Liza has spent the past 20 years working for Australia’s most loved brands – from 3M, George Weston Foods, Hunter Douglas Australia and Luxaflex, Sheridan Australia and the Pacific Brands Group, and ActronAir.
Liza is a real life corporate alchemist. Graduating as a UNSW Co-op Scholar with BSc (Hons) Industrial Chemistry, her love for innovation saw her move from the R&D lab to product management to marketing, operations and senior leadership roles. She is experienced in strategy development and implementation, R&D, portfolio management, marketing and communications, customer loyalty programs, digital development and business excellence programs. Her superpower is the ability to transform ideas into sustainable business growth opportunities.
At ActronAir, she was actively involved in transforming this family-owned business into the iconic Australian success story it is today with a turnover of >$100m. Top line growth was achieved through new product innovations, marketing programs and expansion into new markets.
Her passion for business improvement led to the completion of a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt with The University of Technology. This project conducted an in-depth study with the Housing Industry Association (HIA) to identify trends in the residential category. Liza led a cross functional team and challenged the status-quo of product design. The key findings were used as inputs for future product development.
Most recently, Liza Taylor is a BEC approved Business Advisor and has mentored numerous businesses through the Australian Small Business Advisory Service (ASBAS) and Business Connect government programs. She was selected as a Mentor to the Boosting Female Founders program to improve the representation of women in entrepreneurship.
Liza played an integral role in creating the AIRAH Affordable Heating and Cooling Innovation Hub (i-Hub), a joint initiative with ARENA, CSIRO, University of Wollongong, Melbourne University and Queensland University of Technology. This $18.4m initiative aims to promote innovation across the sector and reduce peak demand and improve energy efficiency through the integration of HVAC&R technology with renewables.
In 2019, Liza was selected as one of 107 women from around the globe to feature in the inaugural UN Environment Programme OzonAction, Women in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning publication showcasing the diverse career paths in the industry.
She is a non-Executive Director of the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) and co-founding Chair of the Resilience Special Technical Group.
She has completed a MBA (Executive) at The Australian Graduate School of Management, UNSW. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has also completed Governance Foundations for Not-for-profit Directors.
