On the move

Liz McCarthy's path to becoming the chief executive of MLC Expand was one with many twists and turns.

Even her upbringing was anything but typical. The daughter of a chemical engineer, McCarthy had seen more of Australia before she hit her teenage years than most.

"I was born in Melbourne and shortly afterwards we moved to Sydney. When I was nine, we moved to Brisbane. We stayed there for a few years and then we came back to Sydney when I was around 12. So, we moved around a lot," McCarthy says.

McCarthy says when she was younger the constant moving bothered her, but as she grew up she realised how important it was to experience new cities and people, and decided that was something she wanted to instill in her kids as well.

"I can re-root very easily, it really helped me to be flexible but organised. I really wanted my kids to experience that as well," she says.

"We moved to Tokyo as a family and ended up staying there for around three years, and it was incredible, although it was very tricky. There is so much paperwork, it's not an easy place to move to.

"And it was difficult, at first, for the kids - moving them to a new country where they didn't speak the language, but in the end, they didn't want to leave Tokyo to come back."

At the time, McCarthy was working with Jetstar as head of customer care. In fact, she has held many roles that one might not think would lead to heading up MLC's Expand platform - but McCarthy did start her career in financial services.

She did stints at AMP and Westpac before climbing the ranks at Macquarie to become head of marketing.

She then spent more than six years with Jetstar, followed by two years with humm group and four years with OneTwo Home Loans.

"I spent 13 years away from financial services and Wrap platforms and was able to come back with a very different view of things," she says.

"There are so many things I learnt along the way that I was excited to bring to this role.

"I've got this need to seek out new experiences and new things, I like putting myself into situations where there is a learning curve, and I've been able to find that in this position too."

During her time with One Two Home Loans, McCarthy was working at the forefront of artificial intelligence - well before the AI boom.

As chief executive, she led the company through an M&A process with ANZ, relaunched the company's strategy, led an organisational redesign and launched a short- and long-term incentive program.

"I basically got a call saying they needed someone to come in to help the business. It was a joint venture between ANZ and Lendi Group (now Aussie Home Loans) which had spun out into a software platform. They wanted to build this software that would power the home loan process using AI," McCarthy explains.

"It was AI, but no one was calling it that at the time. We were building the AI ourselves, and it was all about digitising the home loan process so that we could take all the friction out of it."

Having got a knack for AI, how it can be used, and the best use cases for it made McCarthy a great choice for MLC.

"There are maybe three or four use cases that we've really pushed along so far, because I know what the technology is capable of and how to make it happen," she says.

"And we have a great team here who can see that through... they can really power through things."

There are currently 80 engineers working on Expand but, when combined with the delivery squads, this number almost doubles to 150.

The wealth manager is deploying AI to support human beings in its service centre.

"... which means that you can get hold of a human, and that human will manage and solve that problem from end to end. We're not going to be eliminating humans out of this category at all," McCarthy says.

"Some of our competitors have decided to do that, but we're not doing that. We're enabling them using AI."

McCarthy says they're also working on doing proof of concepts for adviser practices, so they can use AI to help with productivity and driving profitability.

"We're working with practices and their back-office teams to automate generation of Statements of Advice, or Records of Advice, pushing them to their frontline staff, where they simply scan the document and move it to the next stage. All those things are coming to life here as well, all using AI," she says.

As for the other elements of working with MLC, McCarthy says she has learnt a lot from Insignia Financial chief executive Scott Hartley.

"I think one of the reasons why I'm enjoying this role so much is because of his leadership style and the way he goes about things. He's honest, transparent and authentic. He tells you as it is, he speaks out, and he makes things happen. And that's easy for me to be a part of, because it's so authentic," she says.

"Having been a chief executive in a startup, it's a very lonely space when you're on your own, so I respect that capability to stand alone, make a decision and own it."

As for her own leadership style, McCarthy says she likes to lead by listening and having endless curiosity.

"I just think it's so important to listen and value the opinions of those around you, that's what inspires great teamwork and a high-performance culture," she says.

While it's clear McCarthy doesn't like to sit still for long, she does try to take time to organise her days carefully.

"I have a rule to not do meetings before 9:30am. I like to give myself some time in the mornings to go for a run or do pilates and then start smashing out my work for the day," she says.

"It can be hard; I usually pick up my phone first thing in the morning and start working and then it's the last thing I do at night before I go to bed. But if I can get something done for myself before 9:30am, I feel better.

"I've learnt my limitations over the years, and I know what gives me energy is getting some alone time. It helps fill up my cup so I can focus on everything else I need to do."

As for the future, McCarthy is excited. While she doesn't like to stay in the same place for too long, she still feels that there is a lot left to achieve in her current role.

"It's an industry that is changing rapidly and that presents a lot of opportunities for the team," she says.

"What's nice is that we are all really dedicated, we have a shared vision, and we're all working towards that. We just want to keep up that momentum."