Sam Mostyn

Samantha Joy Mostyn ( ; born 13 September 1965) is an Australian businesswoman and advocate who has served as the 28th governor-general of Australia since 1 July 2024.

Mostyn has been an advocate on climate change and gender equality; she served as the first female Australian Football League commissioner and was president of Chief Executive Women from 2021 to 2022. She was a board member of numerous companies and organisations, including Mirvac, Transurban, GO Foundation, the Climate Council, Virgin Australia, and the Sydney Swans. The Mostyn Medal, for the "best and fairest" AFLW player in the Sydney Swans, is named after her.

Early life and education Samantha Joy Mostyn was born on 13 September 1965 in Canberra, Their father, William "Bill" Mostyn,

Although most of her early years were spent in Canberra, She also lived in Melbourne, the United States, and Canada. She played a lot of sport as a child, and loved to watch Australian rules football, although she did not have the opportunity to play. Mostyn attended Narrabundah College. While earning her arts and law degree at the Australian National University, she worked as a researcher for local chief magistrate Ron Cahill. Her work has included roles in business strategy, human resources, culture change, risk management, and community engagement. She worked as a solicitor for Freehills and Gilbert + Tobin. She left IAG in 2008.

In 2005, Mostyn was appointed to the AFL Commission as its first female member. She served as a commissioner until 2016 and was a key figure in the development of the Australian Football League's Respect and Responsibility Policy, as well as an advocate for the creation of the AFL Women's competition.

In 2010, Mostyn was appointed to the board of Transurban. Also that year, she was appointed non-executive director of Citibank Australia, of Citi Australia's consumer bank.

In 2021, Mostyn was named by the Australian Financial Review as Australia's "most influential" company director, serving on boards with a combined market capitalisation of over $480 billion. She was president of Chief Executive Women in 2021–2022. and Albert Music Group.

Non-profit sector Mostyn was appointed a director of Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS) in April 2018, and was appointed chair on 3 March 2022 until her appointment as Governor-General. ANROWS is an independent, not-for-profit research organisation which was established in 2013 by the Commonwealth and all state and territory governments in a bid to conduct and encourage research that would help to end domestic violence in Australia.

Mostyn has served on the boards of the Global Business & Sustainable Development Commission, The role involves leading residential seminars of groups of senior executives.

Climate change work Mostyn was one of the Australia 2020 Summit participants. She is a chair of the Climate Council and has written about bushfires and climate change for the Climate Council. She is a member of the Climate Change Authority. (now Climateworks Centre), an independent non-profit research centre focused on climate transition, co-founded in 2009 by the Myer Foundation and Monash University as part of the Monash Sustainable Development Institute. She remained on the board until 2019.

She is also a founding supporter and chair of 1 Million Women, the women's climate action group. She is the first governor-general to have been born in Canberra.

The announcement was generally welcomed by other politicians, Mostyn's colleagues; several women's advocacy organisations; the AFL; the incumbent governor-general, David Hurley, and others. politician Pauline Hanson, and conservative lobby group Advance Australia, criticised the appointment owing to her past activism, ABC journalist Annabel Crabb observed that it was rare for such an appointment "to generate vicious denunciations on day one", arguing against News Corp journalist Janet Albrechtsen's denunciation of the appointment as being gender-based.

She was sworn into office on 1 July 2024.

Media Mostyn has regularly written for, and been quoted in, the media. She has advocated for prevention of domestic violence and for support of Indigenous Australian women. when audience members asked whether prime minister Scott Morrison's support for women "was genuine", following marches in early 2021. Mostyn commented that recommendations by Kate Jenkins, Sex Discrimination Commissioner, following the national inquiry into workplace sexual harassment, could be implemented and accepted. as president of Chief Executive Women, on economic recovery and post-pandemic recovery, describing how Australia can make "the most of its available resources and talent" by investing in care, for paid parental leave, childhood education and superannuation reform, as well as ensuring employees in the care industry, such as teachers, childcare workers and nurses, are receiving well-paid salaries, and respect within the workplace. She described how the pandemic had "left women exhausted and deepened their inequality, particularly in the workplace" and that much of Australia's "luck" had been due to the undervalued work of women.

She has reported on corporate Australia and the gender diversity within the top 300 companies, with 5% of women CEOs in the S&P ASX200 companies. She has also commented on how quotas for gender equity in the workplace work, and how quotas within the AFL have led to improvements in the AFL and the AFLW. She has commented that a large number of woman leaders "sends a message to everybody that women are equal and improves overall culture". She has stated that, when a significant proportion of women are on boards, issues such as domestic violence policy and sexual harassment complaints are brought to attention. She has also written in the Sydney Morning Herald about women and the economy.

She commented that the election in 2022 would be a gendered issue, signing an open letter saying that widespread reform is needed to assist the return to the workplace for Australian women.

Honours National orders 25 January 2021: Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), For distinguished service to business and sustainability, and to the community, through seminal contributions to a range of organisations, and to women. 23 January 2025: Dame of Justice of the Order of St John

Honorary degrees 2018: Honorary doctorate of laws (LLD) from the Australian National University,

Honorary appointments 2024: Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps 2024: Colonel of the Regiment of the Royal Australian Regiment 2025: Chief Scout of Scouts Australia 2025–present: Prior of the Order of St John

Other recognition 2015: Mostyn Medal, for "best and fairest" women in AFL Sydney, named after her 2019: Winner, IGCC 2019 Climate Awards 2020: United Nations Day Honour award, awarded by the United Nations Association of Australia (NSW) to those who have made a "significant contribution to the aims and objectives of the UN" 2024: National Winner - Australian Awards for Excellence in Women's Leadership

Personal life

Mostyn is married to barrister Simeon Beckett of Maurice Byers Chambers in Sydney, and has one daughter.

Footnotes