Four finalists named for 2026 Barbara Cox Woman of the Year Award

Finalists confirmed for the 2026 award

Four leaders from across the Australian automotive industry have been named as finalists for the 2026 Barbara Cox Woman of the Year Award. As reported by AutoTalk, the finalists are For the Girls founder Monica Monteleone, Logicar Australia chief executive Colette Kirby, Intelematics senior product manager Katherine Anderson and field service technician Caitlyn Hayes. ¹

GoAutoNews Premium, which also reported the finalist list, notes this is the third year the Australian award has run, and that the winner will be announced on October 16 at the Women in Automotive (WinA) Luncheon. The winner will receive a $5000 prize for personal development. According to AutoTalk, the luncheon is presented in partnership with Cox Automotive Australia. ¹³

The award is named after the late Barbara Cox, a former director of United States-based Cox Enterprises, of which Cox Automotive is a subsidiary. GoAutoNews Premium reports the judging panel comprises Cox Automotive Australia corporate affairs manager Mike Costello, Cox Automotive Australia head of information technology Elissa McKendry, and Women in Automotive director Kate Peck. ³

Monteleone and Kirby in the running

Monica Monteleone founded For the Girls, an automotive community that AutoTalk says began with a meet-up in her local library carpark and has since grown into an organisation supported by major automotive brands. She independently manages its events, fundraising and programmes designed to create opportunities for women across the industry. GoAutoNews Premium adds that For The Girls was founded in 2022 and hosts car and bike-related events for women, including drift nights, car meets and cruises, raising funds for organisations such as Support The Girls, WILMA Women's Health Centre and The Royal Women's Hospital. ¹³

Colette Kirby has developed Logicar Australia into a nationwide workshop partner while establishing a 40:40:20 gender balance within the business, with an emphasis on employee wellbeing and mentoring emerging leaders, AutoTalk reports. According to GoAutoNews Premium, Kirby joined workshop equipment provider Logicar in 2016 as chief operating officer and became chief executive officer in 2019. She has been a board director of the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association since 2022 and was appointed treasurer and ARC chair in 2025, GoAutoNews Premium reports. ¹³

Safety technology and trades advocacy among finalists

Katherine Anderson leads the eCall safety programme at Intelematics. AutoTalk reports the technology automatically contacts emergency services following a crash and provides responders with information about the incident, and has been introduced into more than one million vehicles across Australia and New Zealand. GoAutoNews Premium adds that Anderson joined Intelematics — which it notes is part of RACV — as a product owner in 2020 and became senior product manager in 2024, and that the programme, started six years ago, has since expanded to include fatigue and distraction detection. ¹³

Caitlyn Hayes is a dual-qualified diesel fitter and automotive electrician who works as a fly-in, fly-out field service technician on heavy mining equipment in Western Australia's Pilbara region, according to AutoTalk. She is an apprentice mentor and advocate for women entering automotive trades, and promotes trade careers to young women through her Diesel N Sparks social media platform. GoAutoNews Premium lists her achievements as including the 2025 Tradie Trailblazer Award, the 2026 AWIC Young Leader Under 28 and Outstanding Woman in Machinery awards, and inclusion in the Top 100 Women in Trades in 2021. ¹³

How the award works and past winners

Cox Automotive Australia's own award page states the Barbara Cox Award recognises and rewards women who demonstrate a commitment to innovation, leadership or community within the automotive sector, and is open to any woman working in the automotive industry across Australia. In addition to industry recognition, the winner receives $5000 to spend on personal development. Barbara Cox herself was a business pioneer and director of Cox Enterprises, the daughter of company founder Governor James Cox and the mother of current chairman Jim Kennedy, according to the Cox Automotive page. ²

GoAutoNews Premium reported in July 2026, when nominations opened, that the 2026 winner would be selected from a shortlist of four finalists and announced at the annual Women in Automotive luncheon in Melbourne in October, and that interstate finalists would receive flights and accommodation to attend the event. Cox Automotive said at the time that the award is "not about job titles or seniority – it's about impact". ⁵

Previous Australian recipients provide context for the 2026 field. Bridge Toyota and Lexus of Darwin dealer principal Tegan Blockey won the 2025 award, while Shai Copelin, automotive product manager at TAFE New South Wales, won in 2024 and Galmatic founder Eleni Mitakos won the inaugural 2023 award, according to both GoAutoNews Premium and Cox Automotive Australia. Cox Automotive notes Blockey was the first woman to hold the dealer principal role at any Lexus dealership in Australia and has set a goal of increasing female representation in her roughly 160-person workplace from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. ²³⁵

A parallel international award

The Barbara Cox honour also exists internationally. In February 2026, Cox Automotive named Rita Case, president and CEO of the Rick Case Automotive Group in the United States, as the 2026 Barbara Cox Woman of the Year at a ceremony in Atlanta, where Cox Automotive CEO Steve Rowley presented the award. US broadcaster WSVN reported that the award included a $10,000 donation to a charity of Case's choice, and that a further $10,000 went to the Barbara Cox Memorial Scholarship Fund, awarded to Northwood University student Breanne Pratley. ⁴

WSVN quoted Rowley as saying in a press release that the Barbara Cox Woman of the Year Award "celebrates extraordinary female pioneers who embody transformative leadership and unwavering philanthropic vision within our industry". That American award and the Australian Barbara Cox Award are separate recognitions under the same name, with the Australian edition focused on the domestic automotive industry and run by Cox Automotive Australia and Manheim Australia, as GoAutoNews Premium reported when nominations opened. ⁴⁵