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LEADing Finance Program
LEADing Finance UPDATE - ISSUE 4, 2026
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LEADing Finance UPDATEIssue 4, 2026
Sent to all Finance staff
5 May 2026
In this issue
- Nicholas Chan, Program Lead - Reflections on an amazing first Town Hall of 2026,
- Shine Awards Survey - Help us shape our rewards and recognition process,
- Superheroes of the Month - Announcing our well deserved May 2026 Superheroes,
- Corporate Volunteering Day - Final call for the infants home volunteering,
- Learning and Development - Reflecting on an action packed April month,
- Monthly Sport and Walking Club - Fantastic active participation for our new initiatives!
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May issue
Welcome to the fourth edition of the LEADing Finance Update for 2026
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What an amazing first Finance Town Hall of the year to be part of. Between being treated to a great TAG Grandstand venue for us to connect in person to our exceptional MC Monica Romero Gutierrez, who energetically and confidently navigated us through proceedings. A huge thank you to Ang, Cherry and the Town Hall committee for putting this together and ensuring the day ran smoothly. I can confidently say it was a successful and highly engaging town hall that was thoroughly enjoyable to be a part of for all.
CFO Update
A common positive feedback thread received was our CFO Wayne Andrews’ update, which took us through Finance’ top priorities in 2026 and how that aligns with overall Operations’ priorities. While this presents a challenging year ahead, this helped contextualise and align the parts we need to play in achieving these goals, while providing transparency in our direction moving forward.
Guest speaker, Professor Ian Hickie
It is always a pleasure to welcome Professor Ian Hickie from the Brain & Mind Centre to present to us. His passion centering around mental health and policy always delivers an enlightening and thought-provoking session - one that offers fresh perspective that resonates with all of us and how we reflect on a personal level and through the workplace.
Sydney Listens
Moreover, we had a great Sydney Listens update - thank you Carma Du Plooy - which not only identified our feedback on the key things we find challenging or areas of focus as a function (e.g. connectivity with UE), but also initiatives that have been put in place to address these - very timely given the launch of Sydney Listens 2026 this week. PS Keep a look out for Freddo Frogs and Kitkats in Team areas (thanks Cherry!).
Empowerment and AI trends
Overall, a fantastic, balanced Town Hall which presented key themes throughout - focused on empowerment and emerging trends in AI sparking genuine curiosity and healthy discussion around how these technologies can shape our future ways of working (the Leading Finance infomercial was just the tip of the iceberg!). Dan Hart provided a teaser of things to come within this space and we look forward to hosting Dan for our first Hour of Power session in June to enlighten further around AI - so keep an eye out for this EOI when it comes out.
In this issue
Please read on below on the great things achieved in the month of April through the Leading Finance program, including recognising our brilliant people and the great upcoming events our Stream Teams have organised for you to be a part of.
Nicholas Chan, Program Lead
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Shine Awards Survey
Help us shape our rewards and recognition process
We want to hear your voice
We’re refreshing the Finance SHINE Awards this year, and we’d love your input.
The process includes hearing your voices and encouraging you to take part in our survey.
Your insights will help us build on the foundations of a program that is meaningful, fair, and worth celebrating.
Got 3-5 minutes
We’d love you to complete a short survey and share your thoughts on what’s working well, what could be improved, and any ideas that would make the program even stronger.
Get started...we've provided a couple of options for you to access the survey:
The deadline?
Please complete the survey by Friday 8 May.
Your valuable feedback will be considered and help shape the awards.
Ragu Ayyadorai, Stream Lead
Your Rewards & Recognition Team
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Superhero of the month
Nominated by their Finance Director, this award recognises outstanding team members who consistently go above and beyond in their roles. These individuals demonstrate exceptional dedication, teamwork, and service, and most importantly, they embody the University’s core values of trust, excellence, and accountability.
Superheroes are those who:
- Build trust through reliable support, strong relationships, and consistent follow through
- Demonstrate excellence by delivering high quality work and striving for continuous improvement
- Show accountability by taking ownership, acting with integrity, and driving positive outcomes
- Support colleagues and clients with professionalism, collaboration, and a genuine service mindset
- Make a meaningful impact through their everyday actions and contributions to the University community.
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May 2026 Superhero Winner - Brenda Gallo, Corporate Finance
Brenda has played a critical role in supporting university wide strategic initiatives through the development of robust costing models for major projects, including Building Trust and the Academic Excellence Program and more.
Her work has directly informed decision making and ensured alignment with broader organisational priorities. Despite operating in environments where processes can be complex, unclear, or evolving, Brenda remains committed to providing clarity, forward looking insights, and practical options to guide direction. This approach has resulted in consistently positive feedback from stakeholders and strengthened trust in financial partnering across the University.
