Social responsibility

So how would I describe my career journey to date? I guess I would rewind all the way back to when I was a country kid landing at Melbourne Uni, embarking on a commerce and science degree, and reflecting that I didn't really know what sort of job that degree would get me.

So, through a bit of trial and error, I sought out opportunities to try and workshop what sort of job it could get me.

I did an internship at Macquarie Bank. I did a short-lived internship at Arthur Andersen in accounting, and I took a foray into soft commodity trading at the Australian Wheat Board.

All of which led me to the US investment bank Merrill Lynch, focusing on the consumer sector. Now this was a fabulous opportunity.

It taught me about the business of investing. I was very lucky to have some great mentors during this period. A senior analyst of some 30 plus years that took me under his wing and really showed me the tools of the trade.

Today I'm Head of Australian Equities here at UniSuper. And me and the team, we are charged with investing UniSuper's members' money into the Australian listed market. The team manages around $40 billion in assets.

And what really attracted me to UniSuper was the team that John [Pearce] had put together.

And over the last five years I've been really proud and impressed by the talent that we've been able to not only attract but retain.

So, if I was to leave you with just one thing, it is it's never too early to start investing in markets and yourself.

Very frequently when I'm talking to candidates looking for opportunities to join UniSuper, I'll talk to them about their own investments.

If you have $50 and you go out and you buy one share, you'll soon know how it really feels to see that share go up and quite frequently aso go down. That tangible experience of seeing investments go up and go down will put you in fantastic stead to enjoy a really long-term investments career.