Leah Barlow

Biography

Leah Barlow studied Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering and Management at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. After graduating, she started her career in the graduate program at Orica almost 20 years ago, and enjoyed being in the field and working with the operations team, learning about the business from the ground up. She has been with Orica ever since, in a variety of roles. She has always found working in the mining industry very interesting, as it gives her opportunities to learn new things, solve challenging situations, and allows her to make connections with the honest, genuine people that make up the industry.

Throughout her career, she has had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects. She was part of the team that developed Electronic Blasting System products for Orica, and helped ramp up operations to support Orica being a market leader in this space. She was also on the commissioning team that relocated a Nitric Acid Plant from Denmark to Australia.

Originally from Australia, her career at Orica took her to Canada, where she stayed for 10 years before returning to Australia. Through this experience, she was able to learn about a new, yet similar, culture and expand into new career opportunities. In her current role as President – SHES, Discrete Manufacturing and Supply, she manages accountability across more than 20 countries, and collaborates with a diverse team, providing more opportunities for travel to work closely with Orica’s global manufacturing plants.

Some of the biggest challenges she’s faced in career have been to find resiliency and confidence in herself, and creating an environment where young professionals want to come develop their careers and make an impact in the ESG space.

Resiliency is important to work in the mining industry. Though her career has been exciting and challenging, it has taken her to very remote and diverse locations globally that have been both personally and professionally challenging. Having confidence in your abilities, can be difficult at times, but even more so in remote locations.

She also recognizes the importance and difficulty to attract young talent and develop a steady pipeline of mining professionals to become the future leaders of the industry. To address these challenges, she helped launch Orica’s new global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy, which aims to create a workplace where people are valued, safe and empowered. Diverse teams lead to positive outcomes, innovation and make operations safer.

At Orica, Leah participates in various internal program and groups focusing on female leadership. Through robust discussions with future leaders about career experiences and challenges, she aims to help increase the number of women in senior commercial positions.

Outside of work, Leah is the mother to a small child, and enjoys cooking and abstract painting, allowing her to relax and apply her creativity.