Change in career plan pays off for Tregonning

If not for a decision by The West Australian to not take any female cadets in the year she chose to apply for work, Anne Tregonning may have ended up as a journalist.

Instead she took an entirely different course and now, with a background in auditing and banking, Ms Tregonning has returned to Perth after travelling for a year to pursue a career as a professional director.

She now has two paid board positions, with Retail Energy Market Company Limited (REMCo), and Alocit Group Limited (which is looking to list later this year), and two non-paid not for profit positions, with Musica Viva Australia and Anglicare WA Inc.

One more paid board position, ideally with a financial services provider, would be the “perfect balance”, according to Ms Tregonning.

“I was really keen to do something pro bono as well as paid positions,” she told WA Business News.

“For the first few months I was back from travelling I did a lot of networking, calling senior directors and asking about opportunities, and from that, two paying directorships came.

“In both cases I knew the chairman or the person who resigned from the board – I guess the lesson is that while head-hunters are doing a lot of recruitment for boards, they are also doing a lot of looking themselves, and it does matter who you know.  Networking is very important.

“Having people on boards who have a diversity of experience and skills, and a mutual respect for each other, can generate fantastic debate and discussion; always dealing with like-minded people doesn’t achieve the best outcome.”

Ms Tregonning’s move to become a professional director comes after an executive career which took her through BankWest, Sealcorp Holdings (now Asgard Wealth Solutions Limited), and St George Bank.

“Sealcorp really pioneered the concept of the master trust, and were a rapidly growing small company that needed better disciplines and procedures at the time I was brought on. I was recruited to help with that transition,” she said.

“The first four years I was there, profits doubled every year and it was a really exciting time.”

Sealcorp was later sold to St George Bank, and the business was folded into St George’s banking structure, with Ms Tregonning taking on the role of general manager of finance and risk in the wealth management division.

“When I joined Sealcorp the business was growing rapidly, but by the time it became part of St George my role was more about stability and keeping things on track, which was not as much fun,” she said.

“It got to the point where I was not really enjoying work and I had always wanted to properly travel, so I did.”

Ms Tregonning said being a woman had provided some obstacles in the early years of her career.

“You had to be twice as good to get half the opportunities,” she said.

“In many ways nothing has changed – there is a comfort zone that sees people recruiting in their own mould.

“A style of leadership that has dominated is aggressive and directive, and many women don’t adopt that.

“Just because there is talk of diversity doesn’t mean that it happens; there is this relentless focus on the bottom line and companies are constantly demanding more from people, and that doesn’t make it friendly for family environments.”

Ms Tregonning said that while no-one wanted token gestures with regard to the shortage of women at senior executive and board level, a carrot and stick approach was needed to instigate change.

•           Left her role as general manager of finance and risk in St George Bank’s wealth management division at the start of 2004 to travel overseas for a year.

•           Has pursued a career as a professional director, securing paid board positions with Retail Energy Market Company Limited (REMCo), and Alocit Group Limited (which is hoping to list later this year).