In 2018, Shemara Wikramanayake took over the role of Managing Director and first female Chief Executive Officer of the Australian investment bank Macquarie Group, after more than three decades within the organization. Far from being a typical Macquarie banker, she became one of the most powerful women in the global banking industry and beyond.
She began her professional career as a corporate lawyer before joining the financial services company in 1987. During her time at Macquarie, she has worked in several countries and across several business lines, making the business grow with her.
Her optimism, resilience, and ability to break barriers have been key to her success. Raised in the U.K. and Sri Lanka before immigrating to Australia with her family as a teenager, her childhood helped her to quickly adapt to the fast-changing world.
Not only does she have a passion for banking, but also for renewable energy and game-changing investment, with commitments extending beyond Macquarie. She serves for instance on the World Bank-led Global Commission on Adaptation, is a member of the United Nation’s Climate Finance Leadership Initiative, and advises the Australian government on green technology investment.
Amid the pandemic, she has also made efforts to help those who lost jobs and lent the resources of Macquarie’s portfolio companies, for example, turning parking lots into testing centers.
While her success is undeniable, her appointment back in 2018 has been seen as unconventional, especially within the male-driven world of investment banking. But if there is one person who has the ability to overturning traditional gender roles, it’s her. She once explained, “I married late, in my late 30s, and had children then, and my husband elected to be the primary carer in the family.”
And now, she focuses on making the Covid-19 established hybrid work arrangements permanent, by increasing flexible work arrangements, supporting tax concessions for childcare, and teaming up with universities to encourage more women to set foot in finance.
"My main message to girls out there is – is why let boys have all this fun?" she said. "I’ve not seen anything in my work that shows being a boy makes you better positioned to do the job than being a girl. "