Network Insight Institute

Amanda Harkness

Group General Counsel & Company Secretary, ASX Limited
 

Amanda is responsible for the provision of legal counsel, company secretarial, ASX’s regulatory compliance and corporate governance functions for the ASX group, a position she has held since 2007.  She is a group executive member of the company’s executive management committee.

The ASX Group operates under the brand names Australian Securities Exchange and ASX and is one of the world’s top-10 listed exchange groups measured by market capitalisation.  World wide the industry structure is subject to profound change due to the forces of globalisation, technology innovation and regulatory change.

Ms Harkness is a non executive director, appointed by Vodafone International Holdings, of Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited, a 50:50 joint venture between Vodafone International Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa Limited.  Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) is Australia's 3rd largest telecommunications carrier, and currently has 6.9 million customers and employs over 4,500 people in Australia.  Amanda was appointed to this role shortly after VHA was formed in June 2009 with the merger of the Vodafone and 3 Mobile businesses.

Amanda began her legal career in one of Australia’s most respected law firms Freehills.  She was a partner with a corporate, technology and commercial law practice in the Sydney office of Freehills from 1986 until 1992 having joined the firm in the early eighties.  During the 1990s Ms Harkness extended her business experience as a consultant at McKinsey & Co and through executive management roles at Australia’s largest telecommunications company Telstra and in an internet joint venture between British Telecom and the then NASDAQ listed Looksmart.  She has worked in businesses in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Korea, Hong Kong and Japan across a number of business sectors including financial services, communications, energy and resources.

Ms Harkness graduated from Australia’s National University with a first class honours degree in Law.  She has also graduated in Economics from the same university and has been awarded a Master of Arts in Communications from Macquarie University.  Ms Harkness has served on a range of Australian Government advisory boards focused on innovation and technology development and currently participates in a broad cross section of business groups including the Australian Institute of Company Directors.  She is a Fellow of the Chartered Secretaries Australia and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

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