Winners of the Women in Finance Awards 2023 revealed

Momentum Media (parent company of Mortgage Business) hosted the seventh annual Women in Finance Awards 2023 on Friday night (10 November) at a black-tie gala ceremony at The Star in Sydney.

Run with the support of principal partner Mortgage Choice (part of the REA Group), the awards program provides national recognition and champions women who have made outstanding contributions to the finance industry, while propelling the industry forward.

More than 650 members of the finance industry attended the gala ceremony this year to cheer their peers and network with leaders of the industry.

Australian stand-up comedian and television and radio presenter Claire Hooper assumed emcee duties and provided light and laughter throughout the evening.

A total of 31 winners were chosen out of 246 finalists this year after Momentum Media received over 565 submissions across 29 submissions-based categories.

Click here to view the full list of winners.

The coveted Excellence Award (given to the highest-scoring winner from the individual award categories) was won by Trenna Probert this year.

Ms Probert took home the award as the highest-scoring individual award winner after having been named Thought Leader of the Year earlier in the evening. Ms Probert was recognised for her work establishing Super Fierce – a social enterprise focused on helping women get a better deal on their super and for championing economic security and a fairer super system.

The inaugural Outstanding Contribution Award – a special award that recognises the contribution the recipient has made to the industry and financial wellness throughout their career – was presented to Foxton Financial founder and managing director Brooke Hepburn-Rogers.

Ms Hepburn-Rogers is an SMSF specialist accountant and tax agent with over 22 years’ specialist experience and has spent her career dedicated to improving self-managed superannuation funds.

Individual winners in the broking industry

It was a night of celebration for the broking industry, with seven individuals and an aggregator walking away with trophies this year.

Zippy Financial principal broker Louisa Sanghera was named Mortgage Broker of the Year for the third consecutive year. Judges praised her for her strong submission that illustrated her achievements in helping borrowers navigate the changing economic environment.

The awards also shone a light on the achievements of commercial brokers, with Simplicity Loans’ associate director, sales Isabella Constantinou being named Commercial Finance Broker of the Year. Judges commended her for her strong submission outlining how she is helping businesses grow by focusing on commercial lending transactions.

Aggregator outsource Financial had plenty to rejoice about this year, taking home two awards on Friday night.

The aggregator’s head of training and education Heather Gallagher was named Mentor of the Year for the second consecutive year. Judges praised her for embracing multiple platforms to educate and mentor brokers and staff, in particular, women. She runs multiple programs, one of which had 151 participants, out of which 139 were women, a judge noted.

The second award for outsource Financial came when Madeleine Dart won the Executive/Personal Assistant of the Year award for her professionalism and dedication to delivering exceptional outcomes.

Emer Hogan, Lendi Group’s senior product manager for brand growth was this year’s Marketing Professional of the Year. She was celebrated for developing strong in-house creative.

Blackburne Mortgage Broking administration manager Megan Kelly took home the Office Administrator of the Year trophy.

In the group categories, the Training and Development Program of the Year award was given to aggregator Australian Finance Group (AFG), which was commended for its initiative and clearly articulating the benefits of its training program for brokers.

Other winners of the Women in Finance Awards 2023 included representatives from the tax and banking professions, financial advice industry (including SMSF advisers) as well as chief executives, executives, principals, entrepreneurs and young leaders and rising stars.

Recognising all the winners, Annie Kane, managing editor of mortgages, commented: “We were thrilled and honoured to celebrate so many amazing women and companies at the Women in Finance Awards 2023 on Friday – congratulations to all of the remarkable winners!

“The winners exemplify the true essence of excellence, innovation and leadership in the finance industry and showcase the amazing work being done by this minority. We hope that by bringing together and championing these remarkable women and companies, we’re not only giving credit where it’s due, but also providing inspiration to the next generation of aspiring female professionals in the finance space.”

Mortgage Business and Momentum Media would like to thank all of their partners for their invaluable support, including:

• Principal partner: Mortgage Choice.
• Platinum partners: ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Intuit QuickBooks, National Australia Bank, Westpac.
• Gold partners: Adelaide Bank, AFG, BOQ Business, Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA), Liberty, LoanOptions.ai, Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA), MoneyPlace, outsource Financial, Plenti, Resimac, The Tax Institute.
• Wellness partner: Run Rocket Run.
• Research partner: Agile Market Intelligence.
• Charity partners: Breast Cancer Network Australia and Invictus Australia.

To view the full list of this year’s Women in Finance Awards winners, click here.

[Related: Finalists unveiled for Women in Finance Awards 2023]

Malavika Santhebennur is the features editor on the mortgages titles at Momentum Media.

Before joining the team in 2019, Malavika held roles with Money Management and Benchmark Media. She has been writing about financial services for the past six years.