The ability to connect people for the win

For Marnie McLaren, a keen rugby supporter and player welfare advocate, it’s all about connecting people.

Nominated for her transparency and integrity in an industry constantly challenged by regulatory changes, she said that throughout her career she had been lucky to work with incredible, clever individuals. 

“I think probably my greatest skill is my ability to connect people,” she said. “I get an enormous amount of satisfaction from the work that I do and to have exposure to people that I would not otherwise be exposed to. People who are incredibly smart. I am very fortunate to have a team of incredibly clever individuals who are very different to each other.”

McLaren has also been recognised for her charity work which included helping to establish the first charity within the financial services industry in Sydney and encouraging her banking peers to give back to the community.

“I guess from my perspective too it’s not just about money – one of the most important things that we do for our charities is help them professionalise, to raise profile in the corporate environment,” she said.

In recent times, McLaren also helped to establish the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) Sydney Chapter to promote their work and raise funds for research into the long-term impacts of concussions on the brain.

“I’m incredibly proud to be associated with this incredible team who do critical research on the brain. Whilst my passion lies in concussion studies they also do ground breaking work in the study of dementia, stroke and depression amongst many others,” she said.

She stressed that QBI was running its second annual concussion campaign over the coming months, aimed at shifting people’s perceptions and changing the stigma around concussion.

Accompanying McLaren in this category were finalists, Anne Graham, chief executive and principal at Story Wealth Management, and Lea Schodel, who is founder and chief executive of Wellthy.

Graham won the Industry Advocacy award this year.