Kathy has been in the insolvency industry since starting in 2001. In that time she has worked in Australia and the UK, has undertaken a secondment at a major bank, and has had three rounds of maternity leave for her three children, aged 12, 11 and 8. She is a partner at McGrathNicol, a registered Liquidator, Deputy Chair of the NSW/ACT ARITA Committee, and Vice President of the ARITA Board.
Kathy’s restructuring experience spans both formal and informal engagements across a wide variety of industries including more recently, insurance, aged care and financial services.
Kathy has always advocated for diversity in the profession, having served on the NSW IWIRC committee (pre WINA) for several years, and currently Chairing both McGrathNicol’s and ARITA’s Diversity committees.
Outside of work, Kathy moonlights as an unpaid UBER driver for her 3 kids, transporting them around Sydney for their various sporting activities!
Get to know Kathy
1. How did you choose a career in insolvency/restructuring?
As a fresh faced accounting and finance graduate, I attended a careers night at one of the Big 4 accounting firms, and stumbled across a senior staff member talking about the ”Corporate Recovery” division. I hadn’t heard much about Restructuring and Insolvency as part of my University degree, but based on my conversations that night I thought it sounded more interesting than audit or tax, so I applied for the role and was successful. Over 20 years later, I am still here.
2. How did you get to where you are today?
I find this question challenging as I am not sure I can define “where I am at today”, I feel like a constant work in progress! In terms of my career, I think the key thing that has kept me engaged in the Restructuring industry is the variety of work and the opportunity to interact with such a diverse range of clients, from C-Suite level clients on larger matters, through to smaller business owners where their personal and business lives are fully intermingled. Each engagement brings a new fact base which makes it both interesting and challenging in equal measure.
In terms of spending the majority of my career at McGrathNicol and progressing to Partner, I think that is a result of always respecting those that I have worked with, and for. I have become the practitioner I am today with the help and guidance of those that I worked for as I made my way up the career ladder, and I am pleased to be in a position to try and repay the favour to those that come after me.
3. What advice would you give to your younger self.
To recognise the value in investing in my network earlier in my career. I spent the early stages of my career in Sydney and London thinking that the most important thing was to get the job done to the highest possible standards at all times, and assuming that as long as I did that, I would be successful. Unfortunately, I think this came at the expense of me spending time also developing my network and business development skills.
The more senior I have become, the more I realise how important those skills are and that they need to be developed alongside the people and technical skills. Investing in your personal network from the early stages of your professional life pays dividends as your career progresses.
4 What has been your most memorable moment during your career?
Whilst working in the UK earlier in my career, I was working on an Administration of a national frozen dessert manufacturer, and I was based on site in a small town in the North of England. It was one of the largest employers in the region, with multiple generations from the same family often employed. The appointment happened in early December, and it was highly likely that our site was going to be closed, resulting in the significant loss of jobs in the lead up to Christmas. We managed to execute a sale of the site at around 5pm on the 24 December, which resulted in all the employees transitioning to the new owners. When the site re-opened after the Christmas break, the sense of gratitude from staff across the business from the production line to Management is something I will never forget.
It remains my most tangible memory of what a successful restructure can achieve at a very personal level.
5 What is the one thing you know now that you wish you had known earlier in your career?
Not to always assume that everyone else in the room is smarter, more competent, more entitled to their opinion. I feel like I have wasted a lot of energy in my career letting self-doubt get the better of me and assuming that I am the least qualified person in the room.
I am not proposing the alternative of thinking you are always the smartest in the room is necessarily better, but I think a healthy balance of self-confidence, whilst listening and giving others space to contribute makes for the most productive environment.
6. What is an interesting fact about you?
When I was about 8 years old I was involved in an armed robbery at my dad’s business. I was in the back seat of a car when guns were held to my brother and grandfather’s heads through the front car windows by two armed robbers. Thankfully, everyone survived with only minor physical injuries, but despite being 35 years ago, I can still vividly remember the details of what they were wearing! Meanwhile, if you asked my what I did last week, I probably wouldn’t remember!
