works with partners in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia to promote positive examples of gender equality to strengthen public support for women’s economic empowerment. Kim joined IW in 2018 in a communication role but was immediately involved in managing partnerships for locally led campaigns. Prior to joining IW, Kim has worked as a journalist, a publicist for a Philippine senator-turned-presidential aspirant, and a marketing director for a Jakarta-headquartered startup. He holds a Master of Marketing degree from the University of Sydney (completed through an Australia Awards scholarship) and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of the Philippines.
Eleanor T. Keppelman is the Impact Investing Director with Investing in Women. As Impact Investing Director, Ms. Keppelman leads a team to carry out IW’s investing activities, with the ultimate goal of increasing investment capital to women-led or supporting businesses across Southeast Asia. Prior to joining IW, Ms. Keppelman was an investment officer with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), where she led debt transactions into social enterprises and impact funds operating in low and lower middle-income countries. She was also part of the DFC team implementing the agency’s 2X Women’s Initiative.
Ms. Keppelman is a passionate investment professional who has spent much of her career focused on promoting women’s economic empowerment through the mobilization of capital. She holds a B.A. with honors in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an M.A. with distinction in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Samiha Barkat is Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning with Investing in Women. As MERL Director, she is responsible for setting the direction of IW’s monitoring and evaluation system and leading a team to undertake MERL activities across the program’s multi-country initiatives.
Samiha brings over 17 years of experience in international development and MEL, working with clients across both the public and private sectors. Before joining IW, she was Head of Impact at Launch Housing, the largest community-based homelessness services organisation in Melbourne, where she oversaw the organisation’s impact and research portfolio.
As Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon, Samiha served as Technical Adviser to DFAT posts across the Asia Pacific to design and evaluate programs. At Cardno (now DT Global), she was Project Director of DFAT’s flagship anti-people trafficking program, AAPTIP, working in seven countries across Southeast Asia.
Samiha is a Non-Executive Director of Giving Joy, a NFP providing microgrants to women entrepreneurs globally. She holds a Master of Public Health from Boston University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Francis or ‘French’ Perdon joined Investing in Women in 2024 as the Philippines’ Technical and Policy Reform Lead. In this role, he leads on the delivery of policy reforms on care economy, and supports the implementation of IW activities in the Philippines. French has a decade of experience working on public, foreign and development policies across a range of professional settings, including in a regional organisation, academe, and diplomatic mission. He also had short stints working for a bilateral donor project focused on higher education reform, and a management consulting firm specialising in Australian public policy.
French received his Master of Public Policy and Management (First Class Honours) degree as part of the Faculty of Arts Dean’s Honours List from The University of Melbourne in 2023 under an Australia Awards scholarship.
Ms Birdsey is the Chief Executive Officer of Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government.
As IW’s CEO, she will lead the initiative’s efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment in Southeast Asia. Ms Birdsey brings over 20 years of experience working in international development, as well as skills in diplomacy, leadership, international relations and public policy.
Prior to her appointment as CEO of Investing in Women, Ms Birdsey served as Australia’s Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian High Commission Kuala Lumpur, where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Australian Government’s bilateral relationship with Malaysia.
As Assistant Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Birdsey led teams responsible for development policy and programming in governance, sustainable development, and humanitarian response, as well as DFAT’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. She served overseas in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Ms Birdsey holds a Masters in International Relations from the University of Sydney, and a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of New England.
Greg joined Investing in Women in February 2019 as the Operations Director and Deputy CEO.
Prior to joining Investing in Women, Greg was the Chief Operating Officer of Fairtrade International, based in Bonn Germany. Greg has extensive senior level experience working in finance, operations and governance in a range of government and non-government organisations.
Philippa Venning is Vice President at Abt Associates. Based in Canberra, she leads Abt’s technical team to provide quality advice and implementation across the breadth of Abt’s programs. In addition to being Abt’s contractor representative on Investing in Women, Philippa leads DFAT-funded programs in governance and health across Asia and the Pacific.
Prior to joining Abt, Philippa worked for DFAT, the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and several NGOs. Her most recent role at DFAT was Deputy Head of Mission in Timor-Leste. For DFAT and the World Bank, Philippa designed and implemented governance, service delivery and gender programs in Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Indonesia. She has spent 12 years working in the Asia-Pacific region in addition to over 14 years’ experience in Australia.
Before becoming a development professional, Philippa spent several years as a corporate lawyer working for Allens Linklaters in Sydney and Singapore. She serves on the board of ChildFund Australia in a voluntary capacity.
Maya is the Workplace Gender Equality Director at Investing in Women. Prior to IW, Maya was the Executive Director of Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE). Along with the board members, she initiated the establishment of IBCWE in October 2016.
Maya has master’s degree in business law from University of Gadjah Mada in Indonesia and she is an HR professional with more than 20 years of experience, both in private sector and development sector. She has experience in facilitating various training programs such as leadership, people management program, gender bias, anti-sexual harassment, and discrimination. As HR practitioner, she has the experience in managing overall people processes including organisational design, diversity and inclusion, and change management. With her experience, Maya led the assistance program to IBCWE members in transforming their policies and practices using the gender lens, including diversity and inclusion aspects.
In collaboration with UN Women Regional Program, Maya is currently seating as legacy judge for Women Empowerment Principles (WEP) Award, for Asia Pacific region.
Maya was appointed as one of advocates for G20 EMPOWER 2022, representing Indonesia in G20 forum, along with other business leaders from Indonesia. She also served as policy manager in Women in Business Council of B20 Indonesia presidency 2022 to develop policy recommendation from business perspective.
Maesy Angelina is the Director for Policy and Reforms and head of the Indonesia office of Investing in Women. Maesy has nearly 20 years of experience in designing and implementing programs, leading teams, and conducting action-research and policy advocacy to advance gender equality and social inclusion in Indonesia. She is particularly accomplished in applying behavioural insights and systemic design to advance women’s economic empowerment and digital transformation, with experience on topics ranging from enabling safe transit for women night-shift workers to supporting digital and financial inclusion of women micro-entrepreneurs. Her work with international organizations, such as the United Nations Global Pulse and DFAT Australia, has successfully led to recommendations to advance gender equality being taken up by various stakeholders, from local and national governments to the biggest ride hailing company in Indonesia.
