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Women In Super – Breakfast Speech
INTRODUCTION
Good Morning,
“Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that
can be counted counts”. I wish I could take credit for this quote but
it’s attributed to Albert Einstein. I like it because it reminds us to
sometimes trust things that abide outside the boundaries of the
rational, logical, analytical, scientific mind and to remember to keep
perspective when trying to quantify or measure something that
would best be left alone…and it also helps to frame my talk for you
today.
I’ve been asked to share my story with you and lend insights from
the financial services industry extending to my experience as a
board director in the superannuation industry.
I’d like to start off by giving you a bit of background, emphasizing the
importance of Financial Literacy - particularly when it comes to
money, investments and retirement - then to expand on these
experiences and tell you more about where I am today.
BACKGROUND
First, a quick overview: After obtaining my dual degree in
Economics and Mathematics, and a vigorous interview process, I
started my career on wall street with Merrill Lynch, one of what was
known as the bulge bracket investment banks in New York - then
worked in international finance there before being promoted to Debt
Capital Markets in London after a few years. After a number of
successful years in London, I moved with Merrill Lynch to join a

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strategy team integrating a newly acquired retail banking business
for Merrill Lynch Tokyo then was transferred by the firm to Hong
Kong before being approached by Goldman Sachs to help set up
their Asian hedge fund business out of Hong Kong. I worked with
Goldman Sachs on this very engaging business for a number of
years - with my goals constantly moving forward - before the call to
Australia became strong for our family and I made the decision to
migrate to Melbourne, a place I find to be one of the world’s most
livable cities, with my husband and two daughters. Since arriving
four years ago, I’ve carefully evaluated my skill set and personal
profile whilst being guided by friends and networks to consider roles
as a non-executive director. I’ve since become involved with two
wonderful not-for-profit boards and was appointed to the board of
Emergency Services and State Super in May 2013. ESSSuper had
identified a requirement to add investment skills to their board, so
I’ve joined the investment committee and audit and risk committees
as an independent director. It’s been a real thrill to add value with
this fantastic organization.
THE CURVE BALLS EXPLAINED
I hope this background helps to set the scene regarding Financial
Literacy, which I’ll get back to in a moment. But first, I’ll touch on
some of the events which brought me to where I am today - the
curve balls - or in other words, when making a plan, always expect
the unexpected.
At each stage in my life, I’ve tried to analyze what’s working, what’s
not and getting on to some sort of trajectory that I could logically
translate into ‘success’. It’s taken me a lifetime of successes - and
failures - to learn that life isn’t linear, but rather, that goal setting and

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working with purpose often leads to opportunities you may not have
previously been aware of. These I will categories as ‘challenges’.
This takes me to the curve balls, and I can remember three distinct
ones. Meeting and marrying my Australian husband, becoming a
mother, and having a child with a disability.
My life as a single woman in investment banking was cruising along
nicely, even though my parents were a bit worried I was
approaching my marital use-by date (coming from a very traditional
French family) but otherwise I was very focused on my career - as
many women of my generation were supported in doing. After
meeting my future Australian husband and getting engaged in
London, I was faced with a decision. After our engagement my
husband was offered a role in Hong Kong. Would I stay and
continue to work in London where I had a good career path and was
near my family in France, or start my married life together with my
husband in Asia? I decided to create a third option, finding a
compromise that allowed me to pursue my career in Asia. I
achieved this by asking my firm for a transfer to Hong Kong. As luck
would have it, Merrill Lynch had just purchased a Japanese retail
bank and when they learned I was looking for opportunities in Asia,
asked me to work on their strategic integration team for the new
office – but this was based in Tokyo. After getting over my mother
telling me off for being selfish in putting my career over my
impending marriage, I moved to Tokyo for what I saw as a great
opportunity to see another side of banking – mergers and
acquisitions. I did well in Tokyo and, after my wedding in the
summer of 1998, was rewarded with a transfer to Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, upon arriving in the Hong Kong office, I found an

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awkward reception as the only Caucasian woman on the trading
floor, with a firm in the process of retrenching 5% of its global
workforce in the 3rd
quarter of that year. While my oversees
management was supportive, the culture in Asia was different, and I
wasn’t thriving. It was at this point that I was approached by
Goldman Sachs, which was setting up a new business in Hong
Kong catering to Asian Hedge Funds.
So I faced another decision. Would I really leave the firm that had
hired me out of university and trained me extremely well? Loyalty to
my first employer was tested, and after doing some soul searching
and consulting with my husband, I decided to go for the new role. It
wasn’t easy but it turned out to be one of my best career decisions,
to join Goldman Sachs. Things were again going along well, Asia
was booming, my skills were relevant, valued and I had fantastic
colleagues. It was with Goldman Sachs that I really stretched my
wings.
Here was an organization that operated effectively in Asia, with
great people, a wonderful working culture and lots of opportunities to
grow. I was able to apply all the valuation strategies I’d learned
across traditional debt and equity, extend these to options, currency
hedging, commodities trading and other alternative asset classes
while working with dynamic and demanding clients. I was promoted
then had my sights on becoming a Managing Director when I got hit
with my next curve ball, motherhood, which led to the discussion of
whether to raise a family in Australia. I happily returned to work in
Hong Kong from maternity leave with the exception of spending my
daughter’s first Christmas Day on a skeletal trading desk (because
markets were open in Tokyo). Several months later, my husband

