University of Sydney chancellor, Belinda Hutchinson
Belinda Hutchinson assumed the role of University of Sydney chancellor as a labour of love. It’s an unpaid position which, right now, has evolved from around one-and-a-half days a week to nearly four as the university faces the dire effects of the pandemic, a reduced international student base, dealing with sweeping changes to government funding and fees, as well as the impending loss of vicechancellor Michael Spence, who is set to take up a position in London early in 2021.
Losing international students has cost the university millions of dollars in revenue, and while many people believe the university to be well endowed, Hutchinson says the reality is that it is a public institution and most of the funds are allocated to support debt accrued by building on campus and providing for staff and students.
However, undaunted by the challenges, Hutchinson has just signed up for another four years in the role.
“I really feel I want to continue. We’ve done so much good work
I don’t want to lose the momentum and we’ve got to get through this Covid-19,” she says.
Hutchinson moved into a portfolio career more than 20 years ago and was working as a non-executive director on boards when she got the phone call about the Sydney Uni gig.
“I said it sounds to me like an enormous role and I was told it was only a day and a half a week,” she says.
In thinking about it, she considered it as something of a family institution, especially in light of the fact that she, her father, sisters, brothers and children had all attended Sydney University, .
A university chancellor is the equivalent of a board chair, with the board being the university senate. There’s the addition of a significant ceremonial load: speaking at graduations, working with alumni, dealing with donors and meeting with students and staff.
“I thought you can be chair of a public company or chancellor of Sydney Uni where you can make a better long-term difference if you get it right. I met with Michael Spence, liked him and realised he needed support to bring change and I thought I’d jump in,” she says.
“I’m actually really glad I did. It’s been the most challenging role I’ve undertaken and also the most rewarding. You meet the most amazing young people who are the best and brightest and know they are going to do great things with their lives if they have a great education, and you see our researchers and they’re mind-blowing.
“To see what we’re doing in robotics, AI, medicine, health, paediatric and vaccines for Covid-19 – what we’re doing in terms of the pandemic response and treatment regimes – every day I find it truly inspiring.”
Hutchinson is well connected and regularly catches up with her chancellor peers, David Gonski (University of NSW), Martin Parkinson (Macquarie University), Catherine Livingstone (UTS) and Peter Shergold (University of Western Sydney).
Making the most of opportunities
When Hutchinson started her studies she was unsure of what she wanted. She began in architecture but within two weeks realised she was not artistic and transferred to economics. On graduating, she joined Arthur Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and her career took off from there.
Hutchinson says she didn’t know what she wanted to achieve in business but wanted to prove to her father that as a woman she was able to do more than just get married and have children.
“I wanted to work hard and get a career and show him! He never thought of daughters having careers; he thought the wife stays at home and looks after the children and the husband brings home the money. I wanted to be independent and maybe it was because I saw my mum being reliant on my dad for money,” she says.
“I’ve been quite good at looking at opportunities that came along and saying, ‘That looks interesting, I might give that a go.’
“My career’s not been a carefully planned path but something someone’s offered. You’ve got to build a network of friends and colleagues. Think outside the box – in fact, there is no box. You have to have an idea of what you like, what you have competency in and what you have a passion for and then take advantage of opportunities.”
After three years in Australia she was sent to the US.
“I put my hand up to go to Chattanooga, Tennessee. They had the biggest project and no one wanted to go because they preferred London, New York, wherever, so I went for 12 months,” she says.
Hutchinson was then poached by a senior partner to work in Chicago before returning to Sydney.
When a friend suggested that she consider a career in finance and banking
and introduced her to a senior banker at Citi, she was hired, trained and spent 11 years with the company.
Her next opportunity came unexpectedly when she was five months pregnant and was tapped on the shoulder by then Macquarie Bank chief executive Tony Berg and told that she was wanted when she came back from maternity leave.
One month after giving birth, she was hired. She started three months later, working there for five years before moving into her board career.
“By this stage, I had four kids and decided a portfolio career was easier to manage – especially after one kid had a broken back, one had open heart surgery and one had a fractured skull!” she says.
