FOUR high-achieving women finalists from the Australian automotive industry have been shortlisted for the coveted Barbara Cox Woman of the Year Award, to be announced this Thursday, March 14.

In its second year, the award is presented by Cox Automotive Australia and held in honour of an owner and director of Cox Automotive Australia parent company Cox Enterprises, the late Barbara Cox.

The 2024 nominees come from across the Australian automotive sector, with representatives from the dealer, OEM and educational sectors.

The four finalists are:

• Chelsea Bowers – mechanic at John Edwards Automotive
• Shai Copelin – product manager of Automotive at TAFE NSW
• Blaire Race – national marketing manager at IVECO Trucks
• Odette Winnington – national head of People & Culture at Autopact

Cox Automotive Australia, which sponsors the awards, said that the award recognises women who demonstrate business leadership and community advocacy, as well as a commitment to advancing our industry. 

Chelsea Bowers

Nominations are open to any woman working within the automotive industry across Australia. 

In addition to gaining recognition, the winner receives $5000 to spend on her personal development. 

Shai Copelin

Cox Automotive Australia strategy and marketing director Mathew McAuley said: “It’s important to increase the recognition of the contributions of women in the automotive sector, which remains some way off when it comes to equal representation.”

Cox Automotive Australia HR director Silvia Balovcikova said: “The four shortlisted finalists all amply demonstrate the qualities we were looking for in our candidates; inspiring leadership, a commitment to innovation and contributing to their industry and their communities.” 

Blaire Race

The winner of the inaugural 2023 Barbara Cox Award was Eleni Mitakos, founder of Galmatic, an organisation that runs car maintenance courses for women and teenagers.

Cox Automotive Australia wishes the four finalists best of luck and will announce the winner on March 14.   

Odetta Winnington

Cox Automotive Australia is a subsidiary of Cox Automotive US, the world’s largest automotive services and technology provider. It has an Australian team of almost 600 people working with 23 automotive OEMs, as well as an array of automotive dealers and with the private and public fleet sector.  

Its Australian brands include Manheim Auctions (passenger, industrial and salvage), Kelley Blue Book, Sell My Car, and digital retailing solutions including LeadDriver and Xtime – an aftersales customer-management platform used by several of Australia’s top OEMs in their dealer networks.  

Barbara Cox

By Neil Dowling