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Kathy has been in the insolvency industry since starting in 2001. In that time she has worked in Australia and the UK, has undertaken a secondment at a major bank, and has had three rounds of maternity leave for her three children, aged 12, 11 and 8. She is a partner at McGrathNicol, a registered Liquidator, Deputy Chair of the NSW/ACT ARITA Committee, and Vice President of the ARITA Board.
Kathy’s restructuring experience spans both formal and informal engagements across a wide variety of industries including more recently, insurance, aged care and financial services.
Kathy has always advocated for diversity in the profession, having served on the NSW IWIRC committee (pre WINA) for several years, and currently Chairing both McGrathNicol’s and ARITA’s Diversity committees.
Outside of work, Kathy moonlights as an unpaid UBER driver for her 3 kids, transporting them around Sydney for their various sporting activities!
Get to know Kathy1. How did you choose a career in insolvency/restructuring?
As a fresh faced accounting and finance graduate, I attended a careers night at one of the Big 4 accounting firms, and stumbled across a senior staff member talking about the ”Corporate Recovery” division. I hadn’t heard much about Restructuring and Insolvency as part of my University degree, but based on my conversations that night I thought it sounded more interesting than audit or tax, so I applied for the role and was successful. Over 20 years later, I am still here.
2. How did you get to where you are today?
I find this question challenging as I am not sure I can define “where I am at today”, I feel like a constant work in progress! In terms of my career, I think the key thing that has kept me engaged in the Restructuring industry is the variety of work and the opportunity to interact with such a diverse range of clients, from C-Suite level clients on larger matters, through to smaller business owners where their personal and business lives are fully intermingled. Each engagement brings a new fact base which makes it both interesting and challenging in equal measure.
In terms of spending the majority of my career at McGrathNicol and progressing to Partner, I think that is a result of always respecting those that I have worked with, and for. I have become the practitioner I am today with the help and guidance of those that I worked for as I made my way up the career ladder, and I am pleased to be in a position to try and repay the favour to those that come after me.
3. What advice would you give to your younger self.
To recognise the value in investing in my network earlier in my career. I spent the early stages of my career in Sydney and London thinking that the most important thing was to get the job done to the highest possible standards at all times, and assuming that as long as I did that, I would be successful. Unfortunately, I think this came at the expense of me spending time also developing my network and business development skills.
The more senior I have become, the more I realise how important those skills are and that they need to be developed alongside the people and technical skills. Investing in your personal network from the early stages of your professional life pays dividends as your career progresses.
4 What has been your most memorable moment during your career?
Whilst working in the UK earlier in my career, I was working on an Administration of a national frozen dessert manufacturer, and I was based on site in a small town in the North of England. It was one of the largest employers in the region, with multiple generations from the same family often employed. The appointment happened in early December, and it was highly likely that our site was going to be closed, resulting in the significant loss of jobs in the lead up to Christmas. We managed to execute a sale of the site at around 5pm on the 24 December, which resulted in all the employees transitioning to the new owners. When the site re-opened after the Christmas break, the sense of gratitude from staff across the business from the production line to Management is something I will never forget.
It remains my most tangible memory of what a successful restructure can achieve at a very personal level.
5 What is the one thing you know now that you wish you had known earlier in your career?
Not to always assume that everyone else in the room is smarter, more competent, more entitled to their opinion. I feel like I have wasted a lot of energy in my career letting self-doubt get the better of me and assuming that I am the least qualified person in the room.
I am not proposing the alternative of thinking you are always the smartest in the room is necessarily better, but I think a healthy balance of self-confidence, whilst listening and giving others space to contribute makes for the most productive environment.
6. What is an interesting fact about you?
When I was about 8 years old I was involved in an armed robbery at my dad’s business. I was in the back seat of a car when guns were held to my brother and grandfather’s heads through the front car windows by two armed robbers. Thankfully, everyone survived with only minor physical injuries, but despite being 35 years ago, I can still vividly remember the details of what they were wearing! Meanwhile, if you asked my what I did last week, I probably wouldn’t remember!