Max Roberts

Max Roberts, Group General Manager Operations Finance, shares how he found his way to accounting and built his technical and leadership skills throughout his career journey.

My Dad was an accountant and was adamant I shouldn’t be one, so my commerce degree was in Marketing – avoiding all finance and accounting subjects.

Long story short, I ended up working at PwC in a non-finance role. They convinced me to join them on the accounting side, supporting me to complete all the missed accounting subjects and my Chartered Accounting qualification. Turns out I was quite good at it and enjoyed it.

After five years, I joined Westfield as a Leasing Finance Analyst – that was in 2010!

It’s been 16 very rewarding years with the business since.

Working at Scentre Group has provided so many opportunities to apply and grow my technical, commercial and leadership skills. It’s been a place where I could bring my technical finance skills to the table and be a key part of the team, not just a support function providing analysis and reporting.

This proximity to the business has given me a front row seat on how various executives lead, negotiate, navigate challenges, read the play and make decisions. Observing this I’ve been able to take the good to mould how I should perform and lead in my role today.

The challenge of working somewhere for so long is ensuring you get a view of what’s happening outside in the broader market. I maintain my external networks to understand what is happening from a technical, commercial and technology perspective.

Also, at Scentre Group we are incredibly privileged to have access to world class leadership development through programs such as Thrive and our partnership with USC – both of which have helped shape and grow my leadership skills.

My advice to others would be to put your hand up for new experiences, even if you think you don’t have all the skills required. Chances are there will be someone in the business who has and will be willing to help.

The most rewarding experiences of my career have been when I embarked on something that I wasn’t fully equipped in. By remaining humble, curious and leveraging the breadth of our team - it’s amazing what can be achieved.