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In July 2009 Naomi Milgrom became the first female recipient of Ernst & Young's Champion of Entrepreneurship Award (Southern Region) and is recognised as one of Australia’s top 25 business leaders and an outstanding entrepreneur.
Ms Milgrom is the sole owner, Executive Chair and CEO of the Sussan Group comprising three fashion brands - Sussan, Suzanne Grae and Sportsgirl. Under her leadership, the Sussan Group has grown to become Australia’s largest privately held specialty fashion retailer with over 550 stores and more than 4500 employees throughout Australia and New Zealand.
After completing a Bachelor of Arts at Monash University and a Diploma of Education at the University of NSW, Ms Milgrom commenced her first job in 1975 as a special education teacher for children with autism and schizophrenia.
Ms Milgrom has played a pivotal public role in the promotion of the Australian retail and fashion industries, nationally and internationally. Under her leadership, the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival became the largest consumer and retail fashion event globally. In 2007, she was inducted into the Stonnington Fashion Hall of Fame in recognition of her outstanding contribution to Australian fashion.
Ms Milgrom has mobilised her businesses and her own entrepreneurial skills to make outstanding contributions to Australian society. She is a benefactor to the arts, health, welfare, and the Jewish community, and an inspiring contributor to the world of science and education. As Chair of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) since 2005 she has propelled ACCA to its present position as the premier contemporary arts centre in Australia and the pre-eminent launching pad for young Australian artists. She served for 14 years as a board member of the Howard Florey Institute, Australia’s foremost brain research institute. In 2009, she made a gift for the creation of the Professor Frederick Mendelsohn Chair in Neuroscience at Melbourne University.
Ms Milgrom is an iconic leader, advocate and mentor of Australian women and has achieved landmark distinctions for women in business. She was both the first woman and the first person in the field of fashion to be invited to deliver the Batman Oration on Australia Day 2006.
In July 2009 Ms Milgrom was recognized for exemplary achievements in the creation of commercial and retail space and awarded the top Victorian Award for Commercial Architecture - the prestigious Sir Osborn McCutcheon Award for the new Sportsgirl Sussan Headquarters.
In 2009 Ms Milgrom was also appointed to the Premier of Victoria’s Bushfire reconstruction Industry Champions Committee.
Ms Milgrom is a director of the Magellan Financial Group and also a director of the Highpoint Property Group.
Ms Milgrom is the daughter of well-known business people and philanthropists, Marcus Besen AO and Eva Besen AO. Her sister, Ms Carol Schwartz AM, also a Monash alumna, is a Director of Highpoint Property Group.
Links:
Ms Carol Schwartz (prominent alumna and sister of Naomi Milgrom) |
