Olivia Sainsbury was born in Canberra, went to Primary School in Rome, Italy and has lived in NSW, ACT and now QLD. Olivia studied at the Australian National University and then worked with Deloitte Consulting in Australia and America before setting up her own consulting company. A large part of Olivia’s career has included commuting between cities however when she arrived on the gorgeous Sunshine Coast 4 years ago, she decided that she wasn’t leaving! Olivia is now the CEO of the Caloundra Chamber of Commerce and represent over 550 businesses.
 

Olivia, tell us about the different areas that you have worked and what brought you to the Sunshine Coast?

As a management consultant I developed a broad range of skills and later specialised in policy design for the Federal Government. I facilitated hundreds of design workshops ensuring up front input from every administrative discipline as well as the user. This work was extremely rewarding however my husband and I decided that we wanted to move out of the big city grind and so chose the Sunshine Coast to move to. Prior to my current position I consulted to the Sunshine Coast Council on projects like the Broadband Submarine Cable.

You are now working the CEO of the Caloundra Chamber of Commerce, Queensland’s largest COC – can you share three secrets to success to have an organisation that is thriving and growing so rapidly?

I think it is really important to be curious and confident enough to try new things and any sort of business growth these days requires a good understanding of where automate. A strong Board or Committee is also extremely important for success.

What traits do you think are important as a leader in business?

I think leaders need to be visionary and risk averse. They need to inspire and motivate staff and stakeholders and have the ability to make and action decisions quickly.

You work long hours and would attend lots of events, how do you keep balance in your life?

I am away from home a lot during the week, and to balance that I must admit I do become very house bound on weekends! I have a great personal trainer who keeps me in check and I try to get away for long weekends throughout the year.

And what’s next on the agenda for Olivia Sainsbury?

Next for me is selling my house and moving closer to work, getting into F45 and reaching 1,000 members for the Chamber.

Favourite book and Why? 

I have so many but am currently reading Bryce Courtney’s Power of One, which is an amazing story and provides a lot of personal reflection.

Coast or City?

I moved from the City to the Coast, so of course the Coast!

Who would you most like to meet and why?

Richard Branson because of his amazing business success.

To find out more about Olivia head to 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-sainsbury-4351213/

or Facebook

@CaloundraChamber