The CFO, according to Gina, is much more than a number person, and needs to take care of oneself and empower people beyond the finance team.

An advocate for looking after yourself, Gina shared her career journey and advice on how female finance professionals could reach the CFO position.

FutureCFO: Can you share with me your finance career journey? When did you start to become interested in finance?

Gina McNamara (GM): I grew up in a country town in Queensland, Australia. While in school, I always enjoyed accounting, but I was actually more into sports and dancing.

During high school, I really liked numbers. I did an internship when I was quite young, spending lots of time learning in a public practice.

In my early 20s, I joined Lexmark. While working my way up, I happened to follow a CFO that I found very inspiring to a company called Business Objects, which was then bought by Â鶹ԭ´´ in 2008.

That was how I came into Â鶹ԭ´´. While working my way through finance, I increasingly noticed and aimed for the CFO role. I just wanted to learn as much as I could and see if I could get into that role.

I had a lot of encouragement from Richard McLean, Regional CFO, Â鶹ԭ´´ Asia Pacific Japan — I reported to him and I still do today. I’ve been the Â鶹ԭ´´ ANZ CFO since 2015, and I hugely enjoy it.

FutureCFO: what are your responsibilities as the CFO?

GM: My responsibilities are wide and varied. I partner with the executive leadership team on our strategy which is all encompassing — how the business is running, setting it up for success, our diversity inclusion strategy and making sure that we’re heading towards Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s global aspiration of 30% female leadership by 2022, and a regional goal of 40% by 2025.

I’m also the executive sponsor of the ANZ Business Women’s Network, which is Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s largest employee-driven network with more than 13,000 members and more than 60 chapters around the world. The network offers women at Â鶹ԭ´´ the opportunity to share professional insights and best practice, and help one another develop skills to advance their careers.

In addition, I lead Â鶹ԭ´´ ANZ’s Business Continuity Team. During the pandemic, I’ve been focused on decisions related to employee safety and mental wellness, as well as office reopening logistics and COVID safety procedures.

Besides number and compliance, I’m also in a not so typical role — heading up the sustainability committee where we make sure that we roll out all Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s global green initiatives across our ANZ offices. I’m passionate about sustainability and Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s recent Climate21 initiative, which helps our customers measure their carbon emissions.

FutureCFO: Are there any specific values that you believe will help empower people who work with you?

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Amidst the fast-evolving global conditions, all of us at Â鶹ԭ´´ are focused on the health and wellbeing of our families, communities, colleagues, customers, partners and the many who make up Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s vibrant ecosystem. As we seek to take all necessary steps to keep our people safe and best support our customers, I want to provide you with information on our approach to reducing the spread of COVID-19, and how we will continue to support you during this unprecedented time.

Guidance to our Employees

As of this week, all of our employees who work in an Â鶹ԭ´´ office in Australia and New Zealand are working from home until further notice. We have also made the decision to reassess all business-related domestic travel, which will be reviewed in line with government guidelines and individual business-critical customer requirements.

I want to assure you that Â鶹ԭ´´ is absolutely here for you and your business, shifting ourselves to being primarily a digital team.

Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s own continuity plans have been enacted globally and locally to respond to the COVID-19 situation and provide guidance to our people. Changes to our travel and remote working policies have been in place since 27 February 2020, and have included the amplified enablement and utilisation of tools and technologies to deliver work remotely and without disruption.

Â鶹ԭ´´ understands that your business operations are further impacted by the advice being provided by our Governments. Our people, with the support of my management team, will work with our customers to reassess working arrangements to minimise disruption to delivery and ensure continuity.

Our Support to You

Leaders across our business are engaged in heightened levels of business continuity planning to ensure the security of your business.

Our teams have developed and documented Business Continuity Plans to respond to disruptive incidents, such as COVID-19, whilst aiming to safeguard the health of our employees and minimise the impact on the delivery of services to you.

Â鶹ԭ´´ infrastructure and cloud operations teams have also put measures in place for all Â鶹ԭ´´-owned and co-located data centres. You can find more information and real-time updates on our business continuity measures, here: Â鶹ԭ´´ Letter to Customers Regarding Business Continuity. And globally, Â鶹ԭ´´ has launched a series of free tools to support our customers and communities as we partner through this disruption.

Your Â鶹ԭ´´ team will reach out to discuss your needs and the specific considerations relating to current engagements. Please let us know if there is additional support we might be able to provide, as well as if our people should be aware of any requirements you have put in place for your organisation.

For more than 30 years Â鶹ԭ´´ has had the privilege of serving our customers here in Australia and New Zealand. We remain committed as ever to our partnership with you, and if there is anything further we can do to support you through these fast-moving and variable times, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Our thoughts are with those affected personally by the COVID-19 situation, as well as the many communities around the world facing extreme measures in the attempt to curb the spread.

I wish you, all in your organisation, your family and community, all the very best at this time.

Your sincerely,

Damien Bueno

President and Managing Director
Â鶹ԭ´´ Australia and New Zealand

The post Â鶹ԭ´´ Letter to our Australian and New Zealand Ecosystem appeared first on Â鶹ԭ´´ Australia & New Zealand News Center.