Katie Page, CEO and executive director of Harvey Norman is a trailblazer in more than one sense of the word. Speaking in conversation with News Corp’s managing director of client partnerships, Lou Barrett, the storied business leader gave the Cairns Crocodiles, presented by Pinterest, a tantalising glimpse into her world of business success and empowerment of women.
Page spoke of how women were “invisible” across Australian sports and took it upon herself – using the power of the Harvey Norman brand (and its not inconsiderable media budget) to illuminate them for all of society to see.
“Around 1996… our company wasn’t into sport. We’d have some spots on TV etc. but not into sport. It was our staff and our customers that came to us at Harvey Norman and wanted us to save rugby league. This wasn’t on my radar, [but] that year, they’d lost their sponsor for the Grand Final and the Finals Series and then State of Origin. It was our customers and staff that led us into sport,” Page explained.
Such was the level of investment from Harvey Norman, Page was invited to join the NRL’s board as it “had problems with one of the teams” and it needed a female presence to help rectify the issue. In fact, the NRL was the first major sporting board to appoint a woman. But she was not there to make up the numbers.
“I sat on that board for 12 months, just getting the lay of the land because the first thing you do is make sure that you’re not a token woman. Some are happy with that, I’m not. Secondly, [work out] what can you do to affect change? So 12 months later, after having a look at the game, I realised the women were invisible,” she said.
“Now remember, 50 per cent of the fans are female. They’re the consumers of media. They’re bringing the kids through. They are there but they’re invisible to the game. So I started Women in League.”
Now an established fixture of the NRL calendar, the Harvey Norman Women in League round has helped to elevate the women that keep the sport running – the most recent of which ran last weekend. Page would prove to be a trailblazer, with the AFL appointing Sam Mostyn to its board in 2005 and helping to establish the code’s Respect and Responsibility Policy. Sam Mostyn is currently the Governor-General.
The NRLW has also grown astronomically over the last few years. After being first introduced in 2018, the competition has grown from just four teams to 12 in 2025. Harvey Norman has served as a major sponsor for the competition since its inception.
The effect of Page’s leadership 20 years ago are still being felt. Earlier this year, the Jillaroos played England’s Lionesses, a team that was founded in just 2007, in Las Vegas in March. The Lionesses took a 4-90 defeat.
“That game shouldn’t have happened. The Jillaroos were fantastic but you could see there was no investment in those girls in the UK over that period of time. That shows you how advanced we are here,” said Page.
Racing is another big passion of Page’s. She co-owns the Magic Millions Horse Auctions and Sales and race with her husband, Gerry Harvey. It offers an $500,000 in prize money to the first four all-female owned or leased horses in finishing order in The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions 2YO Classic, in addition to race prize money of now $3 million. Again, this initiative served to highlight how women were “invisible” in the industry, save for in the stands and queuing at the bookies.
She pioneered the launch of the Harvey Norman Scholarship Program and, last year, pumped nearly $8m million into to Western Sydney University to launch a decade-long leadership program through Auburn Girls High School to empower the next generation of female leaders. Given Harvey Norman itself was born in Western Sydney, it’s a point close to Page’s heart.
“Our first was Auburn. We’ve always been Western Sydney. That is our DNA. We know it better than anyone. We invest back into Western Sydney. It’s the best thing for Gerry and I that we’re in eight countries and we maintain our office in Western Sydney. You can do it from such a small start,” she said.
“I wanted to give back but, again, it was about girls and the disadvantaged. Those girls and women come from all sorts of backgrounds. There are refugees, young ones whose families haven’t worked in three generations, some that have been brought here for prostitution. There are some girls living in cars because they can’t afford to go to university. We’ve [put] hundreds through [the Harvey Norman Scholarship Program] now and I do it all personally.”
The common theme running through all of this, however, is Page’s dedication to work and moving with the times.
She’s taken Harvey Norman from the days of the dot com boom to generative AI-enabled computers and liaising with the likes of Nvidia, Qualcomm and ARM to chat chips one day to working with the Country Women’s Association the next.
All of these meetings have a personal touch, regardless of whether they’re in Poland or Port Macquarie, Page will be there in person. It’s something we could all endeavour to emulate, given there’ll likely never be another page herself.