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was offered a role near his family, back in Melbourne. All marriages
are a partnership and I’d been visiting Australia regularly since my
engagement. So, when our first daughter was almost one, I made
the difficult decision to resign from Goldman Sachs, we bought a
home in Melbourne, and moved to settle in Australia. A few months
later, I was offered a good role with UBS in Australia, just at the time
when I learned I was pregnant with my second child and my
husband’s firm recalled him back to Hong Kong. So, I decided it
would be best to wait and go back to work in Hong Kong after I gave
birth to our second daughter. During this time, I realized that my
beautiful first daughter wasn’t speaking clearly or using language in
line with her peers. I don’t want to get too emotional about this but
for the first time in my life, no matter how hard I tried, I was
encountered with a problem I couldn’t solve or mitigate. I spent the
best part of the next two years in Hong Kong looking for answers,
which finally came in the form of a diagnosis of hearing loss from the
Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, and assistance through the
prescription of hearing aids and a number of targeted therapies. I’m
immensely grateful to Australian Medical Research and Healthcare,
and to all those who helped us address our daughter’s challenges.
FINANCIAL LITERACY
So, lets come back to financial literacy, as the next part of my story
involved joining HSBC in Hong Kong to help a commercial bank
build their equities business and demystify investment banking
concepts around market dynamics. Investment Banking and Capital
Markets. Why all the financial jargon regarding fundamental
concepts of compound interest, how to price and value various
assets, the dynamics of indices, global markets and different
exchanges? Because of the strong foundations I’d built along my

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journey in investment banking, with a focus on Capital Markets I
know the fundamentals: accounting, the difference between debt
and equity, asset valuation and how markets operate. Through the
Merrill Lynch training program in New York, I had been exposed to
most asset class trading desks and got a crash course overview to
understand what we know as the world of investment banking.
What I didn’t fully appreciate at the time was that what I learned
during that initial induction would underpin everything I know
professionally today. From my role with Debt Capital Markets out of
the UK, covering several markets in Europe, Scandinavia, and
Israel, I learned how to help finance corporate balance sheets by
raising debt and working closely with other internal groups to help
optimize our client’s financial profiles across a range of industries.
What I also found is that financial literacy, like many forms of
knowledge, is relative. We’ve all heard business is not personal but
how you embrace knowledge is personal. I can tell you a number of
stories about situations where people use financial jargon to
substitute or provide the illusion of understanding complex market
dynamics. I have also worked with a number of brilliant
mathematical thinkers who struggle with articulating their work in a
simple, digestible way for their peers to work effectively with them.
One of my key strengths has been the ability to translate technical
information into digestible language across many audiences. This
skill has been intrinsic in my successful transition to board roles,
particularly in superannuation.
I’m now going to touch on the importance of financial literacy with
stakeholder engagement, particularly the need to respect diverse
perspectives. Part of each of my transitions involved a migration

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into a local culture and awareness to understand and incorporate
the local and contemporary financial jargon being used. Different
investment vehicles including mutual funds, open-ended funds,
closed end-funds, Exchange Traded Funds - commonly known as
(ETFs), Real Estate Investment Trusts – commonly known as
REITs, Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Venture Capital – these
are all different models of pooling investments to fit a particular
investment strategy in a particular asset class. Basket trades,
program trading, portfolio trading, algorithmic trading and the dark
and elusive black pools/high frequency trading are all different
aspects to large volume trading. Again, my knowledge in these
areas this was built up from my foundation in finance. Now, we’re
hearing all about smart beta, currency overlays and investing in
illiquid alternatives such as infrastructure. I would argue that this
jargon is once again an extension of fundamental market concepts.
It’s important to me that I engage with multiple stakeholders to
ensure our mutual financial literacy and respect of perspectives is
the cornerstone of good communication. Therefore, working and
communicating well with the Chairman, CEO, executive
management and our members is of vital importance when
considering a board role.
CLOSING
I am now applying this wealth of international investment and market
experience in a sector that I feel particularly passionate about -
Superannuation.
All the knowledge I have gathered and continue to obtain is applied
in helping contribute to the sector, and individual retirement
outcomes. Ensuring our members can live comfortably through

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retirement, advising on prudent investment, analysis of risks and
constantly moving parts all combine into a recipe for the
safeguarding and growth of a working life of savings. And we can’t
forget that there is a human dynamic to individual investment
choices for retirement savings. From my experiences thus far, I’ve
learned a few things along the way about wealth management,
financial planning, good governance, respecting different cultures,
human nature and working collaboratively with others.
A lot of the reasons for my decisions have been personal, but - while
sometimes difficult - I don’t regret any of them.
All of this ties in with my initial premise of the importance of financial
literacy, which is enhanced by my flexibility and ingenuity in dealing
with the inevitable occasional curveballs that life throws at you. I’d
now be happy to discuss any of this further with you, please feel free
to ask me any questions. Thank you.