View from the top: Belinda Hutchinson

Belinda-Hutchinson

Belinda-HutchinsonChancellor, Sydney University

Belinda Hutchinson almost gave up on Chartered Accountancy before she had barely started. “I was two weeks into my training in Sydney and thought, ‘I’m not cut out for this – I’ve made a dreadful mistake. What do I do?’” she says. “A partner at the firm suggested I stick it out and I moved into consulting, becoming more involved in helping clients with their business opportunities and problems – I found I really enjoyed it.”

Referring to business as something that Belinda Hutchinson is good at is something of an understatement. Since the late 1990s, she has become one of the most sought-after directors among private, public sector and not-for-profit organisations in Australia – enabling her to experience a diverse portfolio of non-executive positions across financial, utility, retail, engineering, educational and charitable sectors.

Commercial judgement

Before taking up her current post as Chancellor of the University of Sydney, her most high-profile role is as chairman of QBE Insurance Group – the largest insurer in Australia and one of the world’s top 20, with operations in over 50 countries.

Speaking while still in the position, she said: “I think my real value is that I possess sound commercial judgement. I do have an ability to analyse, to spot trends and variances. I can look at numbers and ask the right questions and assess what’s working and what’s not in a business.”

It’s an ability, she said, that was in no small part honed by her Chartered Accountancy training, teaching her discipline, ethics and attention to detail that she’s never forgotten.

She believes the qualification has been her passport to many things. After seven years at Arthur Andersen, including three years consulting in the US, she was selected to join Citibank in Sydney in its project finance division.

Over 11 years at Citibank, she also worked in corporate finance and headed up Citi’s financial institutions group. While there she sufficiently impressed a client, Macquarie Group, that she was invited to join its advisory business and later to set up its Equity Capital Markets division from scratch.

Stepping back

But with a growing family, Belinda decided in the mid-1990s to take a step back from leading a business day-to-day – although her workload didn’t appear to lighten for long. While continuing to consult for Macquarie Group, she soon got offers from other companies to join their boards – including Snowy Hydro Trading, one of Australia’s leading providers of renewable energy, Crane Group, a manufacturing and trade distribution company, and Energy Australia, then the New South Wales government-owned energy distributor and retailer. Later she joined the boards of the telecommunication company, Telstra, and retailer, Coles Myer.

Given that a lot of her career in project finance, corporate finance and at Arthur Andersen had already involved working in an advisory capacity, the transition to non-executive directorship was relatively easy. “Plus, I was very fortunate to have a great mentor in Ian Stanwell of AMP as I looked to develop my non-executive career, who made me think long and hard if I was ready,” she says.

Nonetheless, the move from board director to chairman of QBE can only have been something of a baptism of fire as the insurance industry faced what have been two of its most difficult years in a century – contending with a slew of major natural disasters. In 2011 there were the Australian and Thai floods, New Zealand and Japanese earthquakes and tsunami, as well as the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis that substantially reduced insurers’ investment earnings; and in 2012, Hurricane Sandy and severe drought in the US took their toll.

“It has been a very challenging time to become chairman but QBE is a great company, with strong management and excellent underwriting skills. I’m very pleased to be involved,” she said at the time.

Embedding values

Chartered Accountants are, she says, highly prized by boards. “Although once an organisation finds out you are a qualified Chartered Accountant, they immediately want to put you on their audit committee,” she laughs.

She believes that the values and ethics that Chartered Accountancy demands are particularly valuable these days. “The world has become a far more challenging place, in terms of the economic uncertainty, reputational risk, liability and regulation facing public companies. Companies need to be extremely well run and adhere to the highest values. QBE, for example, has very strong practices and we embed our culture and values into every market in which we operate – because that’s what drives success.”

Her passion for corporate ethics has seen her become chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee for the Australian Institute of Company Directors, giving her a central role in helping to identify and advocate for good corporate practice.

But surely this role, together with her positions in the highly-regulated insurance and energy sectors, means a huge responsibility to keep pace with a vast and ever-changing business and regulatory landscape? “Absolutely – but I really enjoy keeping abreast of all that.”

Many years after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, it seems, some people never quite lose their appetite to keep learning.

ACHIEVING SUCCESS

Take advantage of opportunity

Seize chances as they come along. Don’t say ‘No’ even if you think you can only just do it – go for it and stretch yourself.

Do your due diligence

Always do your homework, so you know what you are getting into and that it is the right course of action for you.

Be resilient

We all hit hurdles along the way – use them as opportunities. You can often look back at your career and see how a challenge became a path in a new direction.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Being appointed to the board of QBE

My first public company directorship and the start of my non-executive career

Creating Macquarie’s ECM business

I was tasked with setting up a new standalone Equity Capital Markets business from scratch – a fantastic challenge, building a strong team and franchise

Creating our family foundation

A chance to share our success with those less fortunate. Our children are directors which is a great experience for them and very rewarding for all of us