Success Stories by The Constant Investor

Mary Jo Capps by The Constant Investor

Lisa Ray Hennessy is a Harvard MBA and strategist with a love for start up’s. The American born and educated Director of investment advisory firm Hennessy a’Beckett and McCrae has carved out an impressive career here in Australia with a varied portfolio of businesses she’s built, invested in or collaborated with.   Co-author of a case study used in the course “Running and Growing a Small Business” at Harvard Business School, Lisa has a keen interest in start up’s run by women and she co-led a $1.25 million investment in Australian software company Switch Automation with Scale, a female focused investor network.

Diversity and collaboration. These two words are high on the agenda for one of Australia’s leading women in tech, Sarah Adam-Gedge, Managing Director of Avanade Australia. Her passionate message is clear: a career in tech is for anyone, regardless of gender or background. Sarah is this week's Success Story. She’s championed a workplace culture embracing difference through Avanade Australia’s award winning diversity program. Sarah tells Catherine about how embracing diversity helped her to build a stand out career and organisation.

Can you imagine ensuring 40,000 employees receive their pay on time? Well, for Yolande Foord,  Executive Director of Remuneration & Benefits a Division of Human Resources at Telstra, she and her team of lawyers, psychologists and math experts do just that.  Yolande is this week's Success Story. Yolande grew up in South Africa and used international opportunities to move her career forward. She dreamed of being a lawyer but a setback at an early stage changed her career trajectory and helped her learn to fight for fairness.

"Pack your bags, you are going to Antarctica",  that was the response Rachael Robertson received after responding to a newspaper ad. This is where she led a team for one year, six months in complete darkness. Rachael is this week's Success Stories guest. While living with the same group for one year, Rachael learned in a short time what type of leader she was. Rachael is now an author and a popular public speaker. She ended the Antarctic 'bacon wars' that could have gotten out of greasy hand.

As one of six children, Sally Bruce, never worried about hierarchy, something she credits as part of her current success. And what a rise it has been- Sally is currently Group Executive at AMP. She joins Catherine in this week's Success Stories podcast. As a leader, Sally is known for her willingness to let her teams work flexibly and fostering an inclusive spirit. She begins her work day at 5 am to ensure she can maximise time with her young daughters and she shares with Catherine how her husband's cancer diagnosis was a "clarifying" experience.

Lisa Gray, CEO of Victorian Funds Management Corporation, leveraged her background and skills in town planning to move to a career in financial services. Lisa joins Catherine for a chat about making this change and the learning curve associated with this transition. Lisa also shares her morning routine, her ability to disconnect on holiday and the importance of developing leadership skills early in your career.