Maesy holds a bachelor degree in Psychology from Atma Jaya University, a master degree in International Development from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam’s International Institute of Studies, and trained on designing social systems by Stanford d.School.
Kim Patria is Director for Campaigns and Communities of Practice at Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government. He leads a team that works with partners in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia to promote positive examples of gender equality to strengthen public support for women’s economic empowerment. Kim joined IW in 2018 in a communication role but was immediately involved in managing partnerships for locally led campaigns. Prior to joining IW, Kim has worked as a journalist, a publicist for a Philippine senator-turned-presidential aspirant, and a marketing director for a Jakarta-headquartered startup. He holds a Master of Marketing degree from the University of Sydney (completed through an Australia Awards scholarship) and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of the Philippines.
Eleanor T. Keppelman is the Impact Investing Director with Investing in Women. As Impact Investing Director, Ms. Keppelman leads a team to carry out IW’s investing activities, with the ultimate goal of increasing investment capital to women-led or supporting businesses across Southeast Asia. Prior to joining IW, Ms. Keppelman was an investment officer with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), where she led debt transactions into social enterprises and impact funds operating in low and lower middle-income countries. She was also part of the DFC team implementing the agency’s 2X Women’s Initiative.
Ms. Keppelman is a passionate investment professional who has spent much of her career focused on promoting women’s economic empowerment through the mobilization of capital. She holds a B.A. with honors in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an M.A. with distinction in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Samiha Barkat is Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning with Investing in Women. As MERL Director, she is responsible for setting the direction of IW’s monitoring and evaluation system and leading a team to undertake MERL activities across the program’s multi-country initiatives.
Samiha brings over 17 years of experience in international development and MEL, working with clients across both the public and private sectors. Before joining IW, she was Head of Impact at Launch Housing, the largest community-based homelessness services organisation in Melbourne, where she oversaw the organisation’s impact and research portfolio.
As Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon, Samiha served as Technical Adviser to DFAT posts across the Asia Pacific to design and evaluate programs. At Cardno (now DT Global), she was Project Director of DFAT’s flagship anti-people trafficking program, AAPTIP, working in seven countries across Southeast Asia.
Samiha is a Non-Executive Director of Giving Joy, a NFP providing microgrants to women entrepreneurs globally. She holds a Master of Public Health from Boston University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Francis or ‘French’ Perdon joined Investing in Women in 2024 as the Philippines’ Technical and Policy Reform Lead. In this role, he leads on the delivery of policy reforms on care economy, and supports the implementation of IW activities in the Philippines. French has a decade of experience working on public, foreign and development policies across a range of professional settings, including in a regional organisation, academe, and diplomatic mission. He also had short stints working for a bilateral donor project focused on higher education reform, and a management consulting firm specialising in Australian public policy.
French received his Master of Public Policy and Management (First Class Honours) degree as part of the Faculty of Arts Dean’s Honours List from The University of Melbourne in 2023 under an Australia Awards scholarship.
Ms Birdsey is the Chief Executive Officer of Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government.
As IW’s CEO, she will lead the initiative’s efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment in Southeast Asia. Ms Birdsey brings over 20 years of experience working in international development, as well as skills in diplomacy, leadership, international relations and public policy.
Prior to her appointment as CEO of Investing in Women, Ms Birdsey served as Australia’s Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian High Commission Kuala Lumpur, where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Australian Government’s bilateral relationship with Malaysia.
As Assistant Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Birdsey led teams responsible for development policy and programming in governance, sustainable development, and humanitarian response, as well as DFAT’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. She served overseas in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Ms Birdsey holds a Masters in International Relations from the University of Sydney, and a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of New England.
Greg joined Investing in Women in February 2019 as the Operations Director and Deputy CEO.
Prior to joining Investing in Women, Greg was the Chief Operating Officer of Fairtrade International, based in Bonn Germany. Greg has extensive senior level experience working in finance, operations and governance in a range of government and non-government organisations.
Philippa Venning is Vice President at Abt Associates. Based in Canberra, she leads Abt’s technical team to provide quality advice and implementation across the breadth of Abt’s programs. In addition to being Abt’s contractor representative on Investing in Women, Philippa leads DFAT-funded programs in governance and health across Asia and the Pacific.
Prior to joining Abt, Philippa worked for DFAT, the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and several NGOs. Her most recent role at DFAT was Deputy Head of Mission in Timor-Leste. For DFAT and the World Bank, Philippa designed and implemented governance, service delivery and gender programs in Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Indonesia. She has spent 12 years working in the Asia-Pacific region in addition to over 14 years’ experience in Australia.
Before becoming a development professional, Philippa spent several years as a corporate lawyer working for Allens Linklaters in Sydney and Singapore. She serves on the board of ChildFund Australia in a voluntary capacity.
Maya is the Workplace Gender Equality Director at Investing in Women. Prior to IW, Maya was the Executive Director of Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE). Along with the board members, she initiated the establishment of IBCWE in October 2016.
Maya has master’s degree in business law from University of Gadjah Mada in Indonesia and she is an HR professional with more than 20 years of experience, both in private sector and development sector. She has experience in facilitating various training programs such as leadership, people management program, gender bias, anti-sexual harassment, and discrimination. As HR practitioner, she has the experience in managing overall people processes including organisational design, diversity and inclusion, and change management. With her experience, Maya led the assistance program to IBCWE members in transforming their policies and practices using the gender lens, including diversity and inclusion aspects.
In collaboration with UN Women Regional Program, Maya is currently seating as legacy judge for Women Empowerment Principles (WEP) Award, for Asia Pacific region.
Maya was appointed as one of advocates for G20 EMPOWER 2022, representing Indonesia in G20 forum, along with other business leaders from Indonesia. She also served as policy manager in Women in Business Council of B20 Indonesia presidency 2022 to develop policy recommendation from business perspective.
