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Persistent progress
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What it means to be a feminine chief in mortgage is altering, and that change is lengthy overdue.
For years, success has been measured by a slim normal of lengthy hours, linear development, and singular ambition, says Justine McDonald, a franchise proprietor and finance specialist at Nectar Mortgages.
“We must rethink what management appears like. Let’s open the door to non-traditional paths, shared roles, versatile management fashions, and mentoring that meets ladies the place they’re at,” she explains. “We additionally want extra ladies talking at {industry} occasions, main technique, and designing the methods, not simply adapting to them.”
This name for change comes as eight years of Senior Executive Census information exhibits incremental progress has stalled and, in some circumstances, gender equality is sliding backwards for the first time since the pandemic.
According to the Senior Executive Census 2024: Keeping Score of a Losing Game report:
25 ladies had been CEOs in the ASX300 in 2024, versus 26 in 2023
9 out of 10 CEOs are nonetheless males
1 in 8 CEO appointments had been ladies, in contrast with 1 in 4 in 2023
7 in 10 government management roles stay held by males
27% of ASX300 corporations have gender-balanced management groups
8 in 10 CEO pipeline roles are held by me
These numbers matter, states WORK180’s What Women Want 2025 report, and girls are talking up about why. Ninety-five p.c report going through a minimum of one barrier at work, whereas simply over half (53%) imagine situations are bettering and their high precedence stays flexibility. In truth, 70% worth it greater than a top-tier wage. Pay transparency and sexual harassment insurance policies observe carefully behind as important elements for thriving at work.
Within mortgage broking, considerations about illustration are rising louder. In MPA’s newest three-year survey information, 91% of ladies in 2025 mentioned there’s a scarcity of feminine leaders to look as much as in the {industry}, up from 78% in 2024 and 61% in 2023.
This marked rise suggests the {industry} is shifting in the mistaken course on the subject of seen management. For ladies getting into or constructing careers in broking, the absence of relatable position fashions can reinforce self-doubt and make long-term development really feel out of attain.
Anja Pannek, CEO of the MFAA, says the {industry} nonetheless has work to do.
The MFAA carried out its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Survey in February 2024 to get members’ suggestions about their experiences and perceptions of DEI in the lead-up to the MFAA’s inaugural DEI Summit in May 2025.
The survey discovered that over 50% of respondents imagine gender boundaries nonetheless exist. They recognized the foremost boundaries as being:
unconscious beliefs about gender roles in the office
an {industry} tradition that’s not inclusive
lack of {industry} expertise
security considerations
lack of growth alternatives
“Unconscious bias can have an effect on office interactions, profession promotion and recruitment, whereas a non-inclusive tradition can have an effect on the retention of ladies brokers and discourage ladies from becoming a member of the {industry},” Pannek explains.
“Acknowledging and addressing these entrenched boundaries is necessary to make sure we are able to make actual progress, and this begins at the high, with our {industry} leaders.”
She provides that retention, not recruitment, is the place the actual problem lies.
“The retention of ladies in broking is a larger problem than recruitment,” Pannek says. “There’s a variety of steps that may be taken to bolster retention and to boost profession growth for girls.”
She additionally factors out that Australia remains to be trailing different main markets in feminine illustration.
The proportion of feminine brokers in Australia’s mortgage broking {industry} is barely decrease, at 26.8%, than it’s in the UK (30%) and the US (32.5%).
Female leaders forging a brand new path
The mortgage {industry} wasn’t constructed with ladies in thoughts, and plenty of are nonetheless discovering their place in it, McDonald says.
“Too usually, ladies carry the psychological load of each household and profession. Without sturdy help constructions, one thing ultimately provides,” she says. “That’s why neighborhood, teaching and permission to do enterprise their very own means matter a lot.”
Pannek says the {industry} should do extra to highlight the distinctive upsides of broking for girls.
“While ladies usually should juggle work, household and child-caring obligations, there are some incredible benefits of a profession in broking resembling the freedom of operating your personal enterprise, and the absence of a gender pay hole,” she says. “The {industry} wants to advertise these advantages.”
