Generous spirit sees Havers shine

Pro Bono: Award: Kathy Havers, Catalyst FG

A strong community spirit and a passion for helping others has been a core driver for the nominees in the Pro Bono category.

The award was won by Catalyst FG founder and senior financial planner, Kathy Havers, who has built her business around helping families with a child who has a disability and also working with the indigenous community.

“I have an autistic son¨ and part of our business focus has been helping families with disabilities,” she said.

“I do a lot of speaking about financial planning and strategies to actually help families like my own.”

Alongside helping families manage the financial challenges of supporting a child with a disability, Havers is also a trustee of the Kindred Spirits Foundation which works with community organisations across Australia to support projects including education and health in local communities including the La Trobe Valley and urban and remote indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.

Again, Havers financial skills are at the heart of her role with the foundation, highlighted by a recent workshop she was involved in with an indigenous community in the Northern Territory, where she helped Aboriginal people develop business plans to create employment opportunities.

“As a parent of a child with a disability¨ giving everyone something worthwhile to do is really one of the most important things in life, if not the most important things regardless of what that is,” she said.

“I feel quite passionate about using the skills and knowledge that I’ve got to benefit other people.”

Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s customer understanding national manager, Lyn Heaysman, and Bendigo Financial Planning, financial planner, Adrienne Rush were named as runners-up in the category.

The judges commended Lyn, for her “very strong community spirit”, while Adrienne’s work with Think Pink was central to her being named as a finalist in the Pro Bono category.