1. How has your association FINSIA contributed to your development over your career?
FINSIA had provided invaluable opportunities for education, growing my network and developing professional skills to advance my career. As FINSIA is multidisciplinary and has members from different stages in their careers, it provides a unique opportunity to finance professionals.
2. Tell us about your career to date?
I’ve been in banking most of my career, starting as a graduate at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, where I am currently a manager in our portfolio funding team. I have some previous experience in financial planning and wealth management too.
3. We've read your title, now tell us how you would describe what you ACTUALLY do to a friend at a BBQ?
I work in a part of the bank that provides large scale funding to other businesses who lend money out to the general public.
4. What are your most pressing challenges in 2023?
I feel like the world is reawakening from the lethargy of COVID in 2023, with many businesses changing their strategy and composition. Many social events are recommencing, and it seems as if life has been breathed back into our industry. The biggest challenge would be readjusting to a post-COVID way of working, and managing the shifting priorities and time commitments that comes along with that.
5. What led you to pursue your career path in the first place and can you remember where and when the lightbulb came on?
I’ve always had a knack for numbers, which naturally led me to a commerce degree. After graduating from university, I was fortunate to land in a graduate position at Bendigo Bank which includes rotating through different departments. This opportunity afforded me exposure to a wide range of roles. It was when I was rotating through my current department that I experienced what it is like to be challenged in your work while growing and feeling like you are contributing to something outside of yourself. It was that ‘rotation’ that allowed the lightbulb to go off.
6. What is the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?
It is rarely the job that makes or breaks you, but rather the people you work with.
7. In hindsight, what is the one thing you would have done differently in getting to where you are now?
Maybe have a wider mindset when approaching finance. It is a very diverse industry that can take you anywhere. The ladder is not only up. From school to university to work, there is usually an expectation that you should know exactly what you want to do, and will stay in that position, but in this day and age adaptability and change is part of the new ‘career path’.
8. Who is your most influential or inspirational professional influence and why?
It is hard picking only one person. A top candidate is likely Julie Bishop. She has had such an interesting career, and the way she has approached it and tackled every opportunity with confidence and tenacity is very inspiring.
9. What do enjoy doing outside of work?
I am an avid reader, and mediocre gardener. So that is what I am working on improving at the moment – improving the latter.
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