Passionate about family, diversity and her Western Australian roots, Selina Torrance attributes her career success to a few simple guiding principles.
“Authenticity is one, I believe in always being true and bringing your best self to work and staying close to your moral compass when making decisions,” she says.
“Humility and optimism are other leadership qualities I value – I think it’s more important to have good questions, rather than all of the answers – you need to be curious enough to ask questions.
“And it’s okay to be vulnerable, vulnerability isn’t the same as weakness.”
After senior executive positions at BankWest, P&N Bank and HBF, our new Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Operations) says three things drew her to the role she describes as “wonderful, everyone has been so warm and welcoming”.
“The first is I really enjoy working for purpose-led organisations, where every decision you make is based on what is best for the greater purpose, rather than for the greater profit,” she says.
“The second is the significant contribution higher education makes to our community, both within Australia and globally.
“And the third, which you can see from my experience working with organisations like BankWest, HBF, and now UWA, is that I’m aligned to working with iconic WA brands and supporting them to truly fulfill their potential.”
With a diverse portfolio covering everything from student accommodation to campus and venues management, safety, strategic assurance, integrity and standards and IT, Selina’s corporate acumen is already being put to good use.
“The best way to describe my role is that it covers the functions responsible for leading the delivery of strategy and operations at the university, a role that actively contributes to the overall direction of the University, and that’s what I really love about it,” she says.
The former Telstra Business Women’s Award winner (medium-to-large business category, WA), graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and graduate of Leadership WA believes the recent staff survey engagement results show UWA is ready for change.
“To me, character, culture and people in particular, are what make organisations tick and any transformation program, any change we want to achieve, is about bringing the people on the journey, helping them feel part of leading the change,” she says.
“I believe in being open and my style is very much about working with people, creating a great work environment that people want to be part of and stay part of.”
Mum to two sons, 23-year-old Kyle and Caden, 17, and step-mum to 10-year-old daughter Shelby with husband Richard, Selina’s openness extends to talking about her family.
“I have one son who is gay and one who’s transgender and I have to say, just being there and watching both of my sons, and their journeys, I think there’s still much we can improve for minority groups and underrepresented groups,” she says.
“When I started my career, a lot of the focus on equity, diversity and inclusion was quite narrowly focused on gender, and the glass ceiling, and how challenging it was for women in the workplace.
“I think the best workplaces, the best communities, are those that allow all people to bring their very best self to everything they do and it’s very important to me that we create environments where people can be their authentic self.”
While only a month into her position on the UWA Executive, Selina has already identified a number of working groups she’d like to be involved in to “help push that agenda a little bit further”.
It’s a busy life and with weekends spent with family and friends “we are very close, and I love just to have them around me”, Selina reveals she’s a committed 5am weekday riser, necessary, she says, to squeeze in regular exercise.
“Because, like many of us, I do like some of the naughty things in life, like good food and a glass of wine,” she smiles. “If I prioritise getting up early and that's how I start my day, it energises me for what lies ahead.”