Inclusion alone isn’t sufficient for girls. McDonald says, “They need to be supported in a means that recognises their complete life, not simply their enterprise output. Policies that allow true flexibility, psychological well being help, management teaching and pathways for profession re-entry after a break are important.”
Culture counts simply as a lot as coverage, and girls thrive the place they really feel secure to guide as themselves.
The proportion of feminine brokers in Australia remained steady at 26.8% as of September 2024, however in actual phrases, extra ladies are getting into the discipline, though at a slower fee than males.
MFAA information exhibits a 5.6% year-on-year enhance in ladies becoming a member of the occupation. This progress occurred as the complete variety of brokers reached a document excessive of twenty-two,265, indicating that the rise in feminine participation is a part of a broader enlargement throughout the {industry}, with residential and business lending volumes at new peaks and mortgage brokers holding a 74.6% market share.
MPA’s 2025 Elite Women remind the {industry} of what it takes to maneuver issues ahead. This 12 months’s Top 50 feminine leaders had been chosen by way of a rigorous nomination and assessment course of. Each has achieved standout outcomes and pushed change by way of innovation, mentorship and management that’s serving to form a brand new period in mortgage broking.
“There are many extremely proficient ladies in the mortgage and finance broking {industry} attaining nice issues for themselves, their companies and their purchasers,” says Pannek. “An Elite Woman is somebody who exemplifies excellence in every little thing she does. She is devoted, passionate and extremely skilled in serving their clients, working with colleagues and {industry} companions.”
McDonald believes that feminine management shouldn’t be measured solely by income targets. Modern management should be about constructing a enterprise that displays private objective and brings others alongside.
“An Elite Woman measures success by whether or not her work provides her the life she needs,” McDonald says. “She uplifts others, builds secure areas for trustworthy conversations and is assured sufficient to ask totally different questions, beginning with, ‘Is this enterprise serving my life?’ as a substitute of ‘How can I hit that subsequent goal?’”
She provides, “At Nectar, we’re proud to have nearly double the {industry} common of feminine brokers,” she provides. “That didn’t occur by likelihood. It got here from altering the dialog, creating safer areas and serving to ladies construct companies that replicate the life they need, not simply the targets they’re informed to chase.”
Four pioneering ladies reshaping mortgage management
Christa Malkin didn’t got down to break boundaries however has finished so regardless, by constructing belief, delivering outcomes and incomes affect throughout lending, broking and now aggregation.
After coming back from maternity go away, Malkin joined AFG and took on management of its Strategic Partners program. From there, she stepped into the position of state supervisor for Victoria, then into the high aggregation submit – a sequence of deliberate strikes that widened her remit throughout the enterprise.
As Victoria state supervisor, she was one among 5 ladies operating AFG’s state-based groups, reshaping what management regarded like throughout the nation. “My alternative is a person, and he’s fabulous, nevertheless it was wonderful to have 5 ladies operating this key a part of the enterprise.”
Malkin doesn’t imagine in performative management. She leads by instance and expects her workforce to do the identical. She explains, “If you say you’re going to do one thing, do it. Lead with authenticity. Provide folks with a way of the place they’re going. If you’re not strolling the stroll your self, you may’t anticipate folks to observe.”
That strategy, she says, units the tone. “If we’re all doing that with our groups and it filters by way of the organisation, we create a tradition the place folks need to do the proper factor.”
Her expertise throughout numerous sectors has formed her management perspective. In addition to her work in banking and aggregation, she as soon as served as normal supervisor of a horse-racing coaching enterprise. The distinction confirmed her perception that management has much less to do with {industry} and extra to do with consistency.
Mentorship additionally runs by way of her work. She usually hears from ladies who hesitate to place their arms up for management roles.
“If a person ticks one field out of 5, he’ll go for it. If a lady doesn’t tick one out of 5, she received’t,” says Malkin. “We anticipate perfection from ourselves, and that holds us again.”
