Episode 5 | Finance Chief Podcast: Rest's Karen Tan on Strategic Transformation

In this episode of the Finance Chief Podcast, host Ella Wilkinson invites Karen Tan, General Manager of Strategic Procurement and Workplace at Rest, to share her journey of transforming procurement in financial services from the ground up. Growing up across Malaysia and Hong Kong before moving to Sydney, Karen brings a uniquely diverse and adaptable perspective to her leadership style. She discusses navigating her unconventional path from a background in mathematics and literature to a varied corporate banking career, eventually taking on the monumental "greenfields" challenge of establishing Rest’s first-ever procurement and governance framework. Karen reveals her practical strategies for chunking down the overwhelming scale of managing funds for over two million members, emphasising the critical value of leveraging professional networks and embracing vulnerability by asking for help. Moving beyond traditional cost-cutting metrics, she explains how modern successful procurement must pivot toward long-term portfolio resilience, ESG sustainability principles, and strong corporate citizenship. Listeners will gain valuable insights into entering high-stakes commercial negotiations with transparency, navigating organizational change, and viewing procurement as a collaborative, global financial lever.