Queen’s Birthday Honours: Nancy Fox a brave female in a male-dominated world

Nancy Fox began her professional career in the courtroom as a trial attorney in New York.

Lawyer, banker and executive Nancy Fox: ‘I just brazened my way through, frankly. It’s that expression: if not you then who?’ Picture: John Feder

Nancy Fox began her professional career in the courtroom as a trial attorney in New York. After a couple of years, she knew she wanted a change. But the legal training didn’t go to waste.

“I ended up migrating across to finance and working for Citibank.

“Initially, I was the lawyer on the deals, but after a few years, I found I had moved across to being the banker on the deals because I knew it better than the others involved.

“The legal background basically gave me a seat at the table.”  

After spending some time in Japan, Fox arrived in Sydney for a one-year stint in 1989. Thirty-two years later, she’s still here, now more Australian than American, she says.

“I just fell in love with it; I never intended to migrate. But two or three years into it, I thought, ‘No, I think I’ll stay if they’ll have me’.”

Her career has spanned more than three decades: she is a former managing director of Ambac Assurance Corporation and of ABN Amro Australia and has spent the past 10 years as a full-time non-executive director.

Working in an overwhelmingly male-dominated industry was never going to hold her back.

“If you start from a position where you’re well educated and well trained, I think it’s a little harder for people to put you in a box. So I’m big on education,” she says.

“And I just brazened my way through, frankly. It’s that expression: if not you then who?”

Having leaders who guided her along the way was a big help, she says. In time, Fox went from mentee to mentor, advising and guiding women on their career journeys. It’s a role she still plays today.

“I’ve been very, very active in mentoring women here because if you can see somebody in a role, they need to know how to get there. And I love to help benefit them with my experience, if it’s helpful.”

Fox was today named a Member of the Order of Australia for her service to the financial and banking sector, and to women in business.

While progress has been made on equality in the boardroom, it’s been too slow, she says.

“There are very few women on boards. And you have to constantly be pointing out to people that we need diversity – and not just with gender.

“It seems to be something that constantly has to be refreshed and kept in front of people. And I do find that disappointing after all these years, when there’s great research out there that shows more diverse boards make better decisions, and make companies more profitable. It is changing, but I think it’s changing often by women helping women.”

One big difference Fox sees in the women of today is the absence of impostor syndrome.

“I think the next generation stepping up believe they’ve earned the right to that role, whereas perhaps, in my day, people often spoke of impostor syndrome.

“I don’t see that in younger women. They’ve got more confidence than I did.”