Nicole Rose

I am a risk and compliance leader, entrepreneur, and creative who sees risk as an opportunity to improve, innovate, and create lasting change. Across global organisations, I have challenged the status quo, built stronger cultures, and transformed compliance approaches. I am currently heading up a global compliance team.

What makes you a Risky Woman?

I am a Risky Woman because I see risk as an opportunity. I believe every challenge is a chance to improve, innovate, and make organisations stronger. Across global organisations, I have used risk to challenge the status quo, create better outcomes, and turn what seems impossible into achievable change.

Name your top 3 achievements

1. Creating a child-safe culture and establishing a Safe Church function. As Head of Risk and Compliance for a leading Australian church, I helped develop a safe church framework focused on protecting children and vulnerable people. I am incredibly proud that this work has continued to grow and evolve beyond my time there. 
2. Building my own compliance and legal business – creating a new path that combines my expertise, values, and passion for helping organisations navigate complex legal, compliance and risk challenges. 
3. Reinventing my career and life – leaving a successful career in London to move to Australia, embrace change, study art, and create a new chapter for myself.

What is the biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?

The biggest risk I’ve taken was leaving a secure career and life in London to move across the world to Australia. I chose reinvention over comfort – studying art, building my own compliance and legal business, and embracing change, creativity, and the opportunity to blend my creative and professional self.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

Most people may now know that after living in London for 35 years, I came to Australia for a two-week holiday and never left. It was an unexpected adventure that changed my life.

What is the best quality for successful leaders in Risk?

To be able to step back, understand the problem we are trying to solve, and then break it down into meaningful, manageable pieces. By simplifying complex issues into smaller, actionable steps, we can create solutions that are both understandable and achievable.