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First Female National President of Engineers Australia Julie Hammer
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Air Vice-Marshal Julie Hammer will be the first female National President of Engineers Australia in 2008. AVM Hammer, an electronics engineer, served in the Royal Australian Air Force for over 28 years in the fields of aircraft maintenance, technical intelligence, electronic warfare, and information and communications technology (ICT) systems. She was the Commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy during 2002 and 2003. At the time of her transfer to the Reserve in August 2005, she was the most senior woman in the Australian Defence Force. AVM Hammer was the first serving woman to achieve One Star rank in 1999 and is the only woman in the history of the Australian Defence Force to have achieved Two Star rank. AVM Hammer holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Physics, a Masters degree in Aerosystems Engineering and a Graduate Diploma in Strategic Studies.
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AVM Julie Hammer |
AVM Hammer was the first woman to command an operational unit in the RAAF, the
Electronic Warfare Squadron, and was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross for
that command. She served for three years from 1996 to 1998 as one of the Prime
Minister’s representatives on the Governor General’s Australian Bravery Awards
Council. She was awarded the 2001 Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Memorial Medal by
the Royal Aeronautical Society and in 2002, she was appointed by the Government
to be one of Australia’s Honouring Women Ambassadors. The University of
Queensland named her the 2003 Alumnus of the Year and she was appointed a Member
of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2004 Australia Day Honours List. She was
the 2005 ACT Australian of the Year.
Within Engineers Australia, AVM Hammer was one of the inaugural Board Members of
the Centre for Engineering Leadership and Management (CELM) and took over as
Chair of the CELM Board in November 2005. She has led the development of
advanced competencies for leadership, management and business skills. Among AVM
Hammer’s numerous responsibilities are her roles on the National Women in
Engineering Committee and as National Deputy President for Engineers Australia
in 2007. About becoming National President in 2008, AVM Hammer said:
I feel enormously privileged at the prospect of becoming Engineers Australia’s first female National President when I take over from Rolfe Hartley in November. In that role, I am keen not to be seen as a ‘single issue’ president. It goes without saying that I am enormously enthusiastic about 2007 as the Year of Women in Engineering. As National President, I will actively support the continuation and consolidation of this highly successful campaign into 2008. But my focus is much broader.“
