Dean’s Prize winner Suzi Woodrow-Read says EMPA broadened her understanding of public sector
4 March 2025
● News and media
The Dean’s Prize for the best overall student in the 2023 ANZSOG Executive Master of Public Administration has been awarded to Suzi Woodrow-Read, Executive Director, Leadership and Capability at Queensland Public Sector Commission.
Ms Woodrow-Read joined the public service in her mid-40s from the private sector, and said that the depth and rigour of the EMPA has given her a broader understanding of her role in the public sector.
“My background had a range of things, one being consultancy. I consulted a lot to government and they were always my favourite clients. So then when I had a crossroads in my career, I decided that I really wanted to work in the public service.”
“I saw the EMPA as a really good way to better understand the breadth and the complexity of government. It was the desire to do something with depth, which an academic program like this really promises, where you can really get stuck into things,” she said.
“What I’ve learned cumulatively over the two years has really opened my eyes, and given me a much broader sense of what it means to be a public servant.”
Ms Woodrow-Read says that the EMPA has equipped her to ‘appreciate the inherent competing forces of public service and how to better work with, and through them, to focus on creating value for our citizens’.
Her group work for EMPA’s Governing in a Market Economy took on the subject of ‘vaping’ and the regulatory structure around it. She says this took her out of the narrow focus of her everyday work, and gave her a greater sense of the vast role of the public service.
“At first, the details seemed removed from my immediate day to day role in systemic capability building – and this is a recurring theme through many of the other subjects – but it was meaningful and I look back and realise how much I learnt within the context of the two-year curriculum. All subjects put together provided a great picture of the influential work of the public sector to serve citizens”.
She said that one of the biggest attractions of the EMPA was the opportunity to work with people across Australia and New Zealand and learn from their experiences and that it really opened her eyes to the depth, breadth and complexity of what the public service does.
“The relationships that you establish during the program, especially during the Work Based Project, are really deep, they’re really rich and they’re absolutely something that I will continue after my EMPA,” she said.
“You’ve got people who you can ring and say: ‘hey I just want to check this with you or please give me some guidance on this, whether it is a content based or a leadership question’. That’s been a real legacy of the program that will continue to live with me.”
“This access to how different people manage their teams, the skill and empathy needed to manage stakeholders to find solutions, and the challenges to managing self within all of these demands has probably been my greatest source of learning through EMPA.”
“My EMPA peers have become a living textbook for me on managing public sector organisations”.
She said that being awarded the Dean’s Prize brought both a sense of pride and a chance for reflection.
“I entered the EMPA program with the desire to get better at my current role, which I love. Getting good grades was not a key driver so the Prize will be a continual reminder to me of a number of things. One, learning is beneficial at any stage of your life and career (my youngest daughter and I will graduate from our degrees at the same time!) Two, if you really engage with something meaningful to you, the rest will generally work out. Three, I can do hard things – because studying while balancing a full time job and all that life throws at you is challenging – but having a great support network in my organisation and family makes it possible.”
In addition to the Dean’s Prize ANZSOG has awarded the following Subject Prizes for the 2023 cohort. Congratulations to all for their hard work and achievement.
- Delivering Public Value: Janice Lamb
- Governing in a Market Economy: Megan Bell
- Decison Making Under Uncertainty: Justin McLean
- Designing Public Policies and Programs: Emily Street
- Managing Public Sector Organisations: Teresa Comacchio
- Governing by the Rules: Shane Robertson
- Leading Public Sector Change: Suzi Woodrow-Read
- Public Financial Management: Grant Judson
- Work Based Project: Emily Street and Andrea McBeth