Although most of her early years were spent in Canberra,[11] being the family of a military man meant moving around a lot, and included two years of Mostyn living in Adelaide with her grandmother while her father was in Vietnam.[3] She also lived in Melbourne, the United States, and Canada.[13] She played a lot of sport as a child, and loved to watch Australian rules football, although she did not have the opportunity to play.[3] She has recalled attending the ANZAC Dawn Service each year with her family.[14][15] Mostyn attended Narrabundah College.[16] While earning her arts and law degree at the Australian National University, she worked as a researcher for local chief magistrate Ron Cahill.[3][17]
In 1992,[20] Mostyn joined the office of transport and communications minister Bob Collins as a senior policy adviser,[19] specialising in intellectual property and also advising on the introduction of pay television to Australia. She subsequently moved to the office of communications and arts minister Michael Lee, before briefly joining the Seven Network as a broadcast policy manager. In 1995, Mostyn was recruited by prime minister Paul Keating to work in his office as a communications policy adviser. She was also appointed by Keating to the board of the organising committee for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where she served until 1996.[20]
In 2022, Mostyn was appointed by the Albanese government as chair of its Women's Economic Equality Taskforce,[21][7] a post which she still holds as of April 2024[update].[22] In 2023, this taskforce recommended that paid parental leave should be extended to a year.[11]
Private sector board and other roles
Mostyn joined telecommunications company Optus in 1996 after leaving Paul Keating's office.[20] As the company's director of government and corporate affairs, she was named "one of the most powerful women in the information technology industry" in 1998 by the Australian Financial Review.[20] In the same year, Mostyn was recruited to join Cable & Wireless plc in London as global head of human resources.[20]
In 2000, Mostyn returned to Optus as director of human resources and corporate development. She moved to Insurance Australia Group in 2002 as group executive of culture and reputation.[23] She left IAG in 2008.[24]
In 2005, Mostyn was appointed to the AFL Commission as its first female member. She served as a commissioner until 2016 and was a key figure in the development of the Australian Football League's Respect and Responsibility Policy, as well as an advocate for the creation of the AFL Women's competition.[25][7] From 2017, she directed the Sydney Swans for six seasons. She continues to support the community work done by the GO Foundation, established and run by former footballers Adam Goodes and Michael O'Loughlin.[26]
In 2010, Mostyn was appointed to the board of Transurban.[27] Also that year, she was appointed non-executive director of Citibank Australia,[24] and in 2015 she was appointed chair[28] of Citi Australia's consumer bank.[a][19]
In 2021, Mostyn was named by the Australian Financial Review as Australia's "most influential" company director, serving on boards with a combined market capitalisation of over $480 billion.[30] She was president of Chief Executive Women in 2021–2022.[7]
She is also a founding supporter and chair of 1 Million Women, the women's climate action group.[19]
Governor-General
On 3 April 2024, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that King Charles III had approved the appointment of Mostyn as the next governor-general of Australia, succeeding David Hurley, and that she would be sworn in on 1 July 2024.[42][34][17] She is the first governor-general to have been born in Canberra.
Mostyn has regularly written for, and been quoted in, the media.[54][55] She has advocated for prevention of domestic violence and for support of Indigenous Australian women.[56] She was a panellist on the Q+A TV show in March 2021,[57] when audience members asked whether prime minister Scott Morrison's support for women "was genuine", following marches in early 2021. Mostyn commented that recommendations by Kate Jenkins, Sex Discrimination Commissioner, following the national inquiry into workplace sexual harassment, could be implemented and accepted.[58]
Mostyn delivered a speech at the National Press Club, in November 2021,[59] as president of Chief Executive Women, on economic recovery and post-pandemic recovery, describing how Australia can make "the most of its available resources and talent" by investing in care, for paid parental leave, childhood education and superannuation reform, as well as ensuring employees in the care industry, such as teachers, childcare workers and nurses, are receiving well-paid salaries, and respect within the workplace. She described how the pandemic had "left women exhausted and deepened their inequality, particularly in the workplace" and that much of Australia's "luck" had been due to the undervalued work of women.[56][60]
She has reported on corporate Australia and the gender diversity within the top 300 companies, with 5% of women CEOs in the S&P ASX200 companies.[61] She has also commented on how quotas for gender equity in the workplace work, and how quotas within the AFL have led to improvements in the AFL and the AFLW.[62] She has commented that a large number of woman leaders "sends a message to everybody that women are equal and improves overall culture". She has stated that, when a significant proportion of women are on boards, issues such as domestic violence policy and sexual harassment complaints are brought to attention.[63] She has also written in the Sydney Morning Herald about women and the economy.[64]
She commented that the election in 2022 would be a gendered issue, signing an open letter saying that widespread reform is needed to assist the return to the workplace for Australian women.[58]
25 January 2021: Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), For distinguished service to business and sustainability, and to the community, through seminal contributions to a range of organisations, and to women.[65][15]
10 June 2024: Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), For eminent service in the social justice, gender equity, sporting, cultural and business sectors, to reconciliation, and to environmental sustainability.[66]
^ abcdeFlanagan, Martin (10 February 2017). "Her mountain climbed, Sam Mostyn moved on from the AFL". The Age. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 26 November 2021. She was only 50 but she'd had 10 years on the AFL Commission... She's on the board of the Swans... She's also part of the GO foundation set up by Adam Goodes and Michael O'Loughlin to help Indigenous youth. She does a host of other things while also being married to Simeon and having a 17-year-old daughter.
^ abc"2021 Australia Day Honours recipients". Australian National University. 29 January 2021. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024. Sam Mostyn AO BA '86, LLB '89, HonLLD '18 For distinguished service to business and sustainability, and to the community, through seminal contributions to a range of organisations, and to women.
^"Distinguished CASS alumni recognised in Australia Day Honours". ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences. 4 February 2021. CASS Alumni Australia Day 2021 Honours. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2024. Dr Sam Mostyn AO BA '86, LLB '89, HonLLD '18 For distinguished service to business and sustainability, and to the community, through seminal contributions to a range of organisations, and to women.
^ abcdefghi"Sam Mostyn AO". Australians Investing in Women (AIIW). 20 September 2022. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
^ abcdefKirby, James (21 May 1999). "Bound for glory". Australian Financial Review. Sam Mostyn, 32, Optus. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
^Mostyn, Samantha (7 June 2007). "A purpose-driven business". Australian Financial Review (Newspaper). Interviewed by Tandukar, Amita. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024. Samantha Mostyn... now group executive of culture and reputation at Insurance Australia Group...
^ abKehoe, John (20 July 2011). "Citi gains and loses key people". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024. Citibank has recruited high-profile businesswoman Samantha Mostyn.
^Aston, Joe (7 April 2020). "Sam Mostyn says one thing, Transurban does another". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024. But two days later, Transurban – on whose board Mostyn has been perched since 2010...
^"Melbourne seminar". Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). 21 April 2016. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
^"Ms Samantha Joy Mostyn". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 25 January 2021. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021 – via Australian Honours Search Facility. Announcement Event Australia Day 2021 Honours List
^2015 Annual Report. AFL Sydney (Report). p. 6. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024. The Women's Division One medal was named for the first time in 2015 in honour of the first women's AFL Commissioner Sam Mostyn...
^"Mostyn Medal". AFL Sydney. 22 September 2023. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
^"Landcare Australia receives 2021 United Nations Day Honour" (Press release). Landcare Australia. 22 October 2021. UN Day Honour. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024. Previous recipients include Ms Sam Mostyn AO (2020), Reconciliation Australia (2019), the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG (2018) and the Australian Red Cross (2017).
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