She reminds ladies that their strengths are sometimes what set them aside. “Generally talking, ladies are higher organised, extra more likely to observe by way of and produce empathy into every little thing they do,” she says. “That’s what purchasers need, somebody who communicates, who delivers, who’s throughout every little thing.”
Flexibility, she believes, needs to be non-negotiable, particularly for these elevating households. “If somebody wants to choose up their youngsters or go to a physician’s appointment, that’s simply a part of life,” she says. “It’s not about clocking hours. It’s about delivering. If the work isn’t getting finished, usually that’s a functionality situation, not a flexibility situation.”
One of AFG’s partnership managers, who’s returning after having her second baby, will begin again part-time earlier than regularly constructing as much as full-time hours. “It’s a no brainer. That type of transition issues,” says Malkin.
She believes folks do their finest work once they’re handled like people, not assets. “You’re going to crush folks in any other case. They’ll burn out, and also you’ll lose nice expertise.”
“Leading with readability and authenticity is one thing that I’ve finished no matter the position or the organisation, and it’s actually one thing that I feel my workforce appreciates. They at all times know the place they stand”
Christa MalkinAFG
Relationships had been the start line, and phrase of mouth has carried McGinty’s repute additional as she constructed her enterprise by placing folks first.
Her model is hands-on and private, staying near her purchasers and retaining the neighborhood at the coronary heart of every little thing. Under her management, Preston Point Capital has received back-to-back Better Business Awards for Best Community Engagement Program and been named a finalist for Best Customer Service for 2 consecutive years.
“My enterprise thrives on referrals and returning purchasers, a testomony to the belief and satisfaction I’ve constructed over time,” McGinty explains. “Specialising in the investor and SMSF house, I perceive the distinctive wants and aspirations of my purchasers.”
Alongside her brokerage work, McGinty performs a visual position in shaping the {industry}. A two-time finalist for Industry Thought Leader and a daily speaker at main occasions, together with a current on-stage interview at the Better Business Summit 2025 in Queensland, she brings an insider’s view formed by time spent with purchasers.
She additionally sees enterprise as a pressure for good. Through her advisory position with The Brewers Lunch, she has helped elevate over $460,000 for well being and neighborhood organisations throughout Queensland.
McGinty additionally brings sensible expertise to the desk, with an intensive understanding of rules and a targeted strategy to complicated monetary work. Progress issues to her, however so does how the job will get finished. That’s proven by how her workforce stays responsive, collaborates effectively and follows by way of with care.
Inclusion is a part of her day-to-day, and McGinty creates house for different voices, invitations trustworthy dialog and takes the time to hear. She asks the questions that transfer a workforce ahead and speaks up when it counts.
But what defines her most is how she builds others up. Whether she’s mentoring a colleague, guiding a shopper, upholding moral requirements or supporting an area trigger, McGinty helps others do the identical. Her focus stays on serving to purchasers and communities transfer ahead as these values and actions have made her a trusted chief and position mannequin.
“I imagine my affect stems from a constant dedication to excellence and impactful neighborhood engagement in the mortgage {industry},” she provides.
“We have the likelihood to redefine norms, encourage future generations and produce various views that finally profit purchasers and firms alike. By fostering supportive networks and advocating for inclusive practices, ladies can proceed to drive significant change and success”
Shelley McGintyPreston Point Capital
It’s no small job to reshape how one among the nation’s main aggregators approaches innovation and dealer help.
At Finsure, Dib has targeted on constructing instruments that brokers depend on, whereas strengthening the group’s international help mannequin. She additionally helped drive enlargement into Manila, opening the door to larger service capability for brokers in Australia and New Zealand.
“Real innovation is a course of with distinctive concepts that improve efficiencies or clear up new issues. People affiliate innovation with expertise, nevertheless it’s broader,” Dib explains.
“Anyone can carry concepts ahead. If you’re not innovating, you’re not being inclusive. True innovation doesn’t discriminate, it’s gender-agnostic, age-agnostic and culturally agnostic. A very inclusive course of.”