Maesy Angelina is the Director for Policy and Reforms and head of the Indonesia office of Investing in Women. Maesy has nearly 20 years of experience in designing and implementing programs, leading teams, and conducting action-research and policy advocacy to advance gender equality and social inclusion in Indonesia. She is particularly accomplished in applying behavioural insights and systemic design to advance women’s economic empowerment and digital transformation, with experience on topics ranging from enabling safe transit for women night-shift workers to supporting digital and financial inclusion of women micro-entrepreneurs. Her work with international organizations, such as the United Nations Global Pulse and DFAT Australia, has successfully led to recommendations to advance gender equality being taken up by various stakeholders, from local and national governments to the biggest ride hailing company in Indonesia.
Maesy holds a bachelor degree in Psychology from Atma Jaya University, a master degree in International Development from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam’s International Institute of Studies, and trained on designing social systems by Stanford d.School.
Kim Patria is Director for Campaigns and Communities of Practice at Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government. He leads a team that works with partners in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia to promote positive examples of gender equality to strengthen public support for women’s economic empowerment. Kim joined IW in 2018 in a communication role but was immediately involved in managing partnerships for locally led campaigns. Prior to joining IW, Kim has worked as a journalist, a publicist for a Philippine senator-turned-presidential aspirant, and a marketing director for a Jakarta-headquartered startup. He holds a Master of Marketing degree from the University of Sydney (completed through an Australia Awards scholarship) and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of the Philippines.
Eleanor T. Keppelman is the Impact Investing Director with Investing in Women. As Impact Investing Director, Ms. Keppelman leads a team to carry out IW’s investing activities, with the ultimate goal of increasing investment capital to women-led or supporting businesses across Southeast Asia. Prior to joining IW, Ms. Keppelman was an investment officer with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), where she led debt transactions into social enterprises and impact funds operating in low and lower middle-income countries. She was also part of the DFC team implementing the agency’s 2X Women’s Initiative.
Ms. Keppelman is a passionate investment professional who has spent much of her career focused on promoting women’s economic empowerment through the mobilization of capital. She holds a B.A. with honors in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an M.A. with distinction in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Samiha Barkat is Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning with Investing in Women. As MERL Director, she is responsible for setting the direction of IW’s monitoring and evaluation system and leading a team to undertake MERL activities across the program’s multi-country initiatives.
Samiha brings over 17 years of experience in international development and MEL, working with clients across both the public and private sectors. Before joining IW, she was Head of Impact at Launch Housing, the largest community-based homelessness services organisation in Melbourne, where she oversaw the organisation’s impact and research portfolio.
As Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon, Samiha served as Technical Adviser to DFAT posts across the Asia Pacific to design and evaluate programs. At Cardno (now DT Global), she was Project Director of DFAT’s flagship anti-people trafficking program, AAPTIP, working in seven countries across Southeast Asia.
Samiha is a Non-Executive Director of Giving Joy, a NFP providing microgrants to women entrepreneurs globally. She holds a Master of Public Health from Boston University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Francis or ‘French’ Perdon joined Investing in Women in 2024 as the Philippines’ Technical and Policy Reform Lead. In this role, he leads on the delivery of policy reforms on care economy, and supports the implementation of IW activities in the Philippines. French has a decade of experience working on public, foreign and development policies across a range of professional settings, including in a regional organisation, academe, and diplomatic mission. He also had short stints working for a bilateral donor project focused on higher education reform, and a management consulting firm specialising in Australian public policy.
French received his Master of Public Policy and Management (First Class Honours) degree as part of the Faculty of Arts Dean’s Honours List from The University of Melbourne in 2023 under an Australia Awards scholarship.
Ms Birdsey is the Chief Executive Officer of Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government.
As IW’s CEO, she will lead the initiative’s efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment in Southeast Asia. Ms Birdsey brings over 20 years of experience working in international development, as well as skills in diplomacy, leadership, international relations and public policy.
Prior to her appointment as CEO of Investing in Women, Ms Birdsey served as Australia’s Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian High Commission Kuala Lumpur, where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Australian Government’s bilateral relationship with Malaysia.
As Assistant Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Birdsey led teams responsible for development policy and programming in governance, sustainable development, and humanitarian response, as well as DFAT’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. She served overseas in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Ms Birdsey holds a Masters in International Relations from the University of Sydney, and a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of New England.
Greg joined Investing in Women in February 2019 as the Operations Director and Deputy CEO.
Prior to joining Investing in Women, Greg was the Chief Operating Officer of Fairtrade International, based in Bonn Germany. Greg has extensive senior level experience working in finance, operations and governance in a range of government and non-government organisations.
Philippa Venning is Vice President at Abt Associates. Based in Canberra, she leads Abt’s technical team to provide quality advice and implementation across the breadth of Abt’s programs. In addition to being Abt’s contractor representative on Investing in Women, Philippa leads DFAT-funded programs in governance and health across Asia and the Pacific.
Prior to joining Abt, Philippa worked for DFAT, the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and several NGOs. Her most recent role at DFAT was Deputy Head of Mission in Timor-Leste. For DFAT and the World Bank, Philippa designed and implemented governance, service delivery and gender programs in Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Indonesia. She has spent 12 years working in the Asia-Pacific region in addition to over 14 years’ experience in Australia.
Before becoming a development professional, Philippa spent several years as a corporate lawyer working for Allens Linklaters in Sydney and Singapore. She serves on the board of ChildFund Australia in a voluntary capacity.
Maya is the Workplace Gender Equality Director at Investing in Women. Prior to IW, Maya was the Executive Director of Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE). Along with the board members, she initiated the establishment of IBCWE in October 2016.
Maya has master’s degree in business law from University of Gadjah Mada in Indonesia and she is an HR professional with more than 20 years of experience, both in private sector and development sector. She has experience in facilitating various training programs such as leadership, people management program, gender bias, anti-sexual harassment, and discrimination. As HR practitioner, she has the experience in managing overall people processes including organisational design, diversity and inclusion, and change management. With her experience, Maya led the assistance program to IBCWE members in transforming their policies and practices using the gender lens, including diversity and inclusion aspects.
