A party on the top floor
Businesswoman Karen Hayes hosts a powerhouse group of friends at her luxurious penthouse apartment. Over great food and wine, these trailblazing South Australian women share their stories of struggle and success, while raising a glass to the next generation of female leaders.
When Karen Hayes began inviting friends to tonight’s dinner party, she says it took “about five minutes” to get everyone on board.
While that obviously has a lot to do with Karen’s close friendships and warm hospitality, it may also have something to do with the venue for tonight’s event.
Karen and her husband Graeme live in a spectacular penthouse apartment atop the Eighty Eight O’Connell development in North Adelaide.
This $10 million luxury penthouse boasts 500 square metres of opulent living, as well as views for miles in every direction.
On arrival, it’s hard to take in the 360 vista from every window and balcony, as the eye wanders from the white shell of Adelaide Oval, to the lights all the way up King William Street, a landing strip at Adelaide Airport, the pine trees along Glenelg’s foreshore and the undulating tips and dips of the Adelaide Hills.
“You feel like you’re on top of the world,” Karen says as she shows SALIFE around the breathtaking penthouse, which includes a spacious foyer with grand piano, gym with sauna, luxury master suite (with walk in robe and en suite each), theatre room and two guest bedrooms.
“It’s so beautiful and Graeme and I love to share it with other people,” Karen says. “We feel like this penthouse and this development represents what is achievable in South Australia now.”
That high-end notion hits home when you head up the stairs (or take the lift) to the second floor of the penthouse, where a sun-filled lounge leads to the outdoor entertaining zone and the jewel in the crown – a 15-metre infinity pool that appears to float mid-air above the city.
It’s here, poolside, that tonight’s guests congregate for pre-dinner cocktails and canapes.
A special “Sunset cocktail” has been created for tonight’s event, made with 78 Degrees Sunset gin, Aperol, raspberries and lime, and decorated with fresh flowers.
In honour of SALIFE’s women’s issue, Karen has curated an all-female guest list, and it’s a powerhouse bunch.
First to arrive is Stelanie Alexander, a successful businesswoman who bought her first business, a recruitment firm, at just 24 years of age.
She’s soon joined by Heather Croall, ex-CEO of Adelaide Fringe, now director at Carrick Hill and Sandy Pitcher, CEO of the Department of Human Services. Also here is Donny Walford, businesswoman and founder of networking group Behind Closed Doors, and Dr Amanda Rischbieth, an experienced board director specialising in AI, who recently undertook a leadership program at Harvard University.
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Amanda has just been appointed as the president of the Australian chapter of the International Women’s Forum, a global network focused on equality and advancing women’s leadership roles.
Karen, a powerful advocate for women, is the co-founder of the Australian chapter of the International Women’s Forum.
“It’s a safety net for like-minded women to support each other, but also to focus on the development of the next generation of women leaders,” Karen says.
Two more of tonight’s guests have news to share – Julianne Parkinson, managing director of strategic advisory firm Activare International, has just been appointed as the new CEO of the Leaders Institute of South Australia, a not-for-profit organisation that fosters impactful leaders, and Kate Thiele, a former SA Businesswoman of the Year, has just been appointed as CEO of recruitment firm Maxima.
Someone else who knows all about leadership is another of tonight’s guests, Professor Maria Makrides, executive director of SAHMRI, as well as real estate identity Sylvia Toop, who also lives in the building.
It was Sylvia’s late husband, Anthony, director of Toop + Toop Real Estate and a close friend of Karen and Graeme’s, who first told the couple about Eighty Eight O’Connell.
At the time they were living in Melbourne where Karen was CEO of Guide Dogs Victoria and Graeme had sold his timber business.
With such busy schedules and nearing retirement, the couple began to contemplate a move back to Adelaide, Karen’s home state.
“Anthony said to us years ago, ‘There’s this development coming and it’s just so you’,” Karen says. “We’d lived in apartments in Melbourne, and we’d always said when we finish our 70 and 80 hour-a-week jobs we’d come back to Adelaide.”
They made the move in 2022, living in Malvern until their penthouse was completed last year.
Karen sits on several boards, including SAHMRI, Adelaide Botanic Gardens Foundation, Cancer Council SA, Adelaide Fringe Festival Foundation and philanthropic organisation Impact 100, and says she is motivated by the idea of “giving back to South Australia now”.
“I just love to lift people up. I’ve been given so many wonderful opportunities in my life, that have just been organic opportunities, and I want to do the same for other people, because that’s how they get the most out of life. I’m driven to help people be their best selves.”
While she is a keen cook who loves to entertain, Karen is not in the kitchen tonight, handing that role to catering company The Culinary Creative, led by chef Jamie Carter and cocktail maker and waiter Jake Williams. Jake keeps the ladies’ glasses topped up with South Australian wines, while talented chef Jamie wows the crowd with each course, starting with an entrée of gruyere tartlets followed by seared and ceviche scallops.
There is plenty of chatter around the table before Karen officially kicks off proceedings – starting the way she often does as dinner party host – by asking guests a question.
Tonight, the question is: “When in your professional or personal life did someone who had great faith in you ask you to do something, and despite feeling like you could never achieve that, you did it; and what were your learnings from that?”
So begins three hours of fascinating conversation with each of these accomplished women tapping into their mainly professional histories to pinpoint a moment in time they challenged themselves and succeeded.
