Kiandra’s Cassandra Wallace wins Women in ICT Award

Kiandra is proud to announce that Cassie Wallace, Head of Software Engineering, has been named a winner in the 2025 ARN Women in ICT Awards (WIICTA), taking out top honours in the Shining Star category.

Now in its 13th year, the WIICTA program recognises exceptional women driving innovation, leadership, and transformation across Australia’s technology sector. Cassie was recognised for her standout contributions to continuous learning, sustainability, and the advancement of AI in software development.

Currently on sabbatical and walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain, Cassie was unable to attend the awards ceremony in Sydney. Stepping in on her behalf was Kiandra’s Aarti Nagpal, who was full of praise during her acceptance speech:

"It’s such a privilege to accept this award on behalf of Cassie who’s currently walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain, embracing her love of adventure and balance, just like she does in her work.

Cass, as we fondly call her, is Kiandra’s Head of Software Engineering and an absolute force!

I have worked closely with Cass on a number of key initiatives like achieving B Corp and ISO 27001 certifications for Kiandra and gained valuable insights into her leadership through major change with integrity, clarity, and bold decisions that always stayed true to purpose.

She developed the K-Way, our internal process guide, which transformed our delivery methods and lifted quality across the board. Alongside B Corp, ISO 27001 and GDPR certifications, Cass has focussed on aligning the company with strong social and environmental values while streamlining efficiency at every step. She has been instrumental in Kiandra's strategic integration of AI to improve the delivery of technology solutions.

She often says she sees her job as creating more leaders – and from her as my mentor, I’ve learned what it means to lead with vulnerability – to own the unknowns, to grow through mistakes, and to use feedback, especially when it’s tough, as a tool for real development.

She’s shaped a culture at Kiandra, where women are seen, supported, and truly given the space to lead. Under her leadership, 60% of leadership roles at Kiandra are now held by women."

You can read more about Cassie's achievement and see the full list of award-winners here.