About the awards
PwC’s Edwin Flack Awards are held every two years, to recognise and celebrate partners who have made a real difference to our clients, our firm, our people and our community.
The awards are sponsored by PwC Australia’s Governance Board, which establishes the Edwin Flack Committee that is responsible for determining the categories for the Edwin Flack Awards, reviewing the nominations, recommending award winners to the full Governance Board and presenting the awards on the night.
Every partner is eligible to nominate a partner or partner team who they feel should be recognised in each award category. An overall Edwin Flack Award winner is also chosen from all nominees, recognising a partner who truly inspires and exemplifies PwC’s behaviours and values.
The Pat McKeon Award was launched in 2014, to recognise a partner who embodies the qualities of a future leader and encapsulates the spirit of partnership. The award is named in memory of a former partner of the firm who passed away in 2014. The Management Leadership Team sponsors this award and presents the recipient with a bell - Pat was known to ring a bell during Partner Conferences to move partners between groups, encouraging networking and collaboration.
In 2021 we introduced the People Council Award for our employees, to recognise a team member in each state or territory who lives and breathes the values of our firm. Individuals were nominated by partners, with winners selected by our People Council.
Previous recipients
| Overall Edwin Flack Award: | Clara Cutajar |
| People & Care: | Sanmeet Bhatia |
| Client Centricity & Growth: | Jade Dixon |
| Collaboration & Social Impact: | ABS Census team (Scott Evans, Gwil Davies, Rob Di Pietro) |
| Agent of Change: | Aishwarya Chandran, Scott Walsh, Tom Pagram & Chris Daniell |
| Leadership & Care: | Cathy Nance |
| Societal Relevance: | Department of Veteran Affairs Team |
| Client Centricity & Growth: | Health Team |
| Agent of Change: | Amrita Jebamoney |
| Pat McKeon Award: | Meredith Chester & Suji Kanagalingam |
| People Council Awards: | ACT - Danny Jowers |
| NSW - Suet Koon Lai | |
| QLD - Melinda Huston | |
| SA - The Adelaide facilities team | |
| VIC - Kate Connors | |
| WA - Jonathan Banks |
| Overall Edwin Flack Award: | Joseph Carrozzi |
| Leadership & Collaboration: | Tony O'Malley |
| Societal Relevance: | Paid Right team |
| Client Centricity: | Andrew Parker |
| Agent of Change: | Peter Buchholz & Clare Power |
| Pat McKeon Award: | Morven Fulton |
| Overall Edwin Flack Award: | Merran Dawson |
| Leadership & Collaboration: | Liza Maimone |
| Societal Relevance: | Marriage Equality modelling report team |
| Client Centricity: | NAB Account Team |
| Agent of Change: | David Wills |
| Pat McKeon Award: | David Sacks |
| Overall Edwin Flack Award: | Michael Codling |
| Leadership: | Ross Thorpe |
| Team Work: | Infrastructure team |
| Market/Societal Relevance: | Paul Abbey |
| Agent of Change: | PwC Indigenous Consulting team |
| Pat McKeon Award: | Adam Lai |
| Overall Edwin Flack Award: | David Coogan |
| Being a Leader: | David McKeering |
| Exemplary Client Focus: | Ian Hammond |
| Making Change Stick: | Perth Tax practice |
| Overall Edwin Flack Award: | John Walsh |
| Market Focus Award: | Tim Goldsmith |
| Collaboration Award: | Rob Baker and the partners and staff of the Brisbane office |
| Client Service Award: | Andrew Nicolaou |
| Behaviour Led Culture Award: | Stephen Humphries |
History of Edwin Flack - Australia's first Olympic Gold Medallist
Edwin Flack was the sole Australian to compete in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 at Athens - and the first to win. He placed first in the 800 and 1500 metres sprints, and took part in the marathon and in the singles and doubles tennis events.
When not competing on the world stage, Edwin Flack was an accountant who'd formed Flack & Flack with his father, Joseph Flack. Though English by birth, Flack had immigrated with his family to Australia as a five-year-old in 1878. His connection to our firm first began when he returned to England in 1895 to receive further training as an accountant with Price, Waterhouse & Co (now PwC). His eponymous firm eventually established offices across Australia and joined Price Waterhouse & Co in 1946, becoming part of our history - though Edwin himself had by this stage passed away (in 1935).
Edwin Flack is remembered as an Olympian and as a generous benefactor - many charitable and welfare organisations, hospitals and research funds have benefited from his estate.
To mark the centenary of his achievements in Athens, a statue of Edwin Flack by 'Smiley Williams' was erected in 1996 by the citizens of Berwick (where Edwin had been a long-term resident).
Edwin was a true leader known for his ‘can do’ attitude. He showed the importance of being agile, taking things in your stride and remaining level-headed in the face of both defeat and triumph.
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