Scales successfully steers super wheel

SUPERANNUATION EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR — SPONSORED BY PIMCO

WINNER

Lee Scales - Executive manager, member and people services
UniSuper

Lee Scales has made a name for herself in building a successful people services team, as well as overseeing the evolution of the super fund's inbound and outbound member services contact centre.

This saw her clinch the Superannuation Executive of the Year title at Money Management and Super Review's Women in Financial Services awards.

The UniSuper executive said her interest in financial services first began at a familial level, coupled with her love for travelling and passion for personal growth and development.

"Mum strongly encouraged me towards banking … I was surprised at the variety of work you could access by working in financial services as well as the experiences of working in different cities, states and across regions," Scales said.

Despite gaining experience in a variety of roles in a career spanning 34 years in financial services, her move to the superannuation sector rewarded her with great opportunities and empowered both Scales and her teams to deliver improvements to super fund members.

"I felt the industry was on the cusp of total transformation and ripe for people with my experience to make a difference," Scales said.

"I love change and I wanted to be a part of the commercialisation and corporatisation of an industry with such a great value proposition for its members."

Scales is currently neck deep in a three-year transformation program that will see the super fund expanding its live chat service to mobile devices, consolidating its integrated customer experience strategy, as well as exploring the opportunity of a unified communications platform.

"I've been a pretty passionate change advocate throughout my whole career. When you're trying to change cultures and improve processes, people can be ‘change weary' and feel overloaded," Scales said.

Scales was joined in the category by finalist Catherine Price from TABS Super Fund Auditors, who the judges said showed courage and entrepreneurship in founding a business that promotes workplace flexibility.

FINALISTS

Trish Donohue - Executive manager, investment management
CBus

Carolyn Johnson - Head of marketing
Hostplus

Catherine Price - Owner
TABS Super Fund Auditors

Nicolle Rantanen - Acting chief executive
Statewide