One of her lasting contributions is launching an industry-first scholarship program by way of Women in Finsure, designed to assist feminine brokers in Australia and New Zealand construct sustainable, resilient companies. Each scholarship, valued at over $15,000, consists of government teaching, tailor-made advertising and marketing and IT help, monetary literacy and one-on-one mentoring by way of the Finsure Broker Academy.
The early discomfort of feeling misplaced in a male-dominated {industry} drove Dib to determine the boundaries that stored ladies from getting into or staying in mortgage broking.
“I sat on it, awakened the subsequent day, and mentioned, ‘No, I’m going to be me’. At some stage, I’ll be so profitable that they’ll’t ignore me. Industry tradition might want to change, not me,” she says.
Determined to create lasting change, she collaborated with {industry} our bodies to determine subsidised charges, mentoring applications and sensible help, serving to ladies construct confidence and obtain success.
Her attain cuts throughout aggregation and into broader {industry} work. In 2015, Dib based The iWoman Project, a social enterprise targeted on monetary training and empowerment. It helps ladies construct monetary independence and make knowledgeable choices about their careers and futures by way of workshops and mentoring.
“I’m an enormous advocate for girls in our {industry}, nevertheless it has turn into extra private. For me, it’s about being a job mannequin for my 4 daughters and remembering that it counts even in my own residence,” she says.
“They’re all older now and in their very own careers however I see it in the means they function and realise each phrase and motion round them is moulding them.”
“Lead with compassion, stay courageously and imagine in your distinctive perspective. You’ve earned your seat. Embrace your successes and make house for different ladies”
Fatima DibFinsure
Spanning credit score restore, monetary training, and help for girls, Kerry Sainsbury’s success is predicated on mentoring and neighborhood partnerships.
Impact, Sainsbury says, is achieved by way of small wins, from clearing a default and repairing a credit score rating to a shopper lastly with the ability to transfer ahead.
As CEO of Credit Success, she’s helped 1000’s of Australians regain monetary management. Turning credit score restore into a way of offering second probabilities for purchasers going through monetary hardship is what underpins her dedication to serving to others.
Over the previous 12 months, Sainsbury has grown the firm’s dealer referral community by way of belief and training. That identical focus shapes her podcast, Wealthy and Wise with Kerry Sainsbury, which brings uncooked, real and present monetary conversations to the public, usually amplifying ladies’s voices in the course of.
“What retains me going is the ardour for training and making a distinction in purchasers’ lives,” she displays. “There’s not sufficient consciousness in phrases of credit score reporting, in Australia, in explicit. The credit score reporting system is evolving a lot, however there’s little consciousness until it comes from a monetary skilled like myself or a mortgage dealer.”
Clients usually come to her after being denied finance on account of surprising credit score points, and her workforce’s means to resolve the issues could be life-changing, restoring hope and monetary alternative.
“They come to us in such a state as a result of they’ve realised there’s no subsequent journey until we are able to repair it,” she says. “You’ve received to return from a non-judgemental place. When we’re capable of repair these points on account of errors or compassionate grounds, that’s a very nice story.”
Recognising the influence of psychological well being, Sainsbury maintains steadiness by way of each day walks along with her canine, and her Pilates workout routines, which alleviate the emotional weight of her work and spotlight the significance of self-care.
She has additionally strengthened her mentoring efforts, supporting ladies in enterprise possession and finance, whereas persevering with Credit Success’s partnership with Safe Haven Community, a charity that gives refuge to ladies and kids escaping home abuse.
What units Sainsbury aside is the means to attach with people on a private degree, notably when they’re feeling overwhelmed, caught or unheard. She acknowledges that issues can really feel chilly and transactional in the credit score and banking {industry}, however she and her workforce deal with empathy and belief.
“I actually hearken to folks, perceive their issues and continuously attempt to discover a answer to make issues higher, even when it’s arduous,” she says. “I’ve additionally discovered to belief myself. Balancing my profession, parenthood and caring for folks round me is just not at all times easy, however it’s what retains me grounded.”
