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Shemara Wikramanayake

March

 If business leaders like Shemara Wikramanayake are to be believed, diversity, equality and inclusion are very good for business, which begs the question about the managerial competence of CEOs who do not follow this good business sense.

WGEA gender targets quack like quotas

Just as the critics of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency warned 20 years ago, what starts off as an aspiration has become a must-do for companies.

Shemara Wikramanayake, CEO of Macquarie Group, Lisa Annese, CEO of CEW, Vicki Brady, CEO of Telstra, and Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, president of Chief Executive Women, at the CEW 40th Anniversary dinner in Sydney.

Wikramanayake: Diversity is not woke, it’s smart business

Corporate leaders shared stories of success and failure at a dinner honouring the 40th anniversary of Chief Executive Women.

Lauren Joyce was promoted to a bigger role at ARN following a leadership course she completed at Harvard University.

What I learnt at Harvard: women leaders sharpen their skills

Recipients of the Maureen Kerridge AM Scholarship, offered by Chief Executive Women, are learning valuable leadership skills at universities abroad.

AustralianSuper chief executive Paul Schroder says “our pants should be on fire” to fix housing and productivity

AustralianSuper’s Schroder has a productivity fix: Build, baby, build

The chief executive of the country’s largest superannuation fund says too much capital is tied up as he urged more housing development.

Shemara Wikramanayake Macquarie Group chief executive says that there’s a lot of work to do to achieve equality.

What Goldman, Macquarie, CBA and AusSuper are really watching amid chaos

Five burning issues for Australian business leaders and global investors have emerged from the tumult of Donald Trump’s first six weeks in the White House.

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Shemara Wikramanayake says Donald Trump’s America will need plenty of private capital.

‘Heck of a lot of work’ to do on gender gap: Wikramanayake

Chief executives at some of Australia’s biggest businesses have welcomed the latest pay gap data, but said much of the gap is due to challenges with the talent pipeline.

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey says Australia’s super funds could be a bargaining chip in any tariff negotiations.

Sydney to host return leg of Australian global super summit

The summit spruiking bilateral investment will return later in 2025, with Sydney to play host to super chiefs and US investors

February

Jim Chalmers is in the United States as part of a roadshow of big Australian superannuation investors.

Chalmers courts Blackstone, Citi in big super’s US push

The Albanese government is hoping to highlight the two-way investment opportunities between the US and Australia in the hope of wooing the Trump administration.

CSL boss Paul McKenzie wants to be Mr Consistency.

What we learnt: The ASX giant that can’t excite investors

CSL consistency isn’t winning over investors, Ryan Stokes explains the new dump truck dance, and Macquarie’s return on equity puzzler.

Shemara Wikramanayake asks investors to focus on the medium term and the strategic tailwinds behind Macquarie’s core business units.

Macquarie’s $58m man left a hole no one can be sure how to fill

Whoever can work out how to model and value Macquarie’s commodities unit should get a bronze statue in Martin Place.

Macquarie’s Shemara Wikramanayake is maintaining a “cautious” outlook.

Macquarie strikes careful tone, answering to new global mood

The investment bank and asset manager maintains a “cautious stance”, noting transaction timing, foreign exchange and geopolitics are unpredictable.

Macquarie Bank’s got a growing list of relationships among executives.

Millionaire’s factory? Macquarie is a hotbed of office romance

Macquarie Capital’s Asia Pacific chief Tim Joyce has made complete disclosures to continue his relationship with a former direct report.

January

From top: Seven Group’s Ryan Stokes, Woodside’s Meg O’Neill and Telstra’s Vicki Brady.

CEOs reveal how to fix the productivity problem

Business reckons it’s ready to invest to help bolster living standards for all Australians. It just needs some policy help.

December 2024

CBA boss Matt Comyn, Macquarie CEO Shemara Wikramanayke and Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott.

‘Australia is falling behind’: 55 CEOs demand election action

Top chief executives say the next federal government must make the nation’s crippling regulatory burden and housing supply top priorities.

Macquarie’s Shemara Wikramanayake has topped the AFR’s CEO pay ranks for the fourth year running.

Australia’s 50 highest-paid CEOs in 2024 revealed

Macquarie Group’s Shemara Wikramanayake is Australia’s best-paid CEO for the fourth year in a row.

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November 2024

Shemara Wikramanayake has helped oversee incredible growth in infratructure investing.

Is Macquarie’s jewel losing its shine?

Macquarie became a world leader in infrastructure investing, but the growth in this division is slowing as competition rises. It speaks to a bigger debate around the giant.

Coles CEO Leah Weckert speaks with columnist Anthony Macdonald at The Australian Financial Review Chanticleer Brunch on Friday.

Weckert and Wikramanayake paint a bigger picture on profits

Big business deserves big scrutiny. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the bigger picture that the Coles and Macquarie bosses are painting on why profits are important. 

Shemara Wikramanayake: “We operate in multiple markets, in multiple countries, and are trying to deliver to required standards in every one of them.”

Macquarie boss says accountability matters after ASIC jibe

After being slapped with a record fine for failing to monitor energy futures markets, the bank pledged to identify root causes and hold staff accountable.

Shemara Wikramanayake says deal activity is picking up.

Macquarie’s $11b signal that deals are bouncing back

If Shemara Wikramanayake is feeling the pressure from Macquarie’s sky-high share price, she isn’t showing it. It remains all about the long game. 

October 2024

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WiseTech soars; Inside Macquarie’s new HQ; Rockpool’s saviour?

Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/person/shemara-wikramanayake-1mz2