THE Port Adelaide Football Club congratulates Board Director, Christine Zeitz, and bowel cancer awareness advocate Kellie Gardner, on their respective nominations in The Advertiser Sunday Mail, SkyCity Woman Of The Year Awards in 2023.
Christine Zeitz’s trailblazing leadership in the defence, sport, media, and aerospace industries has earned her a deserving nomination for the Leader of The Year award.
Currently the General Manager for the Asia Pacific region of Northrop Grumman, Christine is responsible for all aspects of growth, execution, and financial performance, in addition to her position as Deputy Chair of SBS, and board members of both the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, and the Port Adelaide Football Club.
Backed with over 30 years’ experience in directing and delivering world-class solutions and services to the defence, intelligence, civil and commercial sectors, last year Christine became the founding chair of the Defence Trailblazer: Concept to Sovereign Capability initiative, a program that will ensure that in the future, more of the defence budget is spent in Australia, on technology developed by Australians and commercialised through local companies.
Christine is also an advocate for workplace diversity, gender parity and strives to inspire women to pursue opportunities in defence, security, and intelligence.
Kellie Gardner is nominated for the Inspiration Award, following her brave work in raising awareness for bowel cancer after her personal diagnosis and consequent battle with the disease since 2021.
After being diagnosed just three months after giving birth to her now eighteen-month-old daughter Sophia, twenty-seven-year-old Kellie, also the partner of Port Adelaide star Jeremy Finlayson, became the face of bowel cancer after courageously sharing her symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment in the hope of helping others.
With a focus on identifying the symptoms and advocating for others to trust their bodies and seek medical help without hesitation, Kellie continues to share her story and raise much-needed awareness for bowel cancer, particularly in young people, as she continues her battle following the cancers return to her lungs in early 2023.
The winners of each award category will be announced on March 6, 2023.