“I’ve continued to guide with objective and coronary heart, advocating for purchasers who imagine they’ve struck a credit score wall and inspiring brokers round the nation to offer options which have a real influence”
Kerry SainsburyCredit Success
MPA’s Elite Women for 2025 are driving the {industry} ahead and remodeling the means management operates.
Together as a bunch, they’re:
Their work and requirements query the previous guidelines and make room for others to develop.
From the Sponsor
ANZ is proud to as soon as once more sponsor MPA’s Elite Women report, now in its fourth 12 months. This report shines a highlight on the exceptional ladies shaping the broking {industry}. The ladies honoured in the report are recognised for his or her dedication and experience in serving to Australians attain their homeownership or enterprise objectives, whether or not as brokers, aggregators or lender representatives.
These ladies characterize the power and variety of our {industry}, and we’re delighted to have fun their success in partnership with MPA. Acknowledging their achievements reinforces the worth of inclusive management and the optimistic influence it brings to clients and communities throughout the nation.
We stay dedicated to working higher along with brokers, aggregators and {industry} companions to advertise a tradition that’s inclusive, empowering and enriched by variety. Through sturdy collaboration and shared objective, we’re serving to to form a future that displays the communities we serve – a future pushed by innovation, illustration and alternative.
It’s a privilege to proceed supporting these excellent ladies and recognising the very important position they play in main our {industry} ahead.
Natalie Smith
General Manager
ANZ Retail Broker
Akeshni Gour
Treasurer
MA Money
Alana Baulch
Senior Finance Broker
SLA Funding (Simmons Livingstone & Associates)
Angela Tracey
Chief Marketing Officer
Loan Market
Anita Fung
Business Development Manager
People First Bank
Anita Marshall
Business Development Manager and Mentor
Vision Finance Collective
Anja Pannek
Chief Executive Officer
Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia
Ashleigh Pakis
Director
Panache Financial
Betty Lam
General Manager
MortgageWorks
Caitlin Bransgrove
Director and Mortgage Broker
Inspire Home Loans
Caroline Mundey
Founder/Lending Specialist
Tevey Loans
Cathy Anderson
Owner Manager
Mortgage Choice, Blackwood & Adelaide CBD
Eli Hayes
Owner Manager
Mortgage Choice, Albany
Emma Stephens
Director
SheInvests, Flint
Gail Roots
Mortgage Broker/Director
First Choice Home Loans Qld
Isabella “Izzy” Constantinou
Sales Director
Simplicity Loans & Advisory
Jennifer McLeod
Mortgage Broker
Jenga Finance
Jessie Spencer
Manager
Mason Finance Group
Justine McDonald
Finance Specialist
Nectar Mortgages (Honeycomb Finance Group)
Katherine Persoglia
Founder and Mortgage Broker
The Brokers’ Bible
Katrina Rowlands
Chief Executive Officer
Mortgage Success
Kylie Quenon
Principal
Go Mortgage
Madeleine Dart
National Brand Manager
outsource Financial
Melissa Gielnik
Managing Director
Smart Lending
Mhairi MacLeod
Founder/Principal
Astute Ability Finance Group
Michelle Bannister
Senior Executive, Head of Distribution
La Trobe Financial
Nicole Fox
Director/Owner
Fox & Co. Finance
Nicole Kennedy
Director/Finance Specialist
Verity Finance Group
Nina Batt
Head of Residential
BCP Finance
Rebekah Sander
State Operation Managers
The Australian Lending & Investment Centre
Renee Dewar
Broker Success Manager
Loan Market
Rhianna Farnan
Director and COO
Derwent Finance
Sara Shome
Mortgage Broker
Positive Money
Sarah Farrugia
Finance Broker
SAF Finance
Sarah Willsallen
Head of Broker Distribution
Westpac Group
Sinoma Gilbert
Commercial Banker
ANZ
Suzi Trajanovski
National Director of Growth
LMG
Tanya Sale
CEO, Owner and Founder
outsource Financial
Veena Rughoonundun (R-Byrne)
Finance Broker
Lifestyle V Finance
Zorica Grubic
Partnership Manager
Connective Financial Services