In collaboration with UN Women Regional Program, Maya is currently seating as legacy judge for Women Empowerment Principles (WEP) Award, for Asia Pacific region.
Maya was appointed as one of advocates for G20 EMPOWER 2022, representing Indonesia in G20 forum, along with other business leaders from Indonesia. She also served as policy manager in Women in Business Council of B20 Indonesia presidency 2022 to develop policy recommendation from business perspective.
Maesy Angelina is the Director for Policy and Reforms and head of the Indonesia office of Investing in Women. Maesy has nearly 20 years of experience in designing and implementing programs, leading teams, and conducting action-research and policy advocacy to advance gender equality and social inclusion in Indonesia. She is particularly accomplished in applying behavioural insights and systemic design to advance women’s economic empowerment and digital transformation, with experience on topics ranging from enabling safe transit for women night-shift workers to supporting digital and financial inclusion of women micro-entrepreneurs. Her work with international organizations, such as the United Nations Global Pulse and DFAT Australia, has successfully led to recommendations to advance gender equality being taken up by various stakeholders, from local and national governments to the biggest ride hailing company in Indonesia.
Maesy holds a bachelor degree in Psychology from Atma Jaya University, a master degree in International Development from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam’s International Institute of Studies, and trained on designing social systems by Stanford d.School.
Kim Patria is Director for Campaigns and Communities of Practice at Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government. He leads a team that works with partners in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia to promote positive examples of gender equality to strengthen public support for women’s economic empowerment. Kim joined IW in 2018 in a communication role but was immediately involved in managing partnerships for locally led campaigns. Prior to joining IW, Kim has worked as a journalist, a publicist for a Philippine senator-turned-presidential aspirant, and a marketing director for a Jakarta-headquartered startup. He holds a Master of Marketing degree from the University of Sydney (completed through an Australia Awards scholarship) and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of the Philippines.
Eleanor T. Keppelman is the Impact Investing Director with Investing in Women. As Impact Investing Director, Ms. Keppelman leads a team to carry out IW’s investing activities, with the ultimate goal of increasing investment capital to women-led or supporting businesses across Southeast Asia. Prior to joining IW, Ms. Keppelman was an investment officer with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), where she led debt transactions into social enterprises and impact funds operating in low and lower middle-income countries. She was also part of the DFC team implementing the agency’s 2X Women’s Initiative.
Ms. Keppelman is a passionate investment professional who has spent much of her career focused on promoting women’s economic empowerment through the mobilization of capital. She holds a B.A. with honors in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an M.A. with distinction in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Samiha Barkat is Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning with Investing in Women. As MERL Director, she is responsible for setting the direction of IW’s monitoring and evaluation system and leading a team to undertake MERL activities across the program’s multi-country initiatives.
Samiha brings over 17 years of experience in international development and MEL, working with clients across both the public and private sectors. Before joining IW, she was Head of Impact at Launch Housing, the largest community-based homelessness services organisation in Melbourne, where she oversaw the organisation’s impact and research portfolio.
As Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon, Samiha served as Technical Adviser to DFAT posts across the Asia Pacific to design and evaluate programs. At Cardno (now DT Global), she was Project Director of DFAT’s flagship anti-people trafficking program, AAPTIP, working in seven countries across Southeast Asia.
Samiha is a Non-Executive Director of Giving Joy, a NFP providing microgrants to women entrepreneurs globally. She holds a Master of Public Health from Boston University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Francis or ‘French’ Perdon joined Investing in Women in 2024 as the Philippines’ Technical and Policy Reform Lead. In this role, he leads on the delivery of policy reforms on care economy, and supports the implementation of IW activities in the Philippines. French has a decade of experience working on public, foreign and development policies across a range of professional settings, including in a regional organisation, academe, and diplomatic mission. He also had short stints working for a bilateral donor project focused on higher education reform, and a management consulting firm specialising in Australian public policy.
French received his Master of Public Policy and Management (First Class Honours) degree as part of the Faculty of Arts Dean’s Honours List from The University of Melbourne in 2023 under an Australia Awards scholarship.
Ms Birdsey is the Chief Executive Officer of Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government.
As IW’s CEO, she will lead the initiative’s efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment in Southeast Asia. Ms Birdsey brings over 20 years of experience working in international development, as well as skills in diplomacy, leadership, international relations and public policy.
Prior to her appointment as CEO of Investing in Women, Ms Birdsey served as Australia’s Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian High Commission Kuala Lumpur, where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Australian Government’s bilateral relationship with Malaysia.
As Assistant Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Birdsey led teams responsible for development policy and programming in governance, sustainable development, and humanitarian response, as well as DFAT’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. She served overseas in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Ms Birdsey holds a Masters in International Relations from the University of Sydney, and a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of New England.
Greg joined Investing in Women in February 2019 as the Operations Director and Deputy CEO.
Prior to joining Investing in Women, Greg was the Chief Operating Officer of Fairtrade International, based in Bonn Germany. Greg has extensive senior level experience working in finance, operations and governance in a range of government and non-government organisations.
Philippa Venning is Vice President at Abt Associates. Based in Canberra, she leads Abt’s technical team to provide quality advice and implementation across the breadth of Abt’s programs. In addition to being Abt’s contractor representative on Investing in Women, Philippa leads DFAT-funded programs in governance and health across Asia and the Pacific.
Prior to joining Abt, Philippa worked for DFAT, the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and several NGOs. Her most recent role at DFAT was Deputy Head of Mission in Timor-Leste. For DFAT and the World Bank, Philippa designed and implemented governance, service delivery and gender programs in Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Indonesia. She has spent 12 years working in the Asia-Pacific region in addition to over 14 years’ experience in Australia.
Before becoming a development professional, Philippa spent several years as a corporate lawyer working for Allens Linklaters in Sydney and Singapore. She serves on the board of ChildFund Australia in a voluntary capacity.
Maya is the Workplace Gender Equality Director at Investing in Women. Prior to IW, Maya was the Executive Director of Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE). Along with the board members, she initiated the establishment of IBCWE in October 2016.