Nuggets of priceless lessons and insights from years of corporate experience float around the room, such as, “Never be afraid and always look within yourself for the confidence to make things happen”, and “Never be afraid of doing the right thing and always be open to having the right people around you”, and “Have the courage to give it a go and it may not work out as you expected, but if you follow a process with rigour and integrity you’ll get a quality outcome”.
The overriding sense in the room is that every woman here has at some point battled with a sense of imposter syndrome and fear, and even come up against discrimination, but by backing themselves, working hard and forging forward, they’ve made it.
Most importantly though, is a collective sense of the importance of shining a light on other women in business and, more specifically, helping raise up the next generation of female leaders in this state. It’s all about paying it forward.
Karen’s own rise to success began in the small town of Kadina on the Yorke Peninsula, where her father Ray Russell ran an international harvester dealership.
Karen and her three siblings attended Kadina High School and after moving to Adelaide and finishing her schooling at Unley High, the teenager got her first job at the Bank of South Australia at just 16 years of age.
A move to Sydney in the early 1980s was the first entree into the corporate world and Karen began working for a business and technology services company. It was during this time she met her first husband Colin, however in a tragic turn of events, he passed away in a backyard accident, leaving Karen a widow at 30.
“That’s an event that has a huge impact on your life,” she says. “It was a life changing moment.”
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Struggling to cope, Karen threw herself into work and was eventually given an opportunity to work in Europe.
“We’d acquired a number of businesses over there, and they wanted me to go over and help integrate them into the corporate culture,” she says. “So, I went over as head of operations and ended up at their head office in Montreal.”
She went on to work in Belgium, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Brussels, and was eventually appointed vice president of human resources globally.
“It was an incredible experience for a kid from Kadina,” she says.
“But I was never very ambitious – I never went to uni, I just started working at the bank when I was 16 and things unfolded.”
Karen returned to Australia in the mid-1990s and it was around that time she met Graeme through mutual friends. The couple had not been dating long when Karen was dealt another devastating blow – a breast cancer diagnosis.
“That was the second most defining moment in my life,” she says.
“Graeme and I had only been dating for about three months and I tried to call it off, but he said, ‘No, I’m sticking around’. That’s the sort of person he is. I’m very lucky.”
With the internet still in its infancy back then, Karen struggled to access information and support through her cancer journey. So, along with a couple of other women, including former Olympic athlete Raelene Boyle, Karen created the Breast Cancer Network of Australia.
“We wrote the first business plan on my kitchen table nearly 30 years ago and it still provides amazing information to women and their families about treatment programs and support networks,” she says. “It also lobbies very successfully to government.”
Karen says having breast cancer changed her outlook on life, as the corporate world began to jolt.
“It was all about the bottom line,” she says. “It was all about the deal and cut throat business and winning at any cost. And it just didn’t sit comfortably with me anymore.
“You really become aware of what’s important in your life and how you want to live your life when you get sick.”
When she was again diagnosed with breast cancer in both 2019 and 2023, Karen’s focus on enjoying life became even more important.
She is cancer free today but remains acutely aware of what matters most these days – family, friends, health, and making a difference in the lives of others, particularly women. It is this sense of friendship and female empowerment that shines through tonight.
Then, of course, there’s the incredible food being served by chef Jamie, a larrikin who loves a laugh, but whose sophisticated and fresh dishes speak for themselves. The main course stars are Robe crayfish tail, grilled wagyu and miso roasted pumpkin, and guests tuck in with gasps of appreciation.
Then, it’s time for a quick break from the gastronomic extravaganza as everyone heads to the balcony to watch the spectacular orange sunset.
While they are all individually successful women, the vibe in the room tonight is collaborative, collective, contagious.
In line with her passion to champion women’s rights, it was during her tenure on the board of the Melbourne Football Club that Karen was instrumental in spearheading the women’s strategy on behalf of the club that fed into the establishment of the AFL’s Women’s competition.
“I was at the very first AFLW game on the MCG when Melbourne played the Western Bulldogs. It was one of the proudest days of my life,” she says.
Her advocacy work and commitment to empowering women earned Karen an Order of Australia medal in 2019 for “significant services to the community as an advocate for gender equality and supporting women in sport”.
Today, the businesswoman is acutely aware of how lucky she and Graeme are to be surrounded by such luxury, but their gratitude and giving back is at the heart of how they want to spend their time here.
“I could not be happier to be back in Adelaide, and I am very grateful for all we have,” Karen says. “I’ve been happy to fly under the radar a bit but now I feel it’s time to get on with some advocacy work and make a difference where I can.”
As guests devour dessert of strawberries and cream pavlova with Dubai chocolate, Karen finishes her own story of challenge and success with a few simple words.
“And now I’m here, back home, bringing all that experience from overseas and throughout my career. It’s the right time for me to be here, for reasons that I didn’t even expect, including my health,” she says.
“But Graeme and I both feel we are in the best possible place, and I am just so grateful to be here and to have all you amazing women in my life.”
As guests make their way to the penthouse lift and say their goodbyes, there’s a sense of the pioneering spirit of these women, and a lasting glow of positivity and potential for all the women who will follow in their footsteps.
This article first appeared in the March 2026 issue of SALIFE magazine.
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