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Audette Exel AO (born 14 January 1963) is a New Zealand businesswomen, philanthropist and social activist. She is the founder of the Adara Group: a partnership between international development organisation Adara Development (formerly the ISIS Foundation) and two corporate advisory businesses, Adara Advisors (formerly ISIS Asia Pacific) and Adara Partners (Australia).

The Adara Group
In 1997, after years in business, Exel along with fellow Linklater alumnus Sharon Beesley and a small group of supporters decided to establish the Adara Group (then the ISIS Foundation).

The Adara Group is made up of two Australian corporate advisory businesses, Adara Advisors Pty Limited and Adara Partners (Australia) Pty Limited, and an international development organisation, Adara Development. It is one of the earliest examples of 'business for purpose' - completely embedded private-sector and non-profit partnerships. The key objective of the Adara businesses is to fund the core support and emergency project costs of Adara Development, allowing 100% of all other donations received to go directly to Adara Development's project sites in Uganda and Nepal. Exel is the chief executive officer of Adara Advisors and Adara Partners (Australia).

Adara Development is focused on improving health and education for women, children and communities living in poverty. They are experts in maternal, neonatal and child health, and remote and rural community development, working in very remote and rural settings. Exel is the current chair of Adara Development. As of December 2016, Adara Advisors and Adara Partners had donated more than AU$10.6 million to Adara Development.

Business Career
Prior to forming Adara, after completing a Bachelor of Arts at Victoria University of Wellington and an LLB at Melbourne University, Exel worked as a lawyer specialising in international finance. She began her career with Allen, Allen and Hemsley in Sydney, Australia from 1985 to 1986, before joining the English firm of Linklaters & Paines in their Hong Kong office from 1987 to 1990. From 1992 to 1993 she was head of banking at Bermudan business law firm Milligan, Whyte & Smith. Exel is called to the Bars of New South Wales, Australia, England and Wales, and Bermuda.

Between 1993 and 1996, Exel was managing director of Bermuda Commercial Bank, one of Bermuda’s three banks. She is one of the youngest women in the world to have run a publicly-traded bank. During 1995 and 1996, Exel was chairman of the Bermuda Stock Exchange. From 1999 to 2005, she was on the board of the Bermuda Monetary Authority, Bermuda’s central financial services regulator, and was chair of its Investment Committee.

Exel is a non-executive director of Suncorp Group Limited, an ASX 20 company. For 18 years (until 2017) Exel was the vice chairman of the board of Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association Trustee (Bermuda) Limited, one of the world’s largest protection and indemnity clubs for the shipping industry.

Honours
In 1995, for her work with the Adara Group, Exel was elected a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum. She was the recipient of the Economic Justice and Community Impact Award from the Young President's Organization Social Enterprise Networks in 2010. In 2012, Exel won the Telstra 2012 NSW Commonwealth Bank Business Owner Award, and was the winner of the 2012 NSW Telstra Business Woman of the Year Award. She is also one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence in Australia in 2012. In 2013, Exel was awarded an honorary Order of Australia for “service to humanity through the establishment of the Adara Group to provide specialist care to women and children in Uganda and Nepal” and was recognised by Forbes as a "Hero of Philanthropy" in 2014. In 2015, Exel was inducted into the Australian Businesswomen’s Hall of Fame and was a recipient of a World Class New Zealander Award. Exel was named Australia’s 2016 ‘Leading Philanthropist’ by Philanthropy Australia. Most recently, in 2017, Exel was admitted to the New Zealand Hall of Fame for Women Entrepreneurs.