Maya has master’s degree in business law from University of Gadjah Mada in Indonesia and she is an HR professional with more than 20 years of experience, both in private sector and development sector. She has experience in facilitating various training programs such as leadership, people management program, gender bias, anti-sexual harassment, and discrimination. As HR practitioner, she has the experience in managing overall people processes including organisational design, diversity and inclusion, and change management. With her experience, Maya led the assistance program to IBCWE members in transforming their policies and practices using the gender lens, including diversity and inclusion aspects.
In collaboration with UN Women Regional Program, Maya is currently seating as legacy judge for Women Empowerment Principles (WEP) Award, for Asia Pacific region.
Maya was appointed as one of advocates for G20 EMPOWER 2022, representing Indonesia in G20 forum, along with other business leaders from Indonesia. She also served as policy manager in Women in Business Council of B20 Indonesia presidency 2022 to develop policy recommendation from business perspective.
Maesy Angelina is the Director for Policy and Reforms and head of the Indonesia office of Investing in Women. Maesy has nearly 20 years of experience in designing and implementing programs, leading teams, and conducting action-research and policy advocacy to advance gender equality and social inclusion in Indonesia. She is particularly accomplished in applying behavioural insights and systemic design to advance women’s economic empowerment and digital transformation, with experience on topics ranging from enabling safe transit for women night-shift workers to supporting digital and financial inclusion of women micro-entrepreneurs. Her work with international organizations, such as the United Nations Global Pulse and DFAT Australia, has successfully led to recommendations to advance gender equality being taken up by various stakeholders, from local and national governments to the biggest ride hailing company in Indonesia.
Maesy holds a bachelor degree in Psychology from Atma Jaya University, a master degree in International Development from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam’s International Institute of Studies, and trained on designing social systems by Stanford d.School.
Kim Patria is Director for Campaigns and Communities of Practice at Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government. He leads a team that works with partners in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia to promote positive examples of gender equality to strengthen public support for women’s economic empowerment. Kim joined IW in 2018 in a communication role but was immediately involved in managing partnerships for locally led campaigns. Prior to joining IW, Kim has worked as a journalist, a publicist for a Philippine senator-turned-presidential aspirant, and a marketing director for a Jakarta-headquartered startup. He holds a Master of Marketing degree from the University of Sydney (completed through an Australia Awards scholarship) and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of the Philippines.
Eleanor T. Keppelman is the Impact Investing Director with Investing in Women. As Impact Investing Director, Ms. Keppelman leads a team to carry out IW’s investing activities, with the ultimate goal of increasing investment capital to women-led or supporting businesses across Southeast Asia. Prior to joining IW, Ms. Keppelman was an investment officer with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), where she led debt transactions into social enterprises and impact funds operating in low and lower middle-income countries. She was also part of the DFC team implementing the agency’s 2X Women’s Initiative.
Ms. Keppelman is a passionate investment professional who has spent much of her career focused on promoting women’s economic empowerment through the mobilization of capital. She holds a B.A. with honors in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an M.A. with distinction in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Samiha Barkat is Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning with Investing in Women. As MERL Director, she is responsible for setting the direction of IW’s monitoring and evaluation system and leading a team to undertake MERL activities across the program’s multi-country initiatives.
Samiha brings over 17 years of experience in international development and MEL, working with clients across both the public and private sectors. Before joining IW, she was Head of Impact at Launch Housing, the largest community-based homelessness services organisation in Melbourne, where she oversaw the organisation’s impact and research portfolio.
As Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon, Samiha served as Technical Adviser to DFAT posts across the Asia Pacific to design and evaluate programs. At Cardno (now DT Global), she was Project Director of DFAT’s flagship anti-people trafficking program, AAPTIP, working in seven countries across Southeast Asia.
Samiha is a Non-Executive Director of Giving Joy, a NFP providing microgrants to women entrepreneurs globally. She holds a Master of Public Health from Boston University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Francis or ‘French’ Perdon joined Investing in Women in 2024 as the Philippines’ Technical and Policy Reform Lead. In this role, he leads on the delivery of policy reforms on care economy, and supports the implementation of IW activities in the Philippines. French has a decade of experience working on public, foreign and development policies across a range of professional settings, including in a regional organisation, academe, and diplomatic mission. He also had short stints working for a bilateral donor project focused on higher education reform, and a management consulting firm specialising in Australian public policy.
French received his Master of Public Policy and Management (First Class Honours) degree as part of the Faculty of Arts Dean’s Honours List from The University of Melbourne in 2023 under an Australia Awards scholarship.
Ms Birdsey is the Chief Executive Officer of Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government.
As IW’s CEO, she will lead the initiative’s efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment in Southeast Asia. Ms Birdsey brings over 20 years of experience working in international development, as well as skills in diplomacy, leadership, international relations and public policy.
Prior to her appointment as CEO of Investing in Women, Ms Birdsey served as Australia’s Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian High Commission Kuala Lumpur, where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Australian Government’s bilateral relationship with Malaysia.
As Assistant Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Birdsey led teams responsible for development policy and programming in governance, sustainable development, and humanitarian response, as well as DFAT’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. She served overseas in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Ms Birdsey holds a Masters in International Relations from the University of Sydney, and a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of New England.
Greg joined Investing in Women in February 2019 as the Operations Director and Deputy CEO.
Prior to joining Investing in Women, Greg was the Chief Operating Officer of Fairtrade International, based in Bonn Germany. Greg has extensive senior level experience working in finance, operations and governance in a range of government and non-government organisations.
Philippa Venning is Vice President at Abt Associates. Based in Canberra, she leads Abt’s technical team to provide quality advice and implementation across the breadth of Abt’s programs. In addition to being Abt’s contractor representative on Investing in Women, Philippa leads DFAT-funded programs in governance and health across Asia and the Pacific.