She also actively contributes to Corporate Finance internal initiatives focused on continuous improvement. Taken together, Brenda’s contributions exemplify the professionalism, commitment, and impact recognised by the Superhero Award.
- Lindy Vu, Finance Director, Corporate Finance
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May 2026 Superhero Winner – Abraham Chacko, Financial, Planning, Analytics & Commercial (FPAC)
Abraham has been a dependable member of the team for many years, but his contribution over the past few months has been particularly outstanding. During an unexpected period of resourcing pressure due to a colleague’s personal emergency, Abraham stepped up without hesitation and took on significant additional responsibilities alongside his own role.
Abraham played a key role in coordinating the Q1 2026 forecast and ensuring the ongoing delivery of monthly and quarterly management reporting during a critical planning period. His work helped maintain continuity, accuracy and confidence in our financial reporting, supporting informed decision making and strong financial governance. By taking ownership at a challenging time, Abraham clearly demonstrated the University’s values of trust, accountability and excellence, and ensured we continued to meet broader organisational priorities without compromise.
On a day to day basis, Abraham managed the increased workload with professionalism and calm. He worked collaboratively with the team during the month-ends, applied strong technical knowledge and consistently delivered to deadlines. His willingness to go above and beyond ensured business continuity and reduced pressure on colleagues during a difficult period.
Abraham’s dedication, reliability and team first approach make him a very deserving nominee.
- Eric Chan, Finance Director, FPAC
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FINAL CALL - Volunteer at The Infants Home
Don't miss out!
Let’s all get involved and help this great cause.
EOI’s are open until Friday, 8 May 2026, so register before you miss out!
Details
- Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2026
- Time: 9:15am – 3pm
- Location: 17 Henry Street, Ashfield, NSW 2131 (approx. 20 min walk from Ashfield train station)
- Parking: Free parking on surrounding street
- Carpooling: Carpooling will be arranged closer to the date
What’s involved?
Helping out around the place in any way we can, from:
- Gardening,
- Tidying playgrounds and play areas,
- Cleaning,
- Administrative tasks,
- Creating space for services,
- Prepping children’s activities.
Note: Morning Tea and Lunch will be provided!
OR...
Use the QR CODE below
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Monthly Sports and Walking Club
In April we kicked off our first Walking Club session and this was a great success! We had participants from across Finance come together for a casual walk around Victoria Park on a bright, sunny day.
We also continued on with Sports Club, where this month we played pickleball and badminton. We had another great turnout with many people trying pickleball for the first time!
If you’re interested in participating in either club, please contact
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Gears have been moving quickly...in the L&D Stream!
USYD Telfer Tellers Toastmasters Club (UTTT)
We’re pleased to announce that Toastmasters International has successfully processed our chartering application! Our members now have access to their Toastmasters accounts and will be making a start on their Pathways program.
In the coming months, we will also hold an official Chartering Ceremony to celebrate this milestone – keep an eye out for updates!
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Business Partnering – Cohort 3
Last week, Cohort 3 had their last day of Business Partnering expertise from Clinton & James. The next stop will be the final group presentations, held on campus on the 7 May.
The general theme from the cohort was that they found the program very useful and provided a depth of knowledge around business partnering.
We wish the teams all the best and are excited to see how they incorporate all the theories and practical partnering tools they have learnt over the past few months.
Our thanks go to the Business School team for their help in organising excellent speakers, suitable venues, and the all-important catering!
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FMI Foundations – FABULAS Pilot, Trainers and Friends
We are excited to announce our new program, Financial Modelling Institute - Foundations, which is now available beyond the Graduate Program to all of Finance, led by our Associate Director of Commercial Advisory – Russell Taylor.
We have already completed three sessions of eight in a "FABULAS and friends’" pilot.
We are also training a selection of our top Financial Modellers across Finance, including Monica Romero Gutierrez, Kenji Law, Richard Guerreiro and Zoe Fang. Once trained, they will lead the tutorials in the second semester – watch this space for an EOI!
The course has been developed by US Financial Modellers and follows 15 hours of online learning with a final exam. It takes you through the best practice structure of financial models, adapted to our needs at the University, ensuring a common language exists across Finance.
We meet weekly with Russell for Friday Zoom tutorials, who provides insights on how we approach financial models at USYD and offers support on any questions. The group has varied Excel experience and already we are loving learning smart structure techniques and Excel tips and tricks which we can use in our everyday roles.
Pictured below: Happy Modellers from Session 3 Tutorial - Russell Taylor, Anna Slowiak, Rachel Sullivan, Lotus Lui, Kenji Law, Zoe Fang and Shasha Mao.
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Nick Chan, Program Lead
LEADing Finance Program
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