Moving from management positions to board roles carries its own challenges.
“On a board, liability, reputational issues and compliance are very challenging and people shouldn’t underestimate that,” says Hutchinson.
“You’re not running the business and all you can do is be an adviser and if the management team doesn’t want to take your advice they don’t have to – you have to make your point and decide to stay or leave. I like the strategy, operations and working around a boardroom table with good people where you admire the chief executive and management team. It’s a career not for the faint-hearted.”
She says she is fortunate to be at a stage in her career when she can afford to give time to making a contribution to the community and “that’s where I can provide some skills and experience”.
“I never would have thought that when I left university I would be the chancellor of Sydney University or that there would be a female chancellor,” she says.
Hutchinson is actually the third woman in the role, following Marie Bashir and Leonie Kramer.
Mentoring played an important part in her career progression. At Citibank, she was
mentored by former chief executive Mike CannonBrookes snr during her time there as chief of staff. Initially uncertain about taking on the role, she was lured by the promise of gaining experience, which included operational information in strategy, financial management, tax and accounting.
Ian Stanwell, then AMP managing director, then helped her with her non-executive director career.
“He would talk about why you do it, how you do it and what companies I’d be good at and what skills I still needed to develop,” she says.
Hutchinson is also on the board of Qantas and is chair of Thales Australia and the Future Generation Global investment company.
Thales is a French-owned company that is an advanced manufacturer and major employer around Australia. It is responsible for projects such as the new air traffic control system for Australia for both civil and airforce use; vehicles for the army; and a through-life support contract for the navy to run Garden Island and other naval ports around Australia. It’s also responsible for control systems provided for the Sydney Metro Northwest and now the Southwest and City metros.
Future Generation Global is Australia’s first internationally focused investment company with the dual objectives of providing shareholders with diversified exposure to selected global fund managers and the opportunity to support young Australians affected by mental illness.
“It’s a great model, giving away close to $20 million so far on youth mental health research and services. Global equity partners all give their time and expertise gratis,” she says.
Role model for women
As well as volunteering her time at the university, Hutchinson says it’s important to be a role model for other women. She says she felt she had to work harder than the men around her to prove herself.
“Particularly in my era, I think women had to work harder and I hope they don’t now. I think the world has changed and I’m much more positive given the improvement in the diversity statistics. When I started on boards I was the only woman, and now most of my boards have close to equal numbers with really capable women,” she says.
“It’s not a walk in the park. I still feel uncomfortable in some circumstances, but that’s life and I think we have to be open and honest and transparent – and if you have to fake it till you make it that’s okay.”
Hutchinson wrote the foreword (in Australia) to Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In, and believes she was right in having a “jungle gym” of careers and in being prepared to speak up and to sit at the table, not at the back of the room.
Philanthropy began early in the Hutchinson household. Her father would sit the family down in June and December to say they were going to give to the Salvos and Smith Family because they were fortunate and they needed to do the best they possibly could to help others.
Hutchinson and Massy-Greene set up the Eureka Benevolent Foundation 13 years ago; it also involves their four children.
“It’s been a real joy. When my husband sold his business we decided we’d put a significant amount into a family foundation. We wanted to look at philanthropy as social impact investing and wanted to set it up for life and it was also an opportunity to work with the kids. We had a strategy session with an external adviser and board, which includes our children, and there is a rotating chair. It’s a good way to engage the family,” she says.
The foundation has a strategic plan focused on overcoming social disadvantage in early childhood, in education and in the developing world. The fund tends to give grants for three to five years in each area, which it monitors carefully.
“Hopefully it will continue after we die; more money will go in and the kids will bind together and continue their work. We’ve given to the Hunger Project in Malawi for over 12 years involving five projects to make sustainable change. After our first project finished there, the community no longer needed monetary handouts. We went to Malawi to congratulate the community and celebrate with them – we had an amazing time. It was great for all of us to see, on the ground, what was being done and achieved.”
When my husband sold his business we decided we’d put a significant amount into a family foundation.”