Prior to joining Abt, Philippa worked for DFAT, the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and several NGOs. Her most recent role at DFAT was Deputy Head of Mission in Timor-Leste. For DFAT and the World Bank, Philippa designed and implemented governance, service delivery and gender programs in Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Indonesia. She has spent 12 years working in the Asia-Pacific region in addition to over 14 years’ experience in Australia.
Before becoming a development professional, Philippa spent several years as a corporate lawyer working for Allens Linklaters in Sydney and Singapore. She serves on the board of ChildFund Australia in a voluntary capacity.
Maya is the Workplace Gender Equality Director at Investing in Women. Prior to IW, Maya was the Executive Director of Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE). Along with the board members, she initiated the establishment of IBCWE in October 2016.
Maya has master’s degree in business law from University of Gadjah Mada in Indonesia and she is an HR professional with more than 20 years of experience, both in private sector and development sector. She has experience in facilitating various training programs such as leadership, people management program, gender bias, anti-sexual harassment, and discrimination. As HR practitioner, she has the experience in managing overall people processes including organisational design, diversity and inclusion, and change management. With her experience, Maya led the assistance program to IBCWE members in transforming their policies and practices using the gender lens, including diversity and inclusion aspects.
In collaboration with UN Women Regional Program, Maya is currently seating as legacy judge for Women Empowerment Principles (WEP) Award, for Asia Pacific region.
Maya was appointed as one of advocates for G20 EMPOWER 2022, representing Indonesia in G20 forum, along with other business leaders from Indonesia. She also served as policy manager in Women in Business Council of B20 Indonesia presidency 2022 to develop policy recommendation from business perspective.
Maesy Angelina is the Director for Policy and Reforms and head of the Indonesia office of Investing in Women. Maesy has nearly 20 years of experience in designing and implementing programs, leading teams, and conducting action-research and policy advocacy to advance gender equality and social inclusion in Indonesia. She is particularly accomplished in applying behavioural insights and systemic design to advance women’s economic empowerment and digital transformation, with experience on topics ranging from enabling safe transit for women night-shift workers to supporting digital and financial inclusion of women micro-entrepreneurs. Her work with international organizations, such as the United Nations Global Pulse and DFAT Australia, has successfully led to recommendations to advance gender equality being taken up by various stakeholders, from local and national governments to the biggest ride hailing company in Indonesia.
Maesy holds a bachelor degree in Psychology from Atma Jaya University, a master degree in International Development from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam’s International Institute of Studies, and trained on designing social systems by Stanford d.School.
Kim Patria is Director for Campaigns and Communities of Practice at Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government. He leads a team that works with partners in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia to promote positive examples of gender equality to strengthen public support for women’s economic empowerment. Kim joined IW in 2018 in a communication role but was immediately involved in managing partnerships for locally led campaigns. Prior to joining IW, Kim has worked as a journalist, a publicist for a Philippine senator-turned-presidential aspirant, and a marketing director for a Jakarta-headquartered startup. He holds a Master of Marketing degree from the University of Sydney (completed through an Australia Awards scholarship) and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of the Philippines.
Eleanor T. Keppelman is the Impact Investing Director with Investing in Women. As Impact Investing Director, Ms. Keppelman leads a team to carry out IW’s investing activities, with the ultimate goal of increasing investment capital to women-led or supporting businesses across Southeast Asia. Prior to joining IW, Ms. Keppelman was an investment officer with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), where she led debt transactions into social enterprises and impact funds operating in low and lower middle-income countries. She was also part of the DFC team implementing the agency’s 2X Women’s Initiative.
Ms. Keppelman is a passionate investment professional who has spent much of her career focused on promoting women’s economic empowerment through the mobilization of capital. She holds a B.A. with honors in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an M.A. with distinction in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Samiha Barkat is Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning with Investing in Women. As MERL Director, she is responsible for setting the direction of IW’s monitoring and evaluation system and leading a team to undertake MERL activities across the program’s multi-country initiatives.
Samiha brings over 17 years of experience in international development and MEL, working with clients across both the public and private sectors. Before joining IW, she was Head of Impact at Launch Housing, the largest community-based homelessness services organisation in Melbourne, where she oversaw the organisation’s impact and research portfolio.
As Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon, Samiha served as Technical Adviser to DFAT posts across the Asia Pacific to design and evaluate programs. At Cardno (now DT Global), she was Project Director of DFAT’s flagship anti-people trafficking program, AAPTIP, working in seven countries across Southeast Asia.
Samiha is a Non-Executive Director of Giving Joy, a NFP providing microgrants to women entrepreneurs globally. She holds a Master of Public Health from Boston University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Francis or ‘French’ Perdon joined Investing in Women in 2024 as the Philippines’ Technical and Policy Reform Lead. In this role, he leads on the delivery of policy reforms on care economy, and supports the implementation of IW activities in the Philippines. French has a decade of experience working on public, foreign and development policies across a range of professional settings, including in a regional organisation, academe, and diplomatic mission. He also had short stints working for a bilateral donor project focused on higher education reform, and a management consulting firm specialising in Australian public policy.
French received his Master of Public Policy and Management (First Class Honours) degree as part of the Faculty of Arts Dean’s Honours List from The University of Melbourne in 2023 under an Australia Awards scholarship.
Ms Birdsey is the Chief Executive Officer of Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government.
As IW’s CEO, she will lead the initiative’s efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment in Southeast Asia. Ms Birdsey brings over 20 years of experience working in international development, as well as skills in diplomacy, leadership, international relations and public policy.
Prior to her appointment as CEO of Investing in Women, Ms Birdsey served as Australia’s Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian High Commission Kuala Lumpur, where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Australian Government’s bilateral relationship with Malaysia.
As Assistant Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Birdsey led teams responsible for development policy and programming in governance, sustainable development, and humanitarian response, as well as DFAT’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. She served overseas in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Ms Birdsey holds a Masters in International Relations from the University of Sydney, and a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of New England.
Greg joined Investing in Women in February 2019 as the Operations Director and Deputy CEO.
Prior to joining Investing in Women, Greg was the Chief Operating Officer of Fairtrade International, based in Bonn Germany. Greg has extensive senior level experience working in finance, operations and governance in a range of government and non-government organisations.
Philippa Venning is Vice President at Abt Associates. Based in Canberra, she leads Abt’s technical team to provide quality advice and implementation across the breadth of Abt’s programs. In addition to being Abt’s contractor representative on Investing in Women, Philippa leads DFAT-funded programs in governance and health across Asia and the Pacific.
Prior to joining Abt, Philippa worked for DFAT, the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and several NGOs. Her most recent role at DFAT was Deputy Head of Mission in Timor-Leste. For DFAT and the World Bank, Philippa designed and implemented governance, service delivery and gender programs in Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Indonesia. She has spent 12 years working in the Asia-Pacific region in addition to over 14 years’ experience in Australia.
Before becoming a development professional, Philippa spent several years as a corporate lawyer working for Allens Linklaters in Sydney and Singapore. She serves on the board of ChildFund Australia in a voluntary capacity.
Maya is the Workplace Gender Equality Director at Investing in Women. Prior to IW, Maya was the Executive Director of Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE). Along with the board members, she initiated the establishment of IBCWE in October 2016.
Maya has master’s degree in business law from University of Gadjah Mada in Indonesia and she is an HR professional with more than 20 years of experience, both in private sector and development sector. She has experience in facilitating various training programs such as leadership, people management program, gender bias, anti-sexual harassment, and discrimination. As HR practitioner, she has the experience in managing overall people processes including organisational design, diversity and inclusion, and change management. With her experience, Maya led the assistance program to IBCWE members in transforming their policies and practices using the gender lens, including diversity and inclusion aspects.
In collaboration with UN Women Regional Program, Maya is currently seating as legacy judge for Women Empowerment Principles (WEP) Award, for Asia Pacific region.
Maya was appointed as one of advocates for G20 EMPOWER 2022, representing Indonesia in G20 forum, along with other business leaders from Indonesia. She also served as policy manager in Women in Business Council of B20 Indonesia presidency 2022 to develop policy recommendation from business perspective.
Maesy Angelina is the Director for Policy and Reforms and head of the Indonesia office of Investing in Women. Maesy has nearly 20 years of experience in designing and implementing programs, leading teams, and conducting action-research and policy advocacy to advance gender equality and social inclusion in Indonesia. She is particularly accomplished in applying behavioural insights and systemic design to advance women’s economic empowerment and digital transformation, with experience on topics ranging from enabling safe transit for women night-shift workers to supporting digital and financial inclusion of women micro-entrepreneurs. Her work with international organizations, such as the United Nations Global Pulse and DFAT Australia, has successfully led to recommendations to advance gender equality being taken up by various stakeholders, from local and national governments to the biggest ride hailing company in Indonesia.
Maesy holds a bachelor degree in Psychology from Atma Jaya University, a master degree in International Development from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam’s International Institute of Studies, and trained on designing social systems by Stanford d.School.
Kim Patria is Director for Campaigns and Communities of Practice at Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government. He leads a team that works with partners in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia to promote positive examples of gender equality to strengthen public support for women’s economic empowerment. Kim joined IW in 2018 in a communication role but was immediately involved in managing partnerships for locally led campaigns. Prior to joining IW, Kim has worked as a journalist, a publicist for a Philippine senator-turned-presidential aspirant, and a marketing director for a Jakarta-headquartered startup. He holds a Master of Marketing degree from the University of Sydney (completed through an Australia Awards scholarship) and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of the Philippines.
Eleanor T. Keppelman is the Impact Investing Director with Investing in Women. As Impact Investing Director, Ms. Keppelman leads a team to carry out IW’s investing activities, with the ultimate goal of increasing investment capital to women-led or supporting businesses across Southeast Asia. Prior to joining IW, Ms. Keppelman was an investment officer with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), where she led debt transactions into social enterprises and impact funds operating in low and lower middle-income countries. She was also part of the DFC team implementing the agency’s 2X Women’s Initiative.
Ms. Keppelman is a passionate investment professional who has spent much of her career focused on promoting women’s economic empowerment through the mobilization of capital. She holds a B.A. with honors in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an M.A. with distinction in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Samiha Barkat is Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning with Investing in Women. As MERL Director, she is responsible for setting the direction of IW’s monitoring and evaluation system and leading a team to undertake MERL activities across the program’s multi-country initiatives.
Samiha brings over 17 years of experience in international development and MEL, working with clients across both the public and private sectors. Before joining IW, she was Head of Impact at Launch Housing, the largest community-based homelessness services organisation in Melbourne, where she oversaw the organisation’s impact and research portfolio.
As Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon, Samiha served as Technical Adviser to DFAT posts across the Asia Pacific to design and evaluate programs. At Cardno (now DT Global), she was Project Director of DFAT’s flagship anti-people trafficking program, AAPTIP, working in seven countries across Southeast Asia.
Samiha is a Non-Executive Director of Giving Joy, a NFP providing microgrants to women entrepreneurs globally. She holds a Master of Public Health from Boston University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Francis or ‘French’ Perdon joined Investing in Women in 2024 as the Philippines’ Technical and Policy Reform Lead. In this role, he leads on the delivery of policy reforms on care economy, and supports the implementation of IW activities in the Philippines. French has a decade of experience working on public, foreign and development policies across a range of professional settings, including in a regional organisation, academe, and diplomatic mission. He also had short stints working for a bilateral donor project focused on higher education reform, and a management consulting firm specialising in Australian public policy.
French received his Master of Public Policy and Management (First Class Honours) degree as part of the Faculty of Arts Dean’s Honours List from The University of Melbourne in 2023 under an Australia Awards scholarship.
Ms Birdsey is the Chief Executive Officer of Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government.
As IW’s CEO, she will lead the initiative’s efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment in Southeast Asia. Ms Birdsey brings over 20 years of experience working in international development, as well as skills in diplomacy, leadership, international relations and public policy.
Prior to her appointment as CEO of Investing in Women, Ms Birdsey served as Australia’s Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian High Commission Kuala Lumpur, where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Australian Government’s bilateral relationship with Malaysia.
As Assistant Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Birdsey led teams responsible for development policy and programming in governance, sustainable development, and humanitarian response, as well as DFAT’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. She served overseas in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Ms Birdsey holds a Masters in International Relations from the University of Sydney, and a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of New England.
Greg joined Investing in Women in February 2019 as the Operations Director and Deputy CEO.
Prior to joining Investing in Women, Greg was the Chief Operating Officer of Fairtrade International, based in Bonn Germany. Greg has extensive senior level experience working in finance, operations and governance in a range of government and non-government organisations.
Philippa Venning is Vice President at Abt Associates. Based in Canberra, she leads Abt’s technical team to provide quality advice and implementation across the breadth of Abt’s programs. In addition to being Abt’s contractor representative on Investing in Women, Philippa leads DFAT-funded programs in governance and health across Asia and the Pacific.
Prior to joining Abt, Philippa worked for DFAT, the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and several NGOs. Her most recent role at DFAT was Deputy Head of Mission in Timor-Leste. For DFAT and the World Bank, Philippa designed and implemented governance, service delivery and gender programs in Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Indonesia. She has spent 12 years working in the Asia-Pacific region in addition to over 14 years’ experience in Australia.
Before becoming a development professional, Philippa spent several years as a corporate lawyer working for Allens Linklaters in Sydney and Singapore. She serves on the board of ChildFund Australia in a voluntary capacity.
Maya is the Workplace Gender Equality Director at Investing in Women. Prior to IW, Maya was the Executive Director of Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE). Along with the board members, she initiated the establishment of IBCWE in October 2016.
Maya has master’s degree in business law from University of Gadjah Mada in Indonesia and she is an HR professional with more than 20 years of experience, both in private sector and development sector. She has experience in facilitating various training programs such as leadership, people management program, gender bias, anti-sexual harassment, and discrimination. As HR practitioner, she has the experience in managing overall people processes including organisational design, diversity and inclusion, and change management. With her experience, Maya led the assistance program to IBCWE members in transforming their policies and practices using the gender lens, including diversity and inclusion aspects.
In collaboration with UN Women Regional Program, Maya is currently seating as legacy judge for Women Empowerment Principles (WEP) Award, for Asia Pacific region.
Maya was appointed as one of advocates for G20 EMPOWER 2022, representing Indonesia in G20 forum, along with other business leaders from Indonesia. She also served as policy manager in Women in Business Council of B20 Indonesia presidency 2022 to develop policy recommendation from business perspective.
Maesy Angelina is the Director for Policy and Reforms and head of the Indonesia office of Investing in Women. Maesy has nearly 20 years of experience in designing and implementing programs, leading teams, and conducting action-research and policy advocacy to advance gender equality and social inclusion in Indonesia. She is particularly accomplished in applying behavioural insights and systemic design to advance women’s economic empowerment and digital transformation, with experience on topics ranging from enabling safe transit for women night-shift workers to supporting digital and financial inclusion of women micro-entrepreneurs. Her work with international organizations, such as the United Nations Global Pulse and DFAT Australia, has successfully led to recommendations to advance gender equality being taken up by various stakeholders, from local and national governments to the biggest ride hailing company in Indonesia.
Maesy holds a bachelor degree in Psychology from Atma Jaya University, a master degree in International Development from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam’s International Institute of Studies, and trained on designing social systems by Stanford d.School.
Kim Patria is Director for Campaigns and Communities of Practice at Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government. He leads a team that works with partners in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia to promote positive examples of gender equality to strengthen public support for women’s economic empowerment. Kim joined IW in 2018 in a communication role but was immediately involved in managing partnerships for locally led campaigns. Prior to joining IW, Kim has worked as a journalist, a publicist for a Philippine senator-turned-presidential aspirant, and a marketing director for a Jakarta-headquartered startup. He holds a Master of Marketing degree from the University of Sydney (completed through an Australia Awards scholarship) and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of the Philippines.
Eleanor T. Keppelman is the Impact Investing Director with Investing in Women. As Impact Investing Director, Ms. Keppelman leads a team to carry out IW’s investing activities, with the ultimate goal of increasing investment capital to women-led or supporting businesses across Southeast Asia. Prior to joining IW, Ms. Keppelman was an investment officer with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), where she led debt transactions into social enterprises and impact funds operating in low and lower middle-income countries. She was also part of the DFC team implementing the agency’s 2X Women’s Initiative.
Ms. Keppelman is a passionate investment professional who has spent much of her career focused on promoting women’s economic empowerment through the mobilization of capital. She holds a B.A. with honors in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an M.A. with distinction in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Samiha Barkat is Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning with Investing in Women. As MERL Director, she is responsible for setting the direction of IW’s monitoring and evaluation system and leading a team to undertake MERL activities across the program’s multi-country initiatives.
Samiha brings over 17 years of experience in international development and MEL, working with clients across both the public and private sectors. Before joining IW, she was Head of Impact at Launch Housing, the largest community-based homelessness services organisation in Melbourne, where she oversaw the organisation’s impact and research portfolio.
As Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon, Samiha served as Technical Adviser to DFAT posts across the Asia Pacific to design and evaluate programs. At Cardno (now DT Global), she was Project Director of DFAT’s flagship anti-people trafficking program, AAPTIP, working in seven countries across Southeast Asia.
Samiha is a Non-Executive Director of Giving Joy, a NFP providing microgrants to women entrepreneurs globally. She holds a Master of Public Health from Boston University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Francis or ‘French’ Perdon joined Investing in Women in 2024 as the Philippines’ Technical and Policy Reform Lead. In this role, he leads on the delivery of policy reforms on care economy, and supports the implementation of IW activities in the Philippines. French has a decade of experience working on public, foreign and development policies across a range of professional settings, including in a regional organisation, academe, and diplomatic mission. He also had short stints working for a bilateral donor project focused on higher education reform, and a management consulting firm specialising in Australian public policy.
French received his Master of Public Policy and Management (First Class Honours) degree as part of the Faculty of Arts Dean’s Honours List from The University of Melbourne in 2023 under an Australia